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HISTORY
SMS Emden ("His Majesty's Ship
Emden") was the second and final member of the Dresden class
of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche
Marine). Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down at
the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Danzig in 1906.
Her hull was launched in May 1908, and completed in July
1909. She had one sister ship, Dresden. Like the preceding
Königsberg-class cruisers, Emden was armed with ten 10.5 cm
(4.1 in) guns and two torpedo tubes.
Emden spent the majority of her career overseas in the
German East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, in the
Kiautschou Bay concession in China. In 1913, she came under
the command of Karl von Müller, who would captain the ship
during World War I. At the outbreak of hostilities, Emden
captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the
commerce raider Cormoran. Emden rejoined the East Asia
Squadron, after which she was detached for independent
raiding in the Indian Ocean. The cruiser spent nearly two
months operating in the region, and captured nearly two
dozen ships. In late October 1914, Emden launched a surprise
attack on Penang; in the resulting Battle of Penang, she
sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer
Mousquet.
Müller then took Emden to raid the Cocos Islands, where he
landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British
facilities. There, Emden was attacked by the Australian
cruiser HMAS Sydney. The more powerful Australian ship
quickly inflicted serious damage and forced Müller to run
his ship aground to prevent her from sinking. Out of a crew
of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors
were taken prisoner, though the landing party, led by
Hellmuth von Mücke commandeered an old schooner and
eventually returned to Germany. Emden's wreck was quickly
destroyed by wave action, but was not broken up for scrap
until the 1950s. |
