100 years ago yesterday, on 09-November-1914, the Battle of Cocos took place in the Indian Ocean. The German East Asia Squadron led by Vice Admiral Count Maximillian von Spee had abandoned the German base at Tisingtao, China when the war started because he knew the Japanese would soon attack and overwhelm it. Fregattenkapitän Karl von Müller, commander of the light cruiser Emden, received permission to sail independently and attack British commerce in the Indian Ocean. In twelve weeks, Emden took fourteen prizes and destroyed one French and one Russian warship. People admired Müller because he tried hard to avoid taking human life. Spee's squadron destroyed a British squadron in the Battle of Coronel:
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-battle-of-coronel-november-1-2014.html
Britsh ships hunting for Emden found her on 09-November-1914 when she attacked a coaling station on the Cocos Islands.
The story is from the 10-November-1914 New York Evening Tribune.
Emden Kept Fighting Till Cruiser Sydney Drove Her On Shore
German Warship, Which Had Sunk 22 Ships and Caused a Loss of . $10,000,000, Set on Fire During
Running Fight.
KOENlGSBERG TRAPPED BY SYDNEY'S SISTER SHIP
LONDON, Nov. 10. The cruiser Emden, German terror of British commerce and even of allied warships, has been sunk. She was driven ashore on an island of the Cocos group in the Indian Ocean south of Sumatra by the Australian cruiser Sydney.
The Sydney sighted the Emden yesterday morning. With superior speed she at once closed in and gave battle. The German boat could not escape. There was a running fight, at the end of which the Emden, burning from the shells of the Australian boat, was beached.
The news of the destruction of the Emden was announced by the Admiralty to-day. Almost at the same time came word of another British victory on the sea when it was announced that the German protected cruiser Koenigsberg had been driven into port In Ruflji Island, off German East Africa. The British cruiser Chatham chased the Koenigsberg ashore.
The Admiralty declares that the Pacific and, Indian Oceans "are now clear of the enemy's warships, with the exception of the squadron off the coast of Chili."
ADMIRALTY'S STORY OF THE BATTLE.
Telling of the destruction of the Emden, the Admiralty statement declared:
"Yesterday morning news was received that the Emden, which had been completely lost since the action with the Jemtchug, had arrived at Keeling, Cocos Island, and landed an armed party to destroy the wireless station and cut the cable. The Emden was caught and forced to fight by the Australian warship Sydney, Capt. John Glossop.
"A sharp action followed in which the Sydney lost three men killed and fifteen wounded. The Emden
was driven ashore and burned. Her losses are reported to be very heavy. Every possible assistance was given the survivors by various ships which were despatched to the scene."
The Admiralty sent the following message to the commander of the Sydney:
"Warmest congratulations for the brilliant entry of the Australian navy into the war and the signal service rendered to the allied cause and peaceful commerce by the destruction of the Emden."
The Emden's career has .been the most picturesque in the Kaiser's navy. Commanded by Capt. Karl von Muller, she has swept the Pacific, capturing, or sinking more than a score of merchant vessels of the allied nations and brought her raids to a climax by boldly entering Penang harbor, where she sank the two allied warships.
LONDON REJOICES OVER EMDEN'S FATE.
Coming on the heels of the stirring war speeches of Lord Kitchener and Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, the feat of the Sydney in destroying the Emden roused London to a fever of enthusiasm to-day. The cry now is that the Good Hope and Monmouth must be avenged.
At least seventy warships have been combing the Pacific in search of the Emden Always she has eluded pursuers just when it seemed she must be ... (can't read the rest)
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