Battle Of Cocos

	partof	World War I
	caption	''Emden'' after the battle
	date	November 9 1914
	place	Cocos Islands , north east Indian Ocean
	result	Australian victory
	combatant1	Australia
	combatant2	Germany
	commander1	John Glossop
	commander2	Karl Von Müller
	strength1	Light Cruiser <br> HMAS ''Sydney''
	strength2	light cruiser<br> SMS ''Emden''
	casualties1	3 men killed<br>8 wounded
	casualties2	131 men killed<br>65 wounded<br>''Emden'' scuttled

The naval Battle of Cocos took place on November 9 1914 during World War I off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , in the north east Indian Ocean .

The German Light Cruiser SMS ''Emden'' attacked the British Telegraph relay station on Direction Island and was engaged several hours later by HMAS ''Sydney'' , an Australia n light cruiser. The battle was the first ship-against-ship engagement for the Royal Australian Navy .

Background

''Emden'' was launched in 1908 , and became the '' Kaiserliche Marine '''s representative at the German Colony of Tsingtao , in China , and was part of the German East Asia Squadron . After war broke out on August 4 , 1914, the squadron was ordered to avoid the superior Allied naval forces in the Pacific, and it headed for Germany, by way of Cape Horn . The sole exception was the ''Emden'', under ''Korvettenkapitän'' (Lt Commander) Karl Von Müller , which headed towards the Indian Ocean, with the objective of raiding Allied shipping. Müller frequently made use of a fake fourth smokestack, which — when the ship flew the Royal Navy Ensign — made it resemble the British cruiser HMS ''Yarmouth'' and similar vessels.

Within three months, ''Emden'' had sunk 30 Allied merchant vessels and warships. It had also shelled and damaged British oil tanks at Madras , in India . A Collier named ''Buresk'', was captured with its cargo intact, and was re-crewed with German seamen to accompany the ''Emden'' as a supply vessel. Other victims of the ''Emden'' included an obsolescent Russian cruiser and a French Destroyer off Malaya , at the Battle Of Penang , on October 28 . By the end of October, no less than 60 Allied warships were looking for the ''Emden''.

Coincidentally, on , the British HMS ''Minotaur'' and the Imperial Japanese Navy 's ''Ibuki'' .

The action

The radio and telegraph station at Direction Island was a critical component of Allied communication in and across the Indian Ocean. Müller decided to destroy the station's radio tower and equipment.

When ''Emden'' reached the island at 6am on November 9, the Eastern Telegraph Company staff quickly realised they were under attack and sent a message saying "Strange ship in entrance" and "SOS, Emden here". A German shore party of 50 seamen with small arms, under ''Kapitänleutnant'' Hellmuth Von Mücke was quickly landed. The civilian staff on the island offered no resistance, and Mücke even agreed to take care that the 54 metre (176 ft) tall radio tower did not fall into the island's tennis court, when its base was blown up. ''Emden'' signalled the ''Buresk'' to join it.

The ANZAC convoy happened to be only 50 miles (80 km) away and it was decided to detach a vessel in response to the SOS signals. Despite intense lobbying from the commander of the ''Ibuki'', the state-of-art ''Sydney'' — under Captain John Glossop was despatched at 7am.

When lookouts on ''Emden'' spotted ''Sydney'' approaching, Müller had no choice but to raise anchor and engage the Australian cruiser, leaving Mücke and his landing party on Direction Island .

''Sydney'' was larger, faster and better armed — 6 inch (152mm) guns — than ''Emden'', which had 104mm (4.1 inch) guns. However the German gunners fired first at 9.40am, from 10km away and scored hits soon afterwards, knocking out Sydney's rangefinder and one gun. After that point Glossop used his speed and the superior range of his guns to avoid damage and casualties, while his gunners individually gradually found their marks, inflicting sustained and accurate fire on ''Emden''.

By 10.20am the Germans had lost their steering, electrics and radio. Nevertheless the battle went on for almost another hour. After taking extremely heavy damage from almost 100 hits, and suffering dozens of casualties, Müller decided to beach ''Emden'' on North Keeling Island to avoid sinking, at 11.15am. ''Sydney'' then pursued ''Buresk'', which was scuttled to avoid re-capture. Müller had neglected to strike his colours after beaching and when ''Sydney'' returned, Glossop signalled ''Emden'' to surrender. As no reply was received, he ordered his gunners to resume shooting, after which a white flag was run up.

The survivors from ''Emden'' were then captured and ''Emden'' was destroyed. ''Emden'''s crew suffered 131 killed and 65 wounded, from a total complement of 360. ''Sydney'' had three killed and eight wounded. Glossop later said that he "felt like a murderer" for ordering the last salvoes, but had no choice under the circumstances.

In the meantime, Mücke and his men had seized the 123-ton three-masted Schooner ''Ayesha'' and some supplies and made for Padang on Sumatra , in the neutral territory of the Dutch East Indies , where they rendezvoused with a German merchant vessel on December 13 . Mücke's party made their way to Turkey by way of the Red Sea , arriving on May 5 1915 . From there they travelled overland to Germany.

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Battle Of Cocos