SMS Cormoran (1909)
SMS Cormoran
| |
History | |
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Russian Empire | |
Name | Ryazan |
Namesake | Ryazan |
Builder | Schichau Yard at Elbing |
Launched | 1909 |
Out of service | 4 August 1914 |
Fate | Captured by SMS Emden |
History | |
German Empire | |
Name | SMS Cormoran aka SMS Cormoran II |
Namesake | SMS Cormoran I |
Acquired | 4 August 1914 |
Commissioned | 10 August 1914 as SMS Cormoran II |
Fate | Scuttled at Apra Harbor, Guam on 7 April 1917 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 3,500 t (3,400 long tons) |
Speed | 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
Armament | 8 ×10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns |
SMS Cormoran | |
Location | Apra Harbor |
Nearest city | Piti, Guam[2] |
Coordinates | 13°27′33″N 144°39′15″E / 13.45917°N 144.65417°E |
Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
Built | 1909[2] |
NRHP reference No. | 75002156[1] |
Added to NRHP | April 4, 1975 |
Wreck of SMS Cormoran | |
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Dive type | Open-water, Deep, Wreck |
Depth range | 80 to 120 ft (24 to 37 m) |
Average visibility | 25 to 40 ft (7.6 to 12.2 m) |
Entry type | Boat, very rarely shore |
Bottom composition | Metal, silt |
Nearby sites | Tokai Maru |
SMS Cormoran or SMS Cormoran II was a German armed
History
Ryazan was built at the
German capture
The Ryazan was captured southeast of the Korean peninsula by the German
On 10 August 1914, the new Cormoran (or Cormoran II) left Qingdao harbor and sailed through the South Pacific region.[citation needed] After Japan declared war on the German Empire, her warships discovered and pursued the Cormoran, forcing her to seek refuge in Apra Harbor, in the US Territory of Guam, on 14 December. Having expended most of her fuel raiding commerce, her crew burned much of her woodwork in the boilers in order to make port. With only 50 t (55 short tons) of coal remaining in her bunkers, her captain requested provisions and 1,500 t (1,700 short tons) of coal in order to reach German ports in East Africa.[4]
Due to strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany, plus the limited amount of coal stored at Guam, Governor William John Maxwell refused to supply Cormoran with more than a token amount of coal. He ordered the ship to leave within 24 hours or submit to detention.[4] This created a standoff between the German crew and the Americans that lasted nearly two years, until Governor Maxwell was involuntarily placed on the sick list and replaced by his subordinate, William P. Cronan, who decided the German crew should be treated as guests of the United States. The Cormoran was not allowed to leave the harbor, but the crew were treated as friends, achieving a minor celebrity status on the island.
Scuttling
On the morning of April 7, 1917, word reached Guam by telegraph cable that the
The dead crew were buried with full military honors in the naval cemetery at
As the crew waited to be sent to a POW camp on the mainland, they were given permission to erect an obelisk next to their buried dead. Capt. Zuckschwerd was allowed to speak at a ceremony honoring their dead. The obelisk reads, "Den Toten von S.M.S. Cormoran, 7 IV 1917," meaning "To the dead of the S.M.S. Cormoran, 7 April 1917."[9]
The German crew was initially imprisoned in
Wreck and commemorations
The wreck of the Cormoran II rests 110 ft (34 m) below the surface on her starboard side. A Japanese cargo ship, the Tokai Maru, sunk by the submarine USS Snapper on August 27, 1943, leans against her screw. The wreck is one of the few places where a World War I shipwreck lies next to a ship from World War II.[11]
In 1974, the Cormoran monument in the Naval Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[12] In 1975, the wreck itself was placed on the NRHP[1] because of her association with World War I.[13] The National Park Service conducted surveys in 1983 of the SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru, publishing maps of the two ships' positions.[9] In 1988, a mooring buoy was attached to the Tokai Maru to allow easier access by divers.[14] It is, according to the National Park Service, "probably the most popular wreck diving site on Guam."[15] Over one thousand divers annually visit the wrecks.[9]
The 90th anniversary of the Cormoran's scuttling in 2007 was marked by wreath-laying ceremonies and exhibits and lectures as
Partial list of crew members
Kurt Moraht.jpg Henry Bock (Leutnant Bock's was the first German naval officer sword surrendered in the Pacific)[13] Herman Berka (Cormoran's chief engineer)[14] Wilhelm Hermann Grallert, Lindenau, Kreis Landeshut, Niederschlesien, Prussia Fritz August Hermann Kutz, Labes, Kreis Regenwalde, Pommern, Prussia Jakob Runck, Landau, Pfalz, Bavaria Emil Bischoff, Unterschefflenz, Baden, Germany Ernest Max Adolf, Freiburg/Br, Germany Johannes Heinrich Dammann, Nutteln, Schleswig-Holstein Kurt Moraht
See also
Notes
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act Guidelines
- ^ Van der Vat, Gentlemen of War, p. 36
- ^ a b "Germans Destroy Interned Gunboat in Harbor at Guam". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 7 April 1917. p. 1. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ Conrad, Dennis (28 March 2017). "The War Begins: The United States Navy and the German Cruiser Cormoran". The Sextant. Histories and Archives Division, Naval History and Heritage Command. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ Hoppe, Jon (October 1, 2015). "The Destruction of the S.M.S. Cormoran and the First U.S. Shot Fired in World War I". Naval History Blog. US Naval Institute. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8248-1678-0.
- ^ Johnson, Tyler (17 October 2020). "A Rock Springs man fired the first American shot of World War I". Wyo4News. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d Tolentino, Domenica (October 13, 2019). "SMS Cormoran II Memorial". Guampedia. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
- Ogden City, Utah. 3 April 1918. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ "Tokai Maru Shipwreck in Guam". Micronesian Divers Association. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ Aguon, Lynda Bordallo (October 16, 2015). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: U.S. Naval Cemetery" (PDF). National Park Service. Guam State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- ^ Lotz, David T. (1974). SMS Cormoran National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service.
- ^ Takiguchi, Takahiro (29 May 2018). "Exploring sacred sites on the ocean floor". Stripes Japan. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "Diving in War in the Pacific National Historical Park". National Park Service. October 30, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
- ^ "Scuba Diving in Guam: Two Sides of History at SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru | Lakwatsero". Lakwatsero. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
Bibliography
- Burdick, Charles Burton (1979). The Frustrated Raider: The Story of the German Cruiser Cormoran in World War I. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. OCLC 4194620.
- Van der Vat, Dan (1984). Gentlemen of War, The Amazing Story of Captain Karl von Müller and the SMS Emden. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-688-03115-3.
- Oelke-Farley, James (7 August 2015). "SMS Cormoran Crew List". Guampedia Foundation.
- Bartlett, Owen (1 August 1931). "Destruction of S.M.S. "Cormoran"". Proceedings. US Naval Institute. Retrieved 6 March 2021.