SMS Emden

After a month-long siege, the Japanese flushed German soldiers from the Chinese city of Tsingtao in November of 1914.

They also wrestled the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands from the hands of the Hun, and provided invaluable support to the Australian Navy in its hunt for the German warship, the SMS Emden.

The Japanese proved to be an incredibly effective ally and, naturally, they were incredibly proud of their contributions to the war effort.

But when peace finally came in November of 1918, the Japanese felt their efforts went unrewarded.

Shots were fired to indicate the start of the mutiny and the men split into three groups.

One group went straight to the POW camp at Tanglin to release the German sailors of the SMS Emden, who had been interned there after the ship was destroyed on the Cocos Islands.

We heard about this in a previous episode.

The mutineers hoped to persuade the German sailors to join the mutiny.

On the ship's return, there was more violence between the British authorities in Calcutta and passengers with 20 being killed.

Known as the Komagata Maru incident, the name of the ship, it catalysed a wider political movement and the Indian nationalist Garda Party, which was active with Turks and Germans to undermine British rule in India.

Another external factor raised in Street's Salter's paper is that of the Emden's German prisoners released from the jail at Tanglin Barracks.

The jail was already holding some German nationals who had been residents in Singapore and were interned for the duration of the war.

She was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Sydney on the 24th of September 1935 as the second vessel to share that name.

The first HMAS Sydney saw action in the First World War, defeating the German light cruiser SMS Emden at the 1914 Battle of Cocos.

The second HMAS Sydney, designated as D48, was one hundred and seventy-one meters long with a beam of seventeen meters.

Her impressive armament included eight six-inch guns mounted on twin turrets, four four-inch quick-firing high-angle naval guns, twelve Vickers thirteen-millimeter machine guns quad-mounted on three turrets, twelve Vickers half-inch machine guns and three quad mounts, twelve Lewis machine guns, and eight twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes.

I must plough the seas of the world doing as much mischief as I can until my ammunition is exhausted or a far superior power succeeds in catching me.

At this point, Carl von Muller, the captain of SS Emden, a light cruiser, made a case for detaching just one ship to head south.

In doing so, he argued aggressive action would create uncertainty and necessitate the commitment of naval resources from the British.

Von Spee agreed.

We'll cover the incredible actions of the SS Emden and her crew in the next episode.

Minus the Emden, the Asia Squadron now consisted of four cruisers.

the larger sister cruisers, the SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and lighter cruisers, the SMS Leipzig and Nuremberg.

It's an interesting silent film with plenty of contemplative faces, random salutes, frowns, flashing eyes, fat cigars, Dad's Army style parades, thematic music.