WW1: Unusual Tales from The Great War.
Sep 26, 2026 · 30 min · 10 segments
As the German fleet headed west, the SMS Emden sailed to the Indian Ocean and created havoc amongst allied naval and commercial shipping. When beaten by HMAS Sydney, a great Australian victory, an…
At an early stage of the squadron's departure from China into the Pacific Ocean, Carl von Muller, the captain of the Emden, suggested detaching one cruiser to the Indian Ocean to distract allied naval resources, create uncertainty and pursue a war against commercial and naval shipping as opportunities arose.
Essentially, a commercial raider employing the fleet in being strategy to occupy as much attention from the Allied navies as possible.
A single ship might be able to sustain its activity far more effectively than the whole squadron for as long as it was free to do so.
In particular, coal resupply could be managed more effectively through neutral stations or lightly defended enemy depots if needed.
So on the 14th of August 1914, as the squadron sailed east from Pagan Island, the Emden went south to the Indian Ocean.
The Emden was launched on the 26th of May 1908 and came into German naval service in July 1909.
It was almost 400 foot in length, had two propellers driven by steam created from two coal-fired boilers It would sail at or perhaps cruise at a speed of 24 knots an hour.
It had a crew consisting of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men, 18 guns and two torpedo tubes.
She joined the other ships in Apia, German Samoa, in July 1910 and with them sailed to Singtao in October.
The next few years were spent on colonial duties, hosting visiting ships, dinners, banquets, garden parties and grand balls.
It meant plenty of trips to idyllic islands and the occasional presence needed to suppress a local native uprising.
Life was much the same until war was declared and von Spee ordered Captain Muller to the Indian Ocean as an independent raider, accompanied by the Collier ship Marco Mania.
His father had been a colonel in the Prussian army, but Müller chose the Imperial German Navy from the military academy he attended.
In the late 1890s while serving off the coast of East Africa he contracted malaria which affected him for the rest of his life.
At an early stage of the squadron's departure from China into the Pacific Ocean, Carl von Muller, the captain of the Emden, suggested detaching one cruiser to the Indian Ocean to distract allied naval resources, create uncertainty and pursue a war against commercial and naval shipping as opportunities arose.
Essentially, a commercial raider employing the fleet in being strategy to occupy as much attention from the Allied navies as possible.
A single ship might be able to sustain its activity far more effectively than the whole squadron for as long as it was free to do so.
In particular, coal resupply could be managed more effectively through neutral stations or lightly defended enemy depots if needed.
So on the 14th of August 1914, as the squadron sailed east from Pagan Island, the Emden went south to the Indian Ocean.
The Emden was launched on the 26th of May 1908 and came into German naval service in July 1909.
It was almost 400 foot in length, had two propellers driven by steam created from two coal-fired boilers It would sail at or perhaps cruise at a speed of 24 knots an hour.
It had a crew consisting of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men, 18 guns and two torpedo tubes.
She joined the other ships in Apia, German Samoa, in July 1910 and with them sailed to Singtao in October.
The next few years were spent on colonial duties, hosting visiting ships, dinners, banquets, garden parties and grand balls.
It meant plenty of trips to idyllic islands and the occasional presence needed to suppress a local native uprising.
Life was much the same until war was declared and von Spee ordered Captain Muller to the Indian Ocean as an independent raider, accompanied by the Collier ship Marco Mania.
His father had been a colonel in the Prussian army, but Müller chose the Imperial German Navy from the military academy he attended.
In the late 1890s while serving off the coast of East Africa he contracted malaria which affected him for the rest of his life.
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