The Battle of Cocos was a naval action which took place during World War I off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, in the north east Indian Ocean, on November 9, 1914.
The SMS Emden, an German light cruiser, attacked the British telegraph relay station on Direction Island and was engaged several hours later by HMAS Sydney, an Australian light cruiser.
The battle was the first ship-against-ship engagement for the Royal Australian Navy.
Background
When war broke out on August 2, 1914, the Emden — which had been launched in 1908 — was the Kaiserliche Marine's representative at the German colony at Tsingtao, in China. Under Korvettenkapitän (Lt Commander) Karl von Müller , the Emden 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, the 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 obsolete 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 November 1, a convoy carrying Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) personnel to Egypt, left Albany, Western Australia. The escort was comprised of four cruisers: the Australian Sydney and HMAS Melbourne, 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. The 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 the 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 hundreds of casualties, Müller decided to beach Emden on North Keeling Island to avoid sinking, at 11.15am. The Sydney then pursued the Buresk, which was scuttled to avoid re-capture. Müller had neglected to strike his colours after beaching and when the Sydney returned, Glossop signalled the 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 the Emden were then captured and Emden was destroyed. The 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 Ayesha, a 123 ton, three-masted schooner 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.
