View source for SMS Cormoran (1914)

{{other ships|SMS Cormoran}}
{{Short description|German armed merchant raider of WWI scuttled at Guam}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=SMS Cormoran (1909).jpg
|Ship caption=SMS ''Cormoran''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[Russian Empire]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Russian Empire}}
|Ship name=''Ryazan''
|Ship namesake=[[Ryazan]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=Schichau Yard at [[Elbląg|Elbing]]
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1909 
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=4 August 1914
|Ship struck=
|Ship honors= 
|Ship fate=Captured by {{SMS|Emden|1906|6}}
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=[[German Empire]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|German Empire|naval}}
|Ship name=SMS ''Cormoran'' aka SMS ''Cormoran II''
|Ship namesake=SMS ''Cormoran I''
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship acquired=4 August 1914
|Ship commissioned= 10 August 1914 as SMS ''Cormoran II''
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship honors= 
|Ship fate=Scuttled at [[Apra Harbor]], [[Guam]] on 7 April 1917
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship displacement={{convert|3500|t|LT|lk=out|abbr=on}}
|Ship length=
|Ship beam=
|Ship draft=
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed={{convert|17|kn|km/h mph|lk=in|abbr=on}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship armament=8 ×[[10.5 cm SK L/35|{{convert|10.5|cm|in|sp=us|abbr=on}} SK L/35]] quick-firing guns
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox NRHP
|embed=yes
|name = SMS Cormoran
|image =
|caption =
|map_caption =
|coordinates = {{coord|13|27|33|N|144|39|15|E|display=inline,title}}
|location =Apra Harbor
|nearest_city = [[Piti, Guam]]<ref name=npsarch>[http://www.nps.gov/archeology/submerged/NRShips.htm NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act Guidelines]</ref>
  | locmapin = Guam
|built = 1909<ref name=npsarch/>
|architect =
|architecture =
  | added = April 4, 1975
  | area = {{convert|0.1|acre}}
  | refnum = 75002156<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}
|}
{{Infobox dive site
| name                = Wreck of SMS Cormoran
| photo               = Tokai Maru-Cormoran wrecks at Apra Harbor.jpg
| photo_width         = 
| photo_caption       = [[National Park Service]] illustration of the position of the ''Cormoran'' and ''Tokai Maru'' wrecks. The drive shaft of ''Cormoran'' lies closest to the bottom of the Tokai
| map                 = 
| map_width           = 
| map_caption         = 
| location            = 
| coords              = 
| coords_ref          = 
| waterbody           = 
| nearest_land        = 
| dive_type           = [[Open-water diving|Open-water]], [[Deep diving|Deep]], [[Wreck diving|Wreck]]
| depth_range	      = {{convert|80|to|120|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| average_visibility  = {{convert|25|to|40|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| entry_type          = Boat, very rarely shore
| bottom_composition  = Metal, silt
| water               = 
| nearby_sites        = ''[[Tokai Maru]]''
}}
'''SMS ''Cormoran''''' or '''SMS ''Cormoran II''''' was a German armed [[merchant raider]] that was originally a German-built [[Russian Empire|Russian]] merchant vessel named '''''Ryazan'''''. The ship was active in the [[Pacific Ocean]] during [[World War I]]. Built in 1909, she was captured by the [[German Empire|German]] [[light cruiser]] {{SMS|Emden|1906|6}} on 4 August 1914 and converted into a raider at the German colony [[Kiautschou]]. She was forced to seek port at [[Apra Harbor]] on the US territory of [[Guam]] on 10 December 1914. The United States, then declared neutral in the war, refused to supply provisions sufficient for ''Cormoran'' to make a German port. After the [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|US declaration of war]] on April 6, 1917, the Naval Governor of Guam informed ''Cormoran'' that she would be seized as a hostile combatant, prompting her crew to scuttle her.

==History==
''Ryazan'' was built at the [[Schichau-Werke|Schichau]] shipyard in [[Elbing]], Imperial Germany in 1909 for the Russian merchant fleet (Rjasan or Rjäsan, from the Russian town of [[Ryazan]]). She was used by imperial Russia as a combination passenger, cargo and mail carrier on North Pacific routes.

=== German capture ===
The ''Ryazan'' was captured southeast of the Korean peninsula by the German [[light cruiser]] {{SMS|Emden|1906|6}} on 4 August 1914 as the first prize of [[World War I]] from the Russian empire.<ref>Van der Vat, ''Gentlemen of War'', p. 36</ref> She was taken to [[Qingdao]] in the German colony [[Kiautschou]], where she was converted to an armed [[merchant raider]]. The new ''Cormoran'' replaced the original {{SMS|Cormoran|1892|6}}, a small shallow draft cruiser that had a long Imperial Navy career in the Pacific, having taken part in the events that brought [[Kiautschou]] into the German colonial empire in 1897–98. The old ''Cormoran'' was laid up at Qingdao with serious maintenance issues and unable to go to sea, and her armaments were transferred to the captured merchant ship.

On 10 August 1914, the new ''Cormoran'' (or ''Cormoran II'') left Qingdao harbor and sailed through the [[Oceania|South Pacific region]].{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} 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 {{convert|50|t|ST|abbr=on}} of coal remaining in her bunkers, her captain requested provisions and {{convert|1500|t|ST|abbr=on}} of coal in order to reach German ports in East Africa.<ref name=Star>{{cite news|title=Germans Destroy Interned Gunboat in Harbor at Guam|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1917-04-07/ed-1/seq-1/|access-date=7 April 2017|work=Evening Star|date=7 April 1917|location=Washington, D.C.|page=1}}</ref>

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.<ref name=Star/> 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 [[United States in World War I|US Congress had declared war on Germany]]. The Naval [[Governor of Guam]], [[Roy Campbell Smith]], sent two officers to inform the ''Cormoran'' that a state of war existed between the two countries, that the crew were now [[German prisoners of war in the United States|prisoners of war]], and that the ship must be surrendered. Meanwhile, the [[USS Supply (1872)|USS ''Supply'']] blocked the entrance to Apra Harbor to prevent any attempt to flee. In a separate boat, the two officers were accompanied by a barge commanded by Lt. W.A. Hall, who was designated prize master, and had brought 18 sailors and 15 Marines from the barracks at [[Sumay, Guam|Sumay]]. Seeing a launch from ''Cormoran'' hauling a barge of supplies back shore, Hall ordered shots fired across the bow of the launch until it hove to. Meanwhile, the two officers reached ''Cormoran'' and informed Captain [[Adalbert Zuckschwerdt]] of the situation. Zuckschwerdt agreed to surrender his crew but refused to turn over the ship. The US officers informed Zuckschwerdt that the ''Cormoran'' would be treated as an enemy combatant and left to inform Governor Smith of the situation. Unbeknownst to the Americans, the Germans had secreted an explosive device in the ship's coal bunker. Minutes after the Americans left, an explosion aboard ''Cormoran'' hurled debris across the harbor and her crew began abandoning ship. The two American boats and USS ''Supply'' immediately began to recover German sailors from the water, saving all but seven of the roughly 370 ''Cormoran'' crew. This incident, including the warning shots against the launch, accounted for the first violent action of the [[United States in World War I]], first shots fired by the US against Germany in World War I, the first German prisoners of war captured by the US, and the first Germans killed in action by the US in World War I.<ref name="sextant">{{cite web |last1=Conrad |first1=Dennis |title=The War Begins: The United States Navy and the German Cruiser Cormoran |url=https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/28/the-war-begins-the-united-states-navy-and-the-german-cruiser-cormoran/ |website=The Sextant |publisher=Histories and Archives Division, Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=6 March 2021 |date=28 March 2017 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319064717/https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/28/the-war-begins-the-united-states-navy-and-the-german-cruiser-cormoran/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Hoppe">{{cite web |last1=Hoppe |first1=Jon |title=The Destruction of the S.M.S. Cormoran and the First U.S. Shot Fired in World War I |url=https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/10/01/the-destruction-of-the-s-m-s-cormoran |website=Naval History Blog |publisher=US Naval Institute |access-date=6 March 2021 |date=October 1, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Rogers1995">{{cite book |first=Robert F |last=Rogers |title=Destiny's Landfall: A History of Guam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEn9J3tXFS8C&pg=PA139 |year=1995 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1678-0 |pages=139–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Tyler |title=A Rock Springs man fired the first American shot of World War I |url=https://wyo4news.com/news/a-rock-springs-man-fired-the-first-american-shot-of-world-war-i/ |website=Wyo4News |access-date=6 March 2021 |date=17 October 2020}}</ref> The shots ordered by [[Teófilo Marxuach]] against the [[merchant ship]] ''[[USS Newport News (AK-3)|Odenwald]]'' in [[San Juan Bay]] on March 21, 1915, predate the US declaration of war against Germany.

The dead crew were buried with full military honors in the naval cemetery at [[Hagåtña]]. After the American sailors rescued and made prisoners the surviving Germans, Governor Cronan congratulated Captain Zuckschwerdt for the bravery of his men. The US Navy later conducted a limited salvage operation and the ship's bell was recovered. It is exhibited at the US Naval Academy Museum at [[Annapolis, Maryland]]. Other artifacts have been removed by divers over the years.

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."<ref name="Guampedia_Cormoran">{{cite web |last1=Tolentino |first1=Domenica |title=SMS Cormoran II Memorial |url=https://www.guampedia.com/sms-cormoran-ii-memorial/ |website=Guampedia |access-date=March 6, 2021 |date=October 13, 2019}}</ref>

The German crew was initially imprisoned in [[Fort Douglas, Utah]]. In April 1918, all remaining [[prisoners of war]] from ''Cormoran'' and {{SMS|Geier}} were transferred from Fort Douglas to [[Fort McPherson]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Interned Sailors sent away from Salt Lake|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058396/1918-04-03/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=7 April 2017|work=The Ogden Standard|date=3 April 1918|location=[[Ogden City, Utah]]}}</ref> All returned home on 7 October 1919, almost a year after the war's end.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

=== Wreck and commemorations ===
The wreck of the ''Cormoran II'' rests {{convert|110|ft|m|abbr=on}} below the surface on her starboard side. A Japanese cargo ship, the ''[[Tokai Maru]]'', sunk by the submarine [[USS Snapper (SS-185)|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.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.mdaguam.com/tokaimaru1.htm | title = Tokai Maru Shipwreck in Guam | publisher = Micronesian Divers Association | access-date = 2007-11-27 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930111854/http://www.mdaguam.com/tokaimaru1.htm |archive-date = 2007-09-30}}</ref>

In 1974, the Cormoran monument in the Naval Cemetery was listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Guam|National Register of Historic Places]] (NRHP).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Aguon |first1=Lynda Bordallo |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: U.S. Naval Cemetery |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/15000846.pdf |website=National Park Service |publisher=Guam State Historic Preservation Office |access-date=March 7, 2021 |date=October 16, 2015}}</ref> In 1975, the wreck itself was placed on the NRHP<ref name = nris/> because of her association with World War I.<ref>{{cite book | title = ''SMS Cormoran'' National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form | first = David T.| last = Lotz | year = 1974 | location = Washington, D.C. | publisher = National Park Service }}</ref> The National Park Service conducted surveys in 1983 of the SMS ''Cormoran'' and ''Tokai Maru'', publishing maps of the two ships' positions.<ref name="Guampedia_Cormoran"/> In 1988, a mooring buoy was attached to the Tokai Maru to allow easier access by divers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Takiguchi |first1=Takahiro |title=Exploring sacred sites on the ocean floor |url=https://japan.stripes.com/community-news/exploring-sacred-sites-ocean-floor-1546958837 |website=Stripes Japan |access-date=6 March 2021 |language=en |date=29 May 2018}}</ref> It is, according to the [[National Park Service]], "probably the most popular wreck diving site on Guam."<ref>{{cite web |title=Diving in War in the Pacific National Historical Park |url=https://www.nps.gov/submerged/Parks/WAPA.html |website=National Park Service |access-date=March 6, 2021 |date=October 30, 2012}}</ref> Over one thousand divers annually visit the wrecks.<ref name="Guampedia_Cormoran"/>

The 90th anniversary of the ''Cormoran's'' scuttling in 2007 was marked by wreath-laying ceremonies and exhibits and lectures as [[War in the Pacific National Historic Park]].<ref name="Guampedia_Cormoran"/> The centenary commemoration of the ships sinking was attended by a representative of the German embassy to [[Manila]]. Divers laid wreaths on the wreck and then a memorial ceremony was held at the Naval Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scuba Diving in Guam: Two Sides of History at SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru {{!}} Lakwatsero |url=https://www.lakwatsero.com/dive-report/scuba-diving-in-guam-two-sides-of-history-at-sms-cormoran-and-tokai-maru/ |website=Lakwatsero |access-date=7 March 2021 |date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

=== 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 ==
* [[Underwater diving on Guam]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | title = The Frustrated Raider: The Story of the German Cruiser Cormoran in World War I | first = Charles Burton | last = Burdick | year = 1979 | location = Carbondale | publisher = Southern Illinois University Press | isbn = 978-0-8093-0899-6 | oclc = 4194620 }}
* {{cite book | title = Gentlemen of War, The Amazing Story of Captain Karl von Müller and the SMS Emden | first = Dan | last = Van der Vat | year = 1984 | location = New York | publisher = William Morrow and Company, Inc. | isbn = 0-688-03115-3 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/gentlemenofwaram00vand }}
* {{cite web|last1=Oelke-Farley|first1=James|title=SMS Cormoran Crew List|date=7 August 2015 |url=https://issuu.com/guampedia/docs/oelke-farley_cormoran_crew_list|publisher=Guampedia Foundation}} 
* {{cite web |last1=Bartlett |first1=Owen |title=Destruction of S.M.S. "Cormoran" |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1931/august/destruction-sms-cormoran |website=[[Proceedings (magazine)|Proceedings]] |publisher=US Naval Institute |access-date=6 March 2021 |url-access=subscription |date=1 August 1931}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Piti, Guam}}
{{April 1917 shipwrecks}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cormoran (1914)}}
[[Category:Ships built in Elbing]]
[[Category:Ships built by Schichau]]
[[Category:1909 ships]]
[[Category:World War I merchant ships of Russia]]
[[Category:Auxiliary cruisers of the Imperial German Navy]]
[[Category:World War I cruisers of Germany]]
[[Category:World War I commerce raiders]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1917]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:Apra Harbor]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Guam]]
[[Category:Wreck diving sites]]
[[Category:Underwater diving sites in Guam]]