9 November 1914
Australia’s first single-ship battle at sea was between HMAS Sydney (I) and Germany’s SMS Emden on 9 November 1914. The battle shows the strategic importance of Australia’s oceanic connections to the world.
By October 1914, the German light cruiser Emden, under Captain Karl von Müller, had captured or sunk 25 allied steamers and 2 warships. Across the Indian Ocean, allied warships searched for Emden. Insurance rates soared, commodity prices rose, and merchants kept their ships in port.
Australian authorities delayed sending the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops to the European fronts. This was because they did not know the whereabouts of Emden or the German East Asia Squadron.
The ANZAC convoy of 38 transport ships and four escorting warships finally departed Albany, in Western Australia, on 1 November 1914. At around this time, Captain von Müller planned to attack the British cable and wireless station on the Cocos Islands to interrupt Indian Ocean communications between Australia and England. Unbeknownst to him, this brought him close to the path of the ANZAC convoy.
Von Müller arrived off Cocos’s Direction Island on the morning of 9 November. The station superintendent managed to send a distress call before Emden jammed his transmission. Fifty German men landed and destroyed machinery, cut telegraph cables and blew up the wireless mast, but it was too late. HMAS Melbourne (I), leading the ANZAC convoy escort, had intercepted the distress call at 6:30am and sent Sydney to investigate.
Commanded by Captain John Glossop RN, Sydney had the edge over Emden in speed, range of guns, and armour. Nevertheless, Emden made the first hits of the battle, just after 9:40am. Sydney suffered 4 fatalities and more than a dozen wounded from this attack, but these were to be the only Australian casualties. Thereafter, Glossop kept his distance, eking maximum advantage from his speed and heavier (6-inch) weapons.
Emden made only a dozen hits all up, and her gunfire soon slackened, as Sydney’s began to tell. By 11am, a large fire engulfed Emden, and the ship’s funnels and foremast toppled across its deck. Incapable of firing back, and hoping to save lives, von Müller made for North Keeling Island and deliberately grounded Emden at about 11:20am.
Sydney disengaged to capture the German crew of Emden’s scuttled collier (the ship that carried Emden’s coal, SMS Buresk). When Sydney returned to Emden at 4pm, the wrecked ship was still flying the German ensign. After an inconclusive exchange of signals, Glossop fired 2 further salvoes.
A German sailor finally climbed the mast and took down the ensign, and another waved a white sheet on the quarterdeck. Glossop felt obliged to learn the situation at Direction Island. As such, he did not render assistance to the German survivors until the following morning.
Emden had 316 crew, and the battle left 134 dead and 65 wounded. Despite the initial delay, the care and consideration subsequently shown to the German survivors by the Australians helped to dissipate any animosity.
The fighting spirit of both ships’ companies is often the focus of histories of this battle. However, its effect on the strategic context is more significant. Australian sea power removed the only immediate threat to Australia’s oceanic links to Britain. As a result, no Australian soldier was lost to enemy action on his passage to the Middle East during the war.