SMS Emden was a light cruiser of the German navy. Its raiding cruise in late 1914 was one of the most romanticised and notable incidents of World War I. In the second half of 1914 Emden raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean, sinking or capturing thirty Allied merchant vessels and warships before being run aground by its captain to prevent it from sinking, after engaging HMAS Sydney at the Battle of Cocos. By now no fewer than sixty Allied warships were combing the waters of the Indian Ocean in search of Emden. A critical part of ship-to-ship communication by wireless in the Indian Ocean was the British communications station at Direction Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Captain von Müller of the Emden decided to send a landing party ashore to destroy the station's radio tower and equipment. Emden reached Direction Island on November 9, 1914. Fifty seamen with rifles and machine guns were sent ashore but the British civilians did not resist and the Emden landing party even agreed not to knock the radio tower down over the island's little tennis court. Unfortunately for Emden, the people on Direction Island had seen Emden coming and had radioed a frantic plea for help. The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney was dispatched from a convoy a mere 50 miles (80 km) away from Direction Island and arrived there in about two hours. When lookouts on Emden spotted Sydney approaching, Captain von Müller had no choice but to raise anchor, leave his landing party still on Direction Island, and engage the Australian cruiser. In the meantime, the landing party 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. The party made their way to Turkey by way of the Red Sea, arriving on May 5, 1915. From there they travelled overland to Germany. Sydney was larger and faster than Emden and outranged her, but still the fight went on for nearly an hour and a half. Early on, Emden managed to knock out a gun on the Sydney and destroyed the Australian ship's rangefinder. However, Emden herself suffered massive damage, being struck over 100 times by shells from Sydney. Her firing dwindled and Captain von Müller beached Emden on North Keeling Island at 1115 to avoid sinking. At this point Sydney left the scene to pursue a collier that had been supporting Emden. Returning later to the beached cruiser, Sydney's commander, Captain John Glossop, saw that the Emden was still flying its battle flag, denoting its intention to continue resistance. A signal requesting surrender was sent but was not answered. Sydney re-opened fire on the Emden, causing further casualties before Emden finally struck her colours. Glossop later said that he "felt like a murderer" for ordering the last salvoes, but had no choice under the circumstances. German losses were 131 dead and 65 wounded. Captain von Müller and the rest of his surviving crew were captured by the British, and Emden was destroyed. The mascot of Emden, a 12 cm bronze figure of a woman, was presented to Sir John Hope Simpson, then acting commander of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 1917, a 105-millimeter gun from Emden was installed as a monument in Sydney's Hyde Park. Another is located on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, alongside a projected video map of the engagement. After the destruction of this ship in 1914, a second Emden was built in 1916. She was beached at Scapa Flow in 1919 when much of the High Seas Fleet was scuttled. She, however, did not sink and was given over to the French Navy, which eventually scrapped her in 1926. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.