SMS Emden (1909) - Guide 205 

Pinned post for Q&A :)

Emden and her raiding up and down the Indian and Sri Lankan coast also made a terrifying impression on the locals: Emden's name entered the Sinhala and Tamil languages as "Amdan" meaning "someone who is tough, manipulative and crafty" and in Malayalam the word "Emadan" means "a big and powerful thing".

5:14 You just have to admire the audacity of having your warship repaired at an enemy port. That's a damn power move if I ever saw one.

only 10 minutes on this infamous ship? Surely she deserves a feature length episode!

Didn't join Admiral Von Spee's wild ride but had her own wild ride

Ironically, the last Emden to have served so far with German Navy was an F210-type frigate that became a quite successful and renowned anti-pirate fighter in the same waters where the original Emden has been happily pirating around.

"Magical place, Tahiti.." I didn't know you had Level 7 clearance!

the 6th Emden for the german navy is currently under construction and she will carrie the iron cross in memory of the first Emden

The attack on Penang was an act of sheer ballsyness.

SMS Emden the last great, gentlemanly and occasionally cheeky pirate ship.

One of the best sea stories ever. I never get tired of her adventures. Despite the amount of damage and disruption she and her crew caused, surely even the British and Australians must have admired her tenacity and seamanship.

I can't believe you forgot to add in the bit that, when the HMAS Sydney was trying to locate the Emden, that the Sydney actually radioed on open channels, "Emden, where are you?". Don't know how true it was but still, it was one of the more outlandish stories of how elusive German raiders were

It is a tribute to Emden and Karl von Mueller, that in a number of South Indian languages today, the term 'Emden' refers to a person who undertakes a seemingly-impossible task and finishes it. Great video, as usual, Sir.

One of Emden's guns is in a park in Sydney near the Anzac memorial, and Sydney's foremast is preserved on a headland overlooking the harbour.

The East Asia Squadron Commander was scared of the RAN Battlecruiser HMAS Australia. Don't quote me but he said something along the lines that HMAS Australia could take on and sink the entire squadron by itself

Man, the Russians have the worst luck. Surviving the battle of Tsushima just to get ganked by a sneaky German cruiser later in a friendly port!

My grandfather was on the convoy being escorted by HMAS Sydney and saw her detach to go and chase down the Emden. He spoke of the massive trail of smoke from the Sydney's funnels as she worked up to full speed.

I like the expressiveness of "Sir! We got a battlecruiser-problem!"

Emdem's story would make for a great movie. The little ship did very well for herself.

One has to appreciate the story of cruisers, operating far from friendly ports. What a legendary ship.

One of my favourite ships. Under Muller's command, the breif war career of this otherwise insignificant ship was one of the few romances of that terrible and prosaic war. The inevitable tragedy of her end signaling the end of her age, though the von Mucke landing party's escape through Arabia continued her legacy in adventures rivaling T. E. Lawrence in the process.

One Note: some time after the war, the surviving members of the crew were honored by allowing them to add "-Emden" to their lastname. If you reed a double name like Schulz-Emden, the person will be most likely a member of the so called Emden-Family and a successor of a SMS Emden crew member.

5:47 "Do you see torpedo boats?" "No...much worse!"

I have a set of machetes made from the steel of the Emden, I can still smell the coconut oil used to preserve the blades today

A valiant ship, crew and captain. They compiled a hell of a record considering the ship's modest size. She deserves to be honorably remembered

There is a book about the Emden’s exploits...called “The Last Gentleman of War”...and a Revell model kit of it...I have both. Both my parents were from Emden, Germany.

SMS Emden and KMS Graf Spee had pretty similar journey. Both were ships sent far away from home, both raided merchant ships and occasional armed ship, both had pretty chivalrous captain, who was technically a privateer and both never returned home.

It stood little chance against the Sydney: 4" inch guns against 6", triple expansion engines against turbines, and no armor belt against 3". It was pretty much equivalent with a pre-dreadnought against a dreadnought.

Karl Friedrich Max von Müller was one of the most legendary officers of the Great War. His exploits earned him both the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Pour le Mérite (Imperial Germany's highest military honor). His reputation for strict adherence to the rules of war being as careful as possible not to injure civilians earned him the grudging respect of the British. Unfortunately he suffered from chronic health issues after contracting malaria while on colonial duty in the 1890s and he died in 1923 at the relatively young age of 49.

A good english language book on the sinking of the Emden is “ First Victory 1914” by Mike Carlton. Covers the start of the war and the situation in the Indian Ocean, from the Australian perspective.

It always grabs my attention when seeing the photo of the Emden landing party with the two launches at the dock, and in the background is the schooner that's soon to become a hijack victim

German TV made a movie called "The Men of the Emden" some vears ago, which in fact was very good. Apart from her fighting career, the journey of her landing party across the Indian Ocean in a sailing boat, then through the Arabian desert while fighting the rebel tribes not only would make T.E. Lawrence proud. When they finally made it back home to Germany, they were all transfered to Berlin to meet His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II in person.

Now we just need a full length feature of Möwe, another of the rest of the WWI raiders, and a shorter one for the WWII raiders with focus on the more interesting bits like the Kormoran vs Sydney battle and Cornwall vs Pinguin (whose career was pretty interesting).

Hurrah for the comfort of a “Guide” on a Saturday during these strange times. Three cheers for Drach !

I can only imagine the screams coming from the offices of the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and any other Sea Lords there are, were, or ever has been as this ship, her crew, and her captain ran rings around several navies. Salute!

Oh, I say, those Germans are nice fellows. Sir, news just came in, we have been at war with the the German Empire for a while. Oh bother.

I highly recommend reading ''The Last Gentleman-Of-War: The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden'' written by R K Lochner and published in 1988. The Emdem has a terrific story and the gallantry of her captain is something rarely seen today. He was admired by both the Germans and her enemies.

HMAS Sydney: WOOP WOOP, THAT'S THE SOUND OF THE FUN POLICE

Anyone who wants to know the full story of the Emden should find the book 'The Last Cruise of the Emden'. The Great War channel also has an episode about the ships voyage that is truly excellent.

I remember reading a book on the Emden as a child and loving just how improbable and wild a tale it was! I can recall reading the descriptions of the crew and how they would wear their dress uniforms into battle because it was the cleanest clothing they had (not wanting filthy clothing driven into them with the shrapnel) and other bits like that that really personalized the ship's story. Thanks for bringing those memories back.

It's kind of amazing over the past 200-ish years how Captains of ships have been restricted in their authority. In the Age of Sail the only Captain I'm aware of who was punished (with cause) for whipping a man to death was John Paul Jones. Then fast forward to the orders given to the Captain of the battleship Oregon- they were simply directions, with vague orders to "arrive when you can". It's been a few years since I read the orders but they were written for the 15,000-ish mile journey assuming there would be a major breakdown (going around the Horn, no Panama Canal). Then in the 1950's when the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) had a reactor leak on the primary system resulting very high- dangerous- chlorine levels. The Navy took the reactor apart, then pulled out their hair when they couldn't find the leak. Finally, Captain William R. Anderson (He died just a few years back- bummer, I wanted to meet him) got angry, called the engineering crew together and pulled out about $30 dollars out of his pocket and told them to purchase "Every can of "Barr's Leak" for car's radiator's in the Seattle area". Then dumped about 20 gallons into the primary coolant loop. If a Captain even CONSIDERED doing this now he'd be tied to the fairweather planes and probably flogged to death. Now the United States Navy has gotten so "Super Nuclear Conscious" that a Captain can't do jack squat to the reactor unless s/he's got direct permission from the reactor branch. Then every now and then you see Captain's relieved of command "due to lack of faith in their leadership ability". But the Captain of the Emden? I mean the guy showed great initiative for the time- Captain pulled stunts like that now? Well, those Cat-o-9 tails would get another workout.

I love Saturday mornings ... get to spend quality time with my wife, unhurried breakfast and a quality Drachinifel video. Life is good. Respects to Captain Muller and his crew. They undertook a difficult mission, knowing it would probably turn into a suicide mission and succeeded with panache.

So Emden went to Penang and pulled a Kormoran twenty years before the actual Kormoran? You sirs have my respect.

Finally drach has made his promises true and blessed us with a video on the sms video after 1 year of waiting

Emden's story is so...Joyful. Like a Golden Age of Hollywood raider story. Also, she's a lot of fun in World of Warships "pew, pew, pewpewpewpewpew".

Couple of side notes on the Emden. One of her 4.1" guns is now a memorial on the corner of Park and College Streets in Sydney and an Emden-damaged piece of Sydney's ranging gear is at the front of the Royal Australian Naval College in Jervis Bay NSW (my naval alma mater). This damage, with three sailors killed, was a result of one of the very few hits on Sydney by Emden before Sydney withdrew out of range and picked the other ship to pieces. On a more personal note, my late grandmother seems to have been courted by one of the Emden's officers while he was a POW in Australia. Her father was the visiting dentist at the prison where he was being kept. l have a photo of him with a very nice annotation and a beautiful carved box he made and presented to her before he was repatriated to Germany in 1919.

Best ship story evar, as saga continues for landing party!

Thanks Drach. As always an excellent video on a heroic ship and it's epic voyage. I have read accounts of people criticizing and mocking British efforts to find Emden but these 'people' obviously have forgotten this was in the days before Satellites, radar, long range aircraft. Even many older merchant ships did not carry radio and the only way to know a raider was operating was when ships failed to arrive. In those bygone days fining a single small ship in the vastness of the Pacific was a daunting task.

Muller obviously had an influence on Langsdorff over twenty years later.

The masthead of HMAS Sydney is preserved on Bradley's Head in Sydney Harbour, and every RAN ship passes it when entering or leaving Sydney. I'd done an assignment on the battle in my high school history class and offered my silent thoughts for the men involved every time we went by.

One of the Emden's guns is mounted in Hyde Park near the ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney.

Germany is currently building a new one.

Battlecrusier shaped problems😂

As for the crew who sailed back on a schooner, I can't help but think of the loyalist crew set adrift from HMS Bounty. Although the challenges in making it back home on a schooner vs. a mere small boat launch is a tad bit different but still impressive.

I used to think I was too old for bedtime stories. Then I found this channel. Between Drach's wonderful British accent, understated humor, and the bite size chunks of tasty history, I find myself amused, calmed, and oddly enough, ready for a peaceful night's sleep. Definitely not bored, though. Bless you, sir. :)

In South India.. kerala...new word introduced "yemendan"...from Emden... which means ... something big/powerful/terrific

Loved the bit about the fate of the shore party. sounds like an epic story in itself.

They actually made a film out of the epic voayage home you alluded to. 'Die Männer der Emden' - quite good, in my opinion.

Nice S.H.I.E.L.D. reference on Tahiti

The new KMS Emden video brought me back to this one again. There’s an excellent book called “The Last Cruise of the Emden” about this ship and the shores party’s return home.

A fun listen...From Beginnen to Emden.

"That magical place, Tahiti."

Thay should make a film about the Emden, 10 mins is a good guide to her but the story is great and much much bigger. All respect to the crew that took on the world, Thay even got to use the ships name in there own as a reward.

Cant wait for the story of the shore partv, my step-dad actually got to know (and play skat) with KaLeu von Mücke.

Having read about both the voyage of the Emden and the escape of part of her crew then I would definitely say both events are worth a video each.

There is a book called The Last Corsair which is a fantastic retelling of the Emden story. I believe there was a officer who was put onto one of the prize colliers in charge of its small prize crew, but later was surprised by the Royal Navy and captured and taken to Singapore (not before sabotaging the ships compass and causing the collier to go off course in Singapore harbour and block it when it ran aground). He then escaped from jail in Singapore after causing an indian mutiny and then went to the Dutch east indies, Phillipines (US territory) and Japan (allied territory!) and then via steamer to the west coast of the US (which was neutral), all the time sending post cards back to his old prison camp comandant. He then crossed the US by train whilst telling all and sundry he met the US should join the central powers. In NY he went to the german consulate, got some money and a danish steamer ticket and proceeded to cross the atlantic. He got through the RN blocade of the north sea by being so vommitingly drunk that noone inspected him or his cabin when the ship was searched. He arrived in denmark and caught a train home to Hamburg. THUS, the crew of the Emden went home, BOTH ways around the world!

"Magical place". Love the reference.

Drachinifel uploaded a new vid. Me seeing the name of my hometown, extra excitement kicks in.

What A Lovely Day! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!

I have a knife made out of the hull steel and brass from the first SMS Emden. My father was a WWII Catalina and Sunderland pilot who flew his patrols out of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Cocos Archipelago was part of his patrol area as the islands were administered from Ceylon at the time. The knife is well made with a coconut wood handle and sheath ("1944" inlaid in it) but the steel is too mild to make it a practical knife. The natives of the islands stripped the wreck for decades and SMS Emden material turns up all over the Indian Ocean. I use it as a Sgain Duh in my sock while wearing a kilt. Dad used it to open letters.

The journey of her landing party reminds me of the story of some SEALs left in the arctic who made it back to Norfolk, I believe it's still classified just how they did as I have never heard much more than the salty tale told as legend.

Unable to confirm this - maybe Drachinifel can. I read in an account of the SMS Emden written many years ago, that the ship got in one final victory. The salvaging of SMS Emden cost more than the market value of the scrap.

I don't know how true this is but one of the merchants Emden converted into a commerce raider was named the Kormoran. Ironic to say the least.

There is a book called ‘the last gentleman of war’ (or something like that) the covers Emden’s career. It’s an excellent book and worth the read.

Read the book "The Last Gentlemen of War" interesting career it had. I can see why the British were determined to not allow too many "emden raiders" to run rampant in WW2. Makes you wonder what it'd be like if the East Asia Squadron had more ships on raiding duties and if the German BCs were allowed to do raider warfare. Also interesting the ins and outs of being limited by coal supplies and the variety of quality in coal. At sea re-coaling operations all by hand must have been terrible.

The SMS emden was a good boi

Served on HMAS SYDNEY (IV) in the Gulf War in 1991. The ships "battle honours" of course included "Emden 1914". ( a very rare "single ship" honour) Prior to my joining the ship (just my luck) SYDNEY had done a "World Cruise" during which (and after exercising with the RN) she visited Germany. Unfortunately the German Navy didn't seem share the sense of occasion, and the then EMDEN of the Federal German Navy was NOT in harbour... what a shame.

You earned a thumbs up as usual. If I could, I’d give you a second, for the Agents of SHIELD reference!

I have a German 1000 currency note, Taken aboard this ship. It was given by my grandfather. He was a 15 years old child at the time. He picked it up while floating in the sea. He told me that story before he passed away. I still have it that way. I'm from srilanka 🇱🇰

Thank you. Few photos of damaged Emden , I never seen before....

The emden was essentially the ww1 pirates of the carribean but in the Indian Ocean (so pirates of India?) Hopeful for a video on the crewmen stranded on the beach, the stories of the German pacific square on are wack

For some reason, I don’t associate Tahiti with coal, it just seems an unlikely place to refuel a cruiser.

A good example of what happens when able and bright soldiers are left on their own and not overloaded with orders from embarked armchair commanders. Figuratively speaking, like Adm. Holland sank the Hood before it even got within range of German guns, and Adm. Lütjens sank the Bismarck before the Swordfishes broke its rudder.

I remember seeing a photograph of the ship’s wooden name plate being returned to Germany after the end of the war, supposedly in recognition of her and her crews valiant service. Also weren’t her guns salvaged and used somewhere on the African Continent?

Many thanks for this video. There are only few ships that have such an adventurous story as the Emden and her crew

Nice, a good listen to driving to work

Excellent video!

Love your work.

Been waiting for this one

the last cruise of the Emden is an excellent read.

What a fantastic job you have done on this ship Well done

I so appreciate your work. I enjoy all of your presentations. Thank you.

Been waiting for this! Very happy thankyou 👍👍👍

Wow! Salvaged in the 1950's!! Hope something went to museum's.

Very nicely done.

Great book covering this area of WW1 by Keith Middlemass - Command the Far Seas.

My favorite channel... served aboard the US Coast Guard 255' Owasco Class cutter, CGC Androscoggin. They were built at the end of WWII but were to late to see any action. As built they had a 2nd Amendment armament of twin 5" mounts fore and aft, a couple 40mm, hedgehogs, depth charges and rounded out by the usual 50cals. With a top speed of only 17 knots I see them as more of a coast defense vessel. Any thoughts? The Androscoggin never had the full armament and eventually saw combat in Vietnam where she did shore bombardment and stopping supplies coming from the north.

Ahh Finaly SMS Trolling boot :-D

I remember seeing the Emden's Helm (see 9.00) on display, along with HMAS Sydney's Wheel, at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne. Sydney's is still there, but the Navy repossessed Emden's.

Great summary. Remember reading a book called ‘The cruise of the Emden’ way back in the mists of time. Of course Germany would get some level of revenge in WW2 when the raider Kormoran sank Sydney’s namesake HMAS Sydney, not actually that far (in terms of a global naval battlefield) from the scene of this action.