After the American Capture of Guam in 1898, Sumay continued its existence as an economically important village in a strategic location on the island. On August 7, 1899, a Naval Governorship was established. with a military presence at Sumay.) The Marine Barracks Guam was formally established at Sumay in 1901. In 1903, the Commercial Pacific Cable Company laid submarine communications cable for telegraph through a station at Sumay, linking the United States to Asia, and each to Guam, for the first time. On April 7, 1917, Marines from Sumay fired warning shots at a launch from SMS "Cormoran", a German merchant raider that had been held in Apra Harbor for two years. Upon being informed that a state of war existed and that "Cormoran" would be confiscated, her crew scuttled her, resulting in seven deaths. This incident was the first violent action of the United States in World War I, first shots fired by the U.S. against Germany in WWI, the first German prisoners of war captured by the U.S., and the first Germans killed in action by the U.S. in WWI