page_title: Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I
section_title: The scuttling of SMS Cormoran at Guam
hierarchical_section_title: Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I / German naval actions / The scuttling of SMS Cormoran at Guam
caption_attribution_description: English: The German merchant raider SMS Cormoran, ex Rjäsan. Deutsch: Der deutsche Hilfskreuzer SMS Cormoran, ex Rjäsan, in Guam.
context_page_description: The Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I consisted of various naval battles and the Allied conquest of German colonial possessions in the Pacific Ocean and China. The most significant military action was the careful and well-executed Siege of Tsingtao in China, but smaller actions were also fought at Bita Paka and Toma in German New Guinea.
  All other German and Austrian possessions in Asia and the Pacific fell without bloodshed. Naval warfare was common; all of the colonial powers had naval squadrons stationed in the Indian or Pacific Oceans. These fleets operated by supporting the invasions of German-held territories and by destroying the East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy.
context_section_description: The United States was involved in at least one hostile encounter with Germans in the Pacific during World War I. On April 7, 1917, the SMS Cormoran was scuttled in Apra Harbor, Guam to prevent her capture by the auxiliary cruiser USS Supply. The Americans fired their first shots of the war at the Germans as they attempted to sink their ship. Ultimately the Germans succeeded in scuttling the Cormoran with a loss of nine men dead.
caption: SMS Cormoran
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