page_title: SMS Cormoran (1892)
section_title: Second deployment to the Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: SMS Cormoran (1892) / Service history / Second deployment to the Pacific
caption_attribution_description: English: Cormoran (ship)
context_page_description: SMS Cormoran was an unprotected cruiser of the Bussard class, the fifth member of a class of six ships. She was built for the Imperial German Navy for overseas duty. The cruiser's keel was laid down in Danzig in 1890; she was launched in May 1892 and commissioned in July 1893. Cormoran was armed with a main battery of eight 10.5-centimeter guns, and could steam at a speed of 15.5 knots.
  Cormoran spent the majority of her career abroad, usually in Germany's South Pacific colonies in the Samoan Islands. Her duties there typically consisted of survey work and suppressing colonial unrest. She briefly cruised in South African waters in late 1894 and early 1895 before steaming to the Pacific. She participated in the seizure of the Kiautschou Bay concession in the Shandong Peninsula in China in 1897. Cormoran returned to Germany in 1903 and was modernized in 1907–08. The following year, she returned to the South Pacific, where she remained until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. Docked in Tsingtau for repairs at the onset of hostilities, she was unable to actively take part in the fighting.
context_section_description: While in Malta on 8 June 1909, she received orders to proceed to Asia Minor, where unrest in Turkey and violence against Armenians was prompting German intervention. She joined the cruisers Stettin and Lübeck, and took on some 300 Armenians to protect them from harassment. On 9 July, while moored in Port Said, she received the order to resume her voyage to the Pacific. Cormoran was forced to stop in Jeddah for repairs to her boilers. After reaching the Pacific, she began coastal survey work, and her landing party led a punitive expedition against cannibals in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. On 3 November, she took part in a flag raising ceremony in Blanche Bay commemorating the German possession of New Pomerania. Three days later, her crew participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for a Bismarck tower in Toma, a town southwest of the capital, Herbertshöhe.
  On 13 November, Cormoran embarked the governor in Herbertshöhe, and went first to Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen, then to Hansa-Hafen, and then to the Kaiserin-Augusta River. The cruiser steamed 183 nautical miles (339 km; 211 mi) up the river before being ordered to reverse course. By 22 November, she had reached the mouth of the river, and by 8 January 1910, she had moored in Apia once again. She participated in the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of the German annexation of the islands, which lasted from 28 February to 3 March. While on a trip to Hong Kong, she was caught in a hurricane, which did significant damage to the cruiser. Her sides were slightly pushed in and all of her boats were damaged by the storm. Temporary repairs were effected in Nouméa in New Caledonia. Cormoran finally arrived in Hong Kong on 3 May; by 15 July, she had returned to Apia. She was thereafter joined by her sister Condor, the armored cruiser Scharnhorst and the light cruisers Emden and Nürnberg from the East Asia Squadron. The five ships cruised together until, on 13 December while in Rabaul, they were ordered to proceed to Ponape to suppress the Sokehs Rebellion. They arrived on 19 December and operated in the area until 22 February, with Cormoran, Emden and Nürnberg landing shore parties in support of Polizei-Soldaten (a force of police officers) deployed from German New Guinea.
  On 23 March, Cormoran returned to Sydney for yet another annual overhaul. Afterward, she resumed her typical cruising duties in the German Pacific colonies. In September, she and the steamer Planet pulled free the Norwegian barque Fram, which had run aground. She received another major overhaul in Tsingtau in May 1912, which was followed by surveying cruises in the German colonies. She did not return to Apia until 10 January 1913. Cormoran was reclassified as a gunboat on 24 February 1913 by order of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office). From 4 June to 5 July, she underwent repairs in Sydney. She was then obliged to stop in Bougainville due to tribal feuds on the island. She landed her shore party to assist the Polizeitruppen in suppressing the conflict. She departed for Tsingtau for further repair work in early 1914, arriving on 30 May.
  As the political situation in Europe worsened in July 1914, the senior officer in Tsingtau at the time, Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain) Karl von Müller, the commander of Emden, ordered the repair work to Cormoran to be accelerated. After the outbreak of war in early August, Emden captured the Russian steamer Ryazan and brought her back to Tsingtau. Since Cormoran was still out of service, she was decommissioned and her crew was used to man Ryazan, which was commissioned as the auxiliary cruiser Cormoran. Men from the gunboats Iltis and Vaterland, along with some war volunteers, joined them aboard the new auxiliary cruiser. Much of her weaponry was removed to strengthen the shore defenses at Tsingtau on 6 August 1914 to protect the concession from British attack. She was scuttled in the harbor on the night of 28–29 September 1914 by the staff of the Imperial Dockyard to prevent her from being captured.
caption: Cormoran in drydock in Sydney
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