SMS Cormoran
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | SMS Cormoran | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | cargo ship, merchant raider | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Imperial German Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War I | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Philippine Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Guam | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 3 km from land |
| Position | 13.4592, 144.6542 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SMS Cormoran or SMS Cormoran II was a German armed merchant raider that was originally a German-built Russian merchant vessel named Ryazan. The ship was active in the Pacific Ocean during World War I. Built in 1909, she was captured by the German light cruiser SMS Emden on 4 August 1914 and converted into a raider at the German colony Kiautschou. She was forced to seek port at Apra Harbor on the US territory of Guam on 10 December 1914. The United States, then declared neutral in the war, refused to supply provisions sufficient for Cormoran to make a German port. After the US declaration of war on April 6, 1917, the Naval Governor of Guam informed Cormoran that she would be seized as a hostile combatant, prompting her crew to scuttle her.
Diving & visiting
The wreck of the Cormoran II rests 110 ft (34 m) below the surface on her starboard side. A Japanese cargo ship, the Tokai Maru, sunk by the submarine USS Snapper on August 27, 1943, leans against her screw. The wreck is one of the few places where a World War I shipwreck lies next to a ship from World War II.
In 1974, the Cormoran monument in the Naval Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In 1975, the wreck itself was placed on the NRHP because of her association with World War I. The National Park Service conducted surveys in 1983 of the SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru, publishing maps of the two ships' positions.
Location
- Recorded position: 13.4592, 144.6542 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Philippine Sea
- Nearest coast: Guam
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SMS Cormoran (1914) (revision 1372505492), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck and commemorations”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Tokai Maru 1943 · 0 km
- Kitsugawa Maru 1944 · 0 km
- RMS Caronia 1974 · 3 km
Other wrecks of the World War I
- HMS Aboukir 1914
- HMS Bulwark 1914
- HMS Cressy 1914
- HMS Good Hope 1914
- HMS Hawke 1914
- HMS Niger 1914
- HMS Pathfinder 1914
- SM U-11 1914
- SM U-13 1914
- SMS Emden 1914
All 163 wrecks of the World War I →
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Guam · Philippine Sea