SMS Cormoran (1914)

SMS Cormoran
History
Russian Empire
Name	Ryazan
Namesake	Ryazan
Builder	Schichau Yard at Elbing
Launched	1909
Out of service	4 August 1914
Fate	Captured by SMS Emden
German Empire
Name	SMS Cormoran aka SMS Cormoran II
Namesake	SMS Cormoran I
Acquired	4 August 1914
Commissioned	10 August 1914 as SMS Cormoran II
Fate	Scuttled at Apra Harbor, Guam on 7 April 1917
General characteristics
Displacement	3,500 t (3,400 long tons)
Speed	17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Armament	8 ×10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns
SMS Cormoran
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Apra Harbor
Nearest city	Piti, Guam[2]
Coordinates	13°27′33″N 144°39′15″E / 13.45917°N 144.65417°E / 13.45917; 144.65417
Area	0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built	1909[2]
NRHP reference No.	75002156[1]
Added to NRHP	April 4, 1975

Wreck of SMS Cormoran
National Park Service illustration of the position of the Cormoran and Tokai Maru wrecks. The drive shaft of Cormoran lies closest to the bottom of the Tokai
Dive type	Open-water, Deep, Wreck
Depth range	80 to 120 ft (24 to 37 m)
Average visibility	25 to 40 ft (7.6 to 12.2 m)
Entry type	Boat, very rarely shore
Bottom composition	Metal, silt
Nearby sites	Tokai Maru

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.