On the outset of the First World War the German colonies in the Pacific came under immediate threat of invasion and attack by the Allies (and Japan when they joined the war).

These colonies had little in the way of military defences and relied fully on the Ostasiengeschwader

Vizadmiral von Spee's cruiser squadron, based at Tsingtao, was the nominal force for policing this area however the admiral knew that he had to preserve his force and would not be able to defend the colonies from attack especially as HMAS Australia was far superior to his fleet

von Spee elected to quit the theatre but that's another story.

There was a sub section of his squadron which had the grand title of the Australian station which, in August 1914 consisted of two Bussard class gun boats (formerly unprotected cruisers) SMS Cormoran and SMS Geier

The Bussard class were exceptionally obsolete and were slowly being phased out of circulation with Geier sailing to replace her sister Condor on the station in July 1914 for decommissioning. The long term aim was to replace them with Gazelle or Berlin class light cruisers

SMS Geier left Dar-es-Salaam where she'd been part of the Schutztruppe after relief by the Konigsberg in July & whilst in Singapore learned of the heightening tensions back in Europe. Her Captain, Grasshoff, didn't want to be caught in a British port & left for the Gasper Strait

The Geier was not in a good way and was in need of serious maintenance and refit but this was looking unlikely. Grasshoff steered away from Tsingtau knowing that the British would intercept him if he made a straight line course.

Interestingly Intelligence reached Admiral Jerram at Hong Kong that it was the Armoured cruiser Gneisenau which fled Singapore rather than the Geier.

Geier met with the collier Bochum which became indispensable to her

When von Spee's message for all German flagged vessels to join him at Pagan Island came through the Geier made course for there but never made it. Instead she met with the light Cruiser Emden and on 20/8/14 after a couple of failed meetings Grasshoff met KzS Muller

Geier would be no use to his campaign & wouldn't be able to join or keep up with von Spee so Muller ordered his subordinate to take his ship to the island of Yap & along with the crew of SMS Planet (a survey ship) defend it as long as she could or arm Planet as a commerce raider

It was soon realised that Geier would not get to Yap as hoped and so the idea was scrapped with Geier becoming a lone raider for as long as possible in the south seas. Geier turned for Anguar where Bocum was replaced with the Loksun and Tsingtao to supply her.

Tsingtao carried low quality coal and had a problem with her water condensers meaning that the Geier had to keep stopping to ferry fresh water over for the crew whilst the Loksun scouted ahead for the Majuro Atoll.

On 4/9/14 the SS Southport was boarded by men of the Geier who disabled the vessel. It was only saved from scuttling as Captain Cloppet did not know war existed between the two countries. Geier's men threw repair tools overboard & impressed on the nearest island's native chief...

that he was to assist & feed the crew whilst Geier escaped. Southport's engineer, Cox, however managed to get the engines running though in a very flimsy way & with 350lbs of coconuts & 400lbs of roots from the island they set off arriving in Sydney 2000 miles away on 30/9/14

With coal and other supplies running out and Loksun towing Geier to save coal, Grasshoff's hope to get to San Francisco to intern was looking bleak & it seemed inevitable that they would be caught by the Allies in open water.

On 15 October Geier and Loksun arrived at Honolulu. Due to her many needs and the anti British feeling on the island the usual 24 hours was extended to two weeks!

at 23:30 on 23/10/14 the USCRS Thetis spotted two steam launches acting strangely & fired a warning shot at them as they disappeared into the dark. The next morning as the sun raised HIJMS Hizen & Asama were seen laying off the island having caught the German schooner Aeolus

On several occaisions the Japanese violated US territorial waters harassing German shipping with Thetis chasing them off each time. One ship, Hermes was attacked & boarded with the flag ripped down. Capt. Schmidt protested & put the flag back up just as Thetis arrived

In an interview with local press the Hizen's captain claimed to be waiting for Geier to leave port and would remain until she did. With Japanese incursions still ongoing two more launches were sent from Pearl Harbour.

With pressure building & with all the neutral shipping in the region Grasshoff knew he didn't stand a chance & it'd disrupt local shipping if he even attempted to leave. He pleaded for internment which satisfied all three parties and on 8/11/14 the ship was officially interned

I'll follow up with the Cormoran's war tomorrow...

The Geier's older sister Cormoran had been laid up in Tsingtau harbour having engine repairs when the war commenced. As the port struggled to get as many vessels seaworthy as possible the men of Cormoran worked round the clock but to no avail.

KzS Muller of Emden, the ranking officer in port ordered that the guns and crew be redeployed to another vessel for merchant raiding and Kapitan Zuckschwerdt took over the Russian ship Ryazan which Emden had captured on the opening days of the war.

At the same time Korvettenkapitan Max Thierichens was taking command of the liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich which was being armed with guns from the Iltis class gunboats Tiger & Luchs

Both vessels escaped before the blockade sealed Tsingtau and both made it to Pagan island to meet with von Spee. The Admiral wanted the two auxiliary vessels and Emden to cause a distraction & harass shipping so that his cruisers could escape & prioritise the coal for them.

Thierichens and Zuckschwerdt set out with the collier Mark & on the outset tried to come up with a plan of action deciding to avoid the Dutch East indies & even German colonies due to the high amount of Allied Warships. They planned to head for the coast of Australia instead.

The big issues were; by which route and what about coal? They took the Northern track where there were plenty of secluded bays for resupply & von Spee told them Emden & Nurnberg had organised colliers along the way - they just needed to find them!

The wireless waves were thick with messages from the Japanese searching for the Admiral and the Australians to the south searching for them. With the Mark heading to resupply from the Dutch East Indies a new plan had to be hatched.

Wireless messages from the hidden German station at Rabhaul could be heard & it was decided the two ships should head that way even if it was to just resupply.

Zuckschwerdt believed that sailing into Rabhaul harbour would gift the Allies with intelligence that they were on the lose and decided to head for Kaveieng where the Governor's launch SMS Komet could resupply them in ferry trips. (Zuckschwerdt pictured during WW2)

Thierichens was to take Prinz Eitel Friedrich a different way to increase the chance that at least one of them would get away rather than getting caught together.

On arrival at Kaveieng Dr Steubal, the local authority, thought it was a ruse and sent his chief of Police to meet the crew whilst he watched through field glasses. When the all clear was signaled he arrived and told Zuckschwerdt all the news he had.

The Geier had been seen under tow heading east, the Australians had assaulted Rabaul on 12/8, the Komet (now commissioned into the German Navy) was hiding in a coastal bay to the north called Komethafen & the Planet was still at Yap with KK Collmann's men defending the island

After resupply of food and livestock the Cormoran left port to meet the Mark (which was hiding) at Celebes and to see if they could get more supply ships & hopefully contact Thierichens.

Thierichens arrived from Limbe with news that all trade ships were being redirected to Colombo to avoid the Konigsberg and Emden, news of the war in Europe and the Dutch strictly interning vessels & resupply ships.

The window of opportunity was closing on them.

They headed for the Dutch islands in the hope of finding any German flagged ships that would help especially as Cormoran only had 900 tons of coal left. With the Dutch moving them on, the Allies getting closer on the wireless & a night of Japanese Torpedo boats chasing them...

A final plan of desperation was made. A collier had to be at Yap or Anguar so it was decided to split again with Zuckschwerdt heading for Yap and Thierichens heading for Anguar. Cormoran would then signal Batavia & Manila for a collier then meet Prinz Eitel Friedrich at Sturm Is.

It was the last time the two ships would be together...

On arriving at Yap Collmann came aboard to report the W/T tower had been destroyed by the RN but they had boosted Planet's radio to 300nmi. They had seen few supply ships. Still a message was sent but the response was bleak - nothing was available.

Even worse the Australians were occupying New Guinea and Thierichens was sailing straight towards them at Alexis Harbour with no way to warn him.
Zuckschwerdt took 165 tons of coal from the Planet and headed out to save his colleague

On 23/9/14 Cormaran nosed cautiously into Alexis Harbour with men lining the decks spotting. Someone rowed out from the local Catholic mission to say that the Australians weren't there and neither was Thierichens or colliers.

Zuckschwerdt pulled his ship into a secluded inlet in the harbour called Bostrem bay and used the jungle foliage to hide his vessel with lookouts posted in the trees and hope that the local Commissioner could forward any collier that might appear to him.

On 24/9/14 the HMAS Encounter, French cruiser Montcalm and AMC Berrima moved into view. Encounter passed Cormoran at 100 metres distance and the Cormoran began firing her engines.

Zuckschwerdt ordered riflemen ashore and heavy machine guns to be deployed to sweep the decks should it come to a fight & Cormoran shifted on her access bringing her four guns to bear on the inlet entrance but the Australians had left

A daring plan was hatched to catch the Australian invaders in camp with a force of armed sailors and what troops were available on the land but it depended on where the Australian navy was.

More bad news came with Dr Gebhard (the commissioner) reporting the Australian army was twice the size he thought it was & the Navy would return in the morning. Zuckschwerdt decided to head for Yap again and they left 2 hours before the Australians returned.

Thierichens had been relatively lucky & had found the Komet and gained 250 tons of coal from her and a further 2750 tons from other vessels. He decided that the colonies were to dangerous & with sizable bunkers full of coal the best option was to follow von Spee so they went east

Zuckschwerdt tried to signal Thierichens to convince him to come back or share his coal but was met by atmospheric bounce. News reached him that a collier would be at Yap though and Zuckschwerdt sent out a message only for HMAS Australia to answer from 200 miles away

On arriving at Yap yet another plan was made in the belief that the Allies were searching in the north & west for him & Emden leaving New Guinea undefended so they could go back and cause havoc. The coal, equipment, crew & 2 3.7cm guns were moved from Planet to Cormoran

They finally caught Thierichens on the radio but he was 1150 miles away but comms were severed by the Australia.

The journey to Guinea was awful with overcrowding & poor weather and on arrival found 3 Allied warships including the Montcalm. Zuckschwerdt turned back for Yap

After a fruitless attempt to resupply fro Maron Island they arrived at Yap on 8/10 only to find it under Japanese control and the Satsuma approaching them. Cormoran turned and fled into the night and storms. With no other options Zuckschwerdt had to look at internment.

Cormoran headed to Lamotrek Lagoon & set up a base whilst Lt Frank, two officers and some natives took the cutter Ocean Comber to Guam (350 miles away) in the hope they could land & use the W/T to summon help in an incognito manner. Weeks passed with no news of Frank.

After hoping to capture a passing Japanese vessel news reached Zuckschwerdt that the Japanese had set up a base at Truk and were landing on all the vessels. It was time to make a break for it yet again having told the locals he was heading for Manila.

on 8/12/14 Cormoran arrived at Guam with only 50 tons of coal left. They requested the allowed amount of enough coal to get to the nearest German colony of 1500 tons & food supplies (German East Africa) but that was more coal than they had on the island.

They also found the Ocean Comber's crew all interned including Lt Hans Muller who had told the Americans he was the German High commissioner to Papua & demanded a boat to Manilla but the story fell through before a boat could be organised.

The Cormoran was disabled with only 200t of coal left aboard for heating purposes & the crew (who outnumbered the locals) were allowed limited shore leave. Soon the Japanese cruiser Iwate arrived to verify she was disabled.

I won't go into their time in internment (or Geier's) that's for another day altogether... though in passing here is Zuckschwerdt and his officers during their internment

One last lose end... The Komet.

She arrived at Komethafen on the 4/10 & went back into seclusion and awaited further orders.

The Australians pointed out to Acting Governor Haber that the surrender documents of 17/9 meant the yacht should be handed over but Haber pointed out he had no control over Navy vessels

Col. Holmes armed the steam tender Nusa (below) with a 12 pounder gun & took an interpreter & guide and started combing the coves. On 11/10/14 they caught Komet at anchor & boarded without firing a shot taking the crew & Captain (who was reportedly shaving) prisoner.

Nusa stayed in the Australian Navy as did Komet albeit renamed HMAS Una.