German East Asia Squadron
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Ostasiengeschwader) was a German Navy
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
squadron
Squadron (naval)
A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...
which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
between the 1870s and 1914. It was Germany's only major "blue water" or overseas naval formation independent of home ports in Germany.
Historical background
The Treaty of Peking of September 1861 between the kingdom of PrussiaKingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and the Chinese Empire
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
allowed Prussian warships to operate in Chinese waters. As the Far East grew in economic and political importance to the recently united Germany, in 1881 a flying squadron was formed for the area under the command of a flag officer. Since African colonies were then seen as of greater value, an African Cruiser Squadron was established in 1885 with permanent status, and shortly thereafter the Imperial Navy reduced the East Asia presence to two small gunboats. The African Cruiser Squadron itself returned to Germany for deactivation at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
in 1893.
Operations in China
With the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese WarFirst Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...
in 1894, Germany revived her interest in China. With full support from Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German admiralty created a Far East Cruiser Division with the modern light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
SMS Irene
SMS Irene
SMS Irene was a protected cruiser or Kreuzerkorvette of the Kaiserliche Marine launched on 23 July 1887 from the Vulcan Shipyard in Stettin, Germany . The cruiser was named after Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, sister-in-law of Kaiser Wilhem II...
and three aging small ships under the command of Rear Admiral Paul Hoffmann
Paul Hoffmann (German naval officer)
Paul Hoffmann was an officer of the Imperial German Navy , who rose to the rank of vice-admiral.In 1889 he was captain of the SMS Kaiser, the lead ship of the Kaiser-class armored frigates commissioned on 13 February 1875...
. "His orders directed him to protect German interests and to examine possible sites for a German base in China." Hoffmann found his ships lacking for the job and petitioned the admiralty for replacements of the three aging ships. His request was granted and the armored frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
SMS Kaiser
SMS Kaiser (1875)
SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the s; was her sister ship. Named for the title "Kaiser" , held by the leader of the then newly created German Empire, the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1871. The ship was launched in March 1874 and commissioned into the German...
, the light cruiser SMS Prinzess Wilhelm and the small cruiser SMS Cormoran were sent. But without a base, Hoffmann depended on the British at Hong Kong, the Chinese at Shanghai and the Japanese at Nagasaki for technical and logistical support of his ships. Wilhelm II, his chancellor, foreign minister and the naval secretary all saw the need for a base in the Far East; the German ambassador to China complained "... our ships cannot swim about here forever like homeless waifs."
Rear Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
replaced Hoffmann in June 1896 with orders to find a site for a base and to evaluate four potential locales on the Chinese coast. Although Tirpitz favored the bay at Kiautschou
Jiaozhou Bay concession
The Kiautschou Bay concession was a German colonial concession in Imperial China which existed from 1898 to 1914. It had an area of 552 km², it was located around Jiaozhou Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, which lay in the imperial province of Shandong in northern China.Jiaozhou...
, others in the government advocated for other sites, even Tirpitz wavered on his commitment in his final report. Tirpitz was recalled by Wilhelm II, and after he returned to Berlin he lost interest in East Asia: he was now developing a battle fleet.
Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs
Otto von Diederichs
Ernst Otto von Diederichs was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy, serving in the predecessor Prussian Navy and the Navy of the North German Confederation.-Education, war and peace:Diederichs entered the Prussian...
succeeded Tirpitz as commander of the Cruiser Division. Although the navy had not yet committed to a specific site for a base due to high-level indecision, Diederichs asserted "Kiautschou alone is the goal of my efforts."
Base at Tsingtao
German offers to buy the site were refused, but the murder of two German missionaries on 1 November 1897 provided the casus for Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs to land troops on 14 November 1897. The imperial navy had a rather tenuous hold on Kiautschou until the region was reinforced by the arrival of the protected cruiserProtected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
SMS Kaiserin Augusta
SMS Kaiserin Augusta
SMS Kaiserin Augusta was a unique protected cruiser, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1890s. She was laid down in 1890, launched in January 1892, and completed in November of that year. Owing to budgetary restrictions, Kaiserin Augusta was designed to fill both fleet scout and...
and in January 1898 the marines of the Seebatallion
Seebatallione
The Seebatallione [sea battalions] were naval infantry troops or marines serving in the Prussian navy, the navy of the North German Confederation, the Imperial German Navy, the Wehrmacht, and briefly in the modern Federal German Navy, the Bundesmarine....
disembarked to form the garrison for Tsingtao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
.
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
of the territory began in earnest. A naval base with a supporting, neighboring infrastructure was then built at the impoverished fishing village of Tsingtao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
(now Qingdao) to create the Ostasiatische Station [East Asian Station] of the Imperial Navy.
Von Diederichs was recalled to Berlin in 1899 to serve as chief of the admiralty staff; he was succeeded at Tsingtao by Rear Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia
Prince Heinrich of Prussia
Prince Henry of Prussia was a younger brother of German Emperor William II and a Prince of Prussia...
. A series of other commanders of the East Asia Cruiser Squadron followed: Rear Admirals Curt von Prittwitz, Felix von Bendemann
Felix von Bendemann
Felix von Bendemann was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy .Bendemann was born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony. He was the son of the painter Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann and Lida Schadow, who was the daughter of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow...
, Carl Coerper, Friedrich von Ingenohl
Friedrich von Ingenohl
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Friedrich von Ingenohl was a German admiral from Neuwied best known for his command of the German High Seas Fleet at the beginning of World War I....
, Erich Gühler, Günther von Krosigk, and the fleet’s last commanding officer Count Maximilian von Spee
Maximilian von Spee
Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee was a German admiral. Although he was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the counts von Spee belonged to the prominent families of the Rhenish nobility. He joined the Kaiserliche Marine in 1878. In 1887–88 he commanded the Kamerun ports, in German West...
. In these years a broad replacement and upgrade program provided for the assignment of modern ships to Tsingtao.
Boxer Rebellion
SMS Irene
SMS Irene was a protected cruiser or Kreuzerkorvette of the Kaiserliche Marine launched on 23 July 1887 from the Vulcan Shipyard in Stettin, Germany . The cruiser was named after Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, sister-in-law of Kaiser Wilhem II...
, and then the SMS Hertha
SMS Hertha
Seiner Majestät Schiff Hertha was a protected cruiser of the Victoria Louise class, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th Century. Hertha was the first ship of the class laid down, in October 1895, and also the first completed, in July 1898...
. When Bendemann took command of the East Asia Squadron, he found it unprepared for the challenges presented by the brewing Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
. He actually had to borrow charts from the Russians and maps from the British in order to operate in the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
. Nevertheless, he forcefully advanced the idea of taking the Taku Forts and the ships under his command were able to make a noteworthy contribution in the Battle of Taku Forts (1900). On 8 June 1900 he brought the large cruisers SMS Hansa
SMS Hansa (1898)
Seiner Majestät Schiff Hansa was a German Victoria Louise class protected cruiser launched from Stettiner Maschinenbau AG Vulcan shipyard in 1898 for service in the Kaiserliche Marine...
, SMS Hertha and the small cruisers SMS Gefion
SMS Gefion
SMS Gefion was a light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine launched in 1893. The cruiser was named after Gefjon of Norse mythology. Under the 1891 naval regulations she was classified as a corvette-cruiser, but in 1899 was reclassified to light cruiser...
and SMS Irene before the Taku Fort (together with warships of other nations) to land detachments of Marines (Seebatallione
Seebatallione
The Seebatallione [sea battalions] were naval infantry troops or marines serving in the Prussian navy, the navy of the North German Confederation, the Imperial German Navy, the Wehrmacht, and briefly in the modern Federal German Navy, the Bundesmarine....
) for the protection of their citizens in Tientsin.
Lieutenant Otto Weniger, commander of the SMS Gefion then became commander of a landing corps of 500 Marines, which took part in the failed Seymour Relief Expedition for the relief of the Peking delegations later in June.
World War I
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in August 1914, the East Asia Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Count Spee was at sea, and outnumbered by Allied navies in the region. Spee was especially wary of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
and the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
— in fact he described the latter's flagship, the battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
as being superior to his entire force by itself. The German squadron, consisting of the armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
s and and the light cruisers , and headed towards the eastern Pacific; the light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
was to engage in a raiding campaign in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
Raids by Emden
The Emden disrupted trade throughout the Indian Ocean, intercepting 29 ships and sinking those belonging to Britain or its allies. At the Battle of PenangBattle of Penang
The Battle of Penang occurred on 28 October 1914, during World War I. It was a naval action in the Strait of Malacca, in which the German cruiser sank two Allied warships.-Background:...
she sank the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
and the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
Mousquet, catching the Russian ship by surprise while in harbour. At Madras she destroyed oil storage facilities through shelling. The ship finally met its end on 9 November 1914 after a prolonged struggle with HMAS Sydney at the Battle of Cocos
Battle of Cocos
The Battle of Cocos took place on 9 November 1914 during the First World War off the Cocos Islands, in the north east Indian Ocean. The German light cruiser attacked the British cable station on Direction Island and was engaged several hours later by the Australian light cruiser...
.
Transiting the Pacific
Pohnpei
Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...
in the Carolines. The fleet then rendezvoused at Pagan Island
Pagan Island
Pagan is an island of the Northern Mariana Islands chain,located at , approximately 320 kilometers northof Saipan.Pagan has an area of 47.23 km² , making it the fourth largest island of the Northern Marianas, and consists of two stratovolcanoes joined by a narrow strip of land.The...
in the northern Marianas – the commanders planning the logistics of their long journey to Germany, with the ships coaling. The light cruiser Nürnberg was dispatched to Honolulu in the United States Territory of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
to gather war news since all German undersea cables through British controlled areas were cut. Admiral von Spee headed for German Samoa
German Samoa
German Samoa was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1914, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state Samoa, formerly Western Samoa...
with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, then east, raiding Papeete
Bombardment of Papeete
The Bombardment of Papeete occurred in French Polynesia when German warships attacked on 22 September 1914, during World War I. The German armoured cruisers and entered the port of Papeete on the island of Tahiti and sank the French gunboat and freighter Walkure before bombarding the town's...
in French Polynesia. The East Asia Squadron coaled at Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
from colliers that had been on station throughout the Pacific. Realizing that Allied activity in the Pacific had increased to such a level that he was vastly outnumbered and losing the element of surprise, Admiral von Spee decided to move his fleet around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
into the Atlantic and force his way north. The main body of the squadron engaged the British West Indies Squadron on 1 November 1914 at the Battle of Coronel
Battle of Coronel
The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...
, sinking and . It was while attempting to return home via the Atlantic that most of the squadron was destroyed on 8 December 1914 in the Battle of the Falkland Islands
Battle of the Falkland Islands
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...
by a superior British force of battlecruisers and cruisers. SMS Dresden and a few auxiliary vessels escaped destruction and fled back to the Pacific Ocean where the auxiliaries were interned at Chilean ports and Dresden was scuttled at the Battle of Mas a Tierra
Battle of Más a Tierra
The Battle of Más a Tierra was a First World War battle fought on 14 March 1915, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra, between a British squadron and a German light cruiser...
.
The four small gunboats Iltis, Jaguar, Tiger, Luchs and the torpedo boat S-90 of the East Asia Squadron that had been left at Tsingtao were scuttled by their crews just prior to the capture of the base by Japan in November 1914 during the Siege of Tsingtao.