Fleet Ledger

Naval wars from the age of sail to the present day

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Battle of Cocos

Battle of Cocos

9 November 1914, Direction Island and North Keeling, Cocos Islands

Australian victory

Emden landed a party to wreck the cable and wireless station on Direction Island, but the station got off a warning. HMAS Sydney, escorting a troop convoy nearby, arrived within hours, outgunned Emden and drove her ashore on North Keeling. The landing party escaped in a schooner and eventually got home through Arabia.

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Imperial War Museum Galleries at the Crystal Palace, 1920-1924 A Japanese poster depicting the fight between the British light cruiser HMS Sydney and the German Raider Emden. In the IWM, Crystal Palace. Image: Horace Nicholls, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Imperial German Navy

1 ship, 1 lost

ShipTypeOutcome
SMS Emden

Run aground on North Keeling

Light cruiser

Wrecked

Royal Australian Navy

1 ship, none lost

ShipTypeOutcome
HMAS Sydney

Light cruiser

Town class

Survived

Map

  • Emden's Indian Ocean raid August – November 1914

  • Sydney and the first ANZAC convoy 1–9 November 1914