Early Service
The Emden was launched at Danzig on 26 May 1908, she was commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine on 10 July 1909. She was named after the German city of Emden, which sponsored the warship. Armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns, she was the last German cruiser to use reciprocating engines. Emden's sister ship SMS Dresden and all subsequent cruisers were equipped with steam turbines. As with most ships of the time, Emden's twelve boilers were heated by burning coal.
On 1 April 1910, the Emden officially entered the fleet and was assigned to the East Asian Station at Tsingtao in Germany's Chinese Kiautschou colony. Emden left Kiel on 12 April 1910, transited the Kiel Canal, and entered the open sea. She was never to see German home waters again. At Tsingtao she acquired the nickname "Swan of the East" because of her graceful lines.
Emden saw her first action suppressing the Sokehs Rebellion in the German Caroline Islands in January 1911. Together with the light cruiser SMS Nürnberg, she shelled rebel fortifications with her main battery, then sent an armed landing party ashore to capture the stronghold.
In May 1913, Emden received her last commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Karl von Müller. The chivalry of Captain von Müller during his command would earn him the respect of both friend and foe. An enigmatic and quiet man, Müller suffered from recurring attacks of malaria, which killed him less than five years after the war.
During the Second Chinese Revolution, Müller was ordered to take the Emden to put down a revolt by the Chinese along the Yangtze River. In August 1913, she joined several British and Japanese warships on the Yangtze River and shelled a rebel fort into submission on 13 August.
Read more about this topic: SMS Emden (1908)
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