ON April 7, Guam will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the scuttling of the SMS Cormoran, a press release said.
The commemoration festivities will include a wreath laying ceremony at sea over the site of the SMS Cormoran lies in Guam’s Apra Harbor, a second wreath laying ceremony at the U.S. Naval Cemetery in Hagatña, and a two-week series of lectures and an exhibit, both to be held at the T. Stell Newman Visitor Center in Piti.
The SMS Cormoran became part of Guam’s history by sailing in to Apra Harbor on Dec. 14, 1914 after months of avoiding large Japanese battleships that had chased her throughout the Pacific. The crew of the SMS Cormoran quickly became members of the island community when the Guam military governor refused to supply the vessel with enough coal to leave. The crew remained on Guam for the next two and a half years.
Everything changed on April 7, 1917, following the outbreak of war with Germany. Despite good relations between Guam and the crew, then Gov. Roy C. Smith received orders to demand the immediate surrender of the German vessel. While enroute to the SMS Cormoran to deliver the message, the Americans came upon the SMS Cormoran’s supply boat enroute for shore. After failing to acknowledge an order to stop, Cpl. Michael B. Chockie, USMC, fired over the bow of the boat, marking the first shot fired by Americans in World War I.
Capt. Adalbert Zuckschwerdt responded to the governor’s demand by offering to surrender his crew, but not the ship, and requested a written response from Governor Smith. While returning to shore to relay Zuckschwerdt’s reply, the American soldiers felt and heard a huge rumble in the sea. Rather than surrender the vessel to the Americans, Zuckschwerdt had decided to scuttle the SMS Cormoran instead.
The majority of the 353 crewmembers, including the captain, made it safely off the SMS Cormoran in the four minutes it took her to sink to the bottom of Apra Harbor. Sadly, seven crewmembers went down with the ship and while six were given burials with full military honors in the Naval cemetery in Hagåtña, Guam’s capitol, the body of the seventh sailor was never recovered.
On July 24, 1974, the SMS Cormoran was listed on the Guam Register of Historic Places. On April 4, 1975, she was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1983, the National Park Service Resource Unit, along with the U.S. Navy and War in the Pacific National Historical Park staff, conducted surveys of the SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru, which lies beside her. From their survey, a sketch was produced illustrating the positions of the two ships.
The SMS Cormoran’s position next to the Tokai Maru has made the two vessels one of the most popular diving spots in the world. The Japanese passenger-cargo freighter Tokai Maru, which sank during World War II, and the SMS Cormoran, scuttled at the start of World War I, mark the only location in the world where ships from two world wars lay side by side.