The Battle of Penang occurred on 28 October 1914, during World War I. It was a naval action in the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula ( Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, conn ...

, in which the German

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

sank two Allied warships.

Background

At the time,

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

was part of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

, a British

Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...

. Penang is an island off the west coast of Malaya, now the present day

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...

. It is only a short distance from the mainland. The main town of Penang, George Town, is on a harbor. In the early months of the war, it was heavily used by Allied naval and merchant vessels. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the

German East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the F ...

left its base in

Tsingtao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means "azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Bel ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The squadron headed east for Germany, but one ship, the light cruiser under Lt. Commander Karl von Müller was sent on a solitary raiding mission.

Battle

At about 04:30 on 28 October, the ''Emden'' appeared off the George Town roads to attack the harbour defenses and any enemy vessels she might find there. Captain von Müller had disguised his ship by rigging a false smoke stack, which made the ''Emden'' resemble the British cruiser . Once he had entered the harbor, however, he ran up the Imperial German naval ensign and revealed his identity to one and all. He then launched a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

at the

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. T ...

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of naval cruiser of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers re ...

, following it up with a salvo of shells which riddled the ship. As the ''Zhemchug'' struggled to return fire, von Müller launched a second torpedo. It penetrated the ''Zhemchugs forward magazine, causing an explosion that sank the Russian warship. Casualties among the ''Zhemchug''s crew of 250 amounted to 88 dead and 121 wounded. The old French cruiser and the French destroyer ''

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...

'' by now had opened fire on the ''Emden'', but both were wildly inaccurate and von Müller simply ignored them as he turned to leave the harbour unharmed. While stopping to try to pick up a harbour pilot, he met the French

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

, returning from a patrol. Caught by surprise, the French ship was quickly sunk by the German cruiser's guns.

Aftermath

The ''Zhemchug'' had been tied up in a state of non-readiness while her captain, Cmdr. Baron I. A. Cherkassov, went ashore that night to visit his wife (some accounts say his mistress). The keys for the ship's magazine had been taken ashore and no lookouts had been posted. Cherkassov watched in helpless horror from the Eastern & Oriental Hotel as his ship sank to the bottom of the Straits. He was

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of mem ...

led for negligence and was sentenced to 3½ years in prison,

reduction in rank Reduction in rank may refer to three separate concepts: *In military law, a ''reduction in rank'' or ''degradation'' is a demotion in military rank as punishment for a crime or wrongdoing, imposed by a court-martial or other authority. It may be im ...

, and expulsion from the navy. His deputy, Lt. Kulibin, was sentenced to 1½ years in prison. However,

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

reduced the sentences, and the two former officers were ordered to serve as ordinary seamen. Both would later distinguish themselves in combat and they were decorated with the

Cross of St. George The Cross of Saint George (russian: Георгиевский крест, Georgiyevskiy krest) is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was initially established by Imperial Russia where it was officially known as the Decoration of t ...

. V.V. Khromov (В.В. Хромов), ''Kreysera tipa "Zhemchug" (Крейсера типа «Жемчуг»)'', Morskaya Kollekcya 1/2005 Lt. Félix Théroinne, who commanded the ''Mousquet'', was among those killed in the action. Thirty-six survivors out of the destroyer's crew of 80 were rescued by the ''Emden''. Three of the French sailors died from their injuries and were buried at sea with military honours. Two days after the battle, the ''Emden'' stopped the British steamer ''Newburn'' and transferred the remaining French prisoners to her. She was then released and conveyed the prisoners to Sabang,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent is ...

, then part of the neutral

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. The ''Emden'' continued her successful raiding mission for another 10 days, before she was encountered by the more powerful Royal Australian Navy light cruiser ''Sydney''. The ''Sydneys heavier and longer range guns enabled her to severely damage the ''Emden'', which had to be run aground and surrendered at the

Battle of Cocos The Battle of Cocos was a single-ship action that occurred on 9 November 1914, after the Australian light cruiser , under the command of John Glossop, responded to an attack on a communications station at Direction Island by the German light c ...

. Zhemchug-posle1909.jpg, ''Zhemchug'', after 1909 Torpilleur Mousquet-Marius Bar.jpg, ''Mousquet'', undated Cruise_of_the_Emden_1914_Map.png, Route taken by ''Emden'' during her commerce raiding operations

Legacy

A total of 12 Russian sailors are buried on Jerejak and

Penang island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...

. The monument honouring the sailors of

Russian cruiser Zhemchug ''Zhemchug'' (russian: Жемчуг, "Pearl") was the second of the two-vessel of protected cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy. She was sunk during World War I by the German light cruiser in the Battle of Penang in 1914. Background ' ...

was twice renovated by Soviet sailors in 1972 and 1987 respectively. The battle was mentioned numerous times by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

on his 2003 presidential visit to Malaysia. The Russian embassy in Malaysia holds memorial services twice annually in honour of the fallen sailors.

Footnotes

References

*Frame, Tom. (2004)
''No Pleasure Cruise: The Story of the Royal Australian Navy.''
Sydney:

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

(paper) *Hoehling, A.A.'' LONELY COMMAND A DOCUMENTARY'' Thomas Yoseloff, Inc., 1957. *Hoyt, Edwin P. ''The Last Cruise of the Emden: The Amazing True World War I Story of a German-Light Cruiser and Her Courageous Crew''. The Lyons Press, 2001. . *Hohenzollern, Franz Joseph, Prince of ''EMDEN: MY EXPERIENCES IN S.M.S. EMDEN''. New York: G. Howard Watt, 1928. *Lochner, R. K. ''Last Gentleman-Of-War: Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden'' Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1988. . *McClement, Fred. ''Guns in paradise''. Paper Jacks, 1979. . *Mücke, Hellmuth von. ''The Emden-Ayesha Adventure: German Raiders in the South Seas and Beyond, 1914''. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. .

External links

Zhemchug, Emden and Sydney
{{coord, 5, 26, N, 100, 20, E, source:kolossus-ukwiki, display=title British Malaya

1914 in British Malaya October 1914 events