German Raiders of the First World War

In August 1914, as the world plunged into war, two fleets of German cruisers lay beyond the North Sea. For the next eight months they were to pose a serious threat to Allied merchant shipping and British naval superiority across the globe.

Isolated and with little hope of reinforcement or resupply, the German commanders faced severe challenges. Admiral Souchon made a dash across the Mediterranean with superior French and British fleets in pursuit. On the other side of the world, while German colonies were falling around him, Vice Admiral von Spee attacked British lines in an effort to get his men home. Captain Karl von Mueller, like an old-fashioned corsair, led SMS Emden on a daring campaign of commerce raiding, as did Captain Kohler of the Karlsruhe. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy expended enormous resources on trying to counter these elusive threats-Admiral Craddock swept the entire South American coastline chasing phantoms, only to meet his quarry at Coronel, off Chile, with disastrous results. But the British had their revenge shortly after at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.