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SMS Emden was a light cruiser of the Imperial German Navy in World War I. The Emden raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean early in the war, sinking or capturing thirty Allied merchant vessels and warships before being run aground by her captain to prevent her from sinking, after engaging the more powerful HMAS Sydney at the Battle of Cocos.
Displacement: 3,364 tons normal
Length: 118 m (387 ft)
Beam: 13.4 m (44 ft)
Draught: 5.3 m (17 ft)
Propulsion: Twelve boilers, two 16,000 shaft horsepower (12 MW) 3-cylinder triple expansion reciprocating steam engines driving two propellers
Speed: 23 knots (42.6 km/h)
Range: 3,700 miles (6,000 km)
Complement: 360
Armament: Ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) rapid fire guns (10 x 1), and two torpedo-tubes
Armor: Deck 13 mm (0.51 in), Belt 51 mm (2.0 in), Conning tower 102 mm (4.0 in)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_(1908)

British Indian Ocean Terr SG117 Cocos Is SG24, 215, 216,

Hi John
I am sure that some, if not all, of these stamps show the earlier Emden (1908) which was run aground, on the Cocos, after a battle with HMAS Sydney.

Andy Shand

Cocos (Keeling Islands 1989 sgMS?, scott?
Bhutan 1990 sgMS?, scott?
Cinderellas or propaganda labels Germany for the Heroes of the EMDEN.

Australia’s first victory at sea during World War I was also the first engagement by a warship of the fledgling Royal Australian Navy. The Battle of Cocos took place on 9 November 1914 when the Australian light cruiser HMAS SYDNEY responded to an attack by the German light cruiser SMS EMDEN on a communications station at Direction Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Australia, sending wool, wheat and gold across the Indian Ocean to sustain the Mother Country, and dispatching tens of thousands of young men to join the fight, had a vital interest in bringing EMDEN to her end. The battle, when it came, was short and bloody; an emphatic first victory at sea for the newborn Royal Australian Navy.
While EMDEN was the first to fire, SYDNEY’s more powerful guns resulted in Emden’s eventual surrender after she was deliberately beached on the North Keeling Island reef. There were fatalities on both sides, including 134 crew from EMDEN and four from SYDNEY.

Australia Cocos Islands 14 October 2014 $3.50 sg?, scott?
Source: Australian Post web-site