The United States, then declared neutral in the war, refused to supply provisions sufficient for Cormoran to make a German port.

After the US declaration of war on April 6, 1917, the Naval Governor of Guam informed Cormoran that she would be seized as a hostile combatant, prompting her crew to scuttle her.

The Ryazan was captured southeast of the Korean peninsula by the German light cruiser SMS Emden on 4 August 1914 as the first prize of World War I from the Russian empire.

The old Cormoran was laid up at Qingdao with serious maintenance issues and unable to go to sea, and her armaments were transferred to the captured merchant ship.

[citation needed] After Japan declared war on the German Empire, her warships discovered and pursued the Cormoran, forcing her to seek refuge in Apra Harbor, in the US Territory of Guam, on 14 December.

Minutes after the Americans left, an explosion aboard Cormoran hurled debris across the harbor and her crew began abandoning ship.

The two American boats and USS Supply immediately began to recover German sailors from the water, saving all but seven of the roughly 370 Cormoran crew.

[5][6][7][8] The shots ordered by Teófilo Marxuach against the merchant ship Odenwald in San Juan Bay on March 21, 1915, predate the US declaration of war against Germany.

After the American sailors rescued and made prisoners the surviving Germans, Governor Cronan congratulated Captain Zuckschwerdt for the bravery of his men.

[13] The National Park Service conducted surveys in 1983 of the SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru, publishing maps of the two ships' positions.

[9] The 90th anniversary of the Cormoran's scuttling in 2007 was marked by wreath-laying ceremonies and exhibits and lectures as War in the Pacific National Historic Park.

[16] Kurt Moraht.jpg Henry Bock (Leutnant Bock's was the first German naval officer sword surrendered in the Pacific)[13] Herman Berka (Cormoran's chief engineer)[14] Wilhelm Hermann Grallert, Lindenau, Kreis Landeshut, Niederschlesien, Prussia Fritz August Hermann Kutz, Labes, Kreis Regenwalde, Pommern, Prussia Jakob Runck, Landau, Pfalz, Bavaria Emil Bischoff, Unterschefflenz, Baden, Germany Ernest Max Adolf, Freiburg/Br, Germany Johannes Heinrich Dammann, Nutteln, Schleswig-Holstein Kurt Moraht Cave dive sites: