SMS Cormoran

SMS Cormoran or SMS Cormoran II was built at the Schichau shipyard in Elbing, Imperial Germany in 1909 for the Russian merchant fleet and was named Ryazan . She was used by imperial Russia as a combination passenger, cargo and mail carrier on North Pacific routes.

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. She was taken to Tsingtao in the German colony Kiautschou, where she was converted to an armed merchant raider. The new Cormoran replaced the original SMS Cormoran, a small shallow draft cruiser that had a long Imperial Navy career in the Pacific, having taken part in the events that brought Kiautschou into the German colonial empire in 1897–98. The old Cormoran was laid up at Tsingtao with serious maintenance issues and unable to go to sea, and her armaments were transferred to the captured merchant ship.

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