SMS Emden was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy. Named for the town of Emden, she was completed in July 1909 at the Imperial Dockyard in Danzig, and spent most of her career with the German East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, China. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Cormoran. In October 1914, Emden launched a surprise attack on Penang, sinking the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet. Emden '​s commander, Karl von Müller, then took her to raid the Cocos Islands, where he landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British facilities. On 9 November 1914, Emden was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, a more powerful ship, and seriously damaged. Müller ran his ship aground to prevent her from sinking. Out of a crew of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner, though the landing party commandeered an old schooner and eventually returned to Germany. Emden '​s wreck was quickly destroyed by wave action, but was not broken up for scrap until the 1950s.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_(1908)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1822:

USS Alligator engaged three piratical schooners off the coast of Cuba in one of the West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_9_November_1822

1914:

First World War: In the Cocos Islands, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney sank SMS Emden, the last active Central Powers warship in the Indian Ocean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cocos

1938:

Kristallnacht began as SA stormtroopers and civilians destroyed and ransacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in Germany and Austria, resulting in at least 90 deaths and the deportation of over 25,000 others to concentration camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht

1985:

At age 22, Garry Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov

1989:

East Germany announced the opening of the inner German border and the Berlin Wall (pictured), marking the symbolic end of the Cold War, the impending collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and the beginning of the end of Soviet communism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_German_border

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

dematerialize: 1. (intransitive) to disappear by becoming immaterial. 2. (transitive) to cause something to disappear by becoming immaterial. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dematerialize

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities. Cleverly designed experiments are the key.   --Carl Sagan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan