This is my favorite story of the sea.
SMS Emden (Seiner Majestät Schiff or His Majesty's Ship Emden)[ was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers (SMS Dresden being the first) built for the German Imperial Navy. Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down in Danzig in 1906. The hull was launched in May 1908, and completed in July 1909. Emden was armed thus:
10 x 10.5cm SK L/40 guns
8 x 5.2cm SK L/55 guns
2 x 45cm torpedo tubes
Emden spent the majority of her career overseas in the East Asia Squadron, based in Qingdao, in the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China. In 1913, Karl von Müller took command of the ship. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Comoran. Emden rejoined the East Asia Squadron, then was detached for independent raiding in the Indian Ocean. The cruiser spent nearly two months operating in the region, and captured nearly two dozen ships.
On 28 October 1914, Emden launched a surprise attack on Penang; in the resulting Battle of Penang, she sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet.
Müller then took Emden to raid the Cocos Islands, where he landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British radio facilities and the undersea telegraph cables there. There, Emden was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. The more powerful Australian ship quickly inflicted serious damage and forced Müller to run his ship aground to avoid sinking.
Out of a crew of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner; the landing party, led by Helmuth von Mücke, commandeered an old schooner, the Ayesha, and eventually returned to Germany. Emden's wreck was quickly destroyed by wave action, and was broken up for scrap in the 1950s. Some parts of the wreck still lie beneath the waters and are the subject of an extraordinary 3D mapping effort which may be looked at here:
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/wreck-site-of-sms-emden-1914-68211e6db4f54220b169cead668d776c
Revell of Germany brought out a kit of this notable warship back in 1994. An addition of new parts in 1996 meant it was able to be built as another of von Spees' ships, the SMS Dresden. It has been re-issued a few times since, most recently as a twin Emden/Dresden kit in 2014.
I've built it once before and makes a fine kit on it's own, however, the kit is a little basic by todays' exacting standards, and so various after marked manufacturers have come up with bits and bobs to upgrade it.
Czech manufacturer Eduard came up with two sets in 2014. Part 1 (No 53114) offers superstructure replacement, railings, platforms and more. Part 2 (No 53120) is of mast details with ladders and platforms. Together the two sets offer some pretty amazing upgrades to the base kit. They can be complemented with wooden decks by Artworks and highly detailed armament and searchlights by Micro Master.
Currently I have the kit, the first of the PE sets and the wooden deck. I'll be adding the Aftermarket armament and searchlights soon and the second Eduard PE set as I progress through this build.
This will not be a quick project. My skills with PE are minimal!
I believe there is such a thing as a PE folding tool and I may well need to lay my hands on one.
The first task will be to take a good look at the kit and work out how to integrate the PE into the build/paint sequence. A lot of ship-building is paint as you go to avoid an impossible masking chore later on.
Wish me luck
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