Editing Guam (section)

==== World War I ====
On December 10, 1914, the [[SMS Cormoran (1914)|SMS ''Cormoran'']], a German armed [[merchant raider]], was forced to seek port at [[Apra Harbor]] on the U.S. territory of Guam after running short on coal as a result of being pursued by the Japanese.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PacificWrecks.com |title=Pacific Wrecks |url=https://pacificwrecks.com/ship/german/sms_cormoran.html |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=pacificwrecks.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SMS Cormoran II |url=https://assets.simpleviewinc.com/sv-guam/image/upload/v1/cms_resources/clients/guam/PR_3_The_History_of_the_SMS_Cormoran_II_1cb45612-4b62-42b5-b14a-045f4578fcff.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-19 |title=Where the United States Entered World War I: The SMS Cormoran - NAUI Worldwide |url=https://www.naui.org/where-the-united-states-entered-world-war-i-the-sms-cormoran/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=www.naui.org |language=en-US}}</ref> The United States, which was neutral at the time refused to supply provisions sufficient for the ''Cormoran'' to make a German port so the ship and her crew were interned until 1917.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1931-08-01 |title=Destruction of S.M.S. "Cormoran" |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1931/august/destruction-sms-cormoran |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=U.S. Naval Institute |language=en}}</ref>

On the morning of April 7, 1917, word reached Guam by telegraph cable that the [[United States in World War I|U.S. Congress had declared war on Germany]]. The Naval [[Governor of Guam]], [[Roy Campbell Smith]], sent two officers to inform the ''Cormoran'' that a state of war existed between the two countries, that the crew were now [[German prisoners of war in the United States|prisoners of war]], and that the ship must be surrendered. Meanwhile, the [[USS Supply (1872)|USS ''Supply'']] blocked the entrance to Apra Harbor to prevent any attempt to flee. In a separate boat, the two officers were accompanied by a barge commanded by Lt. W.A. Hall, who was designated prize master, and had brought 18 sailors and 15 Marines from the barracks at [[Sumay, Guam|Sumay]].<ref name="sextant">{{cite web |last1=Conrad |first1=Dennis |date=March 28, 2017 |title=The War Begins: The United States Navy and the German Cruiser Cormoran |url=https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/28/the-war-begins-the-united-states-navy-and-the-german-cruiser-cormoran/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319064717/https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/28/the-war-begins-the-united-states-navy-and-the-german-cruiser-cormoran/ |archive-date=March 19, 2021 |access-date=March 6, 2021 |website=The Sextant |publisher=Histories and Archives Division, Naval History and Heritage Command}}</ref><ref name="Hoppe">{{cite web |last1=Hoppe |first1=Jon |date=October 1, 2015 |title=The Destruction of the S.M.S. Cormoran and the First U.S. Shot Fired in World War I |url=https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/10/01/the-destruction-of-the-s-m-s-cormoran |access-date=March 6, 2021 |website=Naval History Blog |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930030833/https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/10/01/the-destruction-of-the-s-m-s-cormoran |url-status=live }}</ref>

Seeing a launch from ''Cormoran'' hauling a barge of supplies back shore, Hall ordered shots fired across the bow of the launch until it hove to. Meanwhile, the two officers reached ''Cormoran'' and informed Captain [[Adalbert Zuckschwerdt]] of the situation. Zuckschwerdt agreed to surrender his crew but refused to turn over the ship. The U.S. officers informed Zuckschwerdt that the ''Cormoran'' would be treated as an enemy combatant and left to inform Governor Smith of the situation. Unbeknownst to the Americans, the Germans had secreted an explosive device in the ship's coal bunker. 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. This incident, including the warning shots against the launch, accounted for the first violent action of the [[United States in World War I]], first shots fired by the U.S. against Germany in World War I, the first German prisoners of war captured by the U.S., and the first Germans killed in action by the U.S. in World War I.<ref name="Rogers1995">{{cite book |author=Robert F. Rogers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEn9J3tXFS8C&pg=PA139 |title=Destiny's Landfall: A History of Guam |date=January 1995 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1678-0 |pages=139–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Tyler |date=October 17, 2020 |title=A Rock Springs man fired the first American shot of World War I |url=https://wyo4news.com/news/a-rock-springs-man-fired-the-first-american-shot-of-world-war-i/ |access-date=March 6, 2021 |website=Wyo4News |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406004056/https://wyo4news.com/news/a-rock-springs-man-fired-the-first-american-shot-of-world-war-i/ |url-status=live }}</ref>