Guam Visitors Bureau commemorated the 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the German vessel  SMS Cormoran II on April 7 with a memorial service at sea over the wreckage of the vessel in Apra Harbor and a wreath laying ceremony at the Cormoran memorial in the U.S. Naval Cemetery in Hagåtña. The sinking of the ship in Guam’s waters on April 7, 1917 marked the beginning of World War I.

(From left) Jon Nathan  P. Denight, president and CEO, Guam Visitors Bureau; Milton K. Morinaga, managing director of P.H.R. Ken Micronesia and chairman of the Guam Visitors Bureau; Sen. Dennis G. Rodriguez Jr., Chairman of the Committee on Health, Tourism, Military Affairs, and Senior Citizens, 34th Guam Legislature; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Guam’s delegate to Congress; Michael Hasper, Chargé d’Affaires to the German Embassy in Manila, Philippines; Rear Adm. Shoshana S. Chatfield, U.S. Pacific Command Representative for Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas and commander, Joint Region Marianas; and Sen. Joe S. San Agustin, assistant majority leader and chairman of the Committee on Education, Finance and Taxation, 34th Guam Legislature.

Dignitaries, historians and members of the local German community laid flowers and wreaths at the memorial and on the graves of the seven sailors that died during its sinking.