SMS Emden was the most famous commerce raider of the early First World War, and her end at Cocos is part of Australian naval history. A Dresden-class light cruiser about 118 m long, Emden spent late 1914 sinking and capturing Allied merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. On 9 November 1914 she sent a landing party ashore at Direction Island to destroy the cable and wireless station; the station's distress call brought HMAS Sydney, detached from a nearby troop convoy, and in the Battle of Cocos Sydney's heavier guns disabled Emden, whose captain ran her aground on North Keeling Island, burning and helpless, to save the survivors.

The landing party escaped in the schooner Ayesha, a separate saga. The wreck was considered unrecoverable and was reported largely broken up by 1919; a Japanese salvage company removed much of what remained in the 1950s. Today the remains lie in less than 8 m on the reef, and Underwater Australasia's account of a permitted dive describes spectacular propellers and drive shafts, engine parts and shells from Emden's guns amid the surge, and Dive Pacific mentions guns embedded in the reef.

Visibility at the wreck was about 20 m, against 40 m-plus on the reef dives nearby. An older wreck summary calls it 'not a particularly good dive' because the remains are scattered in shallow, surgy water, but for anyone interested in naval history it is a rare pilgrimage. North Keeling itself is Pulu Keeling National Park, a Ramsar-listed atoll with huge red-footed booby and frigatebird colonies and the only population of the endangered Cocos buff-banded rail.

The wreck is protected, lies within a 500 m exclusion zone, and may only be visited by permit holders; boats may not anchor, so dives are drifts. Few divers ever reach it: Parks Australia notes the remoteness, rough seas and fringing reef, and currently runs no public tours.

North Keeling Island (Pulu Keeling) lies about 25 km north of Horsburgh Island and the southern atoll – roughly a 1.5-hour boat ride across open ocean, depending on conditions. There is no regular public trip: Parks Australia currently limits landings to researchers accompanied by park staff and states that no public tours operate, while recreational diving or snorkelling in park waters requires a permit applied for through DCCEEW. Any visit must be arranged well in advance with Parks Australia (Cocos office on West Island) and a licensed local boat – historically Cocos Dive has run occasional permitted trips in the doldrum season.

Boats depart from West Island.

North Keeling sits in open ocean with no shelter, surrounded by a fringing reef with heavy surf. Parks Australia describes rough seas and a fringing reef that make getting ashore very difficult. The only realistic window is the doldrum season (November–April), and even then many planned trips are cancelled for wind or swell; during the south-east trades (April/May–October) crossings are generally not attempted.

The Emden lies in less than 8 m on the reef, where surge is the controlling factor – it can only be dived on flat days with minimal swell. Reef dives around the island can have strong currents and are run as drifts because anchoring is prohibited.

Drop from the drifting boat seaward of the surge zone and swim in to the remains in 4–8 m. Locate the propellers and shafts, then the engine pieces and shells, keeping clear of the breaking reef edge. Leave everything as found, drift back out and ascend for a live-boat pickup.

Surge is the main hazard; carry a surface marker buoy for drift pickup.

No regular operator. Access only by special arrangement with Parks Australia and a permitted boat; Cocos Dive has run occasional permitted doldrum-season trips in the past. Parks Australia currently states that no public tours operate.