The Battle of Cape Sarych was a naval engagement fought off the coast of
Cape Sarych in the Black Sea during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In November 1914, two modern
Ottoman warships, specifically a light cruiser and a battlecruiser, engaged a
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n fleet including five obsolescent
pre-dreadnought battleship
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
s in a short action.
Background
On the morning of 17 November 1914, a Russian force consisting of the pre-dreadnought battleships (the
flagship), , ,
''Tri Sviatitelya'', , three cruisers, and 13 destroyers under
Vice Admiral Andrei Eberhardt
Andrei Avgustovich Ebergard (russian: Андрей Августович Эбергард; 9 November 1856 – 19 April 1919), better known as Andrei Eberhardt, was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy of German ancestry.
Biography
Eberhardt w ...
struck the Ottoman port of
Trebizond.
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
Admiral Wilhelm Souchon
Wilhelm Anton Souchon (; 2 June 1864 – 13 January 1946) was a German admiral in World War I. Souchon commanded the ''Kaiserliche Marine''s Mediterranean squadron in the early days of the war. His initiatives played a major part in the entry o ...
decided to intercept it as it returned to port. At 13:00 the Ottoman
battlecruiser ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' and the
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
''Midilli'' sortied from the
Bosporus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
for
Sebastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
at high speed.
[ Eberhardt was aware of the Ottomans' departure from port and thus alert for an attack.]
The following morning the two Ottoman ships patrolled the Crimean coast in spite of foggy conditions. At 12:05 ''Midilli'' sighted a Russian cruiser to starboard. ''Yavuz'' turned to face the cruiser at full speed. Other Russian ships were then sighted to the starboard, and soon five pre-dreadnoughts could be identified. Souchon ordered ''Midili'' to keep out of range.[
]
Battle
At 12:20 ''Evstafi'', with a clear view of the Ottomans, opened fire on ''Yavuz'', striking and disabling the third starboard casemated gun with its first salvo.[ The Russian battleships were using a new form of fire-control system that had been devised in the aftermath of the ]Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, with ''Ioann Zlatoust'' directing for all other ships except ''Rostislav'', which had a different main armament.[ The 12-inch shell had passed through the casemate armour and barely penetrated a 150 mm plate before detonating. Splinters badly damaged the ship's ]torpedo net
Torpedo nets were a passive ship defensive device against torpedoes. They were in common use from the 1890s until the Second World War. They were superseded by the anti-torpedo bulge and torpedo belts.
Origins
With the introduction of the White ...
. It also detonated three high explosive shells and set 16 cartridges on fire. The resulting explosion tore a square meter-sized hole in the side of the ship and killed the gun's crew. The flash fire
A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid (including dust), flammable or combustible liquid (such as an aerosol or fine mist), or a flammable gas. It is charact ...
traveled down the munitions elevator and up into the fourth starboard casemate, which was temporarily abandoned.
At 12:02 ''Yavuz''s first artillery officer could make out the Russian ships through the fog and ordered the crew to target ''Evstafi''. The first salvo overshot the ship, though one shell pierced the center funnel and caused splinter damage to the wireless antennae. The Ottomans' third salvo scored two hits on ''Evstafi''. The first one disabled the forward starboard 6-inch casemated gun and caused casualties among its crew. The second shell penetrated the casemate armour, setting fire to some 6-inch cartridges and detonating in the officers' galley, causing severe damage while some splinters penetrated the deck and went into the boiler room below. A near miss caused extensive splinter damage to an unarmoured part of the ship, destroying a bulkhead in the infirmary.[
At 12:24 ''Yavuz'' began to lose sight of the Russians and turned away, continuously firing on ''Evstafi'' with its aft guns. Outnumbered, Souchon decided to withdraw.][ The battlecruiser ceased firing at 12:32 and set a course for ]Cape Sinop
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
.[
]
Aftermath
''Yavuz'' arrived at Cape Sinop at 8:00 on 19 November. The Ottomans vainly chased five smoke clouds, but failed to make contact with any Russian vessels. At 14:00 on 20 November the battlecruiser returned to the Bosporus.[ It remained there for the rest of the month.][
]
Analyses
''Evstafi'' was struck five times during the engagement, suffering 34 killed and 24 wounded. ''Yavuz'' had only been struck once, but lost 13 crew (12 Germans and one Turk).[ As a result of the ammunition detonation near the battlecruiser's 5.9-inch gun, the Ottomans decided to decrease the amount of ready-to-use shells and cartridges in the casemates.][
The Russians realised that they would need to keep their pre-dreadnought battleship squadron intact if they were to successfully engage ''Yavuz'', thereby restricting their coastal operations. They also concluded that only a handful of their newest destroyers were suitable for independent operations in the Black Sea, as their cruisers were too obsolete to wield successfully against the Ottoman battlecruiser.]
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Cape Sarych
Cape Sarych
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Cape Sarych
Crimea in the Russian Empire
Cape Sarych
November 1914 events
Ukraine in World War I