On 8 January 1916 the Russian

dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

''Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya'' and the Ottoman battlecruiser ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' encountered one another in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. After a brief exchange of fire the Ottomans withdrew.

Battle

On 8 January 1916, ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' was scheduled to arrive off of

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in Ereğli and the coal trade remains its main economic activity. According to the ...

to cover the entrance of the empty collier . Early that morning the collier was intercepted by the Russian destroyers and off of Kirpen island and sunk. As she was returning to 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 ...

, ''Yavuz'' spotted the two destroyers and gave chase. The destroyers retreated and radioed a warning to the recently commissioned dreadnought ''Imperatritsa Ekaterina II'', which increased speed to come to their aid. ''Imperatritsa Ekaterina II'' opened fire at with her 12-inch guns, forcing ''Yavuz'' to turn to the southwest to avoid being struck. The Russian battleship fired 96 rounds and scored no hits, though some near misses did cause splinter damage to the battlecruiser. The Ottomans fired 60 rounds, but couldn't bring their 11-inch guns into range, and withdrew after 30 minutes. The Russians attempted to pursue, but the ''Yavuz'' was faster and outran them.

Aftermath

The engagement was the only ever battle between dreadnoughts on the Black Sea. Though the incident was only a minor confrontation, it solidified Russia's naval superiority and deeply troubled Admiral Souchon. Already outnumbered and outclassed in cruisers, destroyers, and

torpedo boats A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

, the Ottomans no longer held a dreadnought advantage over the Russian Empire. From then on Russia would continue consolidate its hold on the Black Sea and ''Yavuz'' would eventually shift her operations to the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

References

{{reflist, 30em Naval battles of World War I involving Russia Naval battles of World War I involving the Ottoman Empire Black Sea naval operations of World War I Conflicts in 1916 January 1916 events