Battle of Imbros

The Battle of Imbros was a naval action that took place during the First World War. The battle occurred on 20 January 1918 when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy off the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. A lack of heavy Allied warships in the area allowed the Ottoman battlecruiser and light cruiser to sortie into the Mediterranean and attack the Royal Navy monitors and destroyers at Imbros before assaulting the naval base at Mudros.

Although the Ottoman forces managed to complete their objective of destroying the monitors located at Imbros, the battle turned sour for them as they sailed through a minefield while withdrawing. ''Midilli'' was sunk and ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' heavily damaged. Although ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' managed to beach herself within the Dardanelles, she was subjected to days of air attacks until she was towed to safety. With the most modern cruiser of the Ottoman Navy sunk and its only battlecruiser out of action, the battle effectively curtailed the Ottoman Navy's offensive capability until the end of the war.

Prelude

By January 1918, the situation for the Ottoman Army in Palestine had begun to worsen. The new German commander of the Ottoman Black Sea fleet, Rebeur Paschwitz, decided to try to relieve Allied naval pressure on Palestine by making a sortie out of the Dardanelles.Halpern 1994, p. 255. Several British naval elements of the Aegean Squadron had been taking refuge in Kusu Bay off the islands of Imbros, and they were a prime target for an Ottoman raid. After raiding what shipping could be found at Imbros, Rebeur-Paschwitz turned to Mudros and attack the British naval base there.Jameson 2004, p. 89. The Allied force guarding the Dardanelles consisted of a few heavy British and French units as well as several monitors tasked with coastal bombardment. Escorting the monitors were several British destroyers. The pre-dreadnought battleships and were also tasked with guarding the area, but the ''Lord Nelson'' had been tasked with ferrying the squadron's admiral to a conference at Salonika. Taking advantage of the absence of the British battleship, the Germans and Ottomans decided to dispatch the battlecruiser ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' (ex-) and the light cruiser ''Midilli'' (ex-) to attack the area. The Allied forces at Imbros on 20 January consisted of the monitors and as well as the s and .Chisholm 1922, p. 1082. ''Agamemnon'' was nearby at Mudros, but she was much too slow to chase down the Ottoman ships if they wanted to avoid engaging her.

Without ''Agamemnon'' and ''Lord Nelson'' the British were severely outgunned in comparison to the Ottoman ships. ''Tigress'' and ''Lizard'' both were armed with two 4-inch guns, two 12 pounders, and two 21-inch torpedo tubes. They were swift ships capable of making at best speed. The two monitors present at Imbros were better suited for coastal bombardment than naval combat, though their heavy guns gave them an element of firepower the destroyers lacked. ''Raglan'', an , was armed with two 14-inch guns, two 6-inch guns, and two 3-inch guns. ''M28'' was a smaller vessel than ''Raglan'' and as such carried a lighter armament, sporting a single 9.2-inch cannon, one 12 pounder, as well as a six pounder anti-aircraft gun. The weak point of both ''Raglan'' and ''M28'' were their low top speeds of respectively, giving them little capability of escaping an Ottoman raid. In contrast to the British force, the Ottoman vessels were both fast and heavily armed. ''Midilli'' sported eight 150 mm cannons, 120 mines, two torpedo tubes, and a top speed of . ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' was the most powerful ship in the Ottoman fleet with a top speed of 25.5 knots, ten 283 mm guns, twelve 150 mm guns, a dozen 8.8-centimetre guns, and four torpedo tubes. Thus, with no heavy units available to repel them, there was little in the means of effective Allied opposition when the Ottomans set out on their mission.

Battle

Setting out towards Imbros, ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' struck a mine on transit to the island, but the damage was insignificant and the two Ottoman vessels were able to continue their mission. ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' then proceeded to bombard the British signal station at Kephalo Point while ''Midilli'' was sent ahead to guard the entrance of Kusu Bay. As ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' and ''Midilli'' approached Kusu Bay, they were sighted by the destroyer HMS ''Lizard'' at 5:30 am.Littlefield 1918, p. 414. ''Lizard'' attempted to engage the Ottoman ships, but could not close to torpedo range due to heavy fire from her opponents. ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' soon sighted the two British monitors taking refuge in the bay, and broke off from ''Lizard'' to engage them. As ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' attacked the monitors, ''Midilli'' continued to duel with ''Lizard'' who was then joined by the destroyer HMS ''Tigress''. ''Lizard'' and ''Tigress'' attempted to shield the monitors from ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' by laying a smoke screen, but this was ineffective. The monitors were both much too slow to evade ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' and she was able to score numerous hits on ''Raglan'', hitting her foretop and killing her gunnery and direction officers. ''Raglan'' attempted to return fire with its 6- and 14-inch guns, but scored no hits on the German vessels before her main armament was knocked out when a shell pierced its casemate and ignited the ammunition within it. Shortly after she was disarmed, ''Raglan'' was hit in her magazine by one of ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm''s 11-inch shells, causing the monitor to sink. After ''Raglan'' was sunk, the Ottoman battlecruiser began turned her attention to HMS ''M28'', striking her amidships and setting her alight before she was sunk when her magazine exploded at 6:00 am. With the two monitors sunk, the Ottomans decided to break off the engagement and head south in an attempt to raid the allied naval base at Mudros.

Upon withdrawing from Kusu Bay, the Ottoman force accidentally sailed into a minefield and were shadowed by the two British destroyers they had previously engaged. In addition to the destroyers, several British and Greek aircraft were launched from Mudros to engage the Germans. Greek ace Aristeidis Moraitinis, escorting two Sopwith Baby seaplanes, fought ten enemy aircraft and shot down three enemy seaplanes with his Sopwith Camel. With the approach of enemy aircraft ''Midilli'', which had been following ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'', took the lead so as to take advantage of her heavier anti-aircraft armament. ''Midilli'' then struck a mine near her aft funnel, and shortly afterwards ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' hit one as well. Within half an hour ''Midilli'' had struck four more mines and began to sink. ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' attempted to rescue ''Midilli'' but also struck a mine and was forced to withdraw. Fleeing towards the safety of the Dardanelles, ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' was pursued by ''Lizard'' and ''Tigress''. In order to cover ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' four Ottoman destroyers and an old cruiser rushed out to engage the British destroyers. After the lead Ottoman destroyer began to take hits, the Ottoman squadron was forced to withdraw back up the Dardanelles. As the British destroyers approached Cape Helles, they were fired upon by Ottoman shore batteries and withdrew.

In addition to ''Lizard'' and ''Tigress'', a dozen British seaplanes from were launched to finish off ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm''. Although they managed to score two hits against the battlecruiser, the Ottoman ship was by this time near the coast. The combined efforts from ten Ottoman seaplanes as well as heavy anti-aircraft fire were able to drive off the air attacks, downing one Sopwith Baby and damaging another aircraft. The four Ottoman destroyers returned and guarded ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' as she sailed up the Dardnelles. Severely damaged, the Ottoman battlecruiser ran aground on a sandbar off Nagara Point and became stranded. The next six days saw further air attacks by Allied seaplanes against the Ottoman battlecruiser, with six hits being scored against her. Ottoman seaplanes and heavy shore batteries responded to the raids and were able to guard ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' and beat back the air attacks. Despite the air raids, ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' suffered only superficial damage from them as the bombs used by the British were too small to be effective. Allied commanders proposed plans for a submarine raid against the battlecruiser, but the only submarine attached to the Aegean squadron, , had mechanical problems and was inoperative. A raid into the Dardanelles was therefore postponed until a working submarine could be dispatched to the area.

Aftermath

With no way to free herself, ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' remained stranded on the sandbar until 26 January when the finally arrived and towed her back into the Black Sea. In one last effort to destroy the battlecruiser, the British sent the submarine into the Dardanelles on 27 January. ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' had already left the area, and so ''E14'' began sailing back to Allied waters after discovering the battlecruiser's absence. Sighting an Ottoman freighter, the British submarine attempted to torpedo her. The second torpedo fired exploded prematurely. The resulting explosion damaged the submarine, forcing her to try to flee the straits. She came under heavy fire from nearby Ottoman shore batteries and was eventually beached with her commander, Geoffrey Saxton White, and another sailor killed and seven captured. White was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his efforts to beach the submarine and save her crew.

Although the Ottoman force destroyed the two monitors as planned, their losses traversing the minefield after the engagement in Kusu Bay offset these successes considerably. With ''Midilli'' sunk and ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' severely damaged, the threat of the Ottoman Navy to the Allies was greatly reduced for the remainder of the war. Despite the removal of these two vessels from the Ottoman battle line, the commanders of the British Aegean Squadron were criticized for sending their battleships so far from the Dardanelles. Had either ''Agamemnon'' or ''Lord Nelson'' been nearby during the Ottoman raid, ''Yavûz Sultân Selîm'' might have been destroyed.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imbros
Conflicts in 1918
Mediterranean naval operations of World War I
Maritime incidents in 1918
Naval battles of World War I involving the Ottoman Empire
Naval battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom
History of Çanakkale Province
Imbros
January 1918 events