Mediterranean Division
| Mediterranean Division Mittelmeerdivision | |
|---|---|
 The battlecruiser Goeben after arriving in the Bosporus. | |
| Active | 1912 – 2 November 1918 |
| Disbanded | 2 November 1918 |
| Country |  German Empire |
| Branch |  Imperial German Navy |
| Type | Naval fleet |
| Size | 2 ships |
| Engagements | Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau |
The Mediterranean Division (
First World War. It was disbanded after the ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire four years after their pursuit by the British battlecruisers Indomitable and Indefatigable and light cruisers Dublin and Gloucester
.
Service
Pre-war
When the
Mediterranean ports, including Venice, Pola, and Naples, before sailing into Albanian waters, while the Mediterranean Division was reinforced with the arrival of the light cruisers Strassburg and Dresden. Following this trip, Goeben returned to Pola and remained there from 21 August to 16 October for maintenance.[1]
On 29 June 1913, the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia on 28 June 1914 and the subsequent rise in tensions between the Great Powers made this impossible.[2]
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, Souchon correctly assessed that war was imminent between the
Phillipville, which they shelled in the early hours of August 4.[4] From there, they departed for Messina, where they would be coaled by German merchant ships.[1] They arrived in the early hours of August 5, coaled for 36 straight hours, protected from the British due to Italy's neutrality.[5]
The pursuit
After their coaling, the ships decided to break out of Messina, although it had been surrounded by British warships, the battlecruisers
Archibald Berkeley Milne. Milne thought that the Germans, after coaling at Messina, would break out to the west and try to escape to the Atlantic. Therefore, he positioned both his battlecruisers and Dublin at the west end of the Strait of Messina. The French also moved their Mediterranean fleet to guard the Gibraltar Strait. On August 6 they broke out of Messina and steamed northwards, feigning a move to the Adriatic Sea to make the British fleet drop back.[5] However, after 5 hours of steaming west, Goeben decided to turn east as her coal supply was running low.[6]
Goeben radioed Breslau to drop back and delay the Gloucester which would allow Goeben to reach a
collier off the coast of Greece. Gloucester engaged Breslau with minor damage, and then tried to attack Goeben, but missed. Breslau was then able to continue on with Goeben. The battlecruisers had been approaching, but stopped after they received a false announcement that Austria-Hungary had declared war on England. The squadron avoided action with a cruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Ernest Troubridge, and on August 10, the ships reached Constantinople.[6]
First World War
After their arrival in Constantinople on 16 August 1914, the ships were transferred to the
Armistice
ended the war.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- Hildebrand, Hans; Röhr, Albert; Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1981). German warships: Biographies - A Mirror of Naval History from 1815 to the Present Volume 5 [Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe. Biographien - ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart. Band 5] (in German). Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-78-220456-9.
- Staff, Gary (2006). German Battlecruisers: 1914–1918. ISBN 978-1-84603-009-3.
- Sufrin, James (1987). "Ship of Misery and Ruin". Military History. Leesburg, Virginia: Empire Press: 1409.
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