SMS Goeben

SMS Goeben

SMS Goeben
History
German Empire
Name	Goeben
Namesake	August Karl von Goeben
Ordered	8 April 1909
Builder	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Laid down	28 August 1909
Launched	28 March 1911
Commissioned	2 July 1912
Fate	Transferred to the Ottoman Empire 16 August 1914
Ottoman Empire/Turkey
Name	Yavuz Sultan Selim
Namesake	Selim I
Acquired	16 August 1914
Commissioned	16 August 1914
Decommissioned	20 December 1950
Renamed	Yavuz in 1936
Stricken	14 November 1954
Fate	Scrapped in 1973–1976
General characteristics
Class & type	Moltke-class battlecruiser
Displacement	Design: 22,979 t (22,616 long tons) Full load : 25,400 t (25,000 long tons)
Length	186.6 m (612 ft 2 in)
Beam	29.4 m (96 ft 5 in)
Draft	9.19 m (30 ft 2 in)
Installed power	24 × water-tube boilers 51,289  kW )
Propulsion	4 × screw propellers 4 × Parsons turbines
Speed	Design: 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph)
Range	4,120 nmi (7,630 km; 4,740 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	43 officers 1,010 men
Armament	10 × 28 cm (11 in) /50 SK guns 12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 12 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns
Armor	Belt: 76 to 280 mm (3 to 11 in) Barbettes: 230 mm (9.1 in) Gun turrets: 230 mm Deck: 25 to 76 mm (1 to 3 in)

SMS Goeben^[a] was the second of two Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben. Along with her sister ship, Goeben was similar to the previous German battlecruiser design, Von der Tann, but larger, with increased armor protection and two more main guns in an additional turret. Goeben and Moltke were significantly larger and better armored than the comparable British Indefatigable class.^[b]

Several months after her commissioning in 1912, Goeben, with the light cruiser Breslau, formed the German Mediterranean Division and patrolled there during the Balkan Wars. After the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914, Goeben and Breslau bombarded French positions in North Africa and then evaded British naval forces in the Mediterranean and reached Constantinople. The two ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire on 16 August 1914, and Goeben became the flagship of the Ottoman Navy as Yavuz Sultan Selim, usually shortened to Yavuz. By bombarding Russian facilities in the Black Sea, she brought Turkey into World War I on the German side. The ship operated primarily against Russian forces in the Black Sea during the war, including several inconclusive engagements with Russian battleships. She made a sortie into the Aegean in January 1918 that resulted in the Battle of Imbros, where Yavuz sank a pair of British monitors but was herself badly damaged by mines.

In 1936 she was officially renamed TCG Yavuz ("Ship of the Turkish Republic Yavuz"); she carried the remains of

As the German

Goeben was 186.6 meters (612 ft 2 in)

The Imperial Navy ordered Goeben, the third German battlecruiser, on 8 April 1909 under the provisional name "H" from the

Souchon's two ships departed Messina early on 6 August through the southern entrance to

Yavuz, escorted by Midilli, intercepted the Russian Black Sea Fleet 17 nautical miles (31 km; 20 mi) off the Crimean coastline on 18 November as it returned from a bombardment of Trebizond. Despite the noon hour the conditions were foggy and none of the capital ships were spotted initially. The Black Sea Fleet had experimented with concentrating fire from several ships under the control of one "master" ship before the war, and Evstafi held her fire until Ioann Zlatoust, the master ship, could see Yavuz. When the gunnery commands were finally received they showed a range over 4,000 yards (3,700 m) in excess of Evstafi's own estimate of 7,700 yards (7,000 m), so Evstafi opened fire using her own data before Yavuz turned to fire her broadside.^[26] She scored a hit with her first salvo as a 12-inch shell partially penetrated the armor casemate protecting one of Yavuz's 15-centimeter (5.9 in) secondary guns. It detonated some of the ready-use ammunition, starting a fire that filled the casemate and killed the entire gun crew.^[27] A total of thirteen men were killed and three were wounded.^[22]

Yavuz returned fire and hit Evstafi in the middle funnel; the shell detonated after it passed through the funnel and destroyed the antennae for the fire-control radio, so that Evstafi could not correct Ioann Zlatoust's inaccurate range data. The other Russian ships either used Ioann Zlatoust's incorrect data or never saw Yavuz and failed to register any hits. Yavuz hit Evstafi four more times, although one shell failed to detonate,^[27] before Souchon decided to break contact after 14 minutes of combat.^[28] The four hits out of nineteen 28 cm (11 in) shells fired killed 34 men and wounded 24.^[29]

The following month, on 5–6 December, Yavuz and Midilli provided protection for troop transports, and on 10 December, Yavuz bombarded

Still damaged, Yavuz sortied from the Bosphorus on 28 January and again on 7 February 1915 to help Midilli escape the Russian fleet; she also covered the return of Hamidiye. Yavuz then underwent repair work to the mine damage until May.[30] On 1 April, with repairs incomplete, Yavuz left the Bosphorus in company with Midilli to cover the withdrawal of Hamidiye and the protected cruiser Mecidiye, which had been sent to bombard Odessa. Strong currents, however, forced the cruisers 15 miles (24 km) east to the approaches of the Dnieper-Bug Liman (bay) that led to Nikolayev. As they sailed west after a course correction, Mecidiye struck a mine and sank, so this attack had to be aborted.^[31] After Yavuz and Midilli appeared off Sevastopol and sank two cargo steamers, the Russian fleet chased them all day, and detached several destroyers after dusk to attempt a torpedo attack. Only one destroyer, Gnevny, was able to close the distance and launch an attack, which missed. Yavuz and Midilli returned to the Bosphorus unharmed.^[32]

On 25 April, the same day the Allies

On 1 May, Yavuz sailed to the Bay of Beikos in the Bosphorus after the Russian fleet bombarded the fortifications at the mouth of the Bosphorus. Around 7 May, Yavuz sortied from the Bosphorus in search of Russian ships as far as Sevastopol, but found none. Running short on main gun ammunition, she did not bombard Sevastopol. While returning on the morning of 10 May, Yavuz's lookouts spotted two Russian pre-dreadnoughts, Tri Sviatitelia and Panteleimon, and she opened fire. Within the first ten minutes she had been hit twice, although she was not seriously damaged. Admiral Souchon disengaged and headed for the Bosphorus, pursued by Russian light forces.^[35] Later that month two of the ship's 15 cm guns were taken ashore for use there,^[4] and the four 8.8 cm guns in the aft superstructure were removed at the same time.^[36] Four 8.8 cm anti-aircraft were installed on the aft superstructure by the end of 1915.^[37]

On 18 July, Midilli struck a mine; the ship took on some 600 long tons (610 t) of water and was no longer able to escort coal convoys from Zonguldak to the Bosphorus. Yavuz was assigned to the task, and on 10 August she escorted a convoy of five coal transports, along with Hamidiye and three torpedo boats. During transit, the convoy was attacked by the Russian submarine Tyulen, which sank one of the colliers. The following day, Tyulen and another submarine tried to attack Yavuz as well, though they were unable to reach a firing position.^[38] Two Russian destroyers, Bystry and Pronzitelni, attacked a Turkish convoy escorted by Hamidiye and two torpedo boats on 5 September. Hamidiye's 15 cm (5.9 in) guns broke down during combat, and the Turks summoned Yavuz, but she arrived too late: the Turkish colliers had already been beached to avoid capture by the Russian destroyers.^[38]

On 21 September, Yavuz Sultan Selim was again sent out of the Bosphorus to drive off three Russian destroyers which had been attacking Turkish coal ships. Escort missions continued until 14 November, when the submarine Morzh nearly hit Yavuz with two torpedoes just outside the Bosphorus. Admiral Souchon decided the risk to the battlecruiser was too great, and suspended the convoy system. In its stead, only those ships fast enough to make the journey from Zonguldak to Constantinople in a single night were permitted; outside the Bosphorus they would be met by torpedo boats to defend them against the lurking submarines.^[39] By the end of the summer, the completion of two new Russian dreadnought battleships, Imperatritsa Mariya and Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya, further curtailed Yavuz's activities.^[40]

Admiral Souchon sent Yavuz to Zonguldak on 8 January to protect an approaching empty collier from Russian destroyers in the area, but the Russians sank the transport ship before Yavuz arrived. On the return trip to the Bosphorus, Yavuz encountered Imperatritsa Ekaterina. The two ships engaged in a brief artillery duel, beginning at a range of 18,500 meters. Yavuz turned to the southwest, and in the first four minutes of the engagement, fired five salvos from her main guns. Neither ship scored any hits, though shell splinters from near misses struck Yavuz.^[41] This was the only battle between dreadnoughts on the Black Sea to ever occur.^[42] Though nominally much faster than Imperatritsa Ekaterina, the Turkish battlecruiser's bottom was badly fouled and her propeller shafts were in poor condition. This made it difficult for Yavuz to escape from the powerful Russian battleship, which was reported to have reached 23.5 kn (44 km/h; 27 mph).^[43][d]

Russian forces were making significant gains into Ottoman territory during the

On 20 January 1918, Yavuz and Midilli left the Dardanelles under the command of Vice Admiral

The German navy formally transferred ownership of the vessel to the Turkish government on 2 November.[61] According to the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres between the Ottoman Empire and the Western Allies, Yavuz was to have been handed over to the Royal Navy as war reparations, but this was not done due to the Turkish War of Independence, which broke out immediately after World War I ended, as Greece attempted to seize territory from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. After modern Turkey emerged from the war victorious, the Treaty of Sèvres was discarded and the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in its place in 1923. Under this treaty, the new Turkish republic retained possession of much of its fleet, including Yavuz.^[62]

During the 1920s, a commitment to refurbish Yavuz as the centerpiece of the new country's fleet was the only constant element of the various naval policies which were put forward.

Other delays were caused by fraud charges which resulted in the abolition of the Ministry of Marine. The Turkish Military's Chief of Staff, Marshal Fevzi, opposed naval construction and slowed down all naval building programs following the fraud charges. Intensive work on the battlecruiser only began after the Greek Navy conducted a large-scale naval exercise off Turkey in September 1928 and the Turkish Government perceived a need to counter Greece's naval superiority.^[68] The Turks also ordered four destroyers and two submarines from Italian shipyards.^[69] The Greek Government proposed a 10-year "holiday" from naval building modeled on the Washington Treaty when it learned that Yavuz was to be brought back into service, though it reserved the right to build two new cruisers. The Turkish Government rejected this proposal, and claimed that the ship was intended to counter the growing strength of the Soviet Navy in the Black Sea.^[70]

Over the course of the refit, the mine damage was repaired,^[54] her displacement was increased to 23,100 t (22,700 long tons), and the hull was slightly reworked. She was reduced in length by a half meter but her beam increased by 10 cm (4 in). Yavuz was equipped with new boilers and a French fire control system for her main battery guns. Two of the 15 cm guns were removed from their casemate positions.^[64] Her armor protection was not upgraded to take the lessons of the Battle of Jutland into account, and she had only 2 inches (5.1 cm) of armor above her magazines.^[66] Yavuz was recommissioned in 1930, resuming her role as flagship of the Turkish Navy,^[71] and performed better than expected in her speed trials; her subsequent gunnery and fire control trials were also successful. The four destroyers, which were needed to protect the battlecruiser, entered service between 1931 and 1932; their performance never met the design specifications.^[72] In response to Yavuz's return to service, the Soviet Union transferred the battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna and light cruiser Profintern from the Baltic in late 1929 to ensure that the Black Sea Fleet retained parity with the Turkish Navy.^[69] The Greek Government also responded by ordering two destroyers.^[73]

In 1933, she took

Yavuz remained in service throughout World War II, but Turkey remained neutral during the conflict. Yavuz was kept at Gölcük, defended by torpedo nets and reinforced anti-aircraft units. The ship had her main mast removed to make it more difficult to determine her course.^[77] In November 1939 she and Parizhskaya Kommuna were the only capital ships in the Black Sea region, and Life magazine reported that Yavuz was superior to the Soviet ship because the latter was in poor condition.^[78] In 1941, her anti-aircraft battery was strengthened to four 88 mm (3.5 in) guns, ten 40 mm (1.6 in) guns, and four 20 mm (0.79 in) guns. These were later increased to twenty-two 40 mm guns and twenty-four 20 mm guns.^[64] Degaussing equipment was installed aboard the ship (and several other Turkish warships) in 1943 to protect them against magnetic mines.^[79]

On 5 April 1946, the American battleship

The Turkish government offered to sell the ship to the West German government in 1963 as a museum ship, but the offer was declined.^[64] Unable to afford the cost of preserving the ship itself,^[79] Turkey sold the ship to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971 for scrapping.^[65] She was towed to the breakers on 7 June 1973, and the work was completed in February 1976.^[64][65] By the time of her disposal she was the last dreadnought in existence outside the United States.^[83] She was the last surviving ship built by the Imperial German Navy, and the longest-serving dreadnought-type ship in any navy.^[84] Several parts of the ship have been preserved, including three of her screws (which were sent to the Naval Command and to the Istanbul Naval Museum) and her foremast (which was placed at the naval academy).^[79]

Citations

1. ^ Gardiner & Gray, pp. 26, 152.
2. ^ Staff, pp. 11–12.
3. ^ Gröner, pp. 54–55.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Staff, p. 12.
5. ^ Gröner, p. 54.
6. ^ Dodson, pp. 8–9.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Staff, p. 18.
8. ^ Staff, pp. 15, 18.
9. ^ ^{a b} Halpern, p. 51.
10. ^ ^{a b} Herwig, p. 153.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Halpern, p. 52.
12. ^ Second Hague Convention, Section 13.
13. ^ Bennett, p. 31.
14. ^ Halpern, pp. 55–56.
15. ^ Bennett, p. 33.
16. ^ Bennett, p. 27.
17. ^ Bennett, pp. 33–34.
18. ^ ^{a b} Halpern, p. 56.
19. ^ Bennett, pp. 35–36.
20. ^ Hamilton & Herwig, p. 164.
21. ^ Halpern, pp. 57–58.
22. ^ ^{a b c d e} Staff, p. 19.
23. ^ McLaughlin, p. 122.
24. ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 44.
25. ^ Halpern, p. 227.
26. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 127–128.
27. ^ ^{a b} McLaughlin, p. 131.
28. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 129–130.
29. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 131, 133.
30. ^ ^{a b c} Halpern, p. 228.
31. ^ Nekrasov, pp. 51–52.
32. ^ Halpern, p. 231.
33. ^ Corbett, p. 359.
34. ^ Corbett, p. 370.
35. ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 47–48.
36. ^ Campbell, p. 23.
37. ^ Brice, p. 276.
38. ^ ^{a b} Halpern, p. 234.
39. ^ Halpern, p. 235.
40. ^ Halpern, p. 236.
41. ^ Halpern, p. 237.
42. ^ Noppen, p. 23.
43. ^ ^{a b} Campbell, p. 26.
44. ^ Halpern, p. 241.
45. ^ Halpern, p. 240.
46. ^ Halpern, pp. 243–244.
47. ^ Halpern, pp. 244–245.
48. ^ Halpern, p. 245.
49. ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 51.
50. ^ Halpern, p. 248.
51. ^ Nofi, p. 30.
52. ^ ^{a b c d} Halpern, p. 255.
53. ^ Buxton, pp. 36–37.
54. ^ ^{a b} Gardiner & Gray, p. 152.
55. ^ Buxton, p. 38.
56. ^ Hownam-Meek et al.
57. ^ Halpern, pp. 255–256.
58. ^ ^{a b} Staff, p. 20.
59. ^ Halpern, p. 256.
60. ^ ^{a b} Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 54.
61. ^ Halpern, p. 258.
62. ^ Gardiner & Gray, p. 388.
63. ^ Güvenç & Barlas, p. 7.
64. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Gardiner & Gray, p. 391.
65. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Whitley, p. 241.
66. ^ ^{a b} Worth, p. 271.
67. ^ ^{a b} Brice, p. 277.
68. ^ Barlas & Güvenç, p. 152.
69. ^ ^{a b} Rohwer & Monakov, p. 30.
70. ^ Güvenç & Barlas, p. 10.
71. ^ ^{a b} Brice, p. 278.
72. ^ Güvenç & Barlas, pp. 19–20.
73. ^ Barlas & Güvenç, p. 155.
74. ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 142.
75. ^ Deringil, p. 35.
76. ^ Güvenç & Barlas, pp. 27–28.
77. ^ Atmaca, p. 200.
78. ^ Eliot.
79. ^ ^{a b c d e} Atmaca, p. 201.
80. ^ Stillwell, pp. 99–101.
81. ^ Stillwell, p. 102.
82. ^ Sturton, p. 147.
83. ^ Willmott, p. 220.
84. ^ Hough, p. 91.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SMS Goeben (ship, 1911).

• Atmaca, Gökhan (2018). "The Battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex-Goeben, 1911)". In Taylor, Bruce (ed.). The World of the Battleship: The Lives and Careers of Twenty-One Capital Ships of the World's Navies, 1880–1990. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-87021-906-1
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• Barlas, D. Lek & Güvenç, Serhat (2002). "To Build a Navy with the Help of Adversary: Italian-Turkish Naval Arms Trade, 1929–32". Middle Eastern Studies. 38 (4). London: Taylor & Francis: 143.
  S2CID 144043689
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• ISBN 978-1-84415-300-8
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• Brice, Martin H. (1969). "S.M.S. Goeben/T.N.S. Yavuz: The Oldest Dreadnought in Existence—Her History and Technical Details". Warship International. VI (4). Toledo: Naval Records Club: 272–279.
• Buxton, Ian (2008). Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd, revised and expanded ed.). Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
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• Campbell, N. J. M. (1978). Battle Cruisers. Warship Special. Vol. 1. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press.
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• ISBN 978-1-870423-74-8
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• Deringil, Selim (2004). Turkish Foreign Policy During the Second World War: An 'Active' Neutrality. LSE Monographs in International Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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• ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5
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• Eliot, George Fielding (6 November 1939). "Turkey Bestrides the Dardanelles". Life. Time Inc.
  ISSN 0024-3019
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• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1986). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press.
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• ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6
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• Güvenç, Serhat & Barlas, Dilek (2003). "Atatürk's Navy: Determinants of Turkish Naval Policy, 1923–38". Journal of Strategic Studies. 26 (1). London: Routledge: 1.
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• Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
  ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7
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• Hamilton, Richard F. & Herwig, Holger H. (2005). Decisions for War, 1914–1917. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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• Herwig, Holger H. (1998) [1980]. "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books.
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• Hownam-Meek, R. S. S.; et al. (2000). "Question 3/99: The Loss of the German Light Cruiser Breslau". Warship International. XXXVII (1). Toledo: International Naval Research Organization: 92–95.
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• Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press.
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• McLaughlin, Stephen (2001). "Predreadnoughts vs a Dreadnought: The Action off Cape Sarych, 18 November 1914". In Preston, Antony (ed.). Warship 2001–2002. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 117–140.
  ISBN 978-0-85177-901-0
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• Nekrasov, George (1992). North of Gallipoli: The Black Sea Fleet at War 1914–1917. East European monographs. Vol. CCCXLIII. Boulder: East European Monographs.
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• ISBN 978-1-884733-87-1
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• Noppen, Ryan K. (20 July 2015). Ottoman Navy Warships 1914–18. Bloomsbury Publishing.
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• ISBN 978-0-7146-4895-8
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• "Second Hague Convention, Section 13". avalon.law.yale.edu. 18 October 1907. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
• Staff, Gary (2006). German Battlecruisers: 1914–1918. Oxford: Osprey Books.
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• Stillwell, Paul (1996). Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
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• Sturton, Ian, ed. (1987). Conway's All the World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London: Conway Maritime Press.
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• Whitley, M. J. (1998). Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
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• Willmott, H.P. (2002). Battleship. London: Cassell Military.
  ISBN 978-0-304-35810-6
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• Worth, Richard (2001). Fleets of World War II. Cambridge: Da Capo Press.
  ISBN 978-0-306-81116-6
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Further reading

• Breyer, Siegfried (1997). Die Kaiserliche Marine und ihre Großen Kreuzer [The Imperial Navy and its Large Cruisers] (in German). Wölfersheim: Podzun-Pallas Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3-7909-0603-5
  .
• Dodson, Aidan; Cant, Serena (2020). Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1
  .

External links

• Yavuz in Turkey in the First World War website.