First Battle of Durrës

The First Battle of Durrës was the first cruiser action in the Adriatic. On the night of 28–29 December 1915 the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Helgoland and five destroyers sailed from Kotor to attack shipping in the Albanian port of Durrës (Italian: Durazzo). Through this port the Entente was supplying the remnants of the Serbian army, which were reaching the sea after their retreat across the mountains. On the way the Austrians sank a French submarine, and at dawn a steamer and two sailing vessels in the harbour. As they withdrew, however, they ran into a freshly laid Italian minefield and lost two destroyers. All afternoon the squadron was pursued by British and Italian cruisers. Helgoland, hit several times, escaped only after dark.

Name and dates

In Italian the action is called the battaglia di Durazzo, in English the First Battle of Durazzo or the Battle of Durazzo (1915). The ordinal distinguishes it from the Second Battle of Durrës, the Allied bombardment of the port in October 1918. The British official history (Newbolt, Naval Operations, vol. IV) describes it as “the first cruiser action in the Adriatic”. The Polish Wikipedia, in its article on the cruiser Quarto, mentions the “1st Battle of Durazzo”. On this page we use the Albanian name of the town, as in the other articles on this site.

The Italian and English Wikipedias date the battle to 28–29 December, because the Austrian squadron left Kotor at about midnight on 28–29 December. All the fighting, however, from the sinking of the submarine at about 2.30 a.m. to the last salvoes after sunset, took place on 29 December. We take this date as both the start and the end of the battle.

Background

At the turn of November and December 1915 the defeated Serbian army was retreating across the mountains of Montenegro and Albania to the Adriatic. The Entente decided to supply it and then to take it away by ship. The task fell mainly to the Italian navy, the Regia Marina, supported by British and French ships from the base at Brindisi. They were commanded by the Italian Vice-Admiral Emanuele Cutinelli Rendina. Ships carrying food sailed to three Albanian landing places: San Giovanni di Medua, Durrës and Vlorë, where the Italians had been since December 1914. Medua and Durrës were open roadsteads without port facilities, and they lay very close to Kotor, the main Austro-Hungarian base in the south. Durrës was only about 80 nautical miles from the entrance to the Bay of Kotor.

For a long time the Austro-Hungarian navy was unwilling to send ships so far south. On 29 November, however, the army high command instructed Admiral Anton Haus to patrol the Albanian coast and disrupt the traffic. Haus moved his newest and fastest ships to Kotor: the light cruisers Helgoland and Novara, six Tátra-class destroyers and six torpedo boats. They carried out two raids as early as December. On 5 December Novara sank ships in the harbour of Medua, and on 6 December Helgoland and the destroyers sank several sailing vessels at Durrës. The Italians then strengthened Durrës. According to the British official history, by 20 December they had brought an infantry brigade there from Vlorë, landed eight heavy guns and an anti-aircraft battery, and laid a minefield off the harbour. The hills above the bay were occupied by troops and artillery. The ruler of Durrës, Essad Pasha Toptani, an ally of the Entente, also had guns.

The raid on Durrës

On 28 December Austro-Hungarian airmen spotted two Italian destroyers in the bay of Durrës. In the evening Captain Heinrich Seitz, commander of Helgoland, was ordered to sail with the destroyers Csepel, Tátra, Triglav, Lika and Balaton, to look for the Italian ships between Durrës and Brindisi, and at dawn to enter the bay and sink all the vessels found there. At about midnight the squadron put to sea. The night was clear and almost windless.

At about 2.30 a.m. the Austrians sighted the periscope of the French submarine Monge, which was watching the approaches to Kotor. Sources differ on who sank her. According to the British official history, based on Austrian documents, she was rammed by the destroyer Balaton. Other works, including French ones, say she was rammed by Helgoland herself. The damaged boat managed to surface and her crew abandoned her. Her commander, Lieutenant Roland Morillot, stayed on board and went down with her. The other sailors, according to Newbolt two officers and 25 men, were taken prisoner by the Austrians.

At about 6 a.m. the squadron was 15 miles west of Durrës. Helgoland and Balaton headed for the southern end of the bay to cut off the escape route of the Italian destroyers. These, however, were not in the harbour. In the roadstead there were only three unarmed vessels: a steamer, Greek according to some sources, and two sailing vessels. At 7.30 a.m. four destroyers entered the bay and sank them within a quarter of an hour or so. According to Italian sources they also shelled the fortress above the town.

The mines

At about 8 a.m., as the destroyers were returning to Helgoland, batteries on shore opened fire on them. According to some works this was a well-concealed battery of 75 mm guns firing at almost point-blank range, according to Italian sources two of Essad Pasha’s field guns. The destroyers turned sharply so as not to cross the line of fire of their own cruiser, and ran onto the minefield. Lika struck two mines one after the other. The second explosion started a fire, and at 8.03 a.m. the destroyer sank in flames. Tátra picked up some of the survivors. Almost at the same moment Triglav struck a mine abreast her boiler room and lost propulsion.

Csepel tried to take her in tow, but the line fouled her propeller and damaged it. Tátra took over the tow. All this took time, and the shore artillery fired ever more accurately at the ships, which Helgoland tried to cover with her fire. Only at about 9.50 a.m. did the squadron move away from Durrës to the north, at a speed of just 6 knots. Triglav was helpless, Tátra with the tow could not fight, and Csepel, with the line in her propeller, was slower. At 8.15 a.m. Seitz had intercepted a signal from Durrës to Brindisi and knew that the Entente would send ships in pursuit. At 10.10 a.m. he informed Kotor that he might be cut off. The armoured cruiser Kaiser Karl VI and four torpedo boats sailed from Kotor to his aid, and in the afternoon also Novara, Aspern and the old battleship Budapest.

The pursuit

News of the raid reached Brindisi early, although at first it spoke of an attack on Vlorë. Before 8 a.m. the British light cruiser HMS Dartmouth under Captain Addison and the Italian scout cruiser Quarto put to sea. They were followed by five French destroyers, among them Casque. Addison decided to place himself between the raiders and Kotor. About two hours later a second squadron sailed: the Italian cruiser Nino Bixio, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Belleni (Bellini in some sources), the British HMS Weymouth and four Italian destroyers.

At 1.15 p.m. Seitz ordered Triglav to be abandoned. Her crew was taken off by the other destroyers, and the damaged ship was to be scuttled. Soon afterwards the smoke trails of Dartmouth and Quarto were sighted. Addison sent the French destroyers to Triglav. According to most works, the French, deceived by the smoke from her funnels, opened fire on her from a distance and sank her by gunfire, which took more than half an hour and drew them away from the pursuit. The British official history, by contrast, says that by the time they arrived Triglav had already been scuttled by the Austrians.

At 1.43 p.m. Dartmouth opened fire at a range of about 14,000 yards, or nearly 13 kilometres. Seitz, whose 100 mm guns had a shorter range, relied on speed and tried to get round the British to break through to the north. Dartmouth, for her part, pushed him to the south-west, towards Brindisi. At about 2 p.m. a shell hit Helgoland, killing one man and wounding seven. Further hits came after 3 p.m. and at 4.25 p.m., when a shell went into the third funnel and put two boilers out of action. According to some works she was also hit several times by Quarto, which was trying to cut off the slower Csepel. At about 3.30 p.m. Belleni’s squadron arrived, and at 3.50 p.m. Weymouth opened fire. “We were now pursued by four cruisers. This was the hardest moment of the fight,” Seitz wrote in his war diary.

After sunset Helgoland turned parallel to the Italian coast, towards the Gargano peninsula, and passed just ahead of Belleni’s squadron. Weymouth and Nino Bixio fired at silhouettes outlined against the afterglow, and one shell hit Helgoland’s armour without doing any damage. When darkness fell, the firing became shooting blind. At about 5.30 p.m. Belleni, believing that the enemy was turning north, changed course and ceased fire. Weymouth fired until 5.50 p.m. At 6 p.m. Seitz turned north and vanished into the darkness. Helgoland and three destroyers returned to Kotor.

Losses

The Austro-Hungarians lost two of their six modern destroyers. The available sources do not give the full number of dead on Lika. According to Italian works, the mine explosion on Triglav killed eight men. Helgoland had at least one dead and several wounded, and Tátra was also damaged. The Entente lost the submarine Monge with her commander and three vessels in the harbour of Durrës. Nino Bixio was lightly hit.

Significance

The raid brought the Austrians more losses than gains. The British official history praises the courage and skill of Seitz, who did not abandon the slower Csepel and led his squadron out from under the fire of superior forces. It also points out Allied mistakes: the late departure of the second squadron from Brindisi, and the fact that Belleni steered towards Kotor for too long instead of turning at once towards the enemy. Had he done so, the action would have begun at least two hours earlier, in full daylight.

After the loss of Lika and Triglav, Austro-Hungarian surface ships stopped raiding the traffic to Albania for several weeks. The next raids, at the end of January and on 6 February 1916, were beaten off by the escort. The Entente was able to carry out the evacuation of the Serbs, which was completed on 9 February 1916. According to the Italian navy, more than 260,000 soldiers and refugees were carried from Medua, Durrës and Vlorë, mainly to Corfu. At the end of February 1916, however, Durrës was taken by Austro-Hungarian troops, and the Italian garrison had to evacuate under fire. The Austrians held the port until October 1918.