Goeben and Breslau enter the Dardanelles

After a week-long flight across the Mediterranean, the German warships Goeben and Breslau reached the Dardanelles, the strait leading to Constantinople. Contemporary chronicles record their entry into the strait under 11 August 1914, although according to most sources the ships reached the entrance to the Dardanelles on the evening of 10 August.

The flight

From the start of the war Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon had led his ships across the Mediterranean, evading the British fleet. After shelling ports in Algeria and coaling at Messina he headed east. On 7 August his ships were still being pursued by the British cruiser Gloucester, but the main British forces expected the Germans to try to escape westwards. By the time it was understood where they were heading, it was too late.

Entering the Dardanelles was not a foregone conclusion. The Ottoman Empire was formally neutral, and the rules of neutrality forbade the warships of belligerents from staying long in its waters. Permission to let the German ships through was, however, given by the Minister of War, Enver Pasha, a supporter of alliance with Germany. The ships passed the forts around Çanakkale and anchored in the strait.

A fictitious sale

When Great Britain and France protested, the Ottoman government announced that it had bought both ships from Germany. On 16 August Turkish ensigns were hoisted on them and they were given new names: Goeben became Yavuz Sultan Selim, and Breslau became Midilli. The crews, however, remained German, and Souchon soon took command of the entire Ottoman fleet. For the Turks the “purchase” was also compensation for two battleships ordered in Great Britain and requisitioned by the British at the beginning of August.

Significance

The arrival of Goeben and Breslau had enormous consequences. It strengthened the pro-German party in Constantinople and gave Germany a powerful means of pressure. At the end of October 1914 both ships, under the Ottoman flag but with German crews, led the Ottoman fleet in an attack on Russian ports on the Black Sea. Goeben shelled Sevastopol, Breslau Novorossiysk, and Ottoman torpedo boats attacked Odessa. In response Russia, Great Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The escape of two warships thus opened new fronts: in the Caucasus, in Mesopotamia, in Palestine and at the Dardanelles.