SMS Wroclaw
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SMS Breslau was a small cruiser of the German Imperial Navy . In 1914 he entered the service of the Ottoman Navy and was renamed Midilli . The cruiser sank in 1918 after being hit by mines off Imbros .
history
The launch of the Breslau took place on May 16, 1911 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin . The ship's sea trials began on May 10, 1912.
Pre-war missions
Even during the test drives, the new cruiser served the Kaiseryacht Hohenzollern as an escort ship during the Kiel Week and on the Kaiser’s subsequent voyage to the north until 23 August. While still on a test drive, she was the emperor's escort cruiser during the autumn maneuvers of the high seas fleet in September and only joined the reconnaissance forces on September 26th.
Already on November 3, the Breslau left there again and joined the great cruiser Goeben to the Mediterranean division newly formed because of the First Balkan War under the leadership of Rear Admiral Konrad Trummler , the previous second admiral of the 1st Squadron. After taking over the equipment in Kiel , both ships left Wilhelmshaven on November 5, 1912 and reached Malta on November 13 . At that time, four other ships formed the Mediterranean division: the small cruiser Geier , the two school cruisers Hertha and Vineta, and the station tender Loreley . While the flagship went to Constantinople , where the Loreley was and where the Vineta was also ordered, the Breslau ran to Alexandria , where she met the two other ships of the division ( Hertha and Geier ). She then called at several ports in the Aegean Sea and finally Constantinople. After the assassination of the Greek King George I by an assassin, she brought Prince Ernst August von Cumberland, the future son-in-law of the emperor, in Brindisi , and then in Corfu Prince Heinrich of Prussia , the emperor's brother Participation in the funeral ceremonies.
From April 10, 1913, she took part in the international blockade of the coast of Montenegro . At the same time, the international operation of Montenegro should prevent an occupation of Skadar , which should fall to Albania . 100 men from the Breslau were sent there on an Italian steamer as a land contingent on the Bojana . After a long dispute in the international commission, the commander of the Breslau , frigate captain Leberecht von Klitzing , was appointed civil commissioner of the area cleared by the Turks in May . Led on behalf of Lieutenant Wilfried von Loewenfeld , the Breslau picked up the Scutari detachment formed from the naval battalions in Pola on June 30 and took the land command formed from its own crew on board again on July 6. Relieved by the Geier , the cruiser marched from August 6 to 10, 1913 to Constantinople, where it remained until October 27. He spent the turn of the year 1913/1914 in Messina .
In January 1914, the Breslau was again in front of the Bojana estuary and then went to Trieste for a general overhaul by March 18 . Together with the flagship Goeben of the Mediterranean division, which had been commanded by Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon since October 1913 , she accompanied the imperial yacht Hohenzollern from Venice to Corfu from March 27, 1914 . On May 4th, the ships separated and the Breslau resumed patrol service in the Aegean Sea. On June 5, she met the Goeben in Alexandria and received orders to observe the situation in Albania, where the German Prince Wilhelm zu Wied had been elected prince. From June 20, she was then in front of Durazzo and also put ten men ashore to protect the consulate. On July 8, 1914, she met again with the Goeben in front of Corfu so that Admiral Souchon could discuss the situation with his commanders and make arrangements in case of war, since the assassination attempt in Sarajevo had occurred on June 28 . The Breslau took her land command on board in Durazzo on August 1st. The German marine infantry detachment in Skutari marched with the battalion-sized security detachment of the Austrians from August 4th to 6th, 1914 in a walk of 45 km to San Giovanni di Medua , where the Austrian steamer Sophie von Hohenberg picked up both units and followed on the same day Castelnuovo brought. According to the agreement, the Breslau first ran to Brindisi in order to prepare as far as possible a coaling of the Goebi there. One of the youngest officers of the Breslau , the then Lieutenant for the Sea, Karl Dönitz , was left there to support the German consul and for further preparation . Then she ran on to Messina, where the Goeben also arrived on the evening of August 2, 1914 . Doenitz returned to the Breslau .
Operations in the First World War
First use
The Goeben and the Breslau had run to Messina because the Triple Alliance provided for this in the event of a war. After his talks with the Austrians and the Italians, the division chief, Vice Admiral Souchon, did not expect a meeting with the warships of the allies, as he expected Italy to be neutral and had already found this to be almost hostile in the attitude towards his supply attempts in the other ports. He also knew from the Austrian commander, Admiral Anton Haus , that the Austrians were initially concentrating entirely on the war against Serbia and Russia and did not want to provoke an expansion of the conflict. For their Mediterranean division, the Germans had planned to hinder the movement of French troops from Algeria to the motherland as a first operation and only expected support from their allies by light naval forces (cruisers and destroyers). After supply (taking over coal from German merchant ships in the port), the two German ships left Messina on August 3 at around 1 a.m. and ran along the northern coast of Sicily and the southern tip of Sardinia to Algeria. After the declaration of war on France, which had meanwhile taken place, the Goeben shelled the port of Philippeville on August 4, 1914 from 06:08 a.m. and the Wroclaw Bône in Algeria from sunrise .
The French fleet was on its way from Toulon to North Africa at the time. Near Menorca it had split up into three columns that were to call at Philippeville, Algiers and Oran . The easternmost group after Philippeville consisted of the 1st battleship squadron with six ships of the Danton class , an armored cruiser division and a destroyer flotilla and was too far away to intervene. In addition, the French commander in chief ordered this group to join the Algiers group to the west, fearing that the Germans would march further west. They actually ran back to Messina at 17 knots to replenish their coal supplies. Their use was successful in so far as the French commander-in-chief initially prohibited the transport of troops and ordered the formation of convoy trains, which could only be formed after the fleet had arrived in Algerian ports.
The whereabouts and plans of the Germans were unclear to the British. They had concentrated their Mediterranean fleet and Admiral Archibald Berkeley Milne in Malta for the past few days . They had three battle cruisers, four armored cruisers, four Town-class light cruisers, and fourteen destroyers. As the Goeben had been repaired in Pola until recently and the Breslau had also stood off the Albanian coast, they expected the Mediterranean division to merge with the Austro-Hungarian Navy . Their blockade in the Adriatic was one of the main tasks of the British Navy to secure the trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean, while the western Mediterranean was to be secured by the French. On August 2, at 5:12 p.m., the light cruiser Chatham was dispatched to scout Messina, followed by eight destroyers (at slow speed to reach the Straits of Otranto with their own coal stores ), then the light cruiser Gloucester followed , which carried the Caught up with the destroyer at 9:15 p.m. On August 3, at 7:30 a.m., the Chatham announced that the Germans had left Messina. This was followed by the majority of the ships under Admiral Ernest Troubridge towards the Adriatic Sea: the 1st cruiser squadron with Troubridge's flagship Defense and the armored cruisers Warrior and Duke of Edinburgh , as well as the 2nd division the battle cruisers Indomitable and Indefatigable . The light cruiser Dublin was dispatched to Bizerta to establish contact with the French. At 8:47 p.m. Troubridge received the order to park the battle cruisers to Gibraltar to prevent the Germans from breaking out of the Mediterranean. Under Captain Francis Kennedy of Indomitable , they increased their speed from 14 to 22 knots and ran west.
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On August 4 at 10:32 a.m. they met the Germans north of Bône on their march back to Messina. Since Germany and Great Britain were not yet at war, the British battlecruisers turned to follow the Goeben , which tried to escape at top speed. However, with its damaged boilers it only reached 22 to 24 knots. The faster Breslau tried several times to pull the British apart by running away to the side, which did not succeed. Dublin , which had been ordered from Bizerta , was added as a further pursuer at noon. But the British battle cruisers also had boiler problems. The Goeben and the Breslau kept running away from them and from 16:45 only the Dublin was in contact with the Germans. In fog and falling darkness, she also lost it at 19:37 in front of Cape San Vito on the north coast of Sicily. The Germans had proven they had the faster ships and convinced the British of it.
The Breslau entered Messina on August 5 at 5:15 am to prepare for the coal takeover. The Goeben followed at 7.45 a.m. after Souchon had ordered three coal steamers over the radio for the route to Constantinople. Souchon assumed that Messina would not get enough coal. In the meantime there was also a state of war with Great Britain, and the Italians made it clear immediately after arriving that the neutrality regulations were to be observed.
Relocation to Turkey
The Germans tried to load as much coal as possible in Messina. However, they only had the coal from the German ships in the port. In anticipation of the possible problems, Souchon had ordered the Reichspostdampfer General of the DOAL, who was close to Crete, back to Messina. The takeover of coal turned out to be extremely difficult as the merchant ships were not equipped to deliver coal. Sometimes holes had to be cut in the decks. In total, only a little over 1,500 tons of coal could be accepted. The Germans assumed that they would have to run away from the pursuing British in order to evade them and to gain time for a coaling in the Aegean Sea.
The British did not recognize the Germans' intentions. The Commander-in-Chief Archibald Berkeley Milne expected (he had received false information about the existence of German coal steamers in the area of the Balearic Islands) that they would attempt a new attack on the French, and remained with the battle cruisers Inflexible and Indefatigable on a safety voyage in the west of Sicily, in order to be able to cover both routes of attack, since the instructions from London called on him to strictly observe Italian neutrality. He had released his third battle cruiser , the Indomitable , to Bizerta to replenish the coal supply. A passage through the Strait of Messina and the Italian territorial waters was therefore out of the question for him. His subordinate Troubridge thought a march into the Adriatic was likely. On the night of August 5, he had already searched for the Germans with his four armored cruisers (the temporarily detached Black Prince had joined him) and the destroyers, as he was only informed four hours late that the Germans were arriving in Messina. During the day he had withdrawn to the east to the Greek coast, as he expected coal steamers there and his destroyers had only limited supplies. Directly in front of Messina was only the Gloucester, which Troubridge had left there .
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On the evening of August 6th, the Germans left around 5:00 p.m. The Gloucester under Captain William A. Howard Kelly immediately took up chase and radioed the two British admirals. The Germans tried to disrupt radio communications, which they occasionally succeeded in and which at times resulted in incomplete information. They ran northeast along the Italian coast, apparently towards the Adriatic. The British battle cruisers first ran to Malta to replenish coal; Troubridges Association off the Greek coast to the north.
The Breslau tried several times to divert the Gloucester from the pursuit of the Goeben with her superior speed by changing course , which did not succeed. All she could do was prevent it from holding in a position in which the moon “illuminated” the flagship. At 11 p.m. Souchon changed course and the two German ships were now heading south-east. They tried to interfere with Gloucester's radio communications, and some of it succeeded. At 00:10 on August 7, Troubridge turned around with his 1st Cruiser Squadron and ran south with the four armored cruisers to intercept Breslau and Goeben at night. Its destroyers still had insufficient coal stocks to be used effectively.
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The sharpest weapon of the British seemed to be the cruiser Dublin under Captain John D. Kelly (the younger brother of the commanding officer of the Gloucester ), who after the persecution of the Germans had gone to Malta on the 4th to replenish its coal stocks on August 6th , around 1:30 p.m., left with the destroyers Beagle and Bulldog to reinforce Troubridge's association. They were supposed to stop the Goeben with a torpedo night attack. At top speed they ran to a calculated intersection, which was, however, wrong due to the mutilated radio messages of the Gloucester and the excessive speed it transmitted. Nevertheless, they sighted the Wroclaw (since they had not managed to get in front of them) and went into pursuit. At 02:42 a.m. they broke off the pursuit of the faster Breslau , as the Goeben was still further north and west according to the Gloucester reports . The commander of the Dublin , John Kelly, continued the search with his ships until 3:30 a.m. All they saw was columns of steam, which presumably belonged to Gloucester . At 3:30 a.m. Kelly had to abort the search because the coal stocks of his ships were severely reduced and the operational readiness was endangered. He continues his drive to the Troubridge Association. This formation broke off the march to the south at 03:47 a.m. near the Greek coast and far to the north, as a night battle was hardly possible and he saw no chance against the Goebs during the day .
So the Gloucester remained under Howard Kelly the only pursuer of the Mediterranean division. The Wroclaw had come very close to her in the course of pursuing several times without opening fire. Since the morning the German ships ran together again. Souchon had ordered the Breslau to end and slowed it down so that the battlecruiser could gain a head start. He planned a raid on the chasing cruiser under cover of the Greek islands. Milne had meanwhile ordered Kelly to break off the pursuit at Cape Matapan so as not to run into this danger. He closed up closer to Breslau at around 1:30 p.m. and opened fire, which was immediately returned. Kelly hoped the Goeben would turn in support of the weaker Breslau . The Breslau received an insignificant hit on the waterline and followed the Goeben, who had lost sight of it . The Gloucester broke off the pursuit shortly thereafter as ordered (with little coal stocks and no way to maintain the speed of the Breslau ).
Souchon's intention to transfer the Mediterranean division to Turkey as unharmed as possible made him refrain from attacking the British ships. He drove to the second pre-ordered coal steamer (the bogadyr of the DLL near Denoussa Island ) and coal there on August 9th. On August 10th, he entered the Dardanelles with his ships at around 5 p.m. and ran to Constantinople with Turkish permission. Milne followed on August 8 with the three battle cruisers and the light cruiser Weymouth into the Aegean Sea without seriously pursuing the Germans.
The Germans successfully completed this operation. According to Winston Churchill , it was the most important event at sea of the First World War. The two British admirals were never again in command at sea. Troubridge was tried before a court-martial but was acquitted.
Takeover in the Turkish service
Both ships were officially sold to Turkey.
The sale was presented as a replacement for the ships of the line seized by Great Britain. On August 2, 1914, the completed Reshadije should be taken over by the Turkish team. One hour before the handover ceremony, however, British troops occupied the ship and interned the Turkish crew. At the same time this was happening on the other completed for the Ottoman Empire battleship, the Sultan Osman I . They came into British service as Erin and Agincourt .
On August 16, 1914, the Breslau was put into service under the Ottoman flag as Midilli - after the capital of the island of Lesvos, Mytilini , which was lost to Greece in 1913 . The German crew stayed on board; she now wore the fez as her official headgear. The transfer of the Goeben and the Breslau to the Ottoman Navy made a decisive contribution to Turkey's entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers . Admiral Souchon was appointed Commander in Chief of the Ottoman Navy and remained so until 1917.
Operations under the Ottoman flag
On October 29, 1914, Souchon opened the sea war in the Black Sea with attacks on the Russian ports of Novorossiysk , Odessa and Sevastopol with the Goeben , renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim , the Midilli and other Turkish ships . The Midilli and the Berk-i Satvet shelled Novorossiysk: 14 steamships were sunk in the port, the British Friederike was damaged, 40 oil tanks were set on fire and the radio station was decommissioned. The bombardment of the three ports, which took place without a previous declaration of war, led a few days later, on November 2, 1914, to the Russian declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire and on November 3 to the attack by the Royal Navy on the Dardanelles.
On November 16, the Midilli accompanied a Turkish convoy along the Turkish Black Sea coast after the Russian Black Sea Fleet had successfully attacked Turkish cargo ships.
On November 18, she had caught up with the Goeben , which was also at sea , when they suddenly met the Russian fleet in thick fog. Both sides immediately opened fire. The Goeben received a hit and a magazine had to be flooded. The Russian flagship Yevstafi was hit four times (33 dead) and the Rostislaw was badly damaged.
In November and December, the Midilli and the light cruiser Hamidiye accompanied troop transports to the Caucasus several times. On December 23rd, marching alone, she sighted the Russian fleet at 4:00 a.m. In the light of her searchlight she was able to sink the pinch of Athos ex DLL , which was intended as a block ship for Zonguldak , fire a salvo at a Russian ship of the line and then run off.
On April 3, 1915, the Midilli ran out of the Bosphorus with the Goeben , repaired after a mine hit in December , to cover the return of the cruisers Hamidiye and Mecidiye , which were supposed to bombard Nikolayev . The Mecidiye was hit by a mine and sank; the attack was canceled. Nevertheless, the formerly German ships ran to Sevastopol, where they sank two freighters in front of the port, although the Russian fleet ran out. Both ships withdrew slowly from the departing six ships of the line, two cruisers and five destroyers to give the Hamidiye time to march back with the survivors of the Mecidiye . As the Russians approached, the Midilli put a thick curtain of smoke under which the former German ships withdrew. The Midilli partially fell back to draw Russian fire and encourage the fleet to hold on to the chase. At nightfall, both ships accelerated their return march, knowing over the radio that the Hamidiye had almost reached the Bosphorus. The Russian destroyers caught up close to the Goeben in the dark , but betrayed themselves by their radio communications, so that they were bathed in bright light by the searchlights of the battle cruiser . The Midilli immediately opened fire and immediately shot the first two destroyers together; the three at the back fled. None of the Russian torpedoes fired found their target and Souchon's main combat ships reached the Bosporus undamaged the following noon.
On July 18, 1915, the Midilli suffered a severe mine hit while securing a coal transport and was not ready for action again until February 27, 1916. She now had two 6-inch cannons to be more effective against Russian cruisers.
In March and April she carried troops to the land front east of Trabzon . In doing so, she repeatedly came into contact with modern Russian units. On the 3rd / 4th In July she shot at the port facilities of Tuapse with the Goeben . Then the Goeben was subjected to a major overhaul and on the Midilli the remaining 10.5 cm cannons were exchanged for 15 cm cannons, and an additional oil firing system was installed, as the Turkish Navy suffered from a lack of coal. From April 1917, until the armistice on June 25, further operations followed in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and to secure the coal transports until November 1917 (including the deployment of mine barriers and a battle).
Battle at Imbros
On January 20, 1918, the Yavuz Sultan Selim and the Midilli under the new commander Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz undertook a sortie from the Dardanelles and met British units near the island of Imbros . The M28 and Raglan monitors were sunk, but the Turkish flotilla ran into a minefield. The Midilli sank after five mine hits; the Yavuz Sultan Selim was able to return to the Dardanelles despite being hit by a mine three times and was set aground there. Of the crew of the Midilli only 133 men survived; 330 died.
Commanders
| May 1912 to September 1913 | Frigate captain Leberecht von Klitzing |
| May 1913 to August 1913 | Captain Wilfried von Loewenfeld (deputy) |
| October 1913 to January 1915 | Frigate Captain Paul Kettner |
| January to February 1915 | Corvette Captain Rudolf Madlung |
| February to August 1915 | Sea captain Leberecht von Klitzing |
| September 1915 to July 1917 | Corvette Captain Wolfram von Knorr |
| August 1917 to January 1918 | Frigate captain / sea captain Georg von Hippel |
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Herford 1979 ff., DNB 550720391
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Josef Matuz: The Ottoman Empire - Basics of its History. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-534-05845-3 , p. 264, footnote 3.