[Sailor Steve]

As I mentioned earlier, several years ago I posted some of the events of the naval side of the war to another website. Now that the 100th
anniversary of those events has come, I'll be reposting them here, with some modifications as I uncover previously unknown (to me, anyway) stories.

The Goeben affair, Part 1

When war was declared the British had three battlecruisers in the Mediterranean sea: Indefatigable, Indomitable, and Inflexible, under the command of Admiral Sir Achibald Berkely Milne, known as 'Arky-Barky'. Under him was Rear-Admiral Thomas Troubridge, commanding four armoured cruisers , or heavy cruisers: Black Prince, Defence, Duke Of Edinburgh, and Warrior.

The Germans had one battlecruiser, Goeben, and one light cruiser, Breslau, under Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon.

On 30 July Admiral Milne was informed that war might break out, and that his main tasks were to support French army movements from Algeria to Italy, and to attack Goeben, but only if he had 'superior forces'. Milne was not given permission to talk to the French until 2 August. When given that permission, Milne could not contact the French commander, Admiral de Lapeyrere, by wireless, so he sent one of his light cruisers to Bizerta to make contact.

On 3 August Milne was informed of the breakout of war between Germany and France, and of the British ultimatum. He also found that Goeben and Breslau were coaling at Messina. At this point the Admiralty War Staff decided that Souchon would not attack the French troop convoys, but would make a dash for Gibraltar and try to escape into the Atlantic. Milne was ordered to send Indomitable and Inflexible to Gibraltar to intercept Goeben.

On the morning of 4 August Souchon took his two ships and bombarded the French ports of Bône and Philippeville, and then headed east again. At 10:30 A.M. the two British battlecruisers, under the command of Captain Francis Kennedy, encountered the Germans fifty miles west of Galita Island. The two forces sailed right by each other, neither side willing to open fire because they were not technically at war. The British ships then turned around and began following the Germans. At 2:00 P.M. Captain Kennedy heard of the ultimatum, and apparently Admiral Souchon also got the word because he soon after took his ships to full speed in an attempt to escape the British. The British battlecruisers had been on station for quite some time, and due to fouled bottoms were not able to match the Germans' speed, and finally lost contact at 7:37 P.M. Meanwhile Milne recieved orders to respect Italian neutrality and not to come within six miles of the Italian coast.

Souchon put into Messina to recoal, and was told by the Italians he had twenty-four hours to get the job done and leave.