The battle ended Ottoman naval offensive capability for the remainder of World War I by sinking their best cruiser and crippling their only battlecruiser.
Key Facts
- Date
- 20 January 1918
- Ottoman battlecruiser
- Yavuz Sultan Selim (heavily damaged, beached)
- Ottoman cruiser
- Midilli (sunk in minefield)
- British vessels destroyed
- Monitors at Imbros
- Theater
- Aegean Sea, off island of Imbros
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
A shortage of heavy Allied warships in the Aegean region left British monitors and destroyers at Imbros and the naval base at Mudros exposed to attack. The Ottomans exploited this gap by ordering their two most capable surface warships, the battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim and light cruiser Midilli, to sortie into the Mediterranean.
On 20 January 1918, the Ottoman squadron attacked and destroyed British Royal Navy monitors anchored off Imbros and then moved to assault the naval base at Mudros. While withdrawing, both Ottoman vessels sailed into a minefield; Midilli was sunk and Yavuz Sultan Selim was heavily damaged and forced to beach herself inside the Dardanelles.
With Midilli sunk and Yavuz Sultan Selim immobilized and subjected to sustained Allied air attacks before eventually being towed to safety, the Ottoman Navy lost its most modern cruiser and its only battlecruiser, effectively ending its offensive capability for the remainder of World War I.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent