Sink the Goeben!"
The air was stiff with German fighters. They were attacking our bombers and several got shot down. It was one long confused mêlée dogfight. The one thing which mattered was the Goeben. All the RNAS 'planes in the Aegean were attacking her; quite a lot of RFC 'planes from Palestine – fully 70 aircraft."? (Matti E. Mäkelä,
Auf den Spuren der Goeben, via greatwarforum.org).
The Battle of Imbros was the culmination of Britain's four-year failed endeavor to put the Moltke-class battlecruiser SMS
Goeben and its companion ship the light cruiser SMS
Breslau out of the war. This operation, which involved coordinated aerial bombardments from No.2 Squadron and the
seaplane carrier HMS
Ark Royal, was an antecedent of sorts to the WWII battle over the German battleship
Bismarck involving Britain's next-generation
aircraft carrier of the same name. Today's story suggests that the Royal Navy had the upper hand though their multi-day seaplane attack proved ineffective and the elusive Goeben, renamed
Yavûz Sultân Selîm as the flagship of the Ottoman Navy, survived to fight another day. The Breslau, renamed
Midilli, sank after striking five mines en route to Mudros.
More on the air battle:
"
All available 2(Naval)Wing aircraft are ordered to the RNAS bases at Mudros on Lemnos and the nearby island of Imbros where the cruisers are headed. ‘Camels’ escort DH4s and a ‘Strutter’ bombing the ships as a wireless telegraphy equipped ‘Strutter’ shadows them. A ‘Camel’ claims two seaplanes downed. Breslau manoeuvring to avoid anti-aircraft shells being fired from Goeben, has her stern shattered by a mine, takes a direct hit from a bomb, hits more mines and eventually sinks. Goeben retreats hitting its third mine and is approached at the entrance to the Dardanelles by two bomb-carrying ‘Baby’ floatplanes escorted by a Greek pilot in a ‘Camel’. They are promptly engaged by ten enemy seaplanes three of which are driven down by the ‘Camel’ but the pilot of ‘Baby’ N1445 is killed. The pilot of ‘Baby’ N1424 {image below} at a second attempt drops his 65lb bombs but misses the ship and is then forced to land with engine trouble near a Turkish destroyer. He manages to taxi the machine around the Cape and beach the machine to await rescue. ‘Baby’ N1201 drops 2x65lb bombs on a submarine spotted 20 miles south west of Lemnos." (via kingstonaviation.org)
"
Turkish destroyers which attempted to help her before she went under were kept at a distance by British ships with the aid of aircraft which observed for their fire. The Yavuz, meanwhile, with fine determination, continued her journey towards Mudros, but she struck a mine on the way and her commander thereupon decided to go back. He failed to find the gap he had made in the minefield off the Dardanelles and struck another mine going in. As the Goeben entered the Straits two bomb-carrying Blackburn ‘Baby’ seaplanes... appeared over her, but they were promptly engaged by a formation of ten enemy seaplanes. In a sharp fight, three of the enemy seaplanes were driven down by the ‘Camel’ pilot (Commander A. Moraitinis), and one of the Blackburn ‘Baby’ seaplanes... {serial B1445 noted above; piloted by Flight Sub-Lieutenant William Johnston of No.2 Squadron} fell in flames." (via airwar19141918)
(article foreshadowingly from the Bismarck Tribune, 23 January 1918):
(iimages: Matti E. Mäkelä, Auf den Spuren der Goeben, via
https://www.greatwarforum.org)
(image: one of my favorite images of the Great War, via kingstonaviation.net)
And here's my digital depiction of a Royal Laboratory Light-Case Mk.I 65 lb. bomb as employed by the RNAS in this battle. I've gotten better at rendering some of the smaller details, such as the stamped text on the main body near the lug. The fins are shown thicker than they would be in real life - this is about the minimum required to make a successful print in 1/32 scale.
Side bar:The Royal Navy's obsession with the Goeben had world-changing consequences. This comparatively minor battle stymied the careers of the two British admirals charged with its pursuit. But the course of history had already had already been influenced in 1914, when Britain's breaking of their contract to supply two new battleships to the Turkish government, bookended by Germany's gift of the Goeben and Breslau, brought the once-neutral Ottoman Empire into alignment with the Central Powers. The subsequent closing of all shipping through the Dardanelles led to the strangling of possibly 90% of Russian sea trade that led to food shortages and exacerbated conditions that caused the 1917 revolution and foothold of communism. The extension of the Great War into the Middle East and the subsequent restructuring of former Ottoman territories after the armistice resulted in the establishment of several new nation states (including Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Mandatory Palestine) and set the stage for much of the current tensions in that region. Germany's General Ludendorff "
stated in his memoirs that he believed the entry of the Turks into the war allowed the outnumbered Central Powers to fight on for two years longer than they would have been able on their own". Winston Churchill, who was sacked from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915 due to the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, later lamented, "
by forcing Turkey into the war, the Goeben had brought 'more slaughter, more misery, and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship'" (via wikipedia).
Fun Facts: Historian Barbara Tuchman witnessed the pursuit of the Goeben first hand as a child and later devoted a chapter to it in her classic book of 'The Guns of August'. The
Goeben / Yavûz survived afloat until 1973, being longest-serving dreadnought in any navy. It was scrapped after preservation efforts failed. Only a few parts of this fateful ship remain, such a this propeller outside the Istanbul Naval Museum:
(image via wikipedia)
I've you've managed to endure all this and still want more, have a peek at forum member IanB's 1:72 Eduard Sopwith Baby... similar in contour to the Blackburns flown in this fateful battle:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=7966.msg147585#msg147585
