The ship that set the Anzacs sailing

• Published date: 24 April 2024
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times: Web Edition Articles (New Zealand)

A major plank of German naval strategy leading up to the war was to concentrate their dreadnoughts into one fleet

It was thus a matter of some considerable irritation to the German naval high command when the Kaiser decided to detach SMS Goeben, one of the most modern, fast and powerful capital units in the German navy for service in the Adriatic in 1912. The German naval high command became alarmed as war became imminent, as Goeben risked being caught without access to a friendly port, and thus could not hope to survive.

The Kaiser's belief Goeben could return home to Germany after war was declared was plainly absurd. However, increasingly desperate pleas by the German high command would not sway him — Goeben stayed where she was.

When war came on July 28, 1914, Admiral Souchon extricated Goeben from the Adriatic and awaited events and instructions off the coast of North Africa. The Kaiser ordered the ships to return to Germany, but the chief of the Kaiserliche Marine, Alfred von Tirpitz instead issued an order to proceed to neutral Constantinople.

By a series of adroit manoeuvres Souchon obeyed Tirpitz and avoided the superior British forces sent to destroy him. Goeben reached the safety of the Turkish guns covering the Dardanelles on August 10, with the funnel smoke of the pursuing British squadron visible on the horizon behind them.

The German crews were now safe, but their ships were not. Turkey was a neutral power, and the ships faced internment after 24 hours unless they sortied to certain destruction at the hands of the British squadron outside.

Furious activity by Souchon and the other German military officers in Constantinople produced a remarkable solution well within that timeframe. Less than a week had passed since the humiliating seizure of the two Turkish dreadnoughts by the British.

On August 11 the Ottoman Government announced unilaterally that they had recovered their loss by purchasing the German ship. Goeben became Yavuz Sultan Selim. The Turkish payment to the German Empire not only secured Goeben; it secured the services of the German crew too. On September 23 Admiral Souchon officially became commander in chief of the Ottoman Navy. His officers and men remained at their posts and merely exchanged their German naval caps for Turkish red fezzes.

Ashore in Constantinople the highly capable German diplomatic and military cadre worked hard to precipitate incidents that would commit the Ottoman Empire to war. On October 27 the Turks...