LITMIR.BIZ

      Ostfriesland in American service

      The US Navy rejected this, arguing that the German ship was old, small relative to new US ships, carried no anti-aircraft armament, and could not maneuver. A fleet under steam, the admirals argued, could not be so destroyed. But both services took the tests seriously. In battleship refits after 1921, the US Navy substantially increased the anti-aircraft weaponry of its main units. Mitchell was surely correct that aircraft would eventually take a devastating toll on battleships; aircraft would sink at least fourteen battleships in World War II, the largest single cause of loss.

      Author’s Note

      SMS Ostfriesland has become a footnote in the history of American naval aviation. Sailors, soldiers, and airmen bitterly debated the rules and process of her sinking, as well as precisely what could be learned from her loss. Mitchell’s career ended in recrimination and disgrace, although he helped set the terms on which the Air Force would win its independence after World War II.

      As a battleship, she was an effective but not particularly inspired unit. The Japanese also adopted the hexagon turret distribution patter for a time, despite its inefficiency. Even had the Washington Naval Treaty not intervened, it’s not likely that Ostfriesland would have survived long beyond 1921.

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      Preceded… SMS Friederich der Grosse

      Contemporary of… USS Utah

      Fought at… Jutland

      SMS Goeben

       Yavuz Sultan Selim

       Yavuz Selim

      Laid Down: 1909

      Launched: 1911

      Completed: June, 1912

      Displacement: 23,000 tons

      Main Armament: ten 11” guns (five twin turrets)

      Secondary Armament: twelve 5.9” guns (casemates)

      Speed: 27 knots

      Treaty: Pre-Washington Naval Treaty

      Major Engagements: Mediterranean Pursuit, Bombardment of Sevastopol, Dardanelles, Battle of Imbros,

      Fate: Scrapped, 1973

      After the abortive hybrid armored cruiser Blücher, Germany responded to the British Invincible class battlecruisers with Von der Tann, a 20,000 ton warship carrying eight 11” guns, capable of 27 knots. As the Royal Navy continued to build battlecruisers, the Kaiserliche Marine determined to keep pace with its own battlecruiser squadron, alongside the larger dreadnought battlefleet.

      Germany followed up Von der Tann with two ships of the Moltke class, Moltke and Goeben. Because Germany lacked a long naval tradition, the ships of Kaiserliche Marine took their names from famous German generals. Goeben was named after August Karl von Goeben, a Prussian infantry commander from the Franco-Prussian War. The Moltkes represented an incremental improvement over Von der Tann, but all of the German battlecruisers of the First World War demonstrated stability, longevity, and the ability to absorb damage.

      The battlecruisers (along with their armored cruiser predecessors) were, by virtue of their speed, more flexible than the dreadnoughts, and capable of deployment on stations distant from the North Sea. In the years prior to the war, Germany deployed naval squadrons around the world to protect its burgeoning colonial empire. War came so quickly that some of these squadrons were trapped in unfriendly waters, chased by superior British forces.

      Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau amounted to a respectable, if not formidable, German presence in the Mediterranean. Germany had two allies in the Med—Italy and Austria—but Berlin worried the two traditional enemies might fight each other in preference of France. After twenty-two months on station, Goeben badly needed a refit, not to mention the more immediate desire for coal, and Mediterranean allies weren’t eager to accommodate.

      The German squadron began the war at the Austro-Hungarian port Pola, but even though the war began on Austria-Hungary’s terms, Vienna still hoped it could avoid war with Britain. Goeben headed for Brindisi, arriving on August 1, but the Italians were indifferent-to-hostile. In desperate need of fuel, Goeben (then joined by Breslau) traveled the next day to Messina, where Italian authorities again denied them fuel. The German crews literally tore apart several German merchant ships in search of coal, eventually finding sufficient stores to move on.

      Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, who would later command a squadron in the High Seas Fleet, led the German detachment. He had few choices, none of them good. He could attack French convoys, head back to Austrian safe havens, or make a run for Turkey. His official orders involved interference with convoys of French troops coming from North Africa, but French and British naval superiority in the Med made any concerted offensive action nearly suicidal. Sitting out the war with the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine (Austria-Hungary’s navy) held little strategic appeal, as Souchon understood that adding two German ships would not tilt the military balance in the Med.

      And so Souchon set off for Turkey, a choice that—surprisingly—would add nearly fifty years to his flagship’s lifespan. Thus began an epic pursuit across the Mediterranean, with effects that reverberated across World War I.

      The Admiralty appreciated the threat posed by Goeben and Breslau, and had made preparations. Souchon’s squadron faced a trio of Royal Navy battlecruisers, as well as a squadron of armored cruisers. The Royal Navy expected Souchon to break west, in search of the convoys and in hope of making his way into the Atlantic. The battlecruisers Indomitable and Indefatigable guarded the western exit of Messina, Inflexible patrolled off Tunisia, and the squadron of armored cruisers patrolled the eastern approaches.