Battle of Imbros

[vonfriedman]

I would like to know if anyone has information on what happened in the port of Mudros on January 20, 1918 during the raid of the Goeben in which two British monitors were sunk and the Breslau sank on a minefield.
I understand that HMS Agamemnon was in Mudros, with three CLs and a few DDs (HMS Lord Nelson apparently was in Salonika).
I read somewhere that HMS Agamemnon could have sailed within an hour of activation, but I don't know if she actually sailed to try to intercept the damaged Goeben or if she stayed in Mudros.

[oldpop2000]

Here is information from a 1922 book on Battles of the Great War.

On January 14 , 1918 , late in the evening , Yarmouth suffered her third bombardment from the sea . In the last week of that month the south end of the Dardanelles witnessed a curious affair . About 5 : 30 a . m . on Sunday , 20th January , the British destroyer Lizard , being at the moment off the north - east point of Imbros , discovered the German cruiser Breslau , with the Goeben a mile astern , making for the harbor where British monitors were lying all unprepared . She engaged the enemy at a range of 11,000 yards , and came under heavy fire , so that she was unable to get within torpedoing distance . Another destroyer , the Tigress , came to her aid , and the two attempted to shield the monitors by smoke screens . But their efforts were in vain , and the monitors Raglan and M 28 were speedily sunk , before the former could get her 14 - inch American guns into action . The enemy then turned south , followed by the Lizard and the Tigress , and at 7 a . m . the Breslau ran into a minefield , struck several mines , and promptly sank . Four Turkish destroyers appeared , accompanied by an old cruiser , and these the Lizard and the Tigress engaged and drove up the straits . The Goeben continued southward till she found the attentions of our aircraft unpleasant , when she put about to return . In the act she struck a mine , which made her settle down aft and gave her a list of some fifteen degrees . The Turkish destroyers returned to protect her , and she managed to creep inside the straits , followed by the Lizard and the Tigress , and assiduously bombed by British seaplanes . Her captain ran her ashore in the Narrows to the west of Nagara Point , where she lay for some days under the menace of our aircraft , till she was eventually tinkered up and refloated .

[vonfriedman]

Thanks

From "Naval Operations" vol 5 www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-RN5a.htm

".....Admiral Hayes‑Sadler at Salonica received the first news of the raid just before eight o'clock; Captain P. W. Dumas at Mudros took in the signal at about the same time, and ordered steam to be raised in the Agamemnon, the Lowestoft, the Skirmisher and the Foresight. Throughout the Aegean the commanding officers of the detached squadrons gave the necessary orders for bringing the convoys into port, and for sending out their available forces to the patrol stations allotted to them in Admiral Fremantle's orders."

Omitting some parts of the narration:

"Whilst the Goeben was making her way back into the Straits our forces at Mudros were leaving harbour. They were too late to intervene; and, in any case, Admiral Hayes‑Sadler, who was making preparations against a protracted raid lasting for many days, ordered Captain Dumas to meet him off Cape Paliuri, at the south‑eastern entrance to the Gulf of Salonica."

I will try to make and play a SAI scenario with a more aggressive behavior by part of the British and giving some chance that Admiral Hayes-Sadler had more wisely decided to go to Salonica with a destroyer, instead of proceeding with his flagship, leaving the Agamemnon alone to counter the Goeben threat.

[oldpop2000]

Here is the link to the complete WW1 British Naval Staff Monographs. They are on the Australian Navy website - www.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/world-war-i-naval-staff-monographs

The above documents are the sources for your quotes from the other website. These are the original's.