dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
. After a brief exchange of fire the Ottomans withdrew.
Battle
On 8 January 1916, ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' was scheduled to arrive off of
Zonguldak
Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District.collier . Early that morning the collier was intercepted by the Russian destroyers and off of Kirpen island and sunk. As she was returning to the
Bosporus
The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...
, ''Yavuz'' spotted the two destroyers and gave chase. The destroyers retreated and radioed a warning to the recently commissioned dreadnought ''Imperatritsa Ekaterina II'', which increased speed to come to their aid.
''Imperatritsa Ekaterina II'' opened fire at with her 12-inch guns, forcing ''Yavuz'' to turn to the southwest to avoid being struck. The Russian battleship fired 96 rounds and scored no hits, though some near misses did cause splinter damage to the battlecruiser. The Ottomans fired 60 rounds, but couldn't bring their 11-inch guns into range, and withdrew after 30 minutes. The Russians attempted to pursue, but the ''Yavuz'' was faster and outran them.
Aftermath
The engagement was the only ever battle between dreadnoughts on the Black Sea. Though the incident was only a minor confrontation, it solidified Russia's naval superiority and deeply troubled Admiral Souchon. Already outnumbered and outclassed in
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
s, destroyers, and
torpedo boats
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
, the Ottomans no longer held a dreadnought advantage over the Russian Empire. From then on Russia would continue consolidate its hold on the Black Sea and ''Yavuz'' would eventually shift her operations to the
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...