Naval Operations in The Dardanelles Campaign - Prelude

Prelude

At the outbreak of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was an unaligned power. While Britain had a long history of interest in the region, Germany had been most active in cultivating a relationship with the Ottomans. At the outbreak of war, the British confiscated two battleships constructed for the Ottoman Empire which were still in British shipyards. In response, Germany made a gift of two ships, the battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau, as replacements. While still operated by their German crews, these ships, renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli respectively, became the backbone of the Ottoman navy. Through possession of the Yavuz Sultan Selim, the Ottoman Empire controlled the most powerful ship in the Black Sea in 1914.