GOEBEN and BRESLAU, German war ships, respectively the fastest armored vessel in the German navy (22,640 tons; 28 knots) and a fast light cruiser (4,478 tons; 27 knots), both of great coal capacity. At the outbreak of the European War these vessels were cruis ing off the Algerian coast in the Mediterranean.
i It is supposed that when they received their first sailing orders either the assistance of Italy or the neutrality of England was reckoned upon by Germany, and that these vessels should in the one case assist Italy and Austria against France and Great Britain, or in the other Aus tria against France. They began operations by firing some shots into the unprotected Algerian coast towns of Philippeville and Bona, then, turning northwest, apparently intended to make for the Atlantic via the Straits of Gibraltar. They were headed off by the British fleet and arrived at Messina on 5 Aug. 1914, where, ac cording to German reports, the officers made their wills and deposited their valuables with the German consul. By some unexplained chance the Goeben and Breslau eluded the vigilance of the French and British squadrons and managed to reach the Dardanelles, meet ing only the British cruiser Gloucester off Cape Matapan, which engaged both vessels and in flicted some damage. On arriving at Constanti nople both ships were "taken over" by the Turkish government. The Goeben was re
named Sultan Selim and the Breslau received the name of Midilli. A train of disastrous events was set in motion by the escape of the two ships and their arrival in Turkish waters: Turkey moved steadily and irresistibly toward war from that moment and any temporary wavering was overcome by the impressive long guns of the Goeben— 10 11-inch, 12 5.9 inch and 12 21-pounders. Very rarely in the history of war has a single blunder led to more far-reaching consequences than the Allied failure to prevent the escape of these vessels. It was not till nearly four years after the event that the true story of the Goeben and Breslau incident became public. In June 1918 Mr. Henry Morgenthau, former United States Ambassador to Turkey, published it in his experiences in Constantinople during the first two and a half years of the war (The World's Work, New York). Under their new names both vessels were heard of on various occasions during the war, in Black Sea operations on a small scale. In a naval action fought on 20 Jan. 1918, at the entrance of the Dardanelles with a British squadron, the Breslau struck a mine and sank; the Goeben shared a similar fate, but was able to re-enter the Straits to Nagara Point, where she was beached. The vessel was subsequently refloated.