Mediterranean naval engagements during World War I

Warbox
conflict=Mediterranean naval engagements during World War I
partof=Naval warfare of World War I
campaign=


caption=
date=August, 1914-October, 1918
place=Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea
result=Inconclusive
combatant1=flagicon|France|naval French Navy
flagicon|United Kingdom|naval Royal Navy
flagicon|Italy|1861-state "Regia Marina"
flagicon|Greece|old Royal Hellenic Navy
flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval Imperial Japanese Navy
flagicon|Russia|naval Imperial Russian Navy
combatant2=flagicon|Austria-Hungary|naval Austro-Hungarian Navy
flagicon|German Empire|naval "Kaiserliche Marine"
flagicon|Ottoman Empire Ottoman Navy
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=
notes=Some limited sea combat took place between the Central Powers' navies of Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire and the Allied navies of France, Italy, Greece, Japan and the British Empire.

Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Navy

Austria-Hungary was a modest naval power in 1914. With a fairly small coastline (modern-day Croatia and Slovenia) and no colonies, Austria-Hungary was much more of a land power than a sea power. However, the Austro-Hungarian Navy included four Dreadnought class battleships (see List of ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy) and a number of submarines. In addition, the Germans managed to send some U-Boats to the Mediterranean which operated from Austrian naval bases, initially under the Austrian navy flag, later under the German navy flag.

Campaigns

Seealso|Adriatic Campaign of World War I|Mediterranean U-boat Campaign (World War I)|Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

In the Mediterranean Sea, the war began with most of the large, but elderly French fleet deployed on escort duty to protect convoys across the Mediterranean from the smaller, but newer Austrian fleet and cover against possible Italian entry into the war on Austria's side. Several British ships were also sent to Malta to reinforce the British Mediterranean Fleet. Germany also had a small Mediterranean fleet (based at Constantinople, Turkey) and at the commencement of hostilities, the powerful battlecruiser "Goeben" and the light cruiser "Breslau", were patrolling the western Mediterranean. The German Mediterranean fleet did not find the French convoys, so proceeded to bombard the French cities of Bizerte and Bone in modern-day Tunisia. Pursued by superior French and British forces, the Goeben and Breslau reached Turkey, where they were nominally transferred to the Ottoman Navy when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the Central Powers side, and fought many battles against the Russian Black Sea Fleet until Russia's surrender in 1917.

After Italy entered the war on the Allied side in 1915, the strategy of the Allies was to blockade the Adriatic and monitor the movements of the Austrian fleet. In general, this strategy was successful but the Germans and the Austrians were able to send submarines out into the Mediterranean where they did some damage. Total Allied warship losses to Austrian and German submarines were: two 2nd-line battleships, two armored cruisers, five destroyers, and two submarines (in addition to many damaged navy ships and sunk freighters). The primary sea bases for the Austrian and German fleet in the Adriatic were Pola and Cattaro (modern day Pula,Croatia and Kotor,Montenegro, respectively). On the Allied side, their navies were able to sail relatively freely throughout the Mediterrean by keeping the Central Powers' surface units bottled up in either the Adriatic or at Constantinople. This freedom of movement was tremendously important for the Allies, as they were not only able to keep open their supply routes (to Egypt for example), but to also evacuate the Serbian Army from capture and even launch (and supply) amphibious invasions at Gallipoli in 1915 and Salonika in 1916.

In 1915, the major fleet action was the Allied attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war by an attack on Constantinople. The Allies needed to pass the Dardanelles strait in order to supply Russia. The Battle of Gallipoli lasted for most of the year but was unsuccessful. An initial naval assault was deterred by mines and coastal fortresses, and the subsequent land assault was also defeated, but with heavy casualties on both sides.

After Gallipoli, the only significant naval battle occurred on May 15, 1917 when three Austrian cruisers under Captain Miklós Horthy staged a series of pin-prick raids on Italian and British transports near Valona, Albania who were evacuating the Serbian Army from being overrun. The raid was a partial success but the raiders were nearly destroyed by an unlucky shell hit which knocked out an engine on the Austrian cruiser SMS Novara. With heavier Allied forces closing in, the Austrians were routed back to Pola. The Austrians then decided to raid patrol boats guarding the Otranto Straits between Italy, Corfu and Albania. For further details see the battle of the Otranto Barrage.In 1918, two of the Austrian dreadnoughts were sunk. But only one sank during a war-battle. This was the SMS Szent István, which was sunk during another sortie (June 10) against the Allied blockade by fast moving Italian motor torpedo boats. At the end of the war, Horthy was ordered to surrender the entire Austrian fleet to the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Regia Marina (Italian Naval Command) was not willing to accept the substitution of one naval threat for another and sent in Italian divers who planted an underwater mine. So another Austro-Hungarian Dreadnought sank. It was the SMS Viribus Unitis. The explosion went off under the ship on November 1 (just after the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed) and the National Council made no efforts to restore the hulk, since Italy occupied the region only few days latter.

On August 2, 1916, the Italian dreadnought "Leonardo da Vinci" exploded at Taranto, killing 249 of its crew. Reminiscient of the USS "Maine", the event was widely reported in the Italian press, which immediately blamed Austrian or German saboteurs, something the Central Powers did nothing to disavow. The cause of the explosion has never been verified. It had considerable effect as a propaganda tool for both sides.

Allied fleets also played a role in coercing the Greek government to join the Allies and later supply the campaigns in Palestine and Macedonia. Although Germany was able to gain control of the Black Sea and part of the Russian fleet after the collapse of the Russian Empire, they were never able to break out into the Aegean. The German/Turkish fleet tried in 1918, but hit a minefield; the "Breslau" was sunk and the "Goeben" almost followed that fate, but the captain was able to run the ship aground and beach it before capsizing. The "Goeben" was not repaired until after the war.

Allied fleets occupied Constantinople briefly after the Armistice of Mudros, until the new Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal took back control of the city in 1923.

Allied ships did continue to intervene in Russia after the war ended, bringing expeditionary forces and supplies via the Mediterranean to the White armies in southern Russia.

Japan, an ally of Great Britain, sent a total of 14 destroyers to the Mediterranean starting in April 1917. According to Cyril Falls ("The Great War" p. 295), the Japanese ships were very effective in patrol and anti-submarine activity, while by contrast the Italian Navy was "languid and apathetic". According to www.naval-history.net, which provides info about all Japanese and Austro-Hungarian navy units involved in the war, Austro-Hungarian navy lost 9 submarines during the war: 5 sunk by Italian navy (U13, U10, U16, U20, U23), 1 by Italian and French units (U30), 1 by British units (U3), none by Japanese navy, which lost one destroyer (Sakaki, torpedoed by Austrian U.27).

Minor note: Captain von Trapp, of The Sound of Music fame, was a Captain in the Austro-Hungarian navy, commanding the Austrian submarine "S.M.S. U 5" during the war, which sank for example the French armoured cruiser "Léon Gambetta".

Sources

Cyril Falls, "The Great War" (1960).
[http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyAustrian.htm Austrian Navy WWI] downloaded from Naval-History.net (May, 2006)
[http://www.naval-history.net/WW1CampaignsSerbia.htm Mediterranean Campaign] downloaded from Naval-History.net (May, 2006)

External links

* [http://www.worldwar1atsea.net World's Navies in World War 1, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses]