The Yavuz
The twilight years of the former SMS Goeben
In 1966 the last First World War battle-cruiser was facing her death. The former SMS Goeben, which had been serving as the Turkish flagship Yavuz was being made ready for scrapping with the West German government turning down the opportunity to buy her for a Deutschmark.
However some photographs were taken of her and are currently in the IWM collections and I thought I would curate some of them here for you but before I do I’m just going to talk about her post World War One career.
By the end of hostilities the battle-cruiser was in an exceptionally poor state with mine damage, general wear and tear made worse by being just abandonned in Izmit for eight years by which time she could no longer steam, stear and only two of her boilers were broken.
Money was raised to make her the centrepiece of the Turkish fleet again and a floating dock from Germany was bought and a French company came to oversee the repairs. To make it more interesting there was a massive embezzlement scandal which cost Ishan Bey his position of Minister of Marine and the abolition of the Ministry of Marine!
It was only the threat from Greece and the Soviets in the Black Sea saw the unfreezing of Naval expansion but it did mean that Yavuz was saved with an increased displacement and re worked hull which saw her length reduced by fifty centimeters. She returned to duties as Fleet flagship in 1930 smashing her new speed and gunnery trials and by 1932 four new destroyers were built to act as her escorts.
In 1938 she carried the remains of the former leader, Ataturk, back to Izmit from Istanbul. At the same time she was considered to be obsolete by the British Naval Attache who pointed out her lack of anti-aircraft guns. The Ottomans were looking at expanding the fleet and modernising it but Yavuz would maintain a place in the fleet until they had two new light cruisers and a much larger one but the Second World War saw the foreign shipyards who were to build them being somewhat pre-occuppied which saw her service extended. Yavuz was finally decommissioned in 1950 and eventually scrapped between 1973 and 1976. The Ship’s screws and main mast still exist at the Naval Museum, Istanbul and the Naval Acadey respectively.
My Grandfather attacked her on three consecutive evenings, island hopping from Salonica .
BE2E No 6330
22/1/18 Salonika to Mudros
23/1/18 Mudos to Imbros Raid Goeben 50 mins 6000 ft
Raid 75 7000 eve
24/1/18 Raid 70 3000 night
25/1/18 Raid 75 7000 day