On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo; the assassination sparked the July Crisis and ultimately the First World War, which broke out a month later on 28 July. The German battlecruiser , which had been assigned to the Mediterranean Division, sought the protection of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and so Admiral Anton Haus sent the fleet, including "Sankt Georg", south on 7 August to assist his German ally. "Goeben"s commander, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, intended to use the Austro-Hungarian move as a feint to distract the British Mediterranean Fleet which was pursuing "Goeben"; Souchon instead took his ship to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire. Their decoy mission complete, "Sankt Georg" and the rest of the fleet returned to port without engaging any British forces.