SMS Breslau SMS " Breslau " was a of the Imperial German Navy , built in the early 1910s . Following her commissioning , " Breslau " and the battlecruiser were assigned to the " Mittelmeerdivision " ( Mediterranean Division ) in response to the Balkan Wars . After evading British warships in the Mediterranean to reach Constantinople , " Breslau " and " Goeben " were transferred to the Ottoman Empire in August 1914 , to entice the Ottomans to join the Central Powers in World War I . The two ships , along with several other Ottoman vessels , raided Russian ports in October 1914 , prompting a Russian declaration of war . The ships were renamed " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " , respectively , and saw extensive service with the Ottoman fleet , primarily in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet . " Midilli " was active in laying minefield s off the Russian coast , bombarding Russian ports and installations and , because of a shortage of Ottoman merchant ships , transporting troops and supplies to the Black Sea ports supplying Ottoman troops fighting in the Caucasus Campaign . She was lightly damaged several times by Russian ships , but the most serious damage was inflicted by a mine in 1915 , which kept her out of service for half of a year . The ship was mined and sunk in January 1918 during the Battle of Imbros , with the loss of the vast majority of her crew . Construction . " Breslau " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1910 . At her launching ceremony on 16 May 1911 , she was christened by the mayor of Breslau , the ship ' s namesake . After her launching , fitting - out work commenced and lasted until mid - 1912 . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 20 August 1912 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of AEG - Vulcan steam turbines driving two propellers . They were designed to give , but reached in service . These were powered by sixteen coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers , although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Breslau " carried of coal , and an additional of oil that gave her a range of approximately at . " Breslau " had a crew of 18 officers and 336 enlisted men . The ship was armed with twelve SK L / 45 guns in single pedestal mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , eight were located amidships , four on either side , and two were side by side aft . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 800 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . By 1917 , the 10 . 5 cm guns were replaced with eight SK L / 45 guns , one fore and aft and three on each broadside . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with five torpedo es submerged in the hull on the broadside . She could also carry 120 mines . The ship was protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships . The conning tower had thick sides , and the deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate . Service history . Following her commissioning in 1912 , " Breslau " was attached to the German " Mittelmeerdivision " ( Mediterranean Division ) along with the battlecruiser under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Souchon . The German Navy decided it needed a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars that began in 1912 . Karl Dönitz , the future Grand Admiral during World War II , served aboard " Breslau " from 1912 to 1916 . At the outbreak of World War I , " Breslau " and " Goeben " were to interdict French transports transferring troops from Algeria to France . On 3 August 1914 , Souchon ' s two ships were steaming off Algeria ; shortly after 06 : 00 , " Breslau " bombarded the embarkation port of Bône while " Goeben " attacked Philippeville . The attacks caused minimal damage , however , and Souchon quickly broke off and returned to Messina to replenish his coal stocks . Although the British were not yet at war with Germany , the two British battlecruisers and shadowed the German ships while en route to Messina . After partially replenishing " Goeben " s coal on the 5th , Souchon arranged to meet a collier in the Aegean . " Goeben " and " Breslau " left port the following morning bound for Constantinople , pursued by the British Mediterranean Fleet . That evening , the 1st Cruiser Squadron , commanded by Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge , intercepted the Germans ; " Breslau " briefly exchanged fire with the light cruiser before Troubridge broke off the attack , fearing " Goeben " s powerful guns . On 8 August , " Goeben " and " Breslau " met the collier off the island of Donoussa near Naxos , and two days later they entered the Dardanelles . To circumvent neutrality requirements , Germany transferred the two ships to the Ottoman Navy on 16 August , though the supposed sale was simply a ruse . On 23 September , Souchon accepted an offer to command the Turkish fleet . " Breslau " was renamed " Midilli " while " Goeben " was renamed " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " ; their German crews remained with the ships and donned Ottoman uniforms and fezzes . The British did not accept the sale of the ships to the Ottoman Empire and stationed a blockading force outside the Dardanelles with orders to attack the ships if they appeared , regardless of the flag they flew . Ottoman service . On the evening of 27 October , " Midilli " and the rest of the Ottoman fleet left the Bosporus and steamed into the Black Sea , ostensibly to conduct maneuvers . Instead , the fleet split into four groups to attack Russian bases on the other side of the Black Sea ; " Midilli " and another cruiser were tasked with mining the Strait of Kerch and then attacking the port of Novorossisk . " Midilli " laid sixty mines in the Strait , which later claimed two Russian merchant ships , and then joined the other ship in bombarding Novorossisk . They set the port ' s oil tanks on fire , damaged seven merchant ships , and sank " Nikolai " of . Although the damage inflicted on the Russians was relatively light , it forced the Russians to declare war on the Ottoman Empire , bringing the country into the war on the side of Germany . In early November 1914 , while " Midilli " was operating in the eastern Black Sea and covering Ottoman transports , she was detached to shell the Russian port of Poti in retaliation for Russian attacks on Turkish shipping . On 17 November , she sortied with " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " , under the command of Souchon , in an attempt to intercept the Black Sea Fleet as it returned from bombarding Trebizond . " Midilli " discovered the Russian ships off Cape Sarych , the southern tip of the Crimea in poor visibility at short range . In the resulting engagement , Souchon ordered " Midilli " to assume a safer position to " Yavûz " s rear , but she was engaged by the pre - dreadnoughts and without effect before Souchon ordered the Turkish ships to disengage shortly afterward . The cruiser spent the rest of the month escorting shipping to Trebizond . On 5 December , she escorted a small raiding party to Akkerman , Bessarabia , that was intended to attack railroad installations . On the return voyage , " Midilli " bombarded Sevastopol , damaging some minesweeper s at anchor . A month later , on 23 December , " Midilli " sortied to rendezvous with " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " off Sinope , and in the darkness the following morning she encountered the Russian transport " Oleg " , which was intended to be sunk as a blockship in Zonguldak . " Midilli " quickly sank " Oleg " but was forced to turn away after spotting " Rostislav " . She then encountered another blockship , " Athos " , and forced her crew to scuttle the ship . She then briefly engaged Russian destroyer s before moving ahead of the Russian fleet to monitor their progress . Ottoman coastal guns forced the remaining blockships to scuttle in deep water . " Midilli " conducted a series of sorties against the Russians in early 1915 , including an operation in concert with the cruiser in January , during which they inadvertently came into contact with the Black Sea Fleet . " Midilli " scored a hit on the battleship s main battery turret before the Ottoman ships withdrew . On 3 April , the Ottoman fleet sortied to attack Russian transports off Odessa . " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " provided the covering force for the attack , which failed after the cruiser struck a mine and sank off Odessa . The Russian fleet attempted to intercept the Turkish force , but " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " were able to escape undamaged . The two ships , joined by " Hamidiye " , conducted a sweep to attack Russian transports on 6 May , but found no targets . Later that month , detachments of naval infantry from " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " were landed to assist in the defense against the Allied landings at Gallipoli . On the night of 10 / 11 June , " Midilli " encountered the Russian destroyers and off Zonguldak . In a brief firefight , the cruiser crippled " Gnevny " with a hit in her starboard engine compartment that broke the main steam line to the engines , but was forced to turn away when " Gnevny " fired five torpedoes at her . " Midilli " was hit seven times herself with only slight damage and " Gnevny " was towed back to Sevastopol the following day by " Derzki " . " Midilli " struck a mine on 18 July as she sailed from Constantinople to escort a merchant ship through the minefields defending the capital . The explosion under No . 4 boiler room killed eight crewmen and she was flooded with over of water . The ship made it to port at İstinye and an inspection revealed that she was not badly damaged . Hampered by a shortage of trained personnel and material , however , the ship ' s repairs took quite a long time . The ship did not return to service until February 1916 , and the opportunity was taken to replace two of her 10 . 5 cm guns with 15 cm pieces . On 27 February , she was used to quickly transport 71 officers and men of a machine - gun company and a significant stock of supplies and munitions to Trebizond , which was then under heavy pressure from the Russian army . While en route on the night of the 28th , she encountered the Russian destroyers and . " Midilli " evaded the Russians and reached Trebizond . On 2 March , she attempted to attack a pair of destroyers north of Zonguldak , but she was unable to catch them . The ship then returned to the Bosporus . On 11 March , " Midilli " made another run , this time carrying 211 soldiers and twelve barrels of fuel and lubricating oil , which were successfully landed on the 13th . She then stopped in Samsun , where she picked up of flour , one ton of maize , and 30 tons of coal , before returning to the Bosporus . A third supply operation followed on 3 April , when the ship brought 107 men , 5 , 000 rifles , and 794 cases of ammunition to Trebizond . After making the delivery , the ship met the U - boat and proceeded to attack Russian forces . " Midilli " shelled Russian positions at Sürmene Bay , where she set the minesweeper " T . 233 " on fire , which was then destroyed by " U - 33 " s deck gun . " Midilli " then turned north and sank a Russian sailing vessel off Tuapse before running into the powerful dreadnought battleship . " Midilli " fled at high speed after being straddled several times , though she was not damaged . In early May , the cruiser laid two minefield s , each of 60 mines . The first of these was laid off the Chilia branch of the Danube River and the other off Cape Tarkhankut in the Crimea . On the second trip she bombarded Eupatoria after laying her mines . " Midilli " transported more troops to Sinope and Samsun on 30 May , returning with grain and tobacco as deck cargo . In July , " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " sortied to support the Ottoman counterattack at Trebizond , which broke the Russian lines and advanced some . " Midilli " sank a pair of Russian ships off Sochi on 4 July and destroyed another that had been torpedoed the previous day . She then rejoined " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " for the return to the Bosporus , during which the two ships evaded strong Russian forces attempting to intercept them . Later that month , on 21 July , " Midilli " attempted to lay a minefield off Novorossisk , but Russian wireless interception allowed the dreadnought and several destroyers to leave port and attempt to cut " Midilli " off from the Bosporus . The two ships encountered each other at 13 : 05 , and " Midilli " quickly turned back south . Her stern 15 cm gun kept Russian destroyers at bay , but the ship only slowly drew out of range of " Imperatritsa Mariya " s heavy guns . Several near misses rained shell splinters on the deck and wounded several men . Heavy use of smoke screens and a rain squall allowed " Midilli " to break contact with her Russian pursuers , and she reached the Bosporus early the following morning . By the end of 1916 , a severe coal shortage prevented " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " from conducting offensive operations . In May 1917 , " Midilli " laid a minefield off the mouth of the Danube ; while there , she destroyed the wireless station on Fidonisi Island and captured 11 prisoners . The minefield she laid later sank the destroyer on 30 June . While " Midilli " was at sea , a Russian force raided the Bosporus , including " Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya " , which had by then been renamed . Upon returning to port , " Midilli " was spotted by the Russian fleet , which attempted to cut her off from the safety of the Bosporus . " Midilli " raced toward port , while salvos from " Svobodnaya Rossiya " fell around her . The destroyer " Gnevny " closed to attack , but " Midilli " s 15 cm guns drove her off . The cruiser managed to reach port without damage ; this was the last engagement of the war between the former German warships and the Russian fleet . On 1 November , " Midilli " left the Bosporus to conduct a sweep for Russian warships . The Russians observed the departure and attempted to attack the cruiser with " Svobodnaya Rossiya " and the new battleship , but mutiny aboard " Svobodnaya Rossiya " prevented the force from intercepting " Midilli " before she slipped back into port that night . Battle of Imbros . On 20 January 1918 , " Midilli " and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " left the Dardanelles under the command of Vice Admiral Hubert von Rebeur - Paschwitz , who had replaced Souchon the previous September . Rebeur - Paschwitz ' s intention was to draw Allied naval forces away from Palestine in support of Turkish forces there . Outside the straits , in the course of what became known as the Battle of Imbros , the two German ships surprised and sank the monitors and which were at anchor and unsupported by the pre - dreadnoughts that should have been guarding them . Rebeur - Paschwitz then decided to proceed to the port of Mudros ; there the British pre - dreadnought battleship was raising steam to attack the Turkish ships . While en route , " Midilli " struck a total of five mines and sank ; " Yavûz " hit three mines as well and was forced to beach to avoid sinking . Three hundred and thirty of " Midilli " s crew were killed in her sinking , 162 survivors were rescued by British destroyers . According to Hildebrand , Röhr and Steinmetz , only 133 men were rescued from the ship .