Battle of Imbros The Battle of Imbros was a naval action that took place during the First World War . The battle occurred on 20 January 1918 when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy off the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea . A lack of heavy Allied warships in the area allowed the Ottoman battlecruiser and light cruiser to sortie into the Mediterranean and attack the British monitor s and destroyer s at Imbros before assaulting the naval base at Mudros . Although the Ottoman forces managed to complete their objective of destroying the British monitors at Imbros , the battle turned sour for them as they sailed through a minefield while withdrawing . " Midilli " was sunk and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " heavily damaged . Although " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " managed to beach herself within the Dardanelles , she was subjected to days of air attacks until she was towed to safety . With the most modern cruiser of the Ottoman Navy sunk and her only battlecruiser out of action , the battle effectively curtailed the Ottoman Navy ' s offensive capability until the end of the war . Prelude . By January 1918 , the situation for the Ottoman Army in Palestine had begun to falter . The new German commander of the Ottoman Black Sea fleet , Rebeur Paschwitz , decided to try to relieve Allied naval pressure on Palestine by making a sortie out of the Dardanelles . Several British naval elements of the Aegean Squadron had been taking refuge in Kusu Bay off the islands of Imbros , and they were a prime target for an Ottoman raid . After raiding what shipping could be found at Imbros , Rebeur - Paschwitz would then turn to Mudros and attack the British naval base there . The Allied force guarding the Dardanelles consisted of a few heavy British and French units as well as several monitors tasked with coastal bombardment . Escorting the monitors were several British destroyers . The pre - dreadnought battleship s and were also tasked with guarding the area , but the " Lord Nelson " had been tasked with ferrying the squadron ' s admiral to a conference at Salonika . Taking advantage of the absence of the British battleship , the Germans and Ottomans decided to dispatch the battlecruiser " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " ( ex - ) and the light cruiser " Midilli " ( ex - ) to attack the area . The Allied forces at Imbros on 20 January consisted of the monitors and as well as the s and . " Agamemnon " was nearby at Mudros , but she was much too slow to chase down the Ottoman ships if they wanted to avoid engaging her . Without the " Agamemnon " and " Lord Nelson " the British were severely undergunned in comparison to the Ottoman ships . The " Tigress " and " Lizard " both were armed with two 4 - inch guns , two 12 pounders , and two 21 - inch torpedo tubes . They were swift ships capable of making 27 knots at best speed . The two monitors present at Imbros were better suited for coastal bombardment than naval combat , though their heavy guns gave them an element of firepower the destroyers lacked . " Raglan " , an , was armed with two 14 - inch guns , two 6 - inch guns , and two 3 - inch guns . " M28 " was a smaller vessel than " Raglan " and as such carried a lighter armament sporting a single 9 . 2 - inch cannon , one 12 pounder , as well as a six pounder anti - aircraft gun . The biggest weak point of both " Raglan " and " M28 " were their low top speeds of 7 and 11 knots respectively , giving them little capability to escape an Ottoman raid . In contrast to the British force , the Ottoman vessels were both fast and heavily armed . " Midilli " sported eight 150 mm cannons , 120 mines , two torpedo tubes , and a top speed of 25 knots . " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " was the most powerful ship in the Ottoman fleet with a top speed of 25 . 5 knots , ten 283 mm guns , twelve 150 mm guns , a dozen 8 . 8 - centimetre guns , and four torpedo tubes . Thus , with no heavy units available to repel them , there was little in the means of effective Allied opposition when the Ottomans set out on their mission . Battle . Setting out towards Imbros , the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " struck a mine on transit to the island , but the damage was insignificant and the two Ottoman vessels were able to continue their mission . " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " then proceeded to bombard the British signal station at Kephalo Point while the " Midilli " was sent ahead to guard the entrance of Kusu Bay . As the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " and " Midilli " approached Kusu Bay , they were sighted by the destroyer HMS " Lizard " at 5 : 30 am . The " Lizard " attempted to engage the Ottoman ships , but could not close to torpedo range due to heavy fire from her opponents . The " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " soon sighted the two British monitors taking refuge in the bay , and broke off from " Lizard " to engage them . As " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " attacked the monitors , " Midilli " continued to duel with " Lizard " who was then joined by the destroyer HMS " Tigress " . " Lizard " and " Tigress " attempted to shield the monitors from " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " by laying a smoke screen , but this was ineffective . The monitors were both much too slow to evade " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " and she was able to score numerous hits on the " Raglan " , hitting her foretop and killing her gunnery and direction officers . The " Raglan " attempted to return fire with its 6 and 14 inch guns , but scored no hits on the German vessels before her main armament was knocked out when a shell pierced its casemate and ignited the ammunition within it . Shortly after she was disarmed , the " Raglan " was hit in her magazine by one of " Goeben " s 11 inch shells causing the monitor to sink . After " Raglan " was sunk , the Ottoman battlecruiser began turned her attention to HMS " M28 " , striking her amidships and setting her alight before she was sunk when her magazine exploded at 6 : 00 a . m . With the two monitors sunk , the Ottomans decided to break off the engagement and head south in an attempt to raid the allied naval base at Mudros . Upon withdrawing from Kusu Bay , the Ottoman force accidentally sailed into a minefield and were shadowed by the two British destroyers they had previously engaged . In addition to the destroyers , several British and Greek aircraft were launched from Mudros to engage the Germans . In the meantime , Greek ace Aristeidis Moraitinis , managed to shut down three enemy seaplanes with his Sopwith Camel . With the approach of enemy aircraft the " Midilli " , which had been following the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " , took the lead so as to take advantage of her heavier anti - aircraft armament . " Midilli " then struck a mine near her aft funnel , and shortly afterwards " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " hit one as well . Within half an hour the " Midilli " had struck four more mines and began to sink . The " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " attempted to rescue the " Midilli " but also struck a mine and was forced to withdraw . Fleeing towards the safety of the Dardanelles , " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " was pursued by " Lizard " and " Tigress " . In order to cover the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " four Ottoman destroyers and an old cruiser rushed out to engage the British destroyers . After the lead Ottoman destroyer began to take hits , the Ottoman squadron was forced to withdraw back up the Dardanelles . As the British destroyers approached Cape Helles , they were fired upon by Ottoman shore batteries and withdrew . In addition to the " Lizard " and " Tigress " , a dozen British seaplanes from were launched to finish off the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " . Although they managed to score two hits against the battlecruiser , the Ottoman ship was by this time near the coast . Thus combined efforts from ten Ottoman seaplanes as well as heavy anti - aircraft fire were able to drive off the air attacks , downing one Sopwith Baby and damaging another aircraft . The four Ottoman destroyers returned and guarded the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " as she sailed up the Dardnelles . Severely damaged , the Ottoman battlecruiser ran aground on a sandbar off Nagara Point and became stranded . The next six days saw further air attacks by Allied seaplanes against the Ottoman battlecruiser , with six hits being scored against her . Ottoman seaplanes and heavy shore batteries responded to the raids and were able to guard the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " and beat back the air attacks . Despite the air raids , the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " suffered only superficial damage from them as the bombs used by the British were too small to be effective . Allied commanders proposed plans for a submarine raid against the battlecruiser , but the only submarine attached to the Aegean squadron , , had mechanical problems and was inoperative . A raid into the Dardanelles was therefore postponed until a working submarine could be dispatched to the area . Aftermath . With no way to free herself , the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " remained stranded on the sandbar until 26 January when the finally arrived and towed her back into the Black Sea . In one last effort to destroy the battlecruiser , the British sent the submarine into the Dardnelles on 27 January . The " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " had already left the area , and so " E14 " began sailing back to Allied waters after discovering the battlecruiser ' s absence . Sighting an Ottoman freighter , the British submarine attempted to engage her with torpedoes . The second torpedo fired exploded prematurely . In the resulting explosion the submarine was damaged and was forced to try to flee the straits . She came under heavy fire from the nearby Ottoman shore batteries and was eventually beached with her commander , Geoffrey Saxton White , and another sailor killed and seven captured . White was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his efforts to beach the submarine and save its crew . Although the Ottoman force was able to destroy the British monitors they set out to engage , their losses traversing the minefield after the engagement in Kusu Bay negated any impact the British losses had in their favour . With the " Midilli " sunk and " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " severely damaged , the threat of the Ottoman Navy to the Allies was greatly reduced for the remainder of the war . Despite the removal of these two vessels from the Ottoman battle line , the commanders of the British Aegean Squadron were still criticized for having dispatched both of their heavy units too far from the Dardanelles to engage the Ottomans . If the " Agamemnon " or " Lord Nelson " had been at their posts during the Ottoman raid , the " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " might have been destroyed , eliminating her threat once and for all rather than having her escape .