Wilhelm Souchon Wilhelm Anton Souchon ( ; 2 June 1864 – 13 January 1946 ) was a German and Ottoman admiral in World War I who commanded the Kaiserliche Marine ' s Mediterranean squadron in the early days of the war . His initiative made him one of the most important influences on the entry of the Ottoman Empire into World War I . When hostilities erupted between the Austro - Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia in July 1914 , Rear Admiral Souchon , a native of Leipzig , feared being trapped in the Adriatic Sea in the event of other nations joining in the conflict . He therefore took his two ships , the battlecruiser SMS " Goeben " and the light cruiser SMS " Breslau " into the western Mediterranean and bombarded the French - Algerian ports of Bone and Philippeville when war had begun on 4 August . He then successfully eluded British attempts to corner him ( see Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau ) , and on 10 August 1914 his small squadron arrived at the Dardanelles . After two days of negotiations , he was allowed to take his ships to Constantinople , where they were subsequently transferred officially into the Ottoman navy . Souchon was appointed Commander - in - Chief of the Ottoman navy and served in this position until September 1917 . This gesture by Germany had an enormous positive impact with the Turkish population ; at the outbreak of the war , the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had caused outrage when he " requisitioned " without compensation two almost completed Turkish battleships in British shipyards , the " Sultan Osman I " and the " Reshadieh " , that had been financed by public subscription . ( These ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS " Agincourt " and HMS " Erin " respectively . ) In the aftermath of Souchon ' s daring dash to Constantinople , Turkey on 15 August 1914 cancelled her maritime agreement with Britain and the Royal Navy mission under Admiral Limpus left by 15 September . The Dardanelles were fortified with German assistance , the Bosporus was secured by the presence of " Goeben " , now named " Yavuz Sultan Selim " , and on 27 September the Straits were officially closed to all international shipping . On 29 October , Souchon ' s fleet launched the Black Sea Raid , a naval attack which brought the Ottoman Empire into World War I . His ships shelled the Russia n Black Sea ports of Sevastopol , Odessa and others , destroying the Russian minesweeper " Prut " in the process and laid several sea minefields . Almost simultaneously British naval units attacked Turkish merchant ships off İzmir . On 2 November 1914 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire , Britain followed suit on 5 November , and on 12 November 1914 the Ottoman government officially declared war on the Triple Entente . For the next three years Souchon attempted to reform the Ottoman Navy , while conducting a number of raids on Russian shipping , port and coastal installations in the Black Sea . Promoted to Vice Admiral , he was awarded the Pour le Mérite , Germany ' s highest military order , on 29 October 1916 . Souchon returned to Germany in September 1917 and received command of the Fourth Battleship Squadron of the High Seas Fleet during Operation Albion . At the end of the war he was commanding officer of the Imperial Navy base at Kiel . He died in Bremen . His nephew Hermann Souchon ( 1894 – 1982 ) was the murderer of Rosa Luxemburg .