An Exceptional Story

May be unbelievable but true... One day a battlecruiser comes through the winds
of war and  an  empire  enters to this world war. This warship was SMS Goeben,
a  23.000 ton  battlecruiser  of  Kaiserliche  Marine, so  called  Imperial  German
Navy, and the empire was the Ottoman Empire.

On Agust 10, 1914, the giant battlecruiser SMS Goeben and her companion the
light  cruiser  SMS Breslau  arrived  to  Canakkale  (Gallipoli)  Coast,  under  the
command  of  Admiral  Wilhelm  Souchon.. It was the early days of WWI.. After a
short  and  stressy  while,  the  Ottoman Government  gave  a  visa to Admiral for
passing  through  the  Canakkale  Strait. The  warships entered  into the Turkish
waters and arrived to Istanbul on August 16, 1914 at dawn.

After a few days, the Ottoman  Empire  decided  to  buy these powerful warships
from Germany. The Ottoman Emperor gave new names to the ships : Yavuz and
Midilli. SMS Goeben' s new name was Yavuz Sultan Selim (Yavuz)..

But these days were also very hard days  for  the old  empire. There was a great
pressure over old Ottoman  Government. The  probable  decisions were all  very
critical and  the problems  were  growing day by day. Then, one  day  the Turkish
Government  secretly (and suddenly)  decided  to  enter the war as a companion
of German Empire and the Axis Forces.

Following the decision, on October 28, 1914 a Turkish fleet consisting of Yavuz,
Midilli, Hamidiye, Berk and several destroyers steamed to the Russian harbors.

 On 29, October, these warships  put  the  operation of  bombardment of Russian
harbors Sebastopol and Novorossijsk. During  the same  period,  other cruisers
Gayret and Muavenet opened  fire on  another harbor, Odessa. After  this attack,
Turkish warships sunk  several  Russian  ships at  Black Sea during their course
to home.

The  most  important  harbors of  the Russian Empire, Odessa, Sebastopol  and
Novorossijsk were in flames and Ottoman Empire was at World War One.

The 11  inch  guns  of  Yavuz  were  started  a new era, in the cold morning of 29,
October 1914 and the fate of and empire changed. The fate of WWI changed...

The Kaiserliche Marine warships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau
at Canakkale (Gallipoli). These  two warships arrived into Turkish
waters on August 10, 1914 at dawn.