Naval Warfare in The Mediterranean During World War I - Campaigns

Campaigns

See also: Adriatic Campaign of World War I, Mediterranean U-boat Campaign (World War I), and Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

In the Mediterranean Sea, the war began with most of the large, but elderly French fleet deployed on escort duty to protect convoys across the Mediterranean from the smaller, but newer Austrian fleet and cover against possible Italian entry into the war on Austria's side. Several British ships were also sent to Malta to reinforce the British Mediterranean Fleet. Germany also had a small Mediterranean fleet (based at the Austrian naval base of Pola in current day Croatia) and at the commencement of hostilities, the powerful battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau, were patrolling the western Mediterranean. The German Mediterranean fleet did not find the French convoys, so proceeded to bombard the French cities of Bizerte and Bône in modern-day Tunisia. Pursued by superior French and British forces, the Goeben and Breslau reached Turkey, where they were nominally transferred to the Ottoman Navy when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the Central Powers side, and fought many battles against the Russian Black Sea Fleet until Russia's surrender in 1917.

After the Kingdom of Italy entered the war on the Allied side in 1915, the strategy of the Allies was to blockade the Adriatic and monitor the movements of the Austrian fleet. In general, this strategy was successful but the Germans and the Austrians were able to send submarines out into the Mediterranean where they did some damage. Total Allied warship losses to Austrian and German submarines were: two 2nd-line battleships, two armored cruisers, five destroyers, and two submarines (in addition to many damaged navy ships and sunk freighters). The primary sea bases for the Austrian and German fleet in the Adriatic were Pola (in Istria) and Cattaro (in southern Dalmatia).

On the Allied side, their navies were able to sail relatively freely throughout the Mediterranean by keeping the Central Powers' surface units bottled up in either the Adriatic or at Constantinople. This freedom of movement was tremendously important for the Allies, as they were not only able to keep open their supply routes (to Egypt for example), but to also evacuate the Serbian Army from capture and even launch (and supply) amphibious invasions at Gallipoli in 1915 and Salonika in 1916.

In 1915, the major fleet action was the Allied attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war by an attack on Constantinople. The Allies needed to pass the Dardanelles strait in order to supply Russia. The Battle of Gallipoli lasted for most of the year but was unsuccessful. An initial naval assault was deterred by mines and coastal fortresses, and the subsequent land assault was also defeated, but with heavy casualties on both sides.

After Gallipoli, the only significant naval battle occurred on May 15, 1917 when three Austrian cruisers under Captain Miklós Horthy staged a series of pin-prick raids on Italian and British transports near Valona, Albania who were evacuating the Serbian Army from being overrun. The raid was a partial success but the raiders were nearly destroyed by a shell hit which knocked out an engine on the Austrian cruiser SMS Novara. With heavier Allied forces closing in, the Austrians were routed back to Pola. The Austrians then decided to raid patrol boats guarding the Otranto Straits between Italy, Corfu and Albania. For further details see the battle of the Otranto Barrage.

On August 2, 1916, the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci exploded at Taranto, killing 249 of its crew. Reminiscent of the USS Maine, the event was widely reported in the Italian press, which immediately blamed Austrian or German saboteurs, something the Central Powers did nothing to disavow. The cause of the explosion has never been verified. It had considerable effect as a propaganda tool for both sides.

In December 1917, Luigi Rizzo with his MAS sank the Austro-Hungarian pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Wien, that was at anchor inside the defences of Trieste harbour.