Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau - in Fiction

In Fiction

The alternate history short story "Tradition", written by Elizabeth Moon, imagines Admiral Christopher Cradock in place of Admiral Troubridge as commander of the cruiser and destroyer force to the east of the Straits of Messina; in the story, Cradock ignores Admiral Milne′s instructions to guard the Adriatic Sea and instead intercepts the Goeben and Breslau north of Crete. In the ensuing battle, his fleet loses two of the four armoured cruisers and six of his eight destroyers, but manages to destroy both German ships before they reach their goal of Istanbul. In reality, Cradock was not present in the Mediterranean, but died a few weeks later at the Battle of Coronel after challenging a larger German force, a decision made in part because he wanted to avoid Troubridge's ignominy in allowing Goeben and Breslau to escape.