Turkish and Russian navies in battle according to the Dutch newspaper Het nieuws van den dag dated 31 October 1914

An item referred to the tidings the German newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung received from Constantinople dealing with the fight between the Russian and Turkish fleets. The Turkish cabinet stated that a small part of her fleet departed on 28 October for exercises to the Black Sea when the Turkish fleet on Thursday suddenly attacked. The Turkish ships responded and destroyed the Russian 5.000 tons minelayer Proet (1) which carried with her 700 mines, damaging a Russian torpedo boat and capturing a Russian collier. The Turkish torpedo boat Hairet Millie torpedoed the Russian destroyer Koebadets (2) and a torpedo of the Moeavenet Mille damaged heavily a Russian coast guard ship. The Turkish ships saved 3 officers and 72 sailors of the Russian ships and take them as prisoners of war.

Notes

1. The Prut was the former Turkish 3.250 tons protected cruiser Medjidieh (launched on 25 July 1903) which was salvaged by Russia after she sunk when she struck a mine on 3 April 1915 15 miles off Odessa and on 31 May docked at Odessa, Ukraine where she was repaired. In January 1917 were the repairs finished. She was however seized by the German forces at Sevastopol and given back to Turkey on 12 May 1918 and was not earlier stricken as in 1948. This means she can’t be destroyed as reported in this item.

2. Conway’s All the World’s fighting ships 1906-1921 mentioned a 1.284 tons gunboat Kubanetz launched on 9 April 1887 but which was stricken around 1941, so she can’t be similar to the Koebadets. However this is a item with quite unreliable information.