Action of 2 July 1915
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The Russian raid on Gotland, which took place on July 2, 1915, was a naval battle of World War I between Germany (of the Central Powers) and Russia, assisted by a submarine of the United Kingdom (of the Allied Powers). The engagement took place in the Baltic Sea off the shores of Gotland, Sweden, a country neutral in World War I.
The German mine-laying cruiser Albatross, screened by the armored cruiser Roon, the light cruisers Augsburg and Lubeck, and 7 torpedoboats, under Commodore Karf were laying mines off the Åland Islands. On the morning of 2 July, they were intercepted by a Russian squadron consisting of the armored cruisers Admiral Makaroff and Bayan and the light cruisers Oleg and Bogatyr, under Rear Admiral Mikhail Bakhirev.
In the artillery duel that followed, Albatross was badly damaged and beached on the Swedish coast, and Roon received multiple hits. Reinforcements on both sides sailed to join the engagement. The Russian armored cruiser Rurik and the destroyer Novik joined the fight as the German force retreated. As the German armored cruisers Prinz Adalbert and Prinz Heinrich sailed to reinforce the German squadron, Prinz Adalbert was torpedoed by the British submarine E 9 and limped to shore.
