Second Battle of Kirpen Island

Second Battle of Kirpen Island
Part of World War I

The Russian destroyer Derzky in the Black Sea.
Date December 10, 1915
Location off Kirpen Island, Ottoman Empire, Black Sea
Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire  Ottoman Empire
Strength
3 destroyers 2 gunboats
Casualties and losses
unknown 2 gunboats sunk
Black Sea (1914 - 1918)

The Second Battle of Kirpen Island, or the Second Battle of Kefken Island, was a small naval battle fought during the Black Sea campaign of World War I. On November 29, 1915 the German U-boat SM U-13 was shadowing five Russian merchant ships when she ran aground off the mouth of the Sakarya River. Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, the German commander of the Ottoman Navy sent two gunboats to proceed to the wreck. During the following cruise, the three Russian Derzky class destroyers Derzky, Gnevny and Bespokoiny encountered the gunboats Taşköprü and Yozgat. In the following combat the Russian gunners fired accurately and quickly sank both of the gunboats off Kirpen Island on December 10, 1915[1][2].

Order of Battle

Ottoman Navy:

Russian Navy:

See also

References

  1. ^ Halpern, Paul G., A Naval History of World War I, Routledge New York (1994), ISBN 1857284984, p. 237.
  2. ^ Bernd Langensiepen, Ahmet Güleryüz, The Ottoman Steam Navy, 1828-1923, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-659-0, pp. 163-164.