Location: Black Sea, 11 June 1915, 0200 hrs. Operational Situation: On the 10th of June 1915, two Russian destroyers, Derzki and Gnevny, sailed from Sevastopol for Zonguldak on the Turkish coast. That evening they intercepted and destroyed two Turkish steamers and a sailing vessel. Afterwards, they proceeded along the Turkish coast, heading towards the Bosphorus. Tactical Situation: Derzki has spotted a suspicious light on her starboard bow. Action stations have been sounded and Gnevny, astern of her, has been signaled by blinker to be prepared for action. Environment: Night, half moon, Sea State 2, visibility 25%. Russian Forces: Derzki, Gnevny (both Bespokoiny class DDs) Russian Orders: Patrol your assigned area, intercept and destroy enemy units. Russian Victory Conditions: Decisive: Sink Breslau. Tactical: Inflict more damage than you receive. German/Turkish Forces: Breslau (Magdeburg class CL) German/Turkish Orders: Intercept reported Russian destroyers operating in the area. German/Turkish Victory Conditions: Decisive: Sink both Russian destroyers. Tactical: Sink one Russian destroyer and suffer no more than 25% damage. Setup The Russians are on course 270°, speed 12 kts, 300 yards between ships. The German/Turkish player sets up on course 090°, speed 10 kts, bearing 020° off the starboard bow of Derzki at maximum sighting range. Historical Outcome Derzki’s captain assumed that the light was heading for the Bosphorus and altered course to port, but the light started to move further to starboard, evidently steaming on an opposite course. Accordingly, Derzki altered course to starboard and prepared to launch torpedoes. The mysterious ship was now moving quite fast and after about three minutes, before Derzki could reach a good firing position, the unknown ship switched on her searchlight and was identified by the Russians as the light cruiser Breslau. The searchlight beam swept past Derzki and came to rest on Gnevny. Breslau immediately opened fire. Notwithstanding Russian fighting instructions, which laid down that in a night action destroyers should hold the fire of their guns until torpedoes had been launched, Derzki’s gunnery officer, whose battle station was the after bridge, ordered the two after guns to engage Breslau without waiting for permission from the bridge. For the next few minutes Derzki fired at Breslau while Breslau fired at Gnevny. Gnevny altered course towards Breslau, and having reached a range of approximately 1,000 yards, launched five torpedoes. Breslau now turned away to avoid the torpedoes while continuing to fire at Gnevny. At this stage Breslau extinguished her searchlight, causing Derzki to lose her aim, but Gnevny fired off three more rounds before Breslau disappeared into the darkness. After the action ended, Derzki lost contact with Gnevny. Being concerned for his squadron mate, Derzki’s captain decided to stay in the area until dawn, just in case Gnevny was disabled and needed assistance. It was a smart decision. During the night he was able to pick up Gnevny’s distress signal. At dawn, just as Captain Cherkasov was about to order the scuttling of the now dead in the water Gnevny, he and his crew were overjoyed to see Derzki appear on the horizon. By 0900 hrs Derzki had her sister ship safely in tow, and the two ships proceeded to Sevastopol. Best book: North of Gallipoli by George Nekrasov. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #22 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com