by Rudy Scott Nelson
While the Greeks did a great job in blockading the Turkish ports in the Dardenalles, there were several naval engagements and the possibility for more. This articles provides some information for the gamer to simulate World War One era naval actions and even conduct a limited campaign. The Bulgarian navy in the Black Sea was small. It consisted of the Armored Cruiser 'Nadezda' and six torpedo boats. It was destroyed by the larger Turkish fleet which though blocked from the Aegean by the Greeks could sail easily into the Black Sea. These Black Sea sorties help bombard Bulgarian forces as they attacked the Chatalja forts. The Greek Naval program had recently under went modernization and entered the war with a large well-equipped navy. It consisted of four battleships (rated as Armored Cruisers in some sources) : 'Averoff', 'Spetsai', 'Psara' and 'Hydra'; ten destroyers : 'Velos', 'Lonche', 'Sphendone', 'Aspis', 'Nea Genea', 'Naukratousa', 'Nike', 'Keraunos', 'Doxa and 'Thyella'; one submarine 'Delphin'; five torpedo boats; four reconnaissance ?? boats; two one-gun patrol boats; three gunboats; four steam corvettes and several armed merchant cruisers. The Ottoman Navy relied mainly on coastal fortresses with numerous smaller coastal vessels designed to prevent smuggling. Their "High Seas" fleet located in the Aegean Sea and Black Sea included five Armored Cruisers : 'Ann Illah', Main Zaffer', 'Assar I Tewik', 'Feth I Bulend' and 'Idayalje'; three ironclads ? : 'Haireddin Barbarossa', 'Torgut Reis' and 'Messudieh'; two heavy cruisers ; 'Hamidieh' and 'Medjidieh'; two Light cruisers (torpedo) 'Berk Satmet' and 'Peik I Sefket'; eleven destroyers and fifteen torpedo boats. December 16, 1912. Battle of Dardenalles. Greek BB Averoff + BB Spetsai + BB Hydra + BB Psara + DD Leon + DD Ierax + DD Aetos + DD Panther vs Ottoman IC Haireddin Barbarossa + IC Torgut Reis + IC Messudieh + AC Assar I Tewik + eight DDs. January 18, 1913. Battle of Lemos. Greek BB Averoff + 2 or 3 DDs vs Ottoman IC Haireddin Barbarossa + IC Torgut Reis + IC Messudieh + six Dds January 14, 1913. Raid of the Hamidieh. The Turkish CL Hamidieh broke the Greek blodade and conducted several attacks on ports and convoys. She sunk the Greek Armed-Cruiser 'Macedonia'. She retreated to the Suez Canal area when she ran low on coal. This would make a good search and pursuit game similar to the Bismark or Flight of the Goeben using the "Midway" gaming system. with the Greeks trying to locate and catch the 'Hamidieh'. Other small action scenario possibilities are quite numerous and can easily be designed by using the above naval OBs. Back to Time Portal Passages Winter 2002 Table of Contents Back to Time Portal Passages List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Rudy Scott Nelson This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |