| Battle of Preveza | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theItalo-Turkish War | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Italy |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Guido Biscaretti di Ruffia | Captain Tevfik | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5destroyers | 4torpedo boats 1armed yacht | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | ~10 killed 3 torpedo boats sunk 1 armed yacht captured | ||||||
TheBattle of Preveza was the first naval engagement fought during theItalo-Turkish War, which took place in theIonian Sea on 29–30 September 1911. The action took part in two separate engagements, the first offPreveza, and the second atGomenítza the following day. Five Italiandestroyers encountered a pair ofOttomantorpedo boats off the port of Preveza on 29 September and forced oneaground; the second fled into the safety of Preveza. The next day, the Italian destroyers raided Gomenítza, where another two torpedo boats and anarmed yacht were at anchor. The Italians sank both torpedo boats and seized the yacht as aprize.
The Italian attacks raised considerable tensions with other European states, particularly theAustro-Hungarian Empire, which saw Italy's actions as destabilizing to theBalkans. Concerned that further operations in the region might start a broader war, the Austro-Hungarians pressured Italy to limit their attacks on Ottoman forces toOttoman Tripolitania. A further incident on 5 October that involved an Austro-Hungarian vessel resulted in stronger Austro-Hungarian protests and a formal apology from Italy. The dispute was one of many that Italy later cited when it decided to declare war on Austria-Hungary in 1915 duringWorld War I.
In 1911, theOttoman Navy maintained a small anti-smuggling force of sixtorpedo boats dispersed along the Albanian coast, patrolling betweenPreveza,Gomenítza, andDurazzo.[1] At that time, the Preveza detachment consisted of the torpedo boatsTokad,Antalya,Hamidiye, andAlpagot, thearmed yachtTrablus, and the smallgunboatsNo. 9 andNo. 10. The unit was commanded byBinbasi (Captain) Tevfik.[2] At Preveza, the Ottomans relied upon a series of obsolete fortifications for local defense, including some that had been erected in the 1400s. The defensive works were armed with a total of five 150 mm (5.9 in)Krupp guns and twentyfield guns. The primary fortress was theCastle of Saint Andrew, built in the early 1800s, but reequipped with some modern artillery. It was supported bySt George's castle andFort Pantokrator [el], of a similar age, and a moderncoastal artillery battery of two 210 mm (8.3 in) guns.[3]
Over the course of the year, tensions between theOttoman Empire and Italy rose as the latter sought a pretext under which it could participate in the colonization ofNorth Africa, following French moves intoAlgeria andMorocco. On 27 September, Italy issued an ultimatum to cede control ofTripolitania, which the Ottoman government rejected the following day.[4] The imminent state of war prompted the Ottoman naval command to order the torpedo boats in Albania to seek refuge in neutralAustro-Hungarian ports further north in theAdriatic Sea, but the orders did not reach the torpedo boat crews in time. The Italian PrinceLuigi Amedeo planned to carry out a raid with a small force ofdestroyers to sink the torpedo boats in the first hours of the conflict.[5] Amedeo was at that time the commander of the Division of the Torpedo Boat Inspector, holding the rank ofrear admiral.[6]
Italy formally declared war at 15:00 on the afternoon of 29 September,[7] and Amedeo immediately sent the five destroyers to sweep the Albanian coast; the force consisted ofArtigliere,Corazziere,Fuciliere,Zeffiro, andAlpino, and was commanded by Commander Guido Biscaretti di Ruffia. About an hour after the declaration, the Italians spotted a pair of Ottoman torpedo boats—Tokad andAntalya.[6][7] The Ottoman vessels had been steaming northwest between Preveza and the island ofCorfu, and were en route toSingin.[4]
The Italians opened fire and the badly outnumbered Ottomans split up,Tokad heading north andAntalya fleeing south back to Preveza. Three of the Italian destroyers chasedTokad, forcing her ashore nearNicopolis with heavy damage from their 75 mm (3 in) guns, having scored fifteen hits. Nine men were killed aboardTokad, including her captain.Antalya, meanwhile, successfully evaded her pursuers and reached the safety of Preveza. The Ottoman 210 mm guns opened fire to coverAntalya's withdrawal, firing some 76 shells, though without scoring a hit on the Italian vessels. In the course of the action, the Italians had fired some one hundred 75 mm shells, but inflicted only light damage onAntalya.[3][4][7]
Amedeo thereafter issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman commander of the city defenses on 3 October, demanding he surrenderAntalya and other Ottoman vessels in the harbor within twenty-four hours or he would return and bombard the city.[7] Amedeo was at that time sailing aboard thearmored cruiserVettor Pisani and was accompanied bypre-dreadnought battleshipAmmiraglio di Saint Bon. By that time, however, foreign protests against Italy's actions in the Balkans had forced the Italian government to forbid further operations, and Amedeo was recalled.[8]
Unwilling to attempt to break into the defended harbor to sinkAntalya, the Italians departed for Gomenítza, where they knew other Ottoman vessels to be. That evening, an Italian officer fromCorazziere went ashore to conduct a reconnaissance on the port. He observed the location ofAlpagot andHamidiye, returned to his ship, and reported the information to Biscaretti di Ruffia. Early on 30 September,Artigliere,Corazziere, andAlpino entered Gomenítza; the first two vessels opened fire on the anchored Ottoman torpedo boats. The Ottomans were unable to return fire before they were sunk.[9] Ottoman troops in the coastal fortification protecting the port were completely surprised by the attack and offered no help, though the Italians fired seventy-six rounds into the structure and heavily damaged its sea wall.[7]
In the meantime,Alpino had come alongsideTrablus, which had been undergoing repairs to her boilers, and whose crew had attempted toscuttle her. The Italians boarded her, closed theseacocks, and cut her from her moorings. While they were working aboard the ship, Ottoman civilians in the town opened fire on the boarding party, promptingCorazziere to shell the town, which drove off the shooters. The Italians then attached a tow line to one of the destroyers to seizeTrablus as aprize.[7][10] According to the contemporary author William Beehler,Corazziere towedTrablus,[7] while the historian Charles Stephenson indicatesAlpino carried out the task.[9][a] The engagement lasted about forty-five minutes.[7]
Italian actions prompted rumors of a planned landing in OttomanRumelia, which threatened to destabilize theBalkans.Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, theAustro-Hungarian foreign minister, summoned the Italian ambassador toAustria-Hungary to object to the operations in the Adriatic. Aehrenthal characterized them as a "flagrant breach of [the Italian] promises to localize the war in the Mediterranean", and threatened "serious consequences" for failing to adhere to their assurances to avoid conflict in the Balkans.[b] Aehrenthal believed that Italy carried out the raid to further destabilizeOttoman Albania, which had been in revolt for over a year, in an attempt to gain influence there.[8]
Giovanni Giolitti, then thePrime Minister of Italy, ordered Amedeo to abandon further operations in the Adriatic, as he believed further provocations might lead to an Austro-Hungarian occupation of Durazzo.[8] Additionally, the Italian government decided that halting action in the region was necessary to avoid widening the war beyond the periphery of the Ottoman Empire, despite pressure from several of the Balkan states who wished to enter the war against the Ottomans. The Italian government feared this could create a general European crisis between thegreat powers, which they sought to avoid.[11] TheBalkan League, consisting of Greece, Serbia,Montenegro, and Bulgaria, nevertheless declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 18 October 1912, the day theTreaty of Ouchy ended the Italo-Turkish War; this began theFirst Balkan War.[12]
Despite the prohibition on further attacks in the Adriatic, on 5 October 1911,Artigliere,Corraziere, and the armored cruiserMarco Polo inspected Singin, where they found an Austro-Hungarian flagged vessel. A boarding party fromArtigliere was sent to inspect the vessel, but the boat carrying the men came under fire from an Ottoman artillery battery.Artigliere then engaged in an artillery duel with the fortification, and after forty-five minutes of firing, silenced the Ottoman guns. In the course of the action,Artigliere expended most of her ammunition, and the Ottoman gunners had inflicted slight damage. Shell splinters also wounded Biscaretti. The incident prompted further protests from Austria-Hungary and Italy formally apologized on 7 October. TheAustro-Hungarian Navy sent adivision ofbattleships fromPola south toCattaro Bay to place additional pressure on Italy. Austro-Hungarian interference chafed many in the Italian government and military, and it was included in the list of justifications forAntonio Salandra's declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in 1915 duringWorld War I.[13]
The Ottomans, for their part, were unconvinced by Italian assurances the war would be localized to East and North Africa, and set about reinforcing the defenses of its European and Anatolian cities, particularlySelanik andİzmir.Minefields were laid and several old vessels were scuttled in harbor entrances asblock ships to prevent Italian vessels from raiding the ports.[14]
Tokad was latersalvaged by theGreek Navy after the First Balkan War brought Preveza under Greek control; she were repaired and commissioned asTotoi.Antalya, which remained at Prevesa, was also seized and commissioned asNikopolis.[15]Trablus was later commissioned into the Italian fleet asCapitano Verri, serving in that capacity through 1926.[16]
38°57′00″N20°44′00″E / 38.9500°N 20.7333°E /38.9500; 20.7333