Battle of Kirpen Island explained

Conflict:	Battle of Kirpen Island
Partof:	World War I
Date:	10 December 1915
Place:	off Kefken Island, Ottoman Empire, Black Sea
Result:	Russian victory
Combatant1:	Russian Empire
Strength1:	3 destroyers
Strength2:	2 gunboats
Casualties1:	unknown
Casualties2:	2 gunboats sunk

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

Order of battle

Ottoman Navy:

• Taşköprü, gunboat
• Yozgat, gunboat

Russian Navy:

• Derzky, destroyer
• Gnevny, destroyer
• Bespokoiny, destroyer

Notes and References

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