Battle of Durazzo (1915)

The First Battle of Durazzo was a naval battle of World War I. It was fought off Durazzo (now Durrës), Albania at the end of December 1915 and involved the navies of Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Italy, and France.

Battle
In December 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Navy sent a cruiser squadron into the Adriatic Sea to interfere with Allied operations related to the Serbian Campaign. The new light cruiser SMS Helgoland — with a main armament of nine 100 mm guns — accompanied by five Tátra-class destroyers left Cattaro and headed for Durazzo (now Durrës) late on 28 December 1915, with the Austro-Hungarian submarine SMU U-15 (Austria-Hungary) and two Austro-Hungarian destroyers already off Durazzo on patrol. While on passage, the Austro-Hungarians sighted the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Monge on patrol to the south of Cattaro. The destroyer SMS Balaton opened gunfire on Monge, then rammed and sank her.

Early the next day, the Austro-Hungarian squadron arrived off Durazzo and opened fire on the town, with Helgoland sinking a Greek steamer and two schooners. Then the destroyer SMS Lika ran into a minefield and was sunk and the destroyer SMS Triglav (1913) was crippled by another mine. The destroyer SMS Csepel attempted to take Triglav in tow, but fouled a propeller, and the job was taken over by the destroyer SMS Tátra. The Austro-Hungarian force then proceeded slowly northward toward their base at Cattaro.

Allied forces in Brindisi on the coast of Italy were alerted to the Austro-Hungarian force's presence at sea, and the British light cruiser HMS Dartmouth (1911) and the Italian protected cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Quarto, escorted by five French destroyers, sortied in an attempt to cut off the Austro-Hungarian ships from Cattaro. These were followed two hours later by the Italian protected cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Nino Bixio, the British light cruiser HMS Weymouth (1910), and four Italian destroyers. The Austro-Hungarians also responded and despatched from Cattaro the armored cruiser SMS Kaiser Karl VI, the protected cruiser SMS Novara, and scout cruiser SMS Aspern to support the returning survivors of the raid, but they did not see action.

Early in the afternoon of 29 December, the leading Allied ships came into action with the Austro-Hungarian squadron, which was still only halfway home. The French destroyers headed for the already crippled Triglav and sank her before attempting to rejoin the British and Italian cruisers.

Meanwhile, the Allied cruisers attempted to cut off and deal with Helgoland and the three remaining Austro-Hungarian destroyers. In a long-range gunnery duel fought throughout the afternoon, Tatra suffered a damaged engine from several shell hits, but Helgoland skillfully avoided the Allied cruisers and the surviving Austro-Hungarian ships reached Cattaro safely, albeit after havng lost the valuable Lika and Triglav.