The Great War: 100 Years Ago

The Battle of Zanzibar was a minor skirmish between the British Navy and the German Navy in Zanzibar harbor.  The German patrol unit for its colonial possessions in that part of Africa in 1914 was the SMS Königsberg, a fast, well armed light cruiser… more »

With the High Seas Fleet bottled up in harbor, the German pacific possessions proved impossible to realistically hold.  September 11th saw forces of the Australian Army taking German New Guninea in a nearly bloddless change of administration that would… more »

The Battle of Heligoland Bight was a minor skirmish in the north Atlantic near the German coast.  The UK Navy was able to ambush a German cruiser patrol of 6 light cruisers, 19 torpedo boats, and 12 minesweepers under the command of Franz Hipper with a… more »

The battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau arrive in Turkey after avoiding the entire British Mediterranean Fleet.  The result of the humiliation would result in the Ottoman Empire entering the war on the side of the Central Powers. more »

The SMS König, technically the lead ship of the  König class battleship, is commisioned into the High Seas fleet, joining her recently commisioned sister Grosser Kurfürst who commisioned just 9 days before. more »