German naval personnel salute the Ottoman flag aboard the battlecruiser SMS Goeben during the ceremony transferring both the ship and crew into Ottoman service, 16 August 1914. Renamed the Yavuz Sultan Selim the Goeben became the flagship for the Ottoman Navy during the First World War.
The Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau were 'transferred' by the German government to the Ottoman Empire after they had arrived in Ottoman waters seeking to escape the British and French fleets in the Mediterranean. The transferral was denounced by the British as a sham and greatly increased the tension between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies in the lead up to the Ottoman entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers in November 1914.
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