the Italians. In late 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Navy began a series of raids against the merchant ships supplying Allied forces in Serbia and Montenegro. On the night of 22/23 November 1915, Helgoland, Saida, and the 1st Torpedo Division raided the Albanian coast and sank a pair of Italian transports carrying flour. To facilitate these raids, Helgoland, her sister , six modern Tátra-class destroyers, six 250t-class T-group torpedo boats and an oiler were transferred to Cattaro to facilitate further raids on 29 November. Helgoland, together with five destroyers, participated in another of these raids at the end of December. On the night of 28/29 December 1915, while making her sortie, Helgoland rammed and sank the French submarine Monge between Brindisi and the Albanian port of Durazzo. Helgoland and the destroyers attacked shipping in Durazzo the following morning. Two of the destroyers struck mines while after sinking several ships in the port and had to be abandoned. The Austro-Hungarians managed to evade the Allied pursuit only when darkness fell. On the night of 31 May/1 June 1916, the ship covered a raid by two destroyers and three torpedo boats on the drifters defending the Strait of Otranto against submarines trying to exit the Adriatic Sea, sinking one. Battle of the Strait of Otranto Erich Heyssler assumed command of Helgoland in April 1917 and Miklós Horthy planned another raid on the drifters using a force composed of the three Novara-class cruisers. The three cruisers were to attack separately while two destroyers made a diversionary attack on the drifters near the Albanian coast. On the night of 14 May, the ships departed port and managed to pass through the line of drifters in the darkness without being identified. As the sounds from the diversionary attack were heard, the drifters released their nets and began to head towards Otranto. Helgoland turned around and attacked the westernmost group of drifters as dawn began on the morning of 15 May. Between the three cruisers, they sank 14 drifters and badly damaged an additional four. The skipper of the drifter Gowan Lea, Joseph Watt, refused to surrender and abandon ship when demanded by Helgoland, despite the cruiser only being away. Watt's crew only managed to fire one shot before their single six-pounder gun was disabled. Watt's refusal to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds was recognized after the battle by the award of the Victoria Cross. Helgoland