before setting course for Sevastopol later that afternoon. They were intercepted by the German battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser the following day in what came to be known as the Battle of Cape Sarych. Despite the noon hour the conditions were foggy and the capital ships initially did not spot each other. Evstafi was the lead ship, but held her fire until Ioann Zlatoust, the master ship, could see Goeben. When the gunnery commands were finally received they showed a range over in excess of Evstafis own estimate of , so Evstafi opened fire using her own data before Goeben turned to unmask its broadside. Evstafi scored a hit with her first salvo as a 12-inch shell partially penetrated the armour casemate protecting one of Goebens secondary guns. It detonated some of the ready-use ammunition, starting a fire that burnt out the casemate and killed its crew. That was, however, the only hit on Goeben, although it caused her to disengage from the Russian squadron. Ioann Zlatoust merely fired six shells herself as only her forward turret could see Goeben. On 9 January 1915 Breslau and the encountered the Russian fleet while returning from a mission in the eastern part of the Black Sea. Breslau hit Evstafis forward turret, temporarily putting it out of action, and the two cruisers escaped using their superior speed. Evstafi and Ioann Zlatoust served as the covering force for several bombardment missions of the Bosphorus between 18 March and 9 May 1915. The two earlier bombardments were uneventful, but the 9 May bombardment provoked a reaction as Goeben intercepted the Russian battleships after they had been spotted by the . Both forces turned on parallel courses and opened fire at the range of . Neither side scored a hit although Goeben had multiple near-misses on Evstafi. Vice Admiral Andrei Eberhardt ordered his ships to make only while Goeben was making . Goeben was unable to cross the T of the Russian ships, despite its superior speed, as they were continually turning. This manoeuvre bought enough time that Tri Sviatitelia and Pantelimon were able to rejoin the other two ships before they could start shelling the Ottoman forts. Pantelimon hit Goeben twice before the German ship broke contact after 22 minutes of firing. With the fleet assembled Admiral Eberhardt attempted to pursue the enemy battlecruiser, but was unsuccessful. On 1 August 1915, Ioann Zlatoust and