When her Ottoman crew came to collect her, the British government seized the vessel for fear of it being used against Britain in the conflict. This act outraged the Ottoman people and was a major factor in turning Turkish public opinion against Britain, which in turn helped to drive the Ottoman Empire into an alliance with the Central Powers. Once she was under British control, the battleship was once again renamed, this time as . She served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war and was decommissioned and scrapped in 1924. Yavûz Sultân Selîm SMS Goeben was originally a German battlecruiser and a member of the . Goeben and her sister ship Moltke were ordered in 1909 and 1908 respectively. Before being transferred to the Ottoman Navy, Goeben was assigned to the Mediterranean as the flagship of the German Navy's new Mediterranean Division. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Goeben and the light cruiser attempted to evade the British fleet. With the assistance of the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy the two ships managed to safely make their way to Constantinople, arriving in the Bosporus on 11 August. They were then transferred to the Ottoman Navy. Upon transfer, SMS Goeben was renamed as . The German transfer of Goeben to the Ottoman Empire helped gain public support for the nation's entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers following the British seizure of other Ottoman battleships. Yavûz Sultân Selîm mainly operated in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol. In 1918, Yavûz Sultân Selîm attacked British forces outside the Dardanelles; during the conflict, she struck three mines. Under attack by British bombers, she managed to beach herself and was towed back for repairs three days later. The battleship underwent a series of repairs and upgrades between 1927 and 1930. In 1936 her name was officially shortened to Yavûz. The battlecruiser continued to serve in the Turkish Navy in World War II and had her anti-aircraft battery upgraded in 1941. Yavûz was decommissioned from active service on 20 December 1950 and stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. In 1973 she was sold for scrap. See also List of battleships Notes Footnotes Citations Bibliography Ottoman Empire Battleships