Battle of Moon Sound

Overview

The Battle of Moon Sound was a naval battle fought between the forces of the German Empire, and the Russian Republic in the Baltic Sea during Operation Albion from 16 October 1917 until 3 November 1917 during World War I. The German intention was to destroy the Russian forces and occupy the West Estonian Archipelago, and achieved both objectives. The Imperial German Navy had ten battleships, one battlecruiser, nine light cruisers, one mine cruiser, fifty destroyers and six submarines while the Russians had only two pre-dreadnoughts, three cruisers, three gunboats, twenty-one destroyers, and three British submarines.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Moon Sound formed a key engagement within Operation Albion, the German amphibious campaign in the Baltic Sea conducted from mid-October to early November 1917. The German objective was the destruction of Russian naval forces and the seizure of the West Estonian Archipelago; both were achieved. The operation demonstrated the capacity of the Imperial German Navy to project combined arms power into the Baltic while Russian naval resistance—limited to two pre-dreadnoughts, three cruisers, three gunboats, twenty-one destroyers, and three British submarines—proved insufficient against a force that included ten battleships, a battlecruiser, nine light cruisers, and fifty destroyers. The fall of the archipelago tightened German control over the eastern Baltic and increased pressure on a Russian state already in acute political crisis in the autumn of 1917.

Commanders (2)