[Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau]

These ships need to be in game considering how historical they are.

[Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau]

Absolutely it should be in WOWS as these two ships by bringing the Ottoman Empire into the fight extended WW1 by two years according to historians. Some of the consequences:

"In August, Germany—still expecting a swift victory—was content for the Ottoman Empire to remain neutral. The mere presence of a powerful warship like Goeben in the Sea of Marmara would be enough to occupy a British naval squadron guarding the Dardanelles. However, following German reverses at the First Battle of the Marne in September, and with Russian successes against Austria-Hungary, Germany began to regard the Ottoman Empire as a useful ally. Tensions began to escalate when the Ottoman Empire closed the Dardanelles to all shipping on 27 September, blocking Russia's exit from the Black Sea—that accounted for over 90 percent of Russia's import and export traffic.

 

Germany's gift of the two modern warships had an enormous positive impact on the Turkish population. At the outbreak of the war, Churchill had caused outrage when he "requisitioned" two almost completed Turkish battleships in British shipyards, Sultan Osman I and Reshadieh, which had been financed by public subscription at a cost of £6,000,000. Turkey was offered compensation of £1,000 per day for so long as the war might last, provided she remained neutral. (These ships were commissioned into the [Royal Navy] as HMS Agincourt and HMS Erin respectively.) The Turks had been neutral, though the navy had been pro-British (having purchased 40 warships from British shipyards) while the army was in favour of Germany, so the two incidents helped resolve the deadlock and the Ottoman Empire would join the Central Powers."

 

"Although a relatively minor 'action' and perhaps not widely known historical event, the escape of Goeben to Constantinople and its eventual annexation to Turkey ultimately precipitated some of the most dramatic naval chases of the 20th century. It also assisted in helping to shape the eventual splitting up of the Ottoman Empire into the many states we know today.

 

General Ludendorff stated in his memoirs that he believed the entry of the Turks into the war allowed the outnumbered Central powers to fight on for two years longer than they would have been able on their own, a view shared by historian Ian F.W. Beckett.^[17] The war was extended to the Middle East with main fronts of Gallipoli, the Sinai and Palestine, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus. The course of the war in the Balkans was also influenced by the entry of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers. Had the war ended in 1916, some of the bloodiest engagements, such as the Battle of the Somme, would have been avoided. The United States might not have been drawn from its policy of isolation to intervene in a foreign war.

 

In allying with the Central Powers, Turkey shared their fate in ultimate defeat. This gave the allies the opportunity to carve up the collapsed Ottoman Empire to suit their political whims. Many new nations were created including Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pursuit_of_Goeben_and_Breslau

[Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau]

3 hours ago, NobleSauvage said:

There's a good description of the Goeben's escape in Castles of Steel by Robert Massie, including a much more sympathetic (and to my mind at least, plausible) explanation of Admiral Troubridge's actions than the usual superficial dismissal. Well worth a read, and puts the event in context very well with regard to the rest of the First World War at sea.

Thanks, to me this is one of those pivotal events in history where if things were different the course of history would have potentially changed.

[Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau]

There is a great book called "The Guns of August" which highlights that the UK kept battleships it had been constructing for Turkey and thus this move by Germany brought them on board to their side.

Once that happened then Turkey effectively sealed the Black Sea commerce route for Russia, making supply harder, perhaps this contributed to the revolution that happened that let to the USSR because of the hardship it inflicted on the population.

It would have been an interesting what if scenario had these ships never made it or the UK had valued Turkey above the battleships under construction.