A lack of heavy Allied warships in the area allowed the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm and light cruiser Midilli to sortie into the Mediterranean and attack the Royal Navy monitors and destroyers at Imbros before assaulting the naval base at Mudros.

Although the Ottoman forces managed to complete their objective of destroying the monitors located at Imbros, the battle turned sour for them as they sailed through a minefield while withdrawing.

The new German commander of the Ottoman Black Sea fleet, Rebeur Paschwitz, decided to try to relieve Allied naval pressure on Palestine by making a sortie out of the Dardanelles.

[3] Several British naval elements of the Aegean Squadron had been taking refuge in Kusu Bay off the islands of Imbros, and they were a prime target for an Ottoman raid.

The two monitors present at Imbros were better suited for coastal bombardment than naval combat, though their heavy guns gave them an element of firepower the destroyers lacked.

Setting out towards Imbros, Yavûz Sultân Selîm struck a mine on transit to the island, but the damage was insignificant and the two Ottoman vessels were able to continue their mission.

Yavûz Sultân Selîm then proceeded to bombard the British signal station at Kephalo Point while Midilli was sent ahead to guard the entrance of Kusu Bay.

Raglan attempted to return fire with her 6- and 14-inch guns, but scored no hits on the German vessels before her main armament was knocked out when a shell pierced its casemate and ignited the ammunition within it.

With the two monitors sunk, the Ottomans decided to break off the engagement and head south in an attempt to raid the allied naval base at Mudros.

The combined efforts from ten Ottoman seaplanes as well as heavy anti-aircraft fire were able to drive off the air attacks, shooting down one Sopwith Baby and damaging another aircraft.

[11] Ottoman seaplanes and heavy shore batteries responded to the raids and were able to guard Yavûz Sultân Selîm and beat back the air attacks.

[4] With no way to free herself, Yavûz Sultân Selîm remained stranded on the sandbar until 26 January when the Ottoman battleship Turgut Reis finally arrived and towed her back into the Black Sea.

She came under heavy fire from nearby Ottoman shore batteries and was eventually beached with her commander, Geoffrey Saxton White, and another sailor killed and seven captured.

The commanders of the British Aegean Squadron were criticized for sending their battleships so far from the Dardanelles; had either Agamemnon or Lord Nelson been nearby during the Ottoman raid, Yavûz Sultân Selîm might have been destroyed.