First Battle of Benghazi
The Italian attack on Benghazi on 4 October was escorted by the two Re Umberto-class pre-dreadnoughts, a pair of aging protected cruisers, two modern destroyers, and four old destroyers. Their target was the only initial port which whose garrison would actually put up a fight on land, Benghazi. Against them was the strongest Ottoman naval opposition, two modern light cruisers and two torpedo gunboats, while a pair of torpedo boats were in the port itself. Though it had been sited by an Italian submarine the day before, this was not forwarded to the formation until well after contact had been made. As dawn broke, lookouts from both sides spotted the other formation. The Ottomans were northeast of the Italians. Knowing that the pre-dreadnoughts were the only real deterrent to the modern Ottoman cruisers, the Italians stayed together. The Ottoman cruisers engaged from 12,000 yards out, while the Italian battleships responded, but with a rate of fire of a half a round per minute and little in the way of fire control, the odds of a hit were low. Despite being some of the better in the service, the Ottoman gunners only scored a hit and another near miss, both on Re Umberto, knocking out a 6" mount. Wanting to preserve his force, the Ottoman commander kept his distance even as the Italians neared Benghazi. As darkness fell, both Ottoman squadrons moved in. Calabria briefly engaged the torpedo cruisers, while the old destroyers were kept busy by the two Ottoman torpedo boats. The light cruisers continued on until a lookout screamed a warning as the battleship Sardegna loomed out of the darkness to starboard. Both ships made emergency turns, while the battleship swung her guns and searchlights to bear. Things seemed like they could go very poorly for the Ottoman Empire's most powerful two warships, but then the battleship was rocked by an explosion. Though whether her commander or torpedo officer gave the order to fire is still debated, Seydi Ali Reis had loosed a 21" torpedo as she turned, striking the battleship amidships. The battleship's forward turret and secondaries still fired for a bit, but only scored one hit, a 6" shell hitting one of the Ottoman cruisers in the superstructure. Then, the stricken battleship went silent.
Umbria and a pair of destroyers tried to stop the Ottoman cruisers, but despite the poor gunnery of the latter they were overwhelmed, though not before Seyd Ali Reis was hit eleven times. One destroyer would sink, one was left drifting, and Umbria would be abandoned later as her fires grew out of control. The Ottomans sank two Italian transports and badly damaged a third before calls for aid from the torpedo gunboats and nervous lookouts spotting destroyers at a rate that would have the made Russian Kamchatka proud (there were in fact a handful returning after sinking both torpedo boats), as well as the appearance of Re Umberto caused them to pull back.
Earlier, the two Turgut Reis-class torpedo gunboats had peeled off to take the other flank of the Italians, but they soon ran into trouble in the form of the two Appennini-class Italian destroyers. Thinking they had the upper hand, the Ottomans engaged, but were in fact heavily outgunned, and soon both ships turned away. However, they were not fast enough to escape. One was torpedoed, and the other in a bad state when the two cruisers emerged from the darkness, causing the destroyers to scatter. The second gunboat was in bad condition, and it was decided to run her aground, where her crew and armament could reinforce the garrison. Once this was carried out, the two light cruisers made for the Straits.
Casualties:
Sunk
Italians: B 1 Re Umberto, CL 1 Umbria, DD 1 Nembo
Ottomans: TGB 2 Turgut Reis, TB 2 Akhisar
Damaged (1 turn repair)
Italians: DD 1 Artiligiere, 1 Appennini
Ottomans: CL 1 Uluç Ali Reis
2 Italian Transports sunk, 1 damaged. Benghazi landing aborted.