Battle of the Strait of Otranto

15 May 1917, Strait of Otranto, Adriatic

Austro-Hungarian tactical victory

The Otranto barrage was a line of armed drifters with anti-submarine nets across the mouth of the Adriatic. Three Austro-Hungarian scout cruisers under Miklós Horthy, disguised as British destroyers, raided it at night and sank 14 drifters, while two destroyers attacked an Italian convoy. Allied cruisers and destroyers caught the raiders on the way home and Novara was badly hit, but Austro-Hungarian reinforcements came out and the allies broke off. Dartmouth was torpedoed by a waiting U-boat.