SMS Helgoland

I have already dealt with the breaching of the Ontranto Sea Lock in one of my posts (here). In addition to a brief description of the events, the focus was on one of the three modern fast cruisers participating in the attack, the lead ship, the Novara. Now the other main character of the action, the Helgoland is our topic, and that is through another beautiful badge depicting the ship.

The crews of both ships were decorated after the action, and badges were made commemorating the battle and the ships. Based on contemporary pictures, these were already worn by the sailors when the crews were decorated. The Helgoland badge is relatively rare, but you can’t see much of the Novara either.