"Yavuz", escorted by "Midilli", intercepted the Russian Black Sea Fleet off the Crimean coastline on 18 November as it returned from a bombardment of Trebizond. Despite the noon hour the conditions were foggy and none of the capital ships were spotted initially. The Black Sea Fleet had experimented with concentrating fire from several ships under the control of one "master" ship before the war, and held her fire until , the master ship, could see "Yavuz". When the gunnery commands were finally received they showed a range over in excess of "Evstafi"s own estimate of , so "Evstafi" opened fire using her own data before "Yavuz" turned to fire her broadside. She scored a hit with her first salvo as a 12-inch shell partially penetrated the armor casemate protecting one of "Yavuz"s secondary guns. It detonated some of the ready-use ammunition, starting a fire that filled the casemate and killed the entire gun crew. A total of thirteen men were killed and three were wounded.