Confused Admiralty direction repeatedly diverted British ships while cautious commanders tried to establish where the Germans were heading. At full performance, Goeben could make about 25.5 knots and Breslau about 27.5 knots, against roughly 25 knots for the British Mediterranean battlecruisers and 23 knots for the armoured cruisers. Mechanical damage reduced the German ships' actual speed, but the British still lacked a reliable margin with which to catch them. A larger battlecruiser such as Lion or Queen Mary would give the Mediterranean force the faster enforcer it lacked. Command confusion and force selection explain the failure without requiring a conspiracy to let the ships escape.
Chapter · 41:07-43:49
Why Goeben and Breslau were so hard to catch
The escape was shaped by confused Admiralty direction, conservative decision-making, and a force whose older ships could not reliably match the German ships' speed.