At 9:30 that morning the Indomitable and Indefatigable, which had been steaming west all during the night, encountered the Goeben and Breslau off Bône as the German ships were heading east back to Messina. If Grey had sent his ultimatum to Germany the night before, immediately following his speech to Parliament, Britain and Germany would then have been at war and the cruisers’ guns would have spoken. As it was, the ships passed each other in silence at 8,000 yards, well within range, and had to be content with training their guns and omitting the customary exchange of salutes. Admiral Souchon,
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