During the First World War the guns at Malta were supposedly made ready for use when SMS Goeben was known to be nearby. Although the 100 t guns were powerful, modern weapons would have totally outclassed them: the range and rate of fire were too low, as modern 280–305 mm guns had a range of over 15–20 km and a rate of fire of one shot every 30 seconds. Goeben would have had no difficulty firing on Malta's guns, if required to.