Showing Approximate Armaments and Position of Minefields Fig 3-Map of Dardanelles Defences

The First Landings.

For political reasons the campaign had to be continued and the failure of the fleet to force the Straits necessitated the landing of an army upon the Peninsula. For this operation the transports were unprepared and the army was con centrated in Egypt to reorganise, a valuable month thus being lost. (See DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.) Meanwhile the fleet recon noitred and prepared for the landing and, when the weather per mitted, harassed the Turkish reinforcements now crowding on to Gallipoli. Smyrna was strictly blockaded and the Russian fleet was active off the Bosphorus.

By April 23, the transports had reassembled at Mudros and the work of getting into position for the landings commenced. The weather favoured the operation and early on the morning of the 25th, landings were effected on five beaches around Cape Helles and Gaba Tepe (Anzac). At the same time, French troops gained a footing on the Asiatic side and a demonstration was made in the Gulf of Xeros; 18 battleships, 12 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 8 submarines and a host of small craft supported the landing. At each beach, the covering ships went close inshore in support, whilst the attendant ships carried the troops and aided by small craft and boats suited to the particular beach, landed them. Oppo sition was severe and losses very heavy but by sunset the army was established ashore and the naval parties had the work of organising the beaches well in hand. Thenceforward the campaign became mainly a military one in which the role of the Navy was to sup port the troops by gunfire, to evacuate wounded and to ensure the supply of food, water, stores, munitions and reinforcements to the beaches. This task was an arduous and dangerous one and casual ties on the beaches were heavy. The old battleships "Albion" (April 28) and "Prince George" (May 5) were so damaged by gunfire that they had to be docked and on May 13, the "Goliath" was torpedoed by a Turkish destroyer and sank with great loss of life. The appearance of German submarines in the Mediter ranean now rendered the position of heavy ships employed off the Peninsula precarious. The "Queen Elizabeth" was ordered home to join the Grand Fleet and the replacement of battleships by monitors and old "bulged" cruisers commenced, but two more battleships were lost : the "Triumph" on May 25 and the "Ma jestic" on May 27, both torpedoed by "U. 21." Lord Fisher Resigns.—The War Council decision on May to continue the campaign led to the resignation of Lord Fisher (q.v.). This was followed by the reconstruction of the Govern ment and the removal of Mr. Winston Churchill from the office of First Lord of the Admiralty. Throughout the summer months the navy supported and supplied the army on the peninsula, and more troops being sent out, a successful landing was made at Suvla Bay on the night of Aug. 6-7. But neither here nor at the other positions was any appreciable progress made onshore and all idea of forcing the Straits with the fleet was consequently abandoned. Submarines alone could pass the Narrows and of the 12 boats (9 British and 3 French) which made the adventure, 7 were lost. The presence of these vessels in the Marmora, how

ever, produced such alarm as greatly to interfere with the Turkish supplies to the Peninsula.

The Evacuation.

By the end of October the defeat of the Serbian Army and the opening of the Salonika Campaign hastened the decision to withdraw from Gallipoli, and preparations for this difficult operation commenced. Night by night, the vast accumulation of stores were removed and on the night of Dec. 18-19 the troops were withdrawn from Suvla Bay and Anzac under cover of the fleet. So successful was the operation that the Turks knew nothing about it and awoke to find that their enemy had vanished. The more difficult evacuation of the Helles Beaches was accomplished on Jan. 8-9, 1916, without the loss of a man. Little of value was left in the hands of the enemy and with these two wonderful examples of naval and military co operation the ill-fated campaign was brought to a close.

Heavy weather in January hampered the work of the loth Cruiser squadron on the northern patrol and caused damage to the submarine defences of Scapa Flow and on the 6th the battle ship "King Edward VII.," struck a mine off Cape Wrath and was lost. Scheer succeeded von Pohl in command of the High Sea Fleet in January and he at once adopted more energetic tactics. On Feb. io German destroyers appeared on the Dogger Bank and sank the sloop "Arabis," whilst minesweeping. A sweep by the Grand Fleet followed with the usual barren result. During the dark February nights the raider "Moewe" slipped homeward through the blockade after her successful cruise and the "Greif," another raider, in attempting to break out was brought to action by the armed merchant cruiser "Alcantara" on Feb. 29 and both ships were sunk. Cruising constantly during March the Grand Fleet saw nothing of the enemy until March 24-25 when the Harwich Force met a Division of enemy destroyers at night. The German "G. 194" was rammed and sunk by the light cruiser "Cleopatra" and a British destroyer was lost by collision. On April 23 the German fleet put to sea, the battlecruiser "Seydlitz" being forced to return after striking a British mine. Zeppelins raided the East Coast on the night of April 23-4 and at daybreak Yarmouth and Lowestoft were bombarded by the German battle cruisers. The Harwich Force engaged them and the light cruiser "Conquest" received heavy damage from their fire as they hurriedly retired eastward, reaching their minefields just in time to escape Beatty's battlecruisers. The 3rd Battle squadron (7 King Edward's) was stationed in the mouth of the Thames at the end of April to deal with the coastal raids and on April 26 a heavy mine and net barrage was laid in the Straits by the Dover Patrol. On May 4-5 an aerial attack, supported by the Grand Fleet, was made upon the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern. One Zeppe lin was destroyed at sea. Mines were laid off the Horns Reef and Borkum before the fleet returned north.