The operations against the Dardanelles forts opened on the 3rd November last year, when an allied British and French squadron bombarded those nearest to the entrance. Operations were then practically suspended until the 19th February, when the allied fleets returned to the attack in greater force, and made a resolute attempt to break down the defence of the narrow waterway leading to Constantinople. The outer forts having been silenced, the Queen Elizabeth, with four other battleships, entered the Dardanelles and bombarded the defences of what are known as the Narrows. But they were unable to advance farther, partly on account of the heavy mobile batteries of the Turco-Germans, but more especially from the great danger of floating mines and of torpedoes launched from stations on shore. These submarine weapons began to take heavy toll of the allied ships. The British battleships Irresistible, Ocean, and Goliath were all sunk—the two first on the same day. With them, too, went down the French battleship Bouvet, and, later on, the Triumph and Majestic succumbed to torpedoes said to have been fired from one of two submarines which are supposed to have made their way to the scene of action from Germany. Space forbids any further account of these operations, which are still being continued; but, in order to give some idea of what they were like, I cannot do better than quote from a letter just written to his chum by a midshipman on board one of the ships engaged in the Straits, so vivid an account does he give of the fighting as it presented itself to his eyes:
"Since we have been out we have been in four or five big actions and a large number of small ones. I think the hottest one that this ship personally has been in was on Sunday, ——. This ship and one other were ordered to reduce, or attempt to reduce, two of the most powerful forts going. The action commenced just when you—if you were a good boy—were going to church. As usual we cleared for 'immediate action' on the way in. I must say before the action I felt rather as if I was going to the dentist to have a bad tooth out, but once the show started and we were fighting I felt as happy as a lark, despite the infernal noise and smell!
"My action station is in No. — turret, two — guns. I wear the officer's telepads, and have to sing out all the orders, ranges, &c., that come down from the controls, and work all the voice pipes, &c. If the lieutenant of the turret gets knocked out I am supposed to take charge. The forts opened a heavy fire as soon as we were in range, and as we were the leading ship we had the concentrated fire of both forts on us for the first quarter of an hour, one fort shifting to the second ship later. The water round both ships soon became like an animated moving fountain, with the ships as the centre, from the splashes made by the falling shell, most of the splashes reaching as high as the foretop (about 110 feet). We really had a most miraculous time, considering the large amount of shells fired at us and the comparatively small number of hits we received. Also the way we managed to avoid getting any casualties was a miracle, some of the men having most marvellous escapes. However, we let them have it pretty hot as well, and it was absolutely ripping to feel the ship lurch and stop on her course as we let rip broadside after broadside at them. After two and a half hours the forts ceased firing altogether, and we drew off, having done our job.
"About the most exciting show I have had myself was when I had to go away sweeping up the Straits one night in a picket-boat. Our objective was to locate and blow up an electric cable which was connected to a long row of mines at a certain point in the Dardanelles. We started off at about 7.30 p.m., and it was an absolutely pitch-black night. There were five other boats with us, and of course we could show absolutely no lights. I was steering the boat, and it was hard to see anything at all. . . . We arrived at about 10 p.m., and at the position for commencing the sweep at about 11.15. The Turks had a lot of beastly search-lights going. The first sweep up they did not discover us, but the second time they fairly caught us and let rip with all sorts of things—Nordenfeldts, rifles, pom-poms, and a few howitzers. It was beastly uncanny hearing the shells shrieking and whizzing about in the still air of the night—much worse than in daytime. However, a picket-boat is a very difficult thing to hit even at the best of times, and in a pitch-black night it wants a lot of luck despite all the search-lights. As soon as they started firing I commenced zigzagging all over the place, and the nearest we had was about ten yards away, although a lot of rifle bullets went whistling overhead. I was never more pleased than when we turned round and started back to the fleet. We blew up something, but whether it was the cable or not I don't know. The boat next to us got into the middle of a bunch of mines, and we had to stand by her; however, by great luck she managed to clear, blowing up two mines with rifles. We got back to the ship about 5 a.m., after quite an exciting night. I really thought I looked quite ferocious that night; life-saving waistcoat, overcoat, sea-boots, muffler, a huge revolver with 60 rounds of ammunition, both my pockets full of sandwiches, and a Thermos flask full of cocoa, which I kept on spilling all over myself in the dark.
"We have been covering the landing and supporting the advance of the troops. It is a pretty strenuous time, as we are at action stations on and off from 5 or 6 a.m. till 7 or 8 p.m., with a night watch to keep as well, so we are kept pretty busy. We also live in a constant state of 'immediate action'."
But as it had been decided to supplement the naval attack by the landing of an army, a disembarkation was effected towards the end of April at five points on the Gallipoli Peninsula and one on the Asiatic shore. The latter was carried out by the French, but it was only intended to be a temporary measure to assist the British landings on the western shore. The troops, which were composed of British, Australians, and New Zealanders, effected their landing in the face of the most tremendous opposition, making their way through masses of wire entanglements under a terrible fire from all kinds of weapons. Their losses were very great, but they effected their object and established themselves on shore, and set about a series of operations against the Turkish positions which are still continuing. The navy's share was to cover the landing with the fire of its big guns, and to transport the soldiers to the shore. Its work was magnificent. The Turkish entrenchments were plastered with high-explosive shell, while the bluejackets and marines employed in the actual business of landing the troops behaved with a coolness, energy, and gallantry which has never been surpassed. Nor must it be forgotten that the navy was represented in the landing force by the newly-formed Naval Division, under the command of Brigadier-General Paris of the Royal Marine Artillery, consisting of several battalions of the Royal Marines and a number of others formed from the R.N.V.R. and other reserves, and distinguished one from the other by bearing the names of celebrated naval commanders—such as "The Drake Battalion". These had all been organized and trained by the staff of the Royal Marines under the Adjutant-General, Sir William Nicholls, and were commanded by naval, marine, or in some cases army officers. As for their work in the campaign, we have, so far, little or no information. Beyond extensive mention in the casualty lists, the press seems to have overlooked them. But their very losses prove that they have been well to the front, and we may be sure that they have given a very good account of themselves.
Everywhere the Royal Navy has proved itself worthy, nay, more than worthy, of its gallant ancestors and their gallant deeds. To quote Lord Charles Beresford, in a letter written to the London Chamber of Commerce: "The brilliant work of the Navy in clearing the North Sea and providing safety for the transport to France of their comrades in the sister service will be gratefully appreciated by the country. Such work could only have been effective by superb organization, loyalty to duty, and discipline, requiring not only caution but courage. The watching fleets of the present day have none of the charm and change to occupy their mind which accompanied the sailing-ship navy, making and shortening sail, trimming sails, tacking, and wearing, necessary for cruising on the look-out. There were no air-vessels, mines, submarines, or torpedoes in the old days, no under-water warfare. The strain upon officers and men of the sea-going fleet in these days is terrific: nothing to occupy their thoughts as in the days of sailing-ships."
But with all this we know what the navy has done, and we know that it will never be found wanting. Only let us all try to emulate the spirit of thoroughness and devotion to duty which has made our navy what it is; let us all try to "do our bit", however small, and, in those inspired words of our great poet Shakespeare which we should always bear in mind—
"Nought shall England rue,
If England to herself do prove but true".
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