Gallipoli

Nov 03, 1914

Churchill ordered an attack on the Dardanelles. HMS Indomitable and Indefatigable, with the obsolete French battleships Suffren and Vérité, test the Ottoman defences and in a twenty-minute bombardment. One shell struck the magazine of the fort at Sedd el Bahr. The explosion dismounted ten guns and killed 86 Ottoman soldiers. In total, there were 150 casualties including 50 Germans.

Location: Gallipoli

1915

Erskine Childers joins HMS Ben-my-Chree to train the seaplane pilots in navigation

Location: Mediterranean

Feb 1915

Commodore Keyes is made the Chief of Staff to Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden

Location: Gallipoli

Feb 1915

HMS Canopus transfers to the Mediterranean in order to take part in the Gallipoli campaign

Location: Mediterranean

Feb 17, 1915

HMS Ark Royal arrives at the island of Tenedos close to the straits of Gallipoli. She attempts to send off her aircraft to scout out the area, but two had engine trouble and the third could not get airborne.

HMS Ark Royal arrives at Tenedos

Location: Gallipoli

Feb 18, 1915

HMS Lord Nelson leaves Portland to take part in the Gallipoli campaign

Location: Weymouth

Feb 19, 1915

07:58 Orhaniye Tepe battery opens fire on a pair of destroyers probing the straits.

09:51 HMS Cornwallis and HMS Vengeance return fire on the forts with limited effect.

Location: Gallipoli

Feb 25, 1915

The fleet entered the straits to engage the intermediate defences thanks to the Ottomans having evacuated the outer defences. A landing party of Royal Marines raid the Sedd el Bahr and Kum Kale forts with little resistance.

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 01, 1915

Battleships bombard the intermediate defences but little progress was made clearing the minefields. The minefields were being swept by un-armoured trawlers working in pairs. They had to drag the mines to the surface with a rope, and then triggered by shooting rifles at them. The trawlers manned by their civilian crews, who were unwilling to work while under fire.

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 04, 1915

Twenty-three marines were killed raiding the outer defences while HMS Amethyst led six minesweepers in an attempt to clear the mines. Four of the trawlers used for minesweeping were hit and Amethyst was badly damaged with nineteen stokers killed from one hit.

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 05, 1915

HMS Ark Royal looses one of her aircraft when the propeller splinters at at 3000 feet. The crew manage to glide it down and ditch in the sea, where they are picked up by a destroyer.

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 15, 1915

Admiralty accepted a plan by Carden for another attack by daylight, with the minesweepers protected by the fleet, although the way that strain of command was affecting his health meant that he would not be in command of it.

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 18, 1915

The seaplanes from Ark Royal perform a sortie over the straits to look for mines

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 18, 1915

The British and French try to force the Dardanelles straits

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 23, 1915

Rear Admiral John de Robeck telegraphs the Admiralty saying that land forces were needed in order to clear the forts so that the mine sweepers can clear the channel for the battleships

Location: Gallipoli

Mar 26, 1915

The crew of HMS Ark Royal clear a vineyard on the island of Tenedos so that the area can be used as an airfield for No. 3 Squadron RNAS

Location: Gallipoli

Apr 12, 1915

HMS Lord Nelson bombards an Ottoman ammunition dump that had been discovered by aircraft from HMS Ark Royal. The aircraft then act as artillery spotters for the ship in order to observe where the shots are falling so the they can correct their aim. HMS Lord Nelson bombards ammunition dump

Location: Gallipoli

Apr 25, 1915

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Location: Gallipoli

Apr 27, 1915

HMS E14 slips through the Ottoman defences into the Sea of Marmara by diving beneath the minefields. He will be awarded the Victoria Cross for the operation in the Sea of Marmara.

Location: Sea of Marmara

May 1915

HMS Ben-my-Chree sails for the Dardanelles, carrying two Short Type 184 torpedo bombers

Location: Mediterranean

May 1915

HMS Ark Royal has to move to Imbros due to the danger from German submarines after U-21 sinks two British ships. Her aircraft continue to fly from there in order to support the Gallipoli campaign.

Location: Gallipoli

May 01, 1915

HMS E14 sinks the Ottoman gunboat Nurel Bahr

Location: Sea of Marmara

May 12, 1915

HMS Lord Nelson becomes the flagship of the British Dardanelles Squadron

Location: Mediterranean

Jun 10, 1915

HMS Ben-my-Chree arrives in Lesbos

Location: Mediterranean

Jun 20, 1915

HMS Lord Nelson bombards the docks and shipping around Gallipoli using a kite balloon for spotting where her shot had fallen

Location: Gallipoli

Jun 26, 1915

HMS M. No. 33 is completed

Location: Mediterranean

Aug 11, 1915

A seaplane from HMS Ben-my-Chree spots Turkish ship off the north coast of the Sea of Marmora

Location: Sea of Marmara

Aug 12, 1915

Flight Commander Charles Edmonds attacks the ship that was spotted the day before. He left his observer behind and flew with a reduced fuel load to lighten his aircraft enough to carry a 14-inch torpedo. He successfully dropped his torpedo, but it turned out that his target had been beached after having been torpedoed by the British submarine E14.

Location: Sea of Marmara

Aug 17, 1915

Flight Commander Charles Edmonds, accompanied by Flight Lieutenant George Dacre, go out on a patrol. Edmonds torpedoed a 5000 ton ship but Dacre suffered engine troubles and had to land in the Dardanelles. He was taxiing on the water when he encountered a large steam tugboat, which he promptly torpedoed. After taxiing for several miles he was able to get airborne again and was within gliding distance of Ben-my-Chree when his engine failed permanently.

Location: Sea of Marmara

Sep 01, 1915

The seizure of the Greek fleet at Salamis Bay

Location: Greece

Sep 02, 1915

HMS Ben-my-Chree helps to rescue Australian troops from HMT Southland after she had been torpedoed off Lemnos

HMS Ben-my-Chree rescues troops

Location: Mediterranean

Nov 1915

Lord Kitchener decides to use HMS Lord Nelson as his headquarters while on an inspection tour of Gallipoli and the Near East

Location: Gallipoli

Nov 01, 1915

HMS Ark Royal leaves Imbros heading for Mytilene. When she gets there her aircraft will fly aerial reconnaissance missions over Smyrna

Location: Gallipoli

Jan 01, 1916

Rear Admiral John de Robeck is knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his services during the Gallipoli campaign

Location: Britain

Jan 1916

Following the evacuation from Gallipoli, HMS Lord Nelson becomes the flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron. She will spend the rest of the war based at Salonika

Location: Gallipoli