esent to the
general naval affairs. The naval operations began with the
concentration in the adjacent waters of a powerful fleet consisting of
both French and British ships.

The ships engaged were the _Queen Elizabeth_, with her main battery of
15-inch guns, the _Inflexible_, veteran of the fight off the Falkland
Islands, the _Agamemnon_, _Cornwallis_, _Triumph_, and _Vengeance_. In
addition to these British ships there were the French battleships
_Suffren_, _Gaulois_, and _Bouvet_, and a fleet of destroyers. The
senior British officer was Vice Admiral Sackville Carden, and the
French commander was Admiral Guepratte. A new "mother ship" for a
squadron of seaplanes was also part of the naval force; this was the
ship _Ark Royal_. At eight in the morning on February 19, 1915, this
powerful fleet started "The Great Attempt."

After bombarding the Turkish forts till three in the afternoon without
receiving a single reply from the guns of the forts, the warships
ceased firing and went in closer to the shore, the allied commanders
believing that the forts had not replied because they all had been put
out of action. The fallacy of this belief was discovered when, at the
shortened range, shells began to fall about the ships. None was hit;
when dusk came on they retired.

Stormy weather prevented further action on the part of the warships
for almost a week, but on February 25, 1915, they resumed their
bombardment. The _Irresistible_ and _Albion_ had by then joined the
other British ships, and the _Charlemagne_ had augmented the French
force.

At ten o'clock in the morning of February 25, 1915, the _Queen
Elizabeth_, _Gaulois_, _Irresistible_, and _Agamemnon_ began to fire
on the forts Sedd-el-Bahr, Orkanieh, Kum Kale, and Cape Hellas--the
outer forts--at long range, and drew replies from the Turkish guns. It
was out of all compliance with naval tradition for warships to stand
and engage land fortifications, for lessons learned by naval
authorities from the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese wars had
established precedents which prohibited it. But here the larger
warships were carrying heavier guns than those in the forts. Whereas
the _Queen Elizabeth_ carried 15-inch guns, the largest of the Turkish
guns measured only 10.2 inches.

At 11.30 o'clock in the morning of February 25, 1915, the _Agamemnon_
was hit with a shell which had traveled six miles, but it did not
damage her beyond repair. Meanwhile the _Queen Elizabeth