_ had silenced
Cape Hellas, firing from a distance far beyond the range of the forts'
guns. And then, just before noon, and after the larger ship had
silenced the main battery at Cape Hellas, the ships _Vengeance_ and
_Cornwallis_ dashed in at shorter range and destroyed the minor
batteries there. The _Suffren_ and _Charlemagne_ also took part in
this phase of the engagement, and later, in the afternoon, the
_Triumph_ and _Albion_ concentrated fire on Sedd-el-Bahr, silencing
its last guns by five o'clock in the evening.

The larger ships needed the respite during the night of February 25,
1915, while trawlers, which had been brought down from the North Sea
for the purpose, began to sweep the entrance to the forts for mines,
and cleared enough of them out by the morning of the 26th to enable
the _Majestic_--which had by then joined the fleet--and the _Albion_
and _Vengeance_ to steam in between the flanking shores and fire at
the forts on the Asiatic side. It was known by the allied commanders
that they might expect return fire from Fort Dardanos, but this they
did not fear, for they knew that its heaviest gun measured but 5.9
inches. But they had a surprise when concealed batteries near by, the
presence of which had not been suspected, suddenly began to fire.
Believing now that the Turks were abandoning the forts at the
entrance, the allied ships covered the landing of parties of marines.

Long-range firing had by the end of February 26, 1915, enabled the
allied fleets to silence the outer forts and to clear their way to the
straits. They now had to take up the task of destroying the real
defenses of the Dardanelles--the forts at the Narrows, and this was a
harder task, for long-range firing was no longer possible. The guns of
the forts and those of the ships would be meeting on a more equal
basis.

But this was not to be essayed at once, for more rough weather kept
the fleets from using their guns effectively, their trawlers continued
to sweep the waters for mines near the Narrows. By March 3, 1915,
however, the commanders were ready to resume operations. The _Lord
Nelson_ and the _Ocean_ had by then also arrived on the scene, and in
the subsequent operations were hit a number of times by the Turkish
guns; and the _Canopus_, _Swiftsure_, _Prince George_, and _Sapphire_,
though they did not report being hit, were also known to have been
present.

The new "eyes" of the fleets located new and concealed batteries
pla