ced in position by the Turks, and at two o'clock in the afternoon
of February 3, 1915, they ascended to direct the fire of the ships'
guns by signal. The bombardment was kept up till darkness fell, but it
was resumed on the next day.

On March 4, 1915, the _Queen Elizabeth_, so great was the range of her
guns, was able to reach the forts Hamadieh I, Tabia, and Hamadieh II,
firing across the Gallipoli Peninsula. Three times she was hit by
shells from field pieces lying between her and her target, but no
great damage was done to her. While her guns roared out, the
_Suffren_, _Albion_, _Prince George_, _Vengeance_, and _Majestic_ went
inside the straits and had attacked the forts at Soundere, Mount
Dardanos, and Rumili Medjidieh Tabia, and were fired upon by Turkish
guns from the forts and from concealed batteries which struck these
ships, but not a man was killed or a ship put out of action.

March 7, 1915, the _Agamemnon_ and _Lord Nelson_ attacked the forts at
the Narrows, their bombardment being covered by the four French
battleships. All of the ships were struck, but again none of them was
put out of action. After heavy shelling forts Rumili Medjidieh Tabia
and Hamadieh I were silenced.

While these operations were going on, another British fleet,
consisting of battleships and cruisers, on March 5, 1915, began an
attack on Smyrna. For two hours, and in fine, clear weather, Fort Yeni
Kale was damaged after being subjected to heavy bombardment, but it
was not silenced when dusk interrupted the attack.

Little was accomplished for some days afterward. Some of the forts
which had been reported silenced were getting ready to resume firing;
their silence had been due to the fact that the defenders often had to
leave their guns while the gases generated by the firing cleared off,
and they had also thought it wiser to conserve ammunition rather than
fire ineffective shots. Sedd-el-Bahr and Kum Kale were able to resume
firing in a few days, for though the shells of the allied fleets had
damaged the structural parts of these defenses, they had not landed
troops out to occupy them, with the result that the Turks were
enabled to intrench near the ruins and there reset their guns.

On the morning of March 15, 1915, the small British cruiser _Amethyst_
made a dash into the Narrows, which when reported led the British and
French public to believe that the defense had been forced, but, as a
matter of fact, this exploit was a bit