me had now arrived for an attack
in force upon the forts at the Narrows, the real defenses of the
straits. Accordingly, on March 6, 1915, the _Albion_, _Prince George_,
the _Vengeance_, the _Majestic_ and the _Suffern_ steamed well up the
straits and opened a direct fire on the big forts. It was not upon the
work of these ships, however, that great hopes rested. A new
experiment was being tried from the Gulf of Saros on the other side of
the Peninsula of Gallipoli, at the same time. With their long range
guns the _Queen Elizabeth_, the _Agamemnon_, and the _Ocean_ stood
well out and, by indirect fire, threw shell after shell over the
heights of the peninsula into the land works. All the while circling
aeroplanes, under the constant fire of the Turkish antiaircraft guns,
watched and corrected the firing, while a captive balloon, sent up
from the _Agamemnon_, did additional and valuable service in this
respect.

It was found that, because of the angle of fire of the big naval guns,
it was not possible to score any hits from the Gulf of Saros on the
Turkish forts on the European side of the straits and the attempt was
soon abandoned. Modern big gun ammunition was too expensive to be
lightly thrown away. Furthermore, the life of one of the big guns of
these battleships is strictly limited, especially if full charges are
being used. Ultimately, the three battleships in the Gulf shifted
their fire to the forts near Chanak, on the Asiatic side, where the
works were on low ground, almost at sea level.

It was confidently hoped that, by means of this indirect fire, it
would be possible to put the 14-inch guns of these forts out of
action, without giving them a chance to reply. The idea of trying to
force a way past these great guns, exposing the relatively frail sides
of precious battleships to their direct fire, was not relished by the
allied command.

But if the Turks could not reply to the fire of the three battleships
in the Gulf of Saros with their 14-inch guns, they could and did do
effective work with smaller guns concealed on the heights of the
peninsula overlooking the gulf, and the _Queen Elizabeth_ was hit
three times.

On the following day, March 7, the attack was renewed. The four French
battleships, the _Charlemagne_, _Gaulois_, the _Bouvet_ and the
_Suffern_ took the post of greatest danger inside the straits and
finally again silenced the Dardanos fort. The _Agamemnon_ and the
_Lord Nelson_, behind them, ma