1915 opened with the prospect of a new front in the Dardanelles after the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Allies in late 1914. At the same time the first known aircraft flew over Malta for the first time. After a number of Allied warships were lost in the Dardanelles, it was decided to knock Turkey out of the war by landing troops at Gallipoli, where the Anzacs became famous for their heroism.
It was at this time that Malta was nicknamed the Nurse of the Mediterranean. Maltese units and individuals served on many fronts, including Gallipoli and the Western Front. In Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary were fighting on two fronts, later another front was opened when Italy joined the Allies. New technologies were being invented, such as the airships, aircraft and the horrendous poison gas.
By the start of 1915, all the early optimism had evaporated under a mounting casualty list and frustration growing with the lack of success on the battlefields. It was evident that there would be no quick or easy way of defeating the Germans on the Western Front. On October 29, 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, that is, Germany and Austria-Hungary, when Sultan Mehmed V declared war against the Triple Entente, that are Britain, France and Russia.
The German Admiral Wilhelm Souchon who was made commander-in-chief of the Turkish navy was ordered to take the Turkish fleet out. The fleet included the ex-German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau, renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midili respectively into the Black Sea to attack the Russians.
The fleet carried out surprise raids on Theodosia, Novorossisk, Odessa and Sevastopol, sinking a Russian minelayer, a gunboat and 14 civilian ships. Russia answered by declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on November 2, 1914, followed by France and Britain on November 5. On November 25, 1914, the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill suggested his plan for a new war front in the Dardanelles, in the Ottoman Empire to the British government’s War Council.
In the meantime, British and French warships started gathering off the Dardanelles. On November 3, 1914, British ships bombarded the fort at Seddülbahir. The bombardment caused the magazine at the fort to explode. Attached to the fleet, was a force of British and French submarines among which were HMS B9, HMS B10 and HMS B11. The ‘B’ class submarines were of a fairly simple design.
On December 13, 1914, HMS B-11, under the command of Lieutenant Norman Holbrooke, sailed up the Straits and through the minefields at Sari Siglar Bay below Çannakale. HMS B11 was the first British submarine to penetrate the Straits. She succeeded to sink the old Turkish battleship Messudieh at anchor. After his successful mission, Holbrooke was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first for service in a submarine. The Messudieh was used as a coastal frigate and its loss was of no great military importance.
However, her sinking did do a great deal to reduce the morale of the Turks. In mid-January 1915, the French submarine Saphir was the next submarine to work her way through the 10 mine barriers that stretched across the narrows, where she ran aground at Nagara Point after coming under fire from shore batteries, and was scuttled by her crew, with 14 killed and 13 taken prisoners of war (POWS).
Meanwhile, on January 2, 1915, in response also to an appeal by Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, commanding the Russian armies at the Caucasus front fighting the Ottomans, the British government agreed to stage a demonstration against Turkey to relieve pressure on them. It was only on January 15, 1915, that the War Council gave its agreement and British troops in Egypt were put on alert. The Central Powers were fighting primarily on two fronts; the Western and Eastern Fronts. Fighting against armies such as the Russian and French put a great deal of strain on the German military.
The first recorded flight over Malta was made by a Short Folder Type 135, number 136, aircraft. It was one of six two-seat single-engine fold-wing type floatplanes on board HMS Ark Royal
The contribution of the smaller Austro-Hungarian army into the major battles had been small when compared to the German army’s contribution. Churchill’s idea was to create another front that would force the Germans to split their army still further as they would need to support the Turkish army. When the Germans will go to assist the Turks, they would leave the Western and Eastern Fronts weak which will lead to greater mobility there as the Allies would have a weakened army to fight against.
Churchill believed that the Turkish forts in the Dardanelles were even more exposed and open to British naval gunfire. However, Churchill was so eager that the War Council approved his plan and targeted February as the month when the campaign should start. On January 28, 1915, the War Council committee decided on an attempt to force the Dardanelles by naval action alone, using mostly obsolete warships too old for fleet action.
It was during this period that the first known flight by an aircraft in the Maltese skies occured. Both Carmel Attard in his article The First Known Flight in Malta, Richard J. Caruana’s book L-Istorja tal-Avjazzjoni f’Malta and Alfred Coldman’s book Malta: An Aviation History described this important event in the history of aviation in Malta.
On February 1, 1915, HMS Ark Royal left the UK bound for the Mediterranean. On board the seaplane carrier there was a full complement of 10 aircraft, six of which were two-seat single-engine fold-wing type floatplanes. It was one of these aircraft, the Short Folder Type 135, number 136, that made history in Malta. HMS Ark Royal arrived in Grand Harbour during the next day. On February 12, 1915, three seaplanes were hoisted onto the flying deck and at 5pm the seaplanes were placed back in the hold. The appearance of these three seaplanes is the first known sight of aircraft in Malta. The three seaplanes were those with serials 808, 136 and 172.
The next day HMS Ark Royal took on board nine tons of coal, an operation that started at 9am and ended at about 1pm. Attard says that at 4pm Short Folder Type 135, serial number 136, was lifted onto the flying deck. This first known flight by an aircraft in the Maltese skies lasted 35 minutes. Captain C.F. Kilner returned at 5.25pm by landing in Grand Harbour and then proceeded towards HMS Ark Royal which was berthed at Bighi Bay.
On February 14, 1914, three seaplanes, namely 136, 172 and 808, were lifted onto the flying deck. Attard adds that the third seaplane made what is so far considered to be the second known flight. The aircraft, a Sopwith Admiralty 897 Type Folder Tractor biplane seaplane, piloted by Lieutenant W.H.S. Garnett with pilot officer Marchand as passenger, left HMS Ark Royal at 8.45am. Ten minutes later the aircraft landed in Grand Harbour. Afterwards, HMS Ark Royal sailed out of Bighi Bay and left Malta heading to the Dardanelles.
Meanwhile, in February 1915, Rear-Admiral Sir John de Robeck became second in command, under Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden, of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, consisting of a considerable number of combined British and French battleships, which comprised of the new battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, three battle-cruisers, 16 pre-dreadnought (including four French vessels), four cruisers, 18 destroyers, six submarines, 21 trawlers, and the seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal, with his flag in the battleship HMS Vengeance.
On February 19, 1915, the first Allied naval attack on the Dardanelles began. Eighteen warships entered the straits, led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Lord Nelson, HMS Agamemnon and HMS Inflexible, followed by French ships, including the Gaulois, Bouvet and Suffren, with further British ships including HMS Ocean and HMS Irresistible in the rear. HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Lord Nelson, HMS Agamemnon and HMS Inflexible formed line A of the attacking fleet; Gaulois, Bouvet and Suffren line B; HMS Ocean and HMS Inflexible formed the rear of line B; on the north flank were HMS Prince George and HMS Majestic and on the south flank HMS Triumph and HMS Swiftsure.
Pounding the outer fortresses the British and French attack proved ineffective in the face of an efficient Turkish defensive system and poor Allied gunnery, although greater damage was inflicted, more than the bombarding naval forces realised. A renewed bombardment the following week on February 25, was similarly unsuccessful. While the outer forts were themselves seized the Allied force could not effective silence the Turkish mobile batteries that poured shellfire from the heights.
Having paused to consolidate following the clear failure of February’s attempts to batter the Turkish protective fortresses, a further naval effort was briefly launched on March 18 in an attempt to force through the narrows. Immediately before the attack’s launch, however, Carden collapsed from nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by De Robeck, with his flag in the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth. The renewed attack proved a heavy failure, chiefly on account of the presence of an unsuspected Turkish minefield, and mine sweeping trawlers had proved ineffective at clearing them.
The naval battle of March 18, 1915, resulted in the loss of nearly 700 men, three battleships sunk which were HMS Irresistible, HMS Ocean and Bouvet and three crippled which were HMS Inflexible, Gaulois and Suffren. The Allied fleet had merely succeeded in forcing the Turks to fire away almost all of their heavy ammunition. De Robeck, seeing no sense in losing more ships, then abandoned the whole naval operation.
After the failure of these attacks, in late March 1915, three Royal Navy submarines, HMS E11, HMS E14, and HMS E15, were sent out from Britain to join the naval force assembling in the Eastern Mediterranean to support the Gallipoli landings. Apart from these three, from Australia arrived another E-class boat HMAS AE-2, manned by British officers and with a mixed Australian and British crew. From these units, HMS E11 and HMAS AE-2 were deviated briefly in Malta for repairs.
The next British attempt to penetrate the Dardanelles was just before the start of the Gallipoli landings, when April 17, 1915, HMS E15, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Theodore Brodie, became the first British submarine to attempt a passage of the Dardanelles. However, HMS E15 got caught in a current and ran aground near Kephez Point on the Asian shore under the guns of a Turkish Fort Dardanus. Brodie was killed in the coning tower and six others died inside the submarine. The rest of the crew became POWS.
As HMS E15 was one of the latest British submarines, the Royal Navy tried in many ways to stop it remaining intact in enemy hands. Finally, she was hit and wrecked by a torpedo launched from two picket boats launched from the British battleships HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic.
This failure led to the Gallipoli campaign.
(To be continued)
Charles Debono is curator at the National War Museum.