The Dardanelles: Colour Sketches From GallipoliWilkinson, Norman
History
The Dardanelles: Colour Sketches From Gallipoli
Wilkinson, Norman
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- Pictorial works
I met Commander Nasmith one afternoon at Kephalo. He had just returned
from an aeroplane flight up the Narrows after an investigation of
the net defence placed across at that point to prevent submarines
from penetrating into the Sea of Marmora. He did not seem very much
impressed, and his judgment was justified next day when he took E11
through the defences and arrived in Marmora without mishap. The
train-like regularity with which our submarines have accomplished this
task is apt to make the venture appear commonplace to the newspaper
reader, who may imagine that there is some easy road which, when once
found, is plain-sailing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every
submarine that goes up does so with the full knowledge of the dangers
to be faced, and the occasional loss of one of them shows the perils
incurred.
In the early stages of the operations the net across the Narrows could
be negotiated by diving under it; but, on a subsequent occasion, a
submarine returning to the open sea found that the Turks had placed a
deeper net in position. This particular submarine fouled the net at a
depth of over one hundred feet, and was actually hung up by stout wire
for upwards of fifteen minutes. It is impossible to imagine anything
more likely to unnerve men than to be caught like herrings in a net
below the surface, and actually to hear, as they did, hydrostatic
bombs exploding around them. The Turks would know, of course, by the
agitation of the net above, that a submarine was caught; however, by
going astern and then ahead, and allowing her whole weight to come on
the net, the vessel broke through and returned in safety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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