This was the position at home, then, when, at a gathering of the War Council, held on November 25th, it was suggested by Mr. Churchill that the best way to defend Egypt was to attack some part of Turkey's Asiatic coast, and that an occupation of the Gallipoli Peninsula would give us the control of the Dardanelles and put Constantinople at our mercy--the idea in Mr. Churchill's mind being evidently that of a combined naval and military movement on a big scale. That some such attack on the Turkish lines of communication might eventually become desirable Lord Kitchener agreed. He did not consider, however, that the time had arrived for it; and when, a few days later, Mr. Churchill suggested to the War Office the advisability of collecting enough transport for 40,000 men--such transport to be assembled in Egypt--Lord Kitchener again replied that he did not think this was yet necessary, and that he would give the Admiralty full notice. The precaution was taken, however, in spite of this, to send horse-boats to Egypt whenever convenient, in view of the possible {107} occasion of some such expedition as had already now become adumbrated. Meanwhile the navy was playing its part in various operations already necessitated by the war with Turkey. Thus, on November 2nd, the _Minerva_, a sixteen-year-old protected cruiser, had shelled the forts and barracks of Akaba in the Red Sea; and, on November 8th, the town of Fao, at the head of the Persian Gulf, had been bombarded to cover the landing of troops from India, whence they captured Basra on November 21st. Simultaneously, of course, between Russia and Turkey, the struggle for the mastery of the Black Sea had been progressing. On November 10th, the Russians had sunk four Turkish transports; and, on November 18th, the _Goeben_, had been materially damaged in an engagement off Sebastopol. Two days later, the Turkish _Hamidieh_ had bombarded Tuapse. On December 10th, the _Goeben_ having been repaired, with the _Berk-i-Satvet_, shelled Batum; and, on December 12th, the _Hamidieh_ was damaged by a mine in the Bosphorus. The first notable Turkish loss, however, was in the torpedoing of the battleship _Messudiyeh_ in the Dardanelles, on December 13th, by the British submarine _B11_, under circumstances that will be referred to later. On December 17th, the Russian cruiser _Askold_ sank a couple of Turkish steamers off Beyrout, and, on December 26th, the _Goeben_ was again damaged, this time, like the _Hamidieh_, by a mine in the Bosphorus. Later, having been once more repaired, she was again to figure in desultory raiding actions on Black Sea ports; but, by the end of the year, it may be said that {108} the Russian Navy was practically in unchallenged command of the Black Sea.