Until late October 1914, the nature of the seaward defences of the Dardanelles was known to the allies but after war broke out, information on improvements to the Turkish fortifications became harder to obtain. The narrowest section of the strait is from Chanak to Kilid Bahr – where the water is just 1,600 yards (less than a mile) from shore to shore. The straits turn north-east for the final 23 miles to the Sea of Marmara. The Ottomans used the term 'fortress' to describe the sea defences of the Dardanelles. The widest point of the strait is around 4.5 miles in width.Ībove: A Satellite image of the Gallipoli peninsula. The distance from the mouth at Cape Helles to the Sea of Marmara is just over 40 miles – and the straits are overlooked by the Gallipoli peninsula and the lower slopes on the Asiatic side of the straits. The mouth of the Dardanelles strait is 2.3 miles wide with a strong current flowing from the Black Sea into the Aegean Sea.

The ability of the Royal Navy to attack Turkish shipping in the Black Sea was severely restricted by the Dardanelles which acted as an easily defended bottleneck. However, during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, British and Australian submarines had an important role. The British and Empire nations’ use of submarines is largely a forgotten subject. When we think about submarine warfare in the First World War, most people’s thoughts turn to the German use of unrestricted submarine warfare, this being was one of the factors that ultimately brought about the entry of the USA into the war in 1917. Forever Friends: Laurie Denison and Clifford Thompson.FILM REVIEW : All Quiet on the Western Front.Tolkien’s “bitter winnowing” and the War Memorial at St.Addison Barnes Perrott Hadden MC - South Irish Horse in the First World War.Sussex Women at War: Iva Mary Harland and Fanny Amelia Kennaird.A bloody war or a sickly season: The East Yorkshire Regiment’s Regular Officers of August 1914 and the Great War.Hobkirk DSO as GOC 14 Australian Brigade, July 1916 Through a Glass Darkly: The Appointment of T/Lieutenant-Colonel C.J.'The Grave by the Roadside' : Remembering 2/Lt.A Cockney Soldier and the Great War: Corporal William Charles Blumsom MM.The Advance of 9th Battalion Cheshire Regiment (part of 19th Division) in the Battle of Messines 7 June 1917 by Peter Crook In praise of a Colonel and a Lance Corporal.Budding Bairnsfather, Blighty Magazine and Cheery Tommy Atkins by Robert St.John Smith.Finding Captain Brooke: The oldest Regimental Medical Officer to be killed in the war.

World of warships submarine captain