th British shipping right at England's door. A
fleet of two battleships and several cruisers drew up off Westende
and bombarded the German trenches on the 4th of February, 1915.

Only one day after the war-zone proclamation went into effect the
Allies brought out their trump card for the spring of 1915.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI

ATTACK ON THE DARDANELLES

By the middle of February, 1915, the Allies completed the arrangement
for the naval attack on the Dardanelles. The military part of the
campaign in these regions is treated in the chapter on the "Campaign
in the Dardanelles"; hence we must confine ourselves at present
to the general naval affairs. The naval operations began with the
concentration in the adjacent waters of a powerful fleet consisting
of both French and British ships.

The ships engaged were the _Queen Elizabeth_, with her main battery of
15-inch guns, the _Inflexible_, veteran of the fight off the Falkland
Islands, the _Agamemnon, Cornwallis, Triumph_, and _Vengeance_. In
addition to these British ships there were the French battleships
_Suffren, Gaulois_, and _Bouvet_, and a fleet of destroyers. The
senior British officer was Vice Admiral Sackville Carden, and the
French commander was Admiral Guepratte. A new "mother ship" for
a squadron of seaplanes was also part of the naval force; this
was the ship _Ark Royal_. At eight in the morning on February 19,
1915, this powerful fleet started "The Great Attempt."

After bombarding the Turkish forts till three in the afternoon
without receiving a single reply from the guns of the forts, the
warships ceased firing and went in closer to the shore, the allied
commanders believing that the forts had not replied because they
all had been put out of action. The fallacy of this belief was
discovered when, at the shortened range, shells began to fall about
the ships. None was hit; when dusk came on they retired.

Stormy weather prevented further action on the part of the warships
for almost a week, but on February 25, 1915, they resumed their
bombardment. The _Irresistible_ and _Albion_ had by then joined
the other British ships, and the _Charlemagne_ had augmented the
French force.

At ten o'clock in the morning of February 25, 1915, the _Queen
Elizabeth, Gaulois, Irresistible_, and _Agamemnon_ began to fire
on the forts Sedd-el-Bahr, Orkanieh, Kum Kale, and Cape Hellas--the
outer forts--at long range, and drew replies fro