Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"At dawn on 29 April [1915], AE2, while submerged, observed a gunboat patrolling off Eski Farnan Burnu at the head of the straits. In an aggressive approach, Stoker dived under the gunboat, travelled down the straits and then returned back up, this time showing his periscope. In doing this, he hoped to give the impression that another submarine had succeeded in coming through the Narrows, unaware that E14 had already done so. Destroyers and torpedo boats came out to assist the gunboat in the pursuit of AE2. Stoker then doubled back to scrutinize the anchorage at Gallipoli, but found nothing worth attacking. He moved back out towards the Sea of Marmara, then half an hour later rose to periscope depth and observed the gunboat crossing his stern tube's line of fire. As the submarine was low on battery power, he decided to fire at the gunboat in an effort to bring the pursuit to an end, and at a range of 700 yards fired his stern torpedo. The gunboat altered course and, as Stoker was to learn later, the torpedo missed its bow by no more than a yard, while the gunboat gave up its pursuit."
Under the command of Lieutenant Commander H.D.G. Stoker, the Australian submarine AE2, a British submarine of the E class, completed passing through the Dardanelles and entered the Sea of Marmora on April 26, 1915. The British submarine E14 followed shortly after, and the two met at a prearranged location on the 29th. Due to mechanical problems, the unusual conditions of the Sea and the Dardanelles — a dense layer of salt water flows east beneath a layer of fresh water flowing west from the Black Sea — or for some other reason, Stoker lost control of his ship during an engagement with the Turkish torpedo boat Sultan Hissar. With AE2 hit in three places, Stoker scuttled the submarine after his crew had evacuated.
Gallipoli — Attack from the Sea by Victor Rudenno, pp. 93, 94, copyright © 2008 Victor Rudenno, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2008
1915-04-29, April, 1915, AE2, E-Class submarine, E-class
