British submarine E.2, a submarine of the E class. The submarine had two voyages in the Sea of Marmora during the Gallipoli campaign, the first from August 12 to September 14, 1915, the second from December 9, 1915 to January 3, 1916.
Britain's BulwarksA submarine of 'E' classReverse:A submarine of 'E' classGreat Britain has seventy-five submarines (more, possibly). There are eight 'F.s'; one 'S.' Fiat S.G. type; eleven 'E.s'; seven 'D.s'; one other 'D'; eight 'C.s'; twelve other 'C.s'; one other 'D'; seven other 'C.s', ten other 'C.s'; ten 'B.s'; and eight 'A.s.' These craft date from 1904 to 1913. The 'F' class have a maximum surface speed of 20 knots and a submerged speed of 12 knots. The importance of the submarine in modern naval warfare is, of course, obvious.Valentine's Series
"At 6 a.m. the next morning she set course for the Dardanelles, charging her batteries as she went. She dived at 8.45 a.m., and by 10 a.m. was passing the town of Gallipoli. At 1.30 p.m., when off Ak Bashi Liman, E2 dived to 80 feet and found that the nets had apparently been removed; then she hit bottom at 70 feet off Maidos. Stocks turned E2 to a heading of 165 degrees and went ahead but hit bottom again, running up to a dangerous depth of 20 feet, fortunately without being sighted. Taking bearings, Stocks fixed his position, turned E2 to a heading of 125 degrees, and moved out of the straits, passing Chanak at 3.25 p.m. and surfacing at Cape Helles at 6.05 p.m. E2 had travelled a distance of 1,480 miles, sunk nineteen dhows and one steamer, and caused damage to another steamer and a railway station; but, perhaps even more importantly, there were now no Allied submarines in the Sea of Marmara for the first time in ten months."
The Allied Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns had failed. The invaders had evacuated positions at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove in December, and were in the process of abandoning Cape Helles, their last position on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The French and Royal Navies had failed to force the Dardanelles in February and March, 1915. During the long invasion the fleet had served as transport, supply, and hospital ships and as offshore batteries. Throughout the campaign, French and British submarines had passed through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmora, reaching as far as Constantinople, the goal of the campaign.
Gallipoli — Attack from the Sea by Victor Rudenno, page 255, copyright © 2008 Victor Rudenno, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2008
1916-01-03, 1916, January, E2, submarine, Sea of Marmara, Sea of Marmora, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, E.2
