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The Graveyards of Gallipoli; A Digger History Associate Site |
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A Tribute to the Men of all the Nations that took part in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 |
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The Turkish minelayer "Nusret" (also Nusrat) at Canakkale |
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No BA-3. Photos Tim Kantar |
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The Turkish minelayer "Nusrat" at Canakkale. Without the mines in the Dardanelles there would have been no landings at Gallipoli. It was originally planned as a naval operation but the mines sank several Royal Navy ships so the plans were changed and a land operation was quickly (and badly) planned. The Nusret is a replica of the 1915 Turkish minelayer of that name at the Çanakkale Strait Commandery Military Museum.
On the night of 8 March 1915, the commander of the Nusret, Captain Hakki Bey, who only days previously had suffered a heart attack, took his ship out to Erenköy Bay, south of Kepez Point: Not only did Hakki Bey lay his ‘pots’ (a later Turkish report stated that 26, not 20, mines were actually laid by the Nusret) but he laid them, not across the straits, but parallel to the shore. When, during the great naval attack of 18 March 1915, the warships tried to turn in Erenköy Bay before heading back out to sea, at least three of them hit these up to now unknown mines. Two ships – the Bouvet and the Irresistible – sank in the bay. The third ship, the Inflexible, was badly damaged and struggled out of the straits. A fourth warship, the Ocean, may also have hit one of these mines as it also sank in the bay. Not surprisingly, Hakki Bey and his crew were greatly honoured. Historian John North
concluded that the British ‘oversight’, which led to the Nusret’s
mines remaining undiscovered, ‘changed the course of history’ as
after 18 March the naval efforts to pass the Dardanelles were abandoned
and an army landing on Gallipoli planned instead. |
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Another Report on Nusret |
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of the most effective methods of ensuring the safety of the straits
against enemy fleets was by laying down sea mines. However, even
mines could be destroyed as the mine sweepers would gather
up the mines and destroy them. At this
time, Turkish movable ground guns were sinking all
the small vessels which came within
close range, but as the British
had set their minds on crossing the
straits, they were consistently sweeping the mines.
They had carried out a sweeping operation prior to the 18th March. However, the night before, a small, brave mine layer named Nusrat, captained by Lieutenant Hafız Hakkı Bey, had entered the strait and had laid her last 26 mines fifteen seconds apart, parallel to the shore. The other mines were lying across the strait. In order to carry out this highly dangerous operation, Nusrat had almost literally held her breath by decreasing the steam and reducing the circuit of the machinery. On the eighteenth of March, under the impression that they had swept the seas clear of mines, the proud Allied Fleet entered the strait. They anchored in front of the Turkish fortresses and opened fire for hours. The Turkish fortresses retaliated with opening fire on ships, at the moments, finally Bouvet hit a mine and sank almost instantly. This incident became the turning point of the battle. After Bouvet, the new battle cruiser HMS Inflexible hit another mine and retreated from the battle, closely followed by the Irresistible. The armored cruiser HMS Ocean, who came to the aid of the Irresistible also hit a mine and sank too. The job which had been started by the Turkish Ground gun batteries had been finished by the small mine layer Nusrat. De Robeck gave
the order to retreat. This was the most sensible
command ever to have been given, because of the heavy ship losses. Rumors
has it that the British mine sweeping
team who gave the report declaring the area free
of mines were immediately handed
over the supreme court and sentenced to
execution. Apparently later on it was realised that at the
time of writing
This obstacle which ceased the battle, created many psychological problems amongst the British who had most successfully started the Çanakkale Operation. Turkey owes its thanks entirely to these mines, which lengthened the war considerably. It is because of this, that the European victors were shaken just as those who were defeated. The bones of the 6 million people who lay buried on French, Polish, Galician, Balkan, Syrian, Palestine and Northern Italian battle fields were not defeated by the enemy fire at all. They were destroyed entirely by 26 iron balls (the mines of Nusrat) which lay anchored to wire ropes under the surface of the strait of Canakkale.." The 1952 - 1953 issue of Jane' s Fighting Ships, the well known and prestigious publication, gives information on Nusrat mine-ship with the following description: "This is the ship that laid the mines to strike Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet in March 1915." |
