Why Did The Dardanelles Seek To Support Operation (Ae2)

World War 1, the Great War, the war to end all wars, started in 1914 with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia. There were two major armies involved in this war; the Allied force and the Triple Entente. The Allied force had a large navy including many submarines, one very important one in particular, the AE2. The AE2 is an Australian submarine which was the first vessel part of the Allied force to penetrate the Dardanelles strait and gain access to the sea of Marmora which was a critical point in crippling the Turkish Empire and expelling them from the war, after the AE2 gain access to the sea of Marmora it was unfortunately lost. Although the AE2 was lost it never the less achieved some success which has not been acknowledged to the extent it should’ve been. The AE2 was ordered to open up the Dardanelles for the Allied Forces, despite achieving some success the AE2 was lost due to Turkish, and the AE2 contributed more to the Gallipoli campaign than is recognized.
The AE2 was ordered open up the Dardanelles for the Allied Forces, destroy a vessel dropping mines and disrupt the Turkish as much as they could.
The AE2’s primary mission was to open up the Dardanelles strait by finding a pathway through it which they did without facing any onboard casualties or taking any major damage to the vessel. ‘As we came off the ground we turned making for the entrance for Gallipoli and Sea of Marmara’ (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916). The AE2’s second mission was to end a mine laying vessel in the Dardanelles which was destroying many of the Allied Forces navy, they did accomplish this by firing a torpedo right which hit its mark. “The captain immediately fired the torpedo at her as she was apparently dropping mines for us to run into.” (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916). The AE2 submarine got through the Dardanelles strait and opened up a passage way for other submarines and boats to get through to the Sea of
Marmara.
Despite achieving some success the AE2 was unfortunately lost due to Turkish. The AE2 went down in one of the most heroic ways possible, men aboard the AE2 were going to meet up with the E14 submarine but when they neared the E14 they realized that the E14 was being chased by 3 vessels, so the AE2 jumped straight in to try aid their comrade by drawing the three vessels away from the E14. ‘Proceeded to meet E14 and then we were going to Constantinople to see if there was anything doing. E14 was sighted on the horizon coming from Gallipoli as she had been communicating with the fleet the night before, on nearing E14 we saw she was being chased by TBP and two gunboats. E14 dived and we continued to draw the enemy’ (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916). The AE2 was lost when they drawing the enemy, but as they were doing this the men aboard the AE2 were struggling to handle their submarine which cause them to expose themselves a couple of times. In one of these times they were fired upon and a hole went into the AE2, and hit their after end of the engine, this was a bad hit and cause the crew to surrender. ‘Under we went and found that we were holed in the after end of the engine room’ (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916). If the AE2 wasn’t there the E14 (an allied E-class submarine) would have had to take on three ships by themselves ‘E14 was sighted on the horizon coming from Gallipoli as she had been communicating with the fleet the night before, on nearing E14 we saw she was being chased by TBP and two gunboats…. we continued to draw the enemy’ (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916), so the AE2 actually helped the E14, but fell in that battle due to technical difficulties not because of being too weak.
The AE2 contributed more to the Gallipoli campaign than people recognize, people think of the Gallipoli campaign to be when Australian and English soldiers attacked anzac cove but the Gallipoli campaign was more than a loss of many infantry but rather a campaign with ups and downs. One of these ups is the AE2 and their mission to punch through the Dardanelles strait and sink a minelaying ship in the strait, which was probably the biggest success in the campaign but is not recognized as such, ‘Stoker was to sink any mine-laying ships he saw in the Narrows and, as the landings were due at dawn the next day, to ‘generally run amok’ around Çannakale and cause maximum disruption to the Turks.’ (Anzac site, 2010) Which they did. Even though the mission was a success people tend to think of it as a good start, but bad ending as the AE2 sunk. The sinking of the AE2 did take its blow but there were no casualties aboard which is in my mind a great success, to break through a narrowed strait with fortresses mounted on each side firing at will, as well as the mines placed in the water which were dodged with a sufficient accuracy, ‘Capt. ordered all hands on deck and when we gained the bridge’ (Knaggs, 1914 - 1916). The AE2 completed their mission with the utmost success but is not recognized as such.
The AE2 was ordered to open up the Dardanelles for the Allied Forces which they did, despite achieving some success the AE2 was lost due to Turkish in an honorable way, and the AE2 contributed more to the Gallipoli campaign than is recognized. Although the AE2 was lost it never the less achieved some success which has not been acknowledged to the extent it should’ve been.