We are all greatly aware of the events that led to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, ANZAC, gaining fame from their involvement in a poorly planned British attack on the Dardanelles. The antipodean troops were landed on the mid-part of the peninsula but, as history records, navigation errors occurred and they were put onshore at the wrong location.
In an unusual way, we are two countries whose armies gained great distinction in a lost cause. Due to poor planning by Churchill and Kitchener and their staffs, combined with the logistical error and the impossible terrain, Allied forces could make no headway while, at the same time, the Turks were unable to force back the invaders. The two sides had around half a million troops each, with Allied losses running at over 50 per cent and the Turks’ 60 per cent.
All of this is well enough known; what is not so well known is that an Australian submarine also played a part in the campaign. England supplied two submarines, AE1 and AE2 to Australia at the start of World War 1. They were used to attack German positions in Papua-New Guinea and other local islands, AE1 lost off Rabaul with all hands. It has never been found. After the German threat in the islands was overcome, AE2 was transferred to the Mediterranean.
Planning was under way for troops to be landed on Gallipoli Peninsula, but only if a naval attack through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara failed to realise its objective, to blockade Constantinople and take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Strait was heavily fortified and extensively mined. The English fleet suffered serious losses on the 18th March, mainly to mines. As a young sailor recorded, “It wasn’t a bad day’s work for the Turks, although they too suffered with a lot of their forts blown up (by naval bombardment).”
Later, at the time of the troop landing, and despite great odds, AE2, under the command of an Irishman, Lieut. Henry Stoker managed to make her way underwater all the way into the Sea of Marmara, an incredible feat. The English and the French had both lost submarines to mines and strong tidal currents while attempting the same passage. The journey wasn’t without a certain amount of difficulty for the Australian crew. AE2 was forced to turn back on her first attempt for repairs to correct a fault with a forward hydroplane after only travelling six miles. A second attempt was made in the early hours of the following morning, but by 4:30 am she had to submerge and make her way through a minefield underwater, scraping past the mines’ mooring cables.
At 06:00, even while evading an attack by an enemy destroyer, AE2 torpedoed and sank a Turkish gunboat. She then ran aground close by one of the Turkish forts, but the guns were unable to lower enough to fire on her. She managed to free herself before continuing at periscope depth. One amazing success – and the Turks later confirmed it – was when a Turkish battleship sighted her periscope, withdrawing and ending its bombardment of Allied troops. By 08:30, Stoker rested his craft on the bottom of the Strait. He resurfaced when dark enough, around 21:00, and recharged the ship’s batteries, radioing back to fleet HQ with details of their so-far successful journey.
By now, Stoker attempted to follow his orders “to run amok” but, with no enemy ships around, he continued into the Sea of Marmara.
For five days, AE2 and her gallant crew made a number of appearance through the Sea, launching several attacks. None of these were successful due to equipment failures, but it didn’t stop messages being transmitted to troops on Gallipoli, telling of the little submarine’s successes and helping their morale.
On 29 April, AE2 was to meet up with an English submarine that had followed her in and to replenish supplies and make repairs. Somehow, something went awry, and her stern rose high above the water. She was sighted by a Turkish boat that immediately opened fire, piercing her pressure hull in at least three places. Stoker had no choice but to evacuate, scuttling the AE2 at 10:45 hours. The entire crew survived the attack and were captured alive, although four of their number died while in captivity.
What that brave little ship and crew managed was to show others it was possible to create problems for the Ottomans in this way. Within months, disruption to Turkish shipping meant they could no longer supply their men on the Gallipoli Peninsula by sea, so they were forced to turn to unprepared land routes, thus creating delays in supply.
The Australian submarine AE2 may not be as well known as the troop landing and the desperate situation in which they found themselves. She may not have lost any of her complement to enemy action, but her deeds were a worthy part of the war effort and, through the supply delays caused, mat well have saved a great number of the men of Anzac.
Lest we forget.
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