The realisation of their  first  goal commenced on 19 th February, 1915. Twelwe warships
(most of them were  pre-dreadnoughts)  including  the brand  new battleship HMS Queen
Elizabeth  were  given  this  duty.. The  twelwe warships  started  their bombardment with
their 11, 12, 14 and  15  inch guns  at  09.15 AM.  At 14.00, the ships came closer to the
shore.
The  fortifications  were  silent  and  appeared  to  be  completely destroyed but when the
ships approached, the  battalions  opened  fire  on  British  and  French  warships. At the
moment, there was a great  confusion, and  Admiral Carden ordered the ships to retreat.
The Turkish side lost  six men (4 killed and two wounded) and these were the first losses.


Commander of the Allied Fleet Admiral de
Robeck

On  the 25 th February,  fifteen  warships  commanded  by Admiral  De Robeck renewed
their attack on the fortifications.  This time, Ertugrul and  Orhaniye  forts  fought back with
all their might, until finally there was  silence from  the Turkish  cannons. Upon seeing this
situation, the  British  ships  approached  to the  shore  and  started  their  bombardment
again. That  was  when  the  famed wandering cannons of the Turks were put into action.
This was a retaliation that  had  been unexpected, and the armored cruiser Agamemnon
took aim. The ships left their posts & carried on firing until night.
That night, four British  minesweepers  were  sunk  due  to heavy gunfire from the Turkish
side. But, the Seddulbahir  village  was  burning and the flames were illuminating the sky.
There were actually a  few  losses  at  the Turkish  side, 13  killed and 19  wounded.  But,
the fortifications at the mouth of the strait had been silenced.


The Çanakkale Strait  is the bonding
between Aegean and Marmara Sea

These were the first allied (British  and French)  attacks on Çanakkale, but there was an
ambitious  plan too.  After  these  bombardments,  the  ships  were ordered to retreat till
a big and sudden attack.

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