State Library of NSW
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view expressed, because almost all Naval men who took part in the early bombardments with whom I have spoken express the opinion that it was the difficulty in smashing the outer forts which first opened their eyes to the true nature of their task, when the time came to attack the Narrows. The first bombardment was on February 19th and was confined to the outer forts at Helles, Seddul Bahr, and Kume Kale.These works are fully exposed and can be partly enfiladed. They mounted old-fashioned Krupp guns, mostly 9.5s and some larger, but the extreme range was only some ten thousand yards. They were erected in fact, to sweep to entrance to the Straits, and not to oppose a long range attack from the sea. The guns are mounted behind banks of earth, reinforced by concrete, and the guns are fired through embrasures. The interior of these works are open and the ammunition is piled up round the guns with imminent danger of exploding if a shell bursts inside. The effect of this bombardment was thus logged by a certain battleship. 'The results obtained on the whole seemed satisfactory, especially against forts 3 and 6, but on the whole little serious damage seems to have been done except against fort 6'.Further efforts were delayed by bad weather and it was not until February 25th that the Fleet again resumed the attack. The action opened at ten a.m. and the last shot was fired at about four-forty- five by a battery behind Kume Kale. The forts were bombarded at long range by the Queen Elisabeth, Agememnon, Lord Nelson, Irresistible,
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