Item 02: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett articles on the Gallipoli campaign, 1915 - Page 26

[Page 26]

[Text incorporates handwritten corrections by E.A.B.]
they walked along her whole length and having distributed themselves thus proceede to dive into the deep water beyond. We set off in boats to investigate this strange phenomenon and then found that just below the surface her sides bule out ten feet or so and curve under. This is the secret and the mystery. In that bulge man has concentrated his ingenuity to defeat the submarine. If a torpedo strikes her side, and this is difficult for these craft only draw some ten feet of water, it will explode amidst a variety of substances which I must not mention and the hull of the vessel herself will escape injury. These huge Monitors carry naught but two great fourteen inch guns and some anti air crat armament. They are roomy and comfortable, unlike their smaller neighbours. Their speed is however slow on account of their shape and they steer badly but at present their development is only in its infancy and they are interesting because in them you see the germ of what will probably be the battleship of the future. They can hardly be discribed as graceful and alonsgide neat destroyers and elegant cruisers stern on they look like a fat old dowager chaperoning some young and graceful friends at a ball. The first time one of these Monitos went out to calibrate up the Dardanelles she gave the poor old Turk a great shock. Her guns go off with a terrible sullen roar and carry nearly two tons of metal fifteen to twenty miles. This remined the Turks the early days of May when the Q.E. was still around. Later on three more arrived giving us 8 14 inch with which to bombard the enemy's positions in addition to a vast number of smaller Monitors of all shapes and sizes, some with names and some with numbers but each armed with the very latest weapons of precision. Then the New Fleet began to settle to its work sallying forth day after day and bombarding the enemy's positions being spotted by the balloon ships and aeroplanes, and the Turks and the Huns began to grasp the sad fact that we had once more regained the command of the narrow waters and that the great effort which had led to the retirement of our fleet had been wasted after all. Later on two other strange vessels the Endymion and Theseus 25 years old also protected