Morto Bay is an inlet on the South West tip of Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. The bay is in the north west (European) coast of the Dardanelles strait, which connects the Sea of Marmara to Aegean Sea. The Gallipoli Peninsula is to the north of the bay. Administratively it is a part of Çanakkale Province. [1] The width of the bay is about 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) The name of the bay is probably of Italian origin. [2]
Cape Helles was the main landing area for the Gallipoli invasion and HMS Ocean sank in Morto Bay after failing to save HMS Irresistible.
Morto bay is known for several military activities in the past.
On 18 March 1915 during the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, the British battleship HMS Ocean (1898) was struck by a naval mine. It drifted to the Bay of Morto, and eventually sank. [3]
During the land battles of the Dardanelles Campaign, the Allies of World War I landed at five different beaches of Hellespont. They were called S, V, W, X and Y by the Allies. The S-beach, which is known as Eski Hisarlık in Turkish, is the east border of the bay and Sedd el Bahr, the tip of the peninsula is to the west. The V beach, the main landing point, which is known as Ertuğrul in Turkish is close to the west border of the bay. British troops landed at both beaches on 25 April 1915. However, after the French troops drew back from the Anatolian side, the British troops in Eskihsarlık was replaced by the French troops. [4] Now, the only French war cemetery in Gallipoli peninsula is to the north of Morto Bay. [5]
British battleship HMS Goliath (1898), which was situated in the Bay of Morto, was tasked to bomb Turkish positions. On the night of 12–13 May 1915, Ottoman destroyer Muavenet-i Milliye torpedoed her. This event caused the resignation of Admiral John Fisher from his post as First Sea Lord, which was followed by the resignation of Winston Churchill from the cabinet.
On 14 July 1942, Turkish submarine TCG Atılay was struck by a World War I naval mine and sank. [6]
The Dardanelles, also known as the Strait of Gallipoli and in Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont, is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. Together with the Bosporus, the Dardanelles forms the Turkish Straits.
The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Ottoman straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.
The Third Battle of Krithia, fought on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I, was the last in a series of Allied attacks against the Ottoman defences aimed at achieving the original objectives of 25 April 1915. The previous failures in the first and second battles resulted in a less ambitious plan being developed for the attack, but the outcome was another costly failure for the Allies. The allied aim was, as always, to facilitate the capture of Alçı Tepe which commanded most of the peninsula.
HMS Majestic was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1895, she was the largest pre-dreadnought launched at the time. She served with the Channel Fleet until 1904, following which she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. In 1907, she was part of the Home Fleet, firstly assigned to the Nore Division and then with the Devonport Division. From 1912, she was part of the 7th Battle Squadron.
The landing at Cape Helles was part of the Gallipoli Campaign, the amphibious landings on the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on 25 April 1915 during the First World War. Helles, at the foot of the peninsula, was the main landing area. With gunfire support from the Royal Navy, the 29th Division was to advance six mi (9.7 km) along the peninsula on the first day and seize the heights of Achi Baba. The British then planned to capture the forts that guarded the straits of the Dardanelles.
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs on 25 April 1915. The cove is 600 metres (2,000 ft) long, bounded by the headlands of Arıburnu to the north and Little Arıburnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south. Following the landing at Anzac Cove, the beach became the main base for the Australian and New Zealand troops for the eight months of the Gallipoli campaign.
The naval operations in the Dardanelles campaign took place against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Ships of the Royal Navy, French Marine nationale, Imperial Russian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, attempted to force a passage through the Dardanelles Straits, a narrow, 41-mile-long (66 km) waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea further north.
This article presents the timeline of the Gallipoli Campaign. The period of the proper battle is considered to be 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916; however, a number of events took place between August 1914 and January 1915 that are relevant to the battle.
Sedd el Bahr is a village in the Eceabat District, Çanakkale Province, Turkey. It is located at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The village lies east of the cape, on the shore of the Dardanelles. It was the site of V Beach, the landing zone for two Irish battalions, including one from the SS River Clyde, on 25 April 1915 during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. Its population is 277 (2021).
Çanakkale is a city and seaport in Turkey on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. It is the seat of Çanakkale Province and Çanakkale District. Its population is 143,622 (2021).
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Michael de Robeck, 1st Baronet, was an officer in the Royal Navy. In the early years of the 20th century he served as Admiral of Patrols, commanding four flotillas of destroyers.
HMS Cornwallis was a Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Cornwallis and her sister ships were capable of steaming at 19 knots, making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Cornwallis was built between her keel laying in July 1899 and her completion in February 1904.
Muavenet-i Milliye or Muâvenet-i Millîye was a destroyer built for the Ottoman Navy prior to World War I. The ship is most notable for sinking the British pre-dreadnought battleship Goliath during the Dardanelles Campaign in World War I.
Seyit Ali Çabuk (1889–1939), usually called Corporal Seyit was a First World War gunner in the Ottoman Army. He is famous for having carried three shells to an artillery piece during the Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915.
The Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial is a war memorial commemorating the service of about 253,000 Turkish soldiers who participated at the Battle of Gallipoli, which took place from April 1915 to December 1915 during the First World War. It is located within the Gallipoli Peninsula Historical National Park on Hisarlık Hill in Morto Bay at the southern end of the Gallipoli peninsula in Çanakkale Province, Turkey.
HMS Amethyst was a third-class protected cruiser of the Topaze class of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1903, served during World War I at the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, in the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic. She was sold for scrap in 1920.
The Helles Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial near Sedd el Bahr, in Turkey, on the headland at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula overlooking the Dardanelles. It includes an obelisk which is over 30 metres (98 ft) high.
The Battle of Kumkale was a World War I battle fought between Ottoman and French forces. It was a part of the Gallipoli Campaign fought on the Anatolian (Asian) part of the Dardanelles Strait as a diversion from the main landings on the Gallipoli peninsula. Kumkale is the name of a village which now is a part of Troy national park.
HMS Beagle was one of sixteen destroyers ordered under the 1908–09 Naval Estimates from John Brown & Company of Clydebank. Named for the English hunting dog, she was the sixth ship to carry this name since it was introduced for a Cruizer Class fir-built, brig-sloop on 8 August 1804 and sold on 21 July 1814. The destroyers of the 1908–09 program would be the last coal-fired destroyers of the Royal Navy. She and her sisters served in the First Destroyer Flotilla then were moved en masse to the Third Destroyer Flotilla and before the start of the Great War to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla. With the advent of the convoy system they were moved to the Second Destroyer Flotilla. With the Armistice she was laid up then scrapped in 1921.
Gulf of Erenköy is a gulf in the Dardanelles strait, Turkey. It is named after the town of Erenköy. At 40°01′N26°17′E it is situated at the south east side of the strait. At this point the width of the strait is 7,500 metres (24,600 ft) The midpoint of the gulf is known as Karanlık Liman Administratively is a part of Çanakkale Province.
40°03′N26°13′E / 40.050°N 26.217°E