GALLIPOLI
(see also Gelibolu National Park)
The discovery of the AE2-AWW1 Submarine
 The friendship
between Turkey and Australia was strenghtened by the incongruous conflict between these
two nations during the so called Great War of 1914-1918. This of course,
was not a battle over territory or ethnic difference. There was no historical reason to
cause one party to hate the other. The Turks were defending their territory. The
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) that stormed the beaches at the
Gallipoli Peninsula were there for a specific goal to disable the forts and gun batteries
alongside the Dardanelles Strait. This would allow the passage of allied British and
French ships into the Sea of Marmara with the ultimate goal of besieging Istanbul. It was
hoped that removing Turkey from the war would ease the pressure on Russia, which in turn
would greatly assist ending the war with Germany. Turkey proved itself a stubborn and
courageous fighter. The Dardanelles Campaign and the associated Gallipoli infantry
campaign was a disastrous failure. Many British and allied ships were sunk in their
efforts to penetrate the Dardanelles. The submarine, a relatively new machine in warfare,
was considered to be the only hope. But the Dardanelles Strait was 64 kilometres long, had
currents reaching 4 knots for the submarines to push against, was narrow and posed
difficult navigational hazards, and was carefully guarded with forts and gun-boats,
floating and fixed minefields, and nets. No enemy craft had traversed the Dardanelles
passage for over five hundred years, and many had tried! After unsuccessful attempts by
both British and French submarines, Australia's only submarine the AE2 (who had a sister
submarine the AE1, which was mysteriously lost off New Guinea with all hands) was given
the chance - and succeeded!
 The story
of the AE2's harrowing passage through the strait in the early morning hours of April 25
(the same day that troops landed on the beaches at Gallipoli - 'Anzac Day'), as told by
its Irish commander Henry Stoker in his later book Straws in the Wind, was the
stuff of a great feature film. She literally scraped along the wires holding the floating
mines taut at the surface, three times dragging something heavy onto her hull to the
stern.
Mines that miraculously did not detonate? Having extricated herself from
that predicament, she then beached herself high and dry twice at the dog-leg turn in the
Dardanelles passage known as the Narrows where the city of Çanakkale sits. Both
these course deviations resulted in her being beached and well exposed right under the
foundations of Turkish forts. So close was the submarine to the forts on both occasions
that the Turks could not depress the guns enough to hit their target! It took four and
five agonising minutes consecutively for the AE2 to wriggle herself back into deeper water
and continue her course. Then, on her way along the straight part of the passage into the
Sea of Marmara, she nearly suffered irreparable damage forcing her to lie on the bottom
for 13 hours. At the end of this time the stale air, which would not allow a match to be
ignited, could barely sustain life. Eventually, the AE2 entered the wider Sea of Marmara
and created general havoc for a further five days. She telegraphed the news of her success
the SS Queen Elizabeth and this convinced the allied navies that submarines could indeed
negotiate the Dardanelles. Amongst those British E-class submarines that subsequently
entered the Sea of Marmara and sank many Turkish and German naval craft were the E11
commanded by Martin Dunbar-Nasmith and the E14 commanded by E.C. Boyle. News of the AE2's
success reached the troops at Gallipoli and buoyed their hopes. Indeed, it is very
probable that Sir Ian Hamilton's decision not to disembark the troops after the disastrous
first day at Gallipoli was influenced by the AE2's success. On April 30, the AE2,
intending to rendezvous with Boyle's the E14 off Karaburun Point, hit a denser layer of
water at such an angle that she surfaced unintentionally. Her exposure to the surface was
ill timed, and after a dangerous series of yo-yo ascents and descents beyond her tested
depth of 100 feet (30 metres), a Turkish gun-boat, the Sultanhisar, was waiting for them
to surface again. The Sultanhisar fired a torpedo at the AE2 which fortunately missed, but
shell fire penetrated the pressure hull rendering the submarine useless. Twenty nine
ratings (half British, half Australian) and three British officers surrendered, but not
before Stoker sent the AE2 on her last and deepest dive.
 For 83 years, the AE2 lay on the soft mud
floor of the Marmara largely forgotten. Her epic story and her likely impact on the
perpetuation of the Gallipoli fighting has never really been appreciated by the Australian
public, who mostly were not even aware of submarines' existence in the First World War.
Australian Ambassador in Ankara, David Evans, was well aware of the AE2 however, and
suggested to underwater explorer Selçuk Kolay, director of both the Rahmi Koç Museum in
Istanbul and the Rahmi Koç Cultural Foundation, that he search for the AE2. Mr Kolay,
using sophisticated sonar and magnetometric apparatus, had been successful in the location
of other war-time wrecks of significance in and around Turkey. Mr. Kolay took on this
assignment, and in 1996, located a wreck at a depth of 86 metres strongly suspected of
being the AE2. A group of Australian divers and maritime archaeologists led by underwater
explorer and part-time dentist Mark Spencer from Sydney investigated the wreck later in
1997. Their expedition was supported by Turkish Airlines and the Royal Australian Navy and
also had the blessing of the Turkish Ministry of Culture. The wreck, much to the surprise
of the joint Australian/Turkish team, turned out to be an old steam ship which had
collapsed in such a way that she deceived everyone into thinking that she was a submarine
wreck.
 Selçuk
Kolay continued his search, and in June 1998, was rewarded with a sonar image of a wreck
at 72 metres depth that did indeed fit that of an early E-Class submarine. Aware of
possible scepticism from the land down-under, he sent a short video tape to Mark
Spencer back in Sydney of his dive on the wreck in company with fellow Turkish divers Kaya
Yanar and Levent Yüksel. It was fairly conclusive evidence that the wreck was indeed the
AE2. Dr. Spencer again organised his team and returned to Istanbul in late September that
year. With the support of the Rahmi Koç Museum's considerable resources, the joint
Turkish and Australian expedition to further document and inspect the AE2 brought back
irrefutable evidence of its identity. Subsequent media interest in Australia reminded the
public of the significant role played by their navy in the legendary Gallipoli Campaign.
Similar media interest in Turkey and even larger Europe reminded people of the potent
capability of the early submarines and the fact that the AE2 was the first enemy craft in
five hundred years to successfully transit the Dardanelles Strait.
The submarine wreck is remarkably intact, at least ostensibly.
"Standing on the aft casing (deck) of the AE2 somehow brought me closer to the Anzacs
at Gallipoli than I'd been before," said Dr. Spencer. "The submarine is more
exposed above the soft mud bottom than we had expected", he said. The divers used
special mixtures of gases containing helium on the bottom and higher oxygen mixes for
decompressing nearer the surface. The depths are beyond safe and effective working
conditions breathing normal air. The Rahmi Koç Museum's specially fitted-out research and
salvage vessel MV Saros had a recompression chamber on board and the attendance of a
well-qualified physician, Dr. Akın Toklu, a specialist in hyperbaric medicine.
More work will need to be done in examining the AE2 on the bottom before
any efforts are made to raise her, which is the intention of Mr Kolay. "Once brought
back to the surface, it is going to be the only WWI E-class submarine on display anywhere
in the world!" he says. Whatever becomes of the AE2, her role for the future should
now be clearly defined. She was once an instrument of war, a symbol of conflict between
two nations that now have an amicable affinity towards each other. She should now be a
symbol of that friendship and mutual co-operation so apparent at this time. Stoker and his
crew would surely approve.
- Source:
- The discovery of the AE2-AWW1 Submarine
By Mark Spencer, Underwater Explorer
SKYLIFE 04/99
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