February 25th, 1915

- By this morning the storm at the Dardanelles finally passes, and with the improved weather Admiral Carden orders another bombardment of the Ottoman forts guarding the entrance to the straits.  The new dreadnought Queen Elizabeth fires for the first time, launching eighteen 15-inch shells into the fort at Cape Helles, destroying two guns, while Irresistible fires thirty-five shells and destroys a further two guns.  Later in the afternoon, Carden's second in command, Rear Admiral John de Robeck, leads the battleships into the mouth of the straits and bombard the forts from almost point-blank range.  The Ottoman gunners are able to strike home with several shots, the pre-dreadnought Agamemnon being hit seven times and suffering ten casualties.  By 4pm, however, the Ottoman forts, covered in a haze of dust, had fallen silent, the artillerymen having withdrawn in the face of the intense bombardment.  It appears to Carden and his officers that the first step in the operation has been completed.

The bombardment of the outer forts at the Dardanelles, February 25th, 1915.