The first sustained attempt to overcome the defences in the Narrows of the Dardanelles resulted in serious though not unexpected losses, and we must be prepared to lose still more ships before our object is completely achieved. The operation at the Dardanelles resembles a game of draughts or chess in this respect, that a good many pieces may disappear from the board before the game is won. The price will be high, but, as we have repeatedly urged, there will be no cheap victories in this war. We are very far from the days of the Battle of Omdurman, where the British lost three officers and 25 men killed, and had casualties amounting in all to 175, while the Dervishes indisputably lost 9,700 killed and between 10,000 and 15,000 wounded. We are now engaged upon an infinitely graver business, and must not be surprised if for every success a heavy toll is taken.
The forcing of the Dardanelles is perhaps the most formidable operation ever undertaken in naval warfare. It could not succeed without military aid, for which provision has been made. If a first-class military and naval Power held the Straits, and had put all its resources into the task of defending them, they would probably never be forced at all by direct attack. The enterprise is only permissible because, even with German aid and advice, the Turks have not in the past made the fullest possible use of their opportunities along this narrow channel.
The Allies are prepared to pay a price which may, perhaps, prove terrific, because the advantages to be gained by the subjugation of Constantinople are immeasurable. They have to face the odds against them in precisely the same spirit as that in which the dauntless American Admiral Farragut ran the gauntlet of the forts in Mobile Bay. Farragut said: “I calculate thus: The chances are that I shall lose some of my vessels by torpedoes or the guns of the enemy, but with some of my fleet afloat I shall eventually be successful. I cannot lose all. I will attack, regardless of consequences, and never turn back.”
The Admirals at the entrance to the Dardanelles must proceed by slower stages, but their action must rest upon a similar calculation. We may be confident that the attack will be steadily pressed, no matter what it costs, until the Turks, together with the Germans who have lashed them into resistance, are driven from Constantinople. Moreover, it must be remembered that there are other factors in the operation which are only now coming into play. The most satisfactory feature of Thursday’s encounter is that no ship appears to have been lost through gunfire. It is true that the Inflexible, the only Dreadnought which suffered damage, received an awkward blow from a shell which has put her out of action for a time; but the three battleships which were lost were all sunk by mines. We can face the loss of the Irresistible and the Ocean with the greater composure since we know that “practically the whole of the crews” is saved. We are told today that our total casualties - killed, wounded, and missing - only amount to sixty-one.
The fate of the French battleship Bouvet was far more tragic, because her magazine seems to have exploded when she was struck by a mine, and only sixty-four of her crew were rescued. Let us express the deepest sympathy with our gallant Ally, though we are confident that the French nation itself will chiefly reflect with pride that the French Navy had the signal honour of leading the attack against the Narrows. The squadron of French battleships engaged the principal forts at close range, and the Admiralty account says that they attacked “in the most brilliant fashion.”
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Admiral de Robeck adds a further tribute to their “splendid behaviour” this morning. The French Navy has done much solid patient work in the last few months, always with efficiency and success. It has dominated the Austrian Navy precisely as the Grand Fleet has dominated the German Navy, and it has also taken a very large share in those laborious tasks of escort duty and pursuit in the outer seas, of which we have heard very little save the occasional results.
The British and French Admiralties are absolutely united in their determination with regard to the Dardanelles. They gave their answer instantly to the Turkish successes on Thursday. The three lost battleships have already been replaced. The strength of the Allied naval forces in the Aegean is as great as ever - and that without any diminution of our strength in the North Sea and the Adriatic. The forts at the Narrows do not represent the only difficulty which the Allies have to face, though they are by far the greatest obstacle. The land approaches to the Straits, particularly on the Asiatic side, will not at first be easy to hold even when they pass fully into our possession. There will be dangers to our warships all through the Sea of Marmara. The problem of effectively occupying so great and scattered a city as Constantinople is by no means simple in its initial stages. We may be certain that these questions have all been foreseen, and that due preparation has been made for meeting them. The drama of Stamboul is not yet fully unfolded. however great and manifold the difficulties, they will in due course be overcome.
Before the battle of Copenhagen, which had certain points of resemblance to the present perilous attack, Nelson wrote to Sir Hyde Parker: “Never did our country depend so much on the success of our Fleet as on this.” We need not make quite so exalted a declaration about the Dardanelles operation, but it should be clear that it is of fundamental importance to our cause.
People are sometimes inclined to ask what is the relation between the Dardanelles and the fronts in France and Poland. The answer is that the German battle-line extends in reality, though not without breaks, from the Yser to the Tigris. We must strike where the line is most vulnerable.The downfall of Constantinople will almost certainly mean the swift elimination of the Turk as a combatant. The moral effect of such a blow must be incalculable, in more directions than one. Moreover, we shall furnish Russia with that free pathway to the open sea which has become imperatively necessary for her, in order to obtain supplies as the prelude to a further offensive. As we pointed out a fortnight ago, the first and greatest task of the Western Allies remains, as heretofore, in France and in Flanders. Nothing that is done elsewhere must be allowed to distract attention from the primary duty of driving the Germans back to the Rhine and beyond. But the passage of the Dardanelles will bring us nearer to that end, because it will narrow the issue to that siege of Germany upon which the outcome of the war will eventually depend.