Finally, on the morning of 18 April, the attack that was most feared eventuated, but not precisely in the form envisaged. During the previous few days the Italian forces effected a secret rendezvous in the Southern Sporades, after having sailed from, amongst other ports, Taranto and Tobruk. Soon after, when in position off the Dardanelles, the cable ship accompanying the fleet cut the telegraph cables connecting the islands at the entrance of the Straits to Salonica and the mainland. All was in preparation for the attack.
The Italian fleet timorously approached their objective just after sunrise, making sure they stayed well out of range of the Turkish forts. Nothing happened. Admiral Viale then directed Rear-Admiral Presbitero to take the new cruisers Pisa and Amalfi further in and flaunt themselves in the hope of attracting some Turkish attention. Still nothing happened. Reasoning it was now safe to bring up the rest of his force Admiral Viale advanced so that, shortly after 9 a.m., the whole of his fleet was in view. This at last provoked a response; a Turkish destroyer appeared out of the Straits. When Viale ordered three of his cruisers to give chase Fort Orkanieh opened fire in support of their comrades. Being so challenged at last Viale manoeuvred his larger vessels into a wide circle and at 10.30 a.m., masked by the hills of Sedul Bahr on the European side, began to pound the forts of Orkanieh and Kum Kale on the Asiatic shore, his ships coming out from behind Sedul Bahr, firing and then retiring; this charade continued for three hours. The Turks returned fire but the best guns they possessed, a pair of 24 cm. Krupps at Orkanieh, could hardly make the range of 10,000 yards to strike back effectively at the Italians. Acclaiming a great victory, the pusillanimous fleet sailed away.
According to the Italian reports every one of the 180 shells fired that day struck one or other of the forts; it was also thought a magazine at Kum Kale had blown up and that, altogether, the Turkish casualties amounted to 500 killed and wounded. On the other side, the Turks declared that no fort had been hit but that a nearby barracks had been damaged in which a man had been injured and a mule killed. Whatever the military outcome of the demonstration, it further turned opinion against the Italians and resulted in the Turks closing the Dardanelles with catastrophic effect upon Russian trade
....after the Straits had been re-opened in May, the Italians succumbed, for the time being, to international pressure by not renewing their attacks. Until, that is, on the night of 18/19 July, a rather pointless and abortive raid was made by five Italian torpedo boats to try to sink the Turkish fleet inside the Straits. The Italian boats retreated hastily upon being discovered (and after the leading boat had snagged its propeller on a wire hawser) and did no damage whatsoever. The Italians incredulously claimed that they had not intended to attack the Turkish fleet, but merely discover its location; this, the British Naval Attaché at Rome declared, with more than a faint hint of sarcasm, was scarcely believable as everyone already knew precisely where the Turkish fleet was.
Italian attack on the Dardanelles 1912
Italian attack on the Dardanelles 1912
http://www.manorhouse.clara.net/book2/chapter7.htm
Last edited by Peter H on 23 Jul 2007, 10:27, edited 1 time in total.
The five Italian torpedo boats that made the foray in July 1912 were the Spica, Centauro, Climene, Perseo, Astore.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Millo
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Millo
Italian sailors who took part in the attack
Photo from the Lombardi Historical Collection:
http://lombard-avenue.smugmug.com/
Photo from the Lombardi Historical Collection:
http://lombard-avenue.smugmug.com/
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