Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-03-01

up TO FRIDAY night mentions no less than
ten Of these. Previous reports mentioned
others that were not engaged on Thurs
day or Friday, the period covered by the
Admiralty statement.
Queen EIISabeth's Part.
! At the head Of the fleet is the Queen
! Elizabeth, one OF England's lates super
I dreRdnoughts. which has been commits
stoned since the war began. and which
mounts eight fifteen-inch guns The
Queen Elizabeth took part in the bonn
bardment, 30 that for the first time these
monster weapons had been used and. ac-
cording 10 the Admiralty report, they did
their work with great accuracy"
Other ships. which assisted in silencing
the outer forts. we're the British battle
ship Agamemnon, which was struck by
a Turkish shell and had three men killed
and five wounded the British bsttleships
! Irresistible. Vengeance. Corvallis Al
blon and Majestic. each OF which carries
four twelve-inch guns and the Triumph,
which has four ten-inch guns and the
French battleships Gauiois suffren and
Charlemagne. each OF which carries four
twelve-inch. guns.
Ready 20 Give Aid
Other vessels including the French
,
battle cruisers. are in the vicinity. to
render assistance should IL be required.
Fort Dardanus, which the ships at
tackled Friday after the entrance to the
straits had been swept Of mines, is not
far from the narrows, and 1t is probable
that the big, and more important attack
has begun by this time.
Reports from neutral Balkan states say
that the residents Of the Islands in the
sea OF Marmora have been ordered to
evacuate their homes and that an i'm
Derial train is waiting to take the Sultan
to Asia Minor.
SO far as Great Britain il concerned.
however. the most important Immediate
result OF the initial success is the re-
duction which It has brought In the price
of wheat, which has dropped shlllings
a quarter.
statement of Admiralty.
The admiralty statement follows:
The entrance 20 the Dardanelles was
guarded by four principal forts namely
Cape Helles battery Fort Seddul Bahr.
Fort orkhanioh Tabia and Fort Kun
Kalossi Tabia. which will be described
for convenienoes as A, b. and d. These 4,
forts were armed as follows:
"A. Two 90 guns.
"B. Six 1912 guns.
&c. Two o. guns.
ID. Four 10.2 and two SO guns. !
The weather having improved. al
though tho wind was still from the south |
west the attack on these forts was re- |
sumed Thursday morning, February 25. |
at 10 o'clock
The Queen Elizabeth. Agamemnon. |
Irresistible and Gaulois began by deli
borately bombarding fort A, b. c and d. |
respectively. at long range.
Fort replied. One shell at 1000
yards hit the ARamemnon, killing three
and seriously wounding five. The Ir-
resistible and Gaulois made excellent
practice on forts and u, while the
Queen Elizabeth concentrated with great
accuracy on fort A. putting both of it's
guns out of action by about II 40 o'clock.
!. THE VENGEANCE and CORVALLIS then
ran IN under cover Of long range fire
and engaged fort A at close range. The
reduction OF fort A was completed while
forts c and D opened a very slow and
Inaccurate fire.
The Suffern and CharIemagne next de-
hvered an attack on forts c and ID adj
vancing TO within 1000 yards OF them. /
1t was then seen that they were in no
condition to offer an effective resistance.
The VENGEANCE and Triumph were
then ordered TO complete the reduction
OF the forts. All four were reduced by
Sis 2. m.
Sweeping Operations BeEuR.
sweeping operations. covered by a
division OF battleships and destroyers,
we're Immediately begun The enemy set
fire to village al the entrance as dark
ness fell
"A report also has been received OF the
operations of February ss. The straits
had been swept up to four miles from the
entrance. The Albion and Majestic, sup
ported by the Vengeance. proceeded TO
the limit OF the swept area and began an
attack on A fort and some new batterie,
on the Asiatic shore. The fire in reply
was ineffective.
After being shelled from inside the
straits the enemy retired from the forts |
at the entrance and during the afternoon |
demolishing parties we're landed at Kun
hale and seddul (sedd-El-B ahr) from the
vengeance and Irresistible. Forts A, Ri
and were then completely and tort d
was partially demolished.
Driven Out over Bridge.
The enemy encountered In Kun Kale
we're driven out over the Mendere bridge. |
which was partially destroyed. Two new
four-inch guns, concealed near the tomb |
OF Achilles, were also destroyed and four |
Nordenfelts covering the entrance were |
destroyed. Our casualties on the 18th |
were one killed and three wounded
The new battieship Queen Elizabeth, |
one OF the largest members OF the British
fleet. took part in the bombardment |
This Is the first time. It Is stated, In
which fifteen-inch naval guns have been
IN action. The Queen Elizabeth. a vessel
OF 1850 tons. has eight fifteen-inch guns. |
Previous Turk Report.
The Turkish army headquarters in Con-
stantinople announced yesterday that one !
ship OF the Agamemnon type and two
other armored vessels were damaged by
the fire from the fsrts on the Aslatic
side Of the Dardanelles
The Agamemnon. a vessel OF 1850 tons
displacement. was laid down in 1905 Its
complement is SOS men. II Is ass feet Ions
ana has main battery OF four twelve. |