Bombardment of Smyrna begins

On 5 March 1915 a British squadron under Vice-Admiral Richard Peirse began shelling the forts defending Smyrna, the largest port on the Aegean coast of the Ottoman Empire. Taking part in the action were the armoured cruiser Euryalus, the admiral’s flagship, the old battleships Triumph and Swiftsure, the seaplane carrier Anne Rickmers, converted from a captured German freighter, and a group of minesweepers converted from fishing vessels.

Why Smyrna

British ships had been operating in the Gulf of Smyrna from the very start of the war with Turkey, and afterwards had tried to cut the port off from supplies. Now there was more at stake. Since 19 February the British and French fleet had been attacking the Dardanelles, and in London there were growing fears that the Germans would send submarines into the Aegean, for example from the Adriatic. The wide gulf with its well-equipped port could become a convenient base for them. The Admiralty decided to prevent this. The ships were to destroy the forts, clear the entrance to the gulf of mines and make a close blockade of the port possible. A landing was forbidden, and there was no question of taking the city.

The task was given to Peirse, commander of the East Indies Station, who since December 1914 had been responsible for the defence of Egypt and in February had directed the ships defending the Suez Canal. On 2 March he was ordered to come from Egypt in Euryalus and meet the battleships Triumph and Swiftsure, detached from the Dardanelles, at the entrance to the gulf.

The forts above the narrows

Smyrna lies at the head of a long gulf, and a narrow passage leads into its inner part. According to British intelligence, whose information was not very recent, the strongest point of the defences was Fort Yeni Kale, also known as Hamidiye, with seven short 240-millimetre guns. A little further towards the sea, among olive groves on the Paleo Tabia headland, stood a battery of four 152-millimetre guns. Between them lay two minefields, covered by searchlights, light guns and machine guns.

The first bombardment

The squadron reached the rendezvous at dawn on 5 March, and Peirse at once led it against Yeni Kale. In the early afternoon, at about 1.40 p.m. according to Turkish sources, the three ships began methodically shelling the fort, for an hour from a range of about 13 kilometres and for another from about 9 kilometres. The weather was perfect, and Euryalus fired her 234-millimetre guns very accurately. The British observed 32 hits and two heavy explosions, which they took for magazines blowing up. The fort stayed silent, because the ships were out of range of its guns, and no other battery gave away its position. At about 4 p.m. Peirse withdrew.

The results proved much smaller than the British believed. As was established later, only one gun in the fort was destroyed, and according to the Turks no shell penetrated to the main magazine. Turkish sources differ on the casualties and the number of shells fired. According to one of them, one soldier was killed in Yeni Kale and four were wounded. The Turkish war communiqué of the next day claimed that the bombardment had had no effect at all. Instead of taking shelter from the shells, the inhabitants of Smyrna went out to the shore and onto the hills to watch the duel between the ships and the forts.

Peirse intended to bring the minesweepers into the gulf the next day and finish the job with fire at close range. The following days showed, however, that the Turks had hidden more guns around the gulf than British intelligence had assumed.