Sinking of the battleship Majestic

At about 6.45 a.m. on 27 May 1915 the German submarine U-21 torpedoed the British battleship Majestic, lying at anchor off W Beach at Cape Helles, at the southern tip of the Gallipoli peninsula. The ship capsized within minutes. Most of the crew were saved, but according to various sources between about 40 and 49 men were killed. The commander of U-21, Kapitänleutnant Otto Hersing, had sunk the battleship Triumph off Gaba Tepe only two days earlier.

The pride of the Channel Fleet

Majestic, launched at Portsmouth in 1895, was the lead ship of a class which, with nine units, remained the most numerous class of battleships in the history of the Royal Navy. She carried four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. For years she was the pride of the Channel Fleet, and by 1914 she was an obsolete pre-dreadnought. She arrived at the Dardanelles in February 1915. On 26 February, together with Albion and Triumph, she was among the first Allied heavy ships to enter deep into the straits, and on 18 March she took part in the great attack by the fleet. After the landings she supported the troops ashore with her guns. She was commanded by Captain Henry Talbot, and on 25 May, the day Triumph was sunk, Majestic became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Stuart Nicholson, who directed the ships supporting the troops at Cape Helles.

Among the transports

After the sinking of Triumph the British sent most of the battleships to the sheltered anchorages at Imbros and Mudros. The army, however, could not do entirely without their heavy guns. It was decided that a battleship would be safest among the ships unloading supplies. Majestic was therefore anchored with her anti-torpedo nets out right by the shore, near W Beach, surrounded by transports. Further out destroyers patrolled, and a cordon of trawlers guarded the entrance to the straits.

The precautions proved inadequate. On the morning of 27 May the periscope of U-21 appeared less than 400 metres off the battleship’s port side. Majestic opened fire at once, but the torpedo passed through one of the few gaps between the transports, pierced the net and struck amidships. According to some accounts a second torpedo also hit. The ship heeled over and capsized after a few minutes. The British official history speaks of seven minutes, other sources of four or nine. Discipline on board meant that all the officers and most of the sailors were saved. Those who died were mainly men killed by the explosions or caught in the nets.

The wreck did not disappear beneath the water. The water there was only about 16 metres deep, so the capsized Majestic came to rest on her mast, and the bottom of her hull stuck out above the surface like the back of a stranded whale. For several months she was clearly visible from the beaches of Cape Helles. Only at the end of 1915 did the masts collapse and the wreck disappear beneath the water.

Without the battleships’ cover

The sinking of two battleships in three days shook the soldiers ashore. The Turkish soldiers, previously demoralised by the bombardment from the sea, watched the battleships sail away. Thousands of British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers knew that in the daily fighting in the trenches they would now be supported only by cruisers and destroyers. From then on the remaining heavy ships could appear off Gallipoli only briefly and under strong escort. Their place close inshore was gradually taken by monitors, flat-bottomed ships with heavy guns that were less vulnerable to torpedoes.

Hersing, who in 1914 had sunk the cruiser Pathfinder, sailed on to Constantinople after this attack. He soon received from the Emperor Wilhelm II the order Pour le Mérite, the highest Prussian military decoration, and the whole crew of U-21 received Iron Crosses.