Here’s the aft 6” gun on HMS M33, under refurbishment – a weapon that shelled the Turkish positions in the Dardanelles, in support of British, Australian and New Zealand troops ashore; clinging by their fingernails to narrow beach heads as the brave and determined Turkish army held them off for month after month, with appalling casualties on both sides. M33 is our last living link to that campaign. It was prompted by Turkey’s catastrophic decision to ally herself with Imperial Germany and her war aim of dominating Europe. Real respect grew between the foes at Gallipoli – nonetheless a disaster which hung around Winston Churchill’s neck for many a long year, as First Lord of the Admiralty and main instigator of the campaign. Luckily that didn’t daunt him, or drive him out of politics. Just 25 years later we needed him badly.
Getting to grips with a gun
27 January 2015
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About Rob
Rob is a TV producer, reporter and camera operator with 30 years of experience at the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN, in news, factual and documentary production. He is a four-time award winner, whose awards include a coveted Royal Television Society award for his work on Channel 4 News. His association with the Maritime Foundation goes back to 1995 when he won the first Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award for a series of reports that led to a major documentary on the loss of the bulk carrier Derbyshire.