Fighting Overseas

Abstract

This chapter delves into the international conflagration of the Great War that carried fishermen to conflicts on coasts far removed from the shores of the British Isles. It details the British and French plans for a naval assault on the Dardanelles, which were formulated following Turkey's entry into the conflict on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary in late October 1914. It also follows the trawlers and their fishermen crews that had embarked on the next stage of the voyage to the Dardanelles after reaching Malta. The chapter looks at the initial allied strategy that involved forcing a passage through the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that divide Europe from Asia. It describes trawler minesweepers that cleared a way for large warships to move in and bombard the enemy's forts on the Dardanelles Peninsula and the Asiatic side.