What if the Nusret was sunk before 8 March 1915 or by a British submarine on 8 March 1915 ?
Nusret sunk before Dardanelles intrusion
- Thread starter ghappy1000
- Start date
sharlin
Banned
When you post a what if you need to expand on your idea, perhaps give some background so folks don't go 'The fuck is that? I can't be arsed to look it up.' Also why don't you post your ideas or what would happen to open the discussion. With such a short opening post you might as well go 'Tork Tissue paper, what happens?', there's nothing there that draws people in.
In reality its going to be little of a changer, a few less obsolete warships are sunk and more lives are saved, but the Allies still probably could not force the straight by naval means alone.
In reality its going to be little of a changer, a few less obsolete warships are sunk and more lives are saved, but the Allies still probably could not force the straight by naval means alone.
The Nusret laid the minefields that resulted in the sinking of a few battleships and forced the Allies to cancel the Dardenelles attack just as it was becoming successful. It damaged three battleships [one a battlecruiser] and sank three more. I think it would have succeeded, especially with less minefields to clear, the Allies would have cleared the other minefields and it would be faster. The condition was so desperate [the Ottomans had laid a lot of minefields against the Russians] and they used it because they were out of mines. The Nusret minelayer laid the last 26 mines available and it caused the losses that the attack was cancelled. Without these, the ships would have bombarded Constantinople and forced the Ottoman Sultan to evacuate, if not surrender. The Ottomans would be out of ammunition if the attack continued. In fact, people said the minelayer changed the course of WW1, is it?
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By the way, the Ottomans may not surrender immediately, but Constantinople might have to surrender and the Ottoman government had to leave the city. In fact, there were special trains waiting to take the government away when the ships reached Constantinople to avoid capture. If they won't, they would be captured and the Ottomans have to surrender. The closest army divisions are in Gallipoli and in Thrace defending against possible Bulgarian attacks. If they move the divisions, even if nearby, they won't have enough time to move them out before Constantinople has been bombarded and there's the issue of morale impact when the ships arrived. Also, it is not necessary they would move troops from Gallipoli due to the possibility of an Allied landing and by the time their objective has been known, it would be too late.
Any British or French submarines operating in the Dardenelles on 8 March 1915? If the crewmen knew about the operation, they should have tried to intercept the minelayer.
Without the minelayer, the Allies might have pressed on their attack and it would have reached Constantinople because, despite [lesser] losses, they can still sweep the minefields. Even damaging it with gunfire or a torpedo could do the trick.