Australia's Daring Raid on the Dardanelles on the Day of the Gallipoli Landing.
On 25 April 1915 - the day the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli - Lt Commander Henry Gordon Stoker set out as captain of the Australian submarine AE2 on a mission to navigate the Dardanelles Strait with the intention of disrupting Turkish supply lines to the isolated Gallipoli peninsula. Facing dangerous currents, mines and withering enemy fire, Stoker and his men succeeded where British and French submarines had already come to grief.
Stoker's achievement meant much in military terms and even more emotionally in terms of boosting the morale of embattled Allied troops. But what was proclaimed at the time as "the finest feat in submarine history" has since sunk into oblivion. Few Australians even know their country had a submarine at Gallipoli, much less that it achieved daring feats, sank an enemy craft, and possibly played a pivotal role in Anzac troops staying on the beachhead for eight months.
Now, finally, 'Stoker's Submarine' tells the story of a remarkable naval hero and the men under his command. And the AE2 itself, still lying intact on the floor of the Sea of Marmara, is celebrated as the most tangible relic of Australia's role at Gallipoli, the crucible of nationhood.
