Book Description

IT WAS A MISSION IMPOSSIBLEOn 25 April 1915 -- the day the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli -- Lieutenant Commander DacreStoker set out as captain of the Australian submarine AE2 on a mission to breach the treacherous Dardanelles Strait with the intention of disrupting Turkish supply lines to theisolated Gallipoli peninsula. Facing dangerous currents, mines and withering enemy fire,Stoker and his men succeeded where British and French submarines had come to grief.Stoker's achievement meant much in military terms, and even more emotionally in boostingthe 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 achieveddaring feats, torpedoed an enemy craft, and possibly played a pivotal role in Anzac troopsstaying on the beachhead for eight months. Now, finally, Stoker's Submarine tells the storyof a remarkable naval hero and the men under his command. And AE2 herself, still lying intacton the fl oor of the Sea of Marmara, is celebrated as the most tangible relic of Australia's roleat Gallipoli, the crucible of nationhood.