Last Voyage of the E14 – click on thumbnail to go to larger image.

On April 27, 1915, at the height of the the World War I Gallipoli campaign, Lt-Cdr Edward Courtney Boyle piloted the submarine HMS E14 beneath the minefields, guns and search lights of the the Narrows, the heavily defended entrance to the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Sea of Marmara and Istanbul.  Once past the ” impregnable defences,”  the E14 spent three weeks in the Sea of Marmara, sinking numerous ships including two warships and a White Star cruise liner packed with 6,000 Turkish troops bound for Gallipoli.  The E14 then again slipped back out through the Dardanelles to safety.  In 1918, the E14, under the command of Lt-Cdr Geoffrey Saxon White, was lost in the Dardanelles. Both Lt-Cdrs Boyle and White were awarded the Victoria Cross.  White’s was awarded posthumously.

The location of the submarine was unknown until this year when the ship was located intact by Turkish documentary-makers in the Dardanelles, after a search that began in January.   The submarine is the only British E-class submarine ever to be discovered intact.

Found after 94 years – the submarine which won two VCs

The submarine was found at a depth of 65ft, around 800ft from the beach. It is lying at an angle of almost 45 degrees on the sloping seabed, and all but the front 23ft of the 181ft vessel is covered in sand.

While the wreck looks largely intact, at least one shell hole is visible near the bows, indicating the battering the submarine took.

Her location also suggests she was less than a quarter of a mile from getting out of the straits and out of the range of guns.

Mr Kolay said: “They were almost out of the Dardanelles and would have been safe. The wreck is in a good condition and is one of the best preserved submarines of its type left on the earth. It is of great historical significance, as well as being, of course, a war grave.”