One night in early March, the Ottoman naval minelayer Nusrat went out and under the cover of darkness, laid a new line of about twenty mines parallel to the current. Conditions were favorable for the Allies on March 18 and a major naval attack was made... but three Allied battleships hit mines and sank, and three others were damaged, causing the Allies to pause. The conclusion was that the ships were ineffective anyway against the land batteries, and that a landing of Allied troops would defeat the Ottoman troops, knock out the batteries, allow the mines to be swept, thus allowing the fleet to get through and bring down the Ottoman government by threatening to shell Istanbul.

This is a replica, but an actual sea-going vessel that is part of the Turkish Navy. It's staffed by Navy personnel that gave me a personal tour and snapped the photo. The sailor serving as gift shop cashier guessed that I was Russian! Nyet, tovarish!