A number of world war one ships' guns were salvaged and deployed on the coast as part of the Dardanelles' defences in view of a possible entry in ww II. Their fortified emplacements were build in the 1930ies to protect the peninsula from a possible invasion. Luckily they were never used as Turkey managed to remain neutral in the Second World War. They can be seen at : V-beach in Europe, Mesidiye, Turgut Reis and Karanlık lımanı in Asia.

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The inscription at the Mesudiye gun emplacement, translated, reads as follows : guns found in the battery, made in 1901 for the battleship Mesudiye, were two fixed recoilless guns, 7 metres im lenght and 15.5 cm in diameter. The Armed Forces General Staff built the battery in 1938 by taking the guns from the Mesudiye to a hill overlooking the Straits.  In the hands of new soldiers the Mesudiye battery has not been silent.  In a hawke-like fashion, the battery is still guarding and watching the impassable Çanakkale. Beloved martyrs the Motherland is grateful to you.

The inscription at the Turgut Reis gun emplacements, translated, reads as follows : In 1891 a pair of cruisers, the 10,600 ton Barbaros Hayrettin and Turgut Reis, were built. In the 1915 Çanakkale Battle they succeeded in the task of preventing the enemy landing at Ariburnu by providing distracting fire between Karaburnu and Gelibolu. Later, prior to the Second World War, the turrets from the Turgut Reis were moved here to a new duty in defence of the Straits.  The guns in the turrets are long-range, 28 cm in diameter and 10.30 metres long.

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updated : 26/02/08

 

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