Gallipoli: The Original "Force the Strait" Disaster

For those who do not know the history:

In 1915, Winston Churchill (then First Lord of the Admiralty) proposed a naval campaign to force the Dardanelles Strait—a narrow, 61-kilometer waterway connecting the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. The objective was to capture Constantinople (Istanbul), knock the Ottoman Empire out of World War I, and open a supply route to Russia.

The plan: Send British and French battleships up the strait. Suppress the Ottoman coastal forts with naval gunfire. Clear the mines. Sail through to Constantinople.

What happened:

    The Ottomans had laid mines in the strait.
    The Allied naval bombardment failed to destroy the mobile artillery batteries.
    Several battleships struck mines and sank.
    The navy withdrew, having failed to force the strait.

So the Allies tried a ground invasion instead. They landed troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula—the rugged, hilly terrain on the northern side of the strait.

What happened then:

    The Ottoman defenders (commanded by Mustafa Kemal, later Atatürk) were dug in on the high ground.
    The Allied troops landed on the wrong beaches, in the wrong order, without adequate support.
    They were pinned down on narrow beachheads for eight months.
    Tens of thousands died (44,000 Allied, 86,000 Ottoman).
    The campaign was eventually evacuated, having achieved nothing.

The strategic result: The strait remained closed. The Ottomans did not surrender. Russia did not get its supply route. The war dragged on for three more years.

By 1915 the 1907 study had been forgotten.  Even in 1915 there were Trumpers.

Quote from: K-Dog on Apr 06, 2026, 09:10 PM

TASNIMNEWS.IR • 2026-04-06

US Amphibious Assault Ship Forced to Retreat after IRGC Strikes

The US terrorist military's amphibious assault ship LHA-7, with over 5,000 sailors and Marines on board, was also hit by rapid Iranian missile launches, forcing it to retreat deep into the southern Indian Ocean after this wave of attacks.

The USS Tripoli's real location, real condition, and real casualties are classified. No news story will tell you the truth. The truth is known only to the admirals, the generals, and the commanders in the White House and the bunkers in Tehran.

The link produces an error message now.  Still nothing in the MSM.

The narrative of an  unbeatable military must not be shaken.

RE

Quote from: RE on Apr 06, 2026, 02:14 PMNothing so far from MSM on the Jarhead Ship.  Guess sailing through the Straight wasn't so EZ.  How long can they keep a lid on it?

RE

Trumpolini has been talking about 'his' billion dollar rescue operation for three days straight now, and he has just about managed to turn his original shoot-down of an F-15 embarrassment into a fucking profile in courage.  Nobody has talked about the cost, and why bother.  Line the dollars up end to end in the new defensed department budget increase and you can go to the moon.  The military has money to burn.

QuoteQuote from: The Onion (Satire)

Trump's $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Increase Found To Reach Nearly Halfway To Sun If Laid End To End, Experts Confirm

WASHINGTON — Declaring that the U.S. military has never been stronger, President Donald Trump formally proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget Friday, an increase of roughly $458 billion over a baseline of about $1.04 trillion, which administration officials described as "more than enough to go an extremely impressive distance in a straight line.

We're going to have so much defense, you won't believe it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, gesturing vaguely toward a chart labeled 'SPACE (POTENTIAL).' "People are saying, 'Sir, how far does it go?' And I say, very far. Maybe not all the way, but very, very far."The proposed increase amounts to approximately $458.3 billion, or 458.3 billion individual dollar bills.

According to the U.S. Currency Education Program, a single dollar bill measures 6.14 inches in length. Using these official dimensions, laying the bills end to end would produce a continuous strip measuring approximately:

➡️ 44.4 million miles (71.5 million kilometers) Analysts confirmed this figure after performing what several described as "surprisingly straightforward arithmetic.

To put 44.4 million miles in perspective:

🌙 The line would travel to the Moon and back about 93 times (Earth–Moon round trip ≈ 477,800 miles).

☀️ It would reach about 48% of the distance to the Sun (average Earth–Sun distance ≈ 93 million miles).

🛸 It would extend well beyond geostationary orbit (22,236 miles) and far past typical satellite ranges.

🔴 It would fall short of Mars even at its closest approach (~34 million miles at minimum, but typically much farther), meaning it might reach Mars only under ideal orbital conditions and with exact timing no one bothered to calculate.

🪐 It would not come remotely close to Pluto (~3.7 billion miles) and would reach only about 0.3% of the distance to Voyager 1 (~15+ billion miles from Earth).

While earlier reports suggested the money could leave the solar system, updated calculations indicate it would instead form a very long but ultimately solar-system-bound line, said one analyst.  Still, nearly halfway to the Sun is objectively a strong showing for loose currency.  Budget Director Russell Vought praised the scale of the proposal.

QuoteThe American people expect their defense dollars to go far," And by any reasonable measurement, 44 million miles is far.  It's just not 'interstellar diplomacy' far.

Pentagon officials echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that while the funding may not physically reach deep space, it would "project fiscal presence" well beyond Earth  orbit.

Meanwhile, engineers at NASA confirmed that the same amount of money, if allocated differently, could instead be used to "build an actual spacecraft.

As of press time, Trump was reportedly exploring an additional $50 billion increase, which aides say could push the total distance to "well past halfway to the Sun, and possibly into what experts are calling

'The serious fraction zone.'

This is not really from the Onion.  And the math is correct.

Nothing so far from MSM on the Jarhead Ship.  Guess sailing through the Straight wasn't so EZ.  How long can they keep a lid on it?

RE