The Gallipoli campaign is traditionally widely remembered in Australia, but an important addition to that land campaign was the part played by the Australian submarine HMAS AE2. Its Queensland crew will be honoured in a ceremony at South Bank Parklands tomorrow.

The AE2, Australia’s first submarine, achieved finding a passage in the night through the Dardanelles on 25 April, 1915 at the very time the Anzac troops were landing on the other side at Anzac Cove. Journalist and novelist, Rudyard Kipling called this crossing “6 hours of blind death”, as it meant suffering the noise of mine cables scraping along the side of the submarine as it slid under the minefields and the fear of depth charges. Adding to this, the vessel had problems with its torpedoes, the deadly currents that had already wrecked one British submarine, the Turkish artillery, prowling gunboats, and the chance of running aground in the shallow waters.

On Thursday 29 April, 2021 at 10:30 am, the Captain of AE2 Henry Hugh Gordon Dacre Stoker and its only Queensland crew member Alexander Charles Nichols will be honoured at a ceremony. The Naval Association of Australia will hold the ceremony at the Jack Tar Memorial in South Bank Parklands next to Ship Inn. All those who wish to honour the lives of these men are welcome.

AE2 was tasked with the mission to ‘run amok’ in the Straights and Sea of Mamara, causing a distraction for the Turks during the ANZAC landings and sink their plans of bringing in fresh troops and supplies by sea. Apart from this tactical objective, their success in breaching the heavily fortified Dardanelles served as a rally for the ANZACs landing at Gallipoli. Official war historian C.E.W. Bean noted a notice on a stump at Anzac Cove that read: “Australian Sub AE2 just through the Dardanelles. Advance Australia!”

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