retreat. Cornwallis, Agamemnon, and the light cruiser covered their evacuation to Braemar Castle. Another attack followed the next day; Carden envisioned using the powerful super-dreadnought , with her eight guns, to bombard the inner fortresses from the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula, while Cornwallis, Irresistible, and steamed in the strait to spot for Queen Elizabeth. Poor visibility and harassing fire from mobile Ottoman field guns prevented Queen Elizabeth from inflicting serious damage, and the attack was called off. Early on 10 March, Cornwallis, Irresistible, and the seaplane carrier went to join Dublin in the Gulf of Saros, where they were to reconnoitre the Ottoman defences further up the Gallipoli peninsula. The weather proved to be too bad for Ark Royals seaplanes to operate, so Cornwallis shelled the town of Bulair before leaving for Tenedos. Assigned to the 2nd Division during the major attack on the forts on 18 March, she did not take an active rule in the attack that saw the sinking of three Allied battleships. The repeated failures to destroy the coastal fortifications and force the straits led the British and French commanders to decide that a major landing of ground forces would be necessary to secure the peninsula and allow a direct attack on Constantinople. For the Landing at Cape Helles on 25 April, Cornwallis was assigned to the 1st Squadron, and she was tasked with covering the southernmost landing sites, W Beach and V Beach, along with the battleship and the armoured cruiser , which was the flagship of Rear Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, the 1st Squadron commander. Early on the morning of 25 April, the three ships moved into position, having taken on the men of the first three battalions to go ashore. After arriving in her bombardment location, Cornwallis transferred the soldiers to trawlers, which in turn transferred them to small boats to carry them ashore to V Beach. Wemyss instructed Cornwallis to shell the Ottoman defences until the men had landed, and then to support the landing ship . Cornwallis conducted a heavy bombardment of the heights above V Beach as the British troops battled their way off the beach. By 10:00, the British troops had secured a beachhead, so Cornwallis left to support River Clyde that had been beached under heavy fire at Sedd el Bahr, but by this time, the decision had been made to refrain from landing the men stranded