attack, and was unknown to the Allies. Despite the sinking of Bouvet, the first such loss of the day, the British remained unaware of the minefield, thinking the explosion had been caused by a shell or torpedo. Subsequently, two British pre-dreadnoughts, and , were sunk and the battlecruiser Inflexible was damaged by the same minefield. Suffren and Gaulois were both badly damaged by coastal artillery during the engagement. The loss of Bouvet and the two British battleships during the 18 March attack was a major factor in the decision to abandon a naval strategy to take Constantinople, and instead opt for the Gallipoli land campaign. While the Franco-British forces began preparations for the attack, Bouvets place in the fleet was filled by . Wreck In the early 2010s, Turkish marine archaeologists conducted sonar surveys of many of the wrecks from the Dardanelles campaign, including Bouvet. Research on the wrecks had long been difficult, as the area is a busy maritime artery and the strong current combine to make diving difficult. The survey of Bouvet, which lies upside down on the sea floor, revealed that a 305 mm shell from an Ottoman shore battery had struck the ship at the waterline amidships on the same side as she struck the mine, which contributed to the fatal flooding that caused her to rapidly capsize and sink. Footnotes References Gallipoli campaign Ships sunk by mines Maritime incidents in 1915 World War I battleships of France Ships built in France World War I shipwrecks in the Dardanelles 1896 ships Battleships of the French Navy Ships with Belleville boilers Shipwrecks of Turkey