started a fire, but it was quickly flooded to prevent an explosion. Another shell punctured a hole across in the bow which flooded the base of the forward turret. While the French squadron was withdrawing pursuant to Admiral John de Robeck's order Bouvet struck a mine and sank in 55 seconds. Suffren lowered her admiral's barge, her only intact boat, and rescued 75 men before she had to escort the badly-damaged Gaulois away from the Dardanelles. The latter was taking on water by the bow and had to be beached on one of the Rabbit Islands at the entrance of the Dardanelles before she sank. Suffren was ordered to escort Gaulois to Toulon via Malta on 25 March. Two days later the ships encountered a storm and were forced to seek refuge in the Bay of Navarin. Suffren arrived at Toulon on 3 April and was repaired by 20 May when she returned to the Dardanelles to provide gunfire support for the troops ashore. She remained in the area until 31 December; upon returning to her anchorage at Kefalos on the island of Kos, she collided with and sank the British steamer Saint Oswald, a horse transport involved in the evacuation from Gallipoli, and was badly damaged. Suffren arrived in Toulon on 20 January 1916 for repairs which were completed by April. That month she joined the French squadron of six predreadnoughts assigned to prevent any interference by the Greeks with Allied operations on the Salonica front. On 9 July Suffren briefly became flagship of the reestablished 3e Escadre de ligne when Patrie departed for a refit at Toulon. With the creation of a rival pro-Entente government in Greece in August, the Entente became concerned that the royal government might interfere with its use of Greek ports in October as King Constantine I endeavored to maintain Greek neutrality. On 7 October Patrie, Démocratie, and Suffren entered the harbour of Eleusina prepared to fire on the Greek predreadnoughts , and the cruiser , but things were resolved peacefully and the French ships returned to their base. Suffren was originally intended to refit at the naval base at Bizerte, but the location was switched when the dockyard at Lorient informed the Naval Staff that it had room for her. On 15 November the ship departed to recoal at Bizerte which she reached on 18 November. She sailed on 20 November for Gibraltar;