A technique traditionally used to protect offshore oil platforms and pipelines is being deployed on a large scale to prevent historic wrecks in the Dardanelles from deteriorating.
More than a century after the Gallipoli campaign claimed thousands of lives, Türkiye has launched a project to protect the warships that remain on the seabed of the Dardanelles. The initiative uses a corrosion-control technology to preserve dozens of Allied and Ottoman vessels sunk during one of the First World War’s bloodiest campaigns.
The project, known as Deep Heritage, initially focuses on HMS Louis, a British destroyer sunk by Turkish coastal artillery in October 1915. The Laforey-class vessel went down in Suvla Bay, where British and other Allied forces landed two months earlier.
During the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, Britain and its allies sought to capture Constantinople, force the Ottoman Empire out of the war and secure the Dardanelles as a supply route to Russia. Turkish mines, torpedoes and artillery fire inflicted heavy losses on the Allied fleet.
Today, the wrecks scattered across the strait are both underwater archaeological sites and reminders of the campaign’s human cost.
Technology used on offshore structures
To slow the deterioration of the wrecks, Turkish authorities are installing sacrificial anodes made from metals including zinc, copper and aluminium. Connected to the ships by metal cables, the devices corrode in place of the original structures, reducing the rate at which seawater damages the historic remains.
The process, known as cathodic protection, has long been used on offshore oil platforms, underwater pipelines and piers. Its application to shipwreck preservation on this scale is a first.
Six anodes have been installed around HMS Louis, one of more than 100 Allied and Turkish wrecks lying on the seabed of the Dardanelles. The strait connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and provides access to Istanbul, making it one of the most strategically significant waterways in the region.
The wrecks form part of the Gallipoli Underwater Historical Park, which has attracted growing interest from recreational divers.
“Nearly 100 ships, both large and small, were sunk and hundreds of men lost their lives on them,” Yusuf Kartal, the historical site’s head of projects, told The Telegraph.
Kartal said the project was developed to protect the wrecks before corrosion causes them to deteriorate beyond recovery. He stressed that the vessels should be regarded not simply as sunken ships but as historical monuments preserving the stories of those who died during the campaign.
Climate change adds to preservation challenges
The initiative comes as rising water temperatures and changes in marine conditions linked to climate change threaten to accelerate the deterioration of underwater structures. Increased bacterial activity may further contribute to the degradation of the wrecks.
Before designing the protection system, the project team conducted a series of scientific assessments, including chemical composition and corrosion analyses, examinations of the wreck’s microstructure, mechanical property tests and studies of the surrounding water chemistry.
The team then calculated the forces acting on the vessel to develop a tailored protection plan. The aim is to extend the lifespan of the wrecks by decades.
HMS Louis lies at a depth of approximately 15 metres, making it relatively accessible compared with some of the other vessels in the area. However, its shallow position also leaves it more exposed to wave action.
Alexander Dawson, a professional underwater photographer who has dived on the wreck, told The Telegraph that deeper sites tend to be better preserved. Despite the conditions, he said parts of HMS Louis remain recognisable, including its intact boilers.
Dawson has completed around 25 dives on wrecks in the Dardanelles over the past two years. He won the 2024 Underwater Photographer of the Year award for an image depicting the skeletal remains of minke whales beneath Greenland’s ice.
He said the deeper wrecks, particularly those at depths of 50 metres or more, are often in considerably better condition. They are also less vulnerable to damage from fishing nets used by modern trawlers.
Dawson described the Turkish project as a potentially significant development for underwater heritage preservation, adding that applying the technology to wrecks elsewhere in the world could help protect them for future generations.
Turkey seeks to expand diving tourism
The launch of the project was marked by a free dive to HMS Louis by Bilge Çingigiray, a Turkish freediver and Guinness World Record holder.
Deep Heritage aims to protect 17 wrecks in the Dardanelles over the coming years. The programme is also part of a broader strategy to establish the region as an international destination for diving tourism.
The Gallipoli Underwater Historical Park already offers 29 diving sites, comprising 27 wrecks and two reefs.
İsmail Kaşdemir, head of the Gallipoli Historical Area, said the long-term ambition was to make the underwater park one of the world’s leading diving destinations.
Several of the wrecks are British vessels. HMS Majestic, a battleship torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in May 1915 near the entrance to the Dardanelles, lies at a depth of around 25 metres and remains largely intact.
Another site is the SS Milo, a steam-powered passenger ship requisitioned by the British Admiralty during the war. It was equipped with generators and searchlights to illuminate the battlefield and now rests just seven metres below the surface.
With resources limited, the project team intends to prioritise vessels that remain relatively intact and have the greatest chance of successful preservation.
“We need to establish priorities,” Kartal told The Telegraph, explaining that the team would concentrate on wrecks for which the technology offered a realistic prospect of preventing further deterioration.
Be First to Comment