Found After 94 Years - the wreck of the submarine E14 has been found the sea bed in the Dardanelles Straits (Turkey) and would appear to be intact, suggesting the remains of the crew are inside.   The reprt in the Daily Telegraph noted that the E14 was (is) the only one in which two captains won the Victoria Cross for their exploits aboard.    The E14 sank in January 1918, with the loss of 25 lives, after she was sent around 20 miles into the heavily fortified Dardanelles, the narrow straits between modern day Turkey’s European and Asian coasts, to torpedo the flagship of the Ottoman Empire’s navy.   The E14 had navigated through dense minefields and past a string of enemy forts on both shores but when her Captain, (Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey White), found that his target was not where it was expected to be, he instead attacked another enemy vessel in their path, however, one of the torpedoes exploded prematurely, damaging E14 and alerting Ottoman forces along the coast to the submarine’s presence.     The submarine headed back down the straits towards safety but was eventually forced to surface the craft after her controls became unresponsive and the air on board began to run out.    The E14 was instantly battered by intense bombardment by guns from both sides of the straits.      Realising that the submarine could not reach the open sea made for a nearby beach, in an effort to save the crew. A survivor recalled that the Captain’s last words were – “We are in the hands of God”, uttered moments before he was killed by a shell and the submarine went under.    For his actions, he was posthumously awarded the VC, only seven of submarines 32 crew managed to escape from the stricken craft.

Three years earlier, during the Gallipoli Campaign the same vessel conducted a daring raid through the Straits, past dense minefields and deep into enemy territory, in the Sea of Marmara.   Once there, the submarine dodged hostile patrols and caused havoc among enemy shipping for several days, sinking an Ottoman gunboat and a former White Star liner converted to a troop ship, and disabling another warship.    For that 1915 mission, the skipper, Lieutenant Commander Edward Boyle, was awarded the VC, he went on to make at least two more tours of the Sea of Marmara on E14, during the boat’s distinguished career.