H.M.S. Majestic

It is a Majestic type armoured warship and was built by Naval Construction & Armaments Co. of Barrow in the Portsmouth Shipyards. It carried out its first campaign as the flagship of the channel fleet, which was protecting the southern coast of the Britain.  In 1912, the radio and weapon systems of it were renewed.   In planning the operation intended towards the Dardanelles, Churchill claimed that the ship was too old.  However, they included Majestic in the naval fleet and sent it to front of the Dardanelles on 1 February 1915 as they thought that they could easily pass through the Dardanelles and take control of Istanbul.  The first campaign of the Majestic which arrived in the Dardanelles on 25 February 1915 would be to destroy the Dardanos and Baykus batteries and sweep the mines during the attack to be made on 26 February 1915, namely one day after it arrives in Canakkale. It was involved in the attacks made to pass through the Dardanelles on 1 and 4  March 1915, lastly being included in the second British naval division in the Dardanelles operation carried out on 18 March 1915.

HMS Majestic was commissioned to support the other naval ships during the naval battle of Canakkale.  However, the British and French forces who recognised that this battle could not be won at the sea started to fight on the land.   HMS Majestic continued its campaign in the Dardanelles in a view to showing the soldiers on the land that the navy has not left them and providing moral support to them after the landing started on 25 April 1915. It, as the flagship of the navy which is then located in front of Çanakkale, carried the flag of the Rear Admiral Nicole, the fleet commander.   On 27 May 1915, at about 06:30 a.m., it was scuttled by the German submarine U-21 with torpedo.    Th Captain Thomas Lavrie Shelford anchored at a point as closest to the coast as possible in order not to have a similar faith with Triump, which was scuttled by a U-21 two days before but couldn't escape from being a target of U-21 after a long journey of one month full of uncertainties although he was surrounded the ship with torpedo nets.   Being called as the first submarine in the history of war, which scuttled an enemy ship by firing a torpedo, U21 had many achievements by sinking two warships in the short period when it was in Canakkale.    

HMS Majestic is located at a depth of 18 to 23 meters and largely keeps its form although it lost its gun metals.

“On 27 May 1915, the armoured ship Majestic was hit by a torpedo and sunk in Hellasburnu. (…) A naval officer reported that the Majestic lies with its bottom up like a flipped whale at a depth of 6 fathoms. As reported by him, the German submarine precisely took aim at Majestic located between the fully-loaded cargo steamers and transport vessels with its topredo.      Ian Hamilton

What You See When You Dive:

A number of unexploded cannon balls of different sizes on the surface of the wreck

Cable powder which is flammable underwater.

Front and rear turrets

Its tower which was broken down at the time of sinking.

Double smokestack which is a characteristic of the Majestic class ships and was caused it to be targeted by U-21.  

Flora and Fauna Diversity (Types of Species) in and around the wreck

Required Equipment for Diving:

The equipment to be used for dives include diving mask, fins, weight, buoyancy vest, scuba tank, diving suit (3 to 5 mm depending on the season), regulator, gloves, 7 mm neoprene suit for the period from November to March, semi-dry or dry suit, as used in scuba diving and considered as basic equipment for diving, which are also the equipment you can use when diving in Gallipoli historical underwater park.