A period of bad weather slowed the initial phase but by 25 February the outer forts had been reduced and the entrance cleared of mines.

[2] On 18 March 1915, the main attack was launched, the fleet, comprising 18 battleships with a supporting array of cruisers and destroyers, sought to target the narrowest point of the Dardanelles, where the straits are 1 mile (1.6 km) wide.

According to an account by the Ottoman General Staff, by 2:00 p.m. "all telephone wires were cut, all communications with the forts were interrupted, some of the guns had been knocked out ... in consequence the artillery fire of the defence had slackened considerably".

[5] The French battleships Suffren and Gaulois were also damaged; the ships had sailed through a new line of mines placed secretly by the Ottoman minelayer Nusret ten days before.

Although Mustafa Kemal, then the commander of the 19th Division saw the Gallipoli peninsula in the European side as the main landing area, he couldn't persuade the headquarters.

Albert d'Amade, commander of the French forces proposed a larger scale operation with landing in Edremit, situated far to the south.

While HMS Prince George was tasked to bomb the artilleries at the Anatolian side of the strait, the French battleships supported the landing.

But Lieutenant Colonel Nurettin Bey, the commander of the 39th Ottoman regiment, counterattacked two times during the night, which resulted in failure, mostly due to friendly fire.

However, during negotiations, which were hampered by the language barrier, the sun rose and the navy opened fire, resulting in heavy casualties on the Ottoman side.

At 8:30 a.m., the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc arrived and joined in the bombardment, before the force was recalled to Bozcaada at 10:00 a.m.[11][12] The Ottoman garrison was detained in the area until 27 April, although the Turkish Official Account recorded that the landings at Kum Kale and the demonstration at Besika Bay had been recognised as ruses.

[11][13] After the landings, the Ottoman commander, General Weber Pasha was criticised for being caught unprepared, poor tactics, failures of communication and leadership, although the flat terrain had made accurate bombardment from offshore much easier.