Dominic Sandbrook

Of 176 Turkish shorguns, they have knocked out precisely four.

And of their 16 ships, three of them have been sunk and three of them have been badly damaged.

So this has been a terrible day.

I mean, it's gone really badly.

The next day, Churchill goes to the War Council.

He reads out the telegrams reporting what's gone on.

And he says, it's actually going fine.

Yeah, we've taken a few losses.

He doesn't mention the French ship and its men at all.

He says, we've lost less than 30 British lives and two or three worthless ships.

So the French, he just forgets about them.

He doesn't count them.

And then he says, well, now that it's going so well, is this perhaps the moment to discuss partitioning the Ottoman Empire?

And Admiral Fisher says, you are mad.

Quote, we told you to use troops as well, but you wouldn't listen.

And Churchill himself wrote after the war,

For the first time since the war began, high words were used around the octagonal table.

In other words, people are now saying to him, you have totally led us.

Yeah.

You've led us into an absolute mess.