 In January 1915, the British and French navies began to draw ships to the eastern Mediterranean to begin operations against the Ottoman Empire, including several ships from the 5th Battle Squadron.By the end of the month, only "London", the battleships , , and , and the light cruisers and were at Portland.In March 1915, as the British and French fleets waging the Dardanelles campaign were preparing to launch a major attack on 18 March, the overall commander, Admiral Sackville Carden, requested two more battleships of the 5th Squadron, "Implacable" and "Queen", to be transferred to his command in the expectation of losses in the coming operation.