Beneath the historic waters of the Dardanelles in northwestern Türkiye's Çanakkale, where the course of World War I was fundamentally altered more than a century ago, a silent fleet of steel and iron rests on the seafloor.
For decades, these battle-torn shipwrecks have served as both underwater memorials and thriving marine ecosystems. Now, an innovative preservation initiative is underway to ensure that these relics of the historic Battle of Gallipoli survive for centuries to come.
The Çanakkale Wars Gallipoli Historical Site Directorate, in partnership with the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and Highway corporation, has officially launched the "Deep Heritage" (Derin Miras) project. The initiative marks an important milestone for the Gallipoli Historic Underwater Park, which opened in 2022 as the world’s first World War I-themed underwater park.
The project utilizes specialized cathodic protection technology to arrest the physical and biological decay of these historic vessels, digitally catalog the sites and establish the region as a premier global destination for sustainable diving tourism.
A diver explores the wreck of a minesweeper off the coast of Çanakkale, Türkiye, May 24, 2024. (Photo by Alex Dawson)
