Gallipoli · Turkey · Wreck

Bouvet

A battleship lost on 18 March 1915, upside down at 68 m

The French battleship Bouvet struck a mine on 18 March 1915 as the Allied fleet withdrew from its attempt to force the Dardanelles, and capsized within about two minutes. She lies upside down on the floor of the strait at 68 metres, a technical dive on the park's table and a grave from one of the campaign's defining days.

Also known as French battleship Bouvet.

Where it is and how deep

Depths on a shared scale to 80 m (262 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

40.0208° N, 26.2750° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

Bouvet is a technical dive and is treated as one: 68 metres inside the Dardanelles, run on mixed gas with staged decompression and planned around the strait's current. She lies upside down on the sea floor, so the whole profile is over an inverted hull of 122.4 metres and 12,200 tons, and a single dive covers a part of the ship rather than the whole of her. The park's guided-dive rule applies here exactly as it does on the shallow wrecks.

The history is the draw. On 18 March 1915 the Allied fleet tried to force the strait and failed; Bouvet hit a mine while withdrawing from the action and went over within about two minutes, and HMS Irresistible was mined the same day. A Turkish sonar survey in the early 2010s found that a 305 mm shell from an Ottoman shore battery had also struck her at the waterline amidships, so the mine had help. The wreck is a grave: this is a look, not a visit.

The wreck

Vessel: Bouvet
Type: French pre-dreadnought battleship
Length: 122.4 m (402 ft)
Sunk: 1915
Cause: Mined while withdrawing, with a 305 mm shell hit at the waterline
Lies: Upside down on the floor of the Dardanelles at 68 m

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Bouvet
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Fair	Fair	Fair	Prime	Prime	Good	Good	Prime	Prime	Good	Fair	Fair

Season follows Gallipoli: April–May and August–September bring the best conditions; the wrecks can be dived all year.

Know before you go

Full decompression obligation at 68 m, with no direct ascent and long run times — technical gas planning and support are not optional.
Divers report strong currents around the Gallipoli wrecks; a dive this deep goes when the operator says the water allows it.