A replica of the first Allied warship to make it through the Dardanelles Strait at Gallipoli, which specialists built to practice diving on the real submarine, is being rejuvenated.
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The AE2 Commemorative Foundation gifted the to-scale construction of the AE2's mid-section to the Holbrook Submarine Museum in 2016.
It represents the significant naval history of Australia's first submarines; the AE1 and AE2 ('A' for Australia, 'E' for E-class) were commissioned in England in February, 1914.
The AE1 was lost at sea off the coast of New Britain and its wreckage was only found in 2017, after 14 search efforts.
The HMAS AE2 penetrated the Dardanelles in the hours before the beach landings, sending an important message to Allied command of their success, and five days later on April 30, was attacked by a Turkish torpedo-boat.
All the crew were captured and spent the next three and a half years as prisoners of war in Turkey.
While the wreck of the AE2 was located in 1998, in 2014 project 'Silent ANZAC' documented it in detail.
To prepare, the team dived on a replica in Port Melbourne.
"When the found AE1 a couple years ago, it was only just before that that they had been diving on AE2," said Cathy Mann, curator of the Holbrook Submarine Museum.
"When Roger Cooper was the curator, he got the replica when they were finished practicing and it was time to dive on the real one.
"You don't think of World War I and submarines, but they were well and truly active in the Dardanelles.
"If their [AE2 crew] report had not have gone through, it would have changed the war."
With museum owner Greater Hume Council, there's a plan to relocate the replica to a more prominent position and revive it inside.
The Friends of Holbrook Submarine Museum, formed last year by a group of retired submariners, has been supporting the AE2 project and upgrades to the main museum dedicated to HMAS OTWAY.
"They're raising money so we can do amazing things in the museum, things like a soundscape, so when you go in the control room section it will activate the talking you would hear if you were in an Oberon-class submarine," Ms Mann said.
"We've got these amazing, very clear photos of the E-class submarines being constructed.
"That's what's making up the photo wrap for inside the AE2 replica, but it allows me to expand that as a display area, put in maps of where the Dardanelles where French, German and English submarines and one Australian submarine were in this tiny section of water."
The friends of the Holbrook Submarine Museum was formed in Queensland by submarine veterans and is heavily involved in the AE2 project and wider plans for the site.
"The silent Anzac legend is not widely known outside of submariner circles and we hope this will be a help in raising this important part of Australian history to new generations," president Michael White said.
A number of dives have been made on the wreck and there is strong interest in raising AE2 and bringing it home to Australia.
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