Stoker’s submarine book

Stoker’s Submarine (2001) by Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley is a dramatic narrative history detailing the World War I exploits of Lieutenant Commander Henry “Dacre” Stoker and his crew aboard HMAS AE2, the Royal Australian Navy’s first submarine.

The book recounts the AE2’s perilous mission on April 25, 1915—the same morning of the landings at Gallipoli—when Stoker successfully navigated through minefields, heavy currents, and enemy artillery to breach the heavily guarded Dardanelles Strait into the Sea of Marmara.

It highlights how news of this strategic victory arrived at a critical juncture, convincing Allied commanders to hold their ground at Anzac Cove rather than evacuate. Beyond the tactical maneuver, the book chronicles the crew’s subsequent scuttling of the vessel, their three-and-a-half years in Turkish prisoner-of-war camps, and the modern-day discovery and preservation of the AE2 shipwreck.