At 3:30 am the next day, Colonel Hering commanded the U-21 submarine to appear in the western waters of the Dardanelles Strait.
Technically, he didn't need to arrive so early. Colonel Hering had already investigated the time and pattern of dawn: dawn around six, with dawn time advancing by about ten minutes each day, meaning the attack time was roughly at 5:50.
But Colonel Hering believed that arriving at the attack position one step ahead would be beneficial for the mission.
In Colonel Hering's office, holding a pencil, he circled the waters in front of V Beach on the map while analyzing to the deputy captain:
"French battleships are usually equipped with 305MM caliber main guns, with a range of over ten kilometers, and secondary guns of 138MM, with a range of eight kilometers."
"I believe that to provide adequate fire support to the landing troops, the battleships will enter within eight kilometers to allow the secondary guns to play their role."
