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Post subject: Photos from Greece - Armoured Cruiser Averof (comm. 1911)
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At the beginning of the 20th century, Greece decided to reinforce its fleet, whose ships were fast becoming obsolete due to the fast-moving naval arms race of the era. The authorities procured four destroyers, but the most important addition was Averof. The vessel, belonging to the Pisa class, was being built at Orlando Shipyards at Livorno in Italy, when the Italian government cancelled the project due to budgetary concerns. The Greek government immediately stepped in and acquired the ship with a 1/3 down payment (ca. 300,000 gold pound sterling), paid with the help of a wealthy Greek benefactor, George Averoff, whose name she received.
During the Balkan wars she was the flagship of the Greek Navy and won almost single-handedly the naval battles of Elli and Lemnos against the Turks (1912-13). During the Battle of Elli, Kountouriotis, frustrated by the slow speed of the three older Greek battleships, hoisted the Flag Signal for the letter Z which stood for "Independent Action", and sailed forward alone, with a speed of 20 knots against the Turkish fleet. Averof succeeded in crossing the Turkish fleet's "T" and concentrated her fire against the Ottoman flagship, thus forcing the Ottoman fleet to retreat in disorder. Likewise, during the Battle of Lemnos, when the older battleships failed to follow up with Averof, Kountouriotis did not hesitate to pursue independent action.
During World War I, Averof did not see much active service, as Greece was neutral during the first years of the war
After Germany's attack against Greece in 1941 and the collapse of the front, the ship's crew disobeyed the orders to scuttle the ship to avoid capture by the Germans, and sailed to Souda Bay, Crete, under the constant threat of German air strikes (which had sunk HMS Kelly, the ship commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten, and many other Greek and British warships during the evacuation of Greece). The Commanding Officer embarked from a rope ladder when the ship was already underway. Thence the ship sailed to Alexandria, arriving there on April 23. From August 1941 to the end of 1942, the ship was assigned to convoy escort and patrol duties in the Indian Ocean, based at Bombay. After that, she was anchored at Port Said. On October 17, 1944, once again as the flagship of the exiled Hellenic Navy, under the command Captain Theodoros Koundouriotis (the Admiral's son), she carried the Greek government-in-exile back to liberated Athens. The ship continued to serve as Fleet Headquarters until it was decommissioned in 1952.
The 234mm cannons
the Greek Admiral Kountouriotis, Captain of Averoff and later Prime Minister of Greece
its original plans
a torpedo boat on the Averoff
and bonus photos: The "Velos", ex- USS Charrette, a Fletcher-class destroyer. It received 13 battle stars during world war 2 and later it heroically did mutiny against the dictatorship imposed on Greece in 1967.
and a replica of the most famous ancient type of ship, the Greek Trieres:
Enjoy them  .
and that's the end of my vacation in Greece. Back to London from tomorrow.
Last edited by NeuralDream on Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:04 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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 Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:44 pm |
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And its WAS card:
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| Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:51 pm |
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AHF Bronze-Rated Trader
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Beautiful ships, a very nice history summary, and great photography. Many thanks for taking the effort to post these!
Those Fletcher's sure got around! 
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| Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:21 pm |
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| weedsrock2 wrote: | Beautiful ships, a very nice history summary, and great photography. Many thanks for taking the effort to post these!
Those Fletcher's sure got around! |
In the Averof, the visitors can get in practically all its rooms and corridors, even in one of the big guns from inside. You walk carefully a long, narrow, completely dark corridor underneath the deck and then have to climb a narrow staircase. It's only for the fittest of the visitors . The light that you can see in the next photo is my camera's flash. I could see nothing myself.
The Fletcher was also a museum, open to the public, but I didn't have time for it.
If you ever visit Athens on the way to some Greek island, and have some spare time, I strongly suggest a visit to these two ships.
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My new blog, specialised in the military equipment of Greece (1821-today). |
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| Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:02 pm |
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| Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:51 am |
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