Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire on October 5, 1912. After the successes at Sarantaporos and Giannitsa, on October 26 the Greek army liberated Thessaloniki, a key city for controlling the Axios valley and the wider region of Macedonia. At the same time, the operations carried out in Epirus were also making significant progress. The only bastion of resistance remained Ioannina, which fell in February 1913.
An important role in Greece’s success in the Balkan Wars was played by its Navy. At the dawn of the 20th century, Greece had a small force of torpedo boats and three French battleships, which had been built in the late 1880s. Fleet renewal was seen as imperative if Greece was to play any role in the Aegean. In 1908-1909 orders for eight destroyers were placed by the United Kingdom and the German Empire. The legendary armored cruiser “Georgios Averof” was to be added to them. The ship was originally an order of the Italian Navy. However, the cancellation of the order by the Italians and the immediate payment of a large sum by Greece to the Orlando shipyards of Livorno allowed its acquisition by the Greek navy. One fifth of the required expenditure was covered by the bequest of the great benefactor Georgios Averof. Much of the money for the purchase of the ship was covered by the National Fleet Fund, to which Greeks from all over the world contributed.
On September 1, 1911, the cruiser “Georgios Averof”, as it was called, sailed into the port of Piraeus. Until the start of the First Balkan War, the necessary gymnasiums were held for the preparation of the crew and the works for the improvement of the ship. The cruiser Averov had four 234 mm fast guns mounted in two twin turrets fore and aft and eight 190 mm fast guns in four twin turrets, two on each side. Her secondary armament consisted of three 450mm torpedo tubes and sixteen 76mm fast guns.
At noon on the 5th of October, the “Averof”, the flagship of the Greek fleet, under Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis, sailed from Piraeus heading northeast. Initially, the Greek fleet liberated Lemnos, choosing Moudros as its docking base. This was followed on October 18 by the torpedoing of the Ottoman battleship “Fethi Bulent” in the port of Thessaloniki by Nikolaos Votsis and then the liberation of a series of islands and coastal areas of Macedonia, such as Imbros, Agios Eustratios, Thassos, Tenedos, Athos peninsula, Ikaria, Lesvos and Chios.
The Ottoman fleet had not left the Dardanelles until the beginning of December, choosing the security offered by the outposts on either side of the Straits. After the capture of Tenedou, Kountouriotis had tried to provoke the Ottoman staffs in order to make an exit from the Straits. In his telegram he wrote that the Greek fleet had occupied Tenedos and was waiting for the enemy. In addition, Kountouriotis ironically emphasized that he was willing to grant coal to the Ottoman fleet in case there was a shortage.
The expected departure of the Ottoman fleet took place on the morning of December 3, 1912. It was led by the cruiser “Mejitiye” with three destroyers, followed by the battleships “Hayredin Barbarossa”, which was the flagship of the Ottoman fleet, “Turgut Reis”, “Mesudiye” and “Asari-i-Tefiq”. In the rear guard were five destroyers. On the Greek side, the cruiser “Averof” was lined up, accompanied by the battleships “Hydra”, “Spetses” and “Psara”. Behind them were the destroyers “Aetos”, “Ierax”, “Leon” and “Panther”.
The two fleets faced each other at 9.00 in the morning off Cape Hellas. They were separated by a distance of almost seventeen kilometers. Then, Kountouriotis signaled the beginning of the naval battle by sending the following signal to the ships of the “Averof” convoy: “With the power of God, the wishes of our King and in the name of the Righteous One, I sail with unyielding momentum and with the conviction of victory against the enemy of the Genus”. The daring maneuvers of “Averof” under Kountouriotis brought the success of the Greek fleet. Having suffered great material damage and being in danger of destruction, the ships of the Ottoman fleet retreated and entered the safety of the Straits.
It was a great victory of the Greek arms. The daring maneuvers of Kountouriotis worried the leadership of the Navy Ministry in Athens, which advised the admiral to remain calm. A possible loss of “Averof” would upset the correlation of forces in the Aegean. The victory of the Greek fleet in the naval battle of Lemnos at the beginning of January 1913 confirmed the sovereignty of the Greeks at sea.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
