ARMORED CRUISER GEORGIOS AVEROF

The History of a Legend

The performance and achievements of certain units of the Greek fleet are sometimes pivotal moments in naval history. The case of the century-long service of the armored cruiser  Georgios  Averof  confirms this truth. It is questionable whether in global history we could find another warship that was so closely linked to the history and destiny of a nation for nearly half a century. The battleship “G.  Averof,” along with the personality and patriotic ethos of Admiral  Pavlos  Kountouriotis , forever associated its name with the shaping of historical events of national significance, never knowing defeat or disgrace.

In 1909, it was realized that the strategic, technological, and operational demands of a war in the Greek seas required the inclusion of a fast battleship in the Greek fleet to enable the navy to cover potential theaters of naval operations against the Ottoman Empire. The battleship “Georgios  Averof” is the crown jewel of the armament program, which began during the governance of  Charilaos Trikoupis  and continued with fluctuations until 1911. The Mavromichalis government approached the Orlando Shipyards in Livorno, Italy, for the purchase of an incomplete ship (armored cruiser). The  Averof  was then purchased for 23,000,000 gold drachmas, two million less than the cost of its sister ship, Pisa. One-fifth of the required expenditure was covered by the legacy of the wealthy Georgios  Averof, and the ship was named after him,while the rest was covered by the National Fleet Fund and the Greek Government.

The G. Averof  was launched on March 12, 1910, and on September 1, 1911, it arrived at Piraeus. Shortly thereafter, it headed to Pagasitikos, where major exercises took place, and significant areas for improvement were noted. The Averof was the most powerful and modern naval unit of the Balkan Wars. It had a length of 140.6 meters, a width of 21 meters, and a displacement of 10,118 tons. The armored cruiser was equipped with Italian engines of 19,000 horsepower, 22 French boilers, German generators, and British Armstrong guns of 7.5 in and 9.2 in with a maximum speed of 23 knots.Specifically, its artillery consisted of 4 guns of 9.2 in , mounted in two twin turrets at the bow and stern, 8 guns of 7.5 in ,in four twin turrets, two on each side in the middle, and 16 quick-firing guns of 3 in. Over the next two decades, Averof‘s  artillery was significantly upgraded. It also had two side-mounted underwater torpedo tubes and one stern-mounted. The ship’s defense consisted of a belt of steel armor extending the full length from bow to stern.

The ship did not take long to experience its baptism of fire. In October 1912, with the onset of the First Balkan War, the G. Averof, as the flagship of the Aegean Fleet under Admiral  Pavlos  Kountouriotis, sailed towards the Dardanelles. It captured Lemnos, and in the bay of Moudros, it established the fleet’s forward anchorage. This was followed by the capture of Mount Athos and the islands of the northern and eastern Aegean (Thasos, Samothraki, Imbros, Tenedos , Agios Efstratios, Mytilene, and Chios).

Despite its many technical virtues, the Greeks knew that the Averof‘s armor could be penetrated by the 28 cm shells of the Turkish battleships Hayreddin Barbarossa and Turgut  Reis. This is something these Turkish battleships unsuccessfully attempted during the Battle of Elli (16/12/12). In this victorious battle, the Averof  boldly pursued the enemy fleet from dangerously close distances, exploiting its speed advantage over the Turkish fleet. During the Battle of Lemnos  (18/1/1913), the Averof  engaged  the enemy from much greater distances. As in the Battle of Elli, the Ottoman fleet retreated to its base, with the Greek flagship pursuing, maneuvering across the Turkish line so that both sides of the Averof  could  have a firing arc.

At the onset of World War I in August 1914 and until the end of the year, the Averof patrolled the perimeter of the Dardanelles to prevent the Ottoman fleet from entering the Aegean. Throughout 1915 and much of 1916, the Averof  participated in intense naval exercises. Greece entered World War I on the side of the Entente in June 1917, and a year later, the Averof joined the Allied Aegean squadron in Moudros. With the end of the global conflict in October 1918, Turkey surrendered (Armistice of Moudros), and Greece was among the victors.

On October 31, 1918, the Averof sailed into Constantinople with the Allied Aegean squadron, and in April 1919, it anchored off Odessa on the day the city was captured by the Bolsheviks. On May 15, 1919, it supported the landing of Greek expeditionary forces in Smyrna. From October 1919 to June 1920, Averof‘s engines were repaired in Malta. In July 1920, it participated in the operation to capture Raidestos, and on May 25, 1922, it bombarded Samsun.

After the signing of peace treaties, the G. Averof, along with the rest of the fleet, transported Greek troops to Ionia. The developments in the Asia Minor Campaign quickly took a negative turn, culminating in the Catastrophe of 1922. The G. Averof was once again on the Asia Minor coast, this time helping to evacuate troops and displaced Greeks.

Between the end of the Asia Minor Campaign in October 1922 and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923, the Averof  participated in intense naval exercises. It was refitted in France between 1925 and 1927 and led most of the fleet’s exercises until the passage of the naval program in 1931. Afterward, its movements were limited for financial reasons.

In the last four years before Greece entered World War II, the Averof  was reactivated, undertaking official voyages abroad. However, despite its reactivation, its maximum speed did not exceed 16 miles due to the deterioration of its boilers, and its combat capability had dropped to one-third of its original strength.

At the start of World War II, the G. Averof was the flagship of the Greek navy. 

The bombing of the naval base by Italian planes on November 1, 1940, led to the Greek flagship being relocated to Elefsina, where it remained throughout the Greco-Italian war. On April 18, 1941, the Averof, following the initiative of its officers and crew, sailed to Souda and then to the Middle East after conflicting orders, administrative delays, and rumors of its scuttling before the advancing German forces entered Athens.

During its first two months in Alexandria, the Averof was used as the headquarters of the Greek Ministry of Navy. On September 10 of the same year, the Averof anchored in Bombay, and after a brief refit there, it participated in convoy escort duties and patrols in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

The Averof returned to Port Said on November 23, 1942, and served as the Fleet Headquarters until January 1944. It also operated as a training center until August 26, 1944. It coordinated and significantly supported the operation that led to the liberation of Greece in October 1944.

After the German occupation forces withdrew in late September 1944, the once-glorious Averof returned to Greece on the afternoon of October 16, 1944, bringing with it the exiled Greek government and anchoring triumphantly in Faliron Bay. 

In May 1945, it transported the regent, Archbishop Damaskinos, to Thessaloniki and Rhodes, where the union of the Dodecanese with Greece was formalized.The Averof continued to house the fleet commander’s headquarters until 1951. In 1952, it was ordered to be decommissioned, and in 1957, it was moored at Poros in front of the main training facility, where it remained until 1983. Then, the Greek Navy convinced the country’s leadership to convert it into a floating museum at Paleo Faliro, with a significant part of the restoration expenses from 1985 to the present covered by private donations. Since 2015, the armored cruiser G. Averof  has been the headquarters ship of the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff.

Throughout its long history, the armored cruiser Averof experienced great moments of glory. Its actions reflect the history of Greece in the 20th century, a Greece that the Averof  helped secure its current borders.

Today, the Floating Naval Museum G. Averof is not only a place of historical memory but also an active educational community, welcoming daily visits from schools, institutions, organizations, and many individuals.