On March 12, 1910, the launching ceremony of the battleship “G. Averof” took place in the Italian waters of Livorno. Numerous newspaper correspondents, mainly Greek but also Italians, had flocked to cover this historic event. As well as crowds of people, both expatriates and local Italians who watched with emotion this magnificent event.

From the Greek delegation, consul Mavrogodatos and our ambassador stood out in Rome Dimitrios Metaxas, while on the Italian side stood out the owners of shipyards, Orlando brothers and Admiral Marquis Vayo Ducarne, who represented the Ministry of the Italian Navy. The sanctification ceremony was held before the launch was performed by Archimandrite Kairofilas, who was a chaplain of the Greek community of Livorno.

The sanctification ceremony was followed by the speech of Ambassador D. Metaxas, who stated: “.. Within the name of King George I of the Greeks and honorary mandate of the Hellenic Government I baptize this Battleship and call her George Averof.” He then took the bottle of champagne, which as usual he broke in her Ship’s ribs. Then the excited crowd exclaimed “Long live Greece”, “Viva la Grecia”.

Finally, this was followed by the toast of the Italian manufacturer Orlando “[…] You can  tell your glorious Homeland that the Greek flag will fly decently on George Averoff […] Please raise our glasses for the happiness of Greece, in favor of the health of King George and the Royal Family. Long live Greece, Long live Italy”.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHIP

• Ship’s length: 140 m
  Ship’s max width: 21,5 m
  Ships’ draft: 7,5 m
  Weight: 10.200 tons
  Diameter of barrel of bow and stern Naval Gun (2 Twin Towers): 234 mm
  Diameter of barrel of side Naval Gun (4 Twin Towers): 190 mm
• Guns: The heavy armament of the ship consists of 4 Armstrong type guns 234 mm (9.2 ́) caliber arranged in two twin towers (one tower at the stern and one at the bow) and 8 Armstrong type guns 190 mm (7.5 ́) arranged in four twin turrets in pairs on each side of the ship.
• Artillery: 14 75 mm machine guns, 2 75 mm anti-aircraft guns, 4 fast guns of 47 mm, 3 torpedo tubes (2 underwater sides and 1 stern).
• Armour: Battleship belt 200 mm despite the middle and 80 mm. aside. Battleship deck side 50 mm , 175mm in the middle and 100 mm at the ends. Armor artillery 175 mm, towers of the big guns (234 mm) at 200 mm. thick, gun turrets (190mm) at 175mm thick, captain’s fort 175 mm.
• Engines: Two Italian four-cylinder reciprocating triple locomotives expansion and 22 French Belleville type hydraulic system boilers and German generators.
• Speed : Maximum test speed 23,9 knots.
• Fuels: Stores of 1,500 tons of coal.
• Energy radius: 7,125 km with speed of 10 knots and 2,489 km at a speed of 18 knots.