The outbreak of the First Balkan War was a natural consequence of a period of intense political and social changes in the Balkans. The weakening of the Ottoman Empire gave the opportunity to subjugated people to seek their freedom. The foundations of the Balkan Alliance were laid in February 1912 when Bulgaria and Serbia decided to conclude a bilateral defense agreement.

As Greece was not a member of the alliance, through his diplomatic efforts Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos finally reached rapprochement with the Balkan allies, especially with the Bulgarians, with whom there were differences. Thus, in May 1912 the Greek-Bulgarian defense treaty was signed and in July in 1912 a treaty was signed between Bulgaria and Montenegro, consolidating the creation of a coalition with an undeniable offensive edge against the Ottoman Empire. Among the allies, Bulgaria had the largest army, while Greece was burdened to face the Ottoman fleet at sea on its own.

On October 5, 1912, in the bay of Faliro, the declaration of war was announced on crews of the ships and in the afternoon of the same day, after inspection of the fleet by King George I as well as the promotion of Paul Kountouriotis to Rear Admiral, the fleet sailed. In the midst of intense excitement, the Aegean fleet was sailing to Limnos where it arrived at 01:00 in the morning of 6 October. Limnos was a strategic priority for Kountouriotis due to its geographical location and proximity to the Dardanelles Strait. By the afternoon of 8 October the island had been entirely fallen into hands of the Greek forces, without any particular problems. Almost immediately they began intensive works for the construction of the naval base of Moudros, through which the needs of the fleet would be met, in particular with regard to patrols in front of the Strait, in order to avoid surprise by a possible exit of the Ottoman fleet.

Then, the Greek fleet with relative ease liberated Thassos, Agios Efstratios and Imvros on October 18, Samothraki on October 19, Psara on 21 October and Tenedos on 24 October. It is noteworthy that the islands Imbros and Tenedos were occupied thanks to the landing of naval vessels coming from Averof. Then, on November 2 and 4, Mount Athos and Ikaria respectively. For Mount Athos specifically, because of its great religious significance value, his timely release was of particular importance as it had been confirmed that part of the Bulgarian army was heading to the area. The Greek ships “Averof”, “Panther” and “Ierax” arrived there in a hurry. Turkish gendarmes and officials eventually surrendered to Averof.

The task of the Greek forces in Lesvos and Chios proved to be much more difficult, as these islands had strong Ottoman garrisons. More specifically, on the morning of November 8, part of the fleet sailed to Lesbos, including the Averof. On the same day, a naval squadron and an infantry battalion were landed with the result of the liberation of Mytilene. The Turkish garrison withdrew to the interior of the island from where they continued to resist for five days until their final surrender to the numerically and qualitatively superior Greek army. As for Chios, on 10 November, a landing operation was carried out at the port of the city by a naval unit as well as an infantry company. Using rowing boats and under heavy enemy fire, the Greek forces landed violently and they overcame enemy resistance inside the city. The Turks withdrew to well-fortified mountain positions from where they put up fierce resistance for over a month. Finally, on December 20, the reinforced Greek forces raided and by the evening of the same day captured the whole Turkish garrison. The Aegean was now free.