After the glorious victories of the Hellenic armed forces on the battlefields of Balkan Wars, followed by a turbulent period that shook the foundations of the Greek state. There was a difference of opinions between two initiators of Greek triumph, Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and King Constantinos, on the issue of Greece’s involvement in World War I that had been raging since July 1914. Konstantinos, convinced of the victory of the Central Powers led by the German Empire, he considered that the country had to maintain its neutrality. On the contrary, Venizelos advocated in favor of Greece’s entry into the Great War, on the side of the allies of the Entente Allies which had as their core the Anglo-French axis. It is worth noting that the Ottoman Empire had joined the Central Forces camp early on. He created the “National Defense Movement” (which was joined by Admiral P. Kountouriotis in Thessaloniki, declaring the country’s participation in the War). With the help of the Allies, Venizelos a year later obtained full political power in the country.
Greece entered the war in July 1917 and the Hellenic Army defeated the Bulgarians on the heights of Skra in May 1918. In the same year, the reorganization of the Fleet began under the Venizelos government, with priority given to the Battleships and especially the Averof. During the period when Greece participated in the war, the operational action of the “Averof” was minimal, as the Turkish Fleet remained locked up in the Dardanelles due to the naval superiority of the Allies.
On November 11, 1918, the end of World War I found Greece among the Winners. Lemnos was preceded by the signing of an armistice between its allies Entente and the Ottoman Empire on October 17, 1918. The Averof sailed to the Bosporus with the Allied armada and on November 14, 1918 dropped anchor in front of the Dolmabahce Sultan’s Palace in Istanbul. For the first time in almost 5 centuries, a Greek military force was entering triumphantly, in the former capital of the Byzantine Empire. The enthusiasm of the Greeks of Constantinople was unparalleled . On the contrary, the envy of the Turks was such that they were planning the attempt to sink the Hellenic Battleships Averof and Kilkis.
Later, Averof was called upon to reinforce the allied forces fighting against the Bolsheviks in Crimea, Russia. Initially, the ship sailed to Odessa to reinforce the battleship Kilkis and later to Sevastopoli. In the end, however, set sail again to Constantinople because the government decided that her presence there was necessary.
