Hellenic Navy - History - World Wars
In 1907 the Hellenic Navy General Staff was founded and its first chief was admiral Kountouriotis. In 1910 an English committee was sent, headed by admiral Tufnel in order to contribute to the organization and training of the navy. The committee led to the adoption of the English style of management, organization, and training, especially in the areas of strategy and insignia.During the Balkan wars of 1912 the Greek fleet consisted of the Battleship AVEROF and the old ships HYDRA, SPETAI, PSARA, 8 torpedo boats (of the THYELLA and NIKI type), 5 old German torpedo boats, 4 steamboats (of the ACHELOOS type) and other auxiliary ships. During the era of the war, 2 more torpedo boats were bought from Germany (NEA GENEA, and KERAVNOS) and 4 scouting boats from England (AETOS, IERAX, LEON, PANTHIR). Finally, the first of the 2 submarines (DELFIN, XIFIAS) which were ordered from France, arrived. The Greek fleet dominated the Aegean sea and crushed the Turkish fleet in the naval battles of the islands of Elli and Limnos. Consequently, the islands of the North and the Northeast Aegean sea were liberated under the leadership of admiral Kountouriotis.
Diplomatic tensions between Greece and the Ottoman Empire after the 1912-13 Balkan Wars found expression in each seeking to buy powerful warships abroad that would enable them to control the Aegean Sea. Determined as unsatisfactory for continued U.S. service, Mississippi and her sister ship, Idaho, were sold to Fred J. Gauntlett, an intermediary, on 8 July 1914, who then turned around and transferred them to the Greek government. "Those battleships," wrote then-U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau, "immediately took their places as the most powerful vessels of the Greek Navy, and the enthusiasm of the Greeks in obtaining them was unbounded." Two days after the sale, on 10 July 1914, Mississippi shifted to Newport News. There, she was decommissioned on 21 July 1914. She was turned over to the Royal Hellenic Navy the same day. "The U.S. sale of the Mississippi and Idaho to Greece," taken together with the German gift of the powerful battle cruiser Goeben and cruiser Breslau, proved "a major factor in Turkey's decision in October 1914 to enter [World War I] as Germany's partner." Renamed Kilkis to commemorate the Greek victory over Bulgarian troops in the Second Balkan War (4 July 1913), the battleship served in the Royal Hellenic Navy during the Allied Crimean Expedition to assist White Russian forces against Russian Bolsheviks in 1919 and served off Constantinople and Smyrna during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-22.
With the beginning of WWI, England proceeded to the confiscation of the under-construction Turkish and Greek ships as well as torpedo ships that where in the English shipyards at that time. The Greek fleet participated in the operations of the Aegean sea on the side of the allied forces, using light ships to which certain missions were assigned, such as patrolling, escorting merchant ships, etc. During the armistice the Greek and the allied fleet came into Propontis and anchored outside Constantinoupolis and Nicomidia and participated in the operations in Russia.
Later on, initially with the help of the allies and especially the English, and later on without any help at all, the Greek fleet participated in the mission for supporting the military operations in Thrace and the expedition in Asia Minor. After the expedition in Asia Minor ended (1922), there was an effort to renew most of the combat units. AVEROF and ELLI were repaired in France, the 4 torpedo ships in England and all the rest in Greece. For the first time with the addition of a commercial ship, the fleet was equipped with a mobile-repair team, which was based on that commercial ship called IFESTOS, and 6 submarines were ordered from France, of which the most notable were PAPANICOLIS and KATSONIS. The training of the officers was periodically advanced with English missions. The serving period of seamen was 18 months, and the vavy force included also some volunteers.
From 1928, under the governance of E. Venizelos, a peace orientated policy was established with the abundance of the so-called "Great-Idea" and the reduction of the Defense expenditures. After his fall in power in 1932, the political turbulence of the time was interrupted by a Venizelian military movement of 1935 and of course the dictatorship of I. Metaxas which changed the military scene. Two torpedo ships were ordered from England, the B. GEORGIOS and B. OLGA, 4 minesweeper ships were bought as well as 12 water planes and 1 tanker. At the same time plans were designed for the further reinforcement of the Hellenic navy and its preparation for the coming war. The coastal defense was organized according to the division of the coasts of the country into 6 naval defense areas, which although they were poorly supported financially, they managed to install air defense systems in land, organized mine fields and submarine blocks for the protection of crucial parts and bases throughout the country.
The Hellenic Navy has never been defeated. During World War II, when the rest of the country was occupied by the Axis powers, the Hellenic Navy remained free and joined the Allied forces in Egypt. This success was due to constantly striving for quality and continuous readiness.
After the sinking of ELLI in the port of Tinos on 15-08-1940 by the Italian submarine Delfino, the Hellenic Navy General Staff decided to move towards the first stages of war. The basic tactic chosen by the navy was the confrontation of every attack made by the enemy until the arrival of the English fleet in the area. The beginning of the war found the navy prepared for war actions. Initially the ships were assigned the task to escort suppliers for the army fighting in Albania. Additionally the Greek submarines took action against sea transportation of the enemy in the Adriatic Sea with bright success. However, when Germany initiated the plan Barbarosa, the aircrafts of the Luftwaffe flying from Bulgarian Air-bases launched severe attacks against the Hellenic navy and commercial ships as well as against the land installations throughout the whole country.
The losses of the fleet were tragic. 25 ships sank between 4 and 25th of April 1941. The Commander-in-Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff admiral A. Sakelariou made the decision (following the political leaders of the country) to continue the struggle. Consequently the gradual retreat of the remaining ships began. Initially they headed to Souda of Crete and later on to Alexandria. By the end of April 1941 there were 17 Greek ships (1 battle ship, 6 torpedo ships, 5 submarines and 1 auxiliary) in the bight of Alexandria, the only ones that united with the English fleet and represented at the same time the only free Greek soil.
The Hellenic ships, except for B. OLGA, were old and heavily used for war purposes, and thus, needed to be repaired so they could be able to correspond to their future role. The ships of the fleet have been repaired in the English shipbuilding bases in Egypt and India and their armament was replaced by one of new technology. The basic missions of the ships once again involved were to escort other ships, and patrol in the Mediterranean as well as in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, aiming mainly to the support of the Soviet Union. At the same time, schools operated in Egypt in order to train old members and newcomers.
Personnel was sent to England for the receipt of new ships. Furthermore, the service that was created for the destruction of mines resulted into the creation of a whole fleet of minesweepers. The Hellenic ships resisted hard with sacrifice in the so-called battle of Alexandria, denying escaping to the Red Sea, even when the forces of Rommel were preparing for a counter-attack.
In 1942 the English delivered to the Hellenic navy a whole squad of the latest models of torpedo-boats, which were named KANARIS, MIAOULIS, PINDOS, ANDRIAS, as well as the corvette SACHTOURIS and the submarine MATROZOS. Many of the damages and the losses of the enemy occurred because of the action of the Hellenic ships, whose crews were full of courage, devotion, and willingness to sacrifice themselves. On the other hand, the contact with Greece was not lost. The Hellenic submarines were constantly patrolling the Greek coasts carrying British and Greek commandos as well as war material. They captured or sank enemy vessels, terrorized the Italians in the Dodekanese and caused many casualties to the Germans in the Aegean Sea.
On 18-09-43 the B. OLGA was a protagonist in all the great victories against the enemy in the Mediterranean. Together with 2 English torpedo boats it destroyed the German enemy that was ready to unload troops in Dodekanese. However, it sank after a severe attack by Stuka-type German aircraft in the port of Leros. While the attacks of the other allied ships were concentrated in the Dodekanese, ADRIAS was in the front line during the bombing of the coasts of Kalymnos. The night of 22-10-1943 its bow exploded after hiting on a mine. Despite the fire and the damages in her armament, its wounded captain I. Toumpas ordered the crew to collect the castaways of an English torpedo boat and to return to the port of Alexandria. The ship and its crew were welcomed as heroes.
The action of the navy was completed with the initiation of the plan "return of the navy to Greece" which defined the way of the arrival of the fleet and the government from Egypt back home. During the end of the war, the ships of the fleet were spread to the islands and the ports of the Aegean sea aiming to hunt down the last remaining elements of the enemy, escort ships with supplies for civilians and the refreshing of old naval services that would in turn contribute to the establishment of the Hellenic governance. It also participated to the overthrowing of EAM-HELLAS from the coastal areas and especially from the area of Athens.
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