The Battle of Elli: Salamis Second Edition
An explosive situation developed in the Balkans at the beginning of the 20th century. It was not for nothing that the old fox Bismarck made his famous expression: "If there is another war in Europe, it will start with some stupidity in the Balkans." And he was right! Meanwhile, the reason for this prophecy was the most elementary: the "iron chancellor" knew very well that the existing borders of the new independent states - Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro - were drawn quite artificially and did not take into account the millions of Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs who remained subjects of the "Caliph of the Faithful". And this, considering the not very good condition of the "sick man of Europe", caused a natural desire to solve the problem at the expense of the Ottoman Empire.
'The Boiling Cauldron', a cartoon by Leonard Raven-Hill for Punch magazine, illustrating the situation in the Balkans: England, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia are trying to prevent war on the peninsula.
However, everything was somewhat more complicated. Russia put a lot of effort into creating the Balkan Union from Orthodox, and for the most part also Slavic (except Greece, of course) states. But Russian diplomats wanted to see the union directed against Austria-Hungary, and the local elites were much more interested in Turkey. On its ruins, all members of the union dreamed of creating a Greater Greece, a Greater Bulgaria and other great powers of the Balkan variety. There was another reason why the allies looked with appetite at the Turkish possessions: all these countries had claims against each other, but they hated the Turks much more, and this gave the Balkan Union unity.
The Bulgarians on the attack - the strongest army of the Balkan Union was the Bulgarian.
At the beginning of the war, Bulgaria had the strongest army in the Union, while Greece was needed because it had a very good fleet. At least, compared to the fleets of the other allies. The Greeks began to build their naval forces (Helleniko Basiliko Nautiko, abbreviated BN) in earnest under Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis. They began with training personnel: in 1879, the Naval Cadet School was created, in 1884 - the Naval Academy, in 1887 - the Central Preparatory School on the island of Paros. The main base of the BN was built on the island of Salamis, where it remains to this day.
The coastal defense battleship Idra is old but mighty.
In 1884, a French naval mission headed by Rear Admiral Joseph Lejeune arrived in Greece. The first modern ships were also ordered from France, namely the sail-steam cruiser Miaoulis. There was a pinch of money in Greece, so the ship was purchased with funds raised by the Society for the Creation of a National Fleet. The cruiser lived a quiet life, was used to display the flag in foreign ports, and later future BN officers were trained on it.
Later, the gunboats Mikali, Sfaktiria, Naupakia and Amvrikia (later renamed Alpha, Betta, Gamma and Delta) were ordered from France. These were small ships with a very shallow draft of only 1,5 meters, designed for combat operations in the shallow Ambracian Gulf. Built in 1880, the gunboats waited for their time and in the First Balkan War they operated exactly there and exactly as planned.
Subsequently, the Greeks purchased a pair of flat-bottomed gunboats from England for combat operations in this gulf – the Actaeon and the Amvrakia. They also purchased the minelayers Aegialia, Monemvasia and Nafplia from the British. The Yarrow company also built six numbered torpedo boats for the BN, and the Blackwall company built the gunboats Achelous, Alfios, Eurotas and Pinios. In 1889, the French built the battleships Hydra, Spetses and Psara. In general, the BN became the most powerful fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean.
"Unfortunately, we went bankrupt!"
The only spot on the sun of the creation of the Greek fleet were the words of its father, Charilaos Trikoupis, said in 1893: "Unfortunately, we are bankrupt!" And indeed, the fleet is an expensive pleasure, and Greece is a poor country, so it was not able to afford the maintenance of all the above-described magnificence. This was especially clearly highlighted by the "Strange War" of 1897, which began with the Cretan uprising. Without going into details, it can be stated: BN did not show itself in the events that took place. Not at all. The Turks were so afraid of the Greek fleet that they did not show their noses out of the ports, but the state of the country's Navy itself, due to eternal financial problems, turned out to be so deplorable that they did not even take active actions to support the coastal flanks of the army (as it turned out at the beginning of the war, the torpedoes of the Greek destroyers did not have fulminate of mercury in the detonators, everything else was more or less in the same spirit).
"Hayreddin Barbarossa" during his time as "Elector Friedrich Wilhelm".
After the "Phoney War", the Turks began to strengthen their fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean. Old but quite serviceable Brandenburg-class battleships were purchased from Germany, which became the Hayreddin Barbarossa and Turgut Rey in the Ottoman Empire (the Turks tried to buy Blucher-class armored cruisers, but did not have enough money). The Hamidiye and Medjidiye Elswicks were purchased from the British and Americans, 4 Schichau-class destroyers from the Germans, 4 Creusot destroyers and 4 torpedo boats from the French, and 6 Ansaldo torpedo boats from the Italians. In short, the Greek advantage in forces evaporated. And the Greeks decided to increase the power of the BN once again!
Georgios Averos is a man...
There was enough money to buy 4 Yarrow destroyers and 4 German Vulcan destroyers. As well as a couple of French submarines. But something stronger was needed, especially since this “something” was on the market. Italy had recently built the armored cruiser Genoa, of the Amalfi type, and was not averse to selling it. But money! There was no money. The wealthy Greek merchant family Averof came to the rescue, buying the cruiser for the country, on the condition that the ship be named in honor of the founder of the family, Georgios Averof. Kyrie Georgios had made a solid fortune trading in Arabian gum, ivory, and also owning many ships that scurried up and down the Nile. True, evil tongues claimed that, in full accordance with Lope de Vega, “he was a major merchant in Greece, and he considered the slave trade to be his most profitable part”... But this has not been proven (although for some reason the Omdurman quarter, where the slave market used to be, still bears his name to this day)!
...and a steamship!
One way or another, the 300 pounds sterling that Averof left in his will for the needs of the Greek fleet were spent either on the first installment or on the entire purchase of the Italian ship that was given his name. Georgios Averof arrived in Greece in September 1911, so by the beginning of the First Balkan War there was simply no more modern ship in the Aegean Sea. No, theoretically the Turkish battleships had artillery larger caliber, but in practice...
Mk X gun at battery in Gibraltar 1942
The cruiser's main caliber (in Greece it was considered a battleship, but those were the Greeks!) consisted of four 4'' guns in two turrets - one at the bow and one at the stern. These were very good Vickers Mk X guns with a barrel length of 9,2 calibers, firing 45-kg shells at a range of up to 170 km with a rate of fire of 26,7-3 rounds per minute. The success of the gun design is evidenced by its long life: it was in service in Great Britain from 4 to 1899 (and in Portugal - until 1956!). The auxiliary battery was represented by four twin-gun turrets armed with 1998'' guns with a barrel length of 7,5 calibers. They fired shells weighing 45 kg at a distance of up to 91 km with a rate of fire of 22-2 rounds per minute. The anti-torpedo caliber consisted of 3 16'' guns, in addition there were four 3'' "1,85-pounder" quick-firing Hotchkiss guns (after all, they had to salute with something when entering foreign ports!).
The ship's command was taken over by Captain 2nd Rank Ioannis Damianos on 16 May 1911, but a mutiny broke out on the ship in Spithead: the Greek sailors did not know that blue cheese was a delicacy, but decided that they were being fed expired cheese... In short, the commander was removed from his post, and a new one was appointed - Captain 2nd Rank (I translate the title "captain" as Captain 2nd Rank, although in the American naval rank system it is more likely Captain 1st Rank) Pavlos Kountouriotis. With the outbreak of war, Kountouriotis was promoted to Rear Admiral and became the commander of the BN, and his place on the flagship's bridge was taken by Sofoklis Dousmanis.
Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis
Since the Turkish fleet was based in the Dardanelles, the Greeks' main task was to blockade the strait. The squadron of Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis consisted of the Georgios Averof, the coastal defense battleships Hydra, Psara and Spetses, and 14 destroyers. Nearby were another 5 ancient destroyers and a submarine used for patrol duty. The main striking force of the Turkish fleet was the two former Brandenburgs - Hayreddin Barbarossa and Torgut Reis. In addition to them, the fleet included the Messudiye, an ancient (1876) casemate battleship, heavily modernized in 1897 and after modernization became an armored cruiser, and the even older (1868) Asar-i Tevfik, a 2nd rank barbette battleship, modernized in 1903-06. The most modern ships of the Turkish fleet were the small armored deck cruisers Hamidiye and Mecidiye.
Cruiser "Hamidiye"
The Greek squadron landed troops on Lemnos, captured several islands, but Rear Admiral Kountouriotis wanted a fight with the Turkish fleet. He addressed the Turkish Admiral Ramiz Bey by radio with a mocking address: “We have captured Tenedos. We are waiting for your fleet to leave. If you need coal, I can provide it to you.” On December 16, 1912, the Turks accepted the challenge.
"Battle of Elli" - painting by artist Vasileios Hatzis
The Turkish fleet was in frontal formation: Hayreddin Barbarossa, Torgut Reis, Messudiye and Assari Tevfik. Mecidiye and 8 destroyers remained in reserve, Hamidiye had been torpedoed the day before by the Bulgarian destroyer Derzkiy and was undergoing repairs. The Greeks, noticing the Turks, lined up in a wake column. In the vanguard, at a great distance (about 1000 meters) from the main forces, were large destroyers in the amount of four units, followed by Georgios Averof and three coastal defense battleships.
The Turks opened fire at 9:10, being 12500 meters (there are different data on the distance of the beginning of the battle: from 12000 to 14000 meters) from the enemy. However, the accuracy of the fire was terrible, and the Greeks did not respond for 10 minutes. Then, Georgios Averof responded from its main caliber turrets, followed by the battleships. The squadrons were sailing in parallel columns, conducting a sluggish exchange of fire, when Kountouriotis on his flagship broke away from the battleships and went to intersect the course of the Turkish squadron - a classic "Crossing the T"! With his maneuver, the Greek admiral wanted to cut the Turks off from the shore and take them in two fires, while the battleships slowed down, distracting the enemy squadron. The maneuver was risky: the Averof had a lighter main caliber than the former Brandenburgs, and Turkish coastal batteries could fire at it from the shore, but it was the fastest ship in both fleets - it showed 23,6 knots during trials, and considering that the ship was new, it most likely could not go much slower in battle.
Turkish battleship Messudiye, a veteran of the last Russo-Turkish war.
The Greek flagship concentrated its fire on Ramiz Bey's ship, the Hayreddin Barbarossa. The superiority of the Vickers guns in rate of fire made itself felt: soon the rear main caliber turret on the Turkish flagship was disabled, the forward artillery post was destroyed, several boilers were damaged by shrapnel, a large hole appeared above the armor belt, and to top it all off, a fire started in the coal bunkers. The Georgios Averof also got it: one Turkish shell hit the hull just above the waterline, the second pierced the forward smokestack, the third and fourth hit the spar deck area, and the ship was also hit by 15 smaller-caliber shells.
The destroyer Ethos (Eagle) is an Englishman in Greek service.
At 9:50 the Turks decided to leave the battle, and Ramiz Bey's squadron made a 16-degree turn, heading for the Dardanelles - under the protection of coastal batteries. True, the turn was executed very poorly, the ships broke formation, blocked each other's sectors of fire, the squadron's speed dropped to 10 knots. It would seem that the Turkish fleet should be finished off, but...
A section of the Georgios Averof's davit, pierced by a Turkish shell, in the museum
The Greeks' situation was also far from brilliant: the Averof was badly damaged, at 10 o'clock a fire started on one of the battleships, the Turkish ships were able to use their auxiliary artillery (the destroyers had to save the situation by attacking the cruiser Messudiye and forcing it to abandon the formation), and the Greek admiral decided that it was not worth risking the ships when the battle, in fact, had already been won - the Turks clearly did not have the strength to break out of the Dardanelles, and Ramiz Bey made every effort to hide in the safe strait. At 10:15 the battle ceased, although the Turks tried to shoot at nothing for another ten minutes.
The balance of forces at the Battle of Lemnos
The material results of the Battle of Elli are not impressive: not a single ship was sunk, the Greeks had two dead and six wounded. The Turks did not have much more: five dead and twenty-one wounded (there is also other data - the Greeks count the number of Turks killed in the dozens). Ramiz Bey immediately upon returning to the Dardanelles sent the Sultan a report on his victory, to which the touched Sultan sent him the flag of Hayreddin Barbarossa - a Turkish (okay, Algerian, but what difference does it make?) admiral of the 16th century, after whom the Turkish flagship battleship was named. But the real results of the battle were impressive! The Ottoman Empire lost control over the Aegean Sea. The Greeks received the Aegean islands, including Lesbos, Chios, Lemnos and Samos. The Turks did not feel defeated and tried to recoup a month later. In the battle of Lemnos, the Turkish squadron once again attempted to defeat the Greek fleet blockading the Dardanelles. This time, the defeat of the Turks was not in doubt!
It is dangerous to lose wars! The Young Turks kill Nazim Pasha for failures on the battlefield...
The Sultan decided to start peace negotiations, but a revolution occurred, the Young Turks overthrew the government... In fact, story The Ottoman Empire was coming to an end, forces were emerging that were ready for radical changes that would soon happen, but that is another story!
Information