World War I and after:1914.E2.80.931940 History of the Hellenic Navy

greek battleship lemnos @ constantinople in 1919

the navy, shortly before balkan wars, composed of destroyer , battleship fleet. mission offensive, aiming @ capturing ottoman-held islands of eastern aegean, , establish naval supremacy in area. end, commander-in-chief, rear admiral pavlos kountouriotis, established forward base @ moudros bay @ lemnos, directly opposite dardanelles straits. after defeating 2 turkish sallies straits @ elli (december 1912) , lemnos (january 1913), aegean sea secured greece.

the balkan wars followed rapid escalation between greece , ottoman empire on yet unclear status of islands of eastern aegean. both governments embarked on naval armaments race, greece purchasing obsolete battleships lemnos , kilkis , light cruiser elli ordering 2 dreadnoughts, vasilefs konstantinos , salamis , number of destroyers. however, outbreak of first world war, construction of dreadnoughts stopped.

initially during war, greece followed course of neutrality, prime minister eleftherios venizelos favoring entente , pro-german king constantine advocating neutrality. dispute led deep political conflict, known national schism . in november 1916, in order apply pressure on royal government in athens, french confiscated greek ships (see noemvriana). continued operate french crews, in convoy escort , patrol duties in aegean, until greece entered war on side of allies in july 1917, @ point returned greece. subsequently, greek navy took part in allied operations in aegean, in allied expedition in support of denikin s white armies in ukraine, , in operations of greco-turkish war of 1919–1922 in asia minor.

after greece s catastrophic defeat, 1920s , 1930s politically turbulent period, economy in bad state, navy received no new units, apart modernization of 4 destroyers , acquisition of 6 french submarines in 1927 , 4 italian destroyers in 1929.