“Aetos” ( Greek Αετός - eagle) - Greek destroyer of the same type . He took part in the Balkan Wars , the First World War and the Second World War. It was built, like the other three ships of the series, commissioned by Argentina at the Cammell Laird shipyard . The Argentines named the ship San Luis . In 1912, all ships in the series were urgently bought by Greece for £ 148,000 each. Greece wanted to strengthen its navy in view of the impending Balkan wars. For this series of destroyers in the Greek fleet, the nickname “animals” was fixed ( Greek Θηρία ).
| Aetos | |
|---|---|
| Greek Αετός | |
 | |
| Service | |
 Greece | |
| Named after | |
| Class and type of vessel | Destroyer |
| Organization | Greek Navy |
| Manufacturer | Cammell Laird , Liverpool |
| Commissioned | 1912 year |
| Withdrawn from the fleet | 1946 year |
| Main characteristics | |
| Displacement | empty 880 tons total 1,033 tons |
| Length | 89.4 meters |
| Width | 8.3 meters |
| Draft | 3.0 meters |
| Engines | 4 coal-fired boilers ( Solid fuel boiler ) and 1 boiler for fuel oil, PM? 1925: 4 Yarrow boilers installed |
| Power | 23 000 liters with. |
| Speed | 31 knots . After the modernization of 1925, 32 knots |
| Crew | 58 |
| Armament | |
| Navigational weapons | 3 spotlights |
| Artillery | 1912: 4 × 102 mm Bethleem rapid-firing guns 1942: 2 × 102 mm Bethleem rapid-firing guns left |
| Flak | 1912: 1 × 75 mm 1925: replaced by 1 × 37 mm and quad 40 mm “ pom-pom ” 1942: 1 × 76 mm and 1 × 20 mm Erlikon added |
| Anti-submarine weapons | 1942: installation 123Α |
| Mine torpedo armament | 1912: 6 torpedo tubes 20, 8 inches (533 mm) 1925: additional 40 min 1942: 3 TA (fodder TA removed), 40 min [1] . |
The destroyer raised the Greek flag on May 19, 1912, while still in England and with a foreign crew on board. The foreign crew took over the destroyer to Algeria , where he and other ships of the series were awaited by the mobilized support vessel Ionia ( Greek Ιωνία ) with Greek crews on board. At the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, Aetos crashed and turned out to be uncontrollable due to serious mechanical damage. It was towed by one of the "animals" and towed to Algeria, after which it stood for repair for 5 weeks.
During the Balkan Wars , only basic ammunition (3,000 shells) was acquired. Due to the lack of torpedoes, the destroyers of the series during this period were listed as reconnaissance ships. During the Balkan Wars, the captain A. Durutis was the commander of the ship.
Together with the destroyer Ieraks, on October 21 ( November 3 ), 1912, Aetos liberated the island of Psara . The Turkish garrison and the Turkish population settled here after the massacre of 1824 did not show resistance and 4 thousand Turks surrendered to the Greek sailors without a fight. The only shell that launched Aetos for intimidation dismembered the local mufti [2] .
On December 3 (16), 1912, Aetos, together with three other "beasts," took part in the Greek victory over the Turkish fleet at Elli . On December 9 (22), four “beasts” and the “ Dolphin ” submarine took part in a fleeting naval battle, intercepting the Turkish cruiser Medzhidiye and four Turkish destroyers trying to get out of the Dardanelles . During this battle, "Dolphin" launched a torpedo attack "Medzhidiye" [3] . The Beasts, along with four Greek battleships and five other destroyers, took part in the subsequent Greek victory over the Turkish fleet at Lemnos , after which the Turkish fleet no longer dared to leave the straits [4] .
During the First World War, the destroyer was delayed in the Entente's military operations due to the initial neutrality of Greece. All four "beasts" were confiscated by the Allies in October 1916 and transferred to the French in November, after which they were part of the French fleet from 1917 to 1918. In 1918, the ships were returned to Greece in a deplorable state and it took a lot of efforts of the crews to bring them in proper condition to perform the tasks of escorting convoys. The destroyer took part in the evacuation of the Greek population from Russia during the civil war in Russia, as well as in the Asia Minor campaign of the Greek army (1919-1922), supporting the landing of the Greek army in the Sea of Marmara and on the Asia Minor coast of the Aegean.
After the war, Aetos underwent modernization in the period 1925-1927. In 1925, in England, its 4 solid fuel boilers and 1 fuel oil boiler were replaced by 4 Yarrow boilers. At the same time, his silhouette also changed: instead of 5 chimneys, 2 were installed on the ship.
The destroyer was among the ships of the Greek fleet, able to go to the Middle East after the invasion of Nazi Germany in Greece in April 1941. Aetos continued to participate in World War II together with the British Royal Navy , acting as part of the convoy guard forces and operations in the Indian Ocean . In the period from December 1941 to February 1942 he went through the modernization of weapons at the shipyard in Calcutta . Withdrawn from the Greek fleet in 1946 [1]
Heirs
- Aetos II . Joined the fleet in 1951.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΝΟΠΛΩΝ ΔΥΝΑΜΕΩΝ
- ↑ Σόλων Ν. Γρηγοριάδης, Οι Βαλκανικοί Πόλεμοι 1912-1913, εκδ. Φυτράκη 1979, σελ120
- ↑ Σόλων Ν. Γρηγοριάδης, Οι Βαλκανικοί Πόλεμοι 1912-1913, εκδ. Φυτράκη 1979, σελ130
- ↑ Σόλων Ν. Γρηγοριάδης, Οι Βαλκανικοί Πόλεμοι 1912-1913, εκδ. Φυτράκη 1979, σελ131
Links
- στην επίσημη ιστοσελίδα του Ελληνικού Πολεμικού Ναυτικού (link not available)
- Five-pipe destroyers