The revival of the Royal Hellenic navy can be dated to the commissioning of the Italian-built armored cruiser
Averoff, in May, 1911. She (or, more correctly "He", since it was christened after the Greek businessman Georgios Averoff, who financed the purchase) has been termed
"a fleet by it self", referring to the sophistication (relatively speaking) of the various weapons systems that it carried.
Another vessel, a much larger one, but of the same category, was ordered from the St Nazaire navy yard, in 1903. It was based on the latest French ACR:s then building: the
Leon Gambettas,
Jules Michelet and
Ernest Renan classes. But, since the cash-strapped Greek government could only afford one vessel, it needed to be the very best the French could design. Emile Bertin did not disappoint.
It was a true behemoth: at 14,620 tons std and 16,375 tons fully loaded the ship easily outweighed not only the
Averoff, but practically any ACR:s then extant or building; including the massive American
Tennessee-, and the British
Minotaur-classes. Overall dimensions were LoA: 166,8 m(547-2ft), Width: 22.5 m (73-8ft), Draught: 8.01 m (26-2
5/8])
Its armament was outright jaw-dropping: no fewer than 22(!) 7.6" (194mm) cal.50 guns were carried. Of these four were in twin turrets forward and aft; eight were in single beam turrets and, finally ten were in casemates along the hull side; four in forward double casemates. No secondaries were carried; only a wholly insufficient anti-torpedoboat armament consisting of 22 75mm guns were straddled along the hull side and the superstructures. She carried three u/w 450mm TT:s in a rather large forward torpedo compartment.
The ship had a very generous freeboard, ensuring, in theory, that even the lowermost casemated guns should be acceptably dry in even quite rough seaways; however, as with the British
Duke of Edinburghs, in practice, the
Stemma (for that was the ship's name) had trouble keeping the lower gun-decks dry, due to the extremely long barrels. Also they caused considerable spray that made accurate targeting and range estimates virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the main armament was extremely powerful: the turrets were both electrically and hydraulically operated. The 7.6" (194mm) cal. 50 Mod. 1902 fired a shell that weighed 90 kg. The gun was accurate enough, but was considered a lighter-than-necessary weapon, and compared badly with the British 9.2" (234mm) gun that the
Averoff was outfitted with. An impressive broadside of no fewer than 13 7.6" guns could be fired though. Maximum range was 25,960 meters (28,390 yds) at 45 degree elevation.
The protection was typical French: A lower Krupp-cemented belt, extending over the vitals and 150mm thick at the middle, tapering to 70 mm at the ends was superimposed by an upper belt that enclosed the upper casemates and was 38-50-70 mm thick, again tapering at the ends. The main armored deck was 45mm thick with a splinter deck above it 35mm thick Nickel steel The upper and main decks were closed off by bulkheads 50mm and 20mm thick, all of Nickel steel. Central, amidships bulkhead was 200 mm Krupp cemented. Turret crowns were protected by Harvey steel, 50mm thick, ammunition hoists were Nickel steel 30mm. Magazines were protected by 35-45mm thick bulkheads. Turrets were between 200mm to 70mm and Krupp-cemented; Conning-tower between 200-125mm thickness of Krupp-cemented. Barbettes (which were fairly shallow) were 180mm thick.
Machinery consisted of three Penhoët four cyl. triple expansion engines in two engine rooms, fired by 40 Niclausse small watertube cylindrical-drum type boilers with supercharging fans bolted atop the fire-pans and oil spray for forced draught provided. These were situated in four boiler rooms, separated by the engine rooms and dynamo room. In addition there were six Guyet large watertube boilers in two boiler rooms above the armored deck. Six huge, bizarrely-looking funnels exhausted the fumes. Radius was 10,000 NM at 10 knots.
In spite of the complexities of her machinery, at trials off Chios, Sept. 6, 1911, the ship handily managed to achieve 23.8 knots with
41,023 IHP forced draught. Her normal output would have been 35,000 IHP for a speed of 22 knots.
Crew was 870 men (45 officers 825 men)
Bedeviled by a very long building time and continued cost over-runs, the
Stemma (
Crown) was finally delivered on Aug. 30, 1911, and accepted by the RHN on Oct 1, same year.
At the epic Battle of Ellis (Dec. 16, 1912), the
Stemma experienced trouble with her boilers, but nevertheless managed to steam at 22.5 knots, closely following the flagship,
Averoff in creating a resounding Hellenic victory. Her Capt. Pavlos Katsonis is said to have almost literally plowed through the scattered and confused Turkish fleet, blasting away his monstrous array of 7.6" guns at the hapless Osmanli warships. At the Battle of Lemnos, Jan. 18, 1913, the
Stemma led the starboard column and her fire heavily damaged two Turkish battleships. Again, the Hellenes, under Rear-Adm. Pavlos Kountouriotis' inspired leadership preferred themselves to leave their obsolete battleships behind and, with only a token number of destroyers in support take on the Osmanli fleet with their ACR:s.
During WW1, the
Stemma, together with the rest of Greece's navy briefly fell under French control, during the country's tumultuous internal political strife - events that clearly determined for both Adm. Kountouriotis and his protegee, Rear Adm. Stephanopoulos their future plans for an expanded, capable navy. The French, interestingly, did not held the
Stemma in a very high regard, and they allowed her to deteriorate as she lay languishing at anchor at Salamis. Her boilers and condensers were, by 1918, virtually useless, and rusted off their foundations to to the constant seepage of saltwater during the Entete occupation, and the ship could barely steam at about 15 knots. In-spite of this handicap, she served as the flagship for the escorting fleet that accompanied the new armored cruiser
Ionia to the ancient, reconquered city of Smyrna, July, 22, 1923, carrying King Constantine. Shortly thereafter the ship was decommissioned and put in reserve and, in 1925 towed to France, where, at Toulon, she underwent an extensive refit.
The RHN:s
Stemma as depicted at Ellis, Dec. 16, 1912:
