RHNS Averof

Journalist John Carr tells the riveting history of Greece’s RHNS Averof—an armored cruiser that served in three of the twentieth century’s major wars.

Built at Livorno in 1910, the 10,000-ton RHNS Averof was the flagship—and largest warship—of the Royal Hellenic Navy until 1951. More than a century after its construction, she is still afloat, one of just three armored cruisers still in existence in the world. Originally intended for the Italian navy, the ship was bought by Greece and soon saw her first action in the Balkan Wars. In the Battle of Cape Helles, Averof inflicted heavy casualties on the Turkish fleet, following it up with a victory in the Battle of Lemnos.

In the 1920s the ship was refitted in France with modern armament replacing her obsolete torpedo tubes with more anti-aircraft guns. When the Germans overran Greece in World War Two, Averof escaped to Alexandria, dodging attacks by the Luftwaffe, despite Admiralty orders that she be scuttled. In 1941, she escorted a convoy to India, being the first Greek vessel in Indian waters since the time of Alexander the Great, and continued escort duties throughout the war.

In 1945, Averof was laid up on the island of Poros and neglected until 1984 when the Greek Admiralty decided to resurrect the ship. After years of slow refitting and preservation, the ship is now moored at Phaleron on the coast of Athens as a floating naval museum.

Providing full technical specifications and operational history, including details of her restoration, John Carr draws on firsthand accounts of the officers and men to relate the long and remarkable career of this fine ship.