Greece

"The Royal Hellenic Navy"

Greece had two pre-dreadnought battleships in service during WWII, Kilkis and Lemnos. The Kilkis was built as the USS Mississippi, and the Lemnos as the USS Idaho. The Royal Hellenic Navy did not use a prefix for their ship names.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF THESE TWO VESSELS.

Just prior to WWI, a program of naval expansion by Turkey prompted the rapid expansion of the Royal Hellenic Navy. Along with the armored cruiser Averof (1911), these two vessels  formed the heart of the Greek Navy until the late 1930's.

The Mississippi Class pre-dreadnoughts were the last class of pre-dreadnoughts built by the USA. Three ships of the excellent Connecticut Class ships had preceded them, and in 1903 Congress funded three more, along with two armored cruisers. The US Navy preferred to build more battleships rather than the two armored cruisers, and Congress agreed: as long as the tonnage and cost of the two battleships was the same as the two proposed cruisers.

The resulting two vessels, Mississippi and Idaho, were basically Connecticut Class ships reduced in size by 3,000 tons. This weight cutting eliminated all splinter armor in the superstructure, thinned the main belt considerably, reduced the amount of coal carried, and reduced speed to only 17 knots. The ships were laid down in 1904, and completed in 1909. Upon reaching the fleet, they were found to be totally unsatisfactory. Carrying too many guns for their size, they were overloaded, rolled badly, and were poor sea boats. The secondary guns were useless in even mild seas, the short cruising range of the ships made them incompatible with the rest of the fleet, and they were relegated to coastal duties only, serving briefly as seaplane tenders. After just three years, during a time when the USA was attempting to build up a large battle fleet, these two ships were retired into reserve.

Turkey and Greece were engaged in their own arms race at the time, a carryover from the recent Balkans War. In 1910, Turkey purchased two extremely old pre-dreadnoughts from Germany, and Greece answered by buying a new armored cruiser. In 1913 Turkey ordered two 13.5-inched dreadnoughts from Great Britain, and Greece answered by ordering a battlecruiser from Germany and a battleship from France. But then Turkey gained a sudden advantage: in the UK a powerful dreadnought was nearing completion for Brazil, but the South American nation could no longer afford her. Turkey bought the vessel, which carried 14 x 12-inch guns, and would be ready in only a matter of months. Greece answered by ordering a second battleship from France, but it could not be ready for 3 years. Greece suddenly found itself in a desperate way, as it was universally assumed that upon taking delivery of the new battleship Turkey would immediately attack Greece to avenge Turkey's loss in the recent Balkans War. Greece went shopping for existing vessels, desperate to find something to get them through the summer of 1914 until their own new vessels would start being delivered and balance could be once again achieved with the Turkish fleet.

Greece approached Chili, which themselves had a two new dreadnoughts under construction in the UK, one of which was almost completed. If Brazil had sold her newest dreadnought, maybe Chili could do without one of their new ones. Chili declined. Brazil was approached about the two dreadnoughts they already possessed, but these she decided to keep. The US was approached, but was unwilling to part with any completed or under construction dreadnought, but did make an interesting counter-offer: if Greece ordered a new dreadnought from a US yard, the US Navy would sell Greece not one, but FIVE existing battleships. But further investigation showed that the vessels in question were extremely obsolete pre-dreadnought coast defense battleships, the oldest in the US fleet, with heavy crew requirements and no fighting value.They would be nothing but floating coffins, so Greece wisely declined. It looked like the Greeks would be unable to increase their fleet to match the new Turkish ship, and that they would soon be at war at a considerable disadvantage.   

With only 8 weeks to go before the Turks were scheduled to take delivery of their new battleship, the US came to the rescue. It offered to sell the Idaho and Mississippi, pre-dreadnoughts but of the latest generation, each with fewer than three years service on them. Greece was overjoyed; Turkey was outraged and offered to pay more for the two vessels than the Greeks. But US President Wilson felt that the ships would maintain balance in the region and prevent a war, so he would sell them only to Greece. The price was no great bargain: $12,535,275.00, which was every dime that these two ships had cost new, because Congress would not approve the sale if the US Navy did not at least break even on the deal. But Greece was glad to pay it and would have gladly paid double, as the two ships were the only hope of matching the new Turkish ship. 

The poor sea-going qualities of the ships would be irrelevant in coastal waters, they were of a newer and more powerful design than anything already in service with Turkey, the price was reasonable, and most importantly, the vessels could be delivered immediately, just days before the Turks would get their new battleship. The deal was quickly struck, and the vessels transferred. Mississippi was handed over to a Greek crew at Newport News on July 21, while Idaho was sailed to Villefrache, Greece, on a midshipman's training cruise, and handed over there on July 30. Both ships were delivered with a stock of spare parts, but only the shells and powder they carried in their magazines. The proceeds from the sale were used by the US Navy to build a new dreadnought.

The transfer was made just before the outbreak of hostilities in Europe. Newly acquired by Greece, they were immediately used to threaten attack on the new Turkish battleship as it entered the Mediterranean. As it turned out, Britain seized the vessel for her own use two days after the transfer of the Idaho, and the Greece pre-dreadnoughts entered rather uneventful service with their new owners. Due to the world war the battlecruiser ordered form Germany was never completed, and the two battleships ordered from France were never even started. This left the two pre-dreadnoughts as the most powerful units of the Greek fleet, and rather than being a temporaty, one-year stopgap measure, they served for decades.

As World War One raged in Europe, both sides wooed Greece as an ally, to no avail. The King favored neutrality, while others favored war on the side of Britain and France. Those two nations attempted to topple the monarchy, leading to much distrust between the nations. Even after Greece declared war on the Central Powers in 1917, Allied ships kept a very close watch on the Greek fleet, while the Greek Navy avoided any operations at all. Because of this, Kilkis and Lemnos sat idle at Piraeus as guardships, with the exception of some minor late-war combined Allied operations in the Aegean.

After the war, the two saw action with the Allied expedition in support of Denkin's White Armies in the Ukraine. They then served in the Greco-Turkish War from 1919 to 1922, facing the opponant Greece had intended for them at last. Kilkis was updated somewhat in the mid-1920s, but Lemnos was not. They both served as as coast defense ships until 1932, when Kilkis became a cadet training ship. After 1937 Kilkis was used as a stationary artillery training school, while Lemnos was partially disarmed and used as an accommodation ship and stationary anti-aircraft training school, both vessels at Salamis. The four 12-inch guns removed from Lemnos were mounted in their twin turrets on Aegina Island; four of the 8-inch guns were set up to defend the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth on Cape Papas; four of her 7-inch guns were emplaced on Pheles Island to defend the port of Athens; and the other four 7-inch guns were set up near Euboea.

WWII found these two ships still serving in their non-combatant roles, little changed from their original form other than the removal of most weapons from Lemnos. On April 10, 1941, the invading Germans dive-bombed Kilkis and Lemnos, sinking the former at her moorings and damaging the latter. Thirteen days later German and Italian aircraft finished Lemnos. Some material, such as guns, was reportedly removed from the ships by the Germans for scrap, but no attempt at salvage was made. The wrecks were broken up after the war, Lemnos in 1947 and Kilkis in 1951.

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