On 18 January 1913 the Greek fleet under Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis met an Ottoman squadron that had come out of the Dardanelles to strike at the Greek base on Lemnos. Led by the armored cruiser Georgios Averof, the Greeks forced the Ottoman ships to turn back and chased them to the mouth of the straits. The Ottoman fleet did not come out again for the rest of the First Balkan War. Greek sources date the battle to 5 January, because Greece still used the Julian calendar in 1913.
The fight for the Aegean
Early in the First Balkan War, Greece used its navy to take the Ottoman-held islands of the northern Aegean. The Greek fleet set up its forward base in Moudros Bay on Lemnos, close to the entrance of the Dardanelles. An earlier Ottoman attempt to break out had already been turned back at the Battle of Elli in December 1912.1
In January 1913 the Ottoman navy tried again. The fast cruiser Hamidiye slipped out into the Aegean to raid Greek shipping, and Athens pressed Kountouriotis to hunt it down. He refused to send the Averof away. The Hellenic Navy's account says he kept his fleet watching the straits instead, and that decision kept his strongest ship in place for the sortie that followed.2
Twenty minutes off Lemnos
The Ottoman force was commanded by Captain Ramiz Bey, who had also led the fleet at Elli. It was made up of the battleships Barbaros Hayreddin, Turgut Reis and Mesudiye, the cruiser Mecidiye and eight destroyers. Kountouriotis came out of Moudros with the Averof, the battleships Spetsai, Hydra and Psara, and a group of destroyers and scouts.3
The Ottoman ships opened fire at 11:34 at a range of about 8,400 meters, and the Greeks answered almost at once. Ottoman gunnery was poor. The Greek Herald, citing the Greek history site San Simera, puts it at 11:54 when a salvo from the Averof badly damaged the Ottoman flagship Barbaros Hayreddin, which turned out of the line; the Hellenic Navy says the flagship retreated burning and the rest of the squadron followed it back toward the straits. The main exchange had lasted only about twenty minutes. The Averof set off in pursuit at 20 knots and kept firing at the retreating battleships until they reached the safety of the Dardanelles in the early afternoon.4
Counting the cost
Greek losses were tiny. According to the Hellenic Navy's account, Kountouriotis reported only one petty officer wounded aboard the Averof, and the Greek Herald likewise reports a single injury.5
Ottoman losses are disputed. The Greek Herald, citing the Greek history site San Simera, says that more than 100 men were killed, and the Hellenic Navy's own history of the Averof gives at least 282 killed and wounded. All three Ottoman battleships were badly damaged.6
Why it mattered
Lemnos settled the naval war in the Aegean. The Ottoman fleet made no further attempt to come out of the Dardanelles for the rest of the war, which left Greece in command of the Aegean. The Hellenic Navy's account adds that it ended Ottoman hopes of improving their position at the coming peace talks. The Georgios Averof survives today as a museum ship of the Hellenic Navy.7
Also on this day
- 1945: Operation Konrad III. German forces launched a surprise offensive in Hungary to relieve besieged Budapest and retake Transdanubia, the boldest of three Konrad operations.
