The light battleship Hydra, built in France 1889-91, in her prime around 1901. She was the lead ship of a class of three, all of which had entered service by 1892. These oddball warships combined a midships gunhouse à la central battery ship, a shielded barbette mount aft, and a 4" bow chaser. This strange 1880s design somewhat resembled to the Japanese protected cruiser Matsushima, designed by Émile Bertin and built in France for the Japanese. The Greek ships were built at Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranée at Granville (the Hydra at St-Nazaire). Each ship's central battery housed virtually all her firepower: two 10.8" and five 6" guns. Protection was the Hydra class's weakest spot; while they had a thick belt of Creusot steel below water, the armor above the waterline was only 3" in width and narrow in coverage, though the gunhouse and barbette were robustly armored. The boilers and engines thus were vulnerable. The ships made 17 kts on trials but by the time they came to action with the Turks, could only give 12-plus. But in reality, the entire design was flawed. The siting of two-thirds of the armament in an open gunhouse invited being taken out by a single hit. Moreover, there was no system of fire control; in battle it was a free-for-all with these three. There were so many sizes of gun (seven in all) that discriminating between the splashes in a hot action would have been virtually impossible. The three ships were named after three islands that had been strongholds of resistance to Ottoman rule during the Greek War of Independence: Hydra, Psara, and Spetsai.
The ships had a small pipe known as the "auxiliary funnel" immediately before the No. 1 funnel, visible in the shot below; this was removed on Psara only prior to WWI. The Psara had a three-mast rig, while the othe two were two-mast ships. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, this class was the latest in the Greek navy and at least 25 years newer than anything in the Turks' fleet. All three ships were involved in the attempt to break Crete free from Ottoman rule. However, despite the manifest incapacity of the Ottoman navy, the Greeks failed to coordinate their tactics to take advantage of their superior force. The war was another national humiliation for Greece, bringing much soul-searching and many resolutions for improvement. One of the improvements was the institution of a naval staff. Another was the acquisition of up-to-date ships, delivered just before the next round commenced in the long struggle with Turkey.
Specifications for the Hydra class:
Dimensions: 321 x 52' x 24' Displacement: 4,885 tons. Armament: Two 10.8"/36, one 10.8"/30 (1x1), (5) 6"/45, (1) 4"/50, (8) 9-pdr, (4) 3-pdr, and and (12) 1-pdr guns (as built.) Armor: Creusot steel type. 12"/4¾" belt, 48" tall, all under water; 3" upper belt; 12" barbette; 13¾" battery redoubt; 6" turret; 6" hoists (forward 10.8"); 2¼" deck (2", Hydra only). Fuel capacity: 400 tons of coal (600 tons max.) Propulsion: All coal-fired Scotch boilers; (2) vertical inverted 3-cyl triple-expansion engines developing 6,700 hp, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 17 kts (12-13 kts max at the time of Elli). Crew: 440. NOTE: Ships reconstructed 1897-1900.
Ships in class: Hydra · Spetsai · Psara
Metric Specifications:
Dimensions: 103 m x 15.8 m x 6.4 m Displacement: 4,885 tons. Armament: Two 270 mm/36, one 270 mm/30 (1x1), (5) 150 mm/45, (1) 102 mm/50, (8) 9-pdr, (4) 3-pdr, and and (12) 1-pdr guns (as built.) Armor: Creusot steel type. 305/120 mm belt, 1.22m tall, all under water; 76 mm upper belt; 305 mm barbette; 13¾" battery redoubt; 152 mm turret; 152 mm hoists (forward 270s); 57 mm deck (50 mm, Hydra only). Fuel capacity: 400 tons of coal (600 tons max.) Propulsion: All coal-fired Scotch boilers; (2) vertical inverted 3-cyl triple-expansion engines developing 4,996 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 32 km/hr (22.2-24 km/hr max at the time of Elli). Crew: 440.
During the First Balkan War of 1912-13, Greece and her allies, Serbia and Bulgaria, fought Turkey over her remaining possessions in the Balkans, gaining the indepedence of Albania and a division of Macedonia among the Balkan allies. The new armored cruiser Averof, itself more powerfully armed than any of the Hydra class "battleships" and nearly 10 knots faster, became the flagship of Adm. Kountouriotis. Indeed, with the Hydras as the benchmark, it is easy to see why the Averof is generally called a battleship in Greece. Though the flagship operated with a few TBs as a fast independent unit, the full fleet did cruise together. It was lurking off the Dardanelles when three Turkish battleships were sighted coming out on Dec. 16, 1912. Leaving the three slow battleships behind, Kountouriotis rang full speed. Averof and three destroyers went on the offensive. The ensuing action took its name from the nearby cape -- the Battle of Elli. Leaving the Hydras to keep up as best they could, Kountouriotis lunged aggressively at the antiquated Ottoman battleships. Crossing the Turks' T, Averof blasted the Ottoman flagship Hayreddin Barbarossa with several well-placed salvos, then turned her guns on the sister-ship Torgud Reis. Nursing 56 casualties (15 killed), the two ex-German battleships retreated in disorder from the single armored cruiser and its cruelly precise gunnery, even as the three old Greek battleships lumbered into range. They got none of the glory this day, however. The foe retired up the Dardanelles before the Hydras could find the range. With the Turks off the scene, the Greeks had a free hand in the Aegean and went on to conquer the important island of Lemnos. The Greek fleet took up residence at the magnificent harbor of Mudros, a fishing village on Lemnos.
It was there that the second notable naval battle of the war took place. This action, known as the Battle of Lemnos, originated in an Ottoman strategem and Greek counter-measures. In essence this was an Ottoman raid on the Greek fleet base at Mudros. As setup to the operation, in order to divert Kountouriotis and (it was hoped) send Averof on a chase, the Turks despatched their crack cruiser Hamidiye on a raiding cruise commencing Jan. 14, 1913. The Greek C-in-C refused to be drawn, however. With that keen insight into the mind of his enemy that characterizes the great commander, Kountouriotis suspected a trick and remained near Mudros, ignoring the frantic orders wirelessed from Athens. The admiral's hunch was confirmed when the Turkish battle fleet was sighted sneaking up on Mudros on the morning of Jan. 18. All Greek units scrambled, converging on the intruders with guns ready, and a furious firefight ensued (left). This time the Hydra class battleships were in the thick of it, although the Averof again took the lead. Marksmanship decided the contest: the Hayreddin again sustained major damage, receiving 20 hits, having its midship turret knocked out, and suffering 32 dead and 45 wounded; while the Torgud took 17 hits and had 9 killed and 49 wounded. The ancient ironclad Mesudiye also sustained a 10.8" direct hit that knocked out three 6" mounts in her central battery, causing 61 casualties. By contrast, the Averof took only two hits and suffered one wounded; no other Greek units reported damage. A paltry return for the 800 rounds the Turks fired over 30 minutes of close action and 4½ hours of pursuit!
After taking a bad pasting, the Ottoman battle fleet withdrew to the Dardanelles and into the Straits, relentlessly pursued by the Averof, whose guns meted out punishment all the way. The beaten battleships repaired to their forward base at Nagara to bury their dead, nurse their wounded, and repair their ships.
In an historic first, Greek airmen flew reconnaissance Feb. 5 to verify that the Turks were at base. Having located the enemy battleships, the Greek aviators dropped four aerial bombs from their Maurice Farman seaplane (left); these did no damage except to Ottoman morale, but another naval first was chalked up. The Turkish fleet did not emerge again for the duration of the war. The success of the Greek blockade guaranteed victory to the Greeks and their allies in the Balkan League; though the isolated Ottoman garrisons fought with courage, they were denied resupply and so withered on the vine. The Turks' abandonment of the Aegean left important Turkish-held islands there open to Greek conquest. Samos fell to Greek invasion in March 1913; Imbros, Thasos, Agios Efstratios, Samothrace, Psara, Chios, Lesbos and Lemnos had already been taken in 1912. All remain under the Greek flag to this day. In the peace, the other war aims of the Balkan League were realized; Albania celebrated its independence. In Turkey, the defeat was cause for a coup e'êtat and growing instability. The Ottoman Empire would survive only five more years; the Turkish Republic would rise from the ashes of defeat in 1922.
After the Balkan Wars, Greece's three old battleships were relegated to coast defense work. When the French battle fleet sailed into Athens and took over the more recent elements of the Greek navy in 1916, they ignored the Hydra class -- of negligible military value in the pre-dreadnought era, and no more than floating curiosities in the dreadnought age. The Psara was employed as a training ship for stokers during the War. After guarding the home front during WWI and the Greco-Turkish flare-up from 1917-20, the Hydras all went to the wrecker's torch in 1922.
The Hydras' finest hour: the line of battle at Lemnos, Averof leading, January 1913. Note open-backed shields on aft turret. Wider view
The Spetsai gets a more low-key treatment in another work from the Pyrgi Folk Art Collection. Note funnnel caps unshipped on forward side of funnels, different fighting tops from the Psara. Although this is by a different artist, once again, she's there down to the last rivet.
Pertinent Web Pages:
- Large colour profile of Psara under sail - courtesy of Wix.com
- The Naval Battle of Elli - Greek Victory, Dec. 16, 1912
- The Naval Battle of Lemnos - Greek Victory, January 18, 1913
- The Royal Hellenic Navy - 1832-1920
- Intro to the Averof - Greek Flagship in the Balkan Wars
- Photo Tour of the Averof
- The Ottoman Turkish Navy, 1856-1918
- Shape Course for Global Site Nav
- Top of Page
