SAVAŞTA VE BARIŞTA BİR YUNAN GEMİSİ: AVEROF-YUNAN KAYNAKLARI ÜZERİNDEN BİR ANALİZ

The historical ship Averof, a legend of the Balkan wars, participated in the liberation operations of the Eastern Aegean islands and played an important role against the Ottoman Army in the "Elli" (December 3, 1912) and "Limnos" (January 5, 1913) naval battles by using its superior speed. The maximum range of its cannons, which distinguished Averof from the rest of the Greek fleet, as well as its autonomous actions made it superior against the enemy fleet. In October 1918, Averof anchored in Istanbul and Greek flag was raised right across the Sultan's palace as one of the victorious powers of the First World War. With the collapse of the Asia Minor in the summer of 1922, it was again on the shores of Izmir to help to move troops and to transport the Greek population. Shortly thereafter, it underwent repairs in France and it was reactivated in 1928.The interwar period led to the fatal consequences in terms of the following internal developments. The saddest thing was that it was used by rebels, who supported Venizelos in political movements, on March 1, 1935. Although it was an old ship, it remained as the flagship of the Greek fleet in the Second World War. Following the German occupation in April, 1941, the idea of sinking the ship in an attempt to prevent its capture by the enemy was abandoned by the crew. Called the “lucky ship”, Averof eventually arrived in Alexandria safely and joined the naval fleets in the Indian Ocean for the rest of the war. Its last two peaceful tasks were the transportation of the liberal government of George Papandreou to Piraeus (October 17, 1944) and delivering the message of the annexation of the Dodecanese Islands by Greece to Rhodes (May 15, 1945). In 1952, the "invincible ship", inextricably linked to the political belief of Admiral Kountouriotis and Eleftherios Venizelos in Greece's naval power, was removed from service. Today, the ship is in Faliro, where it serves as an exponent in the War Museum.