 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2022) |
 Georgios Averof as a floating museum in Palaio Faliro, Athens
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Greece | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | George Averoff |
| Builder | Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando, Livorno |
| Laid down | 1907 |
| Launched | 12 March 1910 |
| Commissioned | 16 May 1911 |
| Decommissioned | 1 August 1952 |
| Nickname(s) |
|
| Status | Ceremonially commissioned; museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Pisa-class armored cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 140.13 m (459.7 ft) |
| Beam | 21 m (69 ft) |
| Draft | 7.18 m (23.6 ft) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 2,480 nmi (4,590 km; 2,850 mi) at 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
Georgios Averof (Greek: Θ/Κ Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ) is a modified Pisa-class armored cruiser built in Italy for the Royal Hellenic Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The ship served as the Greek flagship during most of the first half of the century. Although popularly known as a battleship (θωρηκτό) in Greek, she is in fact an armored cruiser (θωρακισμένο καταδρομικό), the only ship of this type still in existence.[2]
The ship was initially ordered by the Italian Regia Marina, but budgetary constraints led Italy to offer it for sale to international customers. With the bequest of the wealthy benefactor George Averoff as down payment, Greece acquired the ship in 1909. Launched in 1910, Averof arrived in Greece in September 1911. The most modern warship in the Aegean at the time, she served as the flagship of admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis in the First Balkan War, and played a major role in the establishment of Greek predominance over the Ottoman Navy and the incorporation of many Aegean islands to Greece.
The ship continued to serve in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and the interwar period, receiving a modernization in France in 1925 to 1927. Following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, Averof participated in the exodus of the Greek fleet to Egypt. Hopelessly obsolete and prone to mechanical breakdowns, she nevertheless spent the next three years as a convoy escort and guard ship in the Indian Ocean and at the Suez Canal. In October 1944, she carried the Greek government in exile back to liberated Athens, after the withdrawal of the German army.
In 1952, she was decommissioned, before being moved to Poros, where she was berthed from 1956 to 1983. From 1984 until today, she has been reinstated on active duty as a museum ship in the Naval Tradition Park in Faliro, Athens. After maintenance in late 2017, she achieved seaworthiness state once again, allowing the ship to sail (towed) accompanied by Greek frigate Kountouriotis (F-462) (Φ/Γ Κουντουριώτης) to Thessaloniki Greece where she received more than 130,000 visitors over her 53-day stay.
- ^ 70 Years Since the Return of Greek Battleship from the Middle East
- ^ However she was usually classified as a battlecruiser after the Washington Naval Treaty (1922) because her displacement and main armament slightly exceeded the limits imposed on cruisers.