) , rank_label = , servicenumber = , unit = , commands = ''Nafkratousa'' (1913), ''Dafni'' (1914), ''Doris'' (1914–15), ''

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'' (1920–22), '' Thyella'' (1922), ''Hephaestos'' (1928–29), ''

Georgios Averof George M. Averoff (15 August 1815, Metsovo – 15 July 1899, Alexandria), alternately Jorgos Averof or Georgios Averof (in Greek: Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ), was a businessman and philanthropist. He is one of the great national benefactors o ...

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Panagiotis Kavvadias Panagiotis (Panagis) Kavvadias or Cawadias or Cavvadias ( el, Παναγιώτης / Παναγής Καββαδίας) (2 May 1850 – 20 July 1928) was a Greek archaeologist. He was a prominent excavator and archaeological administrator, res ...

(father)

Alexander Polycleitos Cawadias Alexander Polycleitos Cawadias FRCP OBE (3 or 20 May 1884 – 20 November 1971) was a Greek physician who worked mainly in England. He was an advocate of neo-Hippocratism, holistic medicine, and homeopathy. He argued in his book ''Hermaphroditos ...

(brother) Epameinondas Kavvadias ( el, Επαμεινώνδας Καββαδίας; 1 January 1886 – 10 April 1965) was a Greek admiral who served thrice as Chief of the Navy General Staff and led the Greek fleet in the first years of World War II.

Life

Epameinondas Kavvadias was born in Athens in 1886 to a family hailing from

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

. His father,

, was an archaeologist who became Greece's Ephor General of Antiquities. Kavvadias entered the Hellenic Naval Academy in 1902 and graduated in 1906, and served in the Royal Hellenic Navy in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

as a

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

in the destroyer '' Nafkratousa''. During the Asia Minor Campaign, he commanded the destroyers and . He was dismissed from the Navy in 1922, following the

September 1922 Revolution The 11 September 1922 Revolution ( el, Επανάσταση της 11ης Σεπτεμβρίου 1922) was an uprising by the Greek army and navy against the government in Athens. The revolution took place on 24 September 1922, although the date wa ...

, due to his royalist convictions, but reinstated by the

Theodoros Pangalos Lieutenant General Theodoros Pangalos (; 11 January 1878 – 26 February 1952) was a Greek general, politician and dictator. A distinguished staff officer and an ardent Venizelist and anti-royalist, Pangalos played a leading role in the Septemb ...

dictatorship in 1925. As

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, he served his first tenure as Chief of the Navy General Staff in 1933–1934. In 1935 he was appointed to the post of Commander of the submarine fleet, and served again for a short period at the head of the Navy General Staff in December 1936 – January 1937. He subsequently served as Chief of the Royal Naval Base at Salamis until 1939, including another short term at the head of the General Staff in August–September 1938. Promoted to

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

in the meantime, in September 1939 he was appointed Chief of the Fleet Command. He led the operations of the Greek fleet during the Greco-Italian War of 1940–1941, and following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, led the fleet to its exile in the British-held Middle East. He remained Chief of the Fleet until 2 May 1942, when he was appointed Vice Minister for Naval Affairs in the Greek government in exile, a post he held until 25 March 1943. In 1946, he was sent to London as naval attaché. In 1950, he published his war memoirs under the title ''The naval war of 1940 as I experienced it'' ( el, "Ο ναυτικός πόλεμος του 1940 όπως τον έζησα"). He died in Athens on 10 April 1965.

Honours

Among other Greek and foreign medals, Kavvadias received: * Commander's Cross of the Cross of Valour (1 July 1947), Greece's highest military award, for his overall leadership of the fleet in World War II *

Medal for Outstanding Acts A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

(31 August 1946), for his role in the reorganization of the fleet in exile * War Cross 1st Class (31 August 1946), for the Greco-Italian War * War Cross 2nd Class (14 September 1944), for the Navy's evacuation in April 1941 * War Cross 2nd Class (27 October 1941), for the Greco-Italian War * Cross of Valour in Gold (25 February 1922), for the Asia Minor Campaign He was also named honorary aide de camp to King Paul in 1947, and Honorary Chief of the Fleet in 1963.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kavvadias, Epameinondas 1886 births 1965 deaths Royal Hellenic Navy admirals of World War II Ministers of naval affairs of Greece Commander's Crosses of the Cross of Valour (Greece) Recipients of the War Cross (Greece) Chiefs of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Military personnel from Athens Greek naval attachés People of the Greco-Italian War