Wild Beast-class destroyer (1912)
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The ''Aetos'' class were four
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s were originally constructed for the
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
as the ''San Luis'' class. In Greek they are known as the ''Thiria'' ( el, Θηρία, "Wild Beasts") class, after the ships' names. They were purchased by the Royal Hellenic Navy in October 1912 when the Greek government expanded its navy after losing the
Greco-Turkish War of 1897 The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...
and in anticipation of 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 ...
. In December 1916, during World War I, three of the destroyers were seized by France and served in the French Navy until 1918, all except ''Panthir''. They were returned to Greece in 1918. In 1924–1925, they were extensively rebuilt and continued in service into World War II, where they fought with the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. ''Leon'' was sunk by German aircraft at Suda Bay, Crete. The other three destroyers survived the war and were used as station ships during the
Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...
. They were discarded in 1946.


Design

The ''Aetos'' class were
long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...
and at the waterline with a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of as built. The destroyers had a draught of , a standard displacement of and a fully loaded displacement of . The ''Aetos'' class was powered by two
Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
geared turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s turning two shafts and fed steam by five coal-fired White-Forster boilers. The engines were rated at and had a designed speed of . They carried of coal. The destroyers were initially armed with four single-mounted guns and four single-mounted torpedo tubes. They had an initial complement of 90.


Modifications

Significant changes were made between 1924 and 1935, when the ships were reconstructed by J. Samuel White. Four Yarrow oil-fired boilers replaced the coal-fired ones, allowing the number of
funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...
to be reduced from five to two. One 4-inch gun was moved to a new shelter deck forward of the bridge, allowing four single torpedo tube mountings to be replaced by two triple mountings which were turnable; two 2-pounder
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
(AA) guns were also added. Two ships were further modified in to carry 40 naval mines.The sources are in disagreement over the AA armament. Gardiner & Gray claim it was two 40 mm Bofors mounts that were installed in 1925, while Chesneau states it was two 2-pounder guns. Chesneau and Whitley states that it was ''Aetos'' and ''Panthir'' which were modified for minelaying capabilities, while Gardiner & Gray state it was ''Ierax'' and ''Panthir''. The displacement of the destroyers increased to standard and fully loaded, while their maximum speed increased to . The three surviving members of the class, ''Ierax'', ''Panthir'' and ''Aetos'' underwent further modifications. The aft bank of torpedo tubes was replaced by a high-angle gun. Their 4-inch guns were reduced to three, with the 'X' and 'Y' mounts landed for increased
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
storage. The aft-most gun was replaced by four depth charge throwers. Furthermore, three cannon were added for AA defence and Type 123A asdic was installed. Two single AA guns replaced the 2-pounder guns.


Ships in class


History

The four ships in this class had originally been ordered by Argentina in 1909 from the English shipyard
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
in Birkenhead as the ''San Luis'' class. The four ships were launched in 1911 as ''San Luis'', ''Santa Fe'', ''Santiago del Estero'' and ''Tucumán''. They were purchased by Greece for 148,000 pounds each in October 1912, as the outbreak of the First Balkan War was imminent, and renamed ''Aetos'', ''Ierax'', ''Panthir'' and ''Leon'' respectively. The ships hoisted the Greek flag and sailed independently from Britain, still manned with Argentine crews, for
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. ''Aetos'' suffered a breakdown during the voyage and had to be towed to Algiers. There the ships were taken over by Greek crews, carried on the steamer ''Ionia''. Although the ships were completely unknown to the Greeks before then, and all manuals and labels on the ship were in Spanish, within 24 hours all had been made ready to sail and began their voyage to Greece. Within a few days of arriving at the Salamis Naval Base, they were sent to join the main Greek battlefleet at Lemnos, apart from ''Aetos'', which underwent five weeks of repairs. Due to the haste with which the purchase had been made, only limited ammunition for operations was purchased: some 3,000 shells for the ships' guns, and no torpedoes. As a result, during the First Balkan War, the ships served and were designated as "scout ships" (ανιχνευτικά) rather than destroyers (αντιτορπιλικά). In December 1916, the French Navy landed troops near Athens to put pressure on the royal government of King
Constantine I of Greece Constantine I ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ, ''Konstantínos I''; – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army ...
during the Greek "
National Schism The National Schism ( el, Εθνικός Διχασμός, Ethnikós Dichasmós), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between Constantine I of Greece, King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizel ...
". After French troops were ambushed by Greeks, French naval ships fired upon the city. In retaliation for the series of events, France seized several Greek vessels, including three destroyers of the ''Aetos'' class. ''Aetos'', ''Ierax'' and ''Leon'' were seized by France in December 1916 and placed in service with the French Navy. In French service, the ships had a complement of 102. They served with the French Navy in 1917–1918, primarily in an
anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
capacity. Following some objections by senior French naval officers, the ''Aetos'' class were officially returned to the Greek Navy in 1917. However, due to a shortage of trained Greek personnel and that they were refitting in French naval yards, there was a delay in the actual handover. In 1918, the four destroyers, alongside the
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
, joined the British Royal Navy's
Aegean Squadron The Eastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was a naval formation of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Mudros from 1914 to 1916. It then alternated between Mudros and Salonika from 1917 to 1919. History The Easter ...
at Mudros. Following the end of World War I, the four destroyers were extensively refitted in 1924–1925, undergoing further modifications in 1931. In World War II, after the Axis invasion of Greece, the four ships served with the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. ''Leon'' was damaged by German aircraft on 22 May 1941 and sunk at Suda Bay, Crete on 15 May 1941. The remaining three were refitted in
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, Calcutta and Port Sudan during 1941 and 1942. ''Ierax'', ''Panthir'' and ''Aetos'' remained in service until 1945, serving under British Royal Navy control. In 1944–1945 they were made station ships. The three destroyers were discarded in 1946 following the war.


Notes


Citations


Sources

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External links


Naval History
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(accessed 2017-02-04) {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Aetos''-class destroyer Destroyer classes