On 18 January 1913, in the First Balkan War, the Greek fleet of Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis met the Ottoman fleet off Lemnos after it had come out of the Dardanelles. Led by the armored cruiser Georgios Averof, the Greeks forced the Ottoman ships back into the straits, and Greece kept command of the Aegean.
Battle of Lemnos
18 January 1913 · 113 years ago
The fight for the Aegean
Early in the First Balkan War, Greece used its navy to take the Ottoman-held islands of the northern Aegean. In October 1912 the fleet took Lemnos and made Moudros Bay, about forty miles from the mouth of the Dardanelles, its forward base. An Ottoman sortie in December 1912 had already ended with the Ottoman ships back behind the forts of the straits, in the action the Greeks call the Battle of Elli.1
In January 1913 the fast Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye slipped out of the Dardanelles to raid Greek shipping. The Naval Annual of 1914 suggests that the Ottoman command hoped the Greek fleet would go after her; Kountouriotis did not send the Averof away, and his fleet stayed off the straits.2
Off Lemnos
On 18 January the Ottoman fleet came out with the battleships Barbaros Hayreddin, Turgut Reis and Mesudiye, the cruiser Mecidiye and a flotilla of destroyers. Kountouriotis came out to meet it with the Averof, the battleships Spetsai, Hydra and Psara and a few destroyers.3
Fire was opened at about half past eleven: the Hellenic Navy gives 11:34 a.m. and a range of about 8,400 meters, while the report of the Greek governor of Tenedos printed in the Naval Annual gives 11:25. After a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes the Ottoman ships began to withdraw. The Averof pursued them and kept firing until they reached the shelter of the Dardanelles at about half past two in the afternoon. The Barbaros Hayreddin went back burning.4
Counting the cost
Greek losses were tiny: Kountouriotis reported a single man wounded, and the Averof only insignificant damage.5
Ottoman losses are less certain. The Hellenic Navy gives at least 282 killed and wounded. Reports from Constantinople quoted in the Naval Annual spoke of 40 killed and 164 wounded, figures the Annual thought exaggerated. Both sources agree that the Ottoman battleships were badly damaged.6
Why it mattered
The Ottoman fleet returned to the shelter of the Dardanelles, and Greece kept command of the Aegean for the rest of the war. The Naval Annual notes that Greek sea power kept Ottoman reinforcements from crossing by sea from Asia Minor. Greek sources date the battle 5 January, because Greece still used the Julian calendar in 1913.7
Operation Konrad III, 1945: the last drive to relieve Budapest
18 January 1945 · 81 years ago
German forces launched a surprise offensive in Hungary to relieve besieged Budapest and retake Transdanubia, the boldest of three Konrad operations. The IV SS Panzer Corps routed the Soviet 4th Guards Army and reached the Danube, but was halted 25 km from Budapest.
Read the full story of Operation Konrad III, 1945: the last drive to relieve Budapest ›
