Spetsai - Θ/Κ Σπέτσαι |
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| Career (Greece) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Spetsai Island |
| Ordered: | 1885 |
| Builder: | Havre Shipyards |
| Launched: | 1889 |
| Commissioned: | 1890 |
| Decommissioned: | 1920 |
| Fate: | sold for scrap |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Spetsai-class battleship |
| Displacement: | Standard 4,885 tons |
| Length: | 103 m |
| Beam: | 15.8 m |
| Draft: | 6.4 m |
| Propulsion: | 2 steam engines |
| Speed: | 17.5-knot (32 km/h) maximum |
| Armament: | 3 x 270 mm guns 1 x 150 mm gun 1 x 100 mm gun 3 x 6-inch (152 mm) |
| Armour: | 12-30 cm on the hull 7.5 cm on the deck |
The Spetsai (Greek: Θ/Κ Σπέτσαι) was a Greek steel battleship serving in the Royal Hellenic Navy from 1890 until 1920. She was named after the Saronic Gulf island of Spetses, which played a key role in the war at sea during the Greek War of Independence.
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In 1885, Greece ordered three new ironclads of the Hydra class.[1] Spetsai was ordered from the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in St. Nazaire, France during the premiership of Charilaos Trikoupis. The ship, named for the island of Spetsai, was launched on 26 October 1889, and by 1892, she and her sister-ships Hydra and Psara were delivered to the Greek fleet.[2][3][4][5] The ship was 334 feet 8 inches (102.01 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 51 ft 10 in (15.80 m) and a mean draft of 18 ft (5.5 m). She displaced 4,808 metric tons (4,732 long tons; 5,300 short tons) as built. She was powered by a pair of steam engines of unknown type; they were rated at 6,700 indicated horsepower (5,000 kW) and provided a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Coal storage amounted to 500 t (490 long tons; 550 short tons).[3]
Spetsai's main battery consisted of three 10.8 in (270 mm) guns. Two guns were mounted forward in barbettes on either side of the forward superstructure; these were L/34 guns. The third gun, a L/28 gun, was placed in a turret aft. The secondary battery consisted of four 5.9 in (150 mm) L/36 guns in casemates were mounted below the forward main battery, and a fifth 5.9-inch gun was placed on the centerline on the same deck as the main battery. A number of smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boats. These included four 3.4 in (86 mm) L/22 guns, four 3-pounder guns, four 1-pounder guns, and six 1-pounder revolver cannons. The ship was also armed with three 14 in (360 mm) torpedo tubes. The ship was armored with a mix of Creusot and compound steel. The main belt was 12 in (300 mm) thick and the main battery was protected by up to 14 in (360 mm) of armor.[3]
The ship saw limited action in the Greco-Turkish War (1897), as the Royal Hellenic Navy failed to make use of its superiority over the Ottoman Navy. By the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912, Spetsai, along with her sister ships, was antiquated, but she did take part in the war, in which Greece liberated the islands of the Eastern Aegean and defeated Ottoman Turkey in the two decisive naval battles of Elli and Lemnos.
During World War I, Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Entente and the Hydra Class ships served as coastal defense. She was decommissioned in 1920 and used as a naval communications school until 1929, when she was scrapped.[6]
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