Karteria |
|
| Career (Greek revolutionaries) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Karteria |
| Laid down: | 1825 |
| Commissioned: | 1826 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 233 tons |
| Length: | 38.4 m |
| Beam: | 7.6m |
| Complement: | 185 |
The Kartería (Greek for "Perseverance") was the first steam-powered warship to be used in combat operations in history.[1] It was built in 1825 in an English shipyard for the revolutionary Hellenic Navy during the Greek War of Independence.
It was built by Daniel Brent at the Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe, London.[2] It was the first vessel completed out of an order for 6 such vessels from Capt Frank Abney Hastings, a former Royal Navy officer appointed in 1825 by the Greek provisional government as commander-in-chief, naval operations. The order was financed by the London Philhellenic Committee.[3]
The 400-ton vessel was classified as a sloop-of-war and was propelled by steam-powered paddles. Power was generated by 2 small steam engines. The vessel was also masted and could operate under sail. It was armed with just 4 guns, but they were 68-pounders, the most powerful calibre. Using the on-board furnaces, it could heat shot to a red-hot state, to be used as incendiary missiles. [4] She fired 18.000 rounds in 1827 alone (Sondhaus).
The ship entered service in Greece in 1826. It was the first steam warship to see combat. (The first steam warship ever built was American, the USS Demologos, a 30-gun armoured warship launched in 1814, but it was never used in battle).[5] Under the command of Hastings, the Kartería soon gained a fearsome combat reputation. Successful operations included a raid on the port of Itea, near Salona (Amfissa) in the Gulf of Corinth, on 29/30 September 1827, where it sank 9 Ottoman ships.[6]