RHNS Katsonis (CL-1916 )

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Typical British designed cruisers of the 1912-14 period, these two ships were under construction for Greece when World War 1 broke out and the ships were completed for the Royal Navy. They were of a slightly modified design to the prior Birmingham class in that they were armed with a rather handy 5.5" gun system. It proved itself good enough to be mounted on the Hood, Furious, Hermes and others.

Katsonis as HMS Chester 1916, showing battle damage from the Jutland action. Below is the Real Life drawing I did for Shipbucket of the Chester as completed.



In 1920 the ships were both offered back to the Greek Navy who accepted them at a cost that was near scrap value. These were good modern cruisers, that when partnered with the Averof, made a potent cruiser squadron, as the Turkish Navy found out to their cost. The Turkish Navy, under orders from their Government, was to investigate the possibility of retrieving some of the Islands they had lost 10 years before. They were using their two battlecruisers (ex Moltke and Goeben) for the task. The Greeks used Salamis, Thesalonika and these two cruisers to set the trap. The two cruisers would get the Turkish ships to chase them onto the guns of the two battleships. The Yavuz and Kanuni were lucky to escape without crippling damage, both Greek battleships had bigger guns that did more damage when they hit. The end of another little war in the Balkans.



The Germans attacked Yugoslavia then Greece, in 1941, to help out the Italians that were getting beaten by the Greeks. Once the Germans entered the battles the Allied forces were put on the back foot and in retreat. Getting kicked out of Greece then the Airborne strike on Crete forced another set of retreats. The Greek Naval forces were a part of all the little battles being fought around their homeland. Many Greek ships joined other Allied ships on the bottom of the Mediterranean, this included the sistership Kountouriotis. The surviving Katsonis was sent to Cockatoo dockyard in Australia for conversion to an AA cruiser, along the lines of the other Australian Town class ships (HMAS Bendigo).
 

As Chester 1918 at Scapa Flow, note Germanic States Battlecruiser in background (or is it Repulse type?).

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