Century-old warship returns to Athens berth museum after repairs

ATHENS, Greece — After three months of extensive maintenance and conservation work, a 107-year-old battleship returned Wednesday to its berth in Athens, where it serves as a floating museum.

A naval band played, surrounding ships and boats sounded their horns and a naval helicopter flew overhead as the Georgios Averof, a relic from the era of dreadnoughts, was nudged in to its mooring spot.

Three tugs towed the 10,000-ton former Greek navy flagship from a shipyard in Skaramangas — where the repairs were carried out with private funding — through the straits of Salamis to Trocadero in Athens.

Named after the Greek businessman who partly financed the huge cost of the ship’s purchase, the armored cruiser was built in an Italian shipyard in 1910 and was at the time the most feared warship in the Aegean Sea.

It served in the Greek navy during the Balkan wars in 1912-1913, playing a leading role in victorious encounters with the Ottoman Turkish navy, helping free a string of Greek islands in the northeastern Aegean and securing Greek naval dominance in the archipelago.

It also saw active service during World War II, when it was based in Alexandria, Egypt, after the fall of Greece to German forces. After the end of the war, it carried the Greek government-in-exile back to Athens.

The Georgios Averof remained in service until 1952, and spent the next quarter-century moored on the island of Poros, until the navy decided to restore and use it as a museum in the mid-1980s.

The 460-foot (140-meter) ship will open again to visitors in September, following further refurbishment at its berth. About 60,000 people visit it every year.

Associated Press