Greek cruiser Elli (1912)

Elli - Εύδρομον Έλλη
Career (Greece)
Name:	Elli
Namesake:	Naval Battle of Elli
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding
Laid down:	May 12, 1912
Launched:	May 4, 1913
Commissioned:	1914
Fate:	Sunk August 15, 1940 off Tinos harbour
Notes:	Previously CNS Fei Hung
General characteristics
Type:	Light cruiser
Displacement:	2,115 long tons (2,149 t) standard 2,600 long tons (2,642 t) full load
Length:	98 m (321 ft 6 in)
Beam:	12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draft:	4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:	3 propellers
Speed:	26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) new 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) by 1940
Complement:	238
Armament:	• 3 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns (3×1) • 2 × 3-inch (76 mm) guns • 3 × 40 mm AA guns • 2 × 19-inch (483 mm) torpedo tubes • Capacity for transporting 100 mines
Armour:	Unknown

Elli (Greek: Κ/Δ Έλλη) was a 2,600 ton Greek light cruiser (in Greek Εύδρομο (interwar period term) or Ελαφρύ Καταδρομικό (World War II terminology)) named for a naval battle of the First Balkan War in which Greece was victorious.

She was originally ordered built as the Fei Hung by the Chinese government, but due to the Nationalist revolution in 1912-13, the order was cancelled. Completed in 1914 by New York Shipbuilding in the United States, she was purchased by Greece as part of their program of naval expansion after the Balkan Wars. She saw action during World War I and in the Asia Minor Expedition.

In 1920 she underwent a reconstruction in France along with the armored cruiser Georgios Averof. In that reconstruction she obtained modern anti-aircraft armament and the equipment to carry and lay 100 sea mines.

She was sunk during peacetime, on August 15, 1940, 8:25 am while she rode at anchor, by the Italian submarine Delfino near the island of Tinos. The Elli was in Tinos participating in the celebrations of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. One of the three torpedoes fired hit the Elli under the one operating boiler and she caught fire and sunk. Nine petty officers and sailors were killed and 24 were wounded. The same submarine attempted to torpedo the passenger ships M/V Elsi and M/V Esperos anchored in the port. This attempt failed and only a section of the port's wharf was damaged by torpedoes.

Fragments of the torpedoes were recovered, and identified as Italian in origin. The Greek government however, trying to avoid a confrontation with Italy at the time, announced that the nationality of the attacking submarine was unknown, an act that did not prevent the Greco-Italian War two months later, and did not convince the Greek people who were well aware of the real perpetrator.

After war, as compensation for the sinking of Elli, Italy gave Greece the cruiser Eugenio di Savoia which was commissioned in June 1950 for the Royal Hellenic Navy with the name Elli. She served until 1973. Since 1982, a Standard-class frigate, Elli, the lead ship of the Elli class bears the same name.

See also

• List of shipwrecks in 1940

External links

• Relevant Hellenic Navy web page
• History of Elli sinking from Hellenic Maritime Museum
• The History of R.Smg. DELFINO

Coordinates: 37°32′9″N 25°9′3″E / 37.53583°N 25.15083°E / 37.53583; 25.15083