Karteria

The Kartería (Gr. for "perseverance") was the first steam-powered warship to be used in combat operations in history. It was built in 1825 in an English shipyard for the revolutionary Hellenic Navy during the Greek War of Independence. Externalimage
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http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/viewPrint.cfm?ID=PAF8052 Hellenic steam sloop-of-war "Kartería". In background Hellenic frigate "Hellas", showing the "Kartería" advancing against the wind, while the frigate is obliged to tack. Print in National Maritime Museum, London] It was built by the Greenland Dock (South) Shipyard, Rotherhithe, London. [www.southwark.gov.uk: "Maritime Rotherhithe Walks"] It was the only vessel completed out of an order for 6 such vessels from Capt F. A. Hastings, a former Royal Navy officer in the service of the provisional Greek government. The order was financed by the London Philhellenic Committee. [Encyclopedia Britannica Online; article on F. A. Hastings]

Classified as a sloop-of-war, it 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. [Encyclopedia Britannica Online: article on F. A. Hastings]

The ship entered service in Greece in 1826. It was the first steam warship to see action- the first steam warship ever built was American, the "USS Demolos", an armoured warship launched in 1813 carrying 30 guns but never used in battle. [C. M. Woodhouse "The Battle of Navarino" (1965) 29] Under the command of Hastings, the "Kartería" soon gained a fearsome combat reputation. Successful operations included a raid on the port of Salona (Split) on the Dalmatian coast on 29/30 September 1827, when it sank 9 Ottoman ships. [Woodhouse (1965) 83]

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