During the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 he served on board the Greek flagship, the cruiser . With "Georgios Averof", he fought in the Battle of Elli and the Battle of Lemnos, as well as participating in the capture of Lemnos, Imbros, Samothrace, Tenedos, Mount Athos, Lesbos, Kavala and Dedeagatch. Following the Balkan Wars, he was promoted on 2 November 1914 to Lieutenant I Class (retroactive to 17 October). As a staunch royalist, he was dismissed from the Navy on 21 June 1917, following the exile of King Constantine I and the assumption of government in Athens by Eleftherios Venizelos. He was brought before a court-martial and condemned to three years imprisonment at the Izzeddin Fortress in Souda.