Greek destroyer Lonchi Lonchi ( Greek : Α / Τ Λόγχη , " Spear " ) was a " Thyella " class destroyer that served in the Royal Hellenic Navy beginning in 1907 . The ship , along with her three sister ships , was ordered from England in 1906 and was built in the Yarrow shipyard at Cubitt Town , London . " Lonchi " was , displaced , and was armed with two torpedo tubes , two guns , and two guns . " Lonchi " saw active service during the Balkan Wars , as part of the invasion fleet that seized several islands in the Aegean Sea in the first week of the war . For the remainder of the conflict , " Lonchi " participated in the naval blockade of the Dardanelles . During World War I , Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and , due to Greece ' s neutrality the four " Thyella " class ships were seized by the Allies in October 1916 , taken over by the French in November and served in the French Navy 1917 – 1918 . By 1918 , they were back on escort duty under Greek colors , mainly in the Aegean Sea . " Lonchi " saw action in the Greco - Turkish War ( 1919 – 1922 ) . After the war , she was stricken in 1926 and broken up in 1931 . Construction . " Lonchi " was ordered from Yarrow shipyard at Cubitt Town , London in 1905 , along with three sister ships , " Thyella " , " Nafkratousa " , and " Sfendoni " . " Lonchi " was launched on 10 July 1907 . The ship was long and had a beam of and a draft of . At normal displacement , " Lonchi " displaced , and at full combat load her displacement rose to . The ship was powered by a pair of vertical triple expansion engines supplied with steam by four Yarrow water - tube coal - burning boilers . The power plant had a designed output of and a top speed of , but on trials , the four ships averaged between and and speeds of . " Lonchi " was armed with a variety of weapons . Her primary offensive armament was a pair of torpedo tubes in two revolving , above - water mounts emplaced on her stern . She was also equipped with a light gun armament consisting of a pair of Hotchkiss guns and a pair of Hotchkiss guns . Service history . The First Balkan War , pitting the decaying Ottoman Empire against Greece , Serbia , and Bulgaria , broke out on 19 October 1912 . The Greek Navy quickly gained superiority in the Aegean ; on the day before hostilities began , the main Greek naval force , including the powerful armored cruiser " Georgios Averof " , the three elderly s , and fourteen destroyers including " Lonchi " , departed from Piraeus and landed troops at Mudros Bay on the 20th . The island was firmly in Greek control by the next day , after which the naval force conducted a series of amphibious assaults throughout the Aegean , capturing Thasos , Samothrace , Imbros , and Tenedos in the span of several days . Following the seizure of the Aegean islands , the Greek Navy conducted a blockade of the Dardanelles , which effectively kept the Ottoman Navy bottled up for the remainder of the war . At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , Greece ' s monarch , Constantine I , decided to remain neutral . The Entente powers landed troops in Salonika in 1915 , which was a source of tension between France and Greece . Ultimately , the French seized the Greek Navy on 19 October 1916 . The Greek light forces , including " Lonchi " , were incorporated into the French Navy and flew the French naval ensign . Constantine I refused to accept an agreement with the Entente , and was forced to abdicate . His son , Alexander of Greece , was installed as king and acceded to Entente demands and declared war on the Central Powers on 2 July 1917 . " Lonchi " , however , remained in French service through 1918 . After the end of World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire , Greece moved to seize Ottoman holdings in the Aegean and Asia Minor . The entire Greek Navy , including " Lonchi " , was pushed into heavy service patrolling the eastern Mediterranean and in support of land operations . Operations came to a close in September 1922 when the Greek Army was forced to evacuate by sea , along with a sizable number of civilians , from Asia Minor . The fleet transported a total of 250 , 000 soldiers and civilians during the evacuation . By 1926 , " Lonchi " was in bad condition and she was stricken from the naval register . The ship was finally broken up for scrap in 1931 .