Greek battleship Kilkis Kilkis ( Greek : Θ / Κ Κιλκίς ) was a 13 , 000 ton originally built by the US Navy in 1904 – 1908 . As she was purchased by the Greek Navy in 1914 , and renamed her " Kilkis " , along with her sister , renamed " Lemnos " . " Kilkis " was named for the Battle of Kilkis - Lahanas , a crucial engagement of the Second Balkan War . Armed with a main battery of four guns , " Kilkis " and her sister were the most powerful vessels in the Greek fleet . The ship saw limited action during World War I . Greece ' s pro - German monarch , Constantine I opted to remain neutral until October 1916 , when pressure from the Triple Entente forced him to abdicate in favor of a pro - Entente government . For the remainder of the war , " Kilkis " operated solely as a harbor defense ship . In the immediately ensuing Greco - Turkish War of 1919 – 1922 , " Kilkis " supported Greek landings in Turkey and participated in the final Greek sea - borne withdrawal in 1922 . She remained in service into the early 1930s , when she was used for a training ship . During the German invasion of Greece in 1941 , she and her sister were sunk in Salamis by German Ju 87 Stuka dive - bombers . The two ships were ultimately raised in the 1950s and broken up for scrap . Construction . Laid down on 12 May 1904 , the ship was launched on 30 September 1905 and commissioned into the United States Navy on 1 January 1908 as . She served in the US Navy until 1914 , when she and her sister were sold on 30 June 1914 , for the sum of $ 12 , 535 , 276 . 58 . The two ships were transferred to the Greek Navy in Newport News , Virginia the following month . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load . The ship was powered by two - shaft vertical triple expansion engines and eight coal - fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at and a top speed of . Lattice mast s were installed in 1909 . She had a crew of 744 officers and enlisted men . The ship was armed with a main battery of four L / 45 guns in two twin turrets , one on either end of the superstructure . Eight L / 45 guns were mounted in four twin turrets , two on other side of the vessel amidships . The secondary battery was rounded out with eight L / 45 guns mounted individually in casemate s along the length of the hull . Close - range defense against torpedo boat s was protected by a battery of twelve L / 50 guns , six 3 - pounder guns and two 1 - pounder guns . The ship ' s armament system was completed by two torpedo tube s submerged in her hull . " Kilkis " and " Lemnos " were the most powerful vessels in the Greek Navy . Service history . " Kilkis " and " Lemnos " quickly left the United States after their transfer in July , due to the rising tensions in Europe following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria the previous month . After arriving in Greece , " Kilkis " became the flagship of the Greek fleet . At the outbreak of World War I in July 1914 , Greece ' s pro - German 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 ( see " Noemvriana " and National Schism ) . " Kilkis " was reduced to a skeleton crew and had the breech blocks for her guns removed to render them inoperable . All ammunition and torpedoes were also removed . Ultimately , a pro - Entente government replaced Constantine and declared war on the Central Powers . " Kilkis " , however , did not see active service with Greece ' s new allies , and instead was used solely for harbor defense until the end of the war . After the end of World War I " Kilkis " saw service during the Greco - Turkish War , where she supported landings to seize Ottoman territory . On 5 May 1919 , " Kilkis " and a pair of destroyer s escorted a convoy of six troop transports to Smyrna , where the soldiers were disembarked . The Ottoman Navy had been interned by the Allies after the end of World War I , and so provided no opposition to the Greek Navy ' s activities . In July 1920 , " Kilkis " and a pair of destroyers escorted a convoy carrying 7 , 000 infantrymen , 1 , 000 artillerists , and 4 , 000 mules to Panderma . 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 . During the operations in Turkey , " Kilkis " left the theater to represent Greece during the Fleet Review in Spithead to honor King George V on his birthday , 3 June 1920 . " Kilkis " underwent repairs and upgrades in 1926 – 1928 but was already obsolete due to low speed and low freeboard . The ship had her boilers re - tubed during this refit . On 29 November 1929 , the Greek navy announced that " Kilkis " would be withdrawn from service and broken up for scrap . Consequently , in 1930 , the armored cruiser " Georgios Averof " replaced her as the fleet flagship . Nevertheless , " Kilkis " remained in service with the fleet until 1932 . The ship was then withdrawn from the active fleet and used as a training ship . A minor insurrection in the Greek fleet in March 1935 led to a reduction in the number of personnel in the Navy . As a result , " Kilkis " and " Georgios Averof " were removed from active service . After the revolt , " Kilkis " was used as a training ship for anti - aircraft gunners . She was used as a floating battery in 1940 – 1941 , based in Salamis . Spare guns from " Kilkis " and " Lemnos " were employed as coastal batteries throughout Greece . The ship was attacked in Salamis Naval Base by Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber s on April 23 , 1941 , during the German invasion of Greece . " Kilkis " attempted to get underway to evade the attacks , but she was hit by several bombs and sank in the harbor . Her wreck was refloated and broken up for scrap in the 1950s .