Greek battleship Kilkis

Kilkis, while still in US Navy service
History
Greece
Name:	Kilkis
Namesake:	Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas
Laid down:	12 May 1904
Launched:	30 September 1905
Commissioned:	22 July 1914
Fate:	Sunk on 23 April 1941 near Salamis.
Status:	Salvaged in the 1950s
Notes:	previously USS Mississippi (BB-23)
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mississippi-class battleship
Displacement:	Design: 13,000 long tons (13,000 t) Full load: 14,465 long tons (14,697 t)
Length:	382 ft (116.4 m)
Beam:	77 ft (23.5 m)
Draft:	24 ft 8 in (7.5 m)
Installed power:	10,000 ihp (7,500 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × Triple-expansion reciprocating engines 8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Speed:	17-knot (31 km/h; 20 mph) maximum
Crew:	744
Armament:	4 × 12-inch (305 mm) guns 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns 8 × 7-inch (178 mm) guns 12 × 3-inch (76 mm) guns 6 × 3-pounder guns 2 × 1-pounder guns 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 9 in (229 mm) Turrets: 12 in (305 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

Kilkis (Greek: Θ/Κ Κιλκίς) was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship originally built by the US Navy in 1904–1908. As Mississippi she was purchased by the Hellenic Navy of Greece in 1914, and renamed her Kilkis, along with her sister Idaho, 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 12 in (305 mm) 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.

Kilkis was 382 feet (116 m) long overall and had a beam of 77 ft (23 m) and a draft of 24 ft 8 in (7.52 m). She displaced 13,000 metric tons (13,000 long tons; 14,000 short tons) as designed and up to 14,465 t (14,237 long tons; 15,945 short tons) at full combat load. The ship was powered by two-shaft vertical triple expansion engines and eight coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) and a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Lattice masts were installed in 1909. She had a crew of 744 officers and enlisted men.