Greek destroyer Panthir

Panthir

Career
Panthir
Ordered:	1912
Laid down:	1911
Launched:	April 1, 1911
Commissioned:	1912
Decommissioned:	1946
Fate:	broken up
Current position:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	standard displacement 880 tonnes tons
Length:	89.4 m
Beam:	8.3 m
Draft:	3 m
Speed:	Maximum Speed 31 kts., 32 after 1925 knots
Complement:	58
Armament:	(1912) 4 Bethlehem 10.2 cm guns, one 75 mm A/A gun, six 21 inch T/T and 3 electric search lights.In 1925 the 75 mm gun was removed and a 37 mm A/A gun was installed, along with a four barrel 40 mm gun and 2 mortars.She was modified for laying 40 mines.In 1942 the 3rd and 4th guns of the stern torpedo tubes were removed and one 3-inch A/A gun, one 20 mm Oerlikon gun and an A/S type 123A detection device were added.
Powerplant:	Foster Wheeler 4 coal burning and 1 fuel boiler, 5 funnels combined Parsons and Curtis turbines.In 1925 they were replaced by a Yarrow oil fired ones.
Armour:	unknown

Panthir (Greek: Α/Τ Πάνθηρ "Panther") served in the Hellenic Royal Navy from 1912 - 1946.

The ship, along with her three sister ships of Wild Beast Class destroyers Aetos, Ierax and Leon, was ordered from England. They were purchased ready for delivery, each for the sum of 148,000 pounds, from the English shipyards Camell Laird in Liverpool, when the Balkan Wars seemed likely. These ships had originally been ordered by Argentina; Panthir was originally named Santiago. Accepted by Captain Ath. Miaoulis, RHN in Palermo, Sicily. where she arrived manned by foreign crew.

During the Balkan Wars, only the essential ammunitions were purchased (3,000 rounds). Torpedoes were not available and for this reason these ships were initially named 'scouts' rather than 'destroyers'.

During World War I, Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and, due to Greece's neutrality the four Beast Class ships were seized by the Allies in October, 1916, taken over by the French in November and served in the French Navy from 1917-18. By 1918, they were back on escort duty under Greek colors, mainly in the Aegean Sea.

In 1919-20 she participated in the operations in Southern Russia evacuating Greek refugees from the Russian Civil War with the battleships Kilkis and Limnos and the destroyer Leon, remaining for 263 days in the Black Sea. During the Asia Minor war, she took part in the blockade of the Asia Minor coasts.[1]

After the war, Panthir was refurbished from 1925-1927. She also participated in the Second World War, after surviving the German invasion of April, 1941, Panthir was based in the Indian Ocean. Between May and October, 1942, her armament was updated in Bombay enabling her to offer better Anti-Aircraft protection and Anti-Surface capabilities on her new missions.

After the end of World War II, Panthir was stricken in 1946.

Panthir D-72 (Α/Τ Πάνθηρ D-72) Image Sources: http://www.hellenicnavy.gr/panthir12_46.asp