Delfin was a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 (actually called a "submersible", καταδυόμενον, according to the then current French terminology) which served during the Balkan Wars

Balkan Wars

The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

 and World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. It was the second submarine to enter service in the Greek navy, after the Nordenfelt I

Thorsten Nordenfelt

Thorsten Nordenfelt , was a Swedish inventor and industrialist.Nordenfelt was born in Örby outside Kinna, Sweden, the son of a colonel. The surname was and is often spelt Nordenfeldt, though Thorsten and his brothers always spelt it Nordenfelt, and the 1881 Census shows it as Nordenfelt...

 (in service 1886-1901), and is notable as the first submarine in the world to launch a torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 attack (albeit without success) against a warship.

History

Delfin was ordered in 1910 from the Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

 shipyards along with its sister ship, Xifias. It was delivered to the Royal Hellenic Navy just before the outbreak of the First Balkan War

First Balkan War

The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...

. Its first captain, Lt Cmdr Stefanos Paparrigopoulos, together with the 17-man crew, had been sent to France to receive their training, which, in the event, was cut short when the outbreak of the war became inevitable. The Navy Ministry ordered them to sail home, and Delfin sailed from France on 29 September, arriving in Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 on the very outbreak of the war, 4 October. This unescorted, non-stop journey of 1,100 miles set a world record and confirmed the abilities of its crew, despite their limited training. However, it also meant that no reserve crew could be trained, limiting its battle effectiveness due to the crew's fatigue.

From Corfu the submarine sailed to the main Greek naval station at Piraeus, where it remained until 19 October, its crew completing their training and preparations. From Piraeus, Delfin joined the Fleet at its forward anchorage of Moudros Bay in Lemnos

Lemnos

Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...

, but did not sail out until the end of November, instead being engaged in diving exercises. Although the vessel was plagued by numerous mechanical problems, after 20 November it began patrolling outside the Dardanelles

Dardanelles

The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

, retiring to Tenedos

Tenedos

Tenedos or Bozcaada or Bozdja-Ada is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. , Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are tourism, wine production and fishing...

 during the nights.

In the morning of , the Ottoman light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 Mecidiye

Ottoman cruiser Mecidiye

The protected cruiser Mecidiye served in the Ottoman Navy in the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Sunk by a mine, it was salvaged and commissioned by the Russian Navy, before being returned to the Ottomans in 1918...

sailed out of the Dardanelles on a scouting mission. At 10:40, Delfin launched a torpedo against Mecidiye from a distance of 800 meters, but failed to sink it, as the torpedo broke surface and passed by the ship. In its attempt to return to Tenedos, the ship ran aground on a shoal north of the island, and had to drop its lead ballast in order to escape. This however meant that the ship was unable to submerge any more, and therefore sailed back to Piraeus. Delfin, along with Xifias and the rest of the Greek fleet, were confiscated by the French in 1916, during the Greek National Schism. When they were returned in 1919, they were in a bad shape, and the following year, they were decommissioned.

Tradition

Two other vessels of the Hellenic Navy have received the name Delfin: the British V class submarine

British V class submarine

The British V class submarine was a class of submarines built for the Royal Navy during World War II. 42 vessels were ordered to this design, all to be built by Vickers-Armstrong at either Barrow-in-Furness or at Walker-on-Tyne, but only 22 were completed...

 Delfin II (Υ-9) (in service 1945-1957) and a German Type 149 Seemöwe torpedo boat (in service 1968-1974).