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Greek destroyer Velos (D16)
Preserved museum ship
Velos (D16) is a Fletcher-class destroyer built for the US Navy as USS Charrette (DD-581) and transferred to Greece in 1959, where she served the Hellenic Navy until 1991. She is historically significant as the ship whose crew, while on a NATO exercise in 1973, defected to Italy in protest against the Greek military junta, making her a symbol of resistance to the dictatorship.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kitNo image | 1/1250 Greece destroyer (Fletcher class) D 16 VELOS, Paper Model | IPCY | 1:1250 | Card | Available |
Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Navypedia: Sfendoni-class (Fletcher) destroyers including VelosWebsite
Provides detailed technical specifications (displacement, dimensions, machinery, armament) for the Fletcher-class ships transferred to Greece, valuable for scale modelers.
- Wikipedia: Greek ship Velos (disambiguation)Website
Clarifies the two Hellenic Navy ships named Velos and confirms D16's fate as a museum ship.
- Wikipedia: List of decommissioned ships of the Hellenic NavyWebsite
Confirms Velos (D16) is preserved at Faliron Bay as a museum of the anti-dictatorship struggle, useful for current status context.
- Wikipedia: USS Charrette (later Greek destroyer Velos D16)Website
Covers the ship's US Navy career as Charrette and her subsequent Hellenic Navy service and preservation as Velos; useful for overall service history.
History
Specifications
As a Fletcher-class destroyer, Velos had a standard displacement of about 2,325 tons (3,005 tons full load), an overall length of roughly 114.7 m and beam of 12.1 m. She was powered by geared steam turbines driving two shafts for a top speed near 38 knots, and carried armament typical of the class including 127 mm guns, 76 mm AA guns, and 533 mm torpedo tubes.
Service history
Commissioned into the US Navy in 1943, the ship served in the Pacific theater during World War II before being placed in reserve. Transferred to Greece in 1959 and renamed Velos, she took part in nearly every major Hellenic Navy and NATO exercise and was involved in the Cyprus crises of the 1960s and 1970s before being decommissioned in 1991.
Notable facts
Preserved since 1991, the ship has long served as a museum dedicated to the 1967–1974 struggle against the Greek military dictatorship, reflecting the crew's 1973 mutiny/defection. She was displayed at Palaio Faliro (Faliro Bay) near Athens for many years before being relocated to Thessaloniki's waterfront in 2019, and remains open to visitors, with some moorage damage reported from a 2023 storm.