The International Squadron was a naval squadron formed by a number of Great Powers in early 1897, just before the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, to intervene in a native Greek rebellion on Crete against rule by the Ottoman Empire. Warships from Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, Italy, the Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom made up the squadron, which operated in Cretan waters from February 1897 to December 1898.
The senior admiral from each country present off Crete became a member of an "Admirals Council" – also called the "Council of Admirals" and "International Council" – charged with managing the affairs of Crete, a role the admirals played until December 1898. The most senior admiral among those in Cretan waters served both as overall commander of the International Squadron and as the council's president. Initially, Italian Vice Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro (1838–1926) served in these roles. When Canevaro left the International Squadron in mid-1898, French Rear Admiral Édouard Pottier (1839–1903) succeeded him as overall commander of the squadron and president of the council.
During the squadron's operations, it bombarded Crete, landed sailors and marines on the island, blockaded both Crete and some ports in Greece, and supported international occupation forces on the island. After Austria-Hungary and Germany withdrew from the squadron, the other four powers continued its operations. After the squadron brought fighting on Crete to an end, its admirals attempted to negotiate a peace settlement, ultimately deciding that a new Cretan State should be established on the island under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. The squadron completed its work in November and December 1898 by removing all Ottoman forces from the island and transporting Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869–1957) to Crete to serve as High Commissioner of the new Cretan State, bringing direct Ottoman rule of the island to an end.
Background
In 1896, the Great Powers induced the Ottoman Empire to agree to institute reforms in the administration of the island of CreteClowes, p. 444. – which the Ottomans had controlled since 1669Clowes, p. 448. – to protect the interests of the island's Christian population, with whom many people in Greece sympathized. When the Ottomans failed to follow through on the reforms and massacred Christian inhabitants of Canea (Chania), Crete, on 23–24 January 1897, a revolt broke out on 25 January 1897 among the Cretan Christians with a goal of forcing the union of Crete with Greece. With the support of Greek Army troops deployed to the island and Greek Navy warships operating along its coast, the insurgents overran much of the countryside. Ottoman troops generally retained control of Crete's large towns and of isolated outposts scattered around the island.
Anxious to force the Ottomans to adhere to the agreement to institute the reforms promised in 1896 and to avoid a general war breaking out between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which they feared would lead to an inevitable Greek defeat and might spread to become a general war in Europe, six Great Powers – Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom – decided to intervene in the revolt so as to ensure that the reforms would take place. They placed pressure on the Ottomans not to reinforce their garrisons on Crete; in exchange, they took the responsibility for the general safety of the Ottoman garrisons already on the island.
Formation of the squadron
As early as May 1896, the British battleship and a French gunboat had arrived in Cretan waters to protect their countries′ interests and citizens in the face of unrest on Crete,McTiernan, p. 13. and when major rioting broke out in Candia (now Heraklion) on 6 February 1897, men from the British warship on station, the battleship , intervened to bring the situation under control and to protect British subjects by bringing them aboard Barfleur.McTiernan, p. 14. With the rapid deterioration of the situation on the island in early 1897, ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, French Navy, Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), Imperial Russian Navy, and British Royal Navy all arrived in Crete's waters in early February 1897 as a show of naval might intended to demonstrate the commitment of the Great Powers to an end of fighting on Crete and an arrangement that would protect Christians on the island without separating it from the Ottoman Empire. The first British warships to join Barfleur – led by the battleships , the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Harris, and – arrived on 9 February 1897; by 13 February, Austro-Hungarian, French, Italian, and Russian warships had anchored off Crete and Germany had committed to establishing a naval presence there. Anchoring in the harbor at Canea (now Chania), the squadrons soon combined to form the International Squadron, and the admirals commanding the various national contingents began working together to address matters on the island.
Operations Early actions Greek intervention While the six powers negotiated over what additional steps their naval forces off Crete should take, Greece took action to support the Cretan Christian insurgents. The Greek Navy ironclad Hydra arrived off Crete in early February 1897, nominally to protect Greek interests and citizens on Crete, and on 12 February a Greek Navy squadron consisting of the steam sloop-of-war Sphacteria and four torpedo boats under the command of Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869–1957) arrived at Canea with orders to support the Cretan insurrection and harass Ottoman shipping. The admirals of the International Squadron informed Prince George that they would use force if necessary to prevent any aggressive Greek actions in and around Crete, and Prince George's squadron departed Cretan waters on 13 February and steamed back to Greece. On the day that Prince George's squadron departed, the admirals received a report that Greek warships had chased and fired on an Ottoman steamship off Crete, and they informed the commander of the Greek Navy that they would not allow Greek ships to fire at Ottoman vessels in the island's waters.McTiernan, pp. 14-15. However, the situation continued to escalate on 14 February, when a Greek Army expeditionary force commanded by Colonel Timoleon Vassos (1836–1929) consisting of two battalions of Greek Army infantry – about 1,500 men – and two batteries of artillery landed at Platanias, west of Canea; Vassos declared that his troops had come to occupy Crete on behalf of the King of Greece and unilaterally proclaimed Greece's annexation of Crete. This prompted the island's Ottoman vali (governor), George Berovich (also known as Berovich Pasha) (1845–1897), to flee to Trieste on 14 February aboard the Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I.McTiernan, p. 15.
Vassos's declaration was a direct challenge to both the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers, and Berovich's departure left Crete with no functioning civil authority. To address both matters, the International Squadron took its first direct action on 15 February 1897 by landing 450 sailors and marines – 100 each from France, Italy, Russia, and the United Kingdom and 50 from Austria-Hungary – from the warships anchored in the harbor at Canea and raising the flags of all six of the Great Powers over Canea. This began both the international occupation of Crete and the role of the International Squadron's admirals in managing the island's affairs via the Admirals Council.Holland, Robert, and Diana Markides, The British and the Hellenes: Struggles For Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1850–1960, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, , p. 92. When the first Imperial German Navy warship, the protected cruiser , arrived off Crete on 21 February, she reinforced the International Squadron's occupying force ashore by landing an additional 50 men.McTiernan, p. 17. Meanwhile, the International Squadron determined that the senior admiral present among the contingents of all six countries should serve as the squadron's overall commander, and accordingly Italian Vice Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro – on the scene in command of a Regia Marina squadron consisting of the battleships Sicilia (his flagship) and Re Umberto, the protected cruiser Vesuvio, and the torpedo cruiser Euridice – became the commander of the International Squadron on 16 or 17 February (sources vary); he also became president of the Admirals Council. The International Squadron ordered Vassos to come no closer than 6 kilometers (3 miles) to Canea, but he began operations intended to capture the town, leading to a clash on 19 February 1897 in which his expedition defeated a 4,000-man Ottoman force in the Battle of Livadeia. The International Squadron demanded that Vassos cease his operations against Canea and captured several storeships sent to supply him.Clowes, p. 445.
February bombardments