Their design drew more from the Chatham group than from Birmingham and retained the Greek-selected 5.5-inch gun. Greece had ordered the ships in response to Ottoman naval expansion and continued paying for them after war began. The Admiralty's compulsory wartime acquisition turned that foreign procurement project into a Royal Navy subclass. The gun was judged useful enough to appear later as secondary armament in Hood, Furious, and Hermes.
Notable Point · 11:50-13:05
The Greek origins of the Birkenhead subclass
The Birkenhead ships began as Greek orders responding to Ottoman expansion before the Royal Navy took them over during the First World War.