His challenge offering coal to the Ottoman fleet is presented as both confidence and an attempt to force battle. It contrasts the instinct to preserve scarce capital ships with the strategic emptiness of owning ships that commanders will never risk. Georgios Averof was a powerful armored cruiser, but its position below a first-rate battleship made it the kind of major unit Greece could plausibly expose without losing every means of resistance. Kountouriotis's argument also implies that a navy needs enough mass to absorb losses, because a fleet too precious to expose cannot perform its strategic purpose.
Chapter · 27:23-32:52
Kountouriotis treats risk as the price of naval usefulness
Rear-Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis argues that warships must be exposed to danger to achieve command of the sea, even when a small navy cannot easily replace them.