The Battle of Lemnos took place in October 1912 during the First Balkan War. Following the opening of hostilities in the First Balkan War, the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos ordered the Commander in Chief of the Hellenic Navy Pavlos Kountouriotis to engage the Ottoman fleet in the Aegean Sea and to: (i) Restrict its freedom of operations to the Dardanelles, (ii) Deny the reinforcement of Ottoman forces operating in Macedonia and Thrace by sea, and (iii) Conduct a naval blockade of Ottoman Aegean trade routes and ports.