Navarchos Miaoulis was a 1,820 ton Greek three-masted cruiser named for the admiral Andreas Miaoulis, the leader of the Greek rebels' fleet during the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829). The "Navarchos Miaoulis," as it was formally named, had been constructed in 1878 at the famed Forges et Chantiers shipyard in the French town of La Seyne, following designs by Lagan, and funded by the National Fleet Fund. It arrived at the port of Piraeus in October of 1879, originally classified as a "Battleship."