Eleftherios Handrinos (also spelled Chandrinos, Greek: Ελευθέριος Χανδρινός; 18 September 1937 – 27 July 1994) was a Hellenic Navy officer who retired with the rank of vice admiral.

On 12 July 1974, Lesvos was scheduled to depart from the small harbour of Kechries in Corinthia bound for Famagusta, carrying 450 replacement personnel and provisions for the permanent Hellenic Force in Cyprus (ELDYK).

En route to Cyprus, the ship picked up broadcasts by the radio station of Nicosia, from which Handrinos was informed about the coup that had been launched against President Makarios.

On July 16, while the ship was off the coast of Limassol, the Hellenic Navy HQ ordered Handrinos to return to Greek waters by changing course towards Lindos in Rhodes.

Soon after, when Lesvos was approximately 40 nmi (74 km) from Paphos, Handrinos received an order to sail east and disembark in Limassol the troops he had picked up the day before.

In his official report, Handrinos notes that the return to Cyprus and the prospect of fighting against the invading Turkish forces was welcomed with enthusiasm by the troops onboard Lesvos.

Without clear rules of engagement from Athens, Handrinos decided to bombard the enclave with the ship's twin 40 mm Bofors guns.

[3][7] Due to the lack of sufficient naval personnel onboard Lesvos, its guns were manned by ELDYK men who had received brief, on the spot training while at sea earlier that day.

Over 900 shells were fired in a period of two hours, which exceeded the time required for disembarkation and resulted in the surrender of two heavily armed Turkish companies.

[7] In this manner, Lesvos managed to remain undetected and safely reached Salamis naval base on July 23, after an intermediate stop at Sitia.

The confusion was further aggravated by radio conversations among National Guard units, who knowing that their communications were being monitored, intentionally mentioned that Greek Navy vessels were off Paphos.

Based on these reports, in the morning of 21 July the Turkish naval command ordered three destroyers accompanying the landing force at Kyrenia to sail west and intercept the supposed Greek convoy.