Leonidas Palaskas

[2] His father was killed in 1822 during the Greek War of Independence, and Palaskas came under the protection of Ioannis Kolettis, who with the aid of the Philhellenic Committee of Paris sent him to France for studies.

In 1833, through the intervention of Kolettis—now ambassador of the independent Kingdom of Greece to France—and King Louis-Philippe, Palaskas was enrolled in the newly established French Naval Academy at Brest.

Almost immediately Palaskas began advocating reforms and particularly the establishment of a dedicated school for naval officers, on the model of the French Navy.

[2] Nevertheless, on 24 November 1845, a training school began functioning on board the corvette Loudovikos, with Palaskas as executive officer and Captain Rafail as ship commander.

The two officers however came into conflict, and although the Navy Ministry soon placed the direction of the "Naval School" (Ναυτικόν Παιδευτήριον) solely in Palaskas' hands, the latter asked for a placement elsewhere.