Country Greece Postal code 124 62 Local time Thursday 12:50 PM Municipality Chaidari Regional unit West Athens | Time zone EET (UTC+2) Vehicle registration Z Area code 210 Administrative region Attica | |
 | ||
Weather 23°C, Wind N at 18 km/h, 23% Humidity | ||
Skaramagkas (also spelled Skaramagas, Greek: Σκαραμαγκάς) is a port town in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Chaidari. It is known for its large shipyard.
Contents
Map of Skaramagas, Greece
Geography
Skaramagkas is situated on the east coast of the Bay of Eleusis, a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The Aigaleo mountain to the east separates it from Athens and Piraeus. Skaramagkas is 5 km west of Chaidari town centre, 6 km south of Aspropyrgos, 7 km southeast of Eleusis, 9 km northwest of Piraeus and 11 km west of Athens city centre. Greek National Road 8 (the old Athens - Corinth - Patras road) passes through Skaramagkas.
Shipyard
Since 1937 Skaramagkas harbour has been home to a shipyard of the Hellenic Navy. After destruction in World War II, it was refounded as a commercial shipyard in 1957, the Hellenic Shipyards Co.. In 2002, the port became entirely owned by a German group of investors under the industrial leadership of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, which became a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp in 2005.
In 1973, the Skaramagkas harbour was the scene of an experiment carried out by Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas, to test whether or not it was possible for Archimedes to use focused sunlight as a "heat ray" to burn Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BC). This event is mentioned in ancient accounts but often doubted by modern historians. In the 1973 experiment at Skaramagkas harbour, 70 mirrors with a copper coating, such as were available in Archimedes' time, did focus enough sunlight to set on fire a plywood mock-up of a Roman warship at a distance of around 50 metres (160 ft).
Between November 1978 and May 1979, the Greek destroyer Tombazis underwent structural modifications at the shipyard.