Daily Event for October 24, 2010

On October 24, 1927 the Greek submarine Proteus Y-3 was launched at Ateliers & Chantiers de la Loire in St. Nazaire, France. Proteus was the lead ship in a four boat class all built in France. They were 225' long and 750 tons (surfaced) with eight 21" torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern all internal). She carried a 3.9" (100mm) deck gun and a 3 pounder for anti-aircraft protection, but only 2 reloads for the torpedo tubes. The Proteus class were the most advanced submarines built for the Royal Hellenic Navy and made up the bulk of the Greek submarine force, the Greeks had only 2 other submarines at the outbreak of the war.

After the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 all the submarines operated by the Greeks escaped to various ports and for the remainder of the war operated under British control, but with mostly Greek crews. Three of the four Proteus class boats were lost in the war, Glafkos being the only survivor. Proteus was lost on Dec. 29, 1940 after sinking the Italian cargo ship Sardegna, one of the escort vessels, Antares, depth charged the boat to the surface and rammed it, sadly the whole crew was lost.
© 2010 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com


Glafkos Y-6, same class as Proteus.






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