Σάββατο 6 Δεκεμβρίου 2025

German Command Laughed at this Greek Destroyer — Then Their Convoys Got Annihilated


For decades, the Greek Navy was dismissed as obsolete—“scrap metal” ships nobody expected to matter in WWII. Yet in the Aegean Sea, these underdog destroyers and escorts humiliated German E-boats and destroyed entire Axis convoys, turning the tides of night raids and supply missions. From the legendary Vasilissa Olga to the daring Adrias, Greek crews executed impossible maneuvers, ambushed faster enemy ships, and proved that courage, strategy, and audacity could outmatch technology. This is the hidden story of how a small fleet changed the game in the Mediterranean, one night battle at a time.

{That stretch of water between Greece and Turkey} Is Greek territory

The destroyer QUEEN OLGA, not ADRIAS, was the vessel that sank at Leros, ADRIAS gained notoriety when it returned to Alexandria without bow after hitting a sea mine.


ΠΗΓΗ WW Memories

Antonis Kanas (1915-1995) Warship Adrias (December 6, 1943)

1977, oil on canvas, 119x94 cm

Kanas loved the sea and served her with his talent by painting the ports of the Aegean islands, the fishing boats and their sail in the blue sea.

His masterpiece though, which is also one of the most emblematic works of modern Greek art, is undoubtedly the entry into the port of Alexandria of the wounded, mutilated Destroyer Adrias, with her CO, Commander Ioannis Toumbas, and her heroic crew.. Rarely has the brush of a painter managed to render pictorially such a dramatic and yet triumphant historical event. Adrias, L-67, was a Type III Hunt-class Destroyer which was built at Newcastle in 1941 and commissioned in 1942.

On October 22nd 1943, it struck a mine off Kalymnos island. The explosion tore her bow off taking 21 of the 170 men on board.  But the Destroyer did not sink, nor did it surrender. She “crawled” to the opposite coast of Asia Minor, in Mykali, healed her wounds and then sailed across the Eastern Mediterranean to reach the port of Alexandria on December 6th, on the day of Saint Nikolaos. She was decommissioned in 1945.

The original painting is on display in the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense.


ΠΗΓΗ https://hellenicnavy.gr

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