Strana 19
10th war patrol: 21 November–5 December
1942, Aegean Sea area, commanding officer: Lt
Nikolaos Roussen.
The boat did not set out on its next patrol until
November, this time under a new commanding
officer, N. Roussen. He had assumed command
at the beginning of October, and both the
executive officer and the engineering officer
had also been replaced. The crew had two
principal tasks: to land a group of resistance
fighters on Crete, and then to patrol the
eastern Aegean and attack enemy transport
vessels.
The first part of the mission was completed
on the night of 27/28 November, when a group of
resistance fighters and their equipment were
landed in Selino Bay on the south-west coast
of Crete. The aforementioned G. Psychoundakis
adds that on this occasion no one was waiting
for the group ashore and, moreover, some of
the equipment sank in the sea because of the
bad weather. Once the resistance fighters had
made contact with local people, they returned
to the coast the following night and recovered
their equipment.
Meanwhile, Papanikolis continued its
patrol. On 30 November, the crew located
an anchorage used by enemy vessels off the
island of Alimia, west of Rhodes. The group
comprised several torpedo craft and a sailing
vessel, but above all a transport steamer with
an estimated displacement of 8,000 tonnes.
Before dusk the following day, the submarine
cautiously entered the bay and fired two
torpedoes at the transport from its stern
tubes. Shortly after the attack, the steamer
capsized and sank. Meanwhile, the submarine
disengaged and sailed north.
It returned to its Beirut base on 5 December.
The crew was also decorated for this action:
the commanding officer received the War
Cross, 1st Class, and other crew members
were similarly honoured.
Technical problems again made themselves
felt during this patrol, including failures of the
port diesel engine‘s cooling system and the
ballast-water pump.
11th war patrol: 7–23 January 1943, Aegean
Sea area, commanding officer: Lt Nikolaos
Roussen.
On the afternoon of 7 January, Papanikolis
once again left Beirut, heading for the island of
Hydra off the eastern coast of the Peloponnese.
This time, too, it carried a group of commandos
who were to be landed on the island.
Apart from stormy winter weather, the
voyage was uneventful. Nevertheless, the
submarine reached its destination, and in the
evening darkness of 13 January the unit and
its equipment began to disembark. Everything
was completed within two hours, and the boat
departed once more. Its next objective was
to disrupt enemy supply and minesweeping
operations in the Aegean. Shortly after noon
on 17 January, the boat sighted and detained
a two-masted sailing vessel carrying food for
the German garrison on Crete. A British prize
crew transferred to the sailing vessel and was
ordered to sail east to Alexandria.
The following day, another sailing vessel was
detained, this one carrying raisins and also
bound for Crete. After warning shots from the
gun, the vessel stopped and lowered its sails.
A short while later it was sunk by machine-gun
fire from the submarine, while the sailors were
interrogated. Papanikolis then submerged
again and continued eastwards.
Shortly afterwards, the patrol had to be
terminated because numerous technical
failures prevented the boat from diving,
and assistance was requested. It was soon
provided by the British corvette K-22 Gloxinia,
which escorted the submarine to Port Said.
It moored there on the morning of 23 January.
The crew was decorated for this patrol as
well, while the boat once again entered dry
dock for repairs.
12th war patrol: 7–23 March 1943, Aegean
Sea area, commanding officer: Lt Nikolaos
Roussen.
On the afternoon of 7 March, the submarine
cast off from the support ship Corinthia
in Beirut harbour and sailed towards the
Dodecanese Islands in the eastern Aegean.
This patrol, too, was filled with intense activity.
On the morning of 14 March, the submarine
sighted a large steamer, but on approaching it
identified the vessel as a hospital ship heading
for Rhodes. Papanikolis therefore withdrew
without taking further action. The following
day, 15 March, it encountered a two-masted
sailing vessel. A British boarding party and the
submarine‘s fourth officer were sent aboard
with the aim of taking the vessel to Egypt.
Unfortunately, two enemy torpedo boats later
appeared and escorted the sailing vessel to
occupied Rhodes. The Allied soldiers aboard
were captured, for which the submarine‘s
commanding officer blamed himself deeply.
On 16 March, a transport vessel was detained,
but was released again after it was found to
belong to neutral Turkey. That evening, a small
Italian sailing vessel bound for Rhodes was
stopped and then sunk. Three members of its
crew were captured and transferred aboard
the submarine. A similar action was repeated
on 18 March, and once again captured crew
members were carried away by the submarine.
The patrol ended on the morning of 23 March,
when the submarine moored at its base in
Beirut after once again having to cross a belt
of stormy weather.
13th war patrol: 30 April–13 May 1943,
Aegean Sea area, commanding officer: Lt
Nikolaos Roussen.
At the end of April, the boat once again
departed Beirut Base for occupied Crete.
On the evening of 7 May, it came ashore near
Cape Sidero and landed a total of eight people
together with supplies for the resistance
movement.
The following day, Papanikolis detained
a sailing vessel carrying cement to Heraklion,
Crete. The vessel was sunk by machine-gun
fire, and its crew were detained aboard the
submarine. Later that same day, another cargo
sailing vessel was sighted and sunk; it too was
carrying cement and other supplies for the
occupying forces in Heraklion. It went down
after being struck by the submarine‘s bow,
and its crew were taken prisoner like their
counterparts before them. Because of a pump
failure, the submarine had to break off its
TWO TOWERS
The original preserved conning tower of the submarine Okeanos, rear view.
INFO Eduard
19
August 2026