Strana 20
TWO TOWERS
patrol on 9 May and sail to Port Said for repairs.
It moored there on the morning of 13 May.
Owing to persistent technical problems and
a shortage of spare parts, the submarine was
used only as a training vessel during the period
that followed.
14th war patrol: 29 January–12 February
1944, Aegean Sea area, commanding officer: Lt
Nikolaos Roussen.
On the afternoon of 29 January, the
submarine departed Beirut with orders to
patrol the central Aegean. During the passage
to its operating area, the boat encountered
a winter storm. Heavy seas caused acid to leak
from the batteries and water to enter the hull.
After surfacing and ventilating the interior,
the damage was repaired and the submarine
continued its voyage.
On the evening of 2 February, the lookout
aboard the surfaced submarine spotted an
unidentified four-engined aircraft, and the
boat dived rapidly. This occurred in the strait
between the islands of Crete and Kasos.
From 3 to 12 February, the boat patrolled
its assigned area, but nothing unusual was
observed, so the patrol ended with its return
to Beirut. Towards the end of the voyage, the
commanding officer fell ill and the executive
officer temporarily took command of the boat.
Owing to its technical condition, no further
war patrol was planned for the time being.
Instead, it was decided to transfer the
submarine to Gibraltar for repairs. It was
dispatched there on 19 May 1944, but before
that the naval command had to deal with
a mutiny by part of the crew, which also cost
the life of its commanding officer, N. Roussen.
He was killed during the intervention against
the mutineers as the submarine was retaken
by force. Lt Christos Botsaris became the new
commanding officer. By then, the submarine
was no longer operationally deployed and
participated only in training the crews of
surface ships and aircraft.
Y/B S O
This boat belongs to the Type 209
class, designed by the German company
Ingenieurkontor Lübeck and built at the
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard in
Kiel. In many respects, however, the vessel
drew on the preceding Type 206 class. Together
with three other units, Okeanos formed part of
the Greek Poseidon class. It is also the first
vessel in the Hellenic Navy to bear this name.
It should be stressed that this type was
intended primarily for service in coastal
waters.
The vessel was completed and accepted
by the navy in Kiel on 15 November 1979,
with Lieutenant Commander (LtCdr) Vasilios
Morakis appointed as its first commanding
officer. Sea trials in the Baltic followed during
November and December. The crew began
the homeward voyage on 10 December and
reached its destination, Salamina Naval Base,
on 1 January 1980.
Its principal tactical and technical
specifications are as follows: length 55.90 m;
beam 6.3 m; submerged displacement 1,285
tonnes; range up to 11,000 nautical miles
(20,000 km). The boat has diesel-electric
propulsion and can reach a speed of 11 knots on
the surface (20 km/h) or 21 knots submerged
(39 km/h). Its armament comprises eight
533 mm bow torpedo tubes capable of
launching both conventional torpedoes and
Harpoon anti-ship missiles. It has a crew of 33.
The boat‘s active service began immediately
upon its arrival. It consisted of routine training
and maintenance, and naturally included
exercises, both domestic and international
(including, for example, the periodic Trident
and Dogfish exercises).
Probably the most dramatic voyage
undertaken by Okeanos took place in March
and April 1987 during the so-called “March
1987 Crisis.” At the time, Turkey decided to
send a vessel to survey fossil-fuel deposits in
international waters within Greece‘s economic
zone, claiming that the area formed part of the
Turkish continental shelf. It was simultaneously
announced that any Greek action against the
vessel would be regarded as grounds for war.
At the time, the submarine was commanded
by LtCdr Nikolaos Koutsodontis. On 27 March
1987, the boat was sent on patrol in the Aegean
after the naval command ordered all vessels
to leave their bases and move to designated
areas to monitor and, if necessary, block
Turkish activities. The crisis was ultimately
resolved through diplomatic means with the
involvement of the United States and NATO, and
fortunately no armed conflict occurred. The
voyage lasted 240 hours, and the boat spent
most of that time submerged.
In 2004, under the Neptune II programme
and on the basis of a decision taken in
2002, the boat underwent a modernisation
conversion. This included the installation of an
air-independent propulsion (AIP) system and
the modernisation of the existing propulsion
machinery and numerous other onboard
systems. The purpose was to improve the boat‘s
operational capabilities and reduce its acoustic
signature. Another important alteration was
the modification of the deck hatch to permit
connection to a Deep Submergence Rescue
Vehicle (DSRV).
The submarine returned to service in 2009
and is currently the sole representative of the
Okeanos class. Budget constraints resulting
from the financial crisis at the time meant that
the other boats were not modernised.
During the conversion, the boat‘s original
conning tower was removed and later installed
in Flisvos Park. With its new sail, the vessel
now resembles the Papanikolis class in
appearance. Its dimensions also changed:
the hull was lengthened, thereby increasing
displacement. The boat‘s performance
improved as well. This transformed it into
an ocean-going type capable of extended
operations without resupply.
Together with the Poseidon- and
Papanikolis-class boats, Okeanos is a core
element of the Hellenic Navy‘s submarine fleet,
which protects the mainland coastline, more
than 2,000 islands and the maritime lines of
communication between them.
The original conning tower of the submarine Okeanos from before the vessel‘s modernisation.
INFO Eduard20
August 2026