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Identity of WW2 submarine found in the Mediterranean confirmed as HMS Trooper
2 December 2024
Royal Navy experts have confirmed the wreck of a World War 2 submarine found in the Mediterranean as HMS Trooper.
Until now the location of the T-class boat had been a mystery since she disappeared 81 years ago after delivering supplies and three secret agents to Athens in Nazi-occupied Greece.
Greek diver and researcher Kostas Thoktaridis and his team found Trooper after many attempts and countless hours of meticulous research, eventually discovering the wreck lying at a depth of more than 800ft between the islands of Ikaria and Donousa in the Icarian Sea, part of the Aegean Sea in the approaches to Athens.
The loss of Trooper and her 64 crew in October 1943 was not in vain.
Their dangerous mission to deliver the three agents – the last people to get out of the submarine alive – proved fruitful, with valuable military information gathered and money and a radio delivered to the Greek underground.
The Royal Navy’s Wreck Advisory Group analysed video footage to confirm the wreck, which was found in early October.
Mr Thoktaridis said: “It’s broken into three distinct sections: the bow, midsection and stern. The condition of the wreck indicates a violent sinking due to a mine detonation.”
The dive teams reported that it is likely the submarine was sunk by a German EMF-type mine, instantly breaking the boat into three pieces.
The bow and stern lie on the seabed in close proximity, while the submarine’s conning tower has broken off and is located much further away.
The video footage captured by the dive team paints an eerie picture of the wreck, showing torpedo tube number seven open and the torpedo missing. The other tubes are closed.
The team’s report the break in one of three distinct segments was made where the crew accommodation was located, while the lower starboard side there is a four-metre crack and a large dent caused by the explosion of the mine.
The open hatch on the tower, lowered periscope and the position of the rudders led the team to conclude that Trooper was surfaced at the time of the explosion.
The main impact seems to have mainly hit the accommodation area, while the stern section has suffered least damage, according to reports.
Trooper’s eighth wartime patrol in 1943 came a matter of weeks after Italy switched sides to join the Allies, with the Nazis planning to seize islands in the Dodecanese which had previously been under Italian control and from which the Allies planned to strike at German targets in the Balkans.
The British submarine – commissioned one year earlier in 1942 – carried out her secret mission to Athens before acting on information about a new German landing operation on the island Leros, but was expected in Beirut by October 17.
When she did not turn up she was considered lost.
The report sent to the Admiralty stated: “Regret to report Trooper overdue since October 17th has failed to answer signals and must be considered lost.
“Trooper was patrolling west of the Dodecanese and for latter part of the patrol east of Leros to intercept expected seaborne attack on island.
“In the absence of any other evidence consider probable cause mines.”