The wreckage of a WWII-era British submarine that ushered in the era of special operations forces has been found off the coast of Greece, where it sank in 1942. Senior Greek diver Kostas Toktarides announced on Facebook that his team found the wreck of HMS Triumph at an undisclosed location “ten kilometers” from Cape Sounion in the Aegean Sea at a depth of about 203m.

“The wreck’s closed covers and retracted periscopes indicate that the submarine was submerging when it sank,” Toktarides said.

Rena Giatropoulou Toktarides, a member of the search team, said the bow was badly damaged by the explosion, which should have caused the submarine to sink. However, it was not clear whether the explosion was external—perhaps from a depth bomb or a sea mine—or internal, that is, caused by one of the submarine’s own torpedoes. The team is now working with submarine and torpedo experts to “give us the answers we’re looking for,” he said.

Submarine HMS Triumph

HMS Triumph was launched in 1938 and performed more than 20 missions during World War II, including attacks on Axis ships and submarines in the Mediterranean. However, the ship is best known for its role in covert operations, including the rescue of Allied soldiers stranded in North Africa.

In 1941, a submarine secretly transported British Special Operations (SOE) officer Captain Bill Hudson to the port of Petrovac on Serbia’s Adriatic coast to assist Yugoslav partisans.

Toktaridis and his team have been searching for the wreckage of Triumph for over 20 years. Rena Giatropoulou Toktarides, “The story of Triumph is complex and unique in Naval history and is inextricably linked with the special services that operated during the Greek resistance and the Italian-German occupation.”

They had already found the wreckage of four submarines, including HMS Perseus in 1997, but said HMS Triumph was “extremely difficult” to find. “There were bad weather and very strong undercurrents most of the time.”

One of the keys to success was the use of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, or ROV: “Divers cannot operate at 203 meters and in such strong currents,” he said.

lost at sea

According to naval records, in December 1941 Triumph sailed secretly in Despotikos Bay, near the island of Antiparos in the Cyclades.

On 30 December the submarine sent a cryptic message to the crew that it had landed a British military intelligence team and then planned to rescue more than 30 British who had fled from nearby Antiparos on 9 January.

But Triumph never showed up and the fugitives were arrested. On 23 January 1942, the submarine was listed as lost at sea by the Royal Navy with 64 crew on board.

Apparently the crew perished while sinking. “I believe all 64 characters were in the submarine because they were in a deep dive and all the hatches were closed,” said Giatropoulou. “HMS Triumph should be treated with the respect and sanctity it deserves as a naval warfare tomb.”

“Also, it’s important to notify the families of the crew who died,” said Timmy Gambin, a marine archaeologist at the University of Malta who was not involved in the Triumph research but led the discovery of the HMS Urge wreck. British II, which sank off Malta. World War II submarine. Source