December 29, 1940: The fate of Proteus
The submarine Proteus (Y3) (of the Proteus Class of the Green Navy) was commissioned by the Greek government in France in 1927 along with three other similar submarines, Nireus, Glaucos, and Triton. Proteus was built between 1927–1929 at the Ateliers & Chantiers de la Loire shipyards in Nantes. The Greek flag was raised on August 31, 1929, and it joined the Greek Royal Navy under the code “Y3”.
The boat was 68.6 x 5.7 x 4.1 meters with a displacement of 790 tons (or 960 tons in diving) and was driven by two propellers. The propulsion system consisted of 2 Sulzer-type diesel engines, 1,420 nhp for surface motion and 2 1,200 nhp motors for diving motion. The vessel was manned by a crew of 41 men. Its armament consisted of eight torpedo tubes of 533 mm (6 at the bow and 2 at the stern), one 100mm gun and one 40mm machine gun. Proteus, like the rest five submarines of the fleet, had exceeded its operational limit of 10 years, according to its manufacturer, but remained in service because its decommissioning had been deemed impossible as no new vessels could be supplied.
Proteus carried out its first war patrol in the Ionian Sea, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Michael Hadjikonstantis, from October 30 to November 5, 1940. During its patrol it sailed to Patras on October 31, in time when the city was under aerial bombardment, and was forced to remain in diving until the end of the alarm. On November 2, the ship left to the Ionian Sea and headed for its patrol area. At November 6, while the submarine was near Paxi islands, the front rudder wedged. Due to bad weather, its commander headed to a lush area of Paxi where the rudder was temporarily repaired. Thereafter, after receiving the order of the fleet commander to return to the base, it embarked on the return journey, arriving at Salamis Naval Base on 5 November 1940.
On November 15, 1940, Proteus began its second war patrol in the Ionian Sea, which lasted until November 24. On November 19, the ship received a signal informing it about the transfer of an Italian division from Trieste to Albania. The submarine, reaching the area of Cattaro, in Montenegro, remained patrolling throughout November 20th without encountering any floating vessel, so it returned to Salamis on November 24th 1940.
On December 26, 1940, Proteus began its third war patrol, which would last until January 8, 1941. Following the feats of Submarine Papanikolis, the mission of Proteus was to patrol the Straits of Otranto as well, and harass the Italian naval lines of reinforcments.
Arriving at his patrol area, the submarine located, at 10:00 of December 29, 1940, at 40° 31´ N/19°02´ E (latitude 40.51666667 and longitude 19.03333333) an Italian convoy, consisting of the Italian troopships Sardegna (11,452 GRT), Italia (5,018 GRT) and Piemonte (15,209 GRT), which were accompanied by the Italian torpedo boat Antares (Spica class), of 630 tonnes (captain was Lieutenant Nicolo Nicolini). The convoy was coming from Valona and was going to Brindisi.
Proteus sunk Sardegna. But, along with Sardegna, the signal of Proteus was lost as well. For the next days, the submarine was missing.
The fate of Proteus was revealed from the Italian Radio Station on January 10, 1941. After Proteus fired its torpedoes, it lost its diving depth and rose to the surface. As a result it was spotted by Antares, which rammed Proteus. The submarine was sunk with no survivors (48 men KIA).
Submarine Proteus
Lieutenant Commander Michael Hadjikonstantis, (November 26, 1906 - December 29, 1940) posthumously promoted to Commander.
