The Submarine of Kaiafa Beach

In the shallow waters of Kaiafa beach [located on the west coast of the Peloponnese, Greece], local children had been jumping into the water from the conning tower of a submarine for decades. This strange childhood ‘plaything’ was once the Italian submarine AXUM. It participated in one of the most decisive operations in the Mediterranean of World War II.

In the 1930s, the Italian Navy embarked on an extensive program of submarine construction. This was part of a massive expansion of the Italy’s surface fleet. The fascist regime in Rome intended to relive past glories by dominating the Mediterranean, thereby turning it into “Mare Nostrum” (the so-called “Italian Sea”). The Adua-class submarine consisted of twenty submarines [1], based on the designs of the earlier Perla class [2], with a surface displacement of 680 tons, 844 tons submerged, measuring 60.18 metres long, 6.45 metres in beam, and with a draft 4.7 metres.

Drawing of the Adua class

Adua-class submarines had two diesel engines, each delivering 600 hp to a dedicated propeller shaft and propeller, resulting in a surface speed of 14 knots. When submerged, power came from two 400 horsepower electric motors which managed an underwater speed of 7.5 knots. Range was 3,180 nautical miles when on the surface at a speed of 10.5 knots and 74 nautical miles when underwater travelling at 4 knots. The operational diving depth of Adua-class submarines was 80 meters and they required a complement of 45 men.

Six 533 mm internal torpedo tubes (four in the bow and two aft) were the submarine’s principal weapon. Surface armament comprised a 100 mm deck gun and 13.2 mm light anti-aircraft gun. All Adua-class submarines were given the names of African locations that had recently been conquered by the Italian Army, which explains why the class became known as the Africani.

On the 13 of September 1936, an Adua-class submarine from the Cantieri Riuniti dell’ Adriatico [the United Shipbuilders of the Adriatic] shipyards in Monfalcone was named after the holy city of Ahum in Ethiopia. The AHUM joined the 7th Fleet of submarines based in Naples and then Cagliari in Sardinia on the 2nd of December in the same year.

AXUM upon completion (M. Risolo)

On the 9th of November 1940, the AXUM and four other submarines sailed to La Galite as a screen to a British operation called “Coat” but eventually did not make contact with the Allied vessels. On the 23rd of June 1941, the AHUM found an enemy ship while on patrol off the coast of Benghazi. It fired two torpedoes at a distance of 800 metres, but they failed to find their target. In retaliation, the submarine was attacked with depth charges, but no damage resulted. In September 1941, the AXUM was sent with three other submarines east of the Balearics to stop an alleged British naval attack on Italian cities. However, the submarines returned to their base without making contact. This is because the British ships had moved south, as they were actually protecting a Maltese refueling vessel (‘Operation Halberd’). On the 15th of July 1942, while patrolling the west of Malta, the AXUM fired three torpedoes against the Abdiel-class minelayer HMS WELSHMAN, which was transporting supplies to Malta. Due to bad weather, the torpedoes failed. The AXUM escaped an attack by 28 enemy aircraft on the same day.

AXUM with camouflage coloring (USMM)

On the 12th of August 1942, the submarine received an order to intercept a British convoy headed from Gibraltar to Malta. It was the period when Malta was under the stranglehold of the Axis Powers and supplies to the island only came with great sacrifices made by allied ships. In order to relieve the island’s marginal situation, the Allies organized ‘Operation Pedestal’. A squadron of fourteen swift merchant ships protected by powerful British Fleet units would attempt to disrupt the cluster of enemy submarines and surface ships and repel air strikes aimed at any attempt to resupply the island. However, the Allied Task Force was detected before it even entered the Mediterranean, and Axis Air Forces, in conjunction with the Italian Navy and German submarines, organized a large counter-operation. Five Italian submarines, including the AXUM, were stationed in the area between Malta and Tunisia. At 19:27, the AXUM came into contact with the convoy at a distance of 8,000 metres. It shadowed, while slowly closing in the distance. As the convoy entered the strait between Tunisia and Sicily, the planned convergence of its constituent columns was ordered. As the escorts changed position, the submarine commander took advantage of the situation. At 19:55, he carried out one of the most successful, if not remarkable torpedo attacks in the war when he launched a salvo of four torpedoes. One hit the (1,800 m away) cruiser HMS NIGERIA, causing extensive structural damage to the hull and fifty-two fatalities. The cruiser tilted 17 degrees and suffered a loss of electricity, but its crew was eventually able to restore both an even keel and electrical power. However, with the main boiler room and other compartments flooded, the badly damaged vessel was forced to return to the naval base at Gibraltar. Two other torpedoes hit and obliterated the stern of the light cruiser HMS CAIRO. Twenty-three men lost their lives in the attack. As there was no available vessel to tow it back to a safe port, the CAIRO was later abandoned and deliberately sunk. The fourth torpedo hit the US-based OHIO tanker, causing a 7 x 8 meter breach in its hull and leading to one of the most epic rescue efforts during the war. The kerosene cargo ignited and blew parts of the deck sky-high. However, the seawater entering the hull along with the crew’s efforts brought the fire under control and eventually extinguished it. Four and a half minutes after the torpedo attack, the AXUM was targeted by anti-submarine boats which rushed in to launch depth charges against it. The submarine dived to between 100 and 120 meters. It remained there during a two-hour pursuit by the surface vessels. It eventually emerged safely at 22:50 without damage. The next day, the OHIO became the target of enemy aircraft and was repeatedly hit until its crew was forced to leave. Escorted by two destroyers on either side, the OHIO managed to reach Malta on the 14th of August. An assembly of locals gathered at the port to meet it. Five of the convoy ships eventually reached Malta, thus ensuring continued distribution of food and supplies to residents, albeit with a heavy cost.

The torpedo blast at OHIO

On the 21st of July 1943, the hunter became the hunted. While sailing from La Spezia to the naval base at La Maddalena, Sardinia, the AXUM was spotted by the British submarine TEMPLAR. It fired seven torpedoes in succession, but without success. However, the attack was perceived by the Italians, and AXUM made successive course changes to avoid a second encounter.

Under the Italian capitulation signed on the 8th of September 1943, the Italian War Fleet had to sail to allied ports and surrender. The AXUM was in Gaeta having its overworked diesel engines replaced with new German Schultz’s when German troops appeared on the dock to seize all Italian shipping. However, the AXUM managed to escape with only one engine running. After hasty repairs in Portoferraio, the submarine finally reached the allied port of Malta on the 20th of September. On the 9th of October, it returned to Italy. At Taranto, which was now Allied controlled territory, it had further repairs done to its second engine. For the remainder of the war, the AXUM was used in missions to transport spies and saboteurs to and from German-occupied areas. Commander Giovanni Sorrentino departed from Brindisi on the 30th of November 1943 on the first mission to occupied Italy, disembarking fifteen agents of the US OSS (Office of Strategic Services) to set up a secret intelligence network. On the 19th of December, the AXUM departed from Brindisi again in order to land members of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) in Greece, but a power failure scrubbed the mission. After repairs, the submarine departed from Taranto on the 25th of December to travel south of Cape Katakolo [on the eastern Peloponnesian coast of Greece] to receive agents. On the night of the 27th, at around 8pm, the submarine arrived at the designated location at Loutra Kaiafa and the commander began to search for the prearranged signal he expected from land. As soon as the signal was spotted, the crew set up and launched a small foldable boat in order to transport the agents from land to the vessel. As they waited for the boat to return, the commander maneuvered to keep the submarine in position. However, during the maneuvers, the submarine ran aground at 37° 31′ N, 21° 35′ E on a rock formation which was not marked on the small-scale nautical charts available at the time. An attempt was made to dislodge the AXUM, but to no avail. So, the hard decision was to abandon ship. The crew and agents soon contacted Greek resistance fighters and provided them with weapons, ammunition and other useful items removed from the submarine. In the afternoon of the 28th of December, the commander ordered explosives placed inside the submarine, with the intention of rendering it useless to the enemy. The scuttling of AXUM marked the operational end of a submarine that had carried out twenty-seven offensive and twenty-two transport missions, covering 22,889 miles on the surface and 3,413 miles underwater.

Italian submarines after their delivery to Malta

The crew remained in the care of the Greek resistance until a repatriation operation could be organized. The wreck remained unnoticed by the Germans until the 22nd of January 1944. It was investigated by divers. They found that it had been stripped of anything useful, so they abandoned it. On the same day, an R.A.F. aircraft dropped winter clothing and shoes for the Italian crew, thereby allowing the ensuing five-day trek to the Peloponnese Mountains in the Marathopolis area. On the 29 of January, the torpedo escort ARDIMENTOSO picked up the AXUM’s crew and returned them to Italy.

The wreck remained half-submerged in the sand. A Shipwreck Recovery Agency (O.A.N.) was set up after the war to clear the wrecks which littered Greek coasts and ports. Consequently, the AXUM was sold by O.A.N. to contractor D. Papastefanou, on condition that dismantling should be completed by August 1949. It is not known whether an attempt was made to remove the vessel from the water at that time, or whether this contractor only removed the most valuable metal on board. Irrespective of whatever efforts were made, the deadline was not met and an extension was granted to complete the project by August 1952. However, this deferral had no consequence. In 1953, the Ministry of Merchant Shipping authorized the Yugoslav company Brodospas to remove the wreck. The company’s aim was to do so by the end of the year, but bad weather delayed operations for more than three months and the project was eventually abandoned. The wreck remained for two more decades until two brothers, Nikitas and Theophilos Klimis became involved. They were among the most capable divers who dealt with post-war shipwrecks. Nikitas told Kostas Thoktaridis and Ari Bilalis how they got involved with the AXUM’s recovery and what followed. The following text is an excerpt from the newly published book ‘Ανελκύοντας την Ιστορία’ (‘Salvage History’):

The shipwreck of AXUM (N. Klimi)

“In 1971, Polycarpos Callaghanis from Patras had taken over the rights to the AXUM, the Italian submarine which had sunk during the war at Loutra Kaiafa. He told us that the wreck had much to offer… and we almost killed ourselves there. We took the MARIGOULA[1], our recovery vessel which had a crane on the bow, and started. On arrival, we found the whole submarine dug deep into the sand, only its tower protruded. After our first investigation, we realized that there had been two or three salvage efforts before us and because they had not been able to raise it, they had simply taken whatever they could and left the main structure. It had nothing… not even batteries! We knew that we had to get it out of the sand but the pumping device we had required at least five metres depth to work. So, we found a vacuum suction device which worked with the air and started removing the sand. As the depth of sand extraction increased, we were able to use our own device as well. Because there was no mooring there, we had to return to Katakolo in the evenings, so we wasted two hours to go and two to come back every day. Eventually we made a camp, set up a shed under a pine tree, and made a wire rope bridge that we attached to the submarine’s periscope. After we sealed them and pumped out the water, we opened two holes, one at the bow and one at the stern, so as to descend into the hull. As we climbed down, we discovered that there was a watertight door in the stern that had not been opened by the previous salvage attempts, and from that compartment we finally got thirty tons of metal. Because we were unable to dislodge the submarine from the rocky bottom, Kalaghanis went to ask permission to use explosives. Sailors came from Katakolo to help establish a perimeter for the explosives and we dug two meters deep into the sand, two on each side at a distance of fifteen meters. We hoped that the explosion would shake the submarine and it would detach. However, the explosion damaged the trunk sealing, so it began to flood again. Theophilus went down the trunk to see where the leak was, but something happened. When I went to investigate, I saw him lying at the bottom of the trunk. Apparently, some containers in the submarine had been broken by the explosion and he had been poisoned by the fumes. I was wearing scuba gear, so another lad went down the trunk and tied Theophilus up from under his armpits so we could lift him up. We took him to the hospital in Krestena, but Theophilus, though conscious, was totally out of it. He was saying absurd things and obviously had no contact with reality. He was cared for, and although we thought we would lose him, after three days he somehow recovered and asked where we were. He was left with a good story… but the event made him nervous and later influenced his work. He told me that he had seen a hole six inches in the middle of the trunk, where the water was coming in and hitting the opposite side. So I put on my scuba gear, although I had no immediate way of plugging the hole. Because the explosion had made the water in the submarine murky, I couldn’t see much. But we had the pumps. They created a flow which I was able to feel in order to understand where the water was coming from. When I was in the middle, I felt the swirl and I found the hole. There was a valve which had been removed by a previous salvager because it was made of bronze. The welder cut me a piece of scrap iron and with some rubber and a hook, I closed the hole. Then we drained it of water again. We were resting on the beach and commiserating our misfortunes, when we suddenly saw the submarine rising! The bow rose two to three meters out of the water, and then rose so high that you could walk the deck for forty or fifty metres. However, the stern stayed stuck to the bottom. However, the AXUM was afloat – it was ‘a boat’ again. Callaghanis then went and brought a tug boat from Patras. This was old and had a deep draft, so it remained away from the shallows. We were given wires, which we tied to the submarine. At full power, the tugboat started digging ‘a hole’ with its propeller. The sand from the suction clogged up the machinery, so the attempt was aborted and the tug boat left. Callaghanis then brought the ISLE OF MAN, a tug boat from Tsavliris [Salvage Ltd]. With many difficulties, we eventually managed to pull the submarine free. We towed the submarine to Katakolos, with the MARIGOULA kept at the stern so that it would not sink. A tug boat from Dracopoulos towed it to Perama [near Piraeus] to be broken up. But the AXUM was still full of torpedoes – four in the front and two in the back. Advisors from the Navy told us to cut the submarine into two pieces. So, we cut the bow and stern and carefully placed the torpedoes on the MARIGOULA. Then we dropped them over the side, about 140 metres off the small island of Saint George [just outside the Saronic Gulf]. The submarine was then scrapped.”

The raising of AXUM

This description by the veteran diver, Nikita Klimis illustrates the difficulties faced by Greek salvagers. For three decades, they dealt with the problem of clearing ports and coasts of wreckage left over from the war. They were simple people, without formal education in shipbuilding or technical diving, who learned to dive from their forefathers. They applied their knowledge under adverse conditions and with limited resources to salvage shipwrecks and make a modest living.

[1] Three submarines of the Adua class were sold before the war to Brazil.

[2] The Auda-class was essentially the same submarine as its predecessor, the Perla-class. One of the Perla-class [the PERLA] was captured by the British [in July 1942], assigned to the Greek Navy and renamed the MATROZOS.

[3] MARIGOULA G. was built in 1915 in England as a type X-lighter. It was converted into a barge in 1929. After its purchase by Nikita Klimis & Elias Korda in 1970, it was converted into a floating salvage workshop. In 1986, it was sold and converted into a dredger called AGIOS GEORGIOS. On April 26, 1995, it sank due to adverse weather conditions at St. Helen’s Pier. It was subsequently raised and finally dismantled in 1997 at Eleusis.

Indicative references:

  • Manzari Giulano, I sommergibili Italiani dal Settembre 1943 al Dicembre 1945, Bollettino d’Archivio dell’Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, December 2011
  • O’Hara Vincent, Struggle for the Middle Sea, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2009
  • Bilalis Aris – Thoktaridis Kostas, Lifting History: The Aftermath of Wreck Lifting in Post-War Greece, Kyriakidis Publishing, Thessaloniki, 2017
  • Classe 600 Serie Adua, www.betasom.it/forum

[*] Ross J. Robertson is an Australian who has lived in Greece for the past thirty years. He has a BSc (Biology) and is an EFL teacher. He is the co-owner of two private English Language Schools and instructs students studying for Michigan and Cambridge University English Language examinations. He has written various English Language Teaching books for the Hellenic American Union (Greece), Longman-Pearson (UK) and Macmillan Education (UK). He published his debut novel (fiction/humour) entitled ‘Spiked! Read Responsibly’ in 2016. Moreover, he has written several spec screenplays and a number of newspaper articles, including an extensive series on the 75th anniversary of the WWII Liberation of Greece. A keen AOW and Nitrox diver, he is also a shipwreck and research enthusiast and has written features for UK Diver Magazine, US Diver and the Australian newspaper, Neos Kosmos. Ross continues to combine his expertise in English with his love of storytelling and local WWII history to produce exciting materials.

Author: Ομάδα Εναλίων Αποτυπώσεων

Η Ομάδα Εναλίων Αποτυπώσεων (ΟΕΑ) του Εργαστηρίου Τοπογραφίας, στο Τμήμα Αγρονόμων και Τοπογράφων Μηχανικών, συνεργάζεται με τα μέλη της καταδυτικής κοινότητας για την αναζήτηση, την τεκμηρίωση, την μελέτη και την ανάδειξη των ιδιαιτεροτήτων του θαλασσίου περιβάλλοντος, αναλαμβάνοντας συγχρόνως την σχετική ενημέρωση και ευαισθητοποίηση του κοινού. Μέσω εξειδικευμένων προγραμμάτων εκπαίδευσης και ενάλιων δραστηριοτήτων που συντονίζουν ή συμμετέχουν τα μέλη της ΟΕΑ επιδιώκεται η ασφαλής και υπεύθυνη προσέγγιση στα βυθισμένα τεκμήρια της φυσικής και πολιτιστικής μας κληρονομιάς.