Wrecks of the Aegean: Italian torpedo boat, Aldebaran

The Aegean Sea saw a huge amount of action during the First and Second World Wars. Greek Explorers Kostas Thoctarides and Spyros Vougidis take us to Aldebaran, one of the 91 ships designated accessible to divers by Greek Authorities

The wreck of the Italian torpedo boat Aldebaran, sunk during the Second World War in the Saronic Gulf off the south-eastern coast of mainland Greece, is one of 91 shipwrecks in Greek waters that have been designated as accessible to divers by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, part of a drive to develop scuba diving tourism in the region.

Aldebaran was one of 32 Spica-class torpedo boats built between 1934 and 1937; 81.95 metres in length with a displacement of 642 tons.

The Spica-class ships were designed primarily for anti-submarine operations and fitted with four 450mm torpedo tubes, but they also carried armaments similar to the larger destroyers, and were capable of engaging surface ships and aircraft with three 100/47 100mm dual-purpose guns and eight twin-mounted 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

Of the 32 Spica-class boats built, 23 were sunk or scuttled during the war, having taken at least five Allied warships and a number of aircraft with them.

Two torpedo boats sunk in the Saronic Gulf

Greece had been under German and Italian control for six months when, on the afternoon of 19 October 1941, Aldebaran’s sister ship, the torpedo boat Altair, struck a mine west of Agios Georgios island in the Saronic Gulf while escorting a convoy from Piraeus to Crete.

It was initially thought that Altair had been torpedoed by an Allied submarine, as a separate convoy had been attacked by a submarine in the same area on the previous day.

Aldebaran was ordered to sail from Piraeus to assist with the recovery of Altair, which had been placed under tow by another torpedo boat, Lupo

She reached her stricken sister ship during the night, but the recovery was hampered by deteriorating weather and Altair sank just before 3 am on the morning of 20 October.

Rather than return to port, Aldebaran was ordered to return to the location of the explosion and search for missing members of Altair’s crew but at 9.05 am she also struck a mine, which exploded near the bridge, cutting the ship in two.

Heavily wounded, Aldebaran sank at 9.40 am, although her bow remained, inverted, at the surface for a time before falling into the depths.

According to the war diary of the German naval command in the Aegean, 14 men died and, of the 140 survivors, five of them were seriously injured.

The British minefield

With Greece under the control of the German and Italian militaries, the Allied Forces were keen to prevent their movement west towards the strategically vital island of Malta.

British Naval Command had observed the Saronic Gulf being used as a staging post by the Italian naval forces responsible for defending the port of Piraeus, and on 3 October 1941, the British Grampus-class (also called Porpoise-class) minelaying submarine, HMS Rorqual, sailed from Port Said, Egypt to lay a minefield across the gulf’s entrance.

On 8 October 1941, Rorqual laid her deadly cargo of 50 Mk XVI mines at a depth of 8ft (2.5m) across 2.7 nautical miles of the Gulf’s extent, before heading to Malta.

‘HMS Rorqual was one of the most active submarines of World War II,’ said Kostas Thoctarides. She was one of the six minelayer submarines of the Royal Navy’s Porpoise class and the only one of the class that was lucky enough to see the end of the war.

‘She operated mainly in the Mediterranean and had two missions in the Far East. She laid a total of 1,335 mines in 33 war patrols, succeeding in sinking at least 20 ships.’

The double-sinking of Aldebaran and Altair revealed the presence of the minefield to the German Aegean Naval Command. All navigation through the area was banned, and three Italian minesweepers were dispatched to clear the Gulf

‘The Italian torpedo boats Altair and Aldebaran were the only victims of the Rorqual minefield in the Saronic Gulf on 20 October 1941,’ said Spyros Vougidis.

‘After their sinking, the German Aegean Naval Command ordered an intensive and continuous effort to clear the area of mines in order to preserve the critical sea routes to and from Piraeus.’

The wreck on the seabed today

Aldebaran lies in two separate pieces at a depth of 104m, and remained undisturbed until the wreck was discovered by diver Antonis Grafas and his team in 2014.

The ship was cut in two near the bridge by the powerful explosion caused by the British mine. The main section – about two-thirds of the total length of the ship lies upright on the sea floor, split from the bow just forward of the funnel, which remains in position.

Parts of the bridge remain visible and aft of the funnel the gun placements have partially collapsed but are still mostly intact, and one of the torpedo tubes is visible on the port side of the ship.

Towards the stern are the remains of the Spica-class ships’ minesweeping and minelaying systems, including the grapple, now encrusted with marine life. The ship’s propellers and shafts remain visible underneath the stern.

The bow, which remained afloat for several minutes after the explosion, lies inverted on the seabed some distance from the rest of the ship, but overall the wreck is in excellent condition after 83 years at the bottom of the Aegean, with conditions often excellent for diving.

‘The visibility in the area is very good, more than 15 meters,’ said Thoctarides, ‘and the wreck sections remain intact since due to the great depth in which they are located, they were never salvaged after the war by the Shipwreck Salvage Agency.

‘So visitors to the sunken Aldebaran today have the opportunity to see a very impressive WWII wreck.’

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Kostas Thoctarides is a former Greek Navy SEAL, commercial diver, submersible pilot and explorer, who has dedicated his life to finding the lost wrecks of the Aegean Sea. He owns the commercial underwater exploration company ROV Services and Planet Blue scuba diving centre based in Lavrio, Athens.

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