The wreck of the HMS Trooper has finally been found by the private deep-sea research company Planet Blue at a depth of 253 metres (830 ft) in the Icarian Sea, near the Cyclades Islands. The team was led by Greek diver and researcher Kostas Thoktaridis.
The Arcadian, built initially as the RMS Ortona in 1899 and later converted into a troopship during World War I, was en route from Salonika to Alexandria, transporting soldiers and medical personnel, when it was attacked on 15 April, 1917 and sunk by the German U-boat SM UC-74, resulting in the tragic loss of 279 lives.
The Arcadian had just completed a boat drill when a single torpedo hit it between the bridge and the foremast and sank within six minutes. 1,058 people were rescued
Kostas Thoctarides told state news agency ANA his team had located the wreck of HMS Triumph at a depth of 670 feet at an undisclosed location in the Aegean Sea.
The HMS Triumph was a British T-Class submarine involved in military operations in the Aegean Sea and elsewhere in the European theatre of the Second World War. It carried out twenty missions, including attacks against Axis ships, landing British commandos and rescuing Allied soldiers, until it disappeared during a mission in 1942. Eighty-four submariners were killed when the HMS Triumph sank.
Greek portal ScubaHellas reported that the German plane was located and identified by the technical diver and explorer Nikolas Giannoulakis, who also happens to be the owner of Chania Diving Center.
Greece has lifted diving restrictions eliminating depth limits and allowing diving at archaeological sites and sunken ships without an escort. The move follows a passed 2019 bill easing scuba diving laws and is part of a larger group of incentives to encourage the return of international tourists following the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
In May 2019, a group of dry cavers visited the famous silver mines of Lavrion in the southeastern area of Attica, Greece. The main objective of the visit was to inspect and document the flooded chambers.
Greek archaeologists have discovered the remains of a massive Roman vessel believed to be the largest classical shipwreck found in the eastern Mediterranean. Believed to have sunk some 2,000 years ago, the 35-metre vessel was discovered at a depth of around 60m during a survey off Kefalonia, one of the Ionian islands off Greece’s west coast. The site is situated 1.5 miles from the entrance to the harbour of Fiscardo, the island's only village to not be destroyed during World War II.
Greek diving is back on the menu. X-RAY MAG’s Peter Symes asks Avgerinos Vrazopoulos, the director of Scuba Hellas—the Greek diving marketing group—for insights into the development of new dive locations and trip packages for international divers.
HMHS Britannic was the largest ship to sink during World War I. (Weighting in at almost 50,000-tons she was also the largest ship in the world).
Many argue she is one of the most beautiful, intact, well-preserved passenger liners accessible to divers. It is little wonder that these factors, and the story behind her construction and sinking continue to capture divers imagination.
As my plane touched down in Athens on a warm and sunny October afternoon, it did not seem that long ago since the country experienced deep economic woes, during which a prolonged spat between the Greek Prime Minister Tsipras and then Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the EU bailout dominated the news for weeks on end, painting at times a bleak picture of a nation on the very brink of collapse and si
