The mystery of a WW2 British submarine that went missing in October 1943 has been solved, after a Greek diving team led by Kostas Thoctarides pinpointed its exact location at the bottom of the Icarian Sea (253 meters), between the Cyclades and Asia Minor.
The HMS Trooper, a T-class British submarine, had sailed from Beirut on 26 September 1943 for a patrol in the Aegean Sea off the Dodecanese islands, including the Leros area. It was a little after Italy had capitulated and relinquished the Dodecanese islands. However, Germany was intent on maintaining control over the islands and started planting sea mines to prevent the Allied vessels from gaining a foothold in the area. The HMS Trooper failed to return on 17th October and was reported overdue on that day. It was presumed lost in German mines east of Leros. This is the eighth sunken submarine Kostas Thoctarides and his team has managed to discover.
The 84-meter-long submarine was cut in three parts, the bow, the middle section and the stern, as Thoctarides told the Athens News Agency, confirming speculations that it had indeed been sunk by German mines in the area.
Sixty-four sailors were drowned in the attack. Following the news of the discovery, George Malcolmson, former director of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum Archive, expressed his gratitude to Thoctarides and his team, stating that “knowing the final resting place of the men aboard the submarine will bring closure to the surviving relatives and descendants and serves as a timely reminder of this special category of men who made the ultimate sacrifice. Resurgam.”
The son of the HMS Trooper’s commander, Captain Richard Wraith of the Royal Navy, stated: “I have been aware for many years of the painstaking efforts of the research team to locate the submarine’s wreck, and now I am very pleased and excited that their efforts have been rewarded. I hope that the families of those who were lost along with my father will be able to use the Trooper’s final resting place as a point of reference that will contribute to the peace of their loved ones’ memory.”
