Eighty-six years since the torpedoing of the «Elli» off Tinos

On the very day of the great feast of the Virgin Mary, 86 years ago today, on August 15, 1940, the Italian submarine «Delfino» torpedoed and sank the Greek cruiser «Elli» in the port of Tinos.

At that time, during the second year of World War II, Italy, a member of the Axis Powers, sought to challenge Great Britain for dominance in the Mediterranean. After conquering Libya, Ethiopia, and Albania, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had set his sights on Greece as his next target.

Moreover, during the same period, strong Italian forces advanced toward the Greek border, revealing Mussolini’s intentions.

In this context, the Italian dictator chose to carry out small-scale attacks on Greek ports and ships.

On July 12, at 6:30 a.m., three Italian bomber aircraft attacked the Greek Navy’s auxiliary vessel «Orion,» which was on lighthouse duty, with bombs and machine guns. The attack took place while the ship was resupplying the Gramvousa lighthouse in Kissamos Bay in western Crete.

The same planes then attacked the destroyer «Hydra,» which had been ordered to rush to the aid of the ship «Orion.».

On July 30, at 6:50 a.m., an Italian aircraft, coming from the Dodecanese, dropped four bombs on the Greek destroyers «King George» and «Queen Olga» and at two Greek submarines, which were in the port of Nafpaktos.

As revealed by the chemical analysis of debris from this attack, the bombs were of the same type as those used to attack the destroyer «Hydra» on July 12, 1940.

The Order and the Torpedoing

The order to torpedo the «Elli» was given by the Italian commander of the Dodecanese, Cesare Maria De Vecchi. On the night of August 14, the Italian submarine «Delfino,» commanded by Lieutenant Commander Giuseppe Aikardi, departed from the naval base at Partheni on Leros. Its mission was to attack enemy ships off Tinos and Syros, after which it would proceed to blockade the Corinth Canal.

In the early morning hours of August 15, 1940, the Italian submarine was «submerged» off the port of Tinos. Using his periscope, Lieutenant Aikardi saw a Greek warship entering the harbor. The cruiser «Elli» was sailing to Tinos for the celebrations of the Feast of the Annunciation.

The clock read 8:25 a.m., just a few minutes before the procession of the icon of the Virgin Mary was to take place, and a large crowd had gathered on the island’s beach. The Italian submarine launched an attack with three torpedoes. Only one of them hit its target, while the other two exploded on the waterfront. However, the blow to the Greek cruiser was decisive. The torpedo struck the engine room and fuel tanks of the «Elli.» Just one hour later, the Greek cruiser sank.

One petty officer and eight sailors aboard the «Elli» were killed in the attack, while a total of 24 people were wounded on the Greek cruiser. The second torpedo fired by the «Delfino,» which exploded on the waterfront, claimed the life of a woman who was on the beach and died of a heart attack.

Immediately after the torpedo attack, the Italian submarine withdrew without being identified. It arrived a few hours later in Syros, from where it departed without carrying out any attack, as it did not locate any Greek ships in the island’s port. Subsequently, the submarine «Delfino» returned, on orders from the Italian authorities, hastily to Leros and did not carry out its mission at the Corinth Canal.

The operation may not have been known to the political authorities in Rome —though it cannot be ruled out that only the dictator Mussolini had been informed—and this is because, as the country’s then-Foreign Minister, Galeazzo Ciano, wrote in his memoirs, the sinking of the Greek ship was due to De Vecchi’s recklessness.

The cruiser «Elli»

It was a warship that belonged to the Hellenic Navy. The cruiser was named after the Battle of Elli, which took place during the First Balkan War.

Cruisers were warships of various sizes, capable of high speeds and equipped with lighter armament than battleships, which they gradually replaced.

On August 15, the the «Elli,» with a displacement of 2,115 metric tons and a crew of 232 men, was in the bay of Tinos when it was suddenly struck by torpedoes. At 9:45 a.m. that same day, she sank.

The Impact

«To preserve the vitality of the Greek spirit and religious faith, the Greek Prime Minister ordered, despite the sinking of the steamship, that the procession not be canceled, and it was indeed held with great public participation and solemnity.» This was Ioannis Metaxas’s message immediately following the attack on the Greek cruiser.

The incident had plunged all of Greece into mourning. At the same time, patriotism, the honor and dignity of the Greek people had been severely wounded, and feelings of hatred toward the Italians were particularly intense, given that they had chosen the day of Christianity’s greatest feast to carry out the attack on the cruiser «Elli.».

The torpedoing of the «Elli» made headlines in the international press, and even German newspapers expressed sympathy for Greece. Against this backdrop, the Italian government attempted to portray the torpedoing as the work of Great Britain, claiming that it was intended to cause unrest in the Balkans and strain relations between Greece and Italy.