Der Betonleichter XANTHOPOULOS 8 Piräus 32 (ex CRETESHADE (PD 131) London 279) wurde laut Hafenregister Piräus am 14.10.1944 von der Insel Skiathos durch ,,kriegerische Aktion" versenkt. Ich habe leider keine Angaben in den deutschen KTBs über diesen Fall gefunden. Ist vielleicht jemand von euch diesen Betonleichter in den KTBs begegnet?
http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/verluste_griechenland/ausgabe.php?lang=1&where_value=573
Vor Jahren las ich einen Bericht über eine U-Boot-Attacke gegen ein Geleit das ein Pon-Ton oder Leichter nach Saloniki im Schlepp hatte, kann ich aber momentan nicht finden. Weis jemand von euch Bescheid wann das war?
Danke im Voraus
DG
Am 22.11.1943 wurde ein geschlepptes Schwimmdock ("Hebewerk") auf dem Weg nach Saloniki torpediert und versenkt:
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Hallo !
Hat es vielleicht zum Betonschiff noch etwas gegeben ??
Gruß
Theo
Regarding the fate of XANTHOPOULOS 8 I have the following information:
In the attached German document a "ms REA" is mentioned with registry 32 in Piraeus.
Register number 32 in Piraeus Riverine Vessels registry belongs to XANTHOPOULOS 8. However there is no mention in the registry of her being renamed REA.
In a document uploaded by Theo Dorgeist at https://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,15834.0.html the "Zementschiffe KRONOS und REA" are mentioned with same dimensions, hence they were sister ships.
For KRONOS I have already wrote in that thread that she was the former XANTHOPOULOS 7, a sister ship to XANTHOPOULOS 8. Those were the only two of the Crete ships with the specific dimensions that came to Greece.
Hence, it is apparent that when XANTHOPOULOS 8 was sold in 1941 to G. L. Evangelidis & Co. she was renamed REA, without this being reported to Piraeus register. The two chosen names - Rea and Kronos - also formed a pair in Greek mythology :-)
REA was sunk on 7.10.1944 while sailing in a convoy to Thessaloniki with the tug boat AMSEL, salvage tug SAMPSON and two motor ships under the escort of net tender NT-35. The German war diaries mention that the attack took place at 20.35' in a position about 12 miles N of Skiathos island.
In Allied bibliography it is mentioned that on 7.10.1944 the cruiser BLACK PRINCE and the destroyer TERPSICHORE sunk "passenger ship, large caique, and LCT 12 mi. n of Skiathos". The description of the targets under cover of darkness was clearly not accurate. Possibly NT-35 was the "large caique", REA the "LCT" and one of the others was seen as a passenger ship.
AMSEL managed to escape and probably returned to Volos, SAMPSON was disabled and drifted until captured by the Greek partizan navy ELAN the following morning.
A photo of Piraeus from the 1930s (from www.flickr.com/photos/38788672@N08/) also included the attached view of what is either XANTHOPOULOS 7 or XANTHOPOULOS 8.
While XANTHOPOULOS 8 - later REA - was sunk in 1944, XANTHOPOULOS 7 - later KRONOS - was never deleted from Piraeus register and there were no entries on her registry after ww2.
In the article "Port of St. Galini: A new harbour on the southern coast of Crete" it is mentioned that the construction company brought from Piraeus a 51 meter long British-built concrete ship that had been built in 1919. From this it is very probable that the concrete ship was KRONOS. She was scuttled at Agia Galini to form part of the breakwater for a new harbour.
Thank you Dido for the photo and your analysis.
Greetings Rene