The four French-built Protefs-class boats suffered mixed wartime fates, including losses to an Italian torpedo boat, a German patrol vessel, and an incompletely explained 1942 sinking. One boat survived to decommission in 1945. The more durable lesson is institutional: Greek orders told surviving submarines to reach Alexandria, report to the Royal Navy, and fold into Allied operations if the homeland fell. That prearranged command relationship let an exile force continue operating instead of improvising its place in the alliance after invasion. The class therefore links individual boat losses to the resilience created by contingency planning.
Notable Point · 1:06:00-1:08:41
Protefs-class losses and Greece's plan for an exile submarine force
The Protefs-class story combines heavy wartime losses with a clear Greek contingency plan to send surviving submarines to Alexandria under Royal Navy coordination.