The permanent collection of the War Museum includes rare finds recovered from the wreck of the cargo ship ORIA, one of the world’s greatest maritime tragedies.

ORIA was a Norwegian owned cargo ship, built in 1920. At the beginning of World War II, the Germans used her to transport troops to Norway, and she was later used in German convoys bound for North Africa.

In September 1943, after the capitulation of Italy to the Allies and the occupation of the Dodecanese by the German forces, ORIA was in Rhodes, participating in the German liquidation operations. On 11 February 1944, she sailed from the island’s port towards Piraeus, carrying in her holds more than 4,000 Italian prisoners from the garrisons of Rhodes and Leros.

On the evening of February 12, the ORIA struck a rock near the islet of Patroclus, 25 miles SE of the port of Piraeus. The ship pitched and sank, carrying 4,184 Italian servicemen and 15 Germans to the bottom. The survivors numbered a few dozen people.

The presentation of the findings of the shipwreck, which were recovered by the team of the diver Aristotle Zervoudis, was honored with the presence of the Ambassador of Italy in Greece, Mrs Patrizia Falcinelli, the Rear Admiral Drosos Reizis as representative of the Chief of the Coast Guard-Hellenic Coast Guard and the Italian Defence Attaché in Greece, Colonel Maurizio Ortenzi.

More on the sinking of the cargo ship “SS ORIA” at the following link:

https://www.kathimerini.gr/culture/562696513/to-nayagio-me-tis-karavanes/