Ship Modelers Database
Greek submarine Papanikolis (Y-2)
Scrapped (conning tower preserved as a museum exhibit)
Papanikolis (Y-2) was a Katsonis-class submarine of the Hellenic Navy, built in France and commissioned in 1927. She and her sister ship Katsonis were the first new submarines Greece acquired after the First World War, and Papanikolis went on to become one of the most successful Greek submarines of the Second World War.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| 1/350 HS Papanikolis (S120) | Wolfpack Design | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | 1/200 Greek Papanikolis Class Submarine (Type 214) - HS Papanikolis Paper Model | MK Card Models | 1:200 | Card | Available |
Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Navypedia: Katsonis-class submarines (1927-1928)Website
Technical data table including builder, armament layout, and service fate useful for modeling accuracy.
- Wikipedia: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Y-2)Website
Primary reference with full specifications, war patrol history, and fate of the vessel.
- Wikipedia: Katsonis-class submarineWebsite
Class-level details comparing Papanikolis to her sister ship Katsonis and design lineage from the French Circé class.
History
Specifications
The boat displaced 576 long tons surfaced and 775 long tons submerged, was 62.5 m long with a 5.3 m beam and 3.6 m draft. She was powered by a single 1,300 hp diesel engine and a 1,000 hp electric motor, giving 14 knots surfaced and 9 knots submerged, with a crew of 30. Armament comprised six 21-inch torpedo tubes (two internal and two external bow, two external stern), a 100 mm deck gun mounted on the enlarged conning tower/fin structure, and two machine guns.
Service history
After the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 she escaped to the Middle East and conducted nine wartime patrols from there, including landing SOE and commando teams in Crete and Rhodes and sinking several small vessels and cargo ships in the Aegean. She survived the war, returned to Greece in October 1944, but was found too outdated for further service and was decommissioned in 1945, with the hull later sold for scrap.
Notable facts
Unlike her sister Katsonis, which was sunk by a German submarine chaser in 1943, Papanikolis survived the entire war. Her conning tower (sail) was preserved and remains on display at the Hellenic Maritime Museum in Piraeus, offering modelers a real reference for the tower's distinctive enlarged profile built to accommodate the rotating 100 mm gun platform. The name was later reused for two further Hellenic Navy submarines, a Balao-class boat (S-114) and a modern Type 214 (S-120).