The story of an innovative navy ‘mafia’

Could anyone imagine that Hellenic Navy officers would follow the written advice of an anonymous top Italian mafioso to execute one of the most critical missions of their careers? Or that in their effort to activate our most advanced nautical weapons, navy officers would manage to come up with solutions to serious technological issues at a cost of less than 3% of the amount demanded by foreign suppliers?

In Greek Kathimerini on November 8, 2020, reporter Vassilis Nedos described crucial aspects of the Type 214 submarines' odyssey and how they ended up being the superweapons in the conflict against Turkey, even though, until recently, they had been mocked as the "listing submarines."

Nedos' article noted that one could write a separate history of the navy personnel who innovated in order to solve the huge problems that kept these submarines from being completed for...