The destroyer ''Themistocles''

The destroyer ''Themistocles'' was a historic Greek ship during World War II with intense action.

She was built in 1941 in Newcastle, England for the British Navy under the name ''Bramtan'' and was transferred to the Hellenic Navy by the agreement of March 9, 1942 in London. With the then Admiral N. Sarris as captain, after completing the established war training with the British fleet, ''Themistocles'' sailed as a convoy escort from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. She took part in dangerous operations such as that of the autumn of 1943 in the waters of the Dodecanese, in the Embolism Campaign in April 1944 in the Middle East and in the great Allied landing in Southern France in July 1944. With anti-aircraft fire, together with other destroyers, she managed to chase away an enemy reconnaissance plane and landed the ''Sacred Band'' at Kapsali in Kythira in September 1944. Even after the liberation of Greece in October 1944, ''Themistocles'', like other ships of its type, continued to be a unit of the Allied Mediterranean fleet until the German capitulation on May 8, 1945. Subsequently, it sailed permanently in Greek waters and participated in the counter-insurgency war.

This exceptional object depicted in the photographs, from the Victorian era and an American patent, was used on this historic ship to decorate its documents with an embossed seal of its coat of arms. Impressive and fully functional even today!

Source: NEWER ENCYCLOPEDIA ''HELIOS'' and families testimonies