The battle of Cyprus in 1974 was lost despite the heroism of the few, thanks to the indifference of the "above" and the cowardice of the few. In 1974 the Cypriot navy had five operational torpedo boats. In view of the information received about an imminent Turkish invasion, the Cyprus Naval Commander Vice Captain Papagiannis became worried and ordered his subordinates to "intensify" their attention, but without taking any measure.
On the evening of July 19, 1974, the radars reported the approach of Turkish ships but Athens reassured Cyprus by talking about an exercise. At 03:00 in the morning of July 20, however, Papagiannis mobilized the navy, without having received an order, and a little later ordered the torpedo boats to sail to their hiding positions.
The torpedo boats of lieutenants Tsomakis and Verikios were the first to face the enemy. Verykios's boat was shot down by Turkish aircraft and beached on the coast of Kyrenia, while Tsomakis's boat sank as he was preparing to attack and only the chief pilot Magetos was rescued injured.
The next day, Papagiannis spoke with the Commander of the Chrysoulis Naval Base (NBX) and Commander of the Coastal Defense of Cyprus Vice Captain Papadakis who informed him that the T-2 torpedo boat of Kandalepa, in which he was also aboard, had run aground and been abandoned near Famagusta without the leaders even taking the codes with them. And the torpedo boat T-6 of Lieutenant Tsatalos declared damage and returned to base.
The Naval Commander of Cyprus Vice Captain Papagiannis, on July 24, asked Papadakis to report to him about the two torpedo boats.
Papadakis "...in a frightened tone and ready to cry told me (to Papagiannis) that on the day of the invasion hearing Tsomakis say...I am being bombed...I am being bombed...he was so scared and lost it that he lost all control over his subordinates as a result the (sub-captain, commander of the torpedo boat T-6) Tsatalos to falsely report damage , to return to NBX, and to abandon his torpedo boat and in fact went straight to his house the other (Lieutenant Captain) Kandalepas the skipper of the torpedo boat (T-2) who was also on board (Papadakis) even more scared asking him to go to the port of Famagusta ostensibly to get cigarettes where they would leave T/A on their way home.
"Finally they decided to beach the torpedo boat on the coast north of Famagusta, abandon it there and return to the base by land. When they ran her aground, they realized that the area was an EF minefield, and with the torpedo's radio, they notified the Base, which sent a vessel to pick them up. Certainly after that it was not possible for him to exercise command because mainly the non-commissioned officers but also the sailors mocked him behind his back and the two lieutenant commanders of the torpedo boats didn't even want to know them . He also informed me that the deputy commander of the Doukas Base was not at the Base during the three days of the war but at home due to stomach problems as he had stated"...