Aristotelis Zervoudis Explained

Birth Date:	1964
Birth Place:	Athens, Greece
Native Name:	Αριστοτέλης Ζερβούδης
Occupation:	professional diver

Aristotelis ("Telis") Zervoudis (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Αριστοτέλης Ζερβούδης; b. in Athens in 1964) is a professional diver from Greece.

Notable discoveries

During his diving expeditions he discovered and identified several important wrecks, including:

• SS Oria - a steamship which sank in 1944 causing over 4100 deaths. This is the 4th worst naval disaster in maritime history and the worst in the Mediterranean.^[1]
• U-133 - a German submarine sank in 1942.^[2]
• The SS Heimara, sunk in 1947, the worst naval tragedy in Greece during peacetime with 389 losses.^[3]

Accolades

For his services during the diving expeditions on the Oria and to the Italian State, he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Cavaliere del' Ordine della Stella d' Italia) by the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella in December 2017,^[4] and he received the insignia of the Order in June 2018 in a special ceremony from the Italian ambassador to Greece.^[5]

In August 2023 in Sicily he was awarded with the 23rd International Maritime Award (XXIII Trofeo del Mare), for his contribution to the maritime history and the European solidarity.

References

https://www.trofeodelmare.it/it/premiati/premio-2023/#Zervoudishttps://www.vrsicilia.it/a-scoglitti-la-xxiii-edizione-del-trofeo-del-mare/

Notes and References

1. News: The Steamship Oria – The Forgotten Tomb of 4200 Italian Soldiers . Pietro Giovanni . Liuzzi . 12 November 2016 . WAR HISTORY ONLINE . 2 July 2018 . en-US . https://web.archive.org/web/20180703162531/https://www.warhistoryonline.com/guest-bloggers/steamship-oria-forgotten-tomb-4200-italian-soldiers.html# . 3 July 2018 . live .
2. Web site: The Type VIIC U-boat U-133 – German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net . uboat.net . 29 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101028074401/http://www.uboat.net/boats/u133.htm# . 28 October 2010 . live .
3. Web site: Ε/Γ ΧΕΙΜΑΡΑ (πρώην Hertha). 8 March 2017. Grafas Diving.gr. 2020-06-11.
4. Cf. Presidential Decree of 29th December 2017, in: Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana (Parte prima), Anno 159, Numero 38 (15 febbraio 2018).
5. Web site: Conferita l'onorificenza dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia a Telis Zervoudis . 12 June 2018 . 29 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180710133728/https://piroscafooria.it/blog/conferita-lonorificenza-dellordine-della-stella-ditalia-a-aristotelis-zervoudis/# . 10 July 2018 . live .