(L-R) Christina Prekezes, Commodore Dimitris Mitsatsos, and Nick Larigakis at the Hellenic House.
No. 70
WASHINGTON, DC — American Hellenic Institute (AHI) President Nick Larigakis welcomed Commodore Dimitris Mitsatsos (ret.) , Hellenic Navy (War Reserve), and his wife, Christina Prekezes, to AHI's Hellenic House headquarters on November 4, 2026. Commodore Mitsatsos is the author of Secret Mission Revealed: From Covert Sea Combat to Corporate Command, a memoir of the classified 1964 naval mission to Cyprus he commanded as a young officer.
Born and raised in Athens, with family roots on the historic island of Psara, Commodore Mitsatsos graduated from the Hellenic Naval Academy in 1956. In the summer of 1964, he was assigned command of the patrol boat Phaethon on a covert mission to Cyprus. On August 8, 1964, the mission escalated into a deadly battle at Xeros Bay against the Turkish Air Force — the only naval engagement between Greece and Turkey in the last 100 years. Six Greeks and one Cypriot volunteer lost their lives, and Mitsatsos was severely wounded, losing a limb. The mission remained classified for 52 years, until the Greek state lifted its secrecy in 2016.
Rebuilding his life after the battle, Commodore Mitsatsos returned to the classroom at age 28, earning a degree in mechanical and electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He went on to hold senior executive positions in the maritime and industrial sectors and, in 1983, became Director General of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA), which he led until 2020.
Secret Mission Revealed recounts both the 1964 battle and the author's long road back, from the loss of his crewmates to a second career in business. The Academy of Athens has praised the memoir as "a stirring and exceptionally instructive narrative."
During the meeting, Larigakis and Commodore Mitsatsos discussed the memoir, the events of 1964, and AHI's work on Cyprus and U.S.–Greece relations.
"It was a great honor to welcome Commodore Mitsatsos and Mrs. Prekezes to Hellenic House," said Larigakis. "For more than half a century, the sacrifice of the Phaethon's crew in defense of Cyprus went untold. Commodore Mitsatsos's courage, both in battle and in the life he rebuilt afterward, is a testament to the enduring Hellenic spirit, and his memoir ensures that the men who fell at Xeros Bay will not be forgotten."