Greek destroyer Hydra


Hydra was a Greek destroyer of the, which served with the Hellenic Navy during the early stages of the Second World War. It was named after the Saronic Gulf island of Hydra, which played an important role in the Greek War of Independence, and was the fourth ship to bear this name.

Design and construction

The Greek Navy ordered four destroyers from the Italian shipyard Cantieri Odero in October 1929, with the design similar to contemporary Italian destroyers such as the. The ships were long between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draft of. Displacement was standard and full load. Three Yarrow Express boilers fed steam to two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines, with the machinery rated at, giving a speed of. of oil was carried, giving a range of at.
Armament consisted of four 120 mm (4.7 in) Ansaldo Model 1926 guns in single mounts, with anti aircraft protection provided by three 40 mm guns. Two triple 533 mm torpedo tubes were fitted, while Hydra was fitted for minelaying, and had rails for 40 mines. The ship had a crew of 156.
Hydra was launched at Odero's Sestri Ponente shipyard on 21 October 1931, and was commissioned by the Hellenic Navy in November 1932.

Service

On 12 July 1940 Hydra went to the aid of the lighthouse tender Orion which had been attacked by Italian aircraft, and was itself attacked by the Italian aircraft, but was unharmed. After the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, she participated in the first naval raid against Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto. During the German invasion of Greece, she was attacked by German bomber aircraft on 22 April 1941, and sunk near the island of Lagousa in the Saronic Gulf, together with her commander, Cmdr. Th. Pezopoulos and 41 members of her crew.