Greek destroyer Hydra

History
Greece
Namesake:	Hydra Island
Builder:	Cantieri Odero
Launched:	October 21, 1931
Commissioned:	November 1932
Fate:	Bombed and sunk April 22, 1941, near Lagousa Island
General characteristics
Class and type:	Dardo-class destroyer
Displacement:	Full load 2,050 tons Standard 1,389 tons
Length:	92 m (302 ft)
Beam:	9.5 m (31 ft)
Draft:	3.65 m (12.0 ft)
Propulsion:	Boilers: 3, Engines: 2 shaft Parsons type geared turbines, Power: 44,000 hp
Speed:	38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph) maximum
Complement:	156
Armament:	4 × 4.7 in (120 mm) (4 × 1) 3 × 40 mm/39 pom-pom A/A guns (3 × 1) 4 × 13.2 mm MG 6 × 21 in T/T 54 mines

Hydra (Greek: ΒΠ Ύδρα) was a Greek destroyer of the Dardo class, 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.

She was constructed in Sestri Ponente, Italy, by Cantieri Odero, and commissioned by the Hellenic Navy in 1933. After the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, she participated in the first naval raid against Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto (14–15 November 1940). During the German invasion of Greece, she was attacked by German bomber aircraft on April 22, 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.

External links

• Account of the sinking of Hydra by Vice Adm. G. Mezeviris, RHN