Greek destroyer Adrias

"Adrias" ( _el. ΒΠ "Αδρίας") was a "Hunt III" class destroyer that was originally built for Royal Navy as HMS "Border" (L67) but never commissioned. Before her completion, she was loaned to Royal Hellenic Navy on July 20, 1942 and commissioned as "Adrias" (L67) on August 5, 1942 in order to relieve heavy losses of ships sustained by the Royal Hellenic Navy during the German invasion of 1941 and throughout the war. "Adrias" took her name from the ancient Greek town of Adria in Italy, at the mouth of the Po river, after which the Adriatic Sea is named (Herodotus vi. 127, vii. 20, ix. 92; Euripides, Hippolytus, 736).

Command of "Adrias" was accepted by Cmdr. Ioannis Toumbas in Newcastle, England, on July 20 1942. Upon completion of the training period on August 26, while sailing under foggy conditions with only the left engine functioning, she ran aground near Scapa Flow. It took four months to repair. No responsibility was attributed to the captain for the accident. In the beginning of January, 1943, after the completion of repairs, "Adrias" sailed to the Mediterranean where she participated in missions escorting convoys.

On January 27, 1943, while positioned convert|360|nmi|km|0 NW off Cape Finisterre "Adrias" was believed to have sunk the German U/Boat U-553 (British Admiralty's signal presumed her possibly sunk). When the war ended the loss of the German submarine was officially confirmed to have occurred on January 27. However, the name of the ship that caused the sinking was not mentioned. During that same operation on February 13, 1943, "Adrias" sunk or seriously damaged the U/Boat U-623 (the last report from that submarine was dated February 9, 1943).

"Adrias" took part in numerous convoy escorts in the Mediterranean Sea as well as in the Sicily landing operations, where on the night of July 20, 1943, in cooperation with British destroyer HMS "Quantock" she successfully confronted 3 German torpedo boats during a night engagement and sunk two of them. On September 20, 1943, representing Greece, she participated in the force of 4 Allied ships to which the Taranto-based Italian Fleet, sailing towards Malta, surrendered.

On October 22, 1943, during operations in the Dodecanese Islands and while near the island of Kalymnos with the British destroyer HMS "Hurworth", "Adrias" struck a mine. From the explosion, her bow was torn off. The English Flotilla Commander onboard "Hurworth" ordered Cmdr. Toumbas to abandon ship. "Hurworth", while trying to come to "Adrias"'s rescue, also hit a mine and sunk taking 143 men with her. In spite of the damage suffered, "Adrias" took on the survivors of "Hurworth" (among them her CO) and managed to reach the nearby coast of Gümüşlük in neutral Turkey with 21 men of her crew dead and 30 wounded. After some minor repairs, the ship sailed on December 1 for Alexandria, despite her missing bow. After a trip of convert|730|nmi|km|-1, of which 300 were within the range of Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju 88 bombers based in occupied Greece, (the threat of them forced her to sail only at night despite her limited maneuverability), she managed to reach Alexandria on December 6 (day of the Feast of St. Nicholas, patron saint of seamen) where she was enthusiastically greeted by the British Fleet and other Allied ships. This achievement was considered a brilliant example of seamanship, and provided a morale boost to the Royal Hellenic Navy and other allied ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

After the liberation of Greece from the Germans, "Adrias", with her bow temporarily repaired, arrived in Faliro with the rest of the ships of the Hellenic Fleet. The ship was never fully repaired due to the termination of war operations in the Mediterranean and sailed to England where she was returned to the Royal Navy. Of the same class of ships serving in the Hellenic Navy were: "Adrias" (DO6) formerly HMS Tanatside (L69) (loaned to Hellenic Navy as a replacement of this ship), "Hastings" formerly HMS Catterick (L81) loaned to Hellenic Navy in 1946, "Kanaris" built as HMS Hatherleigh (L53) , "Miaoulis" built as HMS Modbury (L91), "Pindos" built as HMS Bolebroke (L65).

The Hellenic Navy gave the same name to commemorate this ship to Standard type frigate "Adrias" (F459) in 1994.

External links

* [http://www.hellenicnavy.gr/adrias_L-67_en.asp Relevant Hellenic Navy page]
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4674.html Relevant UBoat net page]