Greek battleship Hydra

The armored battleship "Hydra" (Greek: "Θ/Κ Υδρα"), named for one of the Saronic Gulf islands which played a key role in the war at sea during the Greek War of Independence, served in the Hellenic Royal Navy from 1889 - 1929.

The ship, along with her two sister ships of the Hydra Class, "Spetsai" and "Psara", was ordered from France in 1885 during the premiership of Charilaos Trikoupis, as part of a wider reorganization and modernization of the armed forces, which had proved themselves inadequate during the Cretan uprising of 1866 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

The ship saw limited action in the Greco-Turkish War (1897), as the Royal Hellenic Navy failed to make use of its superiority over the Ottoman Navy. By the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912, "Hydra", along with its sister ships, was antiquated, but she did take part in the war, in which Greece liberated the islands of the Eastern Aegean and defeated Turkey in the two decisive naval battles of Elli and Limnos.

During World War I, Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and the Hydra Class ships served as coastal defense, a role they also played in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). After the defeat in 1922, the Greek Navy was reduced in size and in 1929 these ships were scrapped.

ee also

*History of the Hellenic Navy