HMS Hydra (J275)

HMS Hydra (J275) was an 850 ton "Algerine" class minesweeper of the Royal Navy.

"Hydra" was laid down at the yard of Lobnitz, Renfrew. As a result of savings raised during "Warship Week", she was adopted by Wellingborough Urban District Council in Northamptonshire on 14 March 1942. She was launched on 29 September 1942.

ervice

HMS Hydra joined the 18th Minesweeping Flotilla in the Rosyth Command on 20 February 1943 and was transferred in May 1943 to the Nore Command. She was variously employed on minesweeping in the North Sea in 1943 and on escort duty with Arctic convoys from 1943-1944, including the Russian Convoy JW-57 to Kola in February 1944.

She was part of Operation Neptune, the naval part of the D-Day landings at Normandy on 6 June 1944. She was mined in the approaches to Ostend on 10 November 1944. She was towed to Sheerness but declared a constructive total loss and not repaired. She was sold for scrap and arrived at the yard of T W Ward in Grays, Essex on 28 October 1944 to be broken up in 1947.

HMS Hydra was 850 tons armed with a single 4-inch and smaller guns and with a complement of 85 men.

ee also

*HMS Hydra for other ships of the same name

External links

* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/algerine_class.htm photograph of her immediate sister ship, HMS "Hound"]
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3794.html HMS "Lennox", another very close sister ship at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/old-portsmouth/algerine.htm memorial to the "Algerine" class in Portsmouth]