HMS Hydra - Military Genealogy

Dates: 1966 - 1986

There have been eight ships of the name HMS Hydra in the Royal Navy, named for the Hydra of Greek Mythology, a serpent with many heads (though nine is generally accepted as standard), the centre one of which was immortal. The monster was overcome and slain by Hercules. The ship’s badge of HMS Hydra depicts the monster with seven heads . The ship’s motto was Ut Herculis Perseverantia ("Like Hercules Persevere").

In the month after first commissioning she carried out machinery and equipment trials and embarked stores at Chatham, before sailing for surveys in the North Atlantic. Based in Reykjavik, an extensive area south of Iceland was surveyed between June and September 1966. She then visited Copenhagen and for the remainder of 1966, was employed in searching for wrecks in the shipping lanes of the North Sea and the approaches to the Dover Strait, before returning to Chatham in early December for her winter lie-up. March 1967 saw the ship carrying out a short survey of the critical depths at the entrance of the Black Deep Channel in the Thames estuary. She then carried out a major survey of the bathymetry, gravity anomalies and total magnetic field in a large area of the Atlantic Ocean, covering the North-West Approaches to Britain. At the same time, between May and August 1967, a detached party and the ship’s two surveying motor boats undertook a survey of the fishing port of Burtonport, Donegal. After summer leave and maintenance and a visit to Brest, she spent a fortnight on oceanographic surveys in the Azores area, followed by a visit to Lisbon and passage to Freetown. An oceanographic survey of the fishing grounds between Freetown and Agadir was completed. At Gibraltar in mid-November, she conducted trials of towed and free balloons carrying meteorological instruments before reaching Chatham for refit on 24 November 1967.

She recommissioned on 30 January 1968 and in March undertook an oceanographic voyage designed to advance knowledge of air/sea interaction. She carried out surveys in the Bristol Channel in April and then, for six weeks, in the southern approaches to the River Clyde. For the following two months, she was based at Londonderry and an area in the north-western approaches to Ireland was surveyed to the 100-fathom line. At Chatham in late August, she took part in Navy Days and then visited the Pool of London in early September. The ship sailed Chatham in late October and carried out surveys off the west coast of Africa , spending Christmas 1968 in Gibraltar.

In early January 1969 she carried out surveys off the French Mediterranean coast. She then took part in the Atlantic Trade Wind Experiment, with survey ships from Germany and the USA; this consisted of a 15-day drift, with engines stopped, from a position some 600 miles west of Cape Verde Islands. She returned to Sierra Leone in mid-February and carried out surveys until she sailed Freetown on 25 May 1969. She spent a fortnight investigating an up-welling off Cape Blanc, then calling at Gibraltar before arriving on 19 June 1969 for a refit at Chatham. A new ship’s company joined at the end of August and she sailed from Chatham at the end of October for the Far East. Calls were made en route at Freetown, Simonstown and Mauritius and Singapore was reached in time for Christmas. A survey of the Malacca Strait was started on 31 December 1969.

Surveying a route ten miles wide down the 180-mile length of the Malacca Strait was a mammoth task. Breaks for maintenance, fuel and recreation were taken at Singapore, with a longer interruption from mid-June to mid-October 1970 for refit by Sembawang Shipyard. The ship visited Port Swettenham before resuming surveys in the Malacca Strait. However, she was detached after a fortnight to support the British task force sent from Singapore to relieve the area of East Pakistan stricken by a severe cyclone and tidal wave. The ship was used in a survey role, finding and marking channels for small craft to t