HMS Hydra (A144)

HMS ''Hydra'' (pennant number A144) was a Royal Navy deep ocean hydrographic survey vessel, the third of the original three of the . The ship was laid down as yard number 2258 on 14 May 1964 at Yarrow Shipbuilders, at Scotstoun on the River Clyde and launched on 14 July 1965 by Mary Lythall, wife of the then Chief Scientist (Royal Navy), Basil W Lythall CB (1919–2001). She was completed and first commissioned on 4 May 1966 and, as the replacement for the survey ship , her commanding officer and many of her ship's company formed the first commission of HMS ''Hydra''. She was decommissioned and sold to the Indonesian Navy in 1986 and renamed KRI ''Dewa Kembar'' (Pennant Number 932); she was still in service in 2019.

Ship's name and battle honours

There have been eight ships of the name 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").

Late 1960s

In the month after first commissioning ''Hydra'' carried out machinery and equipment trials and embarked stores at Chatham, before sailing for surveys in the North Atlantic. Based in Reykjavík, 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 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 West Germany and the US; this consisted of a 15-day drift, with engines stopped, from a position some west of Cape Verde Islands. ''Hydra'' 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.

1970s - and five years away from the UK

Surveying a route wide down the 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 storm surge. The ship was used in a survey role, finding and marking channels for small craft to take in food and supplies. She later resumed the Malacca Strait survey and spent Christmas 1970 at Singapore. During her year in the Malacca Strait, 63 shoal soundings were reported and promulgated by Notice to Mariners.

The surveys of the Malacca Strait were concluded in March 1971 and she then spent three weeks in Hong Kong charting waters to the south of Lantao. On 6 April 1971, HMS ''Hydra'' sailed from Hong Kong to return to the UK, via the Panama Canal. She called at Yokosuka, Long Beach, Acapulco and Bridgetown, Barbados, making gravity, magnetics and bathymetric observations on passage and investigating several shoals. The summer and autumn of 1971 were spent at Chatham, with a refit and trials.

Recommissioned at Chatham on 11 October 1971, she sailed on 30 November 1971 via the Cape of Good Hope, to return to the Far East from where she was not to return for five years, carrying out extensive surveys in the south Pacific. She left Simonstown on 3 January 1972 and called at Mauritius before carrying out a short investigation around the Aldabra Islands. After a visit to Mombasa to calibrate the ship's gravimeter, the first half of February was spent in the Seychelles where the ship's helicopter helped with the erection of Hi-Fix sites.

''Hydra'' was detached from surveying, and ordered to return to the Mauritius area, arriving off Rodrigues Island, one of the Mascarene Islands, on 26 February to assist in disaster relief. She left the area and arrived Singapore on 13 March, thus completing a circumnavigation of the globe in one year. After a short period of maintenance, she set sail for her 1972 survey area in the Solomon Islands. This survey, from 17 April to 18 August, covered the Bougainville Strait, last surveyed in 1884. Visits were paid to Honiara (Guadalcanal Island), Ghizo Island and Kieta (Bougainville Island). A three-week visit to Brisbane was brought forward in order to have two defective main engines replaced by two flown out from the United Kingdom. The ship arrived in Hong Kong at the end of August, where she spent three months, some time being spent on surveys in local waters. She sailed from Hong Kong on 28 October and arrived in Singapore for her annual refit which began on 13 November; the most important work was the installation of the SRN9 satellite navigation system.

The refit was completed on 13 January and ''Hydra'' sailed 12 February 1973 to resume surveys in the Solomon Islands, brief visits being paid to Jakarta and Thursday Island during the passage to Honiara. Surveys of Bougainville Strait and New Georgia Sound

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