The ''Hydra'' class are a group of four frigates in service with the

Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; el, Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, War Navy, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of var ...

. They were designed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and are part of the

MEKO The MEKO family of warships was developed by the German company Blohm+Voss. MEKO is a registered trademark. The portmanteau stands for "''Mehrzweck-Kombination''" (English: multi-purpose-combination). It is a concept in modern naval shipbuilding ...

group of modular warships, in this case the

MEKO 200 The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships. Variants ''Anzac'' class (MEKO 200ANZ) Ten MEKO 200 frigates were built to the ''Anzac''-class design: eight for the Royal ...

design. The programme was authorised in 1988 and partially paid for with FMS aid and provisioned for the commission of six vessels. The first ship was built in Germany and commissioned in 1992 but suffered a serious fire while working up near

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Repairs were completed in 1993. The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

built warships were delayed due to financial problems on the part of the

Hellenic Shipyards Hellenic Shipyards S.A. is a large shipyard in Skaramagas, in West Athens regional unit, Greece. History Commonly known as Skaramaga Shipyards (Greek: Ναυπηγεία Σκαραμαγκά), from the area where they are located, its origin ...

completing in the late 1990s which also led to limiting the total number of vessels to four mainly after the acquisition of eight frigates from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the late 1990s.

Upgrade programs

In 2007, an upgrade of the STIR fire control system to allow the firing of the

RIM-162 ESSM The RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ESSM is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. ESSM also has th ...

surface-to-air missile was launched. was the first to be upgraded and, in August 2008, successfully completed a live firing test. The other three ''Hydra'' vessels were upgraded during 2008. On April 25, 2018 the Greek defense minister

Panos Kammenos Panagiotis "Panos" Kammenos ( el, Παναγιώτης "Πάνος" Καμμένος, ; born 12 May 1965) is a Greek politician and the founder of the right-wing party " Independent Greeks", which formed the governing coalition of the Hellenic P ...

announced that the modernization of the four vessels is in progress but without presenting any further details about the program. In May 2019, the Joint Chiefs of General Staff Council (ΣΑΓΕ) decided the commencement of the modernization program for the four ships of the class.Article about the modernization program of MEKO 200HN frigates in the defense online magazine "Defencepoint.gr" (in Greek) 19/05/2019
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Ships

Gallery

US Navy 100528-N-3136P-212 The Greek navy frigate HS Spetsai (F-453) transits alongside the Military Sealift Command container and roll-on-roll-off ship USNS LCPL Roy M. Wheat (T-AK 3016).jpg, HS ''Spetsai'' transits alongside the Military Sealift Command container and roll-on-roll-off ship File:HS Psara (F 454) 23 10 06 1138.jpg, HS ''Psara'' File:Salamis F455.jpg, HS ''Salamis'' File:Greek frigate Psara (F454).jpg, A view from , showing HS ''Psara'' underway conducting a replenishment at sea in 2002 File:Greek frigate Hydra (F-452) underway the Ionian Sea on 17 March 2022 (220317-N-DH793-2889).JPG, HS ''Hydra'' in 2022

References

Sources

* Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995
Hellenic Navy website
{{Hydra class frigate Naval ships of Greece Frigate classes

Upgrade programs

Ships

See also

Gallery

References

Sources