Greek ironclad Hydra

Hydra early in her career
History
Greece
Namesake	Hydra Island
Ordered	1885
Builder	St. Nazaire
Launched	1889
Decommissioned	1918
Fate	Scrapped in 1929
General characteristics
Class and type	Hydra-class ironclad
Displacement	4,808 long tons (4,885 t)
Length	334 feet 8 inches (102.01 m)
Beam	51 ft 10 in (15.80 m)
Draft	18 ft (5.5 m)
Installed power	4 × fire-tube boilers 6,700 indicated horsepower (5,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × marine steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Crew	400
Armament	3 × 10.8 in (270 mm) guns 5 × 5.9 in (150 mm) guns 4 × 3.4 in (86 mm) guns 4 × 3-pounder guns 4 × 1-pounder guns 6 × 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon 3 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 4 to 12 in (102 to 305 mm) Barbettes: 14 in Deck: 1.9 in (48 mm)

Hydra (Greek: Ὕδρα) was an ironclad warship of the Greek Navy, named for Hydra, one of the Saronic Gulf islands which played a key role in the war at sea during the Greek War of Independence. The lead ship of her class of ironclads, she was ordered in 1885 in response to a crisis in the Balkans and Ottoman naval expansion. The ship was launched in 1889 and delivered to Greece by 1892. She was armed with a main battery of three 10.8 in (274 mm) guns and five 5.9 in (150 mm) guns, and had a top speed of 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph).

Hydra and her sisters saw heavy service with the Greek Navy. They participated in the Greco–Turkish War in 1897 until the Great Powers intervened and prevented the Greek Navy from capitalizing on their superiority over the Ottoman Navy. Hydra saw action in the First Balkan War at the Naval Battle of Elli and was present at the Naval Battle of Lemnos, but was too slow to actively engage the Ottoman forces. She did not see action during World War I, and was reduced to a gunnery training ship after the end of the war. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1929.