HMS Hardy (H87)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Hardy
Ordered	12 December 1934
Builder	Cammell Laird and Company at Birkenhead
Cost	£278,482
Laid down	30 May 1935
Launched	7 April 1936
Commissioned	11 December 1936
Fate	Beached, 10 April 1940. Later capsized and became a total loss.
General characteristics
Displacement	1,455 long tons (1,478 t) (standard) 2,053 long tons (2,086 t) (deep load)
Length	337 ft (102.7 m)
Beam	34 ft (10.4 m)
Draught	12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Installed power	38,000 shp (28,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, Parsons geared steam turbines 3 Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	5,530 nmi (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	175
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC
Armament	5 × 1 - QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns 2 × 4 - .50-inch machine guns 2 × 4 - 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers

HMS Hardy was the flotilla leader for the H-class destroyers, built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Hardy was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in October 1939 to hunt for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic with Force K. After returning to the United Kingdom in early 1940, the ship became flagship of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Home Fleet. During the Norwegian campaign of 1940, Hardy participated in the First Battle of Narvik where she sank one German destroyer. As the British ships were withdrawing, they were discovered by two other German destroyers that so badly damaged Hardy that she had to be run aground to stop her from sinking. The ship was lifted by a rising tide and eventually capsized.