At the battle of Salamis, Themistocles, the Athenian admiral said the famous phrase ''Μέγα το της θαλάσσης κράτος'' (meaning: Great is the country that controls the sea)..
The Greek naval tradition dates back to the days of the Greco-Persian wars, continues through the Byzantine era, even to the battle of Lepanto (1571) where most of the crews of each side (Holy League-Ottomans) were Greeks. The Greek navy was very small during the WW2 compared to the Italian and the German ones but continued to fight bravely even after the capture of Greece by the Axis, when many Greek ships fled to the Middle East. So here I present you the proud history of one of the most famous Greek ships that fought in this war..
ADRIAS (Greek: ΒΠ Αδρίας) was a Hunt III class destroyer that was originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Border (L67) but was never commissioned. Before her completion, she was loaned to the Royal Hellenic Navy on July 20, 1942 and was commissioned as ADRIAS (L67) on August 5, 1942 in order to relieve heavy ship losses, sustained by the Royal Hellenic Navy during the German invasion of 1941 and throughout the war. Adrias took her name from the ancient Greek town of Adria in Italy, at the mouth of the Po river, after which the Adriatic Sea is named (Herodotus vi. 127, vii. 20, ix. 92; Euripides, Hippolytus, 736)
On loan by the Royal Navy, command of ADRIAS was accepted by Cdr. J. Toumbas HN in Newcastle, England on July 20th 1942. Upon completion of the training period on August 26th, while sailing under foggy conditions with only the left engine functioning, she ran aground near Scapa flow. It took 4 months to repair. No responsibility was attributed to the captain for the accident. In the beginning of January 1943 after the completion of repairs, ADRIAS sailed to the Mediterranean participating in escorting convoys.
On January 27th 1943, while positioned 360 miles NW off Cape Finisterre she possibly sunk the German U/Boat 553 (British Admiralty's signal presumed her possibly sunk). When the war ended the loss of the German U/Boat was officially confirmed to have occurred on January 27th. However, the name of the ship that caused the sinking was not mentioned. During that same operation on February 13th 1943 the ADRIAS sunk or seriously damaged the U/Boat 623 (the last report from that submarine was dated February 9th 1943). ADRIAS took part in numerous convoy escorts in the Mediterranean Sea as well as in the Sicily landing operations where on the night of July 20-21 1943, in cooperation with British destroyer HMS QUANTOC she successfully confronted 3 torpedo boats during a night engagement and sunk two of them.
On September 20th 1943 the Taranto based Italian Fleet sailing towards Malta surrendered to a force of 4 ships, ADRIAS being one of them.
On October 22nd 1943 during operations in the Dodecanese and while near the island of Kalymnos with the British destroyer HMS HURWORTH she struck a mine. From the explosion her bow was cut off. HURWORTH, while trying to come to ADRIAS' rescue, also hit a mine and sunk taking down with her 143 men. In spite of the damages suffered, the ADRIAS managed to reach the nearby Turkish coast of Gumucluk with 21 men dead and 30 wounded. After some minor repairs the ship sailed on December 1st 1943 and in spite of the missing bow managed to reach Alexandria on December 6th where she was enthusiastically greeted by the British Fleet and other allied ships. This achievement is a brilliant example, underlining the courage and skills displayed by her CO. and his crew.
After the liberation ADRIAS, with her stern temporarily repaired, arrived in Greece with the rest of the ships of the Hellenic Fleet. Of the same class: ADRIAS (DO6), HASTINGS, KANARIS, MIAOULIS, PINDOS. The ship was never fully repaired due to the termination of war operations in the Mediterranean and sailed to England where she was returned to the Royal Navy.
ADRIAS with her bow cut off.
Modern Hellenic Frigate, bearing the name ADRIAS in honor of the WW2 destroyer.
Greek Destroyer ''Adrias''
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