HMS Hydra (A144) - Final Years - 1984-86

1984-86

HMS Hydra sailed on 14 November 1983 via Gibraltar, Naples and the Suez Canal for her first survey off the north coast of Oman. Christmas 1983 was spent at Dubai. 300 square miles (780 km2) of surveys were completed before the ship broke off for passage to Mombasa for a period of assisted maintenance. Boat surveys of Mombasa harbour were carried out. Sailing north to the Red Sea, a brief call was made at Hodeida, in the Yemen Arab Republic, before passage north to the Suez Canal and through to the Mediterranean Sea. A visit was made to Haifa and then the ship called at Gibraltar before conducting a short examination of the Chaucer Bank before returning to Devonport in mid-April 1984. The remainder of 1984 was spent surveying between St Kilda and Barra, off the west coast of Scotland, with a short period on oceanographic work in northern waters. A detached party carried out a boat survey of Loch Melfort.

She spent the early part of 1985 continuing a survey of the Sea of the Hebrides. On 10 September 1985 she sailed from Devonport to continue surveys in Kenyan waters, which she had started in 1984, and this work continued until January 1986. In mid-January she was ordered to proceed to assist with the evacuation of expatriates from the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. She assisted HM Yacht Britannia with the evacuation of 49 civilians before being released for the homeward passage to the United Kingdom. She arrived in Devonport on 27 February 1986 wearing her paying-off pennant. She was decommissioned and put on the disposal list on 31 March 1986.

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