HMS Hydra (A144) the first commission of HMS "Hydra". She was decommissioned and sold to the Indonesian Navy in 1986 and renamed KRI "Dewa Kembar" (Pennant Number 932); she was still in service in 2006. There have been eight ships of the name in the Royal Navy, named for the Hydra of Greek Mythology, a serpent with many heads (though nine is generally accepted as standard), the centre one of which was immortal. The monster was overcome and slain by Hercules. The ship's badge of HMS "Hydra" depicts the monster with seven heads. The ship's motto was "Ut Herculis Perseverantia" ("Like Hercules Persevere").
Greek mythology libretti for many of Handel's and Mozart's operas. By the end of the 18th century, Romanticism initiated a surge of enthusiasm for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain, new translations of Greek tragedies and Homer inspired contemporary poets (such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Keats, Byron and Shelley) and painters (such as Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema). Christoph Gluck, Richard Strauss, Jacques Offenbach and many others set Greek mythological themes to music. American authors of the 19th century, such as Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, held that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of