Lernaean Hydra just to slay Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelt, Heracles covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes. He shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, the spring of Amymone, a deep cave from which it emerged only to terrorize neighboring villages. He then confronted the Hydra, wielding either a harvesting sickle (according to some early vase-paintings), a sword, or his famed club. The chthonic creature's reaction to this decapitation was botanical: two grew back, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but
Greek destroyer Hydra 1940). During the German invasion of Greece, she was attacked by German bomber aircraft on April 22, 1941 and sunk near the island of Lagousa in the Saronic Gulf, together with her commander, Cmdr. Th. Pezopoulos and 41 members of her crew. Greek destroyer Hydra Hydra () was a Greek destroyer of the "Dardo" class, which served with the Hellenic Navy during the early stages of the Second World War. It was named after the Saronic Gulf island of Hydra, which played an important role in the Greek War of Independence, and was the fourth ship to bear this name.