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 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. She was constructed in Sestri Ponente, Italy, by Cantieri Odero, and commissioned by the Hellenic Navy in 1933. After the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, she participated in the first naval raid against Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto (14–15 November