HMS Hythe (J194)

HMS Hythe was a Bangor class minesweeper of Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Troon, Scotland and commissioned in 1941. Her pennant number was J 194. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Hythe, after the town of Hythe in Kent, however, the SS Hythe, a cross-channel ferry of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, built by Denny, Dumbarton, was requistioned by the Royal Navy in 1914, converted to a minesweeper and became HMS Hythe; whilst in later use as a troop carrier she was run down by HMS ''Sarnia off Cape Helles in the Dardanelles on 29 October 1915 and sank with the loss of 155 lives.

Hythe saw service in the Mediterranean Sea during the Second World War, where she was based in Malta as part of the 14th/17th Minesweeper Flotilla. She was torpedoed and sunk by U-371 commanded by Waldemar Mehl on 11 October 1943 off Bougie, Algeria.