HMS Hyacinth (K84)

HMS Hyacinth was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War and achieved three victories over enemy submarines in a highly successful career. Only HMS Sunflower (K41) managed to repeat such success among her sister ships. She went on to serve in the Royal Hellenic Navy as Apostolis, was returned to the Royal Navy in 1952 and scrapped in the same year.

Royal Navy
During the Second World War Hyacinth served in the Eastern Mediterranean where she protected the Palestine coastline and escorted numerous convoys along it. She also took part in the Malta convoys. She was a part of the 10th Corvette Group of the Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria together with her sister ships HMS Peony (K40) and HMS Salvia (K97).

Since Hyacinth spent most of her time in the Mediterranean, without access to British shipyards, she was not retrofitted as many of her class were, and so retained her short forecastle. Another of her distinctive features was a 3-inch gun instead of the usual 4-inch.

Anti-submarine successes
On 28 September 1941, Hyacinth attacked and sank the Italian submarine Fisalia north-east of the port of Jaffa, at 32º19'N, 34º17'E, just off the beach at Tel Aviv. On 9 July 1942, while escorting a convoy from Jaffa to Beirut Hyacinth attacked, damaged and captured the Italian submarine Perla. The submarine was towed into port, repaired and put into operation with the Hellenic Navy under the name Matrosos (Greek: Ματρώζος) in 1943. On 12 September 1943, after Italy had capitulated, Hyacinth and the Australian minesweeper HMAS Wollongong (J172) sank the German submarine U-617, after the submarine had been damaged in an attack by Wellington and Swordfish aircraft.

Royal Hellenic Navy
In 1943, Hyacinth was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy, and was renamed Apostolis (Greek: Αποστόλης), from the Psarian admiral of the war of independence, and served the remainder of the Second World War under the Greek flag.