Greek destroyer Adrias ( L67 ) Adrias ( ) was a " Hunt III " class destroyer that was originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS " Border " ( L67 ) but never commissioned . Before her completion , she was loaned to the Royal Hellenic Navy on 20 July 1942 and commissioned as " Adrias " ( L67 ) on 5 August 1942 in order to relieve heavy losses of ships sustained by the Royal Hellenic Navy during the German invasion of 1941 and throughout the war . " Adrias " took her name from the ancient Greek town of Adria in Italy , at the mouth of the Po river , after which the Adriatic Sea is named ( Herodotus vi . 127 , vii . 20 , ix . 92 ; Euripides , Hippolytus , 736 ) . Command of " Adrias " was accepted by Cmdr . Ioannis Toumbas in Newcastle , England , on 20 July 1942 . Upon completion of the training period on 26 August , while sailing under foggy conditions with only the left engine functioning , she ran aground near Scapa Flow . The damage took four months to repair . No responsibility was attributed to the captain for the accident . In the beginning of January , 1943 , after the completion of repairs , " Adrias " sailed to the Mediterranean where she participated in missions escorting convoys . Active Service . On 27 January 1943 , while positioned NW off Cape Finisterre " Adrias " was believed to have sunk the German submarine U - 553 ( British Admiralty ' s signal presumed her possibly sunk ) . When the war ended the loss of the German submarine was officially confirmed to have occurred on 27 January . However , the name of the ship that caused the sinking was not mentioned . During that same operation on 13 February 1943 , " Adrias " sunk or seriously damaged German submarine U - 623 ( the last report from that submarine was dated 9 February 1943 ) . " Adrias " took part in numerous convoy escorts in the Mediterranean as well as in the Sicily landing operations , where on the night of 20 July 1943 , in cooperation with British escort destroyer HMS " Quantock " she successfully confronted 3 German torpedo boats during a night engagement and sunk two of them . On 20 September 1943 " Adrias " represented Greece when a force of four Allied ships accepted the surrender of a contingent of the Italian navy ( out of Taranto ) that was sailing towards Malta following the armistice with Italy . On 22 October 1943 , during operations in the Dodecanese , while near the island of Kalymnos with the British destroyer HMS " Hurworth " , " Adrias " struck a mine . The explosion tore her bow off . The English Flotilla Commander onboard " Hurworth " ordered Cmdr . Toumbas to abandon ship . " Hurworth " , while trying to come to " Adrias " ' s rescue , also hit a mine and sunk taking 143 men with her . In spite of the damage suffered , " Adrias " took on the survivors of " Hurworth " ( among them her CO ) and managed to reach the nearby coast of Gümüşlük in neutral Turkey with 21 men of her crew dead and 30 wounded . After some minor repairs , the ship sailed on 1 December for Alexandria , despite her missing bow . After a trip of , of which 300 were within the range of Luftwaffe ' s Junkers Ju 88 bombers based in occupied Greece , ( the threat of them forced her to sail only at night despite her limited maneuverability ) , she managed to reach Alexandria on 6 December ( day of the Feast of St . Nicholas , patron saint of seamen ) where she was enthusiastically greeted by the British Fleet and other Allied ships . This achievement was considered a brilliant example of seamanship , and provided a morale boost to the Royal Hellenic Navy and other allied ships in the Mediterranean . After the liberation of Greece from the Germans , " Adrias " , with her bow temporarily repaired , arrived in Faliro with the rest of the ships of the Hellenic Fleet . The ship was never fully repaired due to the termination of war operations in the Mediterranean and sailed to England where she was returned to the Royal Navy . Of the same class of ships serving in the Hellenic Navy were : " Adrias " ( DO6 ) formerly HMS " Tanatside " ( loaned to Hellenic Navy as a replacement of this ship ) , " Hastings " formerly HMS " Catterick " loaned to Hellenic Navy in 1946 , " Kanaris " built as HMS " Hatherleigh " , " Miaoulis " built as HMS " Modbury " , " Pindos " built as HMS " Bolebroke " . The Hellenic Navy gave the same name to commemorate this ship to Standard type frigate " Adrias " ( F459 ) in 1994 .