Four destroyers of the Royal Navy have been named for Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy (1769-1839), captain of HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar.
The first HMS Hardy was a Havock (A) class destroyer laid down by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, Limited, of William Doxford and Sons at Sunderland on 4 June1894, launched on 16 December1895 and completed in August 1896. HMS Hardy was sold to Garnham on 11 July1911.
The second HMS Hardy was an Acasta (K) class destroyer laid down by John I. Thornycroft and Company at Woolston in Southampton in 1911, launched on 10 October1912 and completed in 1912. Hardy, commanded by Commander Richard A. A. Plowden, RN, served with the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla during the Battle of Jutland. HMS Hardy was sold for scrap to Thomas W. Ward on 9 May1921 and broken up at Briton Ferry.
The third HMS Hardy (H-87) was an H class destroyer laid down by Cammel Laird and Company at Birkenhead on 30 May1935, launched on 7 April1936 and commissioned on 11 December 1936. HMS Hardy, commanded by Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee, RN, was engaged by enemy German destroyers as she attacked troop transports during the First Battle of Narvik and sank in the Ofotfiord off Narvik in Norway on 10 April1940. Captain Warburton-Lee was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for this action.
The fourth HMS Hardy (R-08) was a V class destroyer laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 14 May1942, launched on 18 March1943 and commissioned on 14 August 1943. HMS Hardy was torpedoed by the enemy GermansubmarineU-278 while escorting convoy JW56B and seriously damaged, and sunk by HMS Venus on 30 January1944.
