Hyperion: The 35th

AT SEA

Silently in the Adriatic dawn a British light squadron felt its way along the Albanian coast to Durazzo, the old brown town 80 miles up the coast from the Strait of Otranto. The destroyer Hyperion was far out in front, scanning for enemy MAS and submarines. Suddenly a mine holed her badly--too badly, clearly, for her to get back to the straits and away before the Italians found her. For two hours she held her S O S, so that the main force could finish its job of shelling Italian batteries on the Albanian coast. Then she called for help. Three British destroyers closed in, got Hyperion's men off, shelled her till she sank.

Hyperion was the 35th British destroyer lost outright since the war began. The irony of her loss was that her biggest exploit was catching up, off the Virginia coast one cold day a little more than a year ago, with the German liner Columbus. She, too, was sunk by her own men.

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