The island welcomes the fleet's newest pride, the destroyer Hydra. Among the crowd that has flooded the port, eagerly waiting to see the historic revolutionary flag of Hydra raised on the destroyer's mast, are two young people. Antonis, who is preparing to embark on the ship, and Marina, who takes a small tortoiseshell comb from her hair to give him as a betrothal gift and talisman.
With this small tortoiseshell comb kept in his pocket, close to his heart, Antonis will sail the seas in the coming years. Until he reunites with the destroyer Hydra to serve his duty.
It was already the summer of 1940...
"The destroyer Hydra was destined to have a short operational cycle, which began with its delivery in 1932 and ended on the afternoon of April 22, 1941, amid the tragic backdrop of the front's collapse and the advance of German forces towards the capital, near the islands of Lagouses, close to Aegina, when it was sunk after a fierce aerial bombing."
Dimitris Balopoulos, from the book's foreword.
