From World War One to World War Two the Royal Navy had a tradition of building Destroyer Flotilla Leaders of slightly larger destroyers designed to accommodate a
destroyer flotilla commander and his staff. The Grenville Class was a two ship class of flotilla leaders with HMS Grenville H03 as leader for the G Class destroyers
and HMS Hardy H87 as leader for the H Class destroyers. The larger size of the flotilla leader also allowed the ship to carry five 4.7-inch guns instead of the four
4.7-inch guns of the destroyers in the flotilla. The two ships could be distinguished from each other by the fore mast. Grenville had a pole fore mast and Hardy had a
tripod. Grenville was laid down in 1934 the same year as the G Class destroyers and Hardy in 1935 the same year as the H Class. They were 330-feet in length
compared to 323-feet length of the G and H Class destroyers and were 115-tons heavier than the G Class and 125-tons heavier than the H Class. Both Flotilla Leaders
were lost early in 1940. The Grenville was lost January 19, 1940 in the Thames Estuary to a mine laid by a German destroyer. Hardy was lost on April 10, 1940. She
was leading HMS Hasty, Hostile and Hereward into combat with German destroyers at Narvik when she was battered by Georg Thiele and lost navigation control.
Hardy drove aground on the southern side of the fjord and became a stationary target to other German destroyers. She could not be recovered and was written off as
a total loss.
The German firm of Neptun/Navis has a huge selection of 1:1250 scale models available for the model collector. The models are already assembled and prepainted,
including waterline boot strap. The Navis line covers the pre-World War One through World War One warships and the Neptun line covers the between the wars
through World War Two designs. All Neptun Models are intricately  produced and display top drawer craftsmanship. This is true with the Neptun model of HMS
Hardy, Neptun #1168B. It is truly amazing the quantity and quality of the detail that Neptun packs into their models. Just a few of the items for HMS Hardy are
steam pipes, navigation lights, ship's boats and the minuscule equipment and fittings on the pen navigation bridge, as well as the correct tripod fore mast.
Steve Backer
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