Flower class (Corvettes)
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| Flower class | |
.jpg) The corvette HMNZS Arabis |
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| Overview | |
| Type | corvette |
| units | 271 |
| Shipyard |
17 British, 12 Canadian and one French shipyards |
| Order | 56 before the start of the war |
| Keel laying | from October 1939 |
| Launch | from January 1940 |
| Namesake | Flower and plant names |
| Commissioning | from April 1940 |
| Whereabouts | 35 allied war losses |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement | |
| length |
overall: 62.5 m (205 ft) |
| width |
10 m (33 ft) |
| Draft |
3.6 m (12 ft) |
| crew |
85-90 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
16 kn |
| Range |
3500 nm at 12 kn |
| Armament |
1 x 4-inch Mk.IX gun |
| Fuel supply |
232 tons of oil |
| Orderer |
Royal Navy : 166 |
| other users in World War II |
France libre : 9 1941–1947 |
| Post-war users |
Egypt : 1 1948–1982 |
The Flower class of World War II was a class of 271 corvettes for escort security and anti-submarine defense , which served in the British Royal Navy and Allied navies. It is sometimes referred to as the Gladiolus -class after the first corvette of this type to be launched at Smiths Dock Company . The order for 56 boats of the class in July and August 1939 shortly before the start of the war was one of the largest British naval orders in peacetime. The boats were a military development from the whalers Southern Pride and were built according to civilian standards, which enabled the integration of a large number of shipyards. 30 shipyards completed Corvettes of the Flower class, twelve of them in Canada and one in France.
After the end of the war, a large number of the boats were still used in smaller navies. About 50 were converted into whalers and used under the British, Norwegian, Dutch, South African and the Panamanian flag.
Only the corvette HMCS Sackville of the Royal Canadian Navy has survived as a museum ship in Halifax .
Building history
In 1939, the Royal Navy ordered a class of small boats to secure coastal traffic, which could be produced cheaply and quickly in large numbers. Above all, they should reduce the threat posed by the submarines of the Axis powers and be used as an immediate measure until specialized warships could be available in the event of war. Despite the threat of submarine warfare in World War I , the threat to merchant shipping in the 1920s and 1930s was seen primarily from surface forces and aircraft. The enlargement of the allied fleets of sloops of the Halcyon class has long been regarded as a solution. Only shortly before the start of the war did the plan for a "Patrol Vessel of Whaler Type" offer the British Admiralty a faster and cheaper solution. The basis for these boats was the design of the whaler Southern Pride from the British shipyard Smiths Dock Company in Middlesbrough from 1936. This fishing boat differed in size and driving range from the usual fishing boats, as it was intended to serve as an exploration boat for the whaling fleets.
The small escort vehicles were soon referred to as corvettes, a designation used by the Royal Navy from 1830 to 1877, when they were replaced by the cruiser class. Flowers and plants were again used as names, as was the case with the Sloops of the Flower class of the First World War, of which 120 units were built according to merchant ship standards in order to compensate for weak points in the naval armament of the time.
The Royal Navy ordered the first 26 boats on July 25, 1939, followed by another order of 30 boats on August 31, just before the war began. By the end of the year, the number of boats ordered had increased to 145, and in January 1940, the first ten boats were ordered from Canadian shipyards from the 1939 war budget. Until 1942, the Royal Navy ordered other boats in the class - some of them based on the modified design - in Great Britain and Canada.
Shortly after the start of the war, the French Navy ordered 22 Flower class boats , 16 of which were to be built in British shipyards and six in France. Four of the boats started in France were built by Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire during the German occupation for the navy .
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Canada also looked for a way to quickly strengthen its navy and took over the ten boats ordered by the Royal Navy in Canada and ordered 70 more based on the first draft from Canadian shipyards.
More of the so-called modified design were added later. These boats had a different bow shape, an extended foredeck, lower and longer bridge superstructures, the mast behind the bridge and reinforced armament.
When the United States entered the war in 1941, it already had a large program of new builds for anti-submarine ships, but an acute shortage of finished ships. They therefore took over ten completed Corvettes of the Flower class from the service of the Royal Navy in February to April 1942, which came into service with the US Navy as "Patrol Gunboats" of the Temptress class (PG 62 to PG 71) . The USS Temptress ex HMS Veronica was originally ordered by the French Navy in 1939. For this purpose, fifteen more of the modified Flower class were ordered from Canadian shipyards by taking over British orders as the Action class (PG 86 to PG 100), of which only eight from November 1942 (PG 86/87, PG 89, PG 92 to PG 96 ) came into service with the US Navy, while the others went to the Royal Navy upon completion. Under the mutually granted lend lease conditions, ten Temptress class boats were returned to the Royal Navy in August 1945, and the seven Action class boats finally made it to the US Navy between January and July 1946.
Of the Flower-class corvette planned as an interim solution, 267 boats had been completed for the Allies by 1944. Although intended for use near the coast, they became an essential element of convoy protection in the Atlantic because of their large driving range.
Armament
The Corvettes of the Flower class received a 4-inch 102 mm Mk.IX gun on the foredeck, drop rails for 40 depth charges at the stern, plus a winch for mine detectors and above the machine a combat post for a 2-pounder 40 mm gun , a so-called pom-pom. Because of the lack of these guns, a pair of Lewis machine guns were often installed initially to replace the pom-pom.
This armament would hardly have given the boats in the planned role of coastal escort and patrol boat in the North Sea protection against air attacks. Since they were used as long-range escort boats on the Atlantic, this weakness was relatively insignificant, as the Air Force rarely attacked convoy. Flower-class boats that were used in other areas had to have their anti-aircraft armament reinforced beforehand. Since the corvettes could also be repaired by every small shipyard and naval base, they were given a modified armament relatively easily, so that there were many different equipment. Armament changes that a large number of the boats received were:
- the expansion of mine detection equipment, which gave more bunker capacity;
- increasing the depth of the depth charge with additional brackets on the stern and on the sides of the ship;
- the installation of a Hedgehog launcher from the spring of 1943, which made it possible to combat submarines from a distance with continuous ASDIC location;
- Installation of additional Lewis machine guns on the bridge and above the engine room;
- Installation of 20 mm Oerlikon cannons , usually two in the bridge ends, occasionally up to six above the engine room.
Only individual boats had all the changes and not always in that order. The corvettes built in Canada and for the US Navy had other armament changes, such as the installation of a 3-inch 76 mm / 50 cal cannon in the rear.
The ability to detect submarines was ensured by the installation of sonar devices, the High Frequency Radio Detection Finder (called Huff-Duff ) and increasingly better radar devices. The British vehicles were better equipped in this area because they received improved equipment more quickly and, unlike the Canadian vehicles, usually had gyro compasses , which enabled the sonar results to be used more precisely.
Execution of the construction program
HMS Picotee , early form with short forecastle and mast in front of the bridge
HMNZS Arbutus , modified form
The USS Surprise with an aft 3 "cannon
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From 1939 British shipyards, from 1940 French and Canadian shipyards also built boats of the Flower class.
British buildings
In Great Britain, 135 Flower-class corvettes were built at 17 shipyards from 1939 to July 1942. The developing Smith's Dock shipyard also received orders for ten corvettes for the French Navy, nine of which were eventually taken over by the Royal Navy. Harland & Wolff produced the largest proportion with 35 corvettes, six of which were originally ordered by the French Navy.
From September 1942 ten boats of the modified Flower class were also built at British shipyards, all of which ultimately served in Commonwealth navies (four India (after service in the RN), four Canada, two New Zealand).
| 1. Keel laying | Commissioning of | to | number | Shipyard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 19, 1939 | April 6, 1940 | November 2, 1941 | 20th |
Smiths Dock Company , Middlesbrough 10 from the French Navy ordered only La Bastiase and La Mouline delivered to them |
| October 30, 1939 | April 5, 1940 | December 8, 1941 | 35 | Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast |
| October 11, 1939 | April 22, 1940 | March 28, 1942 | 9 | Charles Hill & Sons , Bristol |
| September 20, 1939 | May 24, 1940 | January 16, 1942 | 10 | William Simons & Company , Renfrew |
| October 20, 1939 February 26, 1943 |
May 25, 1940 | May 30, 1942 July 5, 1944 |
7 + 2 mod. | George Brown & Co. , Greenock |
| October 25, 1939 November 2, 1942 |
July 19, 1940 | December 26, 1941 March 1944 |
12 + 3 mod. | Fleming & Ferguson Ltd , Paisley |
| October 26, 1939 | August 12, 1940 | October 12, 1940 | 2 | Blyth Dry Docks & Shipbuilding Co. , Blyth |
| September 18, 1939 February 27, 1943 |
17th August 1940 | March 5, 1942 January 5, 1944 |
6 + 1 mod. | A. & J. Inglis , Glasgow |
| October 23, 1939 November 26, 1942 |
September 12, 1940 | February 23, 1942 February 8, 1944 |
5 + 2 mod. | John Crown & Sons Ltd , Sunderland |
| November 30, 1939 | September 30, 1940 | September 19, 1941 | 5 | J. Lewis & Sons Ltd , Aberdeen |
| October 31, 1939 | October 16, 1940 | April 30, 1941 | 3 | Grangemouth Dockyard Company , Grangemouth |
| October 31, 1939 | November 15, 1940 | July 2, 1942 | 5 | Henry Robb Ltd , Leith |
| December 30, 1939 | November 20, 1940 | November 25, 1941 | 6th | Hall, Russell & Company , Aberdeen |
| November 15, 1939 | January 27, 1941 | March 3, 1941 | 2 | Cook, Welton & Gemmell , Beverley |
| November 23, 1939 | February 25, 1941 | July 31, 1941 | 2 | George Philip & Sons Ltd. , Dartmouth |
| June 27, 1940 September 26, 1942 |
July 16, 1941 | May 12, 1942 November 10, 1943 |
4 + 2 mod | Alexander Hall & Company , Aberdeen |
| December 21, 1939 | July 23, 1941 | October 1, 1941 | 2 | Ailsa Shipbuilding Company , Troon |
Canadian buildings
The construction program at Canadian shipyards was started by the Royal Navy, which ordered the first ten corvettes there in January 1940 from the 1939 budget. The boats were all given to the Royal Canadian Navy upon completion. After the war they were handed over to the Royal Navy. The Canadians also ordered 70 Flower-class corvettes to build their own fleet. A total of twelve Canadian shipyards were entrusted with the construction of the escort vehicles.
The Canadian HMCS Charlottetown (K 244) is considered to be the first boat of the modified Flower type, of which 27 boats were completed for the Royal Canadian Navy in Canada. A further 15 orders from the Royal Navy (RN) were assigned to the US Navy (USN) after the USA entered the war, eight of which were taken into service by the latter as Action Class, while the other seven boats came into service with the Royal Navy.
| 1. Keel laying | Commissioning of | to | number | Shipyard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 20, 1940 | October 31, 1940 | June 25, 1941 | 8th | Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal , three ordered by the RN |
| February 24, 1940 | November 26, 1940 | June 28, 1942 | 14th |
Davie Shipbuilding , Lauzon ( Quebec ), ordered four of the RN |
| March 29, 1940 April 1, 1943 |
November 22, 1940 | April 28, 1942 November 20, 1944 |
11 + 4 mod. |
Marine Industries Ltd. , Sorel-Tracy ( Québec ), three ordered by the RN |
| February 2, 1940 November 11, 1941 |
November 22, 1940 | May 9, 1942 November 10, 1944 |
5 + 16 mod. |
Morton Engineering & Dry Dock Co. , Quebec , 5 mod. delivered to USN |
| March 2, 1940 January 6, 1942 |
November 19, 1940 | May 1, 1942 November 18, 1944 |
10 + 9 mod. | Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. , Collingwood (Ontario) , 2 mod. delivered to USN, 3 to RN |
| March 20, 1940 June 7, 1941 |
May 12, 1940 | December 13, 1941 November 28, 1944 |
4 + 9 mod. | Kingston Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. , Kingston (Ontario) , 1 mod. delivered to USN, 2 to RN |
| April 1, 1940 | November 25, 1940 | May 26, 1942 | 9 | Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. , Port Arthur (Ontario) |
| April 11, 1940 | 17th December 1940 | April 30, 1941 | 4th | Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd. , North Vancouver |
| April 29, 1940 | February 4, 1941 | March 20, 1942 | 5 | Yarrows Ltd. , Esquimalt |
| May 23, 1940 | August 5, 1941 | April 4, 1942 | 3 |
Saint John Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. , Saint John (New Brunswick) |
| September 7, 1940 | March 17, 1941 | April 1, 1942 | 5 |
Victoria Machinery Depot Co. Ltd. , Victoria (British Columbia) |
| February 24, 1941 1942 |
November 17, 1941 | May 15, 1942 October 6, 1944 |
2 + 5 mod |
Midland Shipyards Ltd. , Midland (Ontario) , two mod. delivered to RN |
Corvettes of other allied navies
The first and only Corvette of the Flower class to enter the service of the French Navy was the La Bastiaise , which began at Smith's Dock on November 18, 1939 , and which was hit by a mine on the day of the takeover (June 22, 1940) Acceptance runs off Hartlepool as the first ship in the class was lost. The sister boat La Malouine was in the final equipment and was put into service by the Royal Navy on July 30, 1940. Two other boats launched at Smith's Dock, renamed HMS Fleur de Lys and Nasturtium, entered their service. The other twelve orders at Smith's Dock and Harland & Wolff were completed for the British Navy.
From May 1941 to May 1942, the Free French Navy took over nine British Flower corvettes upon completion, two of which were lost in 1942. The others were returned to the Royal Navy in the spring of 1947.
The Norwegian Navy took over six British Flower class corvettes from August 1941 to January 1942, of which the Montbretia was lost in November 1942 and the Rose in October 1944. The Potentilla was returned to the Royal Navy in March 1944. The three remaining corvettes remained in service with the Norwegian Navy in various functions until 1956, when they were converted into whalers.
In March 1943, the Dutch Navy took over HMS Carnation , which had been in service since October 1940, as Friso , but which was returned to the Royal Navy in October 1944.
In the autumn of 1943, the Greek Navy delivered four British Flower- class corvettes that had been in service with the Royal Navy for two to three years. They were returned to the Royal Navy in 1951/1952.
In January 1944, the Yugoslav Navy took over the corvette HMS Mallow, which had been in service since 1940, as Nada , was renamed Partizanka in 1948 , but was returned to the Royal Navy that same year, which passed it on to Egypt .
The Royal New Zealand Navy in March and July 1944 two British Corvettes of the modified Flower-class type on their completion, which they kept in service until 1948. Both found no new use and were canceled in 1951.
The Royal Indian Navy took over from February to August 1945 three two-year-old British ships of the modified Flower class that have already 1946/1947 again returned to the Royal Navy. A fourth ship, delivered in 1946, was lost due to stranding in 1947.
Operational use of the Flower class corvettes
As shown for the armament, the corvettes, developed as coastal escort boats, were used as long-distance escort boats on the Atlantic, as they had the appropriate sailing areas and were very suitable for the sea conditions, even if their crews because of their movements in heavy seas heavily burdened. At first they formed the main part of the escort groups assigned to the convoy. Their main task was to keep the German submarines from attacking. This included discovering them and forcing them under water, which robbed them of speed and clarity. However, given their slow speed, they were difficult to catch up with a convoy. The success of the corvettes lay in tracking down the submarines and preventing an attack, and not primarily in destroying the submarines, for which support groups with faster units were later formed. Nevertheless, boats of the Flower class were involved in the sinking of 47 German and four Italian submarines. As the most successful boat applies the 1941 has come into service HMS Sunflower , in 1943 on May 5, U 638 and on October 17, U 631 alone sank and on October 29 of 1943 on the sinking of U 282 with the destroyers HMS Vidette and Duncan involved was. The HMS Hyacinth , which was deployed in the Mediterranean, sank the Italian submarine Fisalia off Haifa in September 1941, damaged and landed the Italian submarine Perla in July 1942 , and finally destroyed the German submarine, was similarly successful U 617 was involved in September 1943.
However, 22 Flower corvettes were also torpedoed by submarines and sank. The crew strength during the war and after the renovations was 85 (Flower as a new building), with the so-called improved type it was between 96 and 109. In the draft, however, only 23 crew members were planned.
Allied losses of Flower-class corvettes
| Surname | date | fate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FFL | La Bastiaise | June 22, 1940 | Sunk on the day of commissioning during a test drive by a mine hit off Hartlepool , several dead, including employees of the shipyard. | |
| HMS | Godetia | K72 | September 6, 1940 | Sunk three miles off Altacarry Head , Northern Ireland, on 55-18N, 05-57W after colliding with the freighter Marsa . |
| HMS | Bryony | K192 | April 15, 1941 | Sunk at the Belfast shipyard while being fitted out by the Air Force. Lifted and still in service in 1942. |
| HMS | Picotee | K63 | August 12, 1941 | sunk by U 568 on 62-00N, 16-01W to secure the convoy ONS-4 south of Iceland . 66 dead, no survivors. |
| HMS | Zinnia | K98 | August 23, 1941 | sunk by U 564 on 40-25N, 10-40W to secure the convoy OG-71 west of Portugal . 54 dead. |
| HMCS | Levis | K115 | September 19, 1941 | sunk by U 74 on 60-07N, 38-37W to secure convoy SC-44 east of Cape Farewell . 18 dead, 91 shipwrecked rescued. |
| HMS | Fleur de Lys | K122 | October 14, 1941 | 55 nm west of Gibraltar sunk by U 206 at 36-00N, 06-30W. 70 dead, three survivors. |
| HMS | Gladiolus | K34 | October 17, 1941 | sunk by U 558 to 57-00N, 25-00W as a backup on convoy SC-48 south of Iceland . 85 dead, no survivors. |
| HMCS | Windflower | K155 | December 7, 1941 | rammed and sunk in the thick fog as a backup on the SC-58 convoy at the Grand Banks by the freighter Zypenberg on 6-19N, 49-30W. 23 dead. |
| HMS | Salvia | K97 | December 24, 1941 | Sunk 100 nm west of Alexandria by U 568 on 31-46N, 28-00E. 106 dead, no survivors. |
| HMS | Arbutus | K86 | February 5, 1942 | sunk west of Erris Head by U 136 on 55-05N, 18-43W. 43 dead. |
| FFL | Alysse | K100 | February 9, 1942 | 420 nm east of Cape Race on convoy ON-60 sunk by U 654 to 46-00N, 44-00W. 36 dead. |
| HMCS | Spikenard | K198 | February 11, 1942 | sunk while securing convoy SC-47 west of Malin Head by U 136 on 56-10N, 21-07W. 57 dead, eight survivors. |
| HMS | Hollyhock | K64 | April 9, 1942 | sunk east of Ceylon on 07-21N, 81-57E by Japanese planes. 5 dead, eight survivors. |
| HMS | Auricula | K12 | May 6, 1942 | Mine hit in Courrier Bay , Madagascar on 12-12S, 49-19E. Sunk when attempted towing. No losses. |
| FFL | Mimosa | K11 | June 9, 1942 | sunk on convoy ONS-100 by U 124 on 52-12N, 32-37W. 64 dead, 4 men rescued by the flotilla leader HMCS Assiniboine . |
| HMCS | Charlottetown | K244 | September 11, 1942 | sunk on the SQ-30 convoy by U 517 on 52-12N, 32-37W at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River near Cap-Chat . 9 dead. |
| HMS | Gardenia | K99 | November 9, 1942 | Sank off Oran to 35-49N, 01-05W after colliding with the minesweeper HMS Fluellen . |
| Montbretia | K208 | November 18, 1942 | sunk by U 517 53-37N, 38-15W. 48 dead, 23 survivors saved by Potentilla . | |
| HMS | Marigold | K87 | December 9, 1942 | sunk by Italian S.79 torpedo aircraft on 36-50N, 03-00E to secure convoy KMS.3Y off Algiers . 40 dead. |
| HMS | Snapdragon | K10 | December 19, 1942 | sunk northwest of Benghazi by German planes on 32-18N, 19-54E. 24 dead. |
| HMS | Samphire | K128 | January 30, 1943 | Sunk off Béjaïa on 36-56N, 05-40E by the Italian submarine Platino . 45 dead. |
| HMCS | Louisburg | K143 | February 6, 1943 | on the convoy KMF-8 off Cape Tenes , Algeria, sank to 36-15N, 00-15E by a torpedo hit by a Heinkel He 111 . 59 dead, 50 survivors. |
| HMS | Erica | K50 | February 6, 1943 | before Derna sank to 32-48N, 21-10E by mine hits. The crew rescued by HMSASS Southern Maid , a former whaler. |
| HMCS | Weyburn | K173 | February 22, 1943 | off Cape Spartel sank to 36-46N, 06-02W after being hit by a mine. Twelve dead. |
| HMS | Polyanthus | K173 | September 21, 1943 | sunk by U 952 south of Iceland as escort vehicle for convoy ON-202 on 57-00N, 31-10W . 78 dead, the only survivor drowns in the sinking of the frigate HMS Itchen , which had saved him. |
| HMS | Asphodel | K56 | March 10, 1944 | sunk by U 575 west of the Biscaya on 45-24N, 18-09W. 92 dead, the corvette HMS Clover (K134) saves five survivors. |
| HMS | pink | K137 | June 27, 1944 | torpedoed by U 988 off Normandy on 49-48N, 00-49W and stranded badly damaged. Declared a total loss. |
| HMCS | Regina | K137 | August 8, 1944 | Sunk by U 667 off Trevose Head , Cornwall , on 50-42N, 05-03W. 30 dead. |
| HMCS | Alberni | K103 | August 21, 1944 | sunk by U 480 south of St. Catherine's Point , Isle of Wight , in the Channel at 50-18N, 00-51W. 59 dead, British speedboats save 31 men. |
| HMS | Orchis | K76 | August 21, 1944 | Mine hit off Courseulles-sur-Mer , stranded on Juno Beach . Total loss. |
| rose | K102 | October 26, 1944 | rammed and sunk east of the Canadian coast at 45-50N, 40-15W by the British frigate HMS Manners . Three dead. | |
| HMCS | Shawinigan | K136 | November 25, 1944 | Torpedoed by U 1228 in Cabot Strait on 47-34N, 59-11W . Sunk with the entire crew, 91 dead. |
| HMS | Bluebell | K80 | February 17, 1945 | Sunk by U 711 in front of the Kola Bay as part of the escort of the Northern Sea Convoy RA 64 ( situation ). 85 dead, only one survivor. |
| HMS | Vervain | K190 | February 20, 1945 | Sunk southeast of Dungarvan on 51-47N, 07-06W to secure convoy HX 337 by U 1276 . 61 dead, 33 survivors. |
| HMCS | Trentonian | K368 | February 22, 1945 | Sunk by U 1004 off Falmouth (Cornwall) on 50-06N, 04-50W . 6 dead. |
The corvettes of the Kriegsmarine
When Germany occupied France in 1940, four Flower-class corvettes were under construction at the Chantiers de la Loire shipyard in St. Nazaire- Penhoet, which were to be named Arquebuse, Hallebarde, Saber and Poignard . The Navy demanded its completion as a "Patrol Boat Abroad" ( PA 1 , PA 2 , PA 3 and PA 4 ). They should come into service with the 15th outpost flotilla , which also used former whaling boats. In autumn 1943 the first three appear to have entered service. PA 4 was sunk in 1944 as a block ship in La Telindiere near Nantes . PA 2 sank in a bomb attack by 325 Lancasters on Le Havre on the night of 14-15 June 1944 with six other boats of the flotilla. PA 3 and PA 1 were no longer operational and were left behind by the Germans when the French port was cleared.
Use after World War II
The navies that received Corvettes of the Flower class during World War II usually had more modern ships and decommissioned the older corvettes. Only the Norwegian Navy used three boats in different functions until 1956, which were then converted into whalers. In addition there were HMS Saxifrage and Bryony , which were taken into service as weather ships Polarfront I and Polarfront II . Great Britain also kept four boats in service as weather ships.
Smaller navies acquired over 30 of the boats no longer needed by the RN, RCN and USN. Quite a few were used as survey ships. The last loss of a Flower corvette in a military operation happened during the Korean War , where the two boats surrendered to Thailand and the Prasae (formerly HMS Betony , HMIS Sind ) were used on January 7, 1951 in a snow storm off the North Korean one East coast ran aground and could not be removed again.
The boats handed over to the civilian sector were used for a variety of purposes. Around 50 boats were converted into whalers . The newly established Dutch whaling fleet acquired twelve former corvettes between 1948 and 1955, which were converted into whalers for the factory ship Willem Barendsz . The whaling fleet built by Aristotle Onassis around the factory ship Olympic Challenger , which was created through the conversion of a tanker, also received 16 former corvettes of the Flower class as fishing boats, which were largely converted in 1950 at the Kiel Howaldtswerke . Other boats were purchased from British and Norwegian whaling companies. Even with these, the conversion took place in part at the Howaldtswerke.
The only surviving Flower corvette
The Canadian corvette HMCS Sackville is the only boat in the class to be preserved. She can be viewed as a museum ship of the Royal Canadian Navy in Halifax (Nova Scotia), where she documents the use of Canada in the Second World War to secure the Allied convoys and the development of the Canadian Navy from a very small unit with 11 combat ships, 145 officers and 1674 Mann became the third largest navy in the world by the end of the war, with over 95,000 members (including 6,000 women) and over 400 ships (including 270 escort ships). The corvettes built in Canada and their use were the country's first major contribution.
literature
- David K. Brown: Nelson to Vanguard: warship design and development, 1923-1945. Chatham Publishing, 2000, ISBN 1-86176-136-8 .
- John Lambert, Alan Raven: Flower Class Corvettes in World War II. White Raven Press, New York 2000.
- J. McKay, J. Harland: The Flower Class Corvette Agassiz. Conway Maritime Press, 1993, ISBN 0-85177-975-1 .
- Marc Milner: North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1989, ISBN 0-87021-450-0 .
- Léonce Peillard: The Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1945. Heyne Taschenbuch, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-00817-0 .
- Antony Preston, Alan Raven: Flower Class Corvettes. (Ensign 3). Bivouac Books 1974, ISBN 0-85680-004-X .
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7 .
- Graeme Somner: From 70 North to 70 South - A History of the Christian Salvesen Fleet. Christian Salvesen Ltd, Leith 1984, ISBN 0-9509199-0-X .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 8 / 1–2: River vehicles, Ujäger, outpost boats, auxiliary minesweepers, coastal protection groups, small combat units, dinghies. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7637-4808-3 .
Web links
- The Flower Class Corvette Forums
- Flower Class Corvettes
- revised flower class
- The Flower Class Corvette Association
- HMCS Sackville - The Last Corvette
- Flower Class Corvettes by Bob Pearson & Chris Banyai-Riepl
- Chilean Flower class corvettes
- Flower class corvettes and conversions for Dutch whaling (Dutch)
- HMS Violet
- Diary of a Petty Officer on HMS La Malouine during Convoy PQ.17.
- Flower Class Corvettes in Kriegsmarine Service (with photos)
- Corvettes of the Flower class as PA 1 - PA 4 in the German Navy on German Naval History
Individual evidence
- ↑ BR 4 inch-45 Mk.IX ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Southern Pride data and image
- ↑ Le Masson, p. 27 f.
- ↑ Collingwood Shipbuilding construction list ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ David and Hugh Lyon; Siegfried Greiner: Warships from 1900 to today, technology and use . Buch und Zeit Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne 1979, p. 73 .
- ↑ Peillard, pp. 257ff.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 459.
- ^ The Toris (2) ex Nordkyn , Buttercup , the Thorglimt and the fishery protection ship Andenes ex HMS Acanthus .
- ↑ Norwegian weather ships ( Memento of the original dated May 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) with pictures
- ^ HMS Marguerite as Weather Observer , HMS Snowflake as Weather Watcher ; HMS Thyme as Weather Explorer ; HMS Genista as Weather Recorder ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ z. B. the Portuguese NRP Carvalho Araújo (2, A 524, 1959-1975) ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Website of the Thai Navy on the corvettes ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ For example, Albert W. Vinke AM 2 (2) ( page no longer available , searching web archives ) Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ex HMCS Eyebright and Sonja Vincke and their story with pictures
- ↑ Example Olympic Conqueror ex Tulip with pictures
- ↑ 10 corvettes in Kiel . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1950 ( online ).
- ↑ Example Arne Skontorp ex Kraft ex Abelia. with pictures
- ↑ History of HMCS Sackville (English)
- ↑ Schull: Far Distant Ships: An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in World War II . Emphasis. Stoddart Publishing, Toronto 1987, p. 1
- ↑ strength of RCN (English)
