RN Corvettes: Flower Class

[The Sailor]

By no stretch of the imagination was the Flower Class Corvette heavily armed, initially they carried only a single 4" gun, salvaged from obsolete ships, and a couple of machine guns. Her main weapon were the depth charges.

A crew of 90 in a ship originally designed for 28 and a tendency to "roll on wet grass" made living conditions on the ships tantamount to a damp hell; but they proved ideal for the role of coastal escort, tough, economical, could be built in a month in a small yard.

Top speed was 16 knots in short sprints, sufficient to charge at a submerged U-Boat, but inadequate to pursue on the surface, the general tactic was to force the submarine to dive and keep it down with depth charges while the escorted ships escaped and more capable Sloops, and later Frigates, were called up to make the kill.

With the fall of France the impetus of the U-Boat war switched to deep water, often beyond the Western Approaches. U-Boats no longer had to risk the dash through the English Channel, or the gruelling long haul up around the Faeroes Gap of the Denmark Strait, under the constant threat of air attack. The need to escort ships deeper into the Atlantic put a huge strain on an already overworked escort fleet and the Flowers were forced to take up the strain.

The Flower Class remained in production throughout the war, despite it's drawbacks, it was also produced abroad, there are many variants to the original design, and in that it is acting as designed: soaking up spare resources. But the basic design remained largely the same, except it was modified with a longer Forecastle to improve sea keeping in the Atlantic, and the Bridge and Charthouse was improved. AA weapons were increased when available, though this was usually just a pom-pom. Originally fitted with mine sweeping gear as well as depth charges this was discarded and allowed 70 depth charges and up to four throwers to be fitted in additional to twin racks deploying astern.

The effectiveness of the Flower was vastly improved with radar. Initially SW1C and SW2C were tried, but these sets were useless against small U-Boat contacts, but in 1943 the 271 became increasingly available in it's distinctive lantern cupola, in good conditions even a periscope could be picked up and the night was no longer the safe hunting ground for the Wolf Pack.


Flower Class, Original Specification

Displacement 950 tons
Dimensions 62.5 x 10.0 x 3.5 meters (205 x 33 x 11.5 feet)
Propulsion Single shaft;
2 fire tube Scotch boilers;
1 4-cyl. triple expansion steam engine, 2750 hp.;
16 knots
Range 3500 nm. at 12 knots

Crew 85
Radar None at first, then SW1C or 2C (later) Finally 271
Sonar Type 123A, later Type 127DV
Armament 1 x 4" BL MKIX single
2 x 0.50 cal machine gun in twin mount
2 Lewis .303 cal machine guns in twin mounts
2 MKII depth charge throwers
2 depth charge rails with 40 depth charges.

[tim lewin]

The design was British, based on a comercial whaling hull and specifically made simple to be able to be constructed by almost nay yard with no previous warship experience, thats why the machinery was also extremely basic. I think the hull design was also adapted to create the follow-up early frigates, stretched and widened with a parallel set of engines crammed in. Goes to show that sophistication is not everything. Actually this opens a whole debate of warship design, warships as a weapons platform, long & thin vs. short & wide. Off you go!
tim

[The Sailor]

Australia went it alone with Corvettes. See my post on the 60 Bathurst Class Corvettes we built.

[LAGAN LEGACY]

Hello everyone. Thankyou for having me on board.
I am currently researching Britain’s 2nd World War Flower Class Corvettes. I hope I'm not taking too much of your time by quickly explaining why!.
I work for a maritime heritage organisation in Belfast called Lagan Legacy. See our website ay ( www.laganlegacy.com )
We are putting an exhibition together for Belfast's annual "Titanic Festival" at the end of this coming March. The exhibition follows a theme that Lagan Legacy has been promoting since the organisation's inception – “The Greatest Story Never Told”.
It is a sad fact here in Northern Ireland that everyone, indeed everyone in
the world, knows about the Titanic, but knows little else about Belfast's absolutely amazing maritime past. So Lagan Legacy attempts to promote the rest of the River Lagan's nautical history - the other 3,000 ships, tens of millions of tons of them - and all the other related industries.
So in March we're telling the story of Belfast's Flower Class Corvettes. About thirty of them were ordered by Churchill himself. They were: HMS:
Abelia Alisma Anchusa Armeria Arabis Bergamot Broom (became Vervain) Bryony Buttercup Calendula Camellia Chrysanthemum Clarkia Cowslip Eglantine Fritillary
Freesia Genista Gentian Gloxinia Heartease Heather Hibiscus Kingcup Mallow Orchis Peony Periwinkle Picotee Pimpernell Rhododendron.
Lagan Legacy is a charity, and we don't have much cash to spend (don't worry, I'm not begging for money on this note!) so we'll depend on any help we can get from others: providing us with stories, information, maybe images, copies of artifacts and documents etc etc.
I'm wondering, hoping and praying that someone on this excellent website or within your organization(s) might be able to help us along, even a few telephone numbers or e-mail addresses of people who served on any of the Belfast built vessels; during or after the War. Or perhaps of a friend of a family, or a son or a daughter. I apologise for troubling you with this matter. I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you in anticipation of any help you may be able to give.
Regards and a belated happy new year.
Charlie Warmington,
Lagan Legacy.
e-mail: info@laganlegacy.com
(028) 9031 9528
(m)07761 192706

[Melv.]

Yes, Harland & Wolfe (Belfast) Shipyards are famous the World over for ship-building.
They have built some fine Ships.

[John Brown]

Charlie

Sounds like a fantastic project. I think there are many shipyards around the country, past and present, that envy those of Belfast in having a floating memorial to their craft permanently moored in the poole of London. I would think that anybody with an interest in naval history knows something of Belfasts shipbuilding history but I for one, am always keen to know more.

I expect you have already thought of this but, in your search for ex crew members of the corvettes, the ships associations might be a place to start. Even if you already have details of the Flower Class Corvettes Association, other readers might be interested in looking at it:

http://www.fcca.demon.co.uk/

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Regards....John

[herakles]

Welcome LAGAN LEGACY!

What a good cause this is. I do hope you can find the information you want. I can't help you myself but I'm sure there are members here who can.

[tonclass]

Contact Mark Walters, he runs the Flower Class Corvette website.

http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/

I'm sure he'll be able to help

Rgds

Rik

[romft1945]

Welcome onboard friend not been here long either but a good site Rom:)

[tim lewin]

nothing to do with Flowers but relevant to your underlying interest; March 15th is the 70th anniversary of the launching of HMS Belfast which will be celebrated onboard with the LM of Belfast et al...
Belfast was constructed on the adjacent slip to the Titanic I think. My father served in her in 1939 prior to the mining.
Good luck
tim
PS. if you look back through my earlier posts re HMS Corunna you will find an amusing anecdote about the time my father brought her to Belfast.
tim

[deano1867]

Hi everyone,
Trying to find family of and possibly crew who served on my grandfathers ship the hmsc willowherb a canadian vessel on lease lend to the royal navy or anyone with particular information on these ships would be greatly appreciated many thanks Dean.

[herakles]

Welcome deano to the forum!

There have been earlier posts about flower class ships. Perhaps you could do a search here. Good luck! :)

[John Brown]

Deano

Welcome to the site.

As Herakles has said, there has been much info already posted on the forum about theses ships and their Associations. it shouldn't take you long to find it.



Regards...John

[ceylon220]

I`ve searched differant sites to find pictures of the old Flower class ships but up to date the only pic that I found was of HMS HOLLYHOCK, why is there such a shortage of photos of these fine ships which did a magnificient job during the war years.

HOLLYHOCK was lost to an aircraft attack.

[astraltrader]

You are right Dave - there is a shortage of decent pictures about these Corvettes. A lot of it is that at the time that they served, other more glamorous types of ships such as Carriers, Battleships and Cruisers tended to catch the eye of the public much more and thus curried more demand for their photo`s...

[tonclass]

Dave,

visit Mark Walters' site http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/ for all things 'FLOWER'............

He is very passionate about them !!

[astraltrader]

Here is a couple to keep you going Dave...

[sierra hotel]

I am quite surprised at this post. Here in Canada there are several quality picture books on Flower Class Corvettes. The best one, CORVETTES OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY 1939-45 BY KEN MACPHERSON AND MARC MILNER is chock full of great photos and drawings, a hardcover edition and I even have a spare.
contact me at stillmo@mts.net if so interested. Mailing overseas to UK though, IS VERY expensive.... fyi.

Ray D. Bean
Winnipeg, Canada.

[starshell]

Hello all

First post here, came across this forum by accident while looking up something else. Looks very useful !

I can see a few familiar names on here, particularly Rik (thanks for mentioning the Flower Class Forum! ). Anyway, just to introduce myself, I run the Flower Class Corvette and WWII Royal Navy Forums (see link in Rik's post above) which concentrate heavily on the Flowers, Castle Class Corvettes, escort ships in general and preservation of surviving WWII RN ships. If I can help with anything specifically Flower or Castle Class do get in touch.

My stepfather was one of the ASDIC operator's on HMS Campion and it was his stories of the wartime events he witnessed that got me started on Flower Class research. I also had a great uncle who was on HMS Ark Royal when she was sunk in 1941, but I know practically nothing about him other than his name (Frederick Hinson).

I will probably be resurrecting some old posts in the forum relating to the Flower Class. I would be particularly interested to hear from Ray Horne who posted up pictures of HMS Freesia and her crew to see if we can get them hosted on the Flower Class forums.

I look forward to joining in some of the discussions on here.

All the best
Mark Walters

[astraltrader]

Welcome to the forum Mark. I have visited yours on many occaisions.
Good to have you aboard.

[CYLLA]

Can any one on the forum ,make out what those large round cylinders are on the stern??
They dont seem to be depth charges, but there again she is canadian .

cylla

[Batstiger]

They look very much like smoke floats to me Cylla.

Bob.

[Alan B]

Here's a model at the Explosion Museum Model ship exhibition at the weekend.

[Batstiger]

In fact I would bet my tot on it Cylla!

Bob.

[JohnS]

Yes, they are smoke floats. No need to share your tot Bob.

Here's a close up photo.

[CYLLA]

John s no worries there,bob,s tot,s spoken for else where i bet.
But thanks guys ,for your input ,...so those ramps ,would be used for both case,s.
IT,S that i have never noticed smoke floats in that postion before.

cylla

[limeybiker]

HMS Saxifrage is still floating on the river Thames at Blackfriars Bridge.

[starshell]

Limeybiker - HMS Saxifrage on the Thames Embankment is a WWI period Anchusa Class minesweeper sloop, not a WWII Flower Class Corvette. Easy mistake to make though given that the name was re-used later on a Flower Class Corvette.

Mark

[BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ]

Hi.
Just for your interest I have posted some oil on canvas pictures my chum has recently painted.

[CYLLA]

Hi.
Just for your interest I have posted some oil on canvas pictures my chum has recently painted.



may i say ,those paintings are really great to see ,I have said before some where on this forum ,that this Xmas i received a book "CASTLE CLASS CORVETTES, and there are a few paintings in the book .

The format of the book is most interesting,and the amount of piccy,s in and information is giving me lots of enjoyment ,not so for the brave lads who put there lives on the line,during those days .
When these vessels were our life line ,in keeping the u-boats at bay.

may the thread continue.

cylla

[CGRET]

Charlie,

Most interesting cause, my compliment's on your Project. A Nautical history lesson we should all note.

Regards
Charles

[CYLLA]

Contact Mark Walters, he runs the Flower Class Corvette website.

http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/

I'm sure he'll be able to help

Rgds

Rik

Rik .

just been looking over the FCCF site ,...i recommend a look

And looking closely at this image ,...when you read about these ships ramming U-BOATS,you can under stand why .
The amount of rivets on that hull ,and the layers of steel.......
Our ships theses days look thread bear.

[BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ]

A lovely 'character' picture.

[jbryce1437]

:DRik .

just been looking over the FCCF site ,...i recommend a look

And looking closely at this image ,...when you read about these ships ramming U-BOATS,you can under stand why .
The amount of rivets on that hull ,and the layers of steel.......
Our ships theses days look thread bear.

I thought that the surroundings on this photograph looked familiar. It was taken at the Southwick (in Sunderland) shipyard of William Pickersgill & Sons. I worked at the shipyard for a short time before I joined the RN in 1963 (by which time it was named Austin & Pickersgill), around twenty years after that photo was taken. Just beneath the wooden gangway can be seen the lattice framework of the Queen Alexandra Bridge, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year. I don't recognise any faces though, but they chap in the bowler hat looks like William Pickersgill

[ivorthediver]

Blimey Beer Bosun


Not muuch wrong with your memory or eye sight is there.

[jbryce1437]

Blimey Beer Bosun


Not muuch wrong with your memory or eye sight is there.

Tell my wife that, Ivor

[knight]

hi my late father served on this ship tony

[CYLLA]

deano1867.

I thought i could have helped you out , as i have a book covering the history of most of those vessels.
But unfortunately i cant see any thing as yet.
But here a piccy ,as a consolation prize .

cylla

p.s if i do find a mention ,i,ll post in the forum .

[CYLLA]

a bit of info off "google "

H.M.S WILLOWHERB K283 midlands shipyard Ltd Midland 24 march 1943.

Fomerly USS VITALITY (pg -100)trans to R.N under lend lease prog.

Returned to U.S.N 11 june 1946.


cylla

[tigercat]

Does anyone have any information on the service of Flower Class sloops in WW2 ?

Most of them that survived that long seeme dto have been used a base ships etc.

But at least 2 HMS Rosemary and HMS Lupin seemed to have had a more active career although I'm not sure what.


HMS Rosemary seemed to have been an air target ship at one point but I 'm not sure if that was for the whole duration of the war or not.

[Dick]

These sites may be of some help to you:

http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/

http://www.hmcssackville-cnmt.ns.ca/

[tigercat]

Thanks but I'm interested in the WW1 veteran sloops rather than their later corvette namesakes

[alanbenn]

Does anyone have any information on the service of Flower Class sloops in WW2 ?





Thanks but I'm interested in the WW1 veteran sloops than their later corvette namesakes


Well if you don't know, then we can't help.:rolleyes:

Regards
Alan

[tigercat]

The ships of the ,

Arabis-class
Azalea-class
Acacia-class
Anchusa-class
Aubretia-class

that continued in service during WW2

[RNfanDan]

The ships of the ,

Arabis-class
Azalea-class
Acacia-class
Anchusa-class
Aubretia-class

that continued in service until WW2

Wow, so the entire premise of your question seems slightly ambiguous, at best. Gotta go with Alan on this one, hard to help with unclear inquiries...in any event, I'll see what I can do to help. No better site to find out though, so I am hopeful for you.

:-)

[tigercat]

I apologise if it's unclear the confusion seems to be about the differences between sloops and corvettes

Maybe I should try again

In WW1 their was a class of sloops called the Flower Class. Most of them were scrapped between the wars. However some of them survived to serve in WW2

The information I have found so far tends to be along the lines of

HMS X launched year Y scrapped in 1949 so I can tell that they served in WW2 but not in what function

The confusion seems to be due to the similary named WW2 built Flower Class Corvettes of which their seems to be an abundance of information online in comparision.

The clues I have found seem to indicate that HMS Lupin and HMS Rosemary had a more actve role than just a drill hall/ floating base so I'm particularly interested in those.

[Rob Hoole]

From page 17 of 'Allied Minesweepers in World War 2' by Peter Elliot (Patrick Stephens Ltd, Cambridge, 1979):



'Flower Class'
Fourteen ships were completed as sweepers, for duty with the Grand Fleet. Many others were completed as anti-submarine escorts, for convoy duty - the earlier units of the 'Flower' Class corvettes completed in 1939-42 were often fitted for minesweeping work as well as escort duties, so carrying this honoured name forward. Very few of this famous class survived to 1939, and none was fit for use as a sweeper, so at this point they fade from our story.

From page 67 'Minewarfare Vessels of the Royal Navy 1908 to Date' by Lt Maurice Cocker ARHistS, RNR (Airlife, Shrewsbury, 1993):



WW II Losses:
HMS Laburnum [Acacia Class - launched 1915 at Connell] in February 1942, whilst on the Far East station and based at Singapore, was overtaken by the Japanese advance and lost at the fall of Singapore.

HMS Cornflower [Arabis Class - launched 1916 at Barclay Curle] on 19 December 1941 was captured [or sunk in air attack according to College] by Japanese forces at the fall of Hong Kong.

These are the fates of the only other Flower Class sloops to survive until WW II according to 'Ships of the Royal Navy' by J. J. College revised by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow RN (Maritime Books, Liskeard, 2003):



HMS Foxglove [Acacia Class - launched 1915 at Barclay Curle] Harbour Guardship 1941. Sold 7 Sep 1946 and broken up at Troon.

HMS Lupin [Arabis Class - launched 1916 at Simon's]. Sold 22 Mar 1946 to Pounds, Portsmouth; foundered 1946, raised and broken up at Portchester.

HMS Rosemary [Arabis Class - launched 1915 at Richardson Duck]. Sold 17 Dec 1947 and broken up at Ward, Milford Haven.

HMS Foxglove and HMS Rosemary were both based at Portsmouth in 1939 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-3908-01RNships.htm)) and 1940 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4006-15RNHome3.htm)) according to Naval-History.net. Foxglove was bombed and badly damaged off Portsmouth on 9 Jul 1940 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-3908-01RNships.htm)). Rosemary was damaged in a collision with British steamer CARRICKMACROSS (754grt) at Milford Haven on 27 April 1941 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4104-31APR02.htm)) and was damaged again in a collision with the Polish destroyer BURZA inside Milford Haven Harbour on 1 Sep 1941 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4109-36SEP01.htm)). HMS Lupin was in reserve at the Nore in 1939 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-3909-04RN.htm)), and was refitted at Portsmouth to become a Sheerness-based civilian-manned target vessel in Jul 1940 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4006-15RNHome2.htm)). She was a degaussing mobile wiping unit at Manchester in 1942 (link (http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4201-40RNShips3WApproaches.htm)).

[tigercat]

Much appreciated

[ron h]

Having done a lot of research for my 1/32 scale r/c model of Bryony, I decided to have a book printed with the help of Lt/com Tom Hand MBE.

[jainso31]

As a native of Northumberland,I should like to mention Clark's of Blyth,a small shipyard pressed into the "production line" as it were; and their contribution was Anemone K48 comm.April 1940 and Arbutus K86 comm.June 1940.Both served through the war ,but Arbutus was sunk in 1942.

jainso31

[IAEGMOOH]

Hello everyone. Thankyou for having me on board.
I am currently researching Britain’s 2nd World War Flower Class Corvettes. I hope I'm not taking too much of your time by quickly explaining why!.
I work for a maritime heritage organisation in Belfast called Lagan Legacy. See our website ay ( www.laganlegacy.com )
We are putting an exhibition together for Belfast's annual "Titanic Festival" at the end of this coming March. The exhibition follows a theme that Lagan Legacy has been promoting since the organisation's inception – “The Greatest Story Never Told”.
It is a sad fact here in Northern Ireland that everyone, indeed everyone in
the world, knows about the Titanic, but knows little else about Belfast's absolutely amazing maritime past. So Lagan Legacy attempts to promote the rest of the River Lagan's nautical history - the other 3,000 ships, tens of millions of tons of them - and all the other related industries.
So in March we're telling the story of Belfast's Flower Class Corvettes. About thirty of them were ordered by Churchill himself. They were: HMS:
Abelia Alisma Anchusa Armeria Arabis Bergamot Broom (became Vervain) Bryony Buttercup Calendula Camellia Chrysanthemum Clarkia Cowslip Eglantine Fritillary
Freesia Genista Gentian Gloxinia Heartease Heather Hibiscus Kingcup Mallow Orchis Peony Periwinkle Picotee Pimpernell Rhododendron.
Lagan Legacy is a charity, and we don't have much cash to spend (don't worry, I'm not begging for money on this note!) so we'll depend on any help we can get from others: providing us with stories, information, maybe images, copies of artifacts and documents etc etc.
I'm wondering, hoping and praying that someone on this excellent website or within your organization(s) might be able to help us along, even a few telephone numbers or e-mail addresses of people who served on any of the Belfast built vessels; during or after the War. Or perhaps of a friend of a family, or a son or a daughter. I apologise for troubling you with this matter. I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you in anticipation of any help you may be able to give.
Regards and a belated happy new year.
Charlie Warmington,
Lagan Legacy.
e-mail: info@laganlegacy.com
(028) 9031 9528
(m)07761 192706

Bit of info on my website about Belfast built HMS Genista and HMS Bryony which both went on to be converted to weather ships at www.weatherships.co.uk (on the Flower class page)

[sierra hotel]

[QUOTE=ceylon220;17474]I`ve searched differant sites to find pictures of the old Flower class ships but up to date the only pic that I found was of HMS HOLLYHOCK, why is there such a shortage of photos of these fine ships which did a magnificient job during the war years.
With kind regards, sir, from CANADA. I as a ship modeler have produced HMCS SACKVILLE modeler walkaround DVD loaded with sharp crystal clear pictures.... I also market 2 photo DVDs of the CORVETTES of CANADA and RN, and also have BOOKs on these, with spares to sell. There is NO shortage of photos of these great little ships, they are well documented. If you wish, contact me off board at stillmo@shaw.ca
or my photo DVD website at www.stillmotionsphotographics.com if you are in research on these ships, I have a few spare books to sell, but shipping across the Atlantic is NOT cheap.

Ray in Canada

[peter.robb]

Hello to all,an other good book on the RCNs Flower class ships and other classes of ships used by the RCN from 1910 is "The Ships of Canada's Naval
Forces" by K.Macferson & R.Barrie.There has been a few editions over a the
years the one I have is 1910-2002.
peter.

[wendolk]

Hi everyone -

I'm working on the Old Weather project and I am working on the logs of the Foxglove, which was a Flower class sloop in the RN - I am not a sailor, so this maybe a very stupid question, but is a sloop the same as a corvette? If so, any info anyone has about the Foxglove would be greatly appreciated. I would love to hear from crew families - the Foxglove seemed to be a happy ship- rarely anyone on the sick list and very few warrants logged.

thanks -

Kathy W.

[jainso31]

I hope this is of some assistance to you.

jainso31



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Foxglove_(1915)

[Dave Hutson]

Hi everyone -

I'm working on the Old Weather project and I am working on the logs of the Foxglove, which was a Flower class sloop in the RN - I am not a sailor, so this maybe a very stupid question, but is a sloop the same as a corvette? If so, any info anyone has about the Foxglove would be greatly appreciated. I would love to hear from crew families - the Foxglove seemed to be a happy ship- rarely anyone on the sick list and very few warrants logged.

thanks -

Kathy W.

Hi Kathy and a warm welcome to the Forum.

Not a lot of difference between a sloop and a corvette. My experience talking to guys who served on them was that they were terrible ships in anything above a light blow - but don't knock them. Great little vessels according to them but I wouldn't have liked to endure the conditions that they had to. You will find a lot on the Flowers on the Forum and I hope you have success with your personal search.

Dave H

[wendolk]

Thanks for the prompt replies - I hope I can find out more about her - the log keeper rarely uses peoples' names in the logs, mainly rank, job description, or ON number.

yours -

Kathy

[RichyB]

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the men who served in these ships and kept the Atlantic supply line open. Here are some photo's of HMS Coreopsis, some good action shots amongst them.
RichyB

[whalecatcher]

RichyB writes:
I have the utmost respect and admiration for the men who served in these ships and kept the Atlantic supply line open. Here are some photo's of HMS Coreopsis, some good action shots amongst them.


Great shots of Coreopsi! A couple the photos show the RN configuration of the corvette stern. This arrangement was not universal. In the early Canadian corvettes, the stern was 'squared off' a bit, because they were fitted for Oropesa sweeping. The photo of Oakville shows the RCN version. In the American Patrol Craft corvettes (USS Saucy, etc), the depth charge rack was a little higher and the stern modified accordingly.

Whalecatcher

[whalecatcher]

Oops! Here is the 'minesweeping stern' right way up. In my original post, the photos from left to right show American, Canadian and British stern configurations.

Whalecatcher

[Vegaskip]

Several paintings of Flower Class Corvettes, in Everything Else,...Jim's Ship Paintings, Free to down load, although a thank's would be appreciated.
Jim

[ivorthediver]

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the men who served in these ships and kept the Atlantic supply line open. Here are some photo's of HMS Coreopsis, some good action shots amongst them.
RichyB

Great pictures RichyB, thanks for posting them :)

[ivorthediver]

RichyB writes:
I have the utmost respect and admiration for the men who served in these ships and kept the Atlantic supply line open. Here are some photo's of HMS Coreopsis, some good action shots amongst them.


Great shots of Coreopsi! A couple the photos show the RN configuration of the corvette stern. This arrangement was not universal. In the early Canadian corvettes, the stern was 'squared off' a bit, because they were fitted for Oropesa sweeping. The photo of Oakville shows the RCN version. In the American Patrol Craft corvettes (USS Saucy, etc), the depth charge rack was a little higher and the stern modified accordingly.

Whalecatcher


Thanks Whalecatcher always glad to see detail of the subject

[ivorthediver]

Several paintings of Flower Class Corvettes, in Everything Else,...Jim's Ship Paintings, Free to down load, although a thank's would be appreciated.
Jim

And Dam good they are to Jim ....like all your paintings

Regards Ivor

[sierra hotel]

You are right Dave - there is a shortage of decent pictures about these Corvettes. A lot of it is that at the time that they served, other more glamorous types of ships such as Carriers, Battleships and Cruisers tended to catch the eye of the public much more and thus curried more demand for their photo`s...

Actually, photos of them are not all that rare I think. I have several solid photo books and modeling guides on them. Here in Canada, Vanwell Publishing has released several books by Ken MacPherson, or Mark Milner, John Lambert, and lots of photos do exist. Some of the pics are in a miserable condition, considering the quality of the film, camera and developer of the period. HMCS Sackville in NS has already been documented here, and I even sell a full set of SACKVILLE modeler related pictures on DVD.
Several Corvette related sites out there, but many of the pictures have been scanned very poorly and are lo res where I have the same ones in hi res.
Its NOT a copyright thing at ALL with the old Canadian WWII navy pics... they are not restricted.

[sierra hotel]

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the men who served in these ships and kept the Atlantic supply line open. Here are some photo's of HMS Coreopsis, some good action shots amongst them.
RichyB

Hmmmmmmm, some of those pics were stills shot during the filming of THE CRUEL SEA...what a great film that was...

[wendolk]

thank you for posting the pictures - are these from WWII? If so, does anyone know of any from WWI? That is the time period for the project I'm working on, with the Foxglove, a Flower Class sloop (minesweeper).

Thanks -

Kathy W.

[ivorthediver]

Hmmmmmmm, some of those pics were stills shot during the filming of THE CRUEL SEA...what a great film that was...

One of my favourite films , alone with "In which we serve" but yes think you are right

Regards Ivor [ 2000 post]

[whalecatcher]

Kathy W writes:

Thank you for posting the pictures - are these from WWII? If so, does anyone know of any from WWI? That is the time period for the project I'm working on, with the Foxglove, a Flower Class sloop (minesweeper).

In WW I there were 'Flower' Class (sometimes referred to as 'Herbaceous Border' Class) Class Minesweeping Sloops built in 1915-6, along with 'Hunt' class minesweepers built in 1917-18. The former may be confused with the Flower Class corvettes and the latter with the Hunt Class destroyers of WW II.

So far as I know none of the WW I 'Flowers' survived to be used as sweepers in WW 2. The surviving Hunts formed the 4th Minesweeping Flotilla ....'The Smokey Joes". The pic shows Acacia, which would be identical to Foxglove. The old-fahsioned horseshoe frame used to handle the Oropesa gear is an interesting detail. This was replaced by a pair of davits in those Hunts which survived to serve in WW 2, although judging by the Charles Dixon painting, it was still found in at least one of them in 1939 when the first Bangors came on the scene. (This picture was featured on the Forum a while back, but wrongly categorised as 'Two Bangors". The near vessel is one of the Hunt class. Dixon rather flatters the Bangor in the background which looks quite handsome. In reality because of their lack of sheer, these were singularly homely looking vessels.

Whalecatcher

[wendolk]

The Foxglove was used in WWII as a sweeper and then when damaged in 1940, became a base ship. She was scrapped after the war. (One other Flower Class sloop survived until WWII, but I don't know which one.)

yours -

Kathy W.

[astraltrader]

Hi Kathy - a picture of the old sloop Foxglove although sadly not of particularly good quality.

[wendolk]

wow - thanks for posting the picture! Do you know what year it was taken? I ask because there is apparently incorrect information floating around regarding the date the Flower class had their sails removed. I can see furled sails in the picture and I know from her logs that the Foxglove had sails and used them in 1923. I think the picture is fine - it is better than the one I have :D - can I post this one in the Old Weather forum?

Thanks -

Kathy W.

[astraltrader]

Kathy please see my PM to you. :)

[smartd]

A few pics of HMCS Sackville:

[SJE61]

My apologies for resurrecting a year old topic.

My elderly neighbour, sadly now deceased, had an empty shell case in his home, that had belonged to his uncle.

His uncle had served on HMS Coreopsis during the first world war, and was on board when they engaged a U-boat in the Irish Sea, in 1918.

The shell case was engraved with details of the engagement, which credited Coreopsis with the sinking of the submarine. In fact, the casing is credited with being the one that was the fatal shot. ;)

From the little research that I did for my neighbour, It would seem that the details engraved on the casing were not exactly accurate ,athough Coreopsis was involved, along with other vessels, in the sinking of UB85, on April 30Th. 1918.

I did print off details of the engagement, and these are now kept inside the empty shell case, which is now now owned by one of the daughters of the old chap.


Steve

[jainso31]

Hi Steve,thank you for your post-I just wanted to say that I too have a pair of pompom shell cases inscribed HMS ANEMONE- DENMARK STRAIT-1942- given to me by my father who served in her; and was credited with shooting down an FW 190 Condor-the shell cases commemorating the event.

jainso31

[chris westwood]

thank you for posting the pictures - are these from WWII? If so, does anyone know of any from WWI? That is the time period for the project I'm working on, with the Foxglove, a Flower Class sloop (minesweeper).

Thanks -

Kathy W.

when the film was made-the early fifties, she was part of the Irish Naval service. I doubt whether there will have been many, if any changes to her configuration and appearance from the end of world war 2 apart from maybe her paint scheme.