Flower-class corvette
History
United Kingdom
Name Rhododendron
Ordered 31 August 1939
Builder Ferguson Shipbuilders. Ltd. , Port Glasgow
Laid down 26 October 1939
Launched 22 April 1940
Commissioned 14 September 1940
Out of service 1950 – sold to T.W. Ward
Identification Pennant number : K27
Fate Sold 1950; scrapped November 1950
General characteristics
Class and type Flower-class corvette (original)
Displacement 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length 205 ft (62.48 m)o/a
Beam 33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught 11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion
single shaft
2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed 16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement 85
Sensors and processing systems
1 × SW1C or 2C radar
1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament
1 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk.IX single gun
2 x double Lewis machine gun
2 × twin Vickers machine gun
2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers
2 × depth charge rails with 40 depth charges
initially with minesweeper equipment, later removed
HMS Honeysuckle was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War . She served as an ocean escort in the Battle of the Atlantic .[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
Background
The ship was commissioned on 31 August 1939 by Harland and Wolff from Port Glasgow in Scotland .[ 4]
War service
On 20 September 1941, HMS Honeysuckle picked up 51 survivors from the CAM ship Empire Burton , which was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-74 . That same day, she picked up an additional 22 survivors from the tanker T.J. Williams , which has torpedoed by a different U-boat, U-552 . On 4 July 1943, she picked up 276 survivors from the merchant St. Essylt, which was torpedoed by U-375 off of Algeria .[ 1]
Fate
She was scrapped in 1950 at Grays .[ 5]
Sources
Gardiner, Robert (1987). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 . London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
Preston, Antony; Raven, Alan (1982). Flower Class Corvettes . London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-559-2 .
Friedman, Norman (2008). British Destroyers & Frigates - The Second World War and After . Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4 .
References