The Flower-class corvette [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] also referred to as the Gladiolus class after the lead ship [ 4 ] was a British class of corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers. HMCS Sackville is the only member of the class preserved as a museum ship. The term "corvette" was originally a French name for a small sailing warship, intermediate between the frigate and the sloop-of-war. In the s the term was adopted by the RN for sailing warships of roughly similar size, primarily operating in the shipping protection role. With the arrival of steam power, paddle- and later screw-driven corvettes were built for the same purpose, growing in power, size, and armament over the decades.
In the RN abolished the "corvette" as a traditional category; corvettes and frigates were then combined into a new category, " cruiser ". The months leading up to World War II saw the RN return to the concept of a small escort warship being used in the shipping protection role. The Flower class was based on the design of Southern Pride , a whale-catcher, and were labelled "corvettes", thus restoring the title for the RN, although the Flower-class has no connection with pre cruising vessels.
There are two distinct groups of vessels in this class: the original Flower-class , vessels ordered during the and building programmes; and the modified Flower-class , which followed with a further 69 vessels ordered from onward. The modified Flowers were slightly larger and better armed. Flower-class vessels, of original and modified design, in USN service were called Temptress - and Action -class gunboats; they carried the hull classification symbol PG "patrol gunboat".
In early , with the risk of war with Nazi Germany increasing, it was clear to the Royal Navy that it needed more escort ships to counter the threat from Kriegsmarine U-boats.
