American Flower-class corvettes

src: i.ytimg.com

The American Flower-class corvettes were those ships of the Flower class built for, or operated by, the United States Navy during World War II.

Video American Flower-class corvettes

Construction history

In December 1941, after the US entry into World War II, the USN had a large building programme for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships, but none nearing completion. To overcome this shortfall, the Royal Navy agreed to transfer a number of ASW ships to the USN, including ten Flower-class corvettes. These ships had already been in commission and had seen action during the Battle of the Atlantic.

These ships were classified as Patrol Gunboats, and numbered PG 62 to 71, and were referred to as the Temptress class, after the first ship to be re-commissioned.

The USN also placed orders for 15 more Flowers from Canadian shipyards. This was met by transferring a number of vessels on order for the RN to USN. These ships were of the Modified Flower type, a design which consolidated the various modifications developed in the course of building the original Flowers.

In the event the USN only took charge of eight of these ships; the other seven were transferred back to the RN under Lend-Lease arrangements.

The US ships were numbered PG 86 to 100 and were referred to as the Action class.

The Temptress class were armed with a 4-inch gun forward, a 3 in (76 mm)/50 dual-purpose (DP) gun aft, two 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, two depth charge racks, and four depth charge throwers. The Action class replaced the 4-inch gun with another 3-inch/50 cal. DP gun, and added a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.

Maps American Flower-class corvettes

Temptress class

src: farm4.staticflickr.com

Action class

Served in USN

Transferred to RN

src: images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com

Notes

src: images.esellerpro.com

References

• Conway : Conways All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1922-1946 (1980) ISBN 0-85177-146-7
• Elliott, Peter: (1977) Allied Escort Ships of World War II ISBN 0-356-08401-9

src: images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com

External links

• Media related to Temptress class gunboat at Wikimedia Commons
• Media related to Action class gunboat at Wikimedia Commons

Source of the article : Wikipedia