HMCS Windflower
{{Short description|Flower-class corvette}}
{{Other ships|HMS Windflower}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMCS Windflower K155 H-762.jpg |Ship caption=HMCS Windflower during acceptance trials in 1940. Most of the ship's armament has not yet been fitted. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United Kingdom |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name= Windflower |Ship namesake= Windflower |Ship ordered= 22 January 1940 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= 25 February 1940 |Ship launched= 4 July 1940 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 20 October 1940 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= 15 May 1941 |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= Pennant number: K155 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= Loaned to Canada 1941; sunk 1941 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} |Ship name=Windflower |Ship acquired= Loaned from United Kingdom |Ship commissioned= 15 May 1941 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= 7 December 1941 |Ship renamed= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Pennant number: K155 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= Atlantic 1941{{cite web|title= Battle Honours | url=http://www.britainsnavy.co.uk/Battle%20Honours/A%20Battle%20Honour%20Date.htm#1900|work=Britain's Navy|access-date=31 August 2013}} |Ship fate= Sunk on 7 December 1941 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} |Ship displacement={{convert|925|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |Ship length={{convert|205|ft|m|abbr=on}} o/a |Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|11|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship power={{convert|2750|ihp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating engine
|Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship range={{convert|3500|nmi|mi km|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|12|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship complement=85 |Ship sensors=*1 × SW1C or 2C radar
|Ship armament=*1 × BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun
|Ship notes= }} |
HMCS Windflower was a Royal Canadian Navy {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} which took part in convoy escort duties in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.
Background
{{main|Flower-class corvette}}
Flower-class corvettes like Windflower serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes.{{cite web |last=Ossian |first=Robert |url=http://www.thepirateking.com/ships/ship_types.htm |title=Complete List of Sailing Vessels |website=The Pirate King |access-date=13 April 2011}}{{cite book |editor-last=Fitzsimons |editor-first=Bernard |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare |location=London |publisher=Phoebus |date=1978 |volume=11 |pages=1137–1142 }}{{cite book |title=Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II |location=New Jersey |publisher=Random House |date=1996 |isbn=0-517-67963-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/janesfightingshi00fran/page/68 68] |url=https://archive.org/details/janesfightingshi00fran/page/68 }} The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877.{{cite book |last=Blake |first=Nicholas |last2=Lawrence |first2=Richard |title=The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I59v6rkg8egC&pg=PA39 |publisher=Stackpole Books |date=2005 |pages=39–63 |isbn=0-8117-3275-4}} During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design.{{cite book |last=Chesneau |first=Roger |last2=Gardiner |first2=Robert |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJBMBvyQ83EC&pg=PA62 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |date=June 1980 |page=62 |isbn=0-87021-913-8}} The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.{{cite book |title=North Atlantic Run |last=Milner |first=Marc |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1985 |pages=117–119, 142–145, 158, 175–176, 226, 235, 285–291 |isbn=0-87021-450-0}}
Construction
Windflower was ordered on 22 January 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program and laid down at George T. Davie & Sons Ltd., Lauzon on 24 February 1940. Launched on 8 August 1940 she was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 October.{{cite web | url = http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/5487.html | work = Uboat.net | title = HMCS Windflower (K 155) | access-date = 2 August 2013}} She was among the ten corvettes to be transferred to the RCN and commissioned on 15 May 1941.{{cite book |last=German |first=Tony |year=1990 |title=The Sea is at our Gates : The History of the Canadian Navy |publisher=McClelland and Stewart Inc. |location=Toronto |pages=[https://archive.org/details/seaisatourgatesh00germ/page/110 110] |isbn=0-7710-3269-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/seaisatourgatesh00germ/page/110 }} She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.{{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Milner |first2=Marc |year=1993 |title=Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy 1939-1945|publisher=Vanwell Publishing |location=St. Catharines }}
Battle of the Atlantic
=Service with Royal Navy=
After working up at Tobermory Windflower was assigned to Escort Group 4 with the Royal Navy escorting convoys between the United Kingdom and Iceland.{{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|pages=89 |isbn=0-00216-856-1}}
=Service with Royal Canadian Navy=
After she was loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy Windflower transferred to Newfoundland Command after completing the voyage with OB 332. She made three round trips from St. John's to Iceland only interrupted by a short refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia from August to mid-October.
=Sinking=
On 7 December 1941, Windflower was escorting Convoy SC.58 when she collided with Dutch merchant Zypenberg in dense fog on the Grand Banks at 46° 19N, 49° 30W. 23 crew were lost. At the time corvettes were not outfitted with radar.
Notes
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{refbegin}}
- {{Cite news|url=http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww2/flower/ |title= Flower Class|author=Hazegray |work= Canadian Navy of Yesterday and Today |access-date= 2 August 2013}}
- {{Cite news|url=http://www.readyayeready.com/ships/shipview.php?id=1469&ship=WINDFLOWER |title= HMCS Windflower |author=Ready, Aye, Ready |access-date= 2 August 2013}}
{{refend}}
{{Flower class corvette|original}}
{{December 1941 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|46|19|N|49|30|W|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windflower, Hmcs}}
Category:Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy
Category:Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy
Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941