HMS Bryony (K192)

{{Infobox ship image

|Ship image=HMS Bryony.jpg

|Ship caption=

}}

{{Infobox ship career

|Hide header=

|Ship country=United Kingdom

|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}

|Ship name=HMS Bryony

|Ship ordered=8 April 1940

|Ship awarded=

|Ship builder=Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland

|Ship yard number=1102{{cite book|last1=McCluskie|first1=Tom|title=The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff|date=2013|publisher=The History Press|location=Stroud|isbn=9780752488615|page=149}}

|Ship laid down=16 November 1940

|Ship launched=15 March 1941

|Ship completed=16 June 1942

|Ship acquired=

|Ship commissioned=

|Ship recommissioned=

|Ship decommissioned=

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=Sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1948

|Ship renamed=

|Ship reclassified=

|Ship refit=

|Ship captured=

|Ship struck=

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship identification=Pennant number: K192

|Ship fate=

|Ship homeport=

|Ship motto=*Quid habeo idem teneo

(Latin: "What I Have, the same I hold")

}}

{{Infobox ship career

|Hide header=title

|Ship country=Norway

|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Norway|navy}}

|Ship class=

|Ship name=Polarfront II

|Ship ordered=

|Ship awarded=

|Ship builder=

|Ship laid down=

|Ship launched=

|Ship christened=

|Ship acquired=1948

|Ship commissioned=

|Ship recommissioned=

|Ship decommissioned=

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=

|Ship renamed=

|Ship reclassified=

|Ship refit=

|Ship captured=

|Ship struck=1979

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship fate=Scrapped 1980

|Ship homeport=

}}

{{Infobox ship characteristics

|Hide header=

|Header caption=

|Ship class={{sclass2|Flower|corvette}}

|Ship displacement=940 tons

|Ship length={{convert|205|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship draught={{convert|11.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship draft=

|Ship propulsion=*Two fire tube boilers

one 4-cycle triple-expansion steam engine

|Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|km/h}} at {{convert|2750|hp|abbr=on}}

|Ship range=3,500 nautical miles at 12 knots (6,500 km at 22 km/h)

|Ship endurance=

|Ship test depth=

|Ship boats=

|Ship capacity=

|Ship complement=85 men

|Ship time to activate=

|Ship sensors=

|Ship EW=

|Ship armament=

1 × BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun,
2 × .50 inch (12.7 mm) twin machine guns,
2 × .303 inch (7.7-mm) Lewis machine guns
2 × stern depth charge racks with 40 depth charges

|Ship armour=

|Ship armor=

|Ship aircraft=

|Ship notes=

}}

HMS Bryony was a {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} that served in the Royal Navy and Royal Norwegian Navy.

Construction and damage

She was laid down at the yards of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland on 16 November 1940, having been ordered on 8 April of that year. She was launched on 15 March 1941 but on 15 April during an air raid on Harland and Wolff's yards Bryony was sunk by a direct hit. Her upper deck and superstructure were wrecked, and most of her hull plates were blown off, whilst the remainder of the hull was flooded. She was inspected by officials from Harland and Wolff and the Admiralty, and it was decided that it would be feasible to refloat and rebuild the ship.

Salvage and working up

These events would give her the longest build time for any of the Flower class. She was built as a short fo'c'sle corvette, but after her salvage she was given a lengthened fo'c'sle and minesweeping gear. Although many Flowers eventually got the lengthened fo'c'sle, Bryony{{'}}s was much longer than normal and she could be discerned by such. She was finally commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 March 1941, under Lieutenant Commander Stewart of the Royal Naval Reserve. She left Belfast, crossing the Irish Sea to Tobermory in Scotland to undergo a two-week work and training exercise period, after which she sailed to Gladstone Dock, Liverpool, where she would be based until June 1943. Whilst in her trials period she was assigned to escort Convoy PQ 18, the next attempt to deliver supplies to Russia after the heavy losses sustained amongst Convoy PQ 17.

With convoy PQ 18

The convoy had mostly assembled by 1 September 1942 in Loch Ewe, and departed the following day. By 12 September a long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft had detected and begun to shadow the convoy, directing German U-boats to the scene. Eventually seven U-boats were shadowing the convoy; these were for the moment kept at bay by Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft and the escorts. On 14 September, {{GS|U-457||2}} penetrated the screen and torpedoed the tanker {{SS|Atheltemplar}} in the engine room. Crippled, the ship was abandoned, as there were no spare ships available to tow her to Spitsbergen.

The next large wave of attacks came on 19 September as the convoy crossed the Dvina Bar. Twelve Junkers Ju 88s attacked the convoy, one of them dive bombing Bryony. The bombs fell wide and Bryony was unscathed. The convoy finally reached Archangel without further incident. Thirteen merchant ships had been lost, whilst the Germans had lost three U-boats and twenty-two aircraft.

Postwar

Bryony returned to home waters and continued to serve as an escort and patrol vessel off the coast and in the North Sea. After the end of the war, she was sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1948. They renamed her Polarfront II, and used her as a weather ship. She was sold in 1979 and broken up in the following year.{{csr|register=MSI|id=5280784|shipname=Polarfront II |access-date=21 February 2020}}