Editing Flower-class corvette (section)

==Class designation==
The term "corvette" was originally a French name for a small sailing warship, intermediate between the [[frigate]] and the [[sloop-of-war]]. In the 1830s 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 1877 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-1877 cruising vessels.

There are two distinct groups of vessels in this class: the ''original Flower-class'', 225 vessels ordered during the 1939 and 1940 building programmes; and the ''modified Flower-class'', which followed with a further 69 vessels ordered from 1940 onward. The modified Flowers were slightly larger and better armed.

Flower-class vessels, of original and modified design, [[American Flower-class corvettes|in USN service]] were called ''Temptress''- and ''Action''-class gunboats; they carried the [[hull classification symbol]] PG ("patrol gunboat").