Editing Flower-class corvette (section)

==Orders==
[[File:HMS Picotee (K63) IWM A 4594.jpg|thumb|Early Flower corvettes had a mast before the wheel house.]]
The RN ordered 145 Flower-class corvettes in 1939, the first 26 on 25 July with a further batch of 30 on 31 August, all under the 1939 Pre-War Programme. Following the outbreak of [[World War II]], the British [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]] ordered another 20 on 19 September (all from [[Harland and Wolff|Harland & Wolff]]) under the 1939 War Programme. This was followed by an order for a further ten Flower-class corvettes from other British shipbuilders two days later. Another 18 were ordered on 12 December and two on 15 December, again from British shipbuilders. The RN ordered the last ten vessels (under the 1939 War Programme) from Canadian shipbuilders in January 1940.

By the end of January 1940, 116 ships were building or on order to this initial design. The ten vessels ordered from Canadian shipbuilders were transferred to the RCN upon completion. Another four vessels were ordered at [[Smiths Dock Company]] for the [[French Navy]], the first ship being completed for the [[Free French Naval Forces]] in mid-1940 and the other three being taken over by the RN. Another 31 Flowers were ordered by the RN under the 1940 War Programme but six of these (ordered from Harland & Wolff) were cancelled on 23 January 1941.

[[File:HMS Jonquil (K68) IWM FL 22394.jpg|thumb|Later corvettes had more flare at the bow and a longer forecastle.]]
The RN ordered 27 modified Flower-class corvettes under the 1941 and 1942 War Programmes. British shipbuilders were contracted to build seven of these vessels under the 1941 Programme and five vessels under the 1942 Programme; two vessels (one from each year's Programme) were later cancelled. The RN ordered fifteen modified Flowers from Canadian shipyards under the 1941 programme; eight of these were transferred to the USN under reverse [[Lend-Lease]].

The RCN ordered seventy original and 34 modified Flower-class vessels from Canadian shipbuilders. The Canadian shipbuilders also built seven original Flowers ordered by the USN, which were transferred to the RN under the Lend-Lease Programme upon completion, because wartime shipbuilding production in the United States had reached the level where the USN could dispense with vessels it had ordered in Canada. The RCN vessels had several design variations from their RN counterparts: the "bandstand", where the aft [[Pom-Pom (Gun)|pom-pom]] gun was mounted, was moved to the rear of the superstructure; the galley was also moved forward, immediately abaft the engine room.

Shortly after the outbreak of war the French Navy ordered 18 Flower-class vessels, 12 from UK yards, two from ''[[Ateliers et Chantiers de France]]'' at [[Dunkirk]] and four from [[Ateliers et Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire Penhoët|''Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët'']] at [[Saint-Nazaire]].<ref name="masson p27-8">Le Masson 1969, pp. 27–28</ref><ref name="masson p26,8">Le Masson 1969, pp. 26, 28.</ref> The two At. & Ch. de France ships are listed as "cancelled" but the four Penhoët ships were under construction at the time of the [[Battle of France|Fall of France]] and were seized by [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="masson p28">Le Masson 1969, p. 28</ref> Three were completed for ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' service and commissioned in 1943–44 as the ''[[PA class patrol ship (Germany)|Patrouillenboot Ausland]]'' patrol ships.<ref name="masson p26,8"/><ref name=GN>{{cite web |url=http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/captured/gunboats/index.html |title=Captured gunboats of the Kriegsmarine |publisher=German-Navy.de |access-date=2011-01-18}}</ref>