Editing Flower-class corvette (section)

==Operations==
[[File:QF2 MkVIII CWM 2.jpg|thumb|left|QF2 Mk. VIII pom-pom gun, from HMCS ''Kamloops,'' on display in the Lebreton Gallery of the [[Canadian War Museum]] ]]
Flower-class corvettes were used extensively by the RN and RCN in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]]. They also saw limited service elsewhere with the RN, as well as the USN and several Allied navies such as the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Hellenic Navy, the Free French Naval Forces, the Royal Indian Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Navy. The [[Belgian Navy]] used some of these vessels during World War II, and have continued to use Flower names for [[Tripartite-class minehunter|their minehunters]]. Most Royal Navy Flower-class ships drew their officers and crew from the [[Royal Naval Reserve]] and the [[Royal Naval Reserve|Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve]] (RNVR). Many RN Flowers had captains drawn from the [[Merchant Navy]].

Service on Flowers in the North Atlantic was typically cold, wet, monotonous and uncomfortable. Every dip of the [[forecastle]] into an oncoming wave was followed by a cascade of water into the well deck amidships.<ref name="Milner-85-p89">Milner 1985, p.&nbsp;89</ref> Men at action stations were drenched with spray and water entered living spaces through hatches opened for access to ammunition magazines.<ref name="Milner-85-p89"/> Interior decks were constantly wet and condensation dripped from the overheads.<ref name="Milner-85-p89"/> The head (or sanitary toilet) was drained by a straight pipe to the ocean; and a reverse flow of the icy North Atlantic would cleanse the backside of those using it during rough weather.<ref name="Milner-85-p89"/> By 1941 corvettes carried twice as many crewmen as anticipated in the original design.<ref name="Milner-85-p89"/> Men slept on lockers or tabletops or in any dark place that offered a little warmth.<ref name="Milner-85-p89"/> The inability to store perishable food meant a reliance on preserved food such as corned-beef and powdered potato for all meals.<ref>[http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=42 "Flower Class] uboat.net</ref>

The Flowers were nicknamed "the [[pekingese]] of the ocean". They had a reputation of having poor sea-handling characteristics, most often [[rolling]] in heavy seas, with 80-degree rolls, 40 degrees each side of upright, being fairly common; it was said they "would roll on wet grass".<ref>Monsarrat, N., ''H.M. corvette.'' Philadelphia, New York, J.B. Lippincott Co., 1943. OCLC 1523299</ref> Many crewmen suffered severe motion sickness for a few weeks until they acclimatised to shipboard life.<ref name = "Milner-85-p89"/> Although poor in their sea-handling characteristics, the Flowers were extremely seaworthy; no Allied sailor was ever lost overboard from a Flower during World War II, outside combat.

A typical action by a Flower encountering a surfaced U-boat during convoy escort duties was to run directly at the submarine, forcing it to dive and thus limiting its speed and manoeuvrability. The corvette would then keep the submarine down and preoccupied with avoiding depth charge attacks long enough to allow the convoy to pass safely. The {{cvt|16|kn}} top speed of the Flower-class ships made effective pursuit of a surfaced U-boat [about {{cvt|17|kn}}] impossible, though it was adequate to manoeuvre around submerged U-boats or convoys, both of which ran at a typical maximum of {{cvt|8|kn}} and sometimes much less in poor weather. The low speed also made it difficult for Flowers to catch up with the convoy after action.<ref name="Brown D K, Nelson to Vanguard"/>

[[File:Free French Memorial Greenock.jpg|thumb|The [[Free French Forces|Free French]] Memorial on [[Lyle Hill]] in Greenock, looking out to the west of the [[Tail of the Bank]] anchorage, has a plaque commemorating the loss of the corvettes ''Alyssa'' and ''Mimosa''.<ref name="Inverclyde Council 2017">{{cite web | title=War Memorials | website=Inverclyde Council | date=9 August 2017 | url=https://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/community-life-and-leisure/heritage/family-history/war-memorials | access-date=9 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109191726/https://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/community-life-and-leisure/heritage/family-history/war-memorials | archive-date=9 November 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref>]]
This technique was hampered when the ''Kriegsmarine'' began deploying its U-boats in "wolf-pack" attacks, which were intended to overwhelm the escort warships of a convoy and allow at least one of the submarines to attack the merchant vessels. Better sensors and armament for the Flowers, such as radar, [[HF/DF]], depth charge projectors and [[ASDIC]], meant these small warships were well equipped to detect and defend against such attacks but the tactical advantage often lay with the attackers, who could mount attacks intended to draw the defending Flower off-station. Success for the Flowers should be measured in terms of tonnage protected, rather than U-boats sunk. Typical reports of convoy actions by these craft include numerous instances of U-boat detection near a convoy, followed by brief engagements using guns or depth charges and a rapid return to station as another U-boat took advantage of the skirmish to attack the unguarded convoy.

Continuous actions against a numerically superior U-boat pack demanded considerable seamanship skills from all concerned and were very wearing on the crews. Thirty-six ships in the class were lost during World War II, many due to enemy action, some to collision with Allied warships and merchant ships. One, sunk in shallow water, was raised and repaired. Of the vessels lost to enemy action, 22 were torpedoed by U-boats, five were [[naval mine|mined]] and four were sunk by aircraft. The Flower-class corvettes are credited with participating in the sinking of 47 German and four Italian submarines. Construction of the Flower-class was superseded toward the end of the war as larger shipyards concentrated on {{sclass2|River|frigate}}s and smaller yards on the improved {{sclass2|Castle|corvette|2}} design. The Flower class represented fully half of all Allied convoy escort vessels in the North Atlantic during World War II.