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Flower Class (1915) Sloop |
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Flower Class Sloop was introduced during WW1 as a specialist counter
to the threats to merchant vessels from mines and submarines.
Before the Flower Class Sloops, trawlers were requisitioned and used as makeshift minesweepers and patrol vessels. But a vessel with more speed and shallower draught was needed. The precise specifications fell into three categories The Flowers began as minesweepers but soon gravitated to ocean escort. Their place as minesweepers being taken by the more specialised Hunt Class Minesweepers. The Flowers were at sea in large numbers by the end of WW1 but due to post war economies their numbers quickly reduced. Nevertheless five were still available at the outbreak of WW2. Despite the rundown in numbers the Sloop as a type of vessel had been firmly established, and low level development continued from the mid-1920's. In 1937 the term Sloop was officially dropped and replaced with the term Escort. But it still remained in unofficial use, ending when the Frigate classification was introduced late in WW2.
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- Class Ship Outside Links - References |
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This page last edited -
15 Juni, 2011.
Copyright © Ian M King, except where otherwise indicated. |
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