HMS Rhododendron (K78)

HMS Rhododendron during refueling trials at sea
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Rhododendron
Ordered: 19 September 1939
Builder: Harland and Wolff Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland
Laid down: 22 May 1940
Launched: 2 September 1940
Commissioned: 18 October 1940
Out of service: 17 May 1947 – placed in reserve
Identification: Pennant number: K78
Fate: sold 1950; scrapped 1968
General characteristics
Class and type: Flower-class corvette (original)
Displacement: 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length: 205 ft (62.48 m)o/a
Beam: 33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught: 11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion:
  • single shaft
  • 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
  • 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
  • 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement: 85
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 × SW1C or 2C radar
  • 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:
  • 1 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk.IX single gun
  • 2 x double Lewis machine gun
  • 2 × twin Vickers machine gun
  • 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers
  • 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges
  • initially with minesweeper equipment, later removed

HMS Rhododendron was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She served as an ocean escort in the Battle of the Atlantic.[1][2]

Background

The ship was ordered on 19 September 1939 from Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The ship's keel was laid on 22 May 1940,[3] and the ship was launched on 2 September. The ship was commissioned about one month later, on 18 October.[4]

War Service

On 21 November 1940, Rhododendron attacked the German U-Boat U-103 with depth charges. Although U-103 escaped unscathed, this attack led to the incorrect claim that Rhododendron had sunk U-104. That same day, she picked up 36 survivors from the merchant ship Daydawn, which earlier that day had been sank by U-103. On 17 January 17, 1941, she detonated a mine in Liverpool harbor. This resulted in her being out of service for three months. On 28 July 1941, she picked up 26 survivors from the Lapland, a merchant which was torpedoed by U-203. On 4 July 1943, she picked up more than 300 survivors from several merchant ships which were torpedoed by German submarines U-409 and U-375 off of Algeria.

Fate

She was sold in 1950 to a shipping company, where she was turned into the merchant Maj Finke. She was sold for demolition in South Africa in 1968.

Sources

  • Gardiner, Robert (1987). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Preston, Antony; Raven, Alan (1982). Flower Class Corvettes. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-559-2.
  • Lynch, John (2012). Belfast Built Ships. Stroud, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-075246-539-5.
  • Friedman, Norman (2008). British Destroyers & Frigates - The Second World War and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4.

References

  1. ↑ "HMS Rhododendron, British corvette, WW2". www.naval-history.net. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  2. ↑ "HMS Rhododendron (K 78) of the Royal Navy - British Corvette of the Flower class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  3. ↑ Lynch, p. 98
  4. ↑ Friedman, p. 340
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