The American Flower-class corvettes were those ships of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

's built for, or operated by, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. These were ten ships of the original Flower class, known as the ''Temptress'' class in US service, and fifteen Modified Flowers, as the ''Action'' class. In US service they were classified as Patrol Gunboats (PG).

Construction history

In December 1941, after the US entry into World War II, the USN had a large building programme for

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) ships, but none nearing completion. To overcome this shortfall, the

agreed to transfer a number of ASW ships to the USN, including ten s. These ships had already been in commission and had seen action during the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

. These ships were classified as Patrol Gunboats, and numbered PG 62 to 71, and were referred to as the ''Temptress'' class, after the first ship to be recommissioned. The USN also placed orders for 15 more Flowers from Canadian shipyards. This was met by transferring a number of vessels on order for the RN to USN. These ships were of the Modified Flower type, a design which consolidated the various modifications developed in the course of building the original Flowers. In the event the USN only took charge of eight of these ships; the other seven were transferred back to the RN under

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

arrangements. The US ships were numbered PG 86 to 100 and were referred to as the ''Action'' class. The ''Temptress'' class were armed with a 4-inch gun forward, a /50 dual-purpose (DP) gun aft, two

20 mm 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. It is typically used to distinguish smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon). All 20 mm cartridges ha ...

anti-aircraft guns, two

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

racks, and four depth charge throwers. The ''Action'' class replaced the 4-inch gun with another 3-inch/50 cal. DP gun, and added a

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

anti-submarine mortar.Silverstone, Paul H.(1966): ''U.S. Warships of World War II''. Doubleday and Company, pg. 243-246

''Temptress'' class

The ten ships of the ''Temptress'' class were originally built for the Royal Navy and saw service there before transfer to the USN.

''Action'' class

The fifteen ships of the ''Action'' class were originally ordered for the Royal Navy but transferred before completion to the United States Navy. On completion eight entered service with the USN while the other seven were transferred back to the RN under

Lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

.Elliott p. 422

Served in USN

Transferred to RN

Notes

References

* *

External links

* * {{Commons category-inline, Action class gunboat Flower-class corvettes United Kingdom–United States military relations