HMS ''Peony'' was a 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 ...

. In 1943 she was transferred to the

Royal Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; el, Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, War Navy, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of ...

as RHNS ''Sachtouris'' ( el, ΒΠ Σαχτούρης), serving throughout World War II and the Greek Civil War. She was returned to the Royal Navy in 1951 and scrapped in April 1952.

Royal Navy

Throughout her Royal Navy career ''Peony'' escorted

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s: primarily in home waters, but sometimes in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and to

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. From late 1940 to early 1941 she was part of the 10th Corvette Group, Mediterranean Fleet based at Alexandria Port, Alexandria, with which she escorted numerous convoys to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. In February 1941 she was equipped for

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

as not enough minesweepers were available. In July 1941 she helped to transport troops to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. She undertook anti-submarine operations off Cyprus in the following months. Along with the Australian destroyer , three corvettes and two anti-submarine aircraft she attacked a

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

on 8 October 1941, but the U-boat escaped. In December 1941 while escorting Mediterranean convoy AT-6 from Alexandria to

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

, the torpedoed the Polish steamer ''Warszawa'' and attacked ''Peony''. ''Peony'' took ''Warszawa'' in tow until another torpedo from the U-boat sank the steamship with the loss of 23 men. ''Peony'' and rescued the survivors. In the small hours of 24 December 1941 torpedoed and sank a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, , about west of Alexandria. ''Salvia'' was carrying not only her own complement but also about 100 survivors from , which had sunk a few hours earlier. ''Peony'' went to ''Salvia''s rescue but found no survivors: only a patch of oil.

Royal Hellenic Navy

In 1943 ''Peony'' was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy, which renamed her as the "Royal Ship ''Sachtouris''" (ΒΠ Σαχτούρης) after

Georgios Sachtouris Georgios Sachtouris ( el, Γεώργιος Σαχτούρης, 1783–1841) was a Hydra Island, Hydriot ship captain and a leading admiral of the Greek War of Independence. Sachtouris was born in Hydra (island), Hydra in 1796 to a family of Arvan ...

, an admiral in the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. She was the second of three ships to bear this name, the first being a gunboat built in 1834 in Greece, and the third being the . She served the remainder of the Second World War under the

Greek flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the "blue and white one" ( el, Γαλανόλευκη, ) or the "sky blue and white" (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has nine equal horizontal strip ...

. She also served in the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

that broke out after the end of the Second World War. In 1947 the United States in what became known as the

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was ...

declared its support the Greek government in its war against Communist guerrillas. In the early 1950s the

Mutual Defense Assistance Act The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...

started the transfer of American ships to Greece. Four s entered Greek service and so the old British Flower-class corvettes were superseded.

Fate

''Sachtouris'' was returned to the

in September 1951 and scrapped on 21 April 1952.

Notes

References

Sources

*
naval-history.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peony, HMS Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy Flower-class corvettes of the Hellenic Navy World War II corvettes of the United Kingdom 1940 ships Ships built in Belfast Ships built by Harland and Wolff Corvettes of the Cold War