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HMS Dianthus, Flower Class Corvette

"Andrew Ayling sends us his first contribution with this fine example of the HMS Dianthus, in this MSW Photo Feature!"

Vessel History

During WW2 (World War Two), there was a need to protect (unarmed) merchantmen carrying goods between North America and Great Britain. These merchantmen sailed from one side of the North Atlantic to the other in convoy formation.

The main type of naval vessel used to escort, and defend these convoys was the CORVETTE. This was designed as a small fast escort ship. Other craft were sometimes used: slower and smaller naval frigates; naval mine sweepers; and armed tugs, trawlers and merchantmen. The convoys were usually protected by 2-3 corvettes and led by a destroyer or small frigate(s).

Originally designed as only a coastal escort, the Corvettes eventually became deployed right across the Atlantic. The Flower Class corvettes made their name by helping to get the strategic convoys through. To do this they had to do battle against severe weather and more and more enemy U-boats.

The Flowers were very seaworthy, being able to stay out and hunt for submarines in storms long after the destroyers had to turn for home. However, they was not able to survive much battle damage. Once hit, the compartments below the waterline filled within seconds and caused the ship to sink rapidly - often in under 10 minutes. 32 Flowers were sunk during the war, mostly by torpedoes.

Why call it the 'Flower' Class?... The ‘Ships Names Committee’ decided to re-use names of warships that had operated during WW1 - specifically those belonging to the then HERBACEOUS BORDER class of escorts. But this time, the committee created the term ‘FLOWER’ to identify the class. An advantage of using the names of flowers was to avoid confusion, as they bore no resemblance to existing names in use at that time within the Royal Naval fleet. This policy also made it easy find names for new ships.

Flowers were used by other allied navies as well as our own Royal Navy. They sank nearly 50 U-boats and a few Italian submarines. After the War, the Royal Navy no longer needed Flowers. Many were worn out. Some were scrapped, others sold. Four became the first British weather ships.

HMS Sackville - the only surviving Flower - has now been fully restored to her wartime appearance. She serves as a floating museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (N.B. Dianthus spent a lot of time escorting conveys between that city and Liverpool).

The Model...

Model base kit is from Iron Shipwrights, full resin, modified to represent a "standard" Royal Navy Flower class vessel.

The the main changes made were to the aft of the deckhouse, the area around the funnel, and the creation of a galley behind and below the bridge.

Also added was a large amount of after-market and scratchbuilt details, including scratchbuilt DC throwers, hedge-hog mounting, and Lewis guns. Photo-etch and paint is from White Ensign Models.