Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 25. Chapters: Castle class corvettes, Flower class corvettes of the Royal Navy, HMS Gladiolus, French corvette Aconit, HMS La Malouine, HMS Gentian, HMS Marigold, HMS Bluebell, HMS Hyacinth, SS Empire Comfort, HMCS St. Thomas, HMS Lotus, HMS Heartsease, HMS Peony, HMS Bryony, HMS Begonia, HMS Arabis, HMS Mallow, HMS Rising Castle, HMS Orchis, HMS Narcissus, HMS Samphire, HMS Milfoil, HMS Portchester Castle, HMS Camellia, HMS Rushen Castle, HMS Bergamot, HMS Vervain, HMS Amberley Castle, HMS Abelia, HMS Jonquil, Empire Shelter, HMS Pevensey Castle, HMS Hurst Castle, HMS Anchusa, HMS Alnwick Castle, HMS Azalea, HMS Picotee, HMS Kenilworth Castle, HMS Zinnia, HMS Tulip, HMS Denbigh Castle, HMS Launceston Castle, HMS Leeds Castle, HMS Spiraea, HMS Allington Castle, HMS Hollyhock, HMS Hedingham Castle, HMS Berkeley Castle, HMS Farnham Castle, HMS Caistor Castle, HMS Lancaster Castle, HMS Hadleigh Castle, HMS Flint Castle, HMS Carisbrooke Castle, HMS Bamborough Castle, HMS Bellwort, HMS Snowdrop, HMS Knaresborough Castle, HMS Oxford Castle, HMS Arbutus, HMS Heather, SS Empire Peacemaker, SS Empire Rest, HMS Cromer Castle. Excerpt: The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943. They were equipped with radar as well as asdic. The Admiralty had decided to cease Flower class construction in favour of the larger River-class frigates as the Flower class had originally been intended for coastal escort work and were not entirely satisfactory for Atlantic convoy service. In particular, they were slow, poorly armed, and rolled badly in rough seas which quickly exhausted their crews. However, many shipyards were not large enough to build frigates. The Castle class was designed to be built on small slipways for about half the overall effort of a Loch-class frigate. The Loch was a River built using the "American system" of prefabrication. Appearance was much like the later "long forecastle" variant of the Flowers and they were a little larger (around 1,200 tons - about 200 tons more than the Flowers, and 40 ft (12 m) longer). The most obvious difference was the lattice mainmast instead of the pole one fitted to the Flowers. There was also a more "square cut" look to the stern although it was still essentially a cruiser spoon type, this difference was only visible from abaft the beam. Armament was similar except that the depth charge fitment had been replaced by one for the Squid anti-submarine mortar. HMS Hadleigh Castle received the first production Squid mounting. Propulsion machinery was identical to the Flowers, and experienced officers felt that they were seriously under powered, having a tendency to turn into the wind despite everything the helmsman could do. The fact that Squid attacks required a fairly low speed (compared to depth charge attacks) only made matters worse. Most had been scrapped by the end of the 1950s, but a few survived a little longer as weather ships. However, the last was the Uruguayan Montevideo, originally HMS Rising Castle and scrapped in 1975. Most were operated b

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