HMCS Mayflower (K191)

History
HMCS Mayflower, circa 1942.
United Kingdom
Name:	Mayflower
Namesake:	Maianthemum canadense
Ordered:	20 January 1940
Builder:	Canadian Vickers Ltd. Montreal, Quebec
Laid down:	20 February 1940
Launched:	3 July 1940
Commissioned:	28 November 1940
Out of service:	15 May 1941 - loaned to Canada
Identification:	Pennant number: K191
Fate:	Loaned to Canada 1941; returned 1945; scrapped 1949
Canada
Name:	Mayflower
Acquired:	loaned from Royal Navy
Commissioned:	15 May 1941
Out of service:	31 May 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K191
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1941-43; Normandy 1944; English Channel 1945
Fate:	Returned to the Royal Navy 31 May 1945
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 in (102 mm) Mk.IX single gun 2 × .50 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 × depth charge rails with 40 depth charges originally fitted with minesweeping gear, later removed

HMCS Mayflower was a Flower-class corvette that served mainly in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War but began her service with the Royal Navy. She saw action primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as an ocean escort. She was named after the flowering plant Maianthemum canadense.

Flower-class corvettes like Mayflower serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

Mayflower was ordered 20 January 1940 for the Royal Navy as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down on 20 February 1940 by Canadian Vickers Ltd. at Montreal and was launched on 3 July 1940. She was commissioned on 28 November 1940 and sailed to the United Kingdom in February 1941 for completion on the Tyne River in May. On the 15 May 1941 Mayflower was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.

During her career, Mayflower had three significant refits. The first took place at Charleston, South Carolina from 9 December 1941 until February 1942. Her second major refit took place from 29 October 1942 until 11 January 1943 at Pictou, Nova Scotia. Mayflower's final refit was done at Norfolk, Virginia from 29 November 1943 to 14 February 1944. During this refit, she had her fo'c'sle extended.

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Wikipedia