HMS Polyanthus as a Q-ship during World War I | |
Class overview | |
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Name | Aubrietia class |
Operators | Royal Navy |
Preceded by | Arabis class |
Succeeded by | Anchusa class |
Built | 1916 |
In commission | 1916–1932 |
Completed | 12 |
Lost | 3 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Convoy escort Q-Ship: ("Warship-Q") |
Displacement | 1,250 tons |
Length | |
Beam | 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) |
Draught | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | Designed to make 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) at 2,500 ihp (1,900 kW), but actually can only make 15-16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) with this power and require 3,000 ihp (2,200 kW). for 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h). |
Range | 205 tons of coal |
Complement | 80 men |
Armament |
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The Aubrietia-class sloops were a class of twelve sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as part of the larger Flower class. They were also referred to as the "cabbage class", or "herbaceous borders". The Flowers were the first ships designed as minesweepers.
Like all the Flowers, the Aubrietia class were originally designed as single-screw fleet sweeping vessels, with triple hulls at the bows and an above-water magazine located aft, to give extra protection against loss from mine damage when working. However, the utility of the design was found to be as a convoy escort, and as such other classes took over the minesweeping role. The Aubrietias were re-classified as convoy sloops.
Unlike the preceding Flowers of the Acacia, Azalea and Arabis classes, with their unmistakable warship appearance, the Aubrietias were designed to look like small merchantmen, in the hope of deceiving U-boat commanders, a tactic known as the Q-ship. These vessels were built by commercial shipbuilders to Lloyd's Register standards, to make use of vacant capacity, and the individual builders were asked to use their existing designs for merchantmen, based on the standard Flower-type hull.
Two members of the following Anchusa group, HMS Chrysanthemum and HMS Saxifrage (renamed HMS President in 1922), survived to be moored on the River Thames for use as Drill Ships by the RNVR until 1988, a total of seventy years in RN service. President was sold in 1988 and preserved, and is now one of the last three surviving warships of the Royal Navy built during the First World War, (along with the 1914 light cruiser HMS Caroline in Belfast, and the 1915 monitor HMS M33 in Portsmouth dockyard).
Six ships were ordered in January 1916:
A further six ships were ordered in December 1916:
HMAS Geranium was an Arabis-class sloop built in Scotland and launched in 1915. The ship was operated by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper from 1915 until 1919, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) for use as a survey ship between 1919 and 1927. The ship was decommissioned in 1927 and scrapped during 1932, with the remains scuttled in 1935.
The C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in seven groups known as the Caroline class, the Calliope class, the Cambrian class, the Centaur class, the Caledon class, the Ceres class and the Carlisle class. They were built for the rough conditions of the North Sea, and proved to be rugged and capable vessels, despite being somewhat small and cramped.
The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th of fourteen War Emergency Programmes during the First World War and generally treated as one class. For their time they were among the most powerful and advanced ships of their type in the world, and set the trend for future British designs.
The twenty-eight Anchusa-class sloops were built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as the final part of the larger "Flower class", which were also referred to as the "Cabbage class", or "Herbaceous Borders".
HMS President is a retired Flower-class Q-ship that was launched in 1918. She was renamed HMS President in 1922 and moored permanently on the Thames as a Royal Navy Reserve drill ship. In 1982 she was sold to private owners and, having changed hands twice, served as a venue for conferences and functions as well as the offices for a number of media companies. She has been moved to Chatham on the Medway in Kent since 2016, but is due to return to the capital. She had the suffix "(1918)" added to her name in order to distinguish her from HMS President, the Royal Naval Reserve base in St Katharine Docks. She is one of the last three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War. She is also the sole representative of the first type of purpose built anti-submarine vessels, and is the ancestor of World War II convoy escort sloops, which evolved into modern anti-submarine frigates.
Lobnitz & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company located at Renfrew on the River Clyde, west of the Renfrew Ferry crossing and east of the confluence with the River Cart. The Lobnitz family lived at Chapeltoun House in East Ayrshire. The company built dredgers, floating docks, fishing boats, tugboats and workboats.
The Thornycroft type leader or Shakespeare class were a class of five destroyer leaders designed by John I. Thornycroft & Company and built by them at Woolston, Southampton for the Royal Navy towards the end of World War I. They were named after historical naval leaders. Only Shakespeare and Spenser were completed in time for wartime service. The other three were completed after the war, Broke and Keppel after being towed to Royal dockyards for completion, and two further ships - Saunders and Spragge - were cancelled. The function of a leader was to carry the flag staff of a destroyer flotilla, therefore they were enlarged to carry additional crew, offices and signalling equipment, allowing a fifth gun to be carried. These ships were very similar to the Admiralty type leader, but had Thornycroft design characteristics, the most noticeable being the broad, slab-sided funnels.
The Blyth Shipbuilding & Dry Docks Company Ltd. was a British shipyard located in Blyth, Northumberland, England.
The Kingfisher class was a class of nine patrol sloops of the British Royal Navy built in three groups of three each during the 1930s, that saw service during World War II, mainly on East Coast convoys in the North Sea.
The Flower class comprised five sub-classes of sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy during World War I, all of which were named after various flowers. They were popularly known as the "herbaceous borders", in humorous reference to a well-known adage about the Royal Navy, as well as to a type of garden arrangement popular in the United Kingdom.
The Arabis class was the third, and largest, of the five sub-classes of minesweeping sloops completed under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I. They were part of the larger "Flower class" shipbuilding project, which were also referred to as the "Cabbage class", or "Herbaceous Borders". The ships were also used outside their minesweeping duties as patrol vessels, tugs, and personnel and cargo transports.
The Azalea class of twelve minesweeping sloops were built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as part of the larger Flower class, which were also referred to as the Cabbage class, or "Herbaceous Borders". The third batch of twelve ships to be ordered in May 1915, they differed from the preceding Acacia class only in mounting a heavier armament. One ship, converted to a Q-ship was lost during the war, another during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919. With the exception of two others, the rest were scrapped. One entered mercantile service, while the other was transferred to the Belgian Navy. Both were captured by the Germans during World War II and put into German service. One was lost with the final ship being scrapped in 1952
The Acacia class was a class of twenty-four sloops that were ordered in January 1915 under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as part of the larger Flower class which were also referred to as the "Cabbage class", or "Herbaceous Borders". They were ordered in two batches, twelve ships on 1 January and another twelve on 12 January, and all were launched within about four or five months, and delivered between May and September 1915. They were used almost entirely for minesweeping until 1917, when they were transferred to escort duty.
The 24 class was a class of minesweeping sloops. They were derived from the preceding Flower-class sloop, but designed to appear double-ended. Twenty-four ships to this design were ordered between December 1916 and April 1917 under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I, although two of them were cancelled before launch. All were named after famous racehorses, but they were not named Racehorse class as the Admiralty realised that this could easily be confused in communications with the Racecourse class of paddle minesweepers, and they officially became the 24 class.
HMS Snowdrop was an Azalea-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the First World War. Snowdrop survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1923.
HMS Aubrietia (K96) was a Flower-class corvette built for the Royal Navy (RN) from 1941-1946. She was active as a convoy escort in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In May 1941, Aubrietia sighted and depth charged the German submarine U-110, leading to its capture and the seizure of a German Naval Enigma and its Kurzsignale code book.
HMS Aubrietia was one of 12 Aubrietia-class sloops completed for the Royal Navy and was launched in 1916. During World War I, she functioned as a Q-Ship and served under the name Q.13, also taking the names Kai, Winton and Zebal. Aubrietia was part of the 1st Sloop flotilla, based in Queenstown and subsequently, the 3rd Sloop Flotilla in the North Sea.
HMS Gentian was an Arabis-class sloop that was sent to assist the Baltic States and their fight for independence. While clearing mines on 15 or 16 July 1919, according to different sources, Gentian and the sloop HMS Myrtle both hit mines and sank with the loss of nine sailors.
HMS Myrtle was an Azalea-class sloop that was part of a Royal Navy squadron that was sent to assist the Baltic States and their fight for independence. While clearing naval mines on 16 July 1919 both Myrtle and HMS Gentian hit mines and sank. The two blasts killed nine sailors.