HMS Hyacinth (K84)

Last updated

HMS Hyacinth (K84).jpg
Apostolis in 1943, just after transfer to the Greek navy
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Hyacinth
Builder Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Yard number1071 [1]
Laid down20 April 1940
Launched19 August 1940
Completed3 October 1940 [1]
Commissioned2 October 1940
Out of serviceTransferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy on 24 October 1943
RenamedApostolis on transfer
FateScrapped in 1952
Naval Ensign of Kingdom of Greece.svg Kingdom of Greece
NameApostolis
Acquired1943
Out of service1952
FateReturned to the Royal Navy in 1952
General characteristics
Class and type Flower-class corvette
Displacement925 long tons (940 t)
Length205 ft (62 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draught11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h) at 2,750 hp (2,050 kW)
Range3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement85
Armament

HMS Hyacinth was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War and achieved three victories over enemy submarines in a highly successful career. Only Sunflower managed to repeat such success among her sister ships. She went on to serve in the Royal Hellenic Navy as RHNS Apostolis (Greek : ΒΠ Αποστόλης), was returned to the Royal Navy in 1952 and scrapped in the same year.

Contents

Royal Navy

During the Second World War Hyacinth served in the Eastern Mediterranean where she protected the Palestine coastline and escorted numerous convoys along it. She also took part in the Malta convoys. She was a part of the 10th Corvette Group of the Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria together with her sister ships Peony and Salvia.

Since Hyacinth spent most of her time in the Mediterranean, without access to British shipyards, she was not retrofitted as many of her class were, and so retained her short forecastle. Another of her distinctive features was a 3-inch gun instead of the usual 4-inch. [2]

Anti-submarine successes

On 28 September 1941, Hyacinth attacked and sank the Italian submarine Fisalia north-west of the port of Jaffa, at 32º19'N, 34º17'E, just off the beach at Tel Aviv.

On 9 July 1942, while escorting a convoy from Jaffa to Beirut Hyacinth attacked, damaged and captured the Italian submarine Perla. The submarine was towed into port, repaired and put into operation with the Hellenic Navy under the name Matrosos (Greek: Ματρώζος) in 1943.

On 12 September 1943, after Italy had capitulated, Hyacinth and the Australian minesweeper Wollongong sank the German submarine U-617, after the submarine had been damaged in an attack by Wellington and Swordfish aircraft.

Royal Hellenic Navy

In 1943, Hyacinth was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy, and was renamed Apostolis (Αποστόλης), from Nikolis Apostolis, an admiral of the Greek War of Independence, and served the remainder of the Second World War under the Greek flag.

Related Research Articles

Flower-class corvette World War II British corvette class

The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers.

HMS <i>Bluebell</i> (K80) Flower-class corvette

HMS Bluebell was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy in World War II. Ordered from Fleming & Ferguson of Paisley, Scotland on 27 July 1939, she was launched on 24 April 1940 and commissioned in July 1940. She served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic campaigns, escorting several convoys to Russia, and also took part in the invasions of Sicily and France. She was torpedoed and sunk by U-711 in the Kola Inlet on 17 February 1945 while escorting the convoy RA 64 from Murmansk. Only one member of her crew survived.

USS <i>Thomas</i> (DD-182) Wickes-class destroyer

The first USS Thomas (DD–182) was a Wickes-class destroyer of the United States Navy that entered service just after World War I.

HMS <i>Hursley</i> (L84) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Hursley was a Second World War Type II Hunt-class escort destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is the only Royal Navy ship to have carried this name. Hursley is a village in Hampshire. Commissioned in 1942, she served in the Mediterranean, before being transferred to the Hellenic Navy in November 1943 and renamed Kriti. She took part in the landings in Sicily, Anzio, and southern France, and remained in Greek service until 1959.

Greek destroyer <i>Adrias</i> (L67)

Adrias was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer that was originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Border but never commissioned. Before her completion, she was loaned to the Royal Hellenic Navy on 20 July 1942 and commissioned as Adrias on 5 August 1942 in order to relieve heavy losses of ships sustained by the Royal Hellenic Navy during the German invasion of 1941 and throughout the war. Adrias took her name from the ancient Greek town of Adria in Italy, at the mouth of the Po river, after which the Adriatic Sea is named.

Greek destroyer <i>Vasilissa Olga</i> Greek G and H-class destroyer

Vasilissa Olga was the second and last destroyer of her class built for the Royal Hellenic Navy in Great Britain before the Second World War. She participated in the Greco-Italian War in 1940–1941, escorting convoys and unsuccessfully attacking Italian shipping in the Adriatic Sea. After the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, the ship escorted convoys between Egypt and Greece until she evacuated part of the government to Crete later that month and then to Egypt in May. After the Greek surrender on 1 June, Vasilissa Olga served with British forces for the rest of her career.

HMS La Malouine was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy, serving during the Second World War. Originally ordered by the French Navy under the same name, following the fall of France, the ship was seized by the United Kingdom and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940. The corvette remained in service until being broken up in 1947.

HMS <i>Peony</i> (K40) Flower-class corvette

HMS Peony was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. In 1943 she was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy as RHNS Sachtouris, serving throughout World War II and the Greek Civil War. She was returned to the Royal Navy in 1951 and scrapped in April 1952.

HMS <i>Avon Vale</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Avon Vale(pennant number L06) was an escort destroyer of the Hunt Type II class. The Royal Navy ordered Avon Vale's construction three days after the outbreak of the Second World War. John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd laid down her keel at their Clydebank yard on 12 February 1940, as Admiralty Job Number J1569. After a successful Warship Week national savings campaign in February 1942, Avon Vale was adopted by the civil community of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

HMS <i>Vetch</i> (K132) Flower-class corvette

HMS Vetch (K132) was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. After helping to escort many convoys and sinking two U-boats, she was decommissioned and sold in 1945.

HMS <i>Exmoor</i> (L08) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The second HMS Exmoor (L08), ex-HMS Burton, was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy in commission from 1941 to 1945. She was a member of the second subgroup of the class, and saw service during much of World War II. She later served in the Royal Danish Navy as HDMS Valdemar Sejr.

HMS <i>Salvia</i> (K97) Flower-class corvette

HMS Salvia (K97) was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on the eve of the Second World War and entered service in September 1940. She rescued many survivors from the prison ship SS Shuntien when it was sunk on 23 December 1941. A few hours later, on Christmas Eve 1941, Salvia too was torpedoed. The corvette sank with all hands, and all of the survivors that she had rescued from Shuntien were also lost.

HMS Coreopsis was a Flower-class corvette, built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War which served in the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1943, she was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy as RHNS Kriezis and participated in the 1944 Invasion of Normandy. Shortly before she was scrapped, she took part in the British war film, The Cruel Sea.

At least two ships of the Hellenic Navy have borne the name Apostolis after Greek naval hero Nikolis Apostolis:

HMS <i>Delphinium</i> (K77) Flower-class corvette

HMS Delphinium (K77) was a Flower-class corvette built for the Royal Navy (RN) from 1940-1946. From 1941 to 1943 she was active in the Mediterranean as an escort to convoys supporting the Eighth Army and the invasion of Sicily. From mid-1943 onwards she was on convoy escort duties between Africa, the Mediterranean and the United Kingdom; and Atlantic convoys between North America and the United Kingdom. She escorted a total of 68 convoys.

HMS <i>Alisma</i> (K185) Flower-class corvette

HMS Alisma was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy.

HMS <i>Sunflower</i> (K41) Flower-class corvette

HMS Sunflower was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.

HMS <i>Dianella</i> Royal Navy World War II Flower-class corvette

HMS Dianella was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.

HMS Tweed (K250) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). Tweed was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River-class frigate, though Tweed was one of the few powered by a turbine engine. She served in the North Atlantic during World War II.

World War II was the first war where naval aviation took a major part in the hostilities. Aircraft carriers were used from the start of the war in Europe looking for German merchant raiders and escorting convoys. Offensive operations began with the Norwegian campaign where British carriers supported the fighting on land.

References

  1. 1 2 McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 148. ISBN   9780752488615.
  2. ↑ see A. V. Dashyan.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.