In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term sloop-of-war encompassed all the unrated combat vessels, including the very small gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fireships were classed as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the sloop role when not carrying out their specialised functions.
HMS Gladiolus was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy, the first ship of her class.
HMS Bryony was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and Royal Norwegian Navy.
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.
Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Arabis, after the flower, the Arabis.
HMS Arabis was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. The ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Arabis. She was transferred to the United States Navy in 1942, serving as USS Saucy. Returned to the United Kingdom in 1945, she was recommissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Snapdragon.
Two vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Spiraea after the shrub:
HMS Vervain was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.
HMS Jonquil was a Flower-class corvette of the British Royal Navy. The corvette, named after the flower genus Jonquil, served in the Second World War.
HMS Polyanthus was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 30 November 1940 from Leith Docks on the Firth of Forth, at an estimated cost of £55,000. Polyanthus was sunk by the German submarine U-952 using new German weapons technology on 20 September 1943 about 1,000 miles southwest of Reykjavík during convoy escort duty in the Battle of the North Atlantic.
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 Loosestrife (K105) was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy which sailed with the North Atlantic convoys of the Second World War.
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.
HMS Alisma was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy.
HMS Dianella was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.
HMS Poppy was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy as a convoy escort during World War II.
United Kingdom
