A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The use of Q-ships contributed to the abandonment of cruiser rules restricting attacks on unarmed merchant ships and to the shift to unrestricted submarine warfare in the 20th century.
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. The campaign peaked from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943.
The Bathurst-class corvettes were a class of general purpose vessels designed and built in Australia during World War II. Originally classified as minesweepers, but widely referred to as corvettes, the Bathurst-class vessels fulfilled a broad anti-submarine, anti-mine, and convoy escort role.
The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers, hence the name of the class.
The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw service in World War II. Originally conceived during design studies for a light fleet cruiser, the Tribals evolved into fast, powerful destroyers, with greater emphasis on guns over torpedoes than previous destroyers, in response to new designs by Japan, Italy, and Germany. The Tribals were well admired by their crews and the public when they were in service due to their power, often becoming symbols of prestige while in service.
HMS Ashanti was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Following the style of her sister ships she was named for an ethnic group, in this case the Ashanti people of the Gold Coast in West Africa. She served in the Second World War and was broken up in 1949. She was the first of two Royal Navy ships to bear the name Ashanti.
The first USS McCook (DD-252) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Entering service in 1919, the ship had a brief active life before being placed in the reserve fleet. Reactivated for World War II, the ship was transferred to the Royal Navy and then to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS St. Croix. Assigned as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic, St. Croix was torpedoed and sunk on 20 September 1943.
The Attacker class were a class of escort aircraft carriers in service with the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMCS Alberni was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War. The Flower-class corvettes were warships designed for anti-submarine warfare. The ship was constructed by Yarrows Ltd. in Esquimalt, British Columbia, laid down on 19 April 1940, launched on 22 August and commissioned on 4 February 1941. The corvette sailed east to join the RCN's fleet in the Atlantic via the Panama Canal, where upon arrival, the vessel began escorting trans-atlantic convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic. Arvida took part in the key convoy battle of Convoy SC 42. In 1942, the corvette was transferred to Allied convoy assignments associated with Operation Torch in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1944, Arvida was among the Canadian naval vessels assigned to Operation Neptune, the naval component of the invasion of Normandy and escorted support ships to and from the United Kingdom on D-day.
HMS Nairana was the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Nairana-class escort carriers that saw service in the Second World War. She was built at John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland. When construction started in 1941 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.
HMAS Gladstone (J324/M324), named for the city of Gladstone, Queensland, was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 that were initially manned and commissioned solely by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by Walkers Limited, the ship was commissioned in 1943.
Defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) was an Admiralty Trade Division programme established in June 1939, to arm 5,500 British merchant ships with an adequate defence against enemy submarines and aircraft. The acronym DEMS was used to describe the ships carrying the guns, the guns aboard the ships, the military personnel manning the guns, and the shore establishment supporting the system.
A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret.
HMS Mermaid was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Mermaid saw service as a convoy escort during the Second World War, taking part in the sinking of two German submarines while escorting Arctic convoys to and from the Soviet Union.
French Flower-class corvettes were those ships of the Flower class built for, or operated by, the French Navy and Free French Naval Forces in World War II. At the outbreak of the war, four anti-submarine warfare ships were ordered from a British shipyard, and a further 18 ships were later ordered from several British and French shipyards. Following the Fall of France in June 1940, the ships in Britain were taken over by the Royal Navy, while those in France fell into German hands. Eight other Flowers were later transferred to the Free French Naval Forces.
HMCS Algoma was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Named for the Algoma District of Ontario, it served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic. After the war it was sold to the Venezuelan Navy and renamed Constitución. Designed as a convoy escort, the vessel was laid down on 18 June 1940, launched on 17 December and commissioned on 11 July 1941. The ship took part in three major convoy battles and Operation Torch escort duties. Decommissioned in 1945, the vessel was sold to the Venezuelan Navy, which discarded the corvette in 1962.
HMCS Clayoquot was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action mainly in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was sunk in 1944. The minesweeper was named after Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
HMCS Chedabucto was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic. During the Battle of the St. Lawrence in 1943, Chedabucto was sunk in a collision with a cable ship.
HMS Deptford was a Grimsby-class sloop of the British Royal Navy. Built at Chatham Dockyard in the 1930s, Deptford was launched in 1935 and commissioned later that year. The ship saw early service on the Persian Gulf station, but the outbreak of the Second World War saw Deptford serving as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, sinking a German U-boat in 1941. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1948.
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