05061 H.M.C.S. Snowberry

The Flower Class corvettes will always be associated with the Battle of the North Atlantic, even thought they were also used in all theatres of war in World War II. Alongside other escort ships she bore the main burden of the battle against the German submarines. The escort ships of this class were derived from the collaboration between the British Admiralty and the Smiths Dock Company, which in 1938 had a successful design for a commercial whaler called the Southern Pride. The main feature of this original design was that in accordance with merchant shipping practice it could easily be built in many small British dockyards and its basic engines could be handled by civilian dockyards. Sixty Flower Class corvettes had been ordered before war broke out and by the end of 1940 at total of 141 of the original design had been ordered. The first vessel (launched on 24.1.1940) was completed in 5 Months, the subsequent ones at a rate of one every twenty three days. Once it had been decided that corvettes were no longer to be used as coastal escort ship, but on the high seas, some modifications had to be made. Later these vessels were given a different hull with extended forecastle that improved their thrust and overhang to protect them against the Atlantic seas. In the course of the war the corvettes were equipped, among other things, with radar, more and more powerful anti-aircraft weapon. Total build: 256, Displacement: 940 tons, capacity: 2750 shp, speed: 16 knots, crew: 47 men Colors: 5 9 45 47 56 57 75 78 79 89 95

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