Flower Class Sloops vs Flower Class Corvettes

[tigercat]

Which Flower class were better? and why didn't the Admiralty just update them and rebuild them for WW2 they were good sea boats versatile and faster than their newer namesakes. The one advantage the Corvettes had was range. Plus being the smaller boats I assume they would also be cheaper to build. How would New build Flower class Sloops have fared in WW2? They would have been easier to build than say new Black Swans with their turbines and lack of facilities for turbine blades.

Plus they were tough HMS Rosemary was damaged bu a U boat attack in WW1 and in 1942 was rammed by a transport Carrickfergus, the Free Polish destroyer Burza and the escort carrier Trumpeter - and surviving!



Sloop


Type: Minesweeper
Displacement: 1,250 tons
Length: 255 ft 3 in (77.80 m) p/p
267 ft 9 in (81.61 m) o/a
Beam: 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m)
Draught: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Propulsion: 1 × 4-cylinder triple expansion engine
2 × cylindrical boilers
1 screw
Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h)
Range: 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) with max. 260 tons of coal
Complement: 79 men
Armament: Typically 2 × 4 or 4.7 inch guns and 2 × 3 pdrs (47


Corvette

Displacement: 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length: 205 ft (62.5 m)o/a
Beam: 33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught: 11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion: 1939-1940 program


single shaft
2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
1940-1941 program


single shaft
2 × water tube boilers
1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)

Speed: 16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)

[raafif]

far as I know the Flower Class were WW2 ships not WW1.  The early few had long decks at the front & they took a lot of water -- soon they were modified with above-deck accomodation for the forward crew which apart from adding usable space, made them better green-sea ships.

Good operational-history books on the Flower Class Corvettes are "Walker RN" (biography) by Terence Robertson & "Escort" (auto-biography) by Cmdr D.A. Rayner -- Rayner commanded trawlers, ex-US WW1 destroyers, corvettes & new destroyers - jolly good read.