HMS Dianthus was a of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 9 July 1940 from the Leith Docks on the Firth of Forth and named after the genus of flowering plants including Carnation, Pink, and Sweet William. The ship escorted trade convoys between Newfoundland and the Western Approaches through the Battle of the Atlantic wolf pack attacks of the winter of 1942–43.

Background

Flower-class corvettes like Dianthus serving with the Royal Navy during World War II were different to earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes.Ossian, Robert,"Complete List of Sailing Vessels", www.thepirateking.com, Retrieved 13 April 2011.Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 11, pp.1137–1142.Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II, New Jersey: Random House, 1996, , page 68. The "corvette" designation was created by the French in the 19th century as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877.Blake, Nicholas and Lawrence, Richard, The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy, Stackpole Books, 2005, pp 39–63. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design.Chesneau, Roger and Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, US Naval Institute Press (June 1980), p. 62 The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

War duty

Dianthus spent 1941 escorting trade convoys through coastal waters and the Western Approaches to the United Kingdom until assigned to Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) group C1. Dianthus rammed and sank U-379 while defending convoy SC 94. During this attack, due to its duration and distance from land, Dianthus ran out of conventional fuel, and had to improvise: amalgamating cooking oil, medical oils etc to make up the shortfall to return to port.Leith-Built Ships in War service ECL YHE 56567

Dianthus was assigned to MOEF group A3 after yard overhaul to repair damage from the ramming. With group A3, she participated in the battles of convoys ON 145, ON 166, SC 121 and HX 233. When group A3 disbanded, Dianthus was assigned to MOEF group C5 until another yard overhaul in August 1943. Dianthus completed refit in November and escorted four more trans-Atlantic convoys in two round trips before being returned to European coastal escort work for the remainder of the war. The ship was decommissioned and sold for civilian use following the end of hostilities, becoming the Norwegian buoy tender Thorslep, and was later used for whaling before being scrapped in 1969.

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted ConvoyEscort GroupDatesNotesSC 773–12 April 194251 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 8822 April-3 May 194246 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 189MOEF group C113–20 May 194220 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 100MOEF group C13–14 June 1942Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 3 ships torpedoed & sunkHX 195MOEF group C124 June-2 July 194230 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 112MOEF group C114–25 July 194236 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 94MOEF group C12–8 Aug 1942Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 10 ships torpedoed & sunkON 145MOEF group A310–20 Nov 1942Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 3 ships torpedoed (1 sank)SC 111MOEF group A31–14 Dec 194220 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 156MOEF group A324 Dec 1942-8 Jan 194319 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 223MOEF group A319–28 Jan 194348 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandSC 117temporary reinforcement31 Jan-1 Feb 1943no ships lostON 166MOEF group A312–25 Feb 1943Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 12 ships torpedoed (11 sank)SC 121MOEF group A33–12 March 1943Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 7 ships torpedoed & sunkON 175MOEF group A325 March-8 April 194336 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 233MOEF group A312–20 April 1943Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 1 ship torpedoed & sunkON 182MOEF group C57–16 May 194356 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 240MOEF group C525 May-3 June 194356 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 18811–20 June 194356 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 24529 June-5 July 194384 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 19317–25 July 194380 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 2505–11 Aug 194375 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland

See also Wolf pack

Notes and references

Notes

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