HMS Jonquil (K68)

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.

Underway in 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Jonquil
Ordered:	31 August 1939
Builder:	Fleming and Ferguson
Laid down:	27 December 1939
Commissioned:	20 October 1940
Decommissioned:	August 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K68
Fate:	Sold to Greece, renamed Lemnos
Greece
Name:	Lemnos
Renamed:	Olympic Rider (1951)
Fate:	Sank in 1955 after a collision.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette
Displacement:	925 long tons (940 t)
Length:	205 ft (62 m) o/a
Beam:	33 ft (10 m)
Draught:	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Propulsion:	1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers Single shaft 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed:	16 kn (30 km/h)
Range:	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement:	85
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:	1 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk.IX gun 2 × Vickers .50 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.II Depth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges

Laid down by the company Fleming and Ferguson on 27 December 1939 and launched on 9 July 1940, Jonquil entered service on 20 October and assumed convoy responsibilities the following month.[1] Her first deployment was as an escort for Convoy WS.5A, bound for the West African port of Freetown.[1]

Jonquil survived the war but was relegated to the reserve at Gibraltar from August 1945. Bought by Greece, the corvette was renamed Lemnos and was converted into a merchant vessel. Redesignated Olympic Rider in 1951, Jonquil sank after a collision with Olympic Cruiser in the Antarctic in 1955.[1]

Notes

1. • Mason, Geoffrey B (2005), Chronologies of War Service of Royal Navy Warships: HMS Jonquil - Flower-class Corvette, naval-history.net. Retrieved 22 July 2009.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Mason, Geoffrey B (2005), Chronologies of War Service of Royal Navy Warships: HMS Jonquil - Flower-class Corvette, naval-history.net. Retrieved 22 July 2009.