HMS Spiraea (K08)

HMS Spiraea was a Flower-class corvette of the British Royal Navy. Named for a genus of shrub, Spiraea served in the Second World War as an escort.

HMS Spiraea, 25 April 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Spiraea
Ordered:	21 September 1939
Builder:	Harland and Wolff[1] (A&J Inglis)
Yard number:	1056[1]
Laid down:	31 May 1940
Launched:	31 October 1940
Completed:	27 February 1941[1]
Commissioned:	27 February 1941
Decommissioned:	1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K08
Fate:	Sold to Greece, renamed Thessaloniki
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette
Displacement:	925 long tons
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

The corvette was launched on 31 October 1940 at Glasgow, Scotland and entered nominal service on 27 February 1941. In 1943, she recovered the survivors of two separate sinkings (the merchant vessels Oporto and Fort Howe), of which the Fort Howe effort was in conjunction with HMS Alisma.

Fate

Spiraea was sold to Greece in August 1945 and became the Thessaloniki.

References

1. McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 148. ISBN 9780752488615.

• 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.
• Helgason Helgason (2009), HMS Spiraea (K 08): Corvette of the Flower class, uboat.net. Retrieved 23 July 2009.