HMS 'SPIRAEA' - KORWETA KLASY FLOWER (K08)

Download Mirage Hobby PDF catalogueHMS Spiraea (K08) was a British corvette from the Second World War. The keel for this unit was laid in May 1940, the launch took place in October of the same year, and entry into service took place in 1941. The total length of the ship was 62 meters and 10 meters wide. Full displacement reached approx. 950 tons, and maximum speed - approx. 16 knots. The ship's armament included: a single 102 mm cannon, two 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns, two depth charge dumps and two depth charge launchers. HMS Spiraea (K08) was one of the Flower class gunboats. The ships of this type were designed as units intended primarily for the protection of Allied Atlantic convoys, and their main task was ZOP (anti-submarine combat) activities. Their design was simplified as much as possible, as it was to be suitable for mass production of units even in small shipyards, without adequate experience. Units of this type had an archaic, for the years of World War II, but simple to build, a power plant based on a reciprocating steam engine, and not - which was rather standard then - a steam turbine. During the war, units of this type were modernized - mainly by adding new hydroacoustic devices. One of the ships of this class was just HMS Spiraea (K08), which was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The unit, very soon after entering service, was sent to cover the Atlantic convoys. In 1942, it underwent modernization, which involved, among others: installing a new radar, strengthening anti-aircraft weapons or increasing the supply of depth charges. In 1943, HMS Spiraea took part in the lifting of the survivors of three sunken Allied merchant ships from the water. Until the end of the war, the unit served in the Atlantic. In 1945, she was sold to Greece, where she served as Thessaloniki as a merchant ship.