Full Size Printed Plan Flower Class Corvette H.M.S. BLUEBELL Scale 1/72 Length 33 ¾” for R/C

listing is for Full Size Printed Plan and Article

Not a Kit or Material

Flower Class Corvette

H.M.S. BLUEBELL

FULL SIZE PLANS on a SHEET 40”x 24”

Note: These are scale drawings no building notes

Recommended for experience builders

Three Page Article

NOTE: No Building instructions

Scale 1/72

Length 33 ¾”

Beam 5 ½”

Suitable for Radio Control

‘‘FLOWER' class corvettes were the unsung heroines of the Second World War. They were the mainstay of countless convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic, the humble escorts which plodded across the oceans month after month without respite. They sank many U-boats and picked up survivors from many torpedoed merchantmen, but above all they ensured the safe arrival of thousands more, and thus made Allied victory certain.

The history of their design is a fascinating tale. In 1939, before War broke out, the Admiralty was well aware of the desperate shortage of convoy escorts; apart from regular warships the only vessels available in large numbers were trawlers, which were too slow. Then Smith's Dock, Co. Ltd., of Middlesbrough, produced a sketch design for a 'coastal sloop' based on their recent whale-catcher Southern Pride. The Admiralty realised that this design met most of their requirements, and steps were immediately taken to work out the details. The final result was thirty feet longer than the original whale-catcher, and although the machinery was the same, a 4-cylinder triple expansion engine, increased r.p.m. resulted in higher speed

In order to facilitate rapid building mercantile practice was adhered to wherever possible, and non-specialist builders were used to a great extent. The choice of reciprocating machinery was partly to speed production,

In a moment of misguided zeal the new coastal sloop type was christened the 'corvette' early in 1940, and the old 'Flower' class sloop names of the 1914-18 War were revived. The choice of names was most appropriate, but the term 'corvette' was not, as it really belonged to a vessel approximating to a light cruiser in size. There was no good reason why the ancient and honoured name of `sloop' should not have been retained for them, but to make matters worse, in the course of the War the Admiralty sanctioned the equally inappropriate term 'frigate' for the twin-screw escort sloops which followed the `Flowers'.

H.M.S. Bluebell was completed in 1940 and served until 1945. On 17 February, 1945 she was torpedoed and sunk by U.711 in the Barents Sea. Her sisters were Amaranthus, Campanula, Clover, Jonquil, Larkspur, Monkshood, Montbretia and Tamarisk.

PARTICULARS

Displacement : 925 tons (normal)

Dimensions: 203 feet (oa) x 33 feet x 14 feet 6 inches (mean)

Machinery: 1-shaft reciprocating, 2,750 h.p. = 16 knots; two oil-fired cylindrical boilers.

Complement: 85

Armament : (in 1942) 1 x 4-inch, 1 x 2-pdr A.A., 2 x 20-mm A.A., 4 x •303-inch machine guns, 1 x split Hedgehog A.T.W., 4 x depth-charge throwers.

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