Hibiscus was built at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, as part of the 1939 War Emergency building programme. She was laid down on 14 November 1939 and launched 6 April 1940. She was completed and entered service on 21 May 1940, being named for the Hibiscus flower. As built, Hibiscus had the short forecastle that was a feature of the early Flowers, and which adversely effected their habitability. She also had the merchant-style enclosed wheelhouse, and the foremast stepped ahead of the bridge, of the original design.
Service historyedit
Royal Navyedit
After working up, Hibiscus was assigned to the Western Approaches Escort Force for service as a convoy escort. In this role she was engaged in all the duties performed by escort ships; protecting convoys, searching for and attacking U-boats which attacked ships in convoy, and rescuing survivors. In two years service Hibiscus escorted 29 North Atlantic, 7 Gibraltar and 7 South Atlantic convoys,[2][3] assisting in the safe passage of over 1300 ships. She was involved in three major convoy battles: In October 1940 Hibiscus was part of the escort for HX 79, which was attacked by a U-boat pack, losing 12 ships sunk.[4] In November 1940 she was with OB 244, which saw 6 ships sunk and one U-boat destroyed.[5] In September 1941 she was with HG 73, which lost nine merchant and one warship sunk.[6]
US Navyedit
Following the entry of the United States into the war the US Navy was in need of anti-submarine warfare vessels, and to meet this need a number of ships were transferred from the Royal Navy as part of a reverse Lend-Lease arrangement.[7]Hibiscus was commissioned into the USN on 2 May 1942 as USS Spry. After an overhaul Spry was employed as escort on convoy routes in the Caribbean, and between Trinidad and Recife, Brazil. In 1944 she was reassigned to escort duty and weather reporting in the North Atlantic. In August 1945 Spry was decommissioned and returned to the Royal Navy.[8]
hibiscus, other, ships, with, same, name, hibiscus, hibiscus, flower, class, corvette, built, royal, navy, during, second, world, service, battle, atlantic, 1942, transferred, united, states, navy, part, reverse, lend, lease, arrangement, renamed, spry, temptr. For other ships with the same name see HMS Hibiscus HMS Hibiscus was a Flower class corvette built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War and was in service in the Battle of the Atlantic In 1942 she was transferred to the United States Navy as part of the Reverse Lend Lease arrangement and renamed USS Spry one of the Temptress class gunboats With the end of hostilities she was returned to the Royal Navy and sold into mercantile service HMS Hibiscus in service during the Second World War image reversed HistoryUnited KingdomNameHMS HibiscusNamesakeHibiscus flowerBuilderHarland amp Wolff BelfastLaid down14 November 1939Launched6 April 1940Commissioned21 May 1940Decommissioned2 May 1942IdentificationPennant number K24FateTransferred to United States NavyUnited StatesNameUSS SpryCommissioned20 May 1942Decommissioned20 August 1945IdentificationHull number PG 64FateReturned to Royal NavyUnited KingdomNameHMS HibiscusFateSold into civilian service 1947 scrapped 1955General characteristics 1 Class and typeFlower class corvetteDisplacement925 long tons 940 t 1 036 short tons Length205 ft 62 48 m o aBeam33 ft 2 in 10 11 m Draught13 ft 7 in 4 14 m Propulsionsingle shaft 2 fire tube Scotch boilers 1 4 cycle triple expansion reciprocating steam engine 2 750 ihp 2 050 kW Speed16 5 knots 30 6 km h Range3 500 nautical miles 6 482 km at 12 knots 22 2 km h Complement85Sensors and processing systems1 SW1C or 2C radar 1 Type 123A or Type 127DV sonarArmament1 4 inch BL Mk IX single gun 2 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 originally fitted with minesweeping gear later removed Contents 1 Design and construction 2 Service history 2 1 Royal Navy 2 2 US Navy 3 Fate 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksDesign and construction editHibiscus was built at Harland amp Wolff Belfast as part of the 1939 War Emergency building programme She was laid down on 14 November 1939 and launched 6 April 1940 She was completed and entered service on 21 May 1940 being named for the Hibiscus flower As built Hibiscus had the short forecastle that was a feature of the early Flowers and which adversely effected their habitability She also had the merchant style enclosed wheelhouse and the foremast stepped ahead of the bridge of the original design Service history editRoyal Navy edit After working up Hibiscus was assigned to the Western Approaches Escort Force for service as a convoy escort In this role she was engaged in all the duties performed by escort ships protecting convoys searching for and attacking U boats which attacked ships in convoy and rescuing survivors In two years service Hibiscus escorted 29 North Atlantic 7 Gibraltar and 7 South Atlantic convoys 2 3 assisting in the safe passage of over 1300 ships She was involved in three major convoy battles In October 1940 Hibiscus was part of the escort for HX 79 which was attacked by a U boat pack losing 12 ships sunk 4 In November 1940 she was with OB 244 which saw 6 ships sunk and one U boat destroyed 5 In September 1941 she was with HG 73 which lost nine merchant and one warship sunk 6 US Navy edit Following the entry of the United States into the war the US Navy was in need of anti submarine warfare vessels and to meet this need a number of ships were transferred from the Royal Navy as part of a reverse Lend Lease arrangement 7 Hibiscus was commissioned into the USN on 2 May 1942 as USS Spry After an overhaul Spry was employed as escort on convoy routes in the Caribbean and between Trinidad and Recife Brazil In 1944 she was reassigned to escort duty and weather reporting in the North Atlantic In August 1945 Spry was decommissioned and returned to the Royal Navy 8 Fate edit nbsp As Madonna on the river Spaarne at Haarlem in the Netherlands Hibiscus was stricken in 1947 and sold into commercial service as the merchant ship Madonna She was scrapped at Hong Kong in 1955 8 Notes edit Conway p62 Hibiscus convoy movements at naval history net retrieved 17 July 2020 Hibiscus convoy assignments at convoyweb org uk retrieved 17 July 2020 Blair p 200 Blair p 208 Blair pp 389 391 Elliott p189 a b Spry at history navy mil retrieved 17 July 2020References editBlair Clay 1996 Hitler s U Boat War The Hunters 1939 1942 ISBN 0 304 35260 8 Chesneau Roger ed 1980 Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1922 1946 Greenwich UK Conway Maritime Press ISBN 0 85177 146 7 Elliott Peter 1977 Allied Escort Ships of World War II A complete survey London Macdonald and Jane s ISBN 0 356 08401 9 Hague Arnold The Allied Convoy System 1939 1945 2000 ISBN 1 55125 033 0 Canada ISBN 1 86176 147 3 UK External links editHMS Hibiscus at uboat net USS Spry at uboat net USS Spry at history navy mil Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title HMS Hibiscus K24 amp oldid 1170341495 US Navy, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
