Ordered: 31 August 1939. Builder: Fleming and Ferguson, Paisley, Scotland. Laid down: 27 December 1939. Commissioned: 20 October 1940. Decommissioned: August 1945. Identification: Pennant number: K68
Fate: Sold to Greece, renamed LEMNOS, Career (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, 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
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.
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. Her first deployment was as an escort for Convoy WS.5A, bound for the West African port of Freetown.
22 Jul 1942 - HMS JONQUIL (Lt.Cdr. R.E.H. Partington, RNR) picks up 52 survivors from the British merchant SIRIS (Royal Mail Line) that was torpedoed and sunk on 12 July 1942 south of the Azores in position 31.20'N, 24.48'W by German U-boat U-201.
10 April 1944 - Convoy UGS 37 transits Straits of Gibraltar (60 merchantmen and six tank landing ships), escorted by TF 65 (Commander William R. Headden): four destroyers, eight destroyer escorts and British antiaircraft cruiser HMS DELHI and frigate HMS NADDER, in addition to radar jamming ships, destroyer LANSDALE (DD-462) and British corvette HMS JONQUIL. Escorts keep German submarines U-421, U-471 and U-969 at bay.
JONQUIL survived the war but was relegated to the reserve at Gibraltar from August 1945. Bought by Greece, the corvette was renamed LEMNOS. Converted into a whale catcher and renamed OLYMPIC RIDER in 1951. She sank after a collision with the OLYMPIC CRUISER in the Antarctic in 1955
Sources: Wikipedia. http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono ... onquil.htm. http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4778.html. http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/v ... sp?id=5955.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN ... -1944.html.
Mr P Crichton