Azalea-class sloop

HMS Azalea

The Azalea class of twelve minesweeping sloops were built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as part of the larger , which were also referred to as the Cabbage class, or "Herbaceous Borders".Template:Efn The third batch of twelve ships to be ordered in May 1915, they differed from the preceding only in mounting a heavier armament. One ship, converted to a Q-ship was lost during the war, another during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919. With the exception of two others, the rest were scrapped. One entered mercantile service, while the other was transferred to the Belgian Navy. Both were captured by the Germans during World War II and put into German service. One was lost with the final ship being scrapped in 1952

Design and description

The Azaleas were a series of twelve minesweeping sloops that were designed to operate as minesweepers with the fleet at the beginning of World War I. A shortage of this type required their quick construction. Their hulls were built to a simplified design in order to speed construction and were built under Lloyd's survey instead of normal naval requirements. The hull of the ships have flare but lack sheer and the forecastle extending to just abaft the foremast. The vessels had a triple hull at the bow to give extra protection against loss when working. Their appearance was marked by widely spread masts, bridge and two funnels.Template:Sfn However, they also acted as dispatch vessels or carrying out towing operations, but as the war continued and the threat from German submarines grew, became increasingly involved in anti-submarine duties.Template:Sfn

The Azalea-class ships were nearly identical to the preceding Template:Sfn and measured long between perpendicularsTemplate:Sfn and overall with a beam of and a draught of .Template:SfnTemplate:Efn They had a normal displacement of ,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn and Template:Cvt fully loaded.Template:Sfn The Azaleas were propelled by a single propeller connected by a single shaft to a 4-cylinder triple expansion engine powered by steam from two cylindrical boilers creating .Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn The ships carried a maximum of Template:Cvt of coal as a fuel source and had a maximum speed of .Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Their single screw gave them a wide turning circle.Template:Sfn

The sloops were designed to be armed with two single-mounted QF low-angle guns as protection against German raids on the minesweeping flotillas. However, late in production, some of the vessels were given [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk IV, XII, XXII|QF Template:Cvt guns]]. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, the Azaleas mounted two by single 3-pounder (47 mm) AA guns.Template:Sfn The complement of the vessels ranged from 79Template:Sfn to 80 officers and ratings.Template:Sfn

Ships of the class

Construction dataTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Ship	Builder	Launched	Fate
	Barclay Curle & Company, Whiteinch	10 September 1915	Sold for breaking up on 1 February 1923.
		26 August 1915	Became Q-ship from 9 August 1917 as Q10 (SS Dolcis Jessop), sunk in collision with German submarine Template:SMU off Casablanca in the Atlantic Ocean on 2 October 1917.
	Bow, McLachlan and Company, Paisley	25 September 1915	Sold for breaking up on 15 January 1923.
	Greenock & Grangemouth Dockyard Company, Greenock	6 September 1915	Sold for breaking up 14 January 1922.
		29 July 1915	Sold for breaking up on 5 February 1931.
	Lobnitz & Company, Renfrew	10 September 1915	Sold for breaking up on 7 January 1935.
	Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend	9 September 1915	Sold for breaking up on 21 December 1922
	Lobnitz and Company, Renfrew	11 October 1915	Mined in Gulf of Finland on 16 July 1919.
	Napier & Miller, Old Kilpatrick	22 September 1915	Sold for breaking up on 6 September 1922.
	Archibald McMillan & Son, Dumbarton	27 October 1915	Sold out of service on 20 August 1919, becoming mercantile Ardena. Sunk by mine on 28 September 1943.
		7 October 1915	Sold for breaking up on 15 January 1923.
	Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend	12 August 1915	Sold to Belgian Navy on 19 April 1920, retaining same name. Scrapped 1952.

Construction and career

Officially termed "Fleet Sweeping Vessels (Sloops)" by the Royal Navy, the Azalea-class ships were intended to be built quickly and were designed to merchant vessel construction parameters so they could be constructed in non-naval shipyards. They were primarily intended for minesweeping duties but were adapted to various other duties throughout the war.Template:Sfn They had an average construction period of 25 weeks.Template:Sfn The Azaleas were ordered in May 1915 as part of the War Emergency Programme and entered service between September and December 1915. One, Begonia was converted to a Q-ship at Haulbowline, Ireland in 1916–1917 to resemble a small coastal trading vessel. Recommissioned on 9 August 1917 as Q10 and using the name Dolcis Jessop, the vessel had a short career as it was sunk in a collision with the German U-boat, Template:SMU off Casablanca on 2 October.Template:Sfn Aside from Begonia, the rest of the class survived the war, with the majority sent for scrapping after the war in the early 1920s. Two, Peony and Zinnia continued in service. Another, Myrtle, was mined in 1919 during Royal Navy operations in the Baltic Sea as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.Template:Sfn

Peony was sold into mercantile service, converted to a passenger ferry and renamed Ardena. The ferry was used on the routes between Cherbourg and Caen. Ardena continued in service into World War II, where the vessel was sunk by the Luftwaffe in 1941 before being raised by the Germans and put back into service. On 28 September 1943 she was sailing from Cephalonia to Greece with 840 Italian prisoners of war when Ardena struck a mine and sank.

Zinnia was transferred to Belgium on 19 April 1920 and used for fishery protection duties by the new Royal Belgian Navy.Template:Sfn In 1927, the Belgian Navy was disbanded and Zinnia was crewed by civilians. In 1940, the vessel was captured by the Germans and was rebuilt at Antwerp for service with the Kriegsmarine as the now renamed Barbara. Barbara survived the war and was returned to the Belgians following it. Renamed Breydel, the vessel was scrapped in 1952.Template:Sfn

External links

• Transcription of ship's logbooks and weather information