Underway in theRiver Clyde, December 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSOrchis
Builder	Harland & Wolff[1]
Yard number	1075[1]
Laid down	18 June 1940
Launched	15 October 1940
Completed	29 November 1940[1]
Commissioned	29 November 1940
Identification	Pennant number: K76
Fate	Mined offJuno Beach 21 August 1944
General characteristics
Class & type	Flower-classcorvette
Displacement	925 long tons[2]
Length	205 ft (62 m)o/a[2]
Beam	33 ft (10 m)[2]
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)[2]
Speed	16 kn (30 km/h)[2]
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement	90[2]
Sensors & processing systems	1 × Type 271radar from March 1941[3] 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament	1 ×BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk.IX gun[2] 2 ×Vickers .50 cal machine gun (twin) 2 ×Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.IIDepth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges
Service record
Operations:	Battle of the Atlantic

HMSOrchis was aFlower-classcorvette that served in theRoyal Navy duringWorld War II.

In March 1941,Orchis was the first ship fitted with the very successful 10-cm wavelengthType 271 radar enabling detection of a surfacedsubmarine at 5,000 yards (4,600 m) or a submarineperiscope at 1,300 yards (1,200 m).^[3]Orchis was assigned first to the 4th Escort Group based atGreenock^[4] and then to Escort Group B3 of theMid-Ocean Escort Force through early 1944.^[5]Orchis escortedconvoy ONS 18 during the battle around this and ON 202.^[6]

Orchis was then assigned to patrol theEnglish Channel, and sank theGerman submarine U-741 on 15 August 1944.^[7]U-741 torpedoedLST-404 of convoy FTM-69 whileOrchis was escorting nearby convoy FTC-68.Orchis gained and heldsonar contact onU-741 and flooded the forward part of theU-boat with twoHedgehog attacks and twodepth charge attacks. One person escaped from the aft torpedo-room hatch of the sunken U-boat, and was rescued byOrchis.^[8]

On 21 August 1944,Orchis struck amine that destroyed thebow back to the 4-inch gun. The damaged ship was beached onJuno Beach and declared a total loss.^[9][10]

• Blair, Clay (1998).Hitler's U-boat War The Hunted 1942–1945. Random House.ISBN 0-679-45742-9.
• Brown, David (1995) [1990].Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-914-X.
• Rohwer, Jurgen; Hummelchen, Gerhard (1992) [1972].Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-105-X.

• Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy
• Ships sunk by mines
• 1940 ships
• Ships built by Harland and Wolff
• Maritime incidents in August 1944

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2025