 Sachtouris underway in September 1943, shortly after her transfer to the Royal Hellenic Navy. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSPeony |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast,Northern Ireland |
| Yard number | 1066[1] |
| Laid down | 24 February 1940 |
| Launched | 4 June 1940 |
| Completed | 2 August 1940[1] |
| Commissioned | 2 August 1940 |
| Out of service | Transferred to theRoyal Hellenic Navy in 1943 |
| Renamed | Sachtouris on transfer |
| Reinstated | Returned to the Royal Navy in September 1951 |
| Identification | Pennant number: K40 |
| Fate | Scrapped 21 April 1952 |
 Kingdom of Greece | |
| Name | Sachtouris |
| Namesake | Georgios Sachtouris |
| Acquired | 1943 |
| Out of service | September 1951 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Flower-classcorvette |
| Displacement | 925 long tons (940 t) |
| Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draught | 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) at 2,750 hp (2,050 kW) |
| Range | 3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 85 |
| Armament |
|
HMSPeony was aFlower-classcorvette of theRoyal Navy. In 1943 she was transferred to theRoyal Hellenic Navy (Greek navy) asRHNSSachtouris (Greek:ΒΠ Σαχτούρης), serving throughout World War II and the Greek Civil War. She was returned to the Royal Navy in 1951 and scrapped in April 1952.
Throughout her Royal Navy careerPeony escortedconvoys: primarily in home waters, but sometimes in theMediterranean Sea and toFreetown inSierra Leone.
From late 1940 to early 1941 she was part of the 10th Corvette Group, Mediterranean Fleet based atAlexandria, with which she escorted numerous convoys toMalta. In February 1941 she was equipped forminesweeping as not enough minesweepers were available. In July 1941 she helped to transport troops toCyprus. She undertook anti-submarine operations off Cyprus in the following months. Along with the Australian destroyerHMAS Vendetta, three corvettes and two anti-submarine aircraft she attacked aU-boat on 8 October 1941, but the U-boat escaped.
In December 1941 while escorting Mediterranean convoy AT-6 from Alexandria toTobruk, theGerman submarine U-559 torpedoed the Polish steamerWarszawa and attackedPeony.Peony tookWarszawa in tow until another torpedo from the U-boat sank the steamship with the loss of 23 men.Peony andHMS Avon Vale rescued the survivors.
In the small hours of 24 December 1941U-568 torpedoed and sank asister ship,HMS Salvia, about 100 nautical miles (190 km) west of Alexandria.[2]Salvia was carrying not only her own complement but also about 100 survivors fromSS Shuntien, whichU-559 had sunk a few hours earlier.[2]Peony went toSalvia's rescue but found no survivors: only a patch of oil.[2]
In 1943Peony was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy, which renamed her as the "Royal ShipSachtouris" (ΒΠ Σαχτούρης) afterGeorgios Sachtouris, an admiral in theGreek War of Independence. She was the second of three ships to bear this name, the first being a gunboat built in 1834 in Greece, and the third being theGearing-class destroyerUSS Arnold J. Isbell.[Note 1]
She served the remainder of the Second World War under theGreek flag. She also served in theGreek Civil War that broke out after the end of the Second World War.
In 1947 the United States in what became known as theTruman Doctrine declared its support the Greek government in its war against Communist guerrillas. In the early 1950s theMutual Defense Assistance Act started the transfer of American ships to Greece. FourCannon-classdestroyer escorts entered Greek service and so the old British Flower-class corvettes were superseded.
Sachtouris was returned to theRoyal Navy in September 1951 and scrapped on 21 April 1952.
