History
United Kingdom
Name	Asphodel
Namesake	Asphodel
Builder	George Brown and Company,Greenock
Laid down	20 October 1939
Launched	25 May 1940
Commissioned	11 September 1940
Identification	Pennant number: K56
Fate	Sunk 10 March 1944
General characteristics
Class & type	Flower-classcorvette
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 & 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.IIDepth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges

HMSAsphodel was aFlower-classcorvette that served in theRoyal Navy and was built byGeorge Brown and Company in 1940. She was named afterAsphodel. Commissioned in 1940 and sunk byU-575 on 10 March 1944.

In early 1939, with the risk of war withNazi Germany increasing, it was clear to the Royal Navy that it needed more escort ships to counter the threat fromKriegsmarineU-boats. One particular concern was the need to protect shipping off the east coast of Britain. What was needed was something larger and faster thantrawlers, but still cheap enough to be built in large numbers, preferably at small merchant shipyards, as larger yards were already busy. To meet this requirement, theSmiths Dock Company ofMiddlesbrough, a specialist in the design and build of fishing vessels, offered a development of its 700-ton, 16-knot (30 km/h; 18 mph)whale catcherSouthern Pride.^[1][2] They were intended as small convoy escort ships that could be produced quickly and cheaply in large numbers. Despite naval planners' intentions that they be deployed for coastal convoys, their long range meant that they became the mainstay ofMid-Ocean Escort Force convoy protection during the first half of the war. The original Flowers had the standard RN layout, consisting of a raisedforecastle, awell deck, then thebridge or wheelhouse, and a continuous deck running aft. The crew quarters were in the foc'sle while the galley was at the rear, making for poor messing arrangements.^[3]

The modified Flowers saw the forecastle extended aft past the bridge to the aft end of thefunnel, a variation known as the "long forecastle" design. Apart from providing a very useful space where the whole crew could gather out of the weather, the added weight improved the ships' stability and speed and was retroactively applied to a number of the original Flower-class vessels during the mid and latter years of the war.

Asphodel waslaid down byGeorge Brown and Company at theirshipyard atGreenock, on 20 October 1939 andlaunched on 25 May 1940. She was commissioned on 11 September 1940.

HMSAsphodel was escorting convoy SL 150 with combination of MKS-41 offCape Finisterre.German submarine U-575 launched a torpedo which struck theAsphodel and escaped soon after. Only five sailors fromAsphodel were rescued byHMS Clover while 92 others went down withAsphodel.^[4]

• Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.OCLC 67375475.
• Goodwin, Norman (2007).Castle Class Corvettes: An Account of the Service of the Ships and of Their Ships' Companies. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books.ISBN 978-1-904459-27-9.
• Lenton, H. T. (1998).British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.

• Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy
• 1940 ships
• Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
• Corvettes sunk by submarines
• World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
• Maritime incidents in March 1944
• Ships built by George Brown and Company

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