HMS Coreopsis (K32)

HMS Coreopsis was a Flower-class corvette, built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War which served in the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1943, she was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy as RHNS Kriezis (Greek: ΒΠ Κριεζής) and participated in the 1944 Invasion of Normandy. Shortly before she was scrapped, she took part in the British war film, The Cruel Sea.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Coreopsis.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Coreopsis
Namesake: Coreopsis
Ordered: 25 July 1939
Builder: A. & J. Inglis Ltd, Glasgow
Laid down: 19 September 1939
Launched: 23 April 1940
Commissioned: 17 August 1940
Decommissioned: 10 November 1943
Identification: Pennant number: K32
Fate: Transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy
Kingdom of Greece
Name: Kriezis
Namesake: Antonios Kriezis
Acquired: 10 November 1943
Commissioned: 11 June 1942
Decommissioned: 1 June 1952
Identification: Pennant number: K32
Fate: Returned to Royal Navy: sold and broken-up at Sunderland on 22 July 1952
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Flower-class corvette
Displacement: 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length: 205 ft (62.48 m)o/a
Beam: 33 ft 2 in (10.11 m)
Draught: 13 ft 7 in (4.14 m)
Propulsion:
  • single shaft
  • 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
  • 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
  • 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed: 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement: 85
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 × SW1C or 2C radar
  • 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:

Service

Coreopsis was built at A. & J. Inglis Ltd in Glasgow as part of the 1939 War Emergency Programme for the Royal Navy. One of the early Flower-class corvettes, she was ordered on 25 July 1939, and laid down on 19 September. She was launched on 23 April 1940 and commissioned on 17 August.

Royal Navy

In Royal Navy service, Coreopsis was employed on convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. On 20 October 1940, she rescued 33 survivors from the British cargo ship MV La Estancia sunk by the German submarine U-47 south of Iceland. On 16 November 1942, she rescued 169 survivors from the British merchant ship SS Clan MacTaggart that was sunk by U-92 off Cadiz. On 5 March 1943, she picked up survivors from the British merchant ships SS Fidra, SS Ger-y-Bryn and SS Trefusis which had been sunk by U-130 northwest of Lisbon.[2]

Royal Hellenic Navy
For other ships with the same name, see Greek ship Kriezis.

Coreopsis was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy on 1 November 1943, one of several British escort vessels transferred to Greece after April 1941. Renamed Kriezis (Greek: Κριεζής, after the naval hero Antonios Kriezis) but retaining her K32 pennant number, she served as a convoy escort out of Liverpool and on 13 June 1944, escorted Convoy ECM6 which was part of Operation Neptune, the maritime element of the Normandy Landings. She joined the British Mediterranean Fleet in October 1944.[3] She remained with the Greek navy after the war and was finally returned to the Royal Navy on 1 June 1952.[4]

Filming and disposal

While awaiting disposal at Malta in 1952, Coreopsis was acquired by Ealing Studios for the film The Cruel Sea, in which she took the part of the fictional Flower-class corvette, HMS Compass Rose. During filming at Plymouth, she collided with the destroyer HMS Camperdown causing some damage to the latter.[5] In the film, she wore the pennant number K49, actually the number of HMS Crocus. She finally arrived at the breaker's yard of Thomas Young & Sons in Sunderland on 22 July 1952 where she was scrapped.[4]

References
  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946 (1980) ISBN 0-85177-146-7 p. 62
  2. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Allied Warships – HMS Coreopsis (K 32)". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  3. Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: Vol.I: September 1939 – October 1940. Routledge. p. 155. ISBN 978-0714651798.
  4. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Allied Warships – RHS Kriezis (K 32)". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  5. Gaffney, Freddie. "Cruel Sea, The (1952)". www.screenonline.org.uk. British Film Institute. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
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