HMS Abelia

HMS Abelia was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and was built by Harland and Wolff in 1941.[1]

At Hvalfjord, Iceland after a patrol in the North Atlantic in search of the German battleship Tirpitz, January 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Abelia
Builder	Harland and Wolff,[1] Belfast
Yard number	1095[1]
Launched	28 November 1940
Completed	3 February 1941[1]
Decommissioned	1946
Identification	Pennant number: K184
Fate	Sold as merchant ship 1947. Scrapped 1966.
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
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 and 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.II Depth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges
Service record
Commanders:	Orme G. Stuart (1943–1944)
Operations:	Battle of the Atlantic

She was launched on 28 November 1940, and was fitted for minesweeping. She served in World War II; her commanding officer for parts of 1943 and 1944 was Lieutenant Orme G. Stuart.

On 9 January 1944 Abelia encountered a U-boat while on convoy escort duty, and moved to attack with depth charges. Lieutenant Stuart ordered an increase in speed at 950 yards (870 m) to prevent being torpedoed, not knowing that the U-boat was equipped with T5 torpedoes, for which he would have needed to increase speed at 700 yards (640 m). Abelia was hit and lost her rudder, and the U-boat escaped.

Kraft

She was sold in 1947 and became the merchant vessel Kraft in 1948. She was renamed Arne Skontorp in 1954. She was eventually scrapped in December 1966.