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
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Armament |
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| 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.
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.
References
editFurther reading
edit- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
