HMS ''Hollyhock'' was a that served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. During her career, she was frequently used for escorting convoys. She was captained by Lt. Thomas Edward Davies.

Career

''Hollyhock'' was ordered from

John Crown & Sons Ltd John Crown & Sons Ltd, was a British shipbuilding company founded in 1847 and based on the River Wear, Sunderland. History In its centenary year the shipyard was acquired by J.L. Thompson & Sons. Ships built by John Crown & Sons Ltd See ...

on 31 August 1939, laid down on 27 November 1939, and launched on 19 August 1940. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 19 November 1940. ''Hollyhock's'' career began with conducting and participating in exercises from 4 December 1940 to 7 December 1940. Early in March 1941, she escorted the convoy SC 23 and was damaged by strong weather, but was repaired shortly afterwards. On 19 April 1941, she escorted the convoy HX 119, which had departed from Halifax 13 days earlier on 6 April 1941. She aided convoy OB 318 on 10 May 1941, and towed the ''Aelybryn'' to Reykjavik after it had been damaged by torpedoes. ''Hollyhock'' then escorted convoy HX 124 on 11 May 1941. Between 8 June and 8 July 1941, ''Hollyhock'' escorted OB 331, OB 340, SC 33 and HX 134. On 8 July 1941, she sailed to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

to be fitted with new equipment. She was fitted with a refrigerator and air cooling so as to be better suited for a tropical environment, and was also fitted with a 271 RDF Radar and

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

gear. After she had been fitted with the new equipment on 9 October, she soon departed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

for

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

on 13 October, escorting convoy OS 9. Upon arriving in Freetown on 9 November, she would be a part of training exercises, along with ''HMS Severn, Brilliant, Bridgewater'' and ''Turcoman.'' On 28 November 1941, she left Freetown, escorting the convoy WS 12Z on its voyage to

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. The convoy arrived 18 December, and she would spend the next month escorting other convoys in the area. During this time, she was repaired and had her

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

s cleaned while in Simonstown on 15 December. It was also during this time that Japan entered the war (7 December 1941). On 28 February 1942, convoy SU 1 departed from

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

and was escorted by the ''Hollyhock'' part of the way, before parting ways. ''HMS Hollyhock'' and ''Express'' returned to Colombo, arriving on 3 March 1942, and the rest of Convoy SU 1 arrived in

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; an area near Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were former ...

on 15 March 1942. Afterwards, ''Hollyhock'' escorted ''HMS Ranchi'' from 7-11 March, Convoy C 7 on the 13th to 20th and then finally ''HMS Holxa,'' an isles-class trawler. At the very end of March the ''Hollyhock'' was nominated to carry out the task of escorting ships that were laying mines. At the start of April, she began this duty. It was also around this time that the Japanese navy increased aggression, starting with the bombing of an allied air base in Colombo on 5 April 1942. Many aircraft were destroyed, along with the armed merchant cruiser ''HMS Hector'' and destroyer ''HMS Tenedos.'' On 8 April, the Japanese First Carrier Fleet, consisting of five aircraft carriers, four battlecruisers, two heavy cruisers, and nine destroyers, were spotted advancing for an attack on

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

, where ''Hollyhock'' was currently situated. She, along with a few others were given the orders to depart from Trincomalee and sail southwards, and to be 40 miles from Trincomalee by the dawn of 9 April. On 9 April 1942, ''Hollyhock'' was escorting the ''SS Athelstane'' as they and a few others fled southwards from Trincomalee. Japanese reconnaissance aircraft from ''The Haruna'' soon sighted the convoy, and shortly thereafter, 85 Japanese

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s and 3 Japanese fighter aircraft were deployed from the Japanese First Carrier Fleet. At around 12 o'clock'', Hollyhock'' was bombed by Japanese naval aircraft launched from the carrier Sōryū in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, 30 miles SSE of Batticaloa, Ceylon (7.30N 81.56E)''.'' Nine total aircraft attacked ''Hollyhock'' and ''Athelstane'', and ''Hollyhock'' was soon sunk after being bombed. It was reported that she sunk in five minutes, due to multiple bombs going down her funnels. Her captain, two officers, and fifty ratings on board lost their lives. After ''Hollyhock'' had been sunk, the Japanese aircraft targeted the ''Athelstane'' and she was soon sunk as well, but all crew aboard survived, and even helped some of the crew from ''Hollyhock''. Some of the survivors from ''Hollyhock'' and ''Athelstane'' were able to make it to the coast of Ceylon alive. During the same engagement, the aircraft carrier and the Australian destroyer that were part of the convoy going south from Trincomalee were also sunk.

References

External links

*
HMS ''Hollyhock'' on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollyhock, HMS Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean 1940 ships Maritime incidents in April 1942 Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft Corvettes sunk by aircraft