HMS ''Rhododendron'' was a that served with the

Royal Navy during the Second World War The Royal Navy was an important component of the Allied forces during the Second World War and made a significant contribution to the victory over the Axis powers. Its main tasks included the protection of merchant ships in the Atlantic against ...

. She served as an ocean escort in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

Background

The ship was ordered on 19 September 1939 from

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The ship's keel was laid on 22 May 1940, and the ship was launched on 2 September. The ship was commissioned about one month later, on 18 October.

War Service

On 21 November 1940, ''Rhododendron'', part of the escort for Convoy OB244, attacked the German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

''U-103'' with

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s, helping to drive the submarine away from the convoy. Although ''U-103'' escaped unscathed, this attack led to the incorrect claim that ''Rhododendron'' had sunk ''U-104''. That same day, she picked up 36 survivors from the merchant ship ''Daydawn'', which earlier that day had been sunk by ''U-103''. At the beginning of 1941, ''Rhododendron'' was part of the 8th Escort Group. On 17 January 1941, she detonated a mine in Liverpool harbor, knocking out her engines and steering gear and causing minor structural damage. ''Rhododendron'' was under repair at Liverpool for three months. On 28 July 1941, she picked up 26 survivors from the ''Lapland'', a merchant ship which was torpedoed by ''U-203''. On 1 October 1941, ''Rhododendron'' was part of the 36th Escort Group, based at Liverpool. In November 1942, the British and Americans landed in French North Africa in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

, with ''Rhododendron'' helping to escort one of the convoys carrying invasion forces from Britain to the Centre Task Force beaches at

Arzew Arzew or Arzeu (, ) is a seaport, port city in Algeria, 25 miles (40 km) from Oran. It is the capital of Arzew District, Oran Province. History Antiquity Like the rest of the Maghreb, the site of modern-day Arzew was originally in ...

near

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

on 9 November. On 4 July 1943, she picked up more than 300 survivors from several merchant ships which were torpedoed by German submarines ''U-409'' and ''U-375'' off of

Fate

She was sold in 1950 to a shipping company, where she was turned into the merchant ''Maj Finke''. She was sold for demolition in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1968.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhododendron, HMCS Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy 1940 ships