French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887)

Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Bombardment of Shimonoseki Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page An anti-submarine weapon is any one of a range of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew to destroy (sink the vessel or to destroy or reduce its capability A convoy is a group of Vehicles (of any type but usually motor vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role. A warship is a Ship that is built and primarily intended for Combat. For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship A patrol boat is a small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties During the Age of Sail, corvettes were smaller than frigates and larger than sloops-of-war, usually with a single gun deck. The Age of Sail was the period in which International trade and Naval warfare were dominated by Sailing Ships lasting from the 16th to the mid In the 18th and the earlier part of the 19th centuries a sloop-of-war was a small sailing Warship (also known as one of the Escort types with a single gun deck Almost all modern navies use ships smaller than frigates for coastal duty, but not all of them use the term corvette (from the French corvair) or equivalent. The rank Corvette Captain derives from the name of this type of ship. Corvette Captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a Corvette (small warship

Sailing vessels

During the Age of Sail, corvettes were one of many types of smaller warships. The Age of Sail was the period in which International trade and Naval warfare were dominated by Sailing Ships lasting from the 16th to the mid They were very closely related to sloops-of-war. In the 18th and the earlier part of the 19th centuries a sloop-of-war was a small sailing Warship (also known as one of the Escort types with a single gun deck The role of the corvette consisted mostly of coastal patrol, fighting minor wars, supporting large fleets, or participating in show-the-flag missions. The British Navy began using small ships in the 1650s, but described them as sloops rather than corvettes. The first reference to a corvette was with the French Navy in the 1670s, which is where the term itself possibly originated. The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale ( National Navy) and often called La Royale ( The Royal Navy) is the maritime arm The Royal Navy did not use the term until after the Napoleonic Wars to describe a small un-rated vessel similar to a sloop. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The rating system of the British Royal Navy was used by the British Royal Navy between the middle of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing

Most corvettes and sloops of the 17th century were around 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 meters) in length and weighed 40 to 70 tons (36 to 64 metric tonnes). The short ton ( S/T) is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (around 907 This article is about the tonne or metric ton For other tons see Ton. They carried 4 to 8 smaller guns on a single deck. Over time vessels of increasing size and capability were called corvettes; by 1800 they reached lengths of over 100 feet (30 m) and weights ranging from 400 to 600 tons (circa 365 to 544 metric tonnes). The short ton ( S/T) is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (around 907 This article is about the tonne or metric ton For other tons see Ton. One of the largest corvettes during the Age of Sail was the American ship, USS Constellation, built in 1855, 176 feet (54 m) long and carrying 24 guns. Service History 19th Century The sloop was launched 26 August 1854, and commissioned 28 July 1855, with She was so large that some naval experts consider her a frigate, or a sloop-of-war. For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship

Steam ships

Ships during the steam era became much faster and more maneuverable than their sail ancestors. Corvettes during this era were typically used alongside gunboats during colonial missions. A gunboat is literally a Boat carrying one or more Guns The term is rather broad and the usual connotation has changed over the years (sometimes encompassing Battleships and other larger vessels were unnecessary when fighting the indigenous people of the Far East and Africa. A battleship is a large heavily armored Warship with a main battery consisting of the largest Calibre of Guns Battleships were The Far East is a term often used by people in the Western world to refer to the countries of East Asia.

World War II

The modern corvette appeared during World War II as an easily built patrol and convoy escort vessel. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A convoy is a group of Vehicles (of any type but usually motor vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support The British naval designer William Reed drew up a small ship based on the single-shaft Smiths Dock Company whale catcher Southern Pride, whose simple design and mercantile construction standards lent itself to rapid production in small yards unused to naval work, and in large numbers. Userpolbot from http//bioguidecongressgov/scripts/biodisplaypl?index=R000130 Smiths Dock Company Limited, often referred to simply as Smiths Dock, was a British shipbuilding company that became associated with South Bank For other uses see Whalers. A whaler is a specialized kind of ship designed for Whaling, the catching and/or processing of First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, later Prime Minister, had a hand in reviving the name "corvette". The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874

During the arms buildup leading to World War II the term "corvette" was almost attached to the Tribal class destroyer. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Design history From 1926 all Royal Navy destroyers had descended from a common lineage based upon the prototypes ''Amazon'' and ''Ambuscade''. The Tribals were so much larger than and sufficiently different from other British destroyers that some consideration was given to resurrecting the classification of "corvette" and applying it to them. This idea was dropped, and the term applied to small, mass-produced anti-submarine escorts such as the "Flower" class of World War Two.

The first modern corvettes were the Flower class (Royal Navy corvettes were named after flowers, and ships in Royal Canadian Navy service took the name of smaller Canadian cities and towns). Class designation The term "corvette" was originally a French name for a small sailing warship intermediate between the Frigate and the Sloop-of-war The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the Their chief duty was to protect convoys in the North Atlantic and on the routes from the UK to Murmansk carrying supplies to the Soviet Union. A convoy is a group of Vehicles (of any type but usually motor vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support Murmansk (Му́рманск Murmanska Muurman is a city and Seaport in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 km The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

The Flower-class corvette was originally designed for offshore patrol work, and was not ideal as an anti-submarine escort; they were really too short for open ocean work, too lightly armed for anti-aircraft defence, and little faster than the merchantmen they escorted, a particular problem given the faster German U-boat designs then emerging. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers They were very seaworthy and maneuverable, but crew living conditions for ocean voyages were appalling. Because of this the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the frigate, which was larger, faster, better armed and had two shafts. For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship However, many small yards could not produce vessels of frigate size, so an improved corvette design, the Castle class, was introduced later in the war, some remaining in service until the mid-1950s. Ships Royal Canadian Navy ''Arnprior'' (ex- HMS ''Rising Castle'') link ''Bowmanville'' (ex-

The Royal Australian Navy built 60 Bathurst-class corvettes, including 20 for the Royal Navy crewed by Australians, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy. The Royal Australian Navy ( RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Design and construction In the late 1930s the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board identified the need to design a 'local defense vessel' that was easy to construct and operate The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. These were officially described as Australian Mine Sweepers, or as Minesweeping Sloops by the Royal Navy, and were named after Australian towns. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.

The Bird class minesweepers or trawlers were referred to as Corvettes in the Royal New Zealand Navy, and two, the Kiwi and Moa, rammed and sank a much larger Japanese submarine, the I-1 in 1943 in the Solomons. Royal New Zealand Navy ships HMNZS Kiwi (T102 HMNZS Moa (T233 HMNZS Tui (T234 The Royal New Zealand Navy ( RNZN) (Maori Te Taua Moana, The Sea Army) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. See also Minesweepers of the Royal New Zealand Navy Record of Movement for the Japanese submarine I-2;Extracts 29 January 1943 The I-2's sister the I-1 runs aground and is sunk off Guadalcanal Her war activity 7 Dec 1941: during the attack on Pearl Harbor she was stationed in Kauai Channel to reconnoiter and attack

Modern corvettes

South African frigate SAS Mendi, referred to by the SAN as a corvette.

Corvette Magdeburg (F 261) of the German Navy. Technical details They feature reduced radar and infrared signature (" stealth " beyond the Sachsen class frigate) and should have been equipped with The German Navy ( Deutsche Marine ( is the Navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces

Modern navies have begun a trend in the late 20th and early 21st century towards smaller, more maneuverable surface capability. Corvettes have a displacement between 540 and 2,750 tons (550 and 2,800 metric tons) and measure 180-330 feet (55-100 meters) in length. They are usually armed with medium- and small-caliber guns, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and underwater warfare weapons. Many can accommodate a small or medium anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter. Anti-submarine warfare (ASW or in older form A/S is a branch of Naval warfare that uses surface Warships Aircraft, space craft or other Submarines

Current corvette classes

Many countries today operate corvettes. Some of them include Sweden, Germany, South Africa, India, China, Israel, Poland, Turkey, Greece, and Russia. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Countries that border smaller seas, such as the Baltic Sea or the Persian Gulf are more likely to build the smaller and more maneuverable corvettes. The Baltic Sea is a Brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N Latitude and from 20°E to 26°E Longitude. The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region is an extension of the Spanish Descubierta class frigates, in service with Morocco's and Egypt's navies, are actually 1400 t corvettes. Ships Spanish Navy Egyptian Navy Royal Moroccan Navy Moroccan ship has Exocet missiles instead of Harpoon The Royal Moroccan Navy is the naval branch of the Military of Morocco. The Egyptian Navy is the smallest branch of the Egyptian military.

Arguably, one of the most advanced corvettes in service today is the Swedish Navy's Visby class. The Royal Swedish Navy ( Swedish: Marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Much of the design was based on the experiences learned from the experimental ship HMS Smyge. It is the first operational warship to extensively utilize stealth technology. Stealth technology also known as LOT (Low Observability Technology is a sub-discipline of military Electronic countermeasures which covers a range of techniques used with

The United States is developing a Littoral Combat Ship, which will be very similar to a corvette. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Littoral Combat Ship is the first design of the US Navy 's next-generation surface combatants The LCS is slotted to replace the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate in American service. Ships The ships were designed by Maine shipyard Bath Iron Works in partnership with New York-based naval architects Gibbs & Cox.

The new German Braunschweig class is designed to supplement Germany's fast attack craft and also incorporates stealth technology and land attack capabilities. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Technical details They feature reduced radar and infrared signature (" stealth " beyond the Sachsen class frigate) and should have been equipped with A Fast Attack Craft (FAC (Schnellboot is a small (100 to 400 Tonnes, fast (up to ca

Turkey began construction on the first of twelve Milgem class stealth corvettes in July 2005. Evolution of the Milgem program When the Milgem project was officially launched in 1996 the initial plan was to locally build MEKO A-100 corvettes of Blohm+Voss The lead ship, named TCG Heybeliada, is scheduled to begin sea trials in October 2010. Heybeliada or Heybeli Ada ( Greek: Χάλκη Chalki) is the second largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including Boats Ships and Submarines. The design concept and mission profile of Milgem is similar to the LCS-1 Littoral Combat Ship of the United States. Design The USS Freedom is the first of two dramatically different LCS designs being produced the other USS ''Independence'' (LCS-2, is a Trimaran under The first eight ships of the Milgem class will be classified as corvettes, while the last four will be named the F-100 class and will be classified as frigates. For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship The F-100 class will be slightly larger in terms of dimensions and will be equipped with the Mk.41 VLS and ESSM, along with other additional systems for improved multirole combat capabilities. A Vertical Launching System ( VLS) is a type of Missile -firing system used aboard the Submarines and surface vessels of several navies around the The RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow Missile used to protect Ships from attacking missiles and

The Hellenic Navy currently operates the Super-Vita class ships, which are 580 tons full load. The Hellenic Navy ( HN) ( Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece The Hellenic Navy has categorised the class as fast attack missile craft. A Fast Attack Craft (FAC (Schnellboot is a small (100 to 400 Tonnes, fast (up to ca A similar vessel is the Kılıç class fast attack missile craft of the Turkish Navy, which is classified as a corvette by Lürssen Werft, the German designer of the ship. The Turkish Navy (Türk Deniz Kuvvetleri is a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German Shipbuilding company based in Bremen-Vegesack.

The Indonesian Navy will receive indigenously-designed corvettes, called 104 M corvette in 2008. The Indonesian Navy (Indonesian Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, TNI-AL) is the territorial force responsible for the patrol of Indonesia 's immense The corvette may be armed with the Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile, already installed in the locally-built Fast Patrol Boat FPB-57. The Yingji-82 or YJ-82 (鹰击-82 literally "Eagle Strike" NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade) is a Chinese A patrol boat is a small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties

See also

• List of corvette classes
• List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
• HMAS Castlemaine, a museum ship, Bathurst-class corvette
• HMCS Sackville, a museum ship, the sole remaining Flower-class corvette
• Braunschweig class corvette, the new class of corvettes of the German Navy
• Milgem class corvette, the next generation corvette class of the Turkish Navy

Further reading

• The collection Three Corvettes by Nicholas Monsarrat recounts the writer's World War II experiences on corvettes, starting as an inexperienced small-boat sailor and ending as captain. List of Corvette classes by country (see also List of frigate classes and List of frigate classes by country) Algeria ( Algerian Navy) This is a list of Corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy. For ships that are not original see Ship replica. For preserved incomplete ships see Ships preserved in museums. Design and construction In the late 1930s the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board identified the need to design a 'local defense vessel' that was easy to construct and operate Wartime service Sackville was commissioned into the Canadian Navy on 30 December 1941. Class designation The term "corvette" was originally a French name for a small sailing warship intermediate between the Frigate and the Sloop-of-war Technical details They feature reduced radar and infrared signature (" stealth " beyond the Sachsen class frigate) and should have been equipped with The German Navy ( Deutsche Marine ( is the Navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces Evolution of the Milgem program When the Milgem project was officially launched in 1996 the initial plan was to locally build MEKO A-100 corvettes of Blohm+Voss The Turkish Navy (Türk Deniz Kuvvetleri is a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR ( 22 March 1910 &ndash 8 August 1979) was a UK novelist
• The novel The Cruel Sea also by Nicholas Monsarrat, which is about the life and death of a Flower-class corvette and the men in her, is regarded as one of the classic naval stories of World War II. The Cruel Sea ( 1951, ISBN 978-0141007328 is a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat.
• The two books The Corvette Navy and On the Triangle Run by James B. Lamb give an autobiographical and historical perspective of life on Royal Canadian Navy corvettes in World War II. For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the The author served on them for 6 years from Halifax to the beaches of D-Day.

External links

• Bathurst Class Corvettes
• Project 28 corvettes
• Corvette Elisabeth German screw corvette Elisabeth of 1869: History and high resolution photos of a model