HMCS Norsyd (K520)
HMCS Norsyd
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| History | |
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 Canada
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| Name: | HMCS Norsyd |
| Namesake: | North Sydney, Nova Scotia |
| Ordered: | 2 January 1942 |
| Builder: | Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co. Quebec City |
| Laid down: | 14 January 1943 |
| Launched: | 31 July 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 22 December 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 June 1945 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: K520 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold for mercantile use |
 Israel
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| Name: | INS Haganah |
| Acquired: | 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 1954 |
| Identification: | K-20 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1956 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Flower-class corvette (modified) |
| Displacement: | 1,015 long tons (1,031 t; 1,137 short tons) |
| Length: | 208 ft (63.40 m)o/a |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10.06 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft (3.35 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 16 knots (29.6 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,400 nautical miles (13,705 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h) |
| Complement: | 90 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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HMCS Norsyd was a modified Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort. She was named for North Sydney, Nova Scotia, her name being a contraction of the city's name. This was due to a naming conflict with a Royal Australian Navy vessel. After the war she served as a merchant ship and then as a corvette in the Israeli Navy.
Flower-class corvettes like Norsyd serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.
Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part, to better represent the people who took part in building them. This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W. Nelles. Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named. Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts, while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear. Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas.
Norsyd was ordered 2 January 1942 as part of the 1942-43 modified Flower-class building programme. This programme was known as the Increased Endurance. Many changes were made, all from lessons that had been learned in previous versions of the Flower-class. The bridge was made a full deck higher and built to naval standards instead of the more civilian-like bridges of previous versions. The platform for the 4-inch main gun was raised to minimize the amount of spray over it and to provide a better field of fire. It was also connected to the wheelhouse by a wide platform that was now the base for the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar that this version was armed with. Along with the new Hedgehog, this version got the new QF 4-inch Mk XIX main gun, which was semi-automatic, used fixed ammunition and had the ability to elevate higher giving it an anti-aircraft ability.
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Wikipedia