HMCS Trillium (K172)

History
Officers on the open bridge of HMCS Trillium
United Kingdom
Name:	Trillium
Namesake:	Trillium genus of flowering plants
Ordered:	20 January 1940
Builder:	Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal, Quebec
Laid down:	20 February 1940
Launched:	26 June 1940
Commissioned:	31 October 1940
Out of service:	loaned to Royal Canadian Navy 15 May 1941
Identification:	Pennant number: K172
Fate:	Returned from RCN June 1945. Sold for civilian use.
Canada
Name:	Trillium
Commissioned:	15 May 1941
Out of service:	Returned to the Royal Navy 27 June 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K172
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1940-45
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette (original)
Displacement:	925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length:	205 ft (62.48 m)o/a
Beam:	33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught:	11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion:	single shaft 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed:	16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range:	3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement:	85
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:	1 × BL 4 in (102 mm) Mk.IX single gun 2 × .50 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 × depth charge rails with 40 depth charges originally fitted with minesweeping gear, later removed

HMCS Trillium was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served mainly as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was one of ten corvettes loaned to the Canadian navy by the Royal Navy and the only one which remained an ocean escort throughout the war. She was named after the Trillium genus of flowering plants including wakerobin, tri flower, and birthroot.

Flower-class corvettes like Trillium 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 for classes 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.

Trillium was ordered 20 January 1940 for the Royal Navy as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down by Canadian Vickers Ltd. at Montreal on 20 February 1940 and was launched on 26 June 1940. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 31 October 1940 at Montreal. She sailed for the United Kingdom and was fully fitted out at Greenock in March 1941.Trillium was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada on 15 May 1941. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.

During her career, Trillium had four significant refits. The first took place at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia beginning in August 1941 and taking three months to complete. Her second overhaul took place at Galveston which was begun in April 1942 and took until June to complete. Her third refit saw her fo'c'sle extended at Boston beginning in April 1943 and was completed 10 June 1943. The final refit of her career took place in late April 1944 at Pictou, Nova Scotia and lasted two months. Afterwards she needed a further month of repairs at Halifax.

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Wikipedia