HMS Camellia (K31)

HMS Camellia with a convoy, 23 September 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Camellia
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Yard number:	1064
Laid down:	14 November 1939
Launched:	4 May 1940
Completed:	18 June 1940
Commissioned:	18 June 1940
Identification:	Pennant number: K31
Fate:	Sold to Dutch Company and renamed Hetty W Vinke 1946
Status:	Scrapped 19 September 1965
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette

HMS Camellia was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy.

She was laid down on 14 November 1939, launched on 4 May 1940, and commissioned on 18 June 1940.

In January 1941 Camelia served as a rescue transport for five crewman of the merchant ship Ringhorn which had gone down in stormy weather.

On 4 February 1941 Camellia and the destroyer Harvester picked up 121 survivors from HMS Crispin, sunk by U-107 (Korvettenkapitän Günther Hessler).

On 7 March 1941, serving as escorts for convoy OB 293 escort south-east of Iceland, Camellia and her sister ship Arbutus sank the German submarine U-70 (Kapitänleutnant Joachim Matz).

She was commanded by Lieutenant Charles Corneby from 6 June 1941 until August 1942, and by Lieutenant George Charlton from 29 July 1944 until the end of the war.

On Christmas Eve 1941, she saw unknown action and lost an indeterminate number of sailors listed as "killed in action".

In 1946 she was sold privately, and two years later was rechristened Hetty W Vinke.

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN . OCLC 67375475.