HMS Salvia (K97)
HMS Salvia (K97)
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Salvia |
| Namesake: | Salvia genus of plants |
| Owner: | Royal Navy |
| Ordered: | 31 August 1939 |
| Builder: | William Simons & Co Ltd,Renfrew |
| Yard number: | 731 |
| Laid down: | 26 September 1939 |
| Launched: | 6 August 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 20 September 1940 |
| Out of service: | 24 December 1941 |
| Identification: | Pennant number K97 |
| Fate: | torpedoed & sunk by U-568 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Flower-class corvette |
| Type: | Corvette |
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| Displacement: | 925 tons |
| Length: | 205 ft (62.5 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft 10 in (4.52 m) |
| Installed power: | 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Range: |
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| Crew: |
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| Armament: |
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| Notes: | fitted with towing gear |
HMS Salvia (K97) was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on the eve of the Second World War and entered service in September 1940. She is notable for having rescued many survivors from the sinking of the prison ship SS Shuntien on 23 December 1941. A few hours later, on Christmas Eve 1941, Salvia too was torpedoed. The corvette sank with all hands, and all of the survivors that she had rescued from Shuntien were also lost.
The Admiralty introduced corvettes as part of the British re-armament before the Second World War. They were simpler and cheaper to build than frigates and were designed to be built by yards that did not normally build naval ships. The Flower class was intended for duties such as convoy escort and minesweeping.
The Admiralty ordered Flower-class corvettes in batches, spreading each batch between a number of shipbuilders that normally built merchant ships. The first batch was of 26 corvettes, ordered on 25 July 1939. The second batch was of 30 ships, ordered on 31 August 1939, the day before Britain entered the Second World War. Salvia was one of this second batch.
Salvia was one of several Flowers ordered from William Simons and Company, a shipbuilder in Renfrew, Scotland. Salvia's keel was laid on 26 September 1939, she was launched on 6 August 1940 and she was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 September.
She was commanded by Lt Cdr John Isdale Miller, DSO, RD, RNR, who had lately commanded the anti-submarine trawler HMS Blackfly. Miller and his new crew took Salvia to Tobermory in the Isle of Mull for training exercises.
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