- Yes.
- No.
Hello everyone, today I’d like to suggest a British ship used during the first world war!
This is the HMS Zinnia!
Source: www.belgian-navy.be
History & Development
Spoiler
HMS Zinnia was part of the Azalea-class sloop, which in turn was a sub-class of the Flower-class sloop (Not the be mistaken with the WW2 Flower-class corvette). The Azalea-class was the second sub-class, and compared to the first they had slightly heavier guns.
When she was launched, HMS Zinnia joined the 1st Sloop Flotilla. Her biggest role during the war was that of a submarine hunter, and she would encouter many German submarines during the war.
I could go ahead and detail the various submarines she encountered, but at the same time the Wikipedia article about HMS Zinnia already does a very good job of this, so I will instead list the encounters in a more compact way, and if you want to read more you can check out the wikipedia page.
- 28th of March, 1916. Spotted U-44, fired shots at it but failed to damage it.
- 20th of April, 1916. Spotted U-69, dropped two depth charges but failed to damage it.
- 23rd of October, 1916. Went to pick up survivors of another sloop that got sunk by a German submarine. 12 survivors were picked up.
- 8th of March, 1917. Spotted possibly U-53, fired shots at it and hit it once.
- 28th of March, 1917. Escorting a tanker, but the tanker got sunk by U-57. Zinnia attacked the submarine and got very close to damaging it with depth charges.
- 3rd of May, 1917. Went to assist the British steamer Frederick Knight after it got attacked by U-62. U-62 got away and attacked shortly after again and sunk Frederick Knight.
- 4th of May, 1917. U-62 attacked a Danish vessel, which Zinnia interrupted.
- 7th of June, 1917. UC-29 attacked HMS Pargust, Pargust tricked the submarine to surface and then sunk it. Zinnia together with two other vessels came to Pargust’s aid and towed her to port.
- 20th of August, 1917. Zinnia collided with USS Benham, badly damaging the american ship.
Those are the main things HMS Zinnia did during the war, and Zinnia remained part of the 1st Sloop Flotilla at the end of the war.
In April 1920 the ship would be sold to the Belgian Navy. Zinnia was stripped of all her guns, and given to the Belgians who would put her into service as a fishing protection vessel and training ship for the naval school.
Zinnia stripped of her guns and in service with the Belgian Navy.
Source: De Platte V.I.W., Zeewezensprokkels
Specifications
Spoiler
Length: 80 meters
Beam: 10 meters
Draft: 3.35 meters
Displacement: 1.270 tons
Crew: 90Machinery:
Propulsion: 1 × triple expansion engine, 2 × cylindrical boilers
Top speed: 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h)Weaponry:
2 x 1 120 mm (4.7”) Mk IV guns
2 x 1 47 mm 3-pounder guns
Ingame
Spoiler
The WW2 era Flower-class is well known by many, but the WW1 era Flower-class not so much. I think it would be nice to see this added ingame.
The reason I suggested Zinnia specifically was because I was researching her in service with the Belgian navy, and after seeing the nice photo of her I used at the start of this suggestion, I decided to suggest her. But for an ingame point of view, any of the WW1 Era Flower-class would be nice to see ingame.
The ship’s size and good main guns will allow this ship to slug it out with other larger sloops and gunboats, maybe early destroyers too although torpedoes might prove to be hard to dodge. The lack of proper anti-aircraft guns does mean that HMS Zinnia would have to be placed at a lower BR, since more powerfull aircraft would destroy this ship with ease.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this little submarine hunting sloop.
Please make sure to leave a comment down below!
Source: De Platte V.I.W., Zeewezensprokkels
Sources
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Main source:
Secondairy source:
Extra:
Weaponry: