Flower-class sloop

The Flower class comprised five sub-classes of sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy during World War I, all of which were named after various flowers. They were popularly known as the "herbaceous borders" or the "cabbage class"

The "Flowers" were designed to be built at merchant shipyards, to ease the pressure on yards specializing in warships, and as a result had a distinctive "merchant marine" appearance. Originally used as mine-sweepers, the "Flowers" were later employed as convoy escorts. One group, the Anchusa’s, were employed specifically as decoy vessels (Q-ships).

Some 112 "Flowers" in total were built for the Royal Navy, and a further eight for the French Marine Militaire. Of these, 17 RN and one French "Flowers" were sunk.

The five sub-classes were:

Acacia-class sloop: first group to be built, in 1915. 24 vessels built in two batches of 12. Two sunk during the war.
Azalea-class sloop: 12 vessels built in 1915. Slightly modified Acacia's; two sunk during the war.
Arabis-class sloop: 36 vessels built 1915, a further eight for French Navy. Five British, and one French vessel sunk.
Aubretia-class sloop: 12 vessels built 1916; two sunk.
Anchusa-class sloop: 28 vessels built 1917. Saw service as Q ships; six sunk.

External links

Media related to Flower class sloop at Wikimedia Commons

This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.

v t e Flower classes of sloops
Anchusa class Arabis class Azalea class Acacia class Aubrietia class
Preceded by: Cadmus class Followed by: P class
List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy

v t e British naval ship classes of the First World War
Aircraft/Seaplane carriers	Empress^S^V Riviera^S^V Engadine^S^V Ark Royal^S Ben-my-Chree^S^V Campania^S^V Raven II^S^V Anne^S^V Vindex^S^V Manxman^S^V Furious^M Pegasus^S^V Nairana^S^V Argus^S^V Vindictive^S^V
Dreadnought battleships	Dreadnought^S Bellerophon St Vincent Neptune^S Colossus Orion King George V Erin^S Agincourt^S Iron Duke Canada^S Queen Elizabeth Revenge
Pre-dreadnought battleships	Royal Sovereign Majestic Canopus Formidable London Duncan King Edward VII Swiftsure Lord Nelson
Battlecruisers	Invincible Indefatigable Lion Queen Mary^S Tiger^S Renown Courageous Admiral^S^A
Armoured cruisers	Cressy Drake Monmouth Devonshire Duke of Edinburgh Warrior Minotaur
Heavy cruisers	Hawkins^A
Light cruisers	Town^G Arethusa C^G^C Danae^C Emerald^A
Protected cruisers	Apollo Astraea Eclipse Blake Pearl Edgar Powerful Diadem Arrogant Pelorus Highflyer Challenger Topaze
Scout cruisers	Adventure Forward Pathfinder Sentinel Boadicea Blonde Active
Destroyer flotilla leaders	Swift^S Faulknor Marksman Parker Thornycroft (or Shakespeare)^C Admiralty (or Scott)^C
Destroyers	A^G B^G C^G D^G E^G F G H I K L Admiralty M Hawthorn M Thornycroft M Yarrow M Yarrow Later M Medea Arno^S R^G S^G^C Talisman V and W^G^C
Torpedo boats	TB 81^S TB 98 TB 109 TB 114 Cricket^G
Monitors	Marshal Ney Abercrombie Lord Clive Humber Gorgon M15 M29 Erebus
Minesweepers	Racecourse Hunt Dance
Gunboats	Fly Insect
Submarines	A B C D E F G H^C J K L^C M^C R^C Swordfish^S V
Sloops	P Cadmus Flower Acacia Azalea Arabis Anchusa Aubrietia 24^C
naval trawlers	Castle Mersey
A All completed after the war C One or more completed after the war G Grouping of several classes M converted from Courageous class S Single ship of class V Conversions