Corvette of the Flower class
| Navy | The US Navy |
| Type | Corvette |
| Class | Flower |
| Pennant | PG-63 |
| Built by | John Crown & Sons Ltd. (Sunderland, U.K) : N.E. Marine |
| Ordered | 31 Aug, 1939 |
| Laid down | 23 Oct, 1939 |
| Launched | 5 Jun, 1940 |
| Commissioned | 24 Mar, 1942 |
| End service | 20 Aug, 1945 |
| Loss position | |
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| History | Ordered for French Navy but taken over with the fall of France.
Transferred to the U.S.N at Hull, England, on 24 March 1942.
Commissioned as USS Surprise (PG-63) on the same day.
USS Surprise was decommissioned by the U.S.N. on 20 August 1945 at Chatham, England and returned to the Royal Navy on 26 August 1945.
Sold into Merchantile service and finally ended up in the Communist Chinese Navy as Lin I. |
| Former name | HMS Helitrope |
| Noteable events involving Surprise include: 30 Jun, 1942
USS Surprise picks up 50 survivors from the American merchant Sea Thrush that was torpedoed and sunk on 28 June 1942 by the German submarine U-505 about 425 nautical miles north-east of San Juan, Puerto Rico in position 22º38'N, 60º59'W. 7 Nov, 1942
USS Surprise picks up 6 survivors from the British merchant Lindenhall that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-508 about 40 nautical miles north of Margarita Island, Venezuela in position 11º34'N, 63º26'W. 7 Jul, 1943
USS Surprise takes of 18 men from the American merchant Thomas Sinnickson that was torpedoed and damaged by the German submarine U-185 about 125 nautical miles east of Fortaleza, Brazil in position 03º51'S, 36º22'W. After a crack appeared in the bulkhead between the engine room and #3 hold, the officers came to the conclusion that the ship is lost and at daylight on 8 July all hands abandoned ship and were picked up by the corvette, which scuttled the wreck by gunfire at 1430 hours. |
