Allied Warships

HMS Heliotrope (K 03)

Corvette of the Flower class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeCorvette
ClassFlower 
PennantK 03 
Built byJohn Crown & Sons Ltd. (Sunderland, U.K) : N.E. Marine 
Ordered31 Aug 1939 
Laid down23 Oct 1939 
Launched5 Jun 1940 
Commissioned12 Sep 1940 
End service24 Mar 1942 
History

Ordered for French Navy but taken over with the fall of France.
Transferred to the USN 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.  

Career notesTo the United States Navy as USS Surprise

Commands listed for HMS Heliotrope (K 03)

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CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. John Jackson, RNR8 Aug 194024 Mar 1942

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Notable events involving Heliotrope include:


18 Sep 1940
HMS H 50 (Lt. A.R. Cheyne, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Tobermory with HMS Primula (Lt.Cdr. K.M. Drake, RNR) and HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR). (1)

22 Sep 1940
HMS H 50 (Lt. G.V. Prowse, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Tobermory with HMS Honeysuckle (Lt. G.W. Gregorie, RNR) and HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR). (1)

23 Sep 1940
HMS H 50 (Lt. G.V. Prowse, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Tobermory with HMS Asphodel (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) K.W. Stewart, RN) and HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR). (1)

25 Sep 1940
HMS H 50 (Lt. A.R. Cheyne, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Tobermory with HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR) and HMS Philante (Capt.(Retd.) H.S. Bowlby, RN). (1)

30 Nov 1940
HMS H 32 (Lt. R.L. Alexander, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with HMS Clarkia (Lt.Cdr. F.J.G. Jones, RNR) and HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR). (2)

1 Dec 1940
HMS Heliotrope (Lt.Cdr. J. Jackson, RNR) picks up 32 survivors from the British tanker Appalachee that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-101 about 340 nautical miles west of Bloody Foreland in position 54°30'N, 20°00'W.

Sources

  1. ADM 173/16332
  2. ADM 173/16290

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


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