HMS Lotus was a Flower-class corvette

Flower class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...

 that served in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

She was built by Henry Robb Limited

Henry Robb

Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a British shipbuilding company based in Leith Docks on the east coast of Scotland. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugs and dredgers.-History:...

, of Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and launched on 16 January 1942. Originally named HMS Phlox, she was renamed in April 1942 after the previous HMS Lotus was transferred to the Free French Navy. She was commissioned in May 1942.

Service career

Lotus commissioned in May 1942, and was assigned to escort duty with the Arctic convoy route

Arctic convoys of World War II

The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...

. In June she sailed with the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17

Convoy PQ-17

PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...

. After the convoy scattered, Lotus accompanied Pozarica and several other ships to Novaya Zemlya

Novaya Zemlya

Novaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...

, before setting out on her captain's initiative to search for survivors. She was able to rescue 38 survivors from the SS River Afton

SS River Afton

The SS River Afton was a steam merchant built in 1935 by Lithgows, of Port Glasgow, Scotland and homeported in Glasgow. She was operated by Campbell Brothers & Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She was named after the River Afton in Ayrshire, Scotland....

, including Jack Dowding, the convoy commodore, and 29 from Pankrist. Returning to Matochkin Lotus and her companions escorted the eight ships there to Archangel, arriving on 11 July, though two were sunk by aircraft before reaching port. From Archangel, and with two other ships under the leadership of Comm. Dowling, Lotus helped to find and escort six more ships in the White Sea

White Sea

The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...

, and brought them to Archangel.
Lotus returned to Britain in September 1942 with convoy QP 14.

On her return Lotus was assigned, with the Arctic corvettes Dianella, Poppy and Starwort, to escort duties in the Mediterranean, in support of Operation Torch

Operation Torch

Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....

. These four corvettes served together for the remainder of the war at sea.
In late 1942 Lotus was operating in the Mediterranean, where on 12 November, in company with Starwort, she attacked and destroyed U 660 off Oran

Oran

Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...

.
The following day Lotus and Poppy attacked an underwater contact off Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

 and were rewarded with the sounds of a U-boat breaking up, which Lotus's captain, Lt.Cdr HJ Hall, reported in an erudite signal

Pompholoogopaphlasmasin

Pompholoogopaphlasmasin was an expression used during World War II by a Royal Navy captain in a signal reporting on an action in the Mediterranean.-The action:...

 to the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

. Their lordships were so taken with this that the signal was circulated throughout the fleet.
Post war analysis credited Lotus and Poppy with the destruction of U-605, though a later reassessment in 1987 decided their attack had been against U-77

German submarine U-77 (1940)

German submarine U-77 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine built by the Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack. The boat was sunk on 28 March 1943 east of Cartagena, Spain, in position by four depth charges and one bomb from two British Lockheed Hudson aircraft.-Ships sunk or...

 which escaped with damage.

Lotus and her companions returned to the northern route in December 1942, serving with several Arctic convoys until the spring of 1943.
In summer 1943 Lotus and her consorts were in the Mediterranean once more, on the Mediterranean leg of the KMS/MKS and GU/UG routes.

In winter 1943 Lotus and the corvettes were again in the Arctic, escorting JW/RA convoys, until spring 1944, when they transferred to the North Atlantic. They remained on this assignment, escorting HX, SC and ON convoys until the end of the war.

Postwar career

Lotus survived the Second World War, and served with the Royal Navy until 1947. In 1947 she was put up for sale and bought
by Christian Salvesen Ltd

Christian Salvesen Ltd

Christian Salvesen was a European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in the United Kingdom and western Europe...

. She became the merchant vessel

Merchant vessel

A merchant vessel is a ship that transports cargo or passengers. The closely related term commercial vessel is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire...

 Southern Lotus. She was refitted as a buoy tender

Buoy tender

A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. The name is also used for someone who works on such a vessel and maintains buoys....

 at Smith's Dock in 1948 and later used as a whaler

Whaler

A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...

 until 1963. She was towed from Leith Harbour to Melsomvik

Melsomvik

Melsomvik is a village in the municipality of Stokke, Norway. Its population is 1,498....

 in the Spring of 1963 and laid up. She was sold in December 1966 for breaking up in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and towed together with the Southern Briar (formerly HMS Cyclamen) by the tug

Tug

Tuğ is a village in the Khojavend Rayon of Azerbaijan....

 Temi III. The towing wire broke on 18 December in stormy weather, causing both ships to ground and be wrecked off Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

.