Corvette

French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887)

Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II.

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft. During the Age of Sail, corvettes were smaller than frigates and larger than sloops-of-war, usually with a single gun deck. Almost all modern navies use ships smaller than frigates for coastal duty, but not all of them use the term corvette (from the French corvair). The rank Corvette Captain derives from the name of this type of ship.

Sailing vessels

During the Age of Sail, corvettes were one of many types of smaller warships. They were very closely related to sloops-of-war. The role of the corvette consisted mostly of coastal patrol, fighting minor wars, supporting large fleets, or participating in show-the-flag missions. The British Navy began using small ships in the 1650s, but described them as sloops rather than corvettes. The first reference to a corvette was with the French Navy in the 1670s, which is where the term itself possibly originated. The Royal Navy did not use the term until after the Napoleonic Wars to describe a small un-rated vessel similar to a sloop. Most corvettes and sloops of the 17th century were around 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 meters) in length and weighed 40 to 70 tons (36 to 64 metric tonnes). They carried 4 to 8 smaller guns on a single deck. Corvettes slowly increased in size and capability, until 1800 when they reached lengths over 100 feet (30 meters) and weight ranging from 400 to 600 tons (circa 365 to 544 metric tonnes). One of the largest corvettes during the Age of Sail was the American ship, USS Constellation, built in 1855. The ship was 176 feet (54 meters) long and carried 24 guns. It was so large that some naval experts consider it a frigate. It has also been referred to as a sloop-of-war.

Steam ships

Ships during the steam era became much faster and more maneuverable than their sail ancestors. Corvettes during this era were typically used along side gunboats during colonial missions. Battleships and other larger vessels were unnecessary when subduing native peoples in the Far East and Africa.

World War II

The modern corvette appeared during World War II as an easily built patrol and convoy escort vessel. The British naval designer William Reed drew up a small ship based on the single-shaft Smiths Dock Company whale catcher Southern Pride, whose simple design and mercantile construction standards lent itself to rapid production in small yards unused to naval work, and in large numbers. Future Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, had a hand in reviving the name "corvette". The first corvettes were the Flower class (Royal Navy ships were named after flowers, though ships in Royal Canadian Navy service took the name of smaller Canadian cities and towns). Their chief duty was to protect convoys in the North Atlantic and on the routes from the UK to Murmansk carrying supplies to the Soviet Union. The Flower corvette was originally designed for offshore patrol work, and was not an ideal design for an anti-submarine escort; they were really too short for open ocean work, lightly armed for anti-aircraft defence, and little faster than the merchantmen they escorted (a particular problem given the faster German U-boat designs then emerging). They were very seaworthy and maneuverable, but crew living conditions for ocean voyages were appalling. Because of this, the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the frigate, which was larger, faster, better armed and had two shafts. However, many small yards could not produce vessels of frigate size, so an improved corvette design, the Castle class, was introduced later in the war, some of which remained in service until the mid-1950s. The Royal Australian Navy built 60 Bathurst-class corvettes, including 20 for the Royal Navy crewed by Australians, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy. These were officially described as Australian Mine Sweepers, or as Minesweeping Sloops by the Royal Navy, and were named after Australian towns.

Modern corvettes

South African frigate referred to by the SAN as a corvette SAS Mendi

Corvette Magdeburg (F 261) of the German Navy

Concept of the Milgem class corvette being produced by the Turkish Navy

Modern navies have begun to see a trend in the late part of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century towards smaller, more maneuverable surface capability. They have a displacement between 540 and 2,750 tons (550 and 2,800 metric tons) and measure 180-330 feet (55-100 meters) in length. They usually are armed with medium and small caliber guns, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and underwater warfare weapons. Many can accommodate a small or medium ASW helicopter.

Current corvette classes

Many countries today operate corvettes. Some of them include Sweden, Germany, South Africa, India, China, Israel, Poland, Turkey, Greece, and Russia. Countries that border smaller seas, such as the Baltic Sea or the Persian Gulf are more likely to build the smaller and more maneuverable corvettes. Spanish Descubierta class frigates, in service with Morocco's and Egypt's navies, are actually 1400 tm corvettes. Arguably, one of the most advanced corvette in service today is the Swedish Navy's Visby class corvette. It is the first operational warship to extensively utilize stealth technology. The United States is developing a Littoral Combat Ship, which will be very similar to a corvette. The LCS is slotted to replace the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate in American service. The new German Braunschweig class is designed to supplement Germany's fast attack craft and also incorporates stealth technology and land attack capabilities. Turkey began construction on the first of twelve Milgem class corvettes in July 2005. The lead ship, named TCG Heybeliada, is scheduled to begin sea trials in October 2010. The design concept and mission profile of Milgem is similar to the Littoral Combat Ship of the United States. The Hellenic Navy currently operates the Super-Vita class ships, which are 580 tons full load. The Hellenic Navy has categorised the class as fast attack missile craft. A similar vessel is the Kılıç class fast attack missile boat of the Turkish Navy which is classified as a corvette by Lürssen Werft, the German designer of the ship. The Indonesian Navy will receive indigenously designed corvettes, called 104 M corvette in 2008. It is possible, the corvette will be armed with C-802, which is already installed in the locally-built Fast Patrol Boat FPB-57.

See also

• List of corvette classes
• List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
• HMAS Castlemaine, a museum ship, Bathurst-class corvette
• HMCS Sackville, a museum ship, the sole remaining Flower-class corvette
• Braunschweig class corvette, the new class of corvettes of the German Navy
• Milgem class corvette, the next generation corvette class of the Turkish Navy

Further reading

• The collection Three Corvettes by Nicholas Monsarrat recounts the writer's World War II experiences on corvettes, starting as an inexperienced small-boat sailor and ending as captain.
• The novel The Cruel Sea also by Nicholas Monsarrat, which is about the life and death of a Flower-class corvette and the men in her, is regarded as one of the classic naval stories of World War II.
• The two books The Corvette Navy and On the Triangle Run by James B. Lamb give an autobiographical and historical perspective of life on Royal Canadian Navy corvettes in World War II. The author served on them for 6 years from Halifax to the beaches of D-Day.

External links

• Bathurst Class Corvettes
• Project 28 corvettes
• Corvette Elisabeth German screw corvette Elisabeth of 1869: History and high resolution photos of a model