HMS Willowherb

History
United States
Name	Vitality
Builder	Midland Shipyard, Midland, Ontario, Canada
Launched	15 April 1943
Fate	Transferred to the Royal Navy, 30 August 1943
United Kingdom
Name	Willowherb
Commissioned	30 August 1943
Identification	Pennant number: K283
Fate	Returned to US Navy custody, 11 June 1946, scrapped 1961
General characteristics
Class and type	Action-class patrol boat
Displacement	1,375 long tons (1,397 t)
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draft	14 ft 7 in (4.45 m)
Propulsion	Two 3-drum express boilers, 2,750ihp vertical triple expansion engine, one shaft.
Speed	16.5 kn (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement	90
Armament	2 × 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts 2 × 20 mm gun mounts 1 × Hedgehog 4 × depth charge guns 2 × depth charge chutes

During the first year and more after the United States entered the war against the Axis powers, the United States Navy suffered from an acute shortage of warships, particularly of antisubmarine warfare and escort types. To fill that need, an extensive ship construction and acquisition program was inaugurated. Part of that program consisted of placing orders with British and Canadian firms already tooled up to produce Flower-class corvette. Vitality (PG-100) was such a ship. However, before she was launched on 15 April 1943 by the Midland Shipyard in Canada, she was traded to the Royal Navy under the terms of the lend-lease agreement for a similar ship being constructed in Canada. The British renamed her HMS Willowherb, and she served in the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. On 11 June 1946, she was returned to the custody of the United States Navy. Though carried on the Navy list as PG-100 following the war, Vitality never actively served the United States Navy. She remained idle until sold on 7 May 1947. To whom she was sold and for what purpose is unknown, but one source indicates that she was not scrapped until 1961.^{[citation needed]}

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• USS Vitality (PG-100)
• Online: Gunboat Photo Archive - HMS Willowherb (K283) ex-Vitality (PG 100)

This page was last edited on 23 February 2024, at 11:03