At roughly 1,200 tons and 80 metres overall, the Acacias were substantially larger than the later Flower-class corvettes. Their beam was similar to the later corvettes, but their greater length and displacement place them firmly in the sloop category. Emergency construction depended on the industrial system supporting it. First World War Britain could rapidly build a relatively large, robust escort because it retained deeper maritime capacity than it would possess in the Second World War.
Chapter · 7:01-9:15
A larger kind of emergency-built escort
Dimensions and comparisons with Black Swan sloops and Second World War Flower corvettes show what Britain's 1915 shipbuilding base could produce quickly.