Malcolm Wright's Camouflage of World War II gives visual coverage of destroyers, frigates, escorts, minesweepers, and coastal craft. The Flower class illustrates practical utility: these corvettes lacked the specialist capability of a first-rank anti-submarine escort, but they were reliable and available enough that many navies wanted them. The United States operated former British Flowers, including USS Spry, previously HMS Hibiscus. Comparisons with the modern Type 26 frigate and the wartime Hunt and Black Swan classes separate specialist performance from the value of a rugged ship that could be transferred and put into service widely. Calling the Flower the AK-47 of anti-submarine warfare stresses reliability and ubiquity rather than technical superiority.
Notable Point · 20:20-23:48
Camouflage and the adaptable Flower-class corvette
A camouflage study becomes a guide to why Flower-class corvettes were widely used, rugged escorts rather than first-rate specialist vessels.