The first Acacia batch was ordered, launched, and commissioned rapidly in 1915, demonstrating the depth of Britain's First World War shipbuilding base. The Admiralty could request generic small warships and distribute a simple design across yards without waiting for new machinery or weapons. The wider Flower family reached 112 British and eight French ships, with 102 surviving the war. Since a convoy commonly needed four to eight escorts, these unglamorous vessels supplied enough operational scale to protect roughly 25 to 30 convoys at once.
Chapter · 35:38-38:30
Mass-produced sloops become convoy infrastructure
A 120-ship construction program created enough surviving sloops to support dozens of escorted convoys at once and remain useful after the war.