Notable Point · 16:21-18:23

Flower construction speed and the early-war shortfall

Asphodel and Gardenia demonstrate how quickly commercial yards could deliver Flowers, clarifying how a war in 1940 or 1941 would have changed escort strength.

Notes

The construction dates show Flowers moving from laying down to commissioning in roughly a year or less. That speed supports a timing counterfactual: had war arrived on the schedule British planners expected, dozens more corvettes and additional carriers might already have been available. The shortfall reflected a mobilization plan interrupted by an unexpectedly early war as much as a failure to recognize the convoy problem.