Postwar Flower-sloop voyages raise an intelligence question

The possibility remains that some Flower-class sloops retained an intelligence role after their World War I service. Several vessels were sold to civilian companies and spent the next two decades trading through the Far East, Mediterranean, and Europe. Their routes repeatedly brought them to ports that were also naval bases, and their crews included many former Royal Navy personnel. Those details suggest that civilian voyages could have preserved an observation role, although the connection remains a possibility rather than a documented conclusion.