Editing Corvette (section)

==World War II==
{{more citations needed|section|date=September 2021}}
[[File:HMCS Regina K234 CT-252.jpg|thumb|{{HMCS|Regina|K234|6}}, a {{sclass2|Flower|corvette|1}}]]{{See also| List of corvettes of the Second World War}}
The modern corvette appeared during [[World War II]] as an easily-built patrol and [[convoy]] escort vessel.<ref name=poa/> The British naval designer [[William Reed (engineer)|William Reed]] drew up a small ship based on the single-shaft [[Smiths Dock Company]] [[whale catcher]] {{ship||Southern Pride}}, whose simple design and mercantile construction standards lent itself to rapid production in large numbers in small yards unused to naval work. [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] [[Winston Churchill]], later Prime Minister, had a hand in reviving the name "corvette".

During the arms buildup leading to World War II, the term "corvette" was almost attached to the {{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer|||1936}}. The Tribals were so much larger than and sufficiently different from other British destroyers that some consideration was given to resurrecting the classification of "corvette" and applying it to them.

This idea was dropped, and the term applied to small, mass-produced antisubmarine escorts such as the {{sclass2|Flower|corvette|4}} of World War II. (Royal Navy ships were named after [[flower]]s, and ships in [[Royal Canadian Navy]] service took the name of smaller Canadian cities and towns.) Their chief duty was to protect convoys throughout the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] and on the routes from the UK to [[Murmansk]] carrying supplies to the [[USSR|Soviet Union]].

The Flower-class corvette was originally designed for offshore patrol work, and was not ideal when pressed into service as an antisubmarine escort. It was shorter than ideal for oceangoing convoy escort work, too lightly armed for antiaircraft defense, and the ships were barely faster than the merchantmen they escorted. This was a particular problem given the faster [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[U-boat]] designs then emerging. Nonetheless, the ship was quite seaworthy and maneuverable, but living conditions for ocean voyages were challenging. As a result of these shortcomings, the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the [[frigate]], which was larger, faster, better armed, and had two shafts. However, many small yards could not produce vessels of frigate size, so an improved corvette design, the {{sclass2|Castle|corvette|4}}, was introduced later in the war, with some remaining in service until the mid-1950s.

The [[Royal Australian Navy]] built 60 {{sclass|Bathurst|corvette|2}}s, including 20 for the Royal Navy crewed by Australians, and four for the [[Indian Navy]]. These were officially described as Australian [[minesweeper]]s, or as [[minesweeping]] sloops by the Royal Navy, and were named after [[Australia]]n towns.

The {{sclass2|Bird|minesweeper|2}}s or [[Naval trawler|trawlers]] were referred to as corvettes in the [[Royal New Zealand Navy]], and two, {{HMNZS|Kiwi|T102|2}} and {{HMNZS|Moa|T233|2}}, rammed and sank a much larger Japanese [[submarine]], {{Jsub|I-1|1924|2}}, in 1943 in the Solomon Islands.

In Italy, the [[Regia Marina]], in dire need of escort vessels for its convoys, designed the {{sclass|Gabbiano|corvette|2}}, of which 29 were built between 1942 and 1943 (out of 60 planned); they proved apt at operations in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], especially in regards to their anti-air and anti-submarine capability, and were so successful that the class survived after the war into the [[Marina Militare Italiana]] until 1972.