Corvette of the Flower class
| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Corvette |
| Class | Flower |
| Pennant | K 51 |
| Built by | Charles Hill & Sons Ltd. (Bristol, U.K.) : Richardson, Westgarth & Clark |
| Ordered | 21 Sep, 1939 |
| Laid down | 28 Oct, 1940 |
| Launched | 26 Jul, 1941 |
| Commissioned | 4 Nov, 1941 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| |
| History | Commisioned as Protea into the south African Navy 4 October 1947.
Converted to a survey vessel 1949 by Gilbert Hammer & Co. Ltd. Durban.
Recommisioned in February 1950.
Paid off into reserve in January 1957.
Sold in 1962 and converted to merchant vessel Justin.
Broken up in Table Bay in 1967.
Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. John Dudley Birch, RNR
6 August 1941 – 6 July 1942
RD awarded in December 1941
Lt. Edward John Binfield, RNR
6 July 1942 – 16 October 1943
Promoted to A/Lt.Cdr. on ???
DSC awarded on 10 November 1942
T/Lt. H.J. Makepeace, RNR
16 October 1943 – 8 July 1943
T/Lt. E.A. King, RNVR
8 July 1945 – still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List |
| Noteable events involving Rockrose include: 8 Oct, 1942
HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, RNR) picks up 42 survivors from the American merchant Chickasaw City that was torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the German submarine U-172 about 85 nautical miles south-south-west of Capetown, South-Africa in position 34º15'S, 17º11'E.
HMS Rockrose also picks up 49 survivors from the Panamanian merchant Firethorn that was also torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the same u-boats but about 60 nautical miles north-west of Capetown in position 34º13'S, 17º21'E. 29 Oct, 1942
The British merchant Ross is torpedoed and sunk of Cape Agulhas, South Africa in position 38º51'S, 21º40'E by the German submarine U-159. 39 survivors were later picked up by HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, RNR). |
