| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Corvette |
| Class | Flower |
| Pennant | K 71 |
| Built by | Harland & Wolff Ltd. (Belfast, Northern Ireland) |
| Ordered | 19 Sep 1939 |
| Laid down | 19 Jul 1940 |
| Launched | 16 Nov 1940 |
| Commissioned | 9 Jan 1941 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| History | Sold to be broken up for scrap on 6 February 1948. Commanding Officers: Lt. Hugh Dudley Hayes, RNR T/A/Lt.Cdr. Arthur Charles Palmer, DSC, RNR T/Lt. William George Tooley Tooley-Hawkins, RNR HMS Pimpernel is not listed as active unit in the October 1945 Navy List |
Commands listed for HMS Pimpernel (K 71)
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| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | Lt. Frederick Harold Thornton, RNR | 5 Dec 1940 | ??? | |
| 2 | Lt. Hugh Dudley Hayes, RNR | ??? | 24 Nov 1944 | |
| 3 | T/A/Lt.Cdr. Arthur Charles Palmer, RNR | 24 Nov 1944 | ??? | |
| 4 | T/Lt. William George Tooley Tooley-Hawkins, RNR | ??? | Jul 1945 ? | |
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Noteable events involving Pimpernel include:
26 Feb 1941
HMS Pimpernel (Lt. F.H. Thornton, RNR) picks up 7 survivors of the Norwegian merchant Benjamin Franklin that was torpedoed and sunk on 19 February 1941 south of Iceland in position 58º50'N, 16º30'W by the German submarine U-103.
HMS Pimpernel also picks up 32 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Borgland that was torpedoed and sunk that day, east of Ireland in postion 55º45'N, 14º29'W, by the German submarine U-47.
13 Mar 1941
HMS Pimpernel (Lt. F.H. Thornton, RNR) picks up the sole survivor of the Norwegian merchant Augvald that was torpedoed and sunk on 2 March 1941 north-west of the Hebrides in position 59º30'N, 07º30'W by the German submarine U-147.
12 Jun 1941
The British merchant Chinese Prince is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-552 south of Rockall in position 56º12'N, 14º18'W.
19 survivors are later picked up by the British corvettes HMS Arbutus (Lt. A.L.W. Warren, RNR) and HMS Pimpernel (Lt. F.H. Thornton, RNR).
17 Aug 1942
HMS Pimpernel (Lt.Cdr. F.H. Thornton, RNR) picks up 29 survivors from the British merchant Fort la Reine that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-658 in the Windward Passage west of Haiti in position 18º30'N, 75º20'W.
18 Aug 1942
HMS Pimpernel (Lt.Cdr. F.H. Thornton, RNR) picks up 43 survivors from the British merchant Empire Bede that was torpedoed and damaged by the German submarine U-553 north of Jamaica in position 19º35'N, 76º25'W. The wreck of the Empire Bede is finally sunk by gunfire from the corvette in position 19º41'N, 76º50'W.
6 Mar 1943
HMS Pimpernel (Lt. H.D. Hayes, RNR) picks up 62 men from the American merchant Thomas Hooker that was damaged by bad weather and abandoned by her crew. The drifting wreck of the Thomas Hooker was found and sunk by the German submarine U-653 on 12 March 1943 and sunk with two torpedoes in approximate position 53º00'N, 43º00'W.