HMS Arabis (K73)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Arabis
Namesake	Arabis
Ordered	19 September 1939
Builder	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	1058[1]
Laid down	30 October 1939
Launched	14 February 1940
Completed	5 April 1940[1]
Commissioned	5 April 1940
Out of service	30 April 1942
Identification	Pennant number: K73
United States
Name	Saucy
Commissioned	30 April 1942
Decommissioned	20 August 1945
Out of service	26 August 1945
Stricken	19 September 1945
Identification	Hull number: PG-65
United Kingdom
Name	Snapdragon
Namesake	Snapdragon
Identification	Pennant number: K73
Fate	Sold into merchant service in 1946.[Note 1] Renamed SS Katina in 1947. Renamed SS Tewfik in 1950
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	925 long tons (940 t)
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draught	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Propulsion	Two fire tube boilers One 4-cycle triple-expansion steam engine, generating 2,750 hp (2,050 kW)
Speed	16 kn (30 km/h)
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement	85
Armament	1 × BL 4 in (102 mm) Mk IX gun, 1 × 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount 2 × 20 mm twin machine guns, 2 × stern depth charge racks with 40 depth charges

HMS Arabis was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. The ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Arabis. She was transferred to the United States Navy in 1942, serving as USS Saucy. Returned to the United Kingdom in 1945, she was recommissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Snapdragon.

Arabis was built at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, as part of the 1939 War Emergency Programme for the Royal Navy. One of the early Flower-class corvettes, she was ordered on 19 September 1939, and laid down a month later. She was launched on 14 February 1940 and completed on 5 April 1940.^[2] She was named after the flowering plant arabis, sometimes known as rockcress.

After working up, Arabis was assigned to the Western Approaches Escort Force for service as a convoy escort. In this role Arabis was engaged in all the duties performed by escort ships; protecting convoys, searching for and attacking U-boats which attacked ships in convoy, and rescuing survivors. During this period she fought in several convoy battles. In September 1940 Arabis was part of the force escorting convoy OB 216, which lost four ships and in October with OB 229 which lost two. The same month she was with the ill-fated HX 79 which lost twelve ships in a matter of hours.^[3] In May 1941 Arabis was part of the force escorting HX 126,^[4] which lost seven ships sunk, and in June with HX 133 which saw six ships sunk and one U-boat destroyed.^[5]

During her two years service in the Battle of the Atlantic Arabis escorted 47 Atlantic and 11 Gibraltar convoys, assisting in the safe passage of over 2,000 ships, though some were subsequently lost.^[6]

Whilst at Belfast in April 1942, she was transferred to the United States Navy under Reverse Lend Lease, one of ten Flower-class corvettes to be so transferred during 1942. After escorting a convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she sailed to Boston for refitting. Following this she escorted ships between Trinidad and Barbados. In September she was transferred to the Trinidad-Guantanamo Bay convoy route and in January 1943 was changed again, to the Trinidad-Recife, route. She returned to North Atlantic convoy duties in March 1944 and was decommissioned from the United States Navy at Chatham, England in August 1945.

Recommissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Snapdragon, she was sold in 1946.^{[Note 1]}

She worked as the merchant vessel SS Katina and in 1950 was renamed SS Tewfik.

• "Saucy". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 1 October 2017..
• "HMS Snapdragon – ex-USS Saucy (PG 65)". NavSource Online. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
• Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Arabis (K 73)". Corvette of the Flower class. Uboat.net. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
• Helgason, Guðmundur. "USS Saucy (PG-65)". Corvette of the Flower class. Uboat.net. Retrieved 31 January 2009.

• Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Elliott, Peter (1977). Allied Escort Ships of World War II: A complete survey. London: Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0-356-08401-9.
• Hague, Arnold : The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945 (2000) ISBN 1-55125-033-0 (Canada). ISBN 1-86176-147-3 (UK)