Hi Andy, Betty and list, Further to Andy's posting about Flower Class Corvettes, my father served on the 'glamour' corvette, HMCS Kitchener. Why was it called the glamour corvette? The ship (respresenting a fictitious corvette called HMCS Donnacona) was featured in a surprisingly good 1943 Hollywood 'B' movie called Corvette K-225, which was nominated for an academy award for cinematography. The movie stars Randall Scott and it features the first on-screen appearance of Robert Mitchum, who was an unnamed 'extra'. It's not easy to find a copy of the movie, but it would be well worth the trouble for any of you wanting to learn more about corvettes because it gives a very accurate portrayal of life aboard a corvette. Here is a review: This may be the best of the World War II era submarine warfare movies made during the war. The captain, played by the always wonderful Randolph Scott (see him in "Gung Ho") has just lost an officer on a booby-trapped German sub - and then he comes across the always beautiful and luminous Ella Raines on shore who is the resentful sister of the dead officer. Scott meanwhile has to handle her somewhat irresponsible younger brother who is a new officer on Scott's Corvette. This may not be likely in reality, but it makes for a good dramatic situation. Some romance simmers with Scott and Raines (not too much!) before the Corvette sails. The convoy it protects and its captains from Allies all over the world is handled very well. Scott is masterful as the captain, and the battle scenes with the German U-boats are realistic and vicious. This is a gritty movie that gives a good depiction of the absolutely vital Battle of the Atlantic and the crucial role convoy escorts played in winning the war against Hitler. Here are two amusing footnotes to this story: Many Canadian Navy corvettes were based in Milford Haven, Wales. The ships often hosted dances, but when HMCS Kitchener was in port, it was the only ship the local girls wanted to go aboard because of its Hollywood connection. Corvettes were notoriously uncomfortable. My son once asked my father, "Grandpa, weren't you frightened of torpedos while you were in the North Atlantic?" Dad replied, "No Alex, we were all too busy throwing up!". Barbara in Vancouver ----- Original Message ----- From: AndyCAdams@aol.com Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 8:33 am Subject: [MAR] Flower Class Corvettes To: mariners@rootsweb.com > Dear List and Betty > > The majority of the Flower Class were in the Royal Navy and the > Royal > Canadian Navy. However a limited number ended up in service with > US Navy in the > early period of America's entry into the war, and at least four > French > vessels of this class ended up being taken over by the > Kriegsmarine. As far as > I am aware the sole remaining example is HMCS Sackville > which is preserved > in Canada having served the latter part of her active life > with the RCMP. > > With reference to The Cruel Sea, so rapid was the scrapping > programme of > these vessels after WWII that by 1953 the only active vessels in > Europe at > the time of the making of the film were in the Royal > Hellenic Navy and it was > the Greek vessels which featured in the film > > Rgds > > Andy Adams > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >