Is a modern Flower class corvette even realistic?

T. A. Gardner said:
That strategy is flawed actually. Sinking the escorts, unless you get most or all of them, leaves the convoy intact. It is the merchant ships and their cargo in a guerre de course that are the important target. Better a U-boat sinks one or two merchants and spends time evading the escort's retaliation, than sinking an escort and facing that same retaliation having accomplished next to nothing for it.
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I guess theoretically if you target the escorts now, there’s fewer in the future making it easier to get at the convoys more easily and safely?
 
Mk38 said:
I guess theoretically if you target the escorts now, there’s fewer in the future making it easier to get at the convoys more easily and safely?
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The Allies were turning out escort ships faster than the Germans could build submarines. Also, they had the capacity to repair escorts that were damaged but not sunk.
 
Scott Kenny said:
But do we still have that capability now?
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I'd say, it depends. The big issue in the US, and I assume it's a major one in Europe too, is that environmental and safety laws get in the way of production. These raise the cost of production machinery, techniques, and everything else massively, often for little or no return on investment.

That in turn slows production and makes it grossly expensive. Manufacturers of physical 'stuff' see this and offshore their operations to other countries where such rules are far laxer or simply don't exist.

So, if those rules were suddenly tossed aside for mass production, it would again happen pretty quickly.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
The Allies were turning out escort ships faster than the Germans could build submarines. Also, they had the capacity to repair escorts that were damaged but not sunk.
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While the repair capacity might have existed the RN began to take a more pragmatic view from mid-war. So in 1939/40 significantly damaged ships were repaired, sometimes at great cost in time and resources. The following come to mind:
Belfast - mined. Repairs took nearly 3 years.
Eskimo - destroyer. Lost bow at Narvik. Rebuilt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eskimo_(F75)#/media/File:HMSEskimoBowTorpedoDamageMay1940.jpg

Javelin - destroyer. Lost bow and stern (Over half her length). Rebuilt.

From 1943 there are some of ships not repaired despite mine, bomb or torpedo damage. These immediately come to mind.
Porcupine - destroyer torpedoed Dec 1942. Cut in two and towed home for scrap
Derwent - Hunt class victim of aerial torpedo March 1943. Not repaired.
Chanticleer - sloop victim of a T5 in Nov 1943. Not repaired. Became a base ship in Azores.
Carlisle - cruiser bombed in Aegean Oct 1943. Not repaired. Became base ship at Alexandria.
RHNS Adrias - Hunt class destroyer mined in Adriatic Oct 1943 losing bow back to bridge. Not repaired. Compare to Eskimo above.
1790332496065.jpeg


Loyal - destroyer mined Adriatic Oct 1944. Not repaired.
Pathfinder - bombed Burma Feb 1945. Not repaired.

Escort carriers Nabob (Aug 1944) and Thane (Jan1945) torpedoed but not repaired.
8 Captain class frigates in 1944/45 - badly damaged from various causes but not repaired.
5 RN/RCN River class frigates mostly victims of T5s. Not repaired.
Salamander - minewweeper victim of friendly fire Aug 1944. Not repaired.
Wensleydale - Hunt class Dec 1944 damaged in collision with LST. Not repaired.
Goathland - Hunt class mined July 1944. Not repaired.
Fury - destroyer mined and suffered collision damage June 1944. Not repaired.

With plenty of new ships entering service, from mid-1944 the repair effort in British yards was going into work relating to ships and vessels destined for campaigns in the far East. "Non standard" US built vessels were just an added complication.
 

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