HMS Peony Builder Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland Yard number 1066[1] Laid down 24 February 1940 Launched 4 June 1940 Completed 2 August 1940 Commissioned 2 August 1940 Out of service Transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1943 Renamed Sachtouris on transfer Reinstated Returned to the Royal Navy in September 1951 Identification Pennant number: K40 Fate Scrapped 21 April 1952
Armament 1 × BL 4 in (102 mm) Mk IX gun 2 × .50 cal machine gun twin machine guns 2 × 0.303 in Lewis machine guns 2 × stern depth charge racks with 40 depth charges Minesweeping Equipment
Ship - Destroyer 1940 Speed 1 MG 2 2 1 AA 3 ASW 4
A1 V4 H2 Minesweeping Close Escort
Draft: Principally used a convoy escort. Peony was part of the 10th Corvette group of the Mediterrean fleet. The formation was the close escort of the fast merchants of convoy central to operation Collar to resupply Malta. Thid operation directly lead to the battle of cape spartivento. Peony was also used to supplement the limited numbers of minesweepers available to the medditerean fleet
Employment of the unit may be a bit challenging. Close Escort is nice, but speed 1 means it will take forever to get to the mid-map where the mines usually are. Maybe in combination with a Advance Naval Base? A cheap, little, niche scenario unit I suppose, but very hard to use in the standard game construct.
I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way. - Captain John Paul Jones
Has a DD with two speed destroyer sweep (TSDS) ever been considered? Most could carry it and as far as I know has not been represented yet. This would give a fighting SPEED 2 mine sweeping capability and be better than a plodding HMS Peony, which I still think is a wasted unit/slot. A lot of RN DDs took part in these battles one way or another, which the starter is concerned with, and ironically Faulknor & Hotspur were both there and carried this but obviously we did them last deck. But others like Greyhound (also two u boat kills) & Gallant (Griffin would also have done) could be used. The fact that Cigno has changed unit and Ottawa in that guise was not at these battles shows some flexibility to the set.
Testing water but Peony can be improved on. Might take a little juggling about.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
I agree the flowers are unrepresented but I would hope for a better one. They are best used (if at all in standard games!) in trying to affect U boats on your side of the board, preferably under cover. The slow speed sweeping would be a waste of a flower slot in my view, Halcyon kinda fills that to a certain extent.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
That would be a better option and a more worthy flower.
Going back to the TSDS question has this ever been looked at. It only came to mind because of the sweeping discussion but I'd be intrigued how it would work on a fleet DD, Once per game SA? Permanent etc. A speed 2 platform is attractive.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
Although it's a lot more gamey than historical, what about putting coatal deployment on it so it can deploy around islands?? Would make it more useable...
A1 V4 H2 Minesweeping Close Escort Convoy Protection - this unit may deploy adjacent to a friendly auxiliary. If it does, it cannot capture a objectuves on turn 1&2
I found a detailed breakdown of Hyaci ths history, and she was used in minesweeping ven if not specially equipped.
Special note, hyacinth was equipped with a 3" rather than the standard 4" main gun