HMCS Spikenard (K198)

HMCS Spikenard was a that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort. She was named for the Spikenard flower.

Background
Flower-class corvettes like Spikenard serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different to earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

Construction
She originally ordered on 22 January 1940 by the Royal Navy as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class program as HMS Spikenard (K198). Spikenard was laid down 24 February 1940 and launched later that year on 10 August. She was commissioned on 6 December 1940 in Quebec City, Quebec. On 15 May 1941 she was one of ten corvettes loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.

Royal Navy
On 21 January 1941 she sailed with convoy HX 104 to get her final equipment at South Shields, Tyne in the United Kingdom. She was worked up at Tobermory and left on June 10 with convoy OB 332 as a full escort.

Royal Canadian Navy
After commissioning in the RCN she was assigned as an ocean escort. From July 1941 to January 1942 Spikenard made three round-trips to Iceland. During her time in port, her commander, H.F. Shadforth, had sunk a six inch spike into the ceiling of the Seagoing Officers Club, "The Crowsnest" in St. John's, Newfoundland. He signed it "'Spikenard' his Spike". It remained there for a long time after the war.

Sinking
While escorting convoy SC 47, with her commanding officer was the Senior Officer among the escorts. On the night of 10 February 1942, Spikenard was torpedoed by U-136. The other escorts in the group had been caught up chasing contacts and had not known Spikenard was gone until she had not answered repeated radio calls. Some escorts fell back and only found eight survivors.