This very useful design was the "Flower" class of minesweepers - a very basic design drawn up when it was realised that minesweeper fleets were critically number deficient. It was thus designed around all the minimums for such a vessel - dimensions, performance & armament, and all these were to be as simple as possible to allow for rapid production by small, inexperienced yards. The names were those of British coastal towns, villages or ports, apart from a few transferred from the RCN which retained Canadian names.
12 knots was considered the minimum sweeping speed, and this allowed a vessel 70 feet shorter than the "Halcyon" class. With little reduction in freeboard, they had a very full looking hull, and except for a small, square bridge, a short funnel and a pole masts, was devoid of any superstructure and were very thus plain and sparse looking vessels.
The incorporation of diesel, reciprotating and turbine machinery into the first batch showed an awareness into suitable substitutes for turbine power.
War modifications included the addition of AW type 286 RDF, adding four 20mm Oerlikon AA, replacing any multiple machine-guns with a 2pdr pom-pom, a single or a twin 20mm Oerlikon.
they could only accomodate traditional wire sweeps, and as the requirements for this diminished later in the war, a few were converted to target-towers, the aft AA gun-tub being replaced by a tow hook, and the sweeping gear by a framework to clear the tow-rope of the deck, target stowage and tow-rope stowage.
A number were transferred to Commonwealth or foreign navies during or soon after the war, and the remainder were scrapped in the late1940s or early 1950s.
The highly successful Australian "Bathurst" Class minesweeping corvettes were a development of the "Bangor" Class.