HMS Petunia (K79)

HMS Petunia (K79) was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. Built by George Brown & Co. of Greenock, Scotland, she was launched on 29 July 1941 and commissioned on 18 November 1941. During World War II, Petunia served primarily as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic, protecting merchant shipping from U-boat attacks. She was credited with the destruction of the German submarine U-550 on 16 April 1944, in conjunction with HMS Aylmer. After the war, Petunia was sold into civilian service and renamed Arcturus. She was eventually scrapped in 1949. The Flower-class corvettes were designed for convoy escort duties and were smaller and less expensive to build than destroyers, making them crucial to the Allied war effort.