HMS Dittany

HMS Dittany was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

History
United Kingdom
Name:	Dittany
Namesake:	Dittany
Builder:	Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood, Ontario, Canada
Launched:	31 October 1942
Status:	Transferred to the United States Navy
United States
Name:	Beacon
Namesake:	Verb:Beacon
Acquired:	7 March 1943
Status:	Transferred to the Royal Navy
United Kingdom
Name:	Dittany
Commissioned:	31 May 1943
Identification:	Pennant number: K 279
Fate:	Unknown
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette
Displacement:	1,375 long tons (1,397 t)
Length:	205 ft (62 m)
Beam:	33 ft (10 m)
Draft:	14 ft 7 in (4.45 m)
Speed:	16.5 kn (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement:	90
Armament:	2 × 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts 2 × 20 mm gun mounts 2 × depth charge tracks

On 14 August 1942, the name Beacon was approved for PG 88, a modified Flower-class corvette being built at Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. Records indicate that Beacon was to have been accepted under "reverse lend lease", commissioned in Canada, and then taken to the Boston Navy Yard for outfitting. Assigned, first, to the United Kingdom on 30 January 1943, but reassigned to the US Navy on 7 March 1943, she was reassigned again to the Royal Navy on 31 May 1943, and commissioned as HMS Dittany, her original British name. She served under that name for the rest of the war.