HMS Milfoil

HMS Milfoil after her transfer to the US Navy
History
United Kingdom
Name	Milfoil
Namesake	Achillea millefolium
Laid down	November 1941
Launched	5 August 1942
Fate	Transferred to the United States Navy
United States
Name	Intensity
Commissioned	31 March 1943
Decommissioned	3 October 1945
Fate	Sold to Balleneros Ltd. of Panama
Panama
Name	Olympic Promoter
Acquired	1950
Fate	Transferred to a Japanese Company
Japan
Name	Otori Maru №5
Acquired	1965
Fate	Broken up 1 April 1966
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	1,375 tons
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draught	14 ft 7 in (4.45 m)
Propulsion	Two 3-drum express boilers driving a Canadian Vickers VTE engine
Speed	16.5 knots
Complement	90
Armament	1 × 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts

HMS Milfoil was a modified Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (as USS Intensity (PG-93)) before being transferred to Panama where she served as a whaling ship.

During most of World War II, she operated from New York on escort duty to the Caribbean Sea. She completed 15 escort runs in this role. As USS Intensity, she was designated an Action-class patrol gunboat and manned by the United States Coast Guard. She was put on patrol in New York for a month in 1944 but was later returned to escort duty in the Caribbean.

After the threat from German attack disappeared in May 1945, USS Intensity sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving on 29 June 1945. She was decommissioned later that year in Charleston and put into the trust of the United States Maritime Commission.

In 1950, she was sold to a Panamanian company, Balleneros Ltd., where she was used as a whaling ship called Olympic Promoter. She was then sold to a Japanese company and renamed Otori Maru № 5.

The ship was scrapped at Shodoshima on 1 April 1966.

References

• USN Ships--USS Intensity (PG-93)
• uboat.net: Corvette of the Flower (rev.) class
• Gunboat PG-93 Intensity on navsource.org
• PG-93 Intensity