What's a "corvette"? (etymology lesson)

[Duke W.]

1636, from Fr., "small, fast frigate," probably from M.Du. korver "pursuit ship," from M.L.G. korf meaning both a kind of boat and a basket, from L. corbita (navis) "slow-sailing ship of burden," from corbis "basket." A basket was hoisted as a signal by Egyptian grain-ships. The U.S. sports car was so named Sept. 1952, after the warship, on a suggestion by Myron Scott, employee of Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolet's advertising agency.

Fr. French
M.Du. Middle Dutch c.1100-c.1500
M.L.G Middle Low German c.1100-c.1500
L. Classical Latin

Good etymology site:

http://www.etymonline.com

Duke

[Duke W.]

More...

The Royal Navy also picked up and used the term - probably in the seventeenth century after the French, and it appears to have been used through the hybrid steam/sail warship era to the mid to late nineteenth century, then fell out of favor with pure steam warships in the late nineteenth century.

The RN revived the name for the trawler based "flower class" (about 205 feet and 300 tons) escorts that were could be built fast and cheaply in civilian yards circa 1940. They were augmented by larger, faster, and more heavily armed corvettes later in the war, however the US Navy adopted the term "destroyer escort" for similar warships. Legend has it that Churchhill himself decided on reviving the old name, but I cannnot confirm.

The name is still used by many navies in Europe, South America, and elsewhere around the world. Modern corvettes range from a few hundred to about 1500 tons and are designed primarily for coastal waters, though some are impressive missile boats for their size.

A mate from Oz tells me that the Royal Australian Navy is considering the purchase of the Spanish F100 design, which the Spaniards call a corvette, but my friend informs me that whatever the RAN buys is will be a DESTROYER.

Perhaps the RAN suffers from the same "brown water phobia" as the "blue water" USN and prefers not to use the name corvette as a warship classification.'

The USN is currently working on a "littoral combat ship", which for all practical purposes is a corvette, but they apparently refuse to call it such.

Perhaps a letter writing campaign to Congress is in order!

Duke

[Joe C.]

Duke......Here's a Link to a Proposed C7

http://www.amphicar.com/action_shots.html

Oh, frigate! That's the wrong web page.

Joe

[Donald M.]

Re: More...

Duke, for a more complete story of RN Corvette action during WWII, see "Hitler's U-Boat War" (author?)It's a long book but has great detail and is an interesting read.
Don

[Gordon Peterson #4961]

Re: Duke......Here's a Link to a Proposed C7

Joe -

I gotta tell ya, this is hilarious. The "VERY fast entry" clip looks like skipping stones, only with cars!

Pete