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Gunboat Photo Archive

USS Impulse (PG 68)

Impulse call sign:
Nan - George - Charlie - Mike

ex-HMS Begonia (K 66)

Impulse served the Navies of the Great Britain and the United States.

British Flower Class Corvette/Temptress Class Patrol Gunboat:

Laid down as HMS Begonia (K 66) by Cook, Welton and Gemmill, Hull (Beverly), England

Launched 18 September 1940

Transferred to the U.S. Navy 10 March 1942

Commissioned USS Impulse (PG-68), 16 March 1942 at London, England

Decommissioned 22 August 1945 at Harwich, England and returned to the Royal Navy

Struck from the Naval Register 17 September 1945

Sold 22 July 1946 and renamed Begonlock

Sold in 1949 to Luzuriag Shipyards of Abaltzisketa, Spain and renamed Fundiciones Molinao

Renamed Astiluzu in 1951

Acquired by Naviera Compostela S.A. and renamed Rio Mero in 1956

Ran aground 21 January 1970 off Almeria, Spain and foundered

Scrapped in place.

Specifications:

Displacement 1,375 t.

Length 205' 2"

Beam 33'

Draft 14' 7"

Speed 16.5 kts.

Complement 87

Armament: One 4"/50 gun mount, one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm gun mounts and two depth charge tracks

Propulsion: Two 225psi Scotch boilers, one 2,750ihp Charles D. Holmes vertical triple expansion engine, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
HMS Begonia (K 66)
	72k	c. 1941 Line drawing of HMS Begonia	Joe Radigan
Flower Class Corvette
	168k	"Escort Vessel (Corvette) - (Flower Class) - With Extended Forecastle, Increased Sheer, & Fuller Lines Fwd." U.S. Navy preliminary design plan, copied from Smith Dock Co., Ltd., Drawing No. 232. This plan, dated April 1941, is for a modification of the British "Flower" class corvette. Scale of the original drawing is not given, but appears to be 1/16" = 1'. The original plan is in the 1939-1944 "Spring Styles Book" held by the Naval Historical Center. U.S. Navy photo S-511-30	Naval Historical Center
USS Impulse (PG 68)
	93k	The crew saluting the stars and stripes during the commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Impulse (PG-68) on March 16, 1942 at Albert Docks Imperial War Museum Admiralty Official Collection, by Smith, J.H. (Lt), Photo No. © IWM (A 7789)c. January 1970	Mike Green
	107k	The commissioning ceremonies complete, the captain of the USS Impulse (PG-68) addresses the ship's crew on March 16, 1942 at Albert Docks Imperial War Museum Admiralty Official Collection, by Smith, J.H. (Lt), Photo No. © IWM (A 7788)	Mike Green
	29k	.	Walter Laurence Welch via David L. Welch
	91k	Photo by Lieutenant S. J. Beadell, official Royal Navy photographer Imperial War Museum photo No. A5483 from collection No. 4700-01	Robert Hurst
	116k	27 August 1942 U.S. Navy photo	Joe Radigan
	74k
	106k
SS Rio Mero
	119k	c. January 1970	Wrecksite.eu website