[3][4][5] The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877.

[8] Mayflower was ordered 20 January 1940 for the Royal Navy as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program.

[9] She was commissioned on 28 November 1940 and sailed to the United Kingdom in February 1941 for completion on the Tyne River in May.

She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.

[12] On 2 October 1941, Mayflower picked up 35 survivors from the British tanker San Florentino that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-94.

[10] In April 1944 she was assigned to Western Approaches Command to take part in Operation Neptune, the naval aspect of the invasion of Normandy.