The ships were designed by naval engineer William Reed, of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees, to have the endurance and anti-submarine capabilities of the Black Swan-class sloops, while being quick and cheap to build in civil dockyards using the machinery (e.g. reciprocating steam engines instead of turbines) and construction techniques pioneered in the building of the Flower-class corvettes.

Tweed was funded through the Warship Week programme, with Hatfield, Hertfordshire raising over £150,000 to pay for the construction of the ship.

[1] After commissioning in April 1943, Tweed participated in anti-submarine warfare exercises off Lough Foyle and served in convoy escort missions.

[1] On 7 January 1944, Tweed was about 600 miles west of Cape Ortegal in the Atlantic Ocean, serving as part of the 5th Escort Group.

At 17:11 a GNAT torpedo fired by U-305 struck Tweed, which sank with the loss of 83 lives.