Mystery ship

[Silver Fox]

Can anyone name this little known ship and where it was stationed?

I can tell you that it has heavier armament than a typical WWII Corvette...2x 4" guns and a howitzer along with various lighter guns.

[Collin]

Locust class? Singapore?

regards Collin:ernae:

[Togo]

Agreed, Dragonfly and Grasshopper were both lost at Singapore as was the larger Scorpion, (she also had 2 x 3pdr guns unlike the others). The other Locust class stayed at home.

[Silver Fox]

Sorry Grasshoppers...it's not a Locust.

2 of the Locusts reached their intended station in the Far East...the outbreak of war forced the RN to retain the other two ships at home to carry out other duties.

[Togo]

Must be Scorpion then? (If not Locust Class).
No other gunboats had 2 x 4 inch guns and a 3.7 inch howitzer.

[Silver Fox]

:icon29: :ernae:

It is indeed Scorpion, shown in Shanghai Harbour. Congrats Togo!

Scorpion was very similar to the later Locusts...but a fair bit larger. I find these gunboats fascinating, a quick look can convince you that they are converted ferries or something similar and yet they are purpose-built warships.

I discovered Scorpion while researching a possible RC model subject. I wanted to build something similar to HMS Porcupine, a fictional gunboat in Douglas Reeman's novel "The Pride and the Anguish". I couldn't find a close match until I saw a picture of Scorpion with an enlarged, squared-off wheelhouse and bridge deck.

[MaskRider]

If ya love tales of the Yangtze Patrol read Kemp Tolley's book by the same name- about his days as a junior officer in the US Navy on the Yangtze. Wonderful read. Its a shame that the Yangtze has been dammed up and so many of the old places that the gunboats called home are going to disappear under water.

Many of the American boats were ordered out of Shanghai and headed for Manila and Subic Bay just prior to the Pear Harbor.

Most were captured by the Japanese when they took over Manila and Cavite and many were used by the Japanese to shell American positions on Corregador. At least one was sunk by return artillary fire from the there. Nevertheless several of the old American Yangtze Patrol gunboats saw service with the Japanese in the Philippine until the very end of the war. They used them for coastal patrols.

That was a very colorful slice of Naval history for all involved.

Hehe, I watched the Sand Pebbles just the other night. Great flick.

Cheers,
Chris

[Collin]

WELL DONE TOGO:ernae: :medals:


Hi Chris...nice t'see ya back in the forum again.

There were plenty of incidents for a few nations along the Yangtse, including some were the American ships were sunk, Brits came to help and the French anchored to watch....s'pose its called "Diplomacy".

regards Collin:wavey:

[dhasdell]

My late father in law was "chippy on the Bee" on the Yangtze. By the time I knew him he was pretty old, and I wish I'd known him in time to hear more of his memories. Two things which he did tell me were that when the flotilla went out to China Station they were towed at least part of the time by the flotilla leader, a light cruiser, and that following particularly heavy floods one year they came across a baby boy floating in a crib and took him on board, semi-adopting him under the name of Moses.

[gdfranc]

This would be an interesting era to make a campaign in, with the Japanese rampaging through China in the 30's, the Warlords, the various foreign missions selling planes to the Chinese government (notoriously the Italians and Russians) and the rest of the foreigners doing business as usual. Some patrol ships for such a campaign would be a real treat.
Which reminds me: I remember seeing a British film when I was a kid, about a British destroyer trapped up the river (Yangtze?) by advancing Communist forces when they were taking over China. Eventually it had to fight its way out to freedom. This was supposedly an actual incident. Anybody remember this, and what was the ships name?

[Togo]

The Amethyst, and yes, it was an actual incident.

[Collin]

You will find the story here http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/AMETHYST.htm

A couple of years ago we did a quiz on this with a twist....

"Name the ships cat".......I think Oso got that one (still missed).

"Simon" http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/simon.html

regards Collin:ernae: