River
Gunboat ordered from
John I Thornycroft
at Woolston
and launched on 8th December 1938. She was
the 2nd RN ship to carry this name, first
used for a destroyer in 1906 which was sold
in 1920. This ship was able to make
the journey to China and under own power.
B
a t t
l e H o n o u r s
None
H
e r a l d i
c D a t a
Badge:
On a
Field Blue, a Dragonfly gold.
D
e t a i
l s o f W a
r S e r v i
c e
(for more
ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search
1
9 3 9
September
Passage
to join Yangtse
Flotilla.
October
Deployed on China Station
for river patrol and to assist British
communities.
to
(Note: China was
at war with Japan and communist elements in
China were in
December
conflict
with the Chinese government
forces resulting in incidents
which frequently involved safety of British
nationalists.)
1
9 4 0
Patrol and assistance
duties in continuation.
1
9 4 1
January
Patrol
and assistance duties in continuation.
to
November
December
After
outbreak of war with Japan transferred to
Singapore for support duties in
support
of military
defence of Malaya.
1
9 4 2
January
Deployed
with HM River
Gunboat SCORPION in support of military units
during
the retreat from
Johore area..
Embarked soldiers of 15th Brigade which
had been cut off
during retreat.
Passage to
Singapore.
February
Assisted in evacuation from
Singapore.
14th
Damaged
by air attacks off Rusuk
Buaja Island,
east of
Sumatra.
Ship
abandoned and later sank at anchor.
(Casualty
List - note
on casualties)