Insect class gunboat
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 HMS Mantis, watercolour illustration by an official artist of the Mesopotamian Campaign, Donald Maxwell |
|
| General characteristics |  |
|---|---|
| Type: | gunboat |
| Displacement: | 625 tons |
| Length: | 72.4 metres (overall) |
| Beam: | 11 metres |
| Draught: | 1.2 metres |
| Propulsion: | 2000 IHP |
| Speed: | 14 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 55 |
| Armament: |
2xBL 6 inch Mk VII 1x3 inch |
| Armour: | improvised |
The Insect class patrol boats (or Large China Gunboats: the Fly class were Small China Gunboats) were a class of small but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube (the name was to disguise their function). The first four ships - Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula - were actually first employed during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
The ships were designed to operate in shallow fast-flowing rivers, with a shallow draught and a good turn of speed to counter river flow. They were fitted with two reciprocating (VTE) engines operating two propellor shafts to offer some redundancy. The propellors were housed in tunnels to minimise the operating draught.
In 1919, during the Russian Civil War, HMS Glowworm, Cicala, Cockchafer and Cricket served on the Dvina River (northern Russia, in Arkhangelsk Oblast), fighting in support of White Russian forces. Glowworm's captain and some other crew members were killed when a nearby ammunition barge exploded.
Between the two World Wars, the class were mainly used in the Far East and they were present during the Japanese invasion of China. In 1937, on the Yangtze river, the Japanese attacked HMS Ladybird, firing on her from a shore battery. A US gunboat, USS Panay was also attacked, by Japanese aircraft, and sunk. HMS Ladybird sailed the 20 miles to the scene of the sinking, took on board some of the Panay survivors and took them to Shanghai. HMS Scarab and Cricket were off of Nanking in 1937 as the Japanese started to bomb the city.
At the start of World War II, three vessels, HMS Cricket, Gnat and Ladybird, were transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet's Inshore Squadron. They joined the monitor HMS Terror and provided bombardment support for the 8th Army. Their shallow draught allowed them to act also as supply and landing vessels, able to close in to beaches.
In June 1943, HMS Aphis took part in the bombardment of Pantellaria (Operation Corkscrew).
[edit] The ships
- HMS Aphis: scrapped Singapore, 1947
- HMS Bee: flagship of Rear Admiral, Yangtze (RAY), sold in March 1939.
- HMS Cicala: sunk by Japanese bombs on 21st December 1941.
- HMS Cockchafer: sold in 1949.
- HMS Cricket: heavily damaged by bombs on 29th June 1941; reportedly scrapped 1944; report false as sunk off Cyprus 1944.
- HMS Glowworm: scrapped September 1928.
- HMS Gnat: Damaged by U-boat, declared total loss, and then used as anti-aircraft platform. Scrapped 1946
- HMS Ladybird: sunk on 12th May 1941 off Tobruk during WWII, then used as an anti-aircraft position
- HMS Mantis: sold in January 1940.
- HMS Moth: captured by the Japanese, sunk by mines in Yangtze River on 19 March 1945.
- HMS Scarab: scrapped in 1948.
- HMS Tarantula briefly flagship of the British Pacific Fleet, expended as a target 1946
