HMS Grasshopper at the China Station |
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| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Grasshopper |
| Ordered: | 1938 |
| Builder: | Yarrow Shipbuilders, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Launched: | 19 January 1939 |
| Out of service: | 1942 |
| Fate: | Loss |
| Status: | Sunk 14 February 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Locust-class gunboat |
| Displacement: | 585 tons |
| Length: | 197ft |
| Beam: | 33ft |
| Draught: | 5ft |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Parsons geared turbines 3,800 s.h.p. |
| Speed: | 17 knots |
| Complement: | 74 |
| Armament: | 1 x BR 0.5 inch quad barrel machine gun, 1 x BR 4 inch QF Mk V gun, 1 x 3.5 inch Howitzer, 2 x 2 inch deck mounted mortars[1] |
HMS Grasshopper was a Royal Navy Locust-class gunboat. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders as a river gunboat, and launched in 1939.[1][2]
During the Second World War, Grasshopper helped secure the Chinese rivers as part of the gunboat squadron operating from Shanghai, China. She was withdrawn and sent to Singapore after the Japanese forces invaded China.
Grasshopper and her sister ship HMS Dragonfly left Keppel Harbour (Singapore) for Batavia on 14 February 1942. Later that day, while sailing south of Singapore, they were attacked by waves of Japanese bombers. Dragonfly sank in the shallow waters of the Riau Archipelago where her wreck is a dive site; Grasshopper, heavily damaged, managed to beach at Lingga Island and is also a dive wreck.[2]
Judy (1937–1950), a pointer dog, was a mascot onboard this ship. She was captured after the ship's loss, was the only known dog to be registered as a Second World War Prisoner of War, and was later awarded the Dickin Medal by the PDSA, considered to be the animals' VC.[3]
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