During service as IJN Suma in 1942 |
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| Career (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Moth |
| Ordered: | 1915 |
| Builder: | Sunderland Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down: | 1915 |
| Launched: | 9 October 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 5 January 1916 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 12 December 1941 at Hong Kong |
| General characteristics HMS Moth | |
| Class and type: | Insect-class gunboat |
| Displacement: | 625 tons |
| Length: | 72.40 m (237 ft 6 in) (overall) |
| Beam: | 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in) |
| Draft: | 1.20 m (3 ft 11 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Yarrow water tube boilers, 2 x North Eastern Marine Engineering Works expansion turbines, 2 shafts, 2000 SHP |
| Speed: | 14.0 knots (16.1 mph; 25.9 km/h) |
| Complement: | 55 |
| Armament: |
(on 1916) 2 x BL 6 inch Mk VII 1 x 3 inch AAG 1 x QF 2 pdr. naval gun 8 x Lewis guns |
| Career (Japan) | |
| Name: | Suma (須磨) |
| Builder: | Navy 2nd Construction Department at Hong Kong |
| Acquired: | February 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 1 July 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 May 1945 |
| Fate: | Sunk 19 March 1945 by naval mine |
| General characteristics Suma | |
| Displacement: | 645 tons |
| Length: | 72.40 m (237 ft 6 in) (overall) |
| Beam: | 10.97 m (36 ft 0 in) |
| Draft: | 1.22 m (4 ft 0 in) |
| Speed: | 14.0 knots (16.1 mph; 25.9 km/h) |
| Complement: | 84 (March 1945) |
| Armament: |
(on 1 July 1942) 1 x 76.2 mm 3rd Year type AAG 2 x Vickers 40 mm AAGs 4 x 25 mm Type 96 AAGs 6 x 13 mm Type 93 AAGs 2 x 7.7 mm Type 92 MGs |
HMS Moth was an Insect class gunboat of the Royal Navy.
HMS Moth was laid down during the first half of 1915 at the yards of the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, with her sister ship HMS Mantis. Moth was launched on 9 October 1915 and completed on 5 January 1916.
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She was dispatched to the Middle East (Mesopotamia area) in 1916. In 1919, she was dispatched to the White Sea, and by 1920 she had been reassigned to the China Station. In December 1941 she became a member of the Far East fleet with HMS Cicala at Hong Kong. On 8 December 1941, Moth and Cicala were in port during an air raid by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. Cicala was sunk on 21 December. Moth was in the dock for repairs, but with the fall of the city to the Japanese imminent, Moth was scuttled on 12 December. HMS Thracian was also in port and was captured by the Japanese Army. Thracian was placed on duty as Patrol boat No.101 in October 1942.
The Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched the Navy 2nd Construction Department (海軍第二工作部 Kaigun Dai-2 Kōsaku-Bu) to Hong Kong to investigate the Moth, and on 1 July 1942, she was refloated and renamed Suma (須磨). Suma is a Japanese beauty spot appearing in The Tale of Genji.
She was active on the Yangtze River delivering weapons. On 19 March 1945, she struck a naval mine at Anqing and sank.
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