HMS Peterel (1927)
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History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Peterel |
Builder | Yarrow Shipbuilders |
Launched | 18 July 1927 |
Fate | Sunk in combat, 8 December 1941, Shanghai |
General characteristics | |
Type | River gunboat |
Displacement | 310 tons |
Length | 177 ft (53.9 m) |
Beam | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
Draught | 3.2 ft (1.0 m) |
Propulsion | Yarrow boilers, steam turbine 2,250 hp |
Speed | 16 knots |
Complement | 55 |
Armament | 2×3-inch (76 mm) guns, 8×machine guns |
HMS Peterel was a river gunboat built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun and she was the sixth ship of the Royal Navy to carry the name. Her name used an archaic spelling for consistency with previous Royal Navy Ships of the same name, in contrast to the modern accepted spelling petrel (as in the bird).
After completion, she was dismantled and shipped to
Inter-war years
HMS Peterel's service on the China station was largely uneventful. She lost crew members in isolated accidents (for example, Stoker First Class William J Lansdell died from drowning on 25 November 1928 and Stoker First Class Wilfred O'Brien died from drowning on 13 August 1930). The most notable event was that in 1930 she needed assistance by the French gunboat Doudart de Lagrée '(Ernest Doudart de Lagrée) after running aground in the Yangtze.
World War II
Outbreak of war
At the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 many ships and personnel from the Royal Navy's China Squadron were recalled to home waters, or sent to the Mediterranean. A number of river gunboats were considered of limited value and these were laid up locally. One river gunboat, HMS Peterel, was retained in Shanghai to provide a token British military presence that it was hoped would dissuade the Japanese (who had already occupied most of the city) from moving against the
Sinking
By December 1941 Shanghai (aside from the International Settlement and French Concession), had been occupied by Japan's land forces and there was a large buildup of Japanese naval forces in the area. At around 4:20am local time on 8 December 1941 news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a few hours earlier, began filtering through to Shanghai. HMS Peterel was notified of the attack by Commander Kennedy from the British Consulate and the ship was called to battle stations.
Soon after the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor reached Shanghai, Japanese marines boarded the US Navy river gunboat,
Although Japan had not declared war on Great Britain, Japanese marines also boarded the Peterel to demand her surrender. Polkinghorn attempted to stall for time, in order for the demolition fuses to be lit and the code books to be passed down a special chute to be burned in the boiler room. When his attempts failed, Polkinghorn told them to "Get off my bloody ship!" The Japanese disembarked and almost immediately the Japanese cruiser Izumo, the accompanying gunboat Toba and Japanese shore batteries in the French Concession opened fire at almost point-blank range. Despite being outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned, the Royal Navy crew of HMS Peterel returned fire, using small arms and the deck-mounted Lewis machine guns (the breechblocks from her 3-inch guns having been removed and taken to the Royal Navy dockyard in Hong Kong). The Royal Navy crew inflicted several casualties on the Japanese before Peterel capsized and drifted from its mooring under heavy fire. The Japanese machine gunned both the surviving Royal Navy and locally recruited Chinese crewmen in the water.
Of the British crew of 22, 18 were on board Peterel at the time of the attack. Six of them were killed by the Japanese; they have no known graves and it is unclear whether their bodies were recovered from the water. 12 Royal Navy crew survived: some sought refuge on a neutral
The Royal Navy survivors from HMS Peterel (including Polkinghorn) were moved amongst the Hongchew, Kiang Wang and Woosung internment camps in China. Ongoing supplies received from the British Residents Association (Shanghai) and the
Three of the crew of HMS Peterel were onshore during the Japanese attack; two were captured but the third, PO Telegraphist James Cuming, remained at large in Shanghai for the duration of the war, working for a Sino-American spy ring. The Lonely Battle, an account of Cuming's tale, was written by Desmond Wettern in 1960.
Aftermath
Polkinghorn survived his three years and nine months in captivity. He was awarded a gallantry medal, the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), for his actions in Shanghai. The citation (published in The London Gazette on 23 October 1945) reads: "For great courage, determination and tenacity in fighting his ship, HMS Peterel, when attacked by overwhelming Japanese forces at Shanghai on 8th December 1941".[1]
A small collection of photographs displayed at the Bund Historical Museum in Shanghai records the scene in the pool of Shanghai in the days both before and after 8 December 1941. Included in the collection are images of the badly damaged, capsized hulk of HMS Peterel.
In December 2013 HMS Daring (a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer) visited Shanghai and its crew participated in a HMS Peterel commemoration service.
A fictionalised account of the Peterel's sinking appears in
Citations
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Konstam, Angus. Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49. Osprey Publishing (2011) ISBN 1849084084.
- Wetten, Desmond. The Lonely Battle. W.H. Allen (1960) ASIN: B0000CKH0A