HMS Thracian (1920)
 HMS Thracian in 1941
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Thracian |
| Ordered | 1915 |
| Builder |
|
| Laid down | 17 January 1918 |
| Launched | 5 March 1920 |
| Commissioned | 1 April 1922 |
| Identification | Pennant number: D86 |
| Motto | Thrust on[1] |
| Fate | Grounded on 17 December 1941 at Ngan Chau, Hong Kong |
| General characteristics HMS Thracian | |
| Class and type | S-class destroyer |
| Displacement | 1,075 long tons (1,092 t) |
| Length | 276 ft (84 m) o/a |
| Beam | 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m) |
| Draught | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 Shafts; 2 steam turbines |
| Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
| Range | 2,750 nmi (5,090 km; 3,160 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 90 |
| Armament |
|
 Japan | |
| Name |
|
| Builder | Navy 2nd Construction Department at Hong Kong |
| Acquired | 1942 |
| Commissioned | 1 October 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 1945 |
| In service | 1942–1945 |
| Renamed |
|
| Reclassified | Training ship, 15 March 1944 |
| Reinstated | Returned to Royal Navy in October 1945 |
| Fate | Scrapped, February 1946 |
| General characteristics Patrol Boat No.101 | |
| Class and type | Patrol boat/Training ship |
| Displacement | 1,150 long tons (1,168 t) standard |
| Length | 80.79 m (265 ft 1 in) Lpp |
| Beam | 8.17 m (26 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 3.01 m (9 ft 11 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h) |
| Complement |
|
| Sensors and processing systems | Mk. 23 gunfire control radar (1944) |
| Armament |
|
HMS Thracian was an S-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the First World War.
Description
The S-class destroyers were improved versions of the preceding
Thracian was armed with three
Construction and career
HMS Thracian was
Battle of Hong Kong
The ship took part in the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Luard Pears.[5][6] She was the only destroyer defending the colony, after the departure of HMS Scout and HMS Thanet for Singapore on 8 December.[7] On 10 December, she took part in a raid on Japanese crafts attempting to land on Lamma Island.[1] On 13 December, she participated in the evacuation of personnel from Kowloon and Green Island to Aberdeen, Hong Kong Island.[8] On 16 December, she attacked Japanese boats that were preparing for the invasion of Hong Kong Island, but ran aground at Uk Kok. She was refloated later that day and returned to Aberdeen dockyard. Further into the afternoon, she became the target of Japanese high-level bombing. A near miss caused several casualties. With the dockyard badly damaged, the damage Thracian suffered from running aground was considered too bad to fix.[9][10] On the next day, she was deliberately run aground at Ngan Chau.[10][11] The crew of Thracian continued to defend the colony as infantry,[12][6] and would suffer heavy losses in the battle and subsequent captivity.[1] On 24 December, Japanese troops began salvaging the ship,[1] and she was later captured by the Imperial Japanese Army.[13]
On 1 October 1942, she was registered to the naval ship list in the
By August 1945, she was found in Yokosuka after an unsuccessful scuttling. In December, she was recovered by HMS Undine, only to be broken up in Hong Kong in 1946.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Mason 2003.
- ^ a b Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Lenton 1998, p. 137.
- ^ Friedman 2009, p. 169.
- ^ Hong Kong War Diary.
- ^ a b Lai 2014, p. 23.
- ^ Banham 2003, p. 31.
- ^ Banham 2003, pp. 69–71.
- ^ Banham 2003, pp. 85–86.
- ^ a b Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 168.
- ^ Banham 2003, p. 90.
- ^ Banham 2003, p. 122.
- ^ Banham 2003, p. 324.
- ^ JACAR C12070115500 1942.
- ^ JACAR C12070485300 1942.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7748-1045-6.
- Dittmar, F.J. & Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- "Royal Navy & Royal Air force". Hong Kong War Diary. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- Kwong, Chi Man; Tsoi, Yiu Lun (2013). 孤獨前哨: 太平洋戰爭中的香港戰役 [Exposed Outpost: the Battle of Hong Kong in the Pacific War] (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Cosmos Books Ltd. ISBN 9789888254347.
- Lai, Benjamin (20 June 2014). Hong Kong 1941–45: First strike in the Pacific War. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78200-269-7.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
- Mason, Geoffrey B (2003). "HMS THRACIAN (D 86) - Old S-class Destroyer". Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- Secretary of the Navy of Japan (1942). 昭和１７年１月～１２月 達. Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- Secretary of the Navy of Japan (1944). 昭和１９年１月．昭和１９年５月 海軍公報（部内限）. Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 January 2021.
Further reading
- Rekishi Gunzō, History of Pacific War Vol.45, Truth histories of the Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels, ISBN 4-05-603412-5.
- Ships of the World, special issue Vol.45, Escort Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy, "Kaijinsha"., (Japan), 1996.
- The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.49, "Japanese submarine chasers and patrol boats", "Ushio Shobō". (Japan), 1981.
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