River Gunboats by Branfill-Cook Roger;

Author:Branfill-Cook, Roger;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Naval
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Published: 2016-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

HMS Kia Wo (Wanhsien Incident 1926)

In September 1926 two British steamers on the Yangtze belonging to the China Navigation Company, the Wanhsien and Wantung were seized by the Chinese warlord Yang Sen, and held for ransom at Wanhsien. The masters and officers were held on board the two ships under armed guard.

The British Yangtze Flotilla was determined to mount an expedition to release the officers and recover the vessels. The steamer Kia Wo of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd. was therefore requisitioned and armed with two 2-pounder Pom-Poms. With a naval boarding party, on 5 September she set out for Wanhsien, and her master Captain Williamson of the company laid her alongside the Wanhsien. The naval party leapt aboard, to be confronted by massed rifle and machine-gun fire from the Chinese soldiers. They suffered heavy casualties, Commander Darley, two more officers and four ratings being killed, and many wounded. Captain Wilkinson steered the Kia Wo to safety downstream. The arrival of a powerful gunboat squadron the next day persuaded Yang Sen to release the merchant ships. Kia Wo was handed back by the Navy in November, and proceeded to Shanghai for repair of the damage she had suffered in the action. Captain Wilkinson was awarded the OBE.

China river steamer ‘HMS’ Kia Wo, used as a ‘Q’ Ship during the attempt to retake the two seized British steamers. (Photo provided by Liz Randall, on Website: http://www.naval-history.net/WW1xMemoir-Wanhsein.htm)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.