HMS Cockchafer was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Insect class gunboat

Insect class gunboat

The Insect class patrol boats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube...

. She was built by Barclay Curle

Barclay Curle

-History:The company was founded by Robert Barclay at Stobcross in Glasgow, Scotland during 1818. In 1862, the company built a large engineering works at Stobcross in Glasgow. In 1876, the company moved their yard down the river to Whiteinch. It was incorporated in 1884 as Barclay Curle...

 and launched on 17 December 1915 as the 5th Royal Navy ship to carry this name. The Insect class was originally designed for service on the Danube River but most of them spent much of their service on Chinese rivers.

First World War

During the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Cockchafer was assigned to the defence of the south east coast of England, based at Brightlingsea

Brightlingsea

Brightlingsea is a coastal town in the Tendring district of Essex, England, located between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, situated at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. It has an estimated population of 8500....

. During the Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

, she served with some of her sister ships as part of the British intervention forces

Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War

The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...

 fighting in support of White Russian

White movement

The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...

 forces on the Dvina River during 1919-1920. On 17 January 1920, the Insect class ships HMS Cricket, HMS Cockchafer, HMS Moth, HMS Mantis and HMS Scarab set out from Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

, England for China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Cockchafer was stationed on the Yangtze River

Yangtze River

The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

 where her duties were patrolling and protection of British nationals and interests in China.

Wanhsien Incident

One significant event which Cockchafer was involved in was the Wanhsien Incident
in August and September 1926. Wanhsien, now known as Wanzhou District

Wanzhou District

Wanzhou District , formerly Wanxian or Wan County is a district of Chongqing Municipality of the People's Republic of China. The urban area of Wanzhou, located in the northern part of the district and on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, is 228 km away from downtown...

, is a port on the Yangtze River about 1500 miles (2,414 km) upstream from Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

. The local warlord

Warlord

A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...

, Marshal Wu Pei Fu

Wu Peifu

Wu Peifu or Wu P'ei-fu , was a major figure in the struggles between the warlords who dominated Republican China from 1916 to 1927.- Early career :...

 controlled the area and his local commander was General Yang Sen.

General Yang's troops seized the British merchant ship, SS Wanhsien in August 1926, which belonged to the The China Navigation Co.

The China Navigation Co.

The China Navigation Company Limited is a merchant shipping company based in Hong Kong in China. It was founded by John Swire to offer paddle-steamer services on the Yangtze...

 The crew of Cockchafer heard the British crew calling for help and sent an officer and boarding party to Wanhsien to investigate. They found the ship occupied by 100 Chinese soldiers. The Navy party obtained the release of the ship after a heated argument.

Two days later another China Navigation Co. ship, the SS Wanliu was boarded by Chinese soldiers. The captain ordered the ship to leave and rumours spread that the ship had intentionally rammed boats full of Chinese soldiers drowning them. In fact two of the boats had collided and one had capsized and it is unclear how many soldiers were lost. The Wanliu steamed upstream while the Chinese soldiers aboard attempted to capture the ship. They were unable to do so by the time the Wanliu reached Wanhsien where Cockchafer sent a boarding party to remove the soldiers.

The reports about the escape of the Wanliu reached General Yang whose troops captured SS Wanhsien again. The British officers were held aboard. Another British merchant ship SS Wantung was also captured. Chinese troops with artillery gathered on the shore. General Yang seized several of Cockchafers Chinese crewmembers who were ashore and one was killed in full view of the rest of the crew. Yang refused to negotiate with the commander of Cockchafer and the senior officer on the Upper Yangtze, commander of HMS Widgeon headed for Wanhsien while Cockchafer remained at Wanhsien in a standoff with the overwhelming numbers of Chinese troops.

On 1 September 1926 HMS Widgeon arrived at Wanhsien but negotiations did not go well and the Rear Admiral on the Yangtze decided that the matter would have to be settled by force. A British merchant ship, SS Kiawo, was camouflage

Camouflage

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...

d and armoured and manned by a naval crew gathered from Cockchafer, HMS Despatch

HMS Despatch (D30)

HMS Despatch was a Danae-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was launched from the yards of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company on 24 September 1919 and commissioned on 2 June 1922....

 (a light cruiser), HMS Scarab and HMS Mantis boarded Kiawo and she sailed on 4 September 1926.

In the evening of 5 September 1926 the Kiawo arrived in sight of Wanhsien. The plan was to board and re-take SS Wanhsien and SS Wantung. While HMS Widgeon and HMS Cockchafer would provide covering fire. Kiawo came under fire from the Chinese troops ashore. She came alongside Wanhsien and boarded under fire. The boarding party rescued the British seaman held onboard after fierce fighting.

In the meantime, Chinese troops onshore and aboard Wantung opened fire on Cockchafer and Widgeon which returned fire. The boarding party aboard SS Wanhsien suffered a number of casualties including the senior British officer from HMS Despatch and Cockchafer's sub-lieutenant

Sub-Lieutenant

Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...

 who were killed. Having rescued the British merchant seamen onboard SS Wanhsien the attacking force retired to SS Kiawo. After an hour of fighting, the action was discontinued and the two merchant ships were abandoned. The British ships then retired having rescued the crews.

Second World War service

In 1939 Cockchafer started the war still on Yangtze River patrol. After consideration for conversion to a minelayer

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

, she was then transferred to the East Indies Squadron. In 1941 she assisted in the landings of British and Indian Army

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

 troops at Basra

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 during the Anglo-Iraqi War

Anglo-Iraqi War

The Anglo-Iraqi War was the name of the British campaign against the rebel government of Rashid Ali in the Kingdom of Iraq during the Second World War. The war lasted from 2 May to 31 May 1941. The campaign resulted in the re-occupation of Iraq by British armed forces and the return to power of the...

. She played host to the regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of Iraq, Amir Abdul Illah

'Abd al-Ilah

Crown Prince Abd al-Ilāh of Hejaz, GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a cousin and brother-in-law of King Ghazi of the Kingdom of Iraq. Abdul Ilah served as Regent for King Faisal II from April 4, 1939 to May 2, 1953, when Faisal came of age...

 who had been deposed and fled an assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 plot in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

.

She also played a part in the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran was the Allied invasion of the Imperial State of Iran during World War II, by British, Commonwealth, and Soviet armed forces. The invasion from August 25 to September 17, 1941, was codenamed Operation Countenance...

, which was the invasion of Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 by British and Commonwealth forces

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, codenamed Operation Countenance, from 25 August 1941 to 17 September 1941. The purpose of the invasion was to secure Iranian oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

s and ensure supply lines (see Persian Corridor

Persian Corridor

The Persian Corridor is the name for a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II.-Background:...

) for the Soviets fighting against Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

.

In 1943, Cockchafer was transferred to the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 Fleet at Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

. She took part in support operations for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

. Following the invasion of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and the invasion of Elba

Invasion of Elba

The Invasion of Elba, codenamed Operation Brassard, was part of the Italian Campaign in the Second World War.The invasion was carried out by Free French Forces supported by British and American ships and aircraft. It came as a complete surprise to the German garrison although it had been reinforced...

, Cockchafer was employed on harbour duties in Taranto

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

 in late 1944. In 1945, she was despatched to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 again to support operations in Burma. After the end of the war against Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in August 1945, she was sent to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

where she was placed in Reserve. In 1949 as the last surviving Insect class gunboat, she was sold for scrap and broken up.