HMS Peterel was a river gunboat

River gunboat

A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more than one cannon, one might be a howitzer, for shore...

 built by Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...

 at Scotstoun

Scotstoun

Scotstoun is a historic district of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Yoker and Knightswood to the west, Victoria Park, Broomhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde to the south...

 for service on the China station

China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

, on the Yang Tse, which entered service on 18 July 1927. Her name was a mistake - she should have been named Petrel as per the bird, but this was not noticed until after she had been launched. No attempt was made to correct it. She was rescued by the French gunboat Doudart de Lagrée in 1930.

Peterel was the first Royal Navy vessel to be sunk by the Japanese navy in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, being sunk by the Japanese cruiser Izumo

Japanese cruiser Izumo

was an armored cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Although very similar to the s and , its differences are significant enough to classify it as the lead ship in the separate , which also included its sister ship, the...

 on 8 December 1941 at Shanghai after refusing to surrender. At the time she was acting as a communications station manned only by a skeleton crew

Skeleton crew

A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item at its most simple operating requirements, such as a ship or business, during an emergency and, at the same time, to keep vital functions operating.- Uses :...

. The story of her sinking and the subsequent internment of her crew is the subject of a book 'The Lonely Battle' by Desmond Wettern published by W H Allen in 1960.