River Gunboats
Page 34
• Flycatcher, an ex-Turkish motor patrol boat. She had been sunk by Espiegle in November 1914, and salvaged with the assistance of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s local representatives, Messrs Strick, Scott at Mahommerah. Originally built by Thornycroft, she was rearmed with a 6-pounder QF and a Maxim MG. For details, see TURKEY.
In support were the following:
• Old stern-wheeler riverboats Shushan, Muzaffri and Messudieh (one 3-pounder QF and a Maxim MG, later a 2-pounder Pom-Pom), all manned and armed respectively by sloops Espiegle, Odin and launch-tug Miner.
• Paddle steamer HMS Lawrence, ex-RIM, formerly the yacht of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. Displacement: 1,130 tons; armament: 4 × 4in QF; 4 × 6-pounder QF.
Despite the German caption identifying this stern-wheeler as ‘HMS Firefly’, in fact she is the converted river steamer HMS Shushan, armed with two 3-pounder QF and three .303in Maxim MG. Later one of the 3-pounders was changed for a 12-pounder QF, and a 2-pounder Pom-Pom was added.
• Mejidieh, Blosse Lynch and Malimir, river steamers each armed with two 18-pounder Army field guns.
Modern Armed Transports
Copies of the shallow-draught stern-wheeler Mejidieh, called ‘New Mejidiehs’, were ordered from various builders for service in Mesopotamia, and numbered from P.50 to P.61.
Launched:
1916–17, P.50 and P.51 by Beardmore; P.52–P.57 by Caird, P.60 and P.61 by Lobnitz.
Dimensions:
Displ: 500 tons; L: 67m/220ft; B: 9.14m/30ft; D: 1.83m/6ft.
Power/Speed:
Stern paddle wheels; steam engine.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 12-pounder QF; 1 × 3-pounder QF; Maxim MG.
Gun Lighters
The three photos below appeared in The Illustrated War News of 19 May 1915, under the heading ‘An Improvised GunBoat’. The journalist recorded that they were iron lighters formerly used for carrying cargo, which were decked over and provided with an observation tower at the stern. He goes on to say they drew only 18in (0.46m) of water and were ‘towed up the shallow creeks’. From the first photo it is clear that this is a powered vessel, from her funnel at least, capable of making her own way into action. The dumb horse boats (lighters) towed by, for example, HMS Miner, were armed with naval 4.7in QF guns. The gun in the photos here is a rare combination weapon, mounting the Army’s 5in BL gun on an old carriage designed for the obsolete 40-pounder MLR gun. Firing this gun on the deck of the lighter, with only wheel brakes and no recoil cylinder, must have been exciting to say the least. It could not have been trained too far to one side or the other, and thus it was necessary to aim the whole vessel. The makeshift observer’s position would have been very vulnerable to sniper fire from the banks.
A self-propelled gun lighter.
5in BL gun on 40-pounder MLR carriage. Note the wheel chocks to brake the gun, as this mounting had no recoil cylinders. A similar combination can be seen today on display outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The observation tower on the lighter seen in the above photos.
‘Fly’ Class
This class was another example of an attempt by the British Admiralty to deceive and confuse. Although intended from the outset for the Mesopotamia campaign, they were officially designated as ‘Small China Gunboats’. To aid the deception, their general outline followed on from Yarrow’s small Heron/‘Bird’ Class of 1897 which displaced 13 tons less. The ‘Fly’ class, however, would carry a much heavier armament to enable them to provide fire support for the Army.
HMS Firefly, dressed overall as the first of her class to be reassembled, seen here almost ready for launch at Abadan. (Photo courtesy of Clyde Built Ships)
6-pounder QF Hotchkiss gun on HA mounting.
The sixteen vessels of the class were assembled by Yarrow in Scotstoun, then sent to Abadan in sections for reassembly. To aid the local workforce, the sections were colour-coded for port and starboard sides. In alphabetical order, their names were: Blackfly, Butterfly, Caddisfly, Cranefly, Dragonfly, Firefly, Gadfly, Grayfly, Greenfly, Hoverfly, Mayfly, Sawfly, Sedgefly, Snakefly, Stonefly and Waterfly.
The first to go into action was HMS Firefly. On 1 December 1915, she was hit by a Turkish shell which pierced her boiler casing, killing one stoker and immobilising the little gunboat. While every attempt was made to tow her to safety, the stranding of the tug Comet meant that both Firefly and her erstwhile rescuer had to be abandoned. Vice-Admiral Wilfred Nunn, Senior Naval Officer in Mesopotamia, commented that the provision of only one boiler not only handicapped the ‘Fly’ class in respect of speed, but also increased their vulnerability to being put out of action by an enemy shell in this way. During the advance on Baghdad Firefly would later be recaptured and put back into RN service.
None of the ‘Fly’ class were considered for service in North Russia in 1919, where in theory their shallow draught would have been an advantage on the Dvina River. Presumably they were considered too small and vulnerable to face the batteries of Bolshevik artillery drawn up on the river banks, plus their flotilla of gunboats armed with long-range guns. In addition, of course, their transport would have involved dismantling them once more and rebuilding them on site, which would have been far too onerous.
‘Fly’ class in ‘as built’ configuration, as per the plans held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
A ‘Fly’ class gunboat carrying additional armour plating, plus a lookout platform on top of the bridge.
After the Great War, the ‘Fly’ class were taken over by the British Army, and several saw further service during the Iraqi Insurgency, in the course of which Firefly was lost on 17 August 1924. Moored beside a redoubt at Kufa on the Euphrates, the gunboat suddenly came under heavy artillery fire from the opposite bank. This came as a great surprise as the British did not know that the Iraqi insurgents possessed artillery. In fact ex-Ottoman officers and NCOs had forged a replacement breechblock for the 18-pounder field gun captured during the defeat of the Manchester Column. This powerful gun firing at short range soon set the Firefly ablaze from end to end, killing her commander and forcing her remaining crew to abandon ship. The Army post nearby feared that the fire would reach Firefly’s magazine and destroy their earthworks on the bank, so they fired Lewis guns into her hull to scuttle her.
A second ‘Fly’ class gunboat, HMS Greenfly, would also be lost during the Insurgency. She had run aground in the Euphrates near the besieged town of Samawa, and efforts to refloat her had been temporarily abandoned due to heavy fire from insurgents. When these left the scene, it was decided to leave Greenfly in place and provide her with an escort of Indian troops until the gunboat could be refloated, a decision which would have tragic consequences. By late September her crew and escorts were suffering from lack of food, despite brave efforts by the RAF to drop supplies to them. When on 3 October 1924 relief forces reached the vessel they found her abandoned and on fire. No sign of her crew or her Indian escort troops was ever found. A third member of the class, HMS Blackfly, was loaned to the Air Ministry, and sank after colliding with a bridge in Baghdad on 26 May 1923. On 16 February 1923, Hoverfly was sold to the Basra Port Authority, and the next day Caddisfly and Waterfly were sold to the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Gadfly went to the Air Ministry in 1922, and Grayfly to the War Department in 1923. The remaining vessels were all sold at Basra on 1 March 1923.
Launched:
1915–16 by Yarrow, in sections, reassembled at Abadan.
Dimensions:
Displ: 98 tons; L: 38m/126ft; B: 6.1m/20ft; D: 0.61m/2ft.
Crew:
22.
Power/Speed:
Single screw in tunnel; VTE steam engine, 175ihp/9.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 4in Mark VII QF; 1 × 12-pounder QF; 1 × 6-pounder QF or 1 × 3-pounder QF; 1 × 40mm Pom-Pom; 4–5 × .303in Maxim MG.
Fate:
3 lost, remainder sold out of service early 1923.
‘Insect’ Class
The stark lines of HMS Aphis as built. In the Middle East the ‘Insects’ would soon be putting on topweight. (Drawing courtesy of Erwin Sieche).
During the victorious advance on Baghdad, Tarantula, Mantis and Moth ran into the Turkish rearguard, which put up fierce resistance, hitting Moth with no less than eight shells. Despite this, the three ‘Insects’ fought their way through and continued to harass the retreating Turks. Rear Admiral Nunn on Tarantula managed to get off a radio message to Gadfly following behind, to hold back until the Turkish rearguard had pulled out, as he feared the much smaller and slower gunboat might be sunk. Coming across the ex-British Firefly, they pursued her in a running fight until her Turkish captain ran her into the bank and abandoned her. After repairs to Moth and Firefly, the three big gunboats continued on to the occupation of Baghdad on 8 March 1917, accompanied by Butterfly, Firefly, Gadfly, Snakefly and Flycatcher.
After service by several in Northern Russia and on the Danube, all of the class except for Glowworm moved to the Far East, and most sailed the Yangtze and other Chinese rivers for many years. When the Second World War broke out, members of the class once more performed yeoman service in the Mediterranean Theatre. But before moving there, Cockchafer was to take part in suppressing Rashid Ali’s pro-fascist revolt in Iraq, followed by the takeover of the Persian oilfields and the seizure of German and Italian merchant ships interned in the Persian port of Bandar Sharpur.
For Specifications, see China Gunboats above.
Royal Indian Marine Vessels
The Royal Indian Marine (RIM) gave strong support to the Royal Navy units engaged in the Mesopotamia campaign, by way of armed transports but also fighting vessels. The following are two examples.
HP.3
Ordered as steel passenger steamer Kinu for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Co. Ltd., this paddle steamer was taken over by the RIM and designated HP.3. She was armoured and sent to Mesopotamia in 1916. In 1919 she was transferred to the Admiralty, and took part in the expedition to Northern Russia under the designation HC.9. Laid up in 1919, she was sold to Henry J Beazley of Southampton in 1922.
Launched:
9 September 1916 by Denny, Dumbarton, Yard No 1045.
Dimensions:
Displ: 500 tons; L: 56.75m/186ft 2in; B: 9.17m/30ft 1in; D: 2.2m/7ft 2in.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; Compound steam engine 550ihp/11.25 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Not recorded.
P.6
P.6 was originally ordered for the Burma River Transport Co., Rangoon as the passenger/cargo river steamer Hanthawa. Transported in sections she was reassembled at the Company’s Mawers Point shipyard, Rangoon. In 1911 she was operated by the Irrawaddy Flotilla Co., and in 1916 she was requisitioned by the RIM for service in Mesopotamia under the designation P.6. From the newspaper illustration above it is clear she was used as a protected troop transport, armed with what appears to be an 18-pounder field gun, as well as QF and Maxim guns. In 1916 she was renamed PS.6, and in 1920 she returned to the Irrawaddy Flotilla Co.
Launched:
1909 by Ardrossan Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., Yard No 231.
Dimensions:
Displ: 182 tons; L: 39.6m/130ft; B: 6.7m/22ft.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; 3-cyl steam engine, 46 nominal hp.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 18-pounder field gun?; 3-pounder QF?; Maxim MG?
Fate:
Returned to commercial service 1920.
Illustration from the Shere: ‘Navy supporting the fighting columns on the Tigris with P.6’. Note the artillery observer hidden on her mast behind a canvas screen, and the Army observers on the barge in the foreground, covered optimistically with foliage.
NEW ZEALAND GUNBOATS
Between the 1840s and 1870s the Maori of New Zealand fought several campaigns to prevent white settlers from encroaching on tribal lands. When Governor George Grey took office in 1861, he instigated what has been described by historians as a well-contrived and deliberate land grab. Grey claimed that the Waikato tribes were preparing to attack Auckland, and used this threat as leverage to obtain the despatch of additional British troops to the islands, as well as to order an armoured river gunboat to operate on the Waikato River to support an invasion of Maori lands.
Pioneer and Avon on the Waikato River, during the bombardment of Meremere. The splashes are from Maori artillery firing back. (Detail of a painting by kind permission of Andrew Burdan)
Avon
While awaiting the arrival of the purpose-built river gunboat, Governor Grey looked around for an interim solution, and decided on the purchase of a paddle steamer being offered for sale by the Avon Steam Navigation Company. The three-year-old vessel, the Avon, was purchased on 8 November 1862 for the sum of £1,811 17 shillings and 6 pence. She was built of iron, with three watertight compartments, shallow draught and a flat bottom for river navigation.
She needed substantial work to put her in running order, and the opportunity was taken to fit her with vertical iron plates bolted inside her bulwarks, provided with firing loopholes. A platform was constructed across the tops of her paddle boxes, and two armoured sentry boxes were fitted on this to protect her wheel. Later the armour around her stern would be removed and replaced by a lightweight wooden shelter, to reduce her weight and draught in the rivers where she would have to operate, which contained many shallows and snags. Finally most of the remaining armour would be removed, leaving just the three vertical bow plates on either side of her cannon plus the armour around her wheel – in order to enable her to carry more troops and supplies.
The first Waikato gunboat, Avon, showing her as originally armoured. (From a drawing by Harry Duncan, via Grant Middlemiss)
Naval Armstrong 12-pounder breech-loader which armed all four Waikato steam gunboats. (Drawing by Harry Duncan, via Grant Middlemiss)
Avon was armed with a 12-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun, loaned from HMS Harrier, firing through a slot in the bow armour. She also carried a launch rail for 12-pounder Congreve rockets, fired through the two circular openings in the armour on each side. To prevent hostiles boarding her, Avon had a steam pipe bolted all around the outside of her hull, with holes to vent live steam.
Although intended as a stopgap, Avon served throughout the campaign on the Waikato and Waipa Rivers. After bumping off countless snags, one finally holed and partially sank her on 9 February 1864 in the Waipa River. It took five weeks to raise her and drag her to a temporary slip on the river bank, where the damage was repaired.
With the arrival of the third purpose-built armoured steam gunboat Rangiriri in June 1864, Avon was withdrawn from service. She went through several metamorphoses before being wrecked on 30 September 1886.
Launched:
1859 by Barclay, Curle & Co. of Glasgow. Brought to New Zealand in sections aboard sailing ship Zealandia.
Dimensions:
Displ: 35 tons; L: 19.2m/63ft; B: 4.6m/15ft; D: 0.76m/2ft 6in.
Crew:
7.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engines, 16 nominal hp/7.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 12-pounder Armstrong BL; 12-pounder Congreve rocket launcher; Anti-boarder system/Bulletproof iron plates.
Fate:
Converted to coal hulk, at Port Waikato August 1864.
Pioneer
The first armed steamer built in Australia, in the Sydney Prymont Shipyard, she was launched in July 1863 under the name of Waikato, and cost £9,500. This sum excluded the price of her armament, which was to be furnished on loan f
rom the Sydney government. She arrived in New Zealand under tow by HMS Eclipse on 3 October 1863. Immediately an argument broke out as to who would have control of the new vessel, Commodore Wiseman insisting that she be handed over to the Royal Navy. Finally Governor Grey conceded, and she was immediately renamed HMS Pioneer. Her New Zealand crew walked off the ship, and a new crew had to be put together from naval personnel.
Pioneer as she arrived from her builders on 3 October 1863. (From a drawing by Harry Duncan, via Grant Middlemiss)
When she first arrived on station, her armour protection was limited to her two fixed cupolas 12ft (3.66m) in diameter, each containing a 12pdr Armstrong gun firing through any one of five embrasures, plus armour around her stern steering gear. Following combat experience with Avon, Pioneer would be fitted with extra protection: additional vertical armour plates were bolted inside her bulwarks, pierced by firing loopholes, and in order to restore her trim, the steering position was moved from the stern to the top of the front cupola, enclosed in an armoured box. Like Avon, she was also fitted with an anti-boarding system of live steam piping bolted around the exterior of her hull.
Her large size meant that on one occasion she transported 580 troops plus two 40-pounder Armstrong field guns in safety past Maori defence lines. On the other hand her very size meant that she had trouble manoeuvring in the confines of the river system, often running aground, and she was quite incapable of navigating on the sinuous Waipa River. Eventually, in order to either reduce her draught or alternatively allow her to carry a greater load, her additional armour was removed, and finally her cupolas as well. Her next-to-useless sailing rig was removed, and her original three tall masts reduced to just two shortened ones.