HMS Li Wo
{{Short description|Auxiliary patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = File:HMS "Li Wo" river.jpg | caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Hong Kong | Ship flag = 60px | Ship name = SS Li Wo | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = Indo-China Steam Navigation | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock, Hong Kong | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = 778 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 1938 | Ship sponsor = Mrs Henry Lo | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = | Ship motto = | Ship fate = Requisitioned by the Royal Navy, 1940 | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = title | Ship country = United Kingdom | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} | Ship name = HMS Li Wo | Ship acquired = By requisition, 1940 | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = Li-Wo | Ship honours = | Ship fate = Sunk by ramming into Japanese transport ship, 14 February 1942 | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = (in RN service){{cite book |last1=Hocking |first1=Charles |title=Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam: Including Sailing Ships and Ships of War Lost in Action, 1824–1962 |date=1994 |publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield |isbn=978-1-84342-381-2}} | Ship type = Auxiliary patrol vessel | Ship tonnage = {{GRT|707}} | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{Convert|49.9|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{Convert|9.2|m|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = {{Convert|2.8|m|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = *2 × triple expansion steam engines
| Ship speed = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship complement = 84 | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = *1 × {{Convert|4|in|abbr=on}} gun
| Ship armour = | Ship notes = }} |
HMS Li Wo was an auxiliary patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy, which was sunk on 14 February 1942 by Japanese warships as she single-handedly attacked an enemy convoy during the Malayan Campaign.
Ship history
The Li Wo was a passenger riverboat built by the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company for the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd. for service on the Yangtze River. In 1940 she was requisitioned and commissioned into the Royal Navy at Singapore.
Shortly before the British surrender, Li Wo was ordered to head for the safety of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Her crew consisted of 84 men, mostly naval reservists, but also included several survivors from the Prince of Wales and Repulse, five men from the Army, two from the RAF, ten Malayans, and six Chinese.
She left Singapore at dawn on 13 February 1942, and was attacked several times from the air, suffering some damage. The next day while passing north of the Bangka Strait, she encountered a convoy of Japanese transport ships accompanied by a squadron of warships launching "Operation L", the invasion of Sumatra. The commander of Li Wo, Temporary Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson RNR, informed the ship's company that he intended to close and attack the enemy.
Li Wo altered course towards the leading transport ship of the convoy at full speed, unfurling her battle ensign, and opening fire with her four-inch gun (for which she had only 13 shells, plus three practice rounds{{cite web |url=http://www.origins.plus.com/ww2.htm |title=The Sinking of HMS Li-Wo |first=Thomas Henry |last=Parsons |work=origins.plus.com |year=2006 |access-date=30 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314005408/http://www.origins.plus.com/ww2.htm |archive-date=14 March 2009 |df=dmy-all }}). She scored a number of direct hits on the transport, starting fires aboard, and causing the troops aboard to abandon ship. She then attacked another transport ship with machine gun fire.
Li Wo was then heavily shelled by the light cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Yura||2}} and the destroyers {{ship|Japanese destroyer|Fubuki|1927|2}} and {{ship|Japanese destroyer|Asagiri|1929|2}}. Out of ammunition and now sinking, she rammed the first enemy transport, which later sank, before finally sinking herself. Of the 84 crew, only 7 survived to be taken prisoner.
Awards
Lieutenant Wilkinson, the captain, posthumously received the Victoria Cross, while his first lieutenant, Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Ronald George Gladstone Stanton RNR was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal was awarded to Acting Petty Officer Arthur William Thompson, and the Distinguished Service Medal to Leading Seaman Victor Spencer and Able Seaman Albert Spendlove. There were also six Mentions in Despatches, three of them posthumous.{{London Gazette|issue=37819|date=13 December 1946|pages=6125–6126|supp=y}}
Charles Halme "Lofty" Rogers, CPO, mentioned in dispatched, verbal recorded account online and on Imperial War Museum website.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web |url=http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/ships_li_wo.htm |title=The gallant HMS Li Wo |work=Children of Far East Prisoners of War |year=2011 |access-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310075605/http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/ships_li_wo.htm |archive-date=10 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.ww2f.com/cbi-theater/34522-strangest-ship-royal-navy.html |title=The strangest ship in the Royal Navy |work=World War II Forums |date=2009 |access-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130210051853/http://www.ww2f.com/cbi-theater/34522-strangest-ship-royal-navy.html |archive-date=10 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Sellwood |first1=Arthur V. |title=Stand By To Die |date=1971 |publisher=White Lion Publishers Ltd |location=London |isbn=0-85617-002-X |oclc=532852 }}
Now titled "HMS Li Wo: The Most Decorated Small Ship in the Navy
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li Wo}}
Category:Ships built in Hong Kong
Category:Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy
Category:World War II patrol boats of the United Kingdom
Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Java Sea
Category:Ships built by the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company