HMS Moth (1915)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Moth.

During service as the Japanese Suma in 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Moth
Ordered	1915
Builder	Sunderland Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	1915
Launched	9 October 1915
Commissioned	5 January 1916
Fate	Scuttled 12 December 1941 at Hong Kong
General characteristics HMS Moth
Class and type	Insect-class gunboat
Displacement	625 tons
Length	72.40 m (237 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam	11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Draft	1.20 m (3 ft 11 in)
Installed power	2 × Yarrow water tube boilers 2,000 shp (1,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 × North Eastern Marine Engineering Works expansion turbines, 2 shafts
Speed	14.0 knots (25.9 km/h; 16.1 mph)
Complement	55
Armament	(in 1916) 2 × BL 6-inch Mk VII guns 2 × 12 pdr. guns 6 × 7.7 mm Maxim guns (in October 1938) 2 × BL 6-inch Mk VII guns 1 × 3-inch AA gun 1 × QF 2 pdr. naval gun 8 × Lewis guns
Empire of Japan
Name	Suma (須磨)
Namesake	Suma-ku, Kobe
Builder	Navy 2nd Construction Department at Hong Kong
Acquired	February 1942
Commissioned	1 July 1942
Decommissioned	10 May 1945
Stricken	11 May 1945
Fate	Sunk 19 March 1945 by naval mine
General characteristics Suma
Displacement	645 tons
Length	72.40 m (237 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam	10.97 m (36 ft 0 in)
Draft	1.22 m (4 ft 0 in)
Speed	14.0 knots (16.1 mph; 25.9 km/h)
Complement	84 (March 1945)
Armament	(on 1 July 1942) 1 × BL 6-inch Mk VII gun (added on 3 October 1942) 1 × Vickers 40 mm AA gun 2 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) Type 93 AA guns 2 × 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns (added on 31 May 1943) 1 × 13 mm Type 93 AA gun 1 × 7.7 mm Type 92 machine gun (on 27 May 1944) 1 × 76.2 mm 3rd Year type AA gun 2 × Vickers 40 mm AA guns 4 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Type 96 AA guns 2 × 13 mm Type 93 AA guns 5 × 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns (on 13 March 1945) 1 × 76.2 mm 3rd Year type AA gun 2 × Vickers 40 mm AA guns 4 × 25 mm Type 96 AA guns 6 × 13 mm Type 93 AA guns 2 × 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns

HMS Moth was an Insect-class gunboat of the Royal Navy. Entering service in 1916, Moth had a varied career with service in the Middle East, the White Sea and the Far East in two world wars. Scuttled in World War II during the invasion of Hong Kong, the ship was raised and put into service by the Imperial Japanese Navy as Suma (須磨). The ship remained active throughout the war, before striking a naval mine in the Yangtze River in 1945 and sinking.

Moth was laid down during the first half of 1915 at the yards of the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, with her sister ship Mantis. Moth was launched on 9 October 1915 and completed on 5 January 1916.

Service history

Royal Navy service

Moth was dispatched to the Middle East (Mesopotamia area) in 1916. In 1919, she was dispatched to the White Sea, and by 1920 she had been reassigned to the China Station. Her edited logbooks and maps of her journeys for 1919 and 1920 can be viewed at naval-history.net. In December 1941 she became a member of the Far East fleet with Cicala at Hong Kong. On 8 December 1941, Moth and Cicala were in port during an air raid by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. Cicala was sunk on 21 December. Moth was in the dock for repairs, but with the fall of the city to the Japanese imminent, Moth was scuttled on 12 December.

Imperial Japanese Navy service

For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Suma.

The Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched the Navy 2nd Construction Department (海軍第二工作部, Kaigun Dai-2 Kōsaku-Bu) to Hong Kong to investigate Moth, and on 1 July 1942, she was refloated and renamed Suma (須磨). Suma is a Japanese beauty spot appearing in The Tale of Genji.

On 29 July 1943 she fired on US aircraft during an air raid on Hong Kong. Suma was attacked by three 14th Air Force B-25s on 29 December 1943, and by two B-25s the next day receiving some damage, while claiming to kill one B-25. On 11 June 1944, the ship was attacked by P-38s and on 18 June, by three B-25s. On 26 December Suma was attacked by seven P-51s, with the aft 25 mm gun wrecked and 18 killed and four wounded. The aft gun was replaced and repairs made to the ship 28–30 December at Yanhu.

Suma was attacked by P-51s on 11 February 1945. The ship was repaired at Mitsubishi Yangshupu Shipyard, Shanghai from 17 February to 12 March 1945. She was active on the Yangtze River in anti-insurgency operations. On 19 March 1945, she struck a naval mine at Anqing and sank with a loss of 8 crewmen.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• "Rekishi Gunzō"., History of Pacific War Vol.45 Truth histories of the Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels, Gakken (Japan), May 2004, ISBN 4-05-603412-5