HMS Tarantula

HMS Tarantula was an Insect-class gunboat of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1915, the gunboat saw service in both the First and Second World Wars. Tarantula served with the Tigris flotilla in 1916, retaking a former British gunboat that had previously been captured by the Ottoman Empire. After the First World War, Tarantula was towed to China, joining the China Station, eventually ending up at Trincomalee, Ceylon during the Second World War. After the end of the war, the vessel was sunk as a gunnery target in the Bay of Bengal in 1946.[1]

HMS Tarantula at Trincomalee in 1943
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Tarantula
BuilderWood, Skinner & Co, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Launched1915
FateSunk as target 1 May 1946
General characteristics
Class and typeInsect-class gunboat
Displacement625 long tons (635 t)
Length237 ft 6 in (72.39 m)
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draught4 ft (1.2 m)
Propulsion2 shaft VTE engines, 2 Yarrow type mixed firing boilers 2,000 ihp (1,500 kW)
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement55
Armament
ArmourImprovised

Operational history

In 1916 Tarantula along with three other gunboats were towed out to join the Royal Navy's Tigris flotilla and under the command of H.G. Sherbrooke successfully participated in a series of engagements en route to Baghdad. On 26 February 1917 Tarantula captured the Ottoman gunboat Suleiman Pak, which was the Fly-class gunboat HMS Firefly, which the Ottomans had captured in December 1915 after she grounded and a shell through her boiler disabled her.

After the ending of the First World War Tarantula was towed to China and joined the China Station. Around 1940 she went from Singapore to Trincomalee, Ceylon, where as a result of disrepair she served as offices. It was in this capacity that in 1944, she served briefly as Admiral Bruce Fraser's flagship of the British Pacific Fleet.[2] She was sunk as a gunnery target in the Bay of Bengal off Trincomalee by the destroyers HMS Carron and HMS Carysfort on 1 May 1946.

References
  1. "HMS Tarantula (1915); Fighting vessel; Gunboat; Shallow draught river gunboat | Royal Museums Greenwich". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  2. Royal Museums Greenwich: The Collection:HMS Tarantula (1915); Fighting vessel; Gunboat; Shallow draught river gunboat (Accessed Sep. 2013)

Publications
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