View source for HMS Moth (1915)

{{short description|Gunboat of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Moth}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:Japanese gunboat Suma 1942.jpg|300px|Suma]]
|Ship caption=During service as the Japanese ''Suma'' in 1942
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Moth''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=1915
|Ship builder=Sunderland Shipbuilding Company
|Ship laid down= 1915
|Ship launched= 9 October 1915
|Ship acquired= 
|Ship commissioned= 5 January 1916
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate= Scuttled 12 December 1941 at [[Hong Kong]]
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=HMS ''Moth''
|Ship class={{sclass2|Insect|gunboat}}
|Ship displacement= 625 tons
|Ship length={{convert|72.40|m|ftin|abbr=on}} (overall)
|Ship beam={{convert|11.00|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|1.20|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship power=*2 × [[Yarrow Shipbuilders|Yarrow]] water tube boilers
*{{convert|2000|shp|kW|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
*2 × North Eastern Marine Engineering Works expansion turbines,
*2 shafts
|Ship speed={{convert|14.0|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=55
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*(in 1916)
*2 × [[BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7|BL 6-inch Mk VII]] guns
*2 × 12 pdr. guns
*6 × 7.7 mm [[Maxim gun]]s
*(in October 1938)
*2 × BL 6-inch Mk VII guns
*1 × 3-inch [[anti-aircraft warfare|AA]] gun
*1 × [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pdr. naval gun]]
*8 × [[Lewis gun]]s
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country= [[Empire of Japan]]
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Empire of Japan|naval}}
|Ship name= {{nihongo|''Suma''|須磨}}
|Ship namesake=[[Suma-ku, Kobe]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=Navy 2nd Construction Department at Hong Kong
|Ship acquired= February 1942
|Ship commissioned= 1 July 1942
|Ship decommissioned=10 May 1945
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=11 May 1945
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sunk 19 March 1945 by [[naval mine]]
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=''Suma''
|Ship class=
|Ship displacement=645 tons
|Ship length={{convert|72.40|m|ftin|abbr=on}} (overall)
|Ship beam={{convert|10.97|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|1.22|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed={{convert|14.0|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=84 (March 1945)
|Ship sensors=
|Ship armament=*(on 1 July 1942)
*1 × [[BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7|BL 6-inch Mk VII]] gun
*(added on 3 October 1942)
*1 × [[Vickers 40 mm AA]] gun
*2 × [[Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun|{{convert|13.2|mm|in|abbr=on}}]] Type 93 AA guns
*2 × 7.7 mm Type 92 [[machine gun]]s
*(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 × [[Type 96 25&nbsp;mm AT/AA Gun|{{convert|25|mm|in|abbr=on}}]] 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
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Moth''''' was an {{sclass2|Insect|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. [[Scuttling|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 '''{{nihongo|''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 [[Keel laying|laid down]] during the first half of 1915 at the yards of the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, with her [[sister ship]] {{HMS|Mantis||2}}. ''Moth'' was [[Ship naming and launching|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 [[Eastern Fleet|Far East fleet]] with {{HMS|Cicala||2}} 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===

{{other ships|Japanese ship Suma}}

The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] dispatched the {{nihongo|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 {{nihongo|''Suma''|須磨}}. [[Suma-ku, Kobe|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 [[North American B-25 Mitchell|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 [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|P-38s]] and on 18 June, by three B-25s. On 26 December ''Suma'' was attacked by seven [[North American P-51 Mustang|P-51s]], with the aft 25&nbsp;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 District|Yanhu]].<ref name=combinedfleet>{{cite web |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/suma_t.htm |title=Suma |publisher=Combinedfleet.com |access-date=12 December 2012}}</ref>

''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.<ref name=combinedfleet/> 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.

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite web |url=http://rekigun.net/ |title=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}}

{{Insect class gunboat}}
{{December 1941 shipwrecks}}
{{March 1945 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moth}}
[[Category:Insect-class gunboats]]
[[Category:Naval ships of the United Kingdom captured by Japan during World War II]]
[[Category:1915 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in March 1945]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by mines]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the Imperial Japanese Navy|Suma]]