BrandWikiReturn

HMAS Whang Pu

HMAS Whang Pu (FY-03) or SS Wang Phu was a 3,204 ton riverboat[2] of the China Navigation Company that was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the Second World War. Her Chinese name translates to "Happy Times".[3] She was one of a group of vessels called the "China Fleet" requisitioned for the RAN in similar circumstances.

Pre-war service

The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company, Hong Kong built Wang Phu in 1920 for the China Navigation Company.[4] Both Taikoo Dockyard and CNC were owned by John Swire and Sons Ltd, which is British-owned but based in Hong Kong.[5]

War service

The Admiralty requisitioned Whang Pu on 31 December 1941 and work started at Singapore to convert her into a submarine depot ship for the Royal Navy.[3] However, this coincided with the Japanese invasion of Malaya and in January 1942 work on Wang Phu was stopped. She sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where she served as a depot ship for Royal Netherlands Navy submarine and minesweeper crews.

She was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 1 October 1943 as HMAS Whang Pu and fitted out in Melbourne as a mobile repair ship. She served in New Guinea waters and later at Morotai in the Dutch East Indies as a stores ship. After the war she sailed to Hong Kong where she was paid off on 22 April 1946 and returned to her owners.

Post-war

She was then used as an accommodation ship, and in November 1949 was sold for breaking up.[3]

See also

  • Allied Chinese Ships

References

  1. Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships Lloyd's Register, 1937–38, retrieved 9 September 2011^
  2. Edwin P Harnack. All About Ships & Shipping Faber and Faber, 1938^
  3. HMAS Whang Pu Allied Chinese Ships WWII, Allied Chinese Ships Association, retrieved 9 September 2011^
  4. S Swiggum, M Kohli. China Navigation Company The Ships List, 28 July 2010, retrieved 9 September 2011^
  5. The archives of John Swire & Sons Ltd (including the papers of the Taikoo Dockyard and the China Navigation Company Ltd) are held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/^