HMS Li Wo
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 Sinking of [Prince of Wales and Repulse|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. 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 and the destroyers and. 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.