Insect-class gunboat
HMS Ladybird off Bardia in December 1940, showing her World War II configuration with the longer 50-calibre 6-inch guns installed in 1939
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Insect class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Completed: | 12 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| Retired: | 9 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Gunboat |
| Displacement: | 625 long tons (635 t) |
| Length: | 237 ft 6 in (72.39 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Draught: | 4 ft (1.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft VTE engines, 2 Yarrow type mixed firing boilers 2000 IHP |
| Speed: | 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 55 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Improvised |
The Insect-class gunboats (or large China gunboats) were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube against Austria-Hungary (the China name was to disguise their function). The first four ships—Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula—were first employed during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
The ships were designed by Yarrow to operate in shallow, fast-flowing rivers, with a shallow draught and a good turn of speed to counter river flow. They were fitted with two reciprocating (VTE) engines operating two propeller shafts to offer some redundancy. The propellers were housed in tunnels to minimise the operating draught. The main armament consisted of two 6 inch guns in single mountings fore and aft.
Aphis, Bee, Ladybird and Scarab were deployed to Port Said, Egypt in 1915-16, Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula were sent to the Persian Gulf in 1916. Glowworm, Cicala, Cockchafer and Cricket were deployed to the east coast of England in 1916 and had their main armament mountings modified to give higher elevation for anti-Zeppelin work.
In 1919, during the Russian Civil War, Glowworm, Cicala, Cockchafer, Cricket, Moth, and Mantis served on the Dvina River (northern Russia, in Arkhangelsk Oblast), fighting in support of White Russian forces. Glowworm's captain and some other crew members were killed when a nearby ammunition barge exploded. The crew of Cicala mutinied, as part of a wider wave of unrest in the Royal Navy, and five "ringleaders" were sentenced to death, later commuted to five years' imprisonment.
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