The Amethyst Incident,
also known as the Yangtze Incident, in 1949 involved the Black Swan class
sloop HMS Amethyst being trapped on the Yangtze River for three
months, during the Chinese Civil War. On 20 April 1949, HMS Amethyst,
commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner, was on her way from
Shanghai to Nanking to relieve HMS Consort, which was standing
as guard ship for the British Embassy there . According to the Royal
Navy, at around 0831, after a burst of small arms fire, a People's Liberation
Army (PLA) gun battery fired a salvo of ten shells, which fell well
short of the ship, and was assumed to be part of a regular bombardment of
Nationalist forces on the south bank.
Speed was increased,
and large Union Flags were unfurled on either side of the ship, after
which there was no more firing. At 0930, as the frigate approached
Kiangyin further up the river, she came under sustained fire from a second
PLA battery. The first shell passed over the ship, then the bridge, wheelhouse
and low power room were hit in quick succession, the captain was mortally
wounded, and all the bridge personnel were disabled. The coxswain on the wheel
was seriously injured and as a result the ship slewed to port and grounded on
the bank before control of the ship was resumed. Before the ship was hit, the
order to open fire had been given, but when the director layer pulled the
firing trigger, nothing happened, because the gun firing circuits were disabled
when the low power room was hit. The first lieutenant, Geoffrey L. Weston,
assumed command of the vessel, though wounded. PLA shells exploded
in the sick bay, the port engine room, and finally the generator, just after
the injured Weston's last transmission: "Under heavy fire" am aground
in approx. position 31.10' North 119.50' East. Large number of
casualties".
By
the time the shelling stopped at about 1100, 22 men had been killed and 31
wounded in all. Amethyst had received over 50 hits and holes
below the waterline were plugged with hammocks and bedding. During this time
the destroyer HMS Consort was sighted, flying seven White
Ensigns and three Union flags, steaming down from Nanking at 29 knots
following an order to do so from Admiral Madden, the Flag Officer, second
in command, Far East Station. The frigate HMS Black Swan was
also steaming towards Amethyst from Shanghai. Consort reached
the Amethyst at about three in the afternoon and was
immediately heavily engaged. She found the fire too heavy to approach Amethyst and
therefore passed her at speed down river. She turned two miles below and again
closed Amethyst to take her in tow. But again she came under
such heavy fire that she was obliged to abandon the attempt, although she
answered the shore batteries with her full armament and signaled that she
had silenced most of the opposition. Half an hour later she again made an
attempt to take Amethyst in tow. This attempt also failed and
she sustained further damage and casualties during which her steering was
affected. She had to continue downstream out of the firing area with 10 men
killed and 23 injured
The Assistant British
Naval Attaché, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, joined the ship on 22 April
and took command. On 30 July 1949 Amethyst slipped her
chain and headed downriver in the dark, beginning a 104 mile dash for freedom
running the gauntlet of Communist guns on both banks of the river. She followed
the passenger ship Kiang Ling Liberation in the hope that the
observers ashore would be confused and not see Amethyst in the
dark. When the battery opened fire, the fire was directed at the Kiang
Lin Liberation which was sunk by the gun fire, with heavy civilian
casualties.
At 0500 hours on 31
July, Amethyst approached the PLA forts at Par Shan and
Woosung with their searchlights sweeping the river. At 0525 a pre-planned
meeting with the destroyer HMS Concord took place. Concord had
been ordered to prepare to provide gun support to Amethyst if
she came under fire from the shore batteries at Woosung. To achieve this she
had moved up the Yangtze during the night, at action stations.
Fortunately, Amethyst was not spotted by the shore batteries
and the two ships then proceeded down river until at 0715 they stood down from
action stations and cleared the river mouth and anchored. After a short stay at
anchor, Concord lent Amethyst sailors to fill
gaps in her ship's company and the two ships set sail for Hong Kong.
Amethyst transmitted the following signal to Admiralty "Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung ... No damage... No casualties....God save the King!"
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