Last modified: 2020-07-31 by ian macdonald
Keywords: china | chung king | aurora | cruiser | uprising |
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image by by Miles Li, 28 July 2014
(Background information based on Wikipedia)
The Chung King was originally HMS Aurora, an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the
Royal Navy. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, with the keel being laid down
on 27 July 1935. She was launched on 20 August 1936, and commissioned on 12
November 1937.
After WWII Aurora was sold on 19 May 1948 to the Republic of China Navy, as
compensation for six Chinese Customs patrol ships and one freighter which fled
to Hong Kong to escape the Sino-Japanese War, seized by the British and lost
during the war.
Aurora was renamed Chung King and became the flagship of the ROC Navy. On 25
February 1949 her crew defected to the Communists, showing a homemade white flag
with a red star at the centre. In March 1949 she was sunk in Taku harbour by
ROCAF aircraft.
Miles Li, 28 July 2014