China Navigation Company Limited

More than half of this company’s 37-ship Asia-based fleet were lost in the withdrawal in the face of the Japanese invasion. Australians had some familiarity with their many ships operating in the south-west Pacific area pre-war. This table sets out the known fate of a number of these:

Ship

Built

Gross Tons

In Service

Kwangting 1921 2626 Torpedoed Java 4 Jan 1942
Taiyuan 1929 2994 Scuttled Surabaya 2 March 1942
Anking 1925 3472 Torpedoed Tjilatjap 3 March 1942
Anshun 1930 3138 Bombed, sunk Milne Bay 6 Sept 1942
Chengtu 1914 2219 Sunk by mine Macassar Strait
Kiangsu 1921 2661 Fire-gutted Singapore 10 June 1944
Hsin Peking 1914 2104 Bombed, sunk Manila 13 Dec 1944
Chekiang 1914 2171 Bombed, sunk Hong Kong 16 Jan 1945

Casualty detail is shown above.