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.