Overview
HMS Bee was an of the Royal Navy, launched on 8 December 1915. This class are also known as "large China gunboats". Initially built to patrol the River Danube during the First World War, after the war the Insects were transported to China and served on the Yangtze River. In 1920, Bee became the flagship of the Yangtze patrol. On 12 December 1937, Bee, along with , became involved in the Panay incident and came under fire from a Japanese artillery unit near Wuhu on the Yangtze. Ladybird took six shells and Bee dodged a shell as she came upon the scene. Bee was paid off in 1938 when the gunboat , the new flagship, arrived. She was sold in Shanghai for scrap on 22 March 1939 for £5,225.
External links
* History of Yangtze River Patrol