HMS St Aubin (W18)

HMS St Aubin was a Saint-class tug launched in 1918.

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS St Aubin
Ordered	18 April 1918[1]
Builder	Harland and Wolff, Govan
Laid down	1918
Launched	27 June 1918
Commissioned	February 1940
Decommissioned	1943
Renamed	Tsze-Hong (1947)
Fate	Sunk on 9 November 1950
General characteristics
Class and type	Saint-class tug
Tonnage	468 gross register tons (GRT)
Displacement	820 long tons (830 t)
Length	135 ft 5 in (41.28 m)]
Beam	29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
Draught	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power	208 nhp 1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion	1 × 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine 1 × screw
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	37[2]
Armament	1 × 12-pounder gun 2 × Lewis gun[2]

It was owned by the Admiralty until 12 April 1924, when it was sold to Shanghai Tug and Lighter Limited.[3] On 8 March 1935, she was involved in a collision with SS Kiang Shun and was sunk in the Huangpu River. The sunken ship was not considered a significant threat to navigation, and was only raised more than six months later, on 25 September. On 4 July 1936, she was once again sunk in a collision with the naval cadet ship Ping An and SS Eugenia Chandris, and had to be raised.[4]

In February 1940, the ship was requisitioned as a minesweeper[3] and served under the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, where she was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Peter Dulley.[5][6] From 1943, the ship was laid up, until 1946 when she was returned to her owner. In November 1946, she was transferred to Yee Kee Tug & Lighter Co., and in 1947 she was renamed Tsze-Hong. In 1948, she was once again transferred to Chinese Maritime Trust Ltd. She was sunk off Taiwan on 9 November 1950.[3][7]