The Wind and Thunder on the Yangtze River: The Amethyst Incident

HMS London, the lead ship of the London-class heavy cruisers, is one of the renowned County-class heavy cruisers. Built by the Portsmouth Dockyard, it was completed on January 31, 1929, and underwent extensive reconstruction from 1939 to 1941, equivalent to a complete rebuild. Among all County-class heavy cruisers, only HMS London received such a transformation, resulting in an appearance closely resembling that of the Fiji-class light cruisers, which is significantly different from its original design. After the reconstruction, its displacement was 9,750 tons, with a length of 192 meters, a beam of 20.8 meters, a draft of 5 meters, a main engine power of 80,000 horsepower, and a speed of 31.5 knots, manned by a crew of 685. Its armament consisted of four twin 203 mm guns, four twin 102 mm guns, two octuple 2-pound pom-pom guns, and ten single 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, with the capacity to carry one seaplane. After the war, the ship was designated C69 and was decommissioned and scrapped in 1950.

Second Artillery Battle

The fast escort vessel "HMS Black Swan" is the lead ship of the Black Swan-class sloop, constructed by Yarrow Shipbuilders, and was completed on January 27, 1940. During World War II, its hull number was U57, which was later changed to F57 after the war. The ship has a displacement of 1,300 tons, a length of 91.3 meters, a beam of 11.6 meters, and a draft of 2.6 meters. Its main engine has a power output of 3,300 horsepower, allowing for a speed of 19.25 knots, and it carries a crew of 180 personnel. The armament includes three twin 102 mm anti-aircraft guns, two twin 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, two single 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, eight depth charge throwers, two depth charge rails, and one hedgehog launcher. The ship was decommissioned and dismantled in 1956

The Third Artillery Battle

The First Artillery Battle

The Chinese side is led by the artillery units of the 3rd Regiment, 6th Regiment, and 1st Regiment of the Special Forces Division of the Third Field Army, as well as the artillery units of the 23rd Army and 25th Army. It is said that the Nationalist Army's 51st Army on the opposite side also participated in the shelling of British ships (this point has not been verified)

The main references for this article are: Dong Chenpeng's "Shelling of the Zishi Quartz: The Beginning and End of the Sino-British Nanjing Incident," "Chronicles of the Chen-Su Army's Campaigns," Ye Fei's "Chronicles of the Campaigns," and "The History of the Third Field Army." I would like to express my gratitude here (I hope I won't be sued for copyright infringement)

The self-rescue of the Amethyst

Before the formal commencement of the article, I would like to briefly introduce the main characters from both sides

The HMS Consort, a joint production of the British side, is a CO-class destroyer built by Stephens Shipyard, completed in 1946, with the hull number R76, later changed to D76. The ship has a displacement of 2,530 tons, a length of 110.5 meters, a width of 10.9 meters, a draft of 3 meters, a main engine power of 40,000 horsepower, a speed of 36.7 knots, and a crew of 230. Its armament includes four single 114 mm guns, one twin 40 mm Bofors gun, four single 40 mm Bofors guns, two single 20 mm Oerlikon guns, two quadruple 533 mm torpedo launchers, four depth charge throwers, and two depth charge rails. The ship was decommissioned and dismantled in 1961

On April 20, 1949, just as the million-strong troops of the Second and Third Field Armies were gathering on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, the largest river crossing battle in Chinese history was on the verge of unfolding. In the waters near Nanjing, a series of intense land and naval artillery battles occurred around a British frigate that had intruded into the Yangtze River, accompanied by weeks of negotiations. This event is famously known in Chinese history as the Sino-British Nanjing Incident, specifically the Quartzite Incident. Although the scale of the conflict was not particularly large, its impact was profound. In China, it symbolized the unwavering determination of the Chinese Communist Party when it came to national sovereignty, while in Britain, the incident was seen as the final curtain on a century of gunboat diplomacy in China, marking the end of the era of imperial powers in the country. A few years ago, "Naval Knowledge" published a concentrated introduction to this incident, but due to issues with the sources at the time, some of the information presented was not entirely accurate. The lengthy negotiations between the two sides were barely mentioned, and the failure of our side to intercept the Quartzite during its final escape was vaguely described, with some details bordering on legend. Here, I would like to provide a brief description of the general process of this incident.

The British ship prominently featured is the HMS Amethyst, a modified Black Swan-class sloop. It was constructed at the Stephens shipyard and was completed on November 2, 1943. During World War II, its hull number was U16, which was later changed to F116 after the war. The ship has a displacement of 1,475 tons, a length of 91.3 meters, a beam of 11.6 meters, a draft of 2.9 meters, and a main engine power of 4,300 horsepower, with a cruising speed of 20 knots and a crew of 192 personnel. Its armament includes three twin 102 mm dual-purpose guns, four twin 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, four single 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, eight depth charge throwers, two depth charge rails, and one hedgehog launcher. The ship was decommissioned and dismantled in 1957