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Amethyst Incident
On 20 April 1949, HMS Amethyst, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner,[11] was on her way from Shanghai to Nanking[Note 1] to replace Consort, which was standing as guard ship for the British Embassy there during the [11] was on her way from Shanghai to Nanking[Note 1] to replace Consort, which was standing as guard ship for the British Embassy there during the Chinese Civil War between the nationalist Kuomintang-led Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party. According to the Royal Navy, at around 08:31, after a burst of small arms fire, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) field gun battery on the north bank of the river fired a salvo of ten shells to warn[citation needed] HMS Amethyst to stay away from the war zone.[ |
Union Flag
The Union Jack,[note 1][2][3] or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has official status in Canada, by parliamentary resolution, where it is known as the Royal Union Flag.[4] Additionally, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Flag also appears in the canton (upper flagstaff-side quarter) of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions, as well as the state flag of Hawaii. The claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013.[5][6][note 2]
The origins of the earlier flag of Great Britain date back to 1606
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Sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed Chinese and Malay wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers and are often used as traditional fishing boats. It is unusual for a sampan to sail far from land, as they do not have the means to survive rough weather. The word "sampan" comes from the original Cantonese term for the boats, sāam báan (三板), literally meaning "three planks".[1] The name referred to the hull design, which consists of a flat bottom (made from one plank) joined to two sides (the other two planks). The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like the scow or punt [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] |
White Ensign
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton.
The White Ensign is also flown by yachts of members of the Royal Yacht Squadron and by ships of Trinity House escorting the reigning monarch.
In addition to the United Kingdom, several other nations have variants of the White Ensign with their own national flags in the canton, with the St George's Cross sometimes being replaced by a naval badge omitting the cross altogether. Yachts of the Royal Irish Yacht Club fly a white ensign with an Irish tricolour in the first quadrant and defaced by the crowned harp from the Heraldic Badge of Ireland
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Knot (unit)
The knot (/nɒt/) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h (approximately 1.15078 mph or 0.514 m/s).[1] The ISO standard symbol for the knot is kn.[2] The same symbol is preferred by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); kt is also common, especially in aviation, where it is the form recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).[3] The knot is a non-SI unit.[4] The knot is used in meteorology, and in maritime and air navigation. A vessel travelling at 1 knot along a meridian travels approximately one minute of geographic latitude in one hour
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Ye Fei
Ye Fei (simplified Chinese: 叶飞; traditional Chinese: 葉飛; pinyin: Yè Fēi; 7 May 1914 – 18 April 1999) was a Philippine-born Chinese military general and politician of the People's Republic of China. Born Sixto Mercado Tiongco in the Philippines to a Chinese father and a Filipina mother, he joined the Chinese Communist Party at a young age and fought many battles as a senior commander of the People's Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. At age 40, he was among the first PLA commanders to be awarded the rank of General by the newly established People's Republic of China and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Navy
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HMS Jamaica (44)
HMS Jamaica, a Crown Colony-class cruiser of the Royal Navy, was named after the island of Jamaica, which was a Crown Colony when she was built in the late 1930s. The light cruiser spent almost her entire wartime career on Arctic convoy duties, except for a deployment south for the landings in North Africa in November 1942. She participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea in 1942 and the Battle of North Cape in 1943. Jamaica escorted several aircraft carriers in 1944 as they flew off airstrikes that attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in northern Norway. Late in the year she had an extensive refit to prepare her for service with the British Pacific Fleet, but the war ended before she reached the Pacific.
Jamaica spent the late 1940s in the Far East and on the North America and West Indies Station
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Republic Of China (1912–49)
The Republic of China (ROC) was a sovereign state based in mainland China between 1912 and 1949, prior to the relocation of its government to the island of Taiwan. It was established on 1 January 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China.
The Republic's first president, Sun Yat-sen, served only briefly before handing over the position to Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang Army. Sun's party, the Kuomintang (KMT), then led by Song Jiaoren, won the parliamentary election held in December 1912. However, Song was assassinated on Yuan's orders shortly after and the Beiyang Army, led by Yuan, maintained full control of the Beiyang government.
Between late 1915 and early 1916, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China before abdicating not long after due to popular unrest
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Splice The Mainbrace
"Splice the mainbrace" is an order given aboard naval vessels to issue the crew with an alcoholic drink. Originally an order for one of the most difficult emergency repair jobs aboard a sailing ship, it became a euphemism for authorized celebratory drinking afterward, and then the name of an order to grant the crew an extra ration of rum or grog. Braces are the lines that control the angle of the yards. On square-rigged ships, the mainbrace was the longest line in of all the running rigging.[1] It was common to aim for the ship's rigging during naval battles. If the mainbrace was shot away, it was usually necessary to repair it during the engagement; the ship was unmaneuverable without it and would have to stay on the same tack. Even repairing it after the battle was a difficult job; the mainbrace ran through blocks, so it could not be repaired with a short splice or a knot [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] |
