HMS ''Locust'' was one of 4 s of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and was named after the

locust Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...

, an

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

. Launched on 28 September 1939 and commissioned on 17 May 1940, she survived the Second World War despite being severely damaged many times, including taking a shell hit during

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

Service

Designed as a Gunboat for the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

River, she was equipped with two 4-inch guns; fore and aft, two 3-pounders each side, and a 3.5-inch howitzer midship plus a multi-barrel 2-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft gun. She was flat bottomed with a triple rudder configuration. She participated in the Dunkirk evacuation during which she was attacked by German aircraft and evacuated 1,000 troops. ''Locust'' had a central role in Operation Jubilee, the

Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was a disastrous Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a ...

in August 1942, in which she was part of the "Cutting Out Force" that was to seize barges and trawlers and tow them back to England. She carried about 200

Royal Marine The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

Commandos A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opp ...

. She served during

, during which she received a hit from shellfire. She survived the war, was recommissioned as a training vessel and eventually sold for scrap in 1968.

Fate

She was placed in reserve from 1946 until 1951 when she was converted to a drill ship for the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

and used for training. When moored next to the RNVR ship HMS Flying Fox in Bristol, the vessel's shallow draught (essential for navigating shallow rivers) could be seen easily, around a foot or so below the waterline. Locust had three propellers and three large-bladed shallow rudders, equally spaced across its stern. She was decommissioned in 1968 and sold on 24 May 1968 to Cashmore for breaking. She was broken up in Newport.

Citations

References

* 1939 ships Ships built on the River Clyde World War II patrol boats of the United Kingdom Dragonfly-class gunboats {{UK-mil-ship-stub