RFA War Sirdar

RFA War Sirdar

 

Previous name:
Subsequent name:             Honan Maru

Official Number:                   144354

Class:                                     WAR CLASS Freighting Tanker

Pennant No:                          Y7.339

Laid down:
Builder:                                  Laings, Deptford Yard
Launched:                             6 December 1919
Into Service:                          February 1920
Out of service:                      28 February 1942
Fate:                                       Constructive total loss.

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

 

Background Data: To combat the alarming losses of British merchant ships during WW1, the New Ministries and Secretaries Act was passed in December 1916, which provided for the appointment of a Shipping Controller with very wide powers “to take such steps as he thinks best for providing and maintaining an efficient supply of shipping”. On 20 December 1916, the first meeting of the Merchant Shipbuilding Advisory Committee took place where it was decided that an extensive shipbuilding programme should be started, the ships to be of a simple design and as far as possible to be of a standard type as regards hulls and engines. These new vessels for the Government were given a standard nomenclature, the prefix to their names being WAR. 821 vessels were ordered from U.K. yards and abroad and 416 were completed to Government order, 279 were sold and transferred to private owners before completion and the remainder were cancelled. Of the 416 completed to Government order, 15 were transferred to Admiralty service as oilers. They were all modified versions of the A and B Class standard dry cargo ships, known as the Z Class. All had 2 large dry cargo holds, 6 of them had 5 cargo tanks and the remaining 9 had 7 cargo tanks, specially designed for the carriage of heavy fuel oil. Most of them were initially under commercial management.

 

 

February 1920 completed for the Shipping Controller under the commercial management of Hunting & Sons Ltd, London

13 February 1920 sailed Sunderland for Trinidad via Hull

26 March 1920 at Barbados alomgside HMS Renown refuelling her - supplied 3031 tons FFO

2 August 1920 sailed Puerto Mexico for Devonport

23 October 1920 berthed at Devonport from Tampiro

1921 transferred to Admiralty ownership but remained under commercial management

10 February 1921 Captain A Hadley as Master

17 February 1921 berthed at Portland from Beaumont

7 April 1921 berthed at Queenstown, Ireland from Port Arthur

24 June 1921 Mr C H Smith RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

9 August 1921 arrived at New York with Captain George Harry Franklin RFA as Master. The ship had sailed from London with 34 crew

19 September 1921 berthed at London from Rosyth  

19 December 1921 Mr Charles A Smith RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

11 December 1922 Mr Charles A Smith RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

24 March 1924 Captain W T Williams RFA appointed as Master

25 January 1925 berthed at the oil wharf, Singapore from Abadan

29 January 1925 sailed Singapore to Abadan

7 March 1925 to 9 March 1925 berthed at the oil wharf, Singapore

28 August 1925 Mr J H Collings RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

22 October 1925 berthed at the oil wharf, SIngapore

2 December 1925 Captain J Gow RFA appointed as Master

9 November 1927  Mr G T Beed RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

3 March 1928  towed with a broken propeller shaft from Montserrat to Bermuda by RFA Serbol .

28 May 1928 Captain William B Browne RFA appointed as Master

18 July 1929 Captain A D Davies RFA appointed as Master

19 July 1929 Mr Clifford N Ansell RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

27 July 1930 Mr W A Payne RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

9 September 1931 Captain J M Smith DSC RFA appointed as Master

1 January 1932 Mr R Watson RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

26 February 1934 Mr F C Pavitt RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

28 May 1934 Captain R D Williams RD RFA (Commander RNR (Ret)) appointed as Master

27 July 1937 transferred to Admiralty management and manning as an RFA at Alexandria

25 April 1938 towed the boom gate vessel HMS SOUTHGATE from Singapore to Trincomalee

20 September 1938 Captain Bertram Tunnard RFA appointed as Master and Mr D L Walls RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

 

Captain Bernard Tunnard RFA

 

8 June 1939 Captain Benjamin N Beasley RFA appointed as Master

25 July 1939 Captain M W Westlake RFA (Lieutenant Commander RNR) appointed as Master

28 July 1939 Mr W H A Lawson RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

6 October 1939 Mr E M Phillips RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

2 March 1940 allocated as the China Station Fleet Oiler

12 October 1940 sailed Hong Kong towing HMS Cricket (gunboat) - due to a typhoon both ships were recalled. They sailed again on 18 October and arrived at Singapore on the 24th of the month

19 January 1942 sailed Freemantle in convoy MS1 to Singapore arriving on 31 January 1942

 

 

25 February 1942 - Tanjong Priok, Netherlands East Indies, Stern view of War Sirdar after being righted following damage by Japanese bombing. Cargo transferred to RFA Francol. She was unable to fuel HMAS Hobart (right foreground), Preventing that cruiser from taking part in the disastrous battle of the Java Sea - note the 4 inch gun aft.

27 February 1942 sailed in Convoy from Tanjong Priok in Batavia to Tjilatjap, along with RFA Francol, the depot ship HMS Anking filled with Australian troops, the minesweeper MMS 51 escorted by the Australian sloop HMAS Yarra and the Indian sloop HMIS Jumna

28 February 1942 stranded on the Jong Reef at Batavia 12.39 N 109.37 E. An attempt was made HMAS Wollongong (a minesweeper) to tow the War Sirdar off the reef without success. The order was given to abandon ship. All hands landed safely on Jung Island.

1 March 1942 declared a total loss. All hands were taken off by a Dutch minesweeper

March 1942 salvaged by Japanese forces and renamed Honan Maru

28 March 1945 as Japanese tanker Honan Maru  US Submarine Bluegill (SS242) attacks her and she was beached at Cape Varella, Nha Trang on what was at the time French Indo China. 12 40N, 109 30E

29 March 1945 Honan Maru attacked again by USS Bluegill.

5 April 1945 crew from USS Bluegill landed and completed destruction of Honan Maru with demolition charges and incendiaries.