Identifying Royal Navy Ships / Period / Location?

[NoPackDrill]

Found these photos in a loft - my guess is Hong Kong 1930s?

My grandfather was RN (and captured in Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941, but I think these date to before his time).

Any help appreciated!

[NoPackDrill]

[NoPackDrill]

[borcy]

I'd say late 20s or early 30s, not sure the top one is HK, it doesn't look very built up.

The house in the center left of the top picture looks British house of that era?

Edit, the others look like HK.

Edited by borcy on Saturday 31st October 14:52

[hidetheelephants]

The top pic looks like an Insect class gunboat, so quite likely to be HK or Shanghai if it's pre-war.

The 2nd pic looks like a standard interwar destroyer, but it's a fuzzy pic and not a lot of detail so which of the 8 sub-classes is beyond me.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Saturday 31st October 16:26

[DB4DM]

The picture below the one with the Hennessy advert shows a tall building at the bottom of the image, with a sloping roof. This still exists although the roof has been modified to accommodate AC equipment. In the image there is an open space in front of it which is now where the Hong Kong War Memorial is. The 3-stack cruiser is alongside Victoria Basin, bows east, in the Naval Base (HMS Tamar). So it is Kowloon to the left of the image, which was taken approximately from where the top of the Peak Tram now is

In the second of these images, the Wanchai waterfront is more clearly shown, (and the building above, in the bottom LH corner) and also the narrower basin east of Victoria Basin which when I first went to HK in 1977 had only just been filled in. Looking towards Wanchai, east of the basins, the first large building of about 6 floors is I think the old China Fleet Club

There are cricketers on the pitch too

I wonder if the last image is the Star Ferry terminal?

Edited by DB4DM on Monday 2nd November 17:14

[hidetheelephants]

The cruiser is probably one of the County class going by the funnels, no idea which one; there's a carrier in the harbour, perhaps Hermes or Eagle as the island is quite bulky; the submarine depot ship to the left of the carrier is likely HMS Medway.

[NoPackDrill]

Thanks guys - that's a great help - they're not directly linked to my grandfather.

As a treat, I know this picture is from him . . . aboard HMS Apollo (which became HMAS Hobart in 1938).

Coming up to Remembrance Day, worth noting that I never met him - he survived four years as a slave labourer in Japan (left a detailed written account), and died back in the UK, aged 51, cause of death 'old age'.