HMS Petersfield

HMS Petersfield (ex-Portmadoc) was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Aberdare sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not finished in time to participate in the First World War. Re-commissioned at Hong Kong on 23 February 1925 for service on the China Station as an admiral's yacht. She was wrecked on 11 November 1931 off Tung Yung Island, with the C-in-C China Station Admiral Sir Howard Kelly embarked. Two courts martial following her loss resulted in severe reprimands for her Captain, Commander Douglas C. Lang and Navigating Lieutenant, Geoffrey A. H. Pratt, though an imperious meddling throughout the unfolding disaster brought ignominy upon Admiral Kelly, as well.

Design and description
The Aberdare sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced 800 LT at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of 220 ft and measured 231 ft long overall. The Aberdares had a beam of 26 ft and a draught of 7 ft. The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.

The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of 2200 ihp and gave a maximum speed of 16 kn. They carried a maximum of 185 LT of coal which gave them a range of 1500 nmi at 15 kn.

The Aberdare sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) 4 in gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.

First commander
Her first commander was Stuart Bonham Carter, who went on to become an admiral.

Loss
The minesweeper with the Commander-in-Chief of the China Station, Vice-Admiral Sir William Kelly aboard, ran ashore on the night of Wednesday 11 November 1931 on the north side of Tungyung Island while on a passage from Shanghai to Fuzhou; it was a total loss. The SS Derflinger and the Canadian Pacific liner RMS Empress of Asia went to the Petersfield's assistance, and the county-class cruisers Suffolk and Cornwall proceeded rapidly to the scene. The north-east monsoon was understood to have been raging at the time. The Petersfield was a tender to the cruiser Kent, of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron. Admiral Kelly and 73 officers and men on board were rescued by the Derflinger.