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Hira 1923
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Hira
Builder	Mitsubishi Zosensho, Kobe, Japan
Laid down	15 August 1921
Launched	14 March 1923
Completed	24 August 1923, disassembled and shipped to Yangtze Engineering, Hankow, China. Reassembly finished 1 December 1923
Stricken	10 May 1945
Fate	Scrapped 1945
General characteristics
Type	Seta-class gunboat
Armament	2 × 80 mm (3 in)/40 cal. guns 3 or 6 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns

Hira (比良) was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, part of the 11th Gunboat Sentai, that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1930s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

On 13 December 1937, Hira and other IJN ships engaged Chinese positions at Xiaguan, China and attacked Chinese boats and rafts on the Yangtze River. On 17 August 1944 Hira was damaged by US 14th Air Force aircraft at Kiukiang, China. On 26 November 1944 Hira and the gunboat Hozu ran aground near Anking, China. Chinese aircraft subsequently bombed and sunk Hozu and severely damaged Hira. Hira was scrapped in July 1945.

Sources

• Japanese gunboats (with photos) (in Japanese)
• Vessels of the IJN
• Monograph 144 Chapter II

References

1. ^ "Combinedfleet Hira". Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 5 December 2012.

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in December 1944
Shipwrecks	1 Dec: HMS Empire Dace 2 Dec: Hawaii Maru 3 Dec: USS Cooper, Revoljucija 4 Dec: Kishinami 5 Dec: Hozu, USS LSM-149 6 Dec: Antoine Saugrain, HMS Bullen, U-297 7 Dec: USS Mahan, USS Ward 9 Dec: U-387 10 Dec: William S. Ladd 11 Dec: USS Reid 12 Dec: Uzuki, U-416, Yūzuki, Z35, Z36 13 Dec: U-365 14 Dec: HMS Aldenham 15 Dec: USS LST-472, USS LST-738 17 Dec: U-772 18 Dec: USS Hull, USS Monaghan, Schleswig-Holstein, USS Spence, Theresia L M Russ, U-1209, Zähringen 19 Dec: U-737, Unryū 21 Dec: USS LST-460, USS LST-749 22 Dec: USS LST-563 24 Dec: Alan-A-Dale, HMCS Clayoquot, Léopoldville 26 Dec: HMS Capel, Kiyoshimo, U-2342, Benjamin Ide Wheeler 27 Dec: U-877 28 Dec: Empire Javelin, John Burke, U-735 29 Dec: U-322 30 Dec: USS Porcupine, Hobart Baker 31 Dec: U-2530 Unknown date: Ha-83, U-196, U-400
Other incidents	5 Dec: Antoine Saugrain, Hira 8 Dec: USS Huron 9 Dec: Jun'yō 13 Dec: Myōkō, USS Nashville 14 Dec: Schauenberg 25 Dec: HMS Dakins 26 Dec: HMS Affleck 30 Dec: Juan de Fuca, USS Orestes Unknown date: HMS Charlestown, U-262
1943 1944 1945 November 1944 January 1945

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• Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
• Maritime incidents in December 1944
• Shipwrecks of China
• Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
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