HMS Cicala

	An aerial photograph of an Insect-class vessel taken in August 1918
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Cicala
Namesake	Cicada (archaic spelling)
Builder	Barclay Curle
Launched	1915
Fate	Scuttled 21 December 1941 in the West Lamma Channel during the Battle of Hong Kong
General characteristics
Class and type	Insect-class gunboat
Displacement	625 long tons (635 t)
Length	237 ft 6 in (72.39 m)
Beam	36 ft (11 m)
Draught	4 ft (1.2 m)
Propulsion	2 Yarrow-type engines and boilers 2000 IHP
Speed	14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement	55
Armament	As built:; 2 x BL 6-inch Mk VII guns; 1 x QF 12-pounder 12 cwt anti-aircraft gun ; 6 x Maxim machine guns; AA gun later replaced with a QF 2-pounder (40mm) "pom-pom" gun;
Armour	Built with 1⁄2 in (13 mm) armour to gun positions and superstructure; Additional 1 inch (2.5 cm) steel plate added to gun positions and bridge in 1928;

HMS Cicala was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built in 1915 for shallow water work, possibly on the Danube or in the Baltic Sea during the First World War. Cicala was deployed to the Baltic for the 1918–19 British campaign against the Russian Bolsheviks. Whilst there her crew mutinied and refused to follow orders to attack a Russian shore battery. The mutiny was quelled when Admiral John Green threatened to open fire on the Cicala; five men were sentenced to imprisonment by court-martial over the matter. Cicala afterwards served on the China station, acting against pirates. She was at Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded in 1941 and provided fire support for the unsuccessful British defence. On 21 December 1941 she was struck by Japanese bombs and was afterwards scuttled.

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