HMS Redstart
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Redstart
Namesake	Common redstart
Ordered	22 March 1937
Builder	Henry Robb
Laid down	September 1937
Launched	3 May 1938
Commissioned	1 November 1938
Identification	Pennant number M62
Fate	Scuttled in Hong Kong on 19 December 1941
General characteristics
Type	Linnet-class minelayer
Displacement	498 tons standard
Length	145 ft 0 in (44.20 m) (p/p) 163 ft 9 in (49.91 m) (o/a)
Beam	27 ft 2 in (8.28 m)
Draught	8 ft 0 in (2.44 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion engine 1 shaft 400 hp (300 kW)
Speed	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)
Complement	24
Armament	2 × twin 0.303 in machine guns 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (from 1942) 12 mines

HMS Redstart was one of three Royal Navy Linnet-class minelayers built in 1938. Assigned to the Royal Navy's China Station at the outbreak of World War II, she was scuttled during the Battle of Hong Kong on 19 December 1941 to prevent capture by the invading Japanese. Following the scuttling, its commander, Lt Cdr Henry Charles Sylvester Collingwood-Selby, participated in the defence of the colony where he was later wounded and captured, spending the rest of the war as a POW.

References

• Jane's Fighting Ships 1939, p. 98
• Cocker, M.P. (1993). Mine Warfare Vessels of the Royal Navy: 1908 to Date. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-328-4.
• Collingwood-Selby, H.C.S (2016). In Time of War. Proverse Hong Kong. ISBN 978-9888228225.

External links

• HMS Redstart (M 62) at uboat.net