HMS Ladybird (1950)

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HMS Ladybird moored at Sasebo in 1951
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Ladybird
Launched	1931
Acquired	1950
Decommissioned	1953
Fate	Sold for breaking up
General characteristics
Length	295 ft 0 in (89.92 m)
Beam	46 ft (14 m)
Propulsion	2 Sulzer diesel engines, 1,750 BHP
Speed	10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h)

HMS Ladybird started life as MV Wusueh, a ferry built for the lower reaches of the Yangtze River between Shanghai and Hankow, operated by the China Navigation Company (CNCo), run by the British businessman John Samuel Swire.

In 1941 she was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport and used first as a troopship, then as a hospital ship, around Malaya and Burma. In 1946 she was returned to CNCo, refurbished and employed on the Hong Kong – Canton/Macao ferry service.

In 1950, at the outbreak of the Korean War, the Royal Navy bought her, refitted her with communications equipment, renamed her HMS Ladybird and sent her to be moored at the US naval base at Sasebo, Japan, as the Naval Headquarters and Communications vessel for the Commonwealth Blockading forces. At the end of the war she was returned again to CNCo which sold her for breaking up.^[1]