Chinese cruiser Chung King in 1948

The Chinese light cruiser Chung King. Chung King was commissioned as the Arethusa-class cruiser HMS Aurora (12) of the Royal Navy on 12 November 1937. After the Second World War, Aurora was sold on 19 May 1948 to the Chinese Navy as compensation for six Chinese custom patrol ships and one freighter that the British seized in Hong Kong and lost during the war. She was renamed Chung King and became the flagship of Chinese navy. On 25 February 1949, her crew defected to the Communists and the ship was renamed Tchoung King, a variation on her previous name. In March 1949 she was sunk in Taku harbour by Nationalist aircraft. She was later salvaged with Russian assistance but then stripped bare as "repayment". The empty hulk spent the rest of her life as an accommodation and warehouse ship, being subsequently renamed Hsuang Ho (1951), Pei Ching (1951) and Kuang Chou. Her name tablet and shipbell were preserved in Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing, China.