HMS Tarantula

HMS Tarantula was an Insect class gunboat of the Royal Navy.

In 1916 she along with three other gunboats was towed out to join the Royal Navy's Tigris flotilla and under the command of H.G. Sherbrooke successfully participated in a series of engaments on root to Baghdad. After the ending of the first war she was towed to China and joined the China Station. Around 1940 she went from Singapore to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka where as a result of disrepair she served as offices. It was in this capacity that in 1944, she served briefly as Admiral Bruce Fraser's flagship of the British Pacific Fleet.