HMS Folkestone accompanied the cruiser HMS Birmingham in response to the seizure of SS Vincent Ball at Tsingtao. The reported timing appears difficult to reconcile with Folkestone's nominal 16-knot speed. A higher speed is plausible in this interpretation, although the relevant personal papers had not been checked and the inference remains unconfirmed. The episode shows a sloop working beside a cruiser in an overseas political crisis without trying to replace a fleet combatant.
Notable Point · 44:51-48:29
HMS Folkestone and a rapid Tsingtao response
A Tsingtao crisis is used to explore how a sloop could reinforce a cruiser response and why published performance figures may not tell the whole operational story.