- Sources
- References
{{Infobox ship image| Ship image= Japanese gunboat Hira 1923.jpg | Ship image size = 300px | Ship caption= Hira 1923
}}{{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country= | Ship flag= | Ship name=Hira | Ship namesake= | Ship ordered= | Ship builder=Mitsubishi Zosensho, Kobe, Japan | Ship laid down=15 August 1921 | Ship launched=14 March 1923 | Ship completed=24 August 1923, disassembled and shipped to Yangtze Engineering, Hankow, China. Reassembly finished 1 December 1923 | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned= | Ship decommissioned= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship struck=10 May 1945 | Ship homeport= | Ship honours= | Ship fate=Scrapped 1945[1] | Ship status= | Ship notes=
}}{{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship type= Seta-class gunboat | Ship displacement= | Ship length= | Ship beam= | Ship draught= | Ship propulsion= | Ship speed= | Ship range= | Ship complement= | 80|mm|in|0|abbr=on}}/40 cal. guns- 3 or 6 × {{convert|13.2|mm|in|abbr=on}} machine guns
| Ship armour= | Ship notes=
}} | {{nihongo|Hira|比良}} was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, part of the 11th Gunboat Sentai, that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1930s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War.On 13 December 1937, Hira and other IJN ships engaged Chinese positions at Xiaguan, China and attacked Chinese boats and rafts on the Yangtze River. On 17 August 1944 Hira was damaged by US 14th Air Force aircraft at Kiukiang, China. On 26 November 1944 Hira and the gunboat Hozu ran aground near Anking, China. Chinese aircraft subsequently bombed and sunk Hozu and severely damaged Hira. Hira was scrapped in July 1945.[2] Sources - [https://web.archive.org/web/20071015214059/http://earth.endless.ne.jp/users/mac0115/nihonnnokanntei7.html Japanese gunboats (with photos)] {{jp icon}}
- Vessels of the IJN
- Monograph 144 Chapter II
References 1. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Hira_t.htm|title=Combinedfleet Hira |publisher=Combinedfleet.com |accessdate=5 December 2012}}
2. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Hira_t.htm|title=Combinedfleet Hira |publisher=Combinedfleet.com |accessdate=5 December 2012}}
{{Seta class gunboat}}{{IJN}}{{December 1944 shipwrecks}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Hira}}{{Japan-mil-ship-stub}} 4 : Seta-class gunboats|Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships|Maritime incidents in December 1944|Shipwrecks of China |