In March 1923, in the general disposal of vessels from the river fleet of Royal Indian Marine/War Office in Mesopotamia, seven former "Fly" class gunboats which had been built by Yarrow in 1915, were sold to Persian subject Mirza Hussain Bushiry of Ashar, Basrah. They had been disarmed before sale and were supposed to have been broken up at Basrah.

Bushiry acquired MAYFLY (F1), SAWFLY (F2), BUTTERFLY (F5), SNAKEFLY (F6), STONEFLY (F7), CRANEFLY (F8) and GREENFLY (already a hulk). Later it was discovered that one of these - identity unknown - was presented by Bushiry to the Persian Government** and subsequently armed as KHUZISTAN.
It was reported that, in 1925, KHUZISTAN had fired on Iraq near border settlements of Faliyah and Buwarin.

This report led to an review of whether Article XVIII of the Washington Naval Treaty 1922 had been breached ("Each of the Contracting Powers undertakes not to dispose by gift, sale or any mode of transfer of any vessel of war in such a manner that such vessel may become a vessel of war in the Navy of any foreign Power"). [TNA MUN/4/6260]

**the official name of the country changed from Persia to Iran in 1935, though both names were used before and after.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2018 01:51PM by david asprey.