by River Gunboats- An Illustrated Encyclopaedia (retail) (epub)
His Majesty’s Burmese Ship Scarab
After the reconquest of Burma in 1945, the Royal Navy found itself required to patrol the Irrawaddy and its tributaries to cut back on rice smugglers and other illegal activities following the withdrawal of the Japanese occupying forces. In order to provide a base ship for the landing craft carrying out these patrols, the Government transferred to the Burmese the old ‘Insect’ class river gunboat HMS Scarab, awaiting disposal at Singapore after extensive war service in the Mediterranean. Her 6in guns were removed at Singapore Naval Base, where she was handed over to Lieutenant Commander Cole, Burma RNVR, who had been a captain on one of the Irrawaddy company mail steamers before the war. She was to be hired on a monthly basis for a maximum of one year, and at the end of the period was exchanged for a ‘River’ class frigate, HMS Fal. The Scarab was disposed of in 1948 and scrapped, the last of the ‘Insects’ afloat. During the post-war period the need for steel was so great that no-one thought of preserving any of the Royal Navy’s famous warships, so Scarab went the way of Warspite and many others, converted into razor blades, in the popular idiom of the day. Ironically, if she had been transferred permanently to Burma, she just might have survived to be preserved. And instead it is the former Fal which has been preserved, as HMBS Mayu in a drydock in Siekki Yangon. For details of Scarab, see GREAT BRITAIN.
Y304 photographed in 1991, armed with a Bofors aft and a 2-pounder Pom-Pom forward. (Photo via Ivan Gogin)
LCG (M)
When Burma became independent, the British not only supplied the ‘River’ class frigate Fal, but they sold four Landing Craft Gun (Medium), armed with two 25-pounder gun/howitzers in turrets, plus a pair of 2-pounder Pom-Poms. Renamed Indaw, Inlay, Inma and Inya, the Burmese Navy found them to be extremely useful in supporting troops engaged in anti-insurgency operations along the river system. When the LCGs were worn out, four of their gun turrets were passed on to the pair of new river gunboats built in Myanmar, the Nawarat class. For details of the LCG (M), see FRANCE.
Y301 Class
In 1957 the Government of Burma turned to Tito’s Yugoslavia, another ‘non-aligned’ nation, as a supplier of river gunboats, purchasing ten units of the Y301 class. As no other navy still uses the British wartime Pom-Pom, ammunition supply must now be a headache, and it would probably have to be manufactured (or reloaded) in a local arsenal.
Launched:
1957 by Uljanik Shipyard, Pula.
Dimensions:
Displ: 150 tons full load; L: 32m/105ft; B: 7.25m/23ft 9in; D: 0.90m/2ft 11in.
Crew:
29.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × Mercedes-Benz diesel engines, total 1,100bhp/13 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 40mm Bofors OR 1 × 40mm Bofors + 1 × 2-pounder Pom-Pom.
Fate:
Still in service.
PGM-401–406
Six Patrol Motor Gunboats of the US Navy’s PGM-39 class were built for Burma and supplied under the MAP (Mutual Assistance Program). PGM-43, 44, 45 and 46 built by Marinette Marine were transferred in 1959 and became Burmese PGM-401 to 404 respectively. PGM-51 and 52, the slightly larger boats from Pearson Builders, were transferred in 1961, and re-numbered as Burmese PGM-405 and 406.
PGM-46 prior to transfer to Burma. (Photo Historical Collections of the Great Lakes)
Launched:
PGM-43, 44, 45, 46, 1959, by Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette. PGM-51 and 52, 1961, by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay.
Dimensions:
PGM-43, 44, 45, 46 Displ: 110 tons; L: 28.96m/95ft; B: 5.8m/19ft; D: 2.29m/7ft 6in. PGM-51 and 52 Displ: 110 tons; L: 30.8m/101ft; B: 6.4m/21ft; D: 2.29m/7ft 6in.
Crew:
17.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 8 × 225bhp General Motors 6-71 diesel engines/17 knots.
Guns/Armour:
PGM-43, 44, 45, 46 2 × 40mm Bofors, PGM-51 & 52 1 × 40mm Bofors; 2 × twin 20mm Oerlikons; 2 × .50 cal Browning HMG.
Fate:
Still in service.
MGB101 class. Note the addition of a funnel, not present on the original 83ft cutters. (Photo: Burmese Navy)
MGB101 Class
In 1951 the Americans had transferred ten 83-foot Coast Guard Cutters to Burma. By 1960 their wooden hulls were deteriorating, so their machinery and armament were taken out and rein-stalled in new wooden hulls built locally, to produce the MGB101 class patrol boats. They were renumbered MGB101 to 110, and were all discarded by the early 1990s.
Launched:
WWII by various builders.
Dimensions:
Displ: 66 tons full load; L: 25.3m/83ft; B: 4.88m/16ft; D: 1.70m/5ft 7in.
Crew:
16.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 4 × 200bhp General Motors diesel engines/11 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 40mm Bofors; 1 × 20mm Oerlikon.
Fate:
Stricken between 1983 and 1990s.
Nawarat and Nagakyay
These large vessels were used solely on the rivers. Their principal armament of 25-pounder ex-Army gun/howitzers, with the option of direct or indirect fire, were ideal for supporting troops fighting on the river banks. Built in Burma, they were retained in service until the early 1990s.
Nawarat. (Photo via Ivan Gogin)
Launched:
1960 by the Government DY, Dawbon, Rangoon.
Dimensions:
Displ: 450 tons full load; L: 49.7m/163ft; B: 8.2m/26ft 11in; D: 1.8m/5ft 11in.
Crew:
43.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × Paxman Ricardo diesel engines, total 1,160bhp/12 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 25-pounder gun/howitzers; 2 × 40mm Bofors/Bulletproof gun turrets.
Fate:
Stricken in the early 1990s.
Michao Class
Between 1963 and 1968, Yugoslavia supplied to Burma twenty-five Michao class patrol craft, armed with two 20mm cannon, numbered 001 to 025.
Y311 Class
In 1967, as part of the plan to construct as many vessels as possible locally, with Yugoslav assistance two enlarged versions of the Yugoslav-built Y301 Class were constructed in Sinmalaik Dockyard, the Y311 and the Y312. Apart from their larger size, they could be distinguished from the earlier Y301 class by the lack of a funnel, and both Bofors mounted on the main deck fore and aft. Y312 was sunk by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which is reported to have destroyed twenty-five Myanmar naval vessels and caused the deaths of many sailors.
Launched:
1967 by Sinmalaik DY, Yangon.
Dimensions:
Displ: 250 tons full load; L: 37m/121ft 4½in; B: 7.3m/23ft 11in; D: 1.10m/3ft 7in.
Crew:
37.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × MTU Mercedes-Benz diesel engines, total 1,000bhp/14 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 40mm Bofors; 2 × 20mm Oerlikon/Bulletproof shields for all gun mountings.
Fate:
Y311 still in service; Y312 lost 2008.
Yan Naing Class
In 1970 the Burmese Navy converted ten MFV (Motor Fishing Vessels) into gunboats, and numbered them 501 to 510. They were armed with one or more machine guns.
PBR 211–216
Between 1978 and 1982 the United States transferred six PBRs to Burma, which re-numbered them as PBR 211 to 216. It is not known whether they were Mark Is or Mark IIs: the latter are more likely if they were new builds rather than surplus Vietnam War boats. For details, see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Y312 photographed in 1994. (Photo via Ivan Gogin)
CAMBODIA
To police the stretch of the Mekong River which flows through the Kingdom of Cambodia, as well as the Tonle Sap River flowing from the lake of the same name, Cambodia deploys or has deployed the following river gunboats.
Chinese Yulin Class
Three units were transferred at an unknown date. For de
tails, see CHINA.
Russian Zhuk Class
In 1975 three units were transferred by the Soviet Union. In 1988 one further vessel (Russian No unknown) was transferred from Vietnam. Project 1400ME: 41, then 1101, 42, then 1102. One unit in 1985, and one unit in 1988. For details, see RUSSIA Part II.
Russian ‘Shmel’ Class
Cambodia received four units of the ‘Shmel’ class from the Soviet Union:
No 31 (renumbered as No 1111) and No 32 (renumbered as No 1112) in March 1984;
No 33 (renumbered as No 1113) and No 34 (renumbered as No 1114) in January 1985.
For details, see RUSSIA Part II.
Russian Tarantul Class (NATO Designation ‘Stenka’)
Between 1985 and 1987 Cambodia received four units, renumbered No 51 – No 54. Twin 40mm Bofors have replaced the twin 30mm on some of these units, and in 1995 three Caterpillar diesels with a total of 14,000bhp were installed, giving a top speed of 37 knots. For other details, see RUSSIA Part II.
CAMEROON
Project 1400ME Grif Class
Between 1985 and 1987 the Soviet Union transferred three Grif class patrol boats to Cameroon. For details, see RUSSIA Part II.
In addition to these, the Cameroonian Navy operates a number of small river patrol craft, but the Navy’s main duty is to protect the country’s oil terminals, and combat piracy on its coastline.
CHINA
With the opening up of China to trade in the mid-nineteenth century, and the incursions of Christian missionaries, the Chinese government commissioned their own gunboats to patrol the extensive inland waterways. These Chinese gunboats are often overlooked compared with their counterparts belonging to the Western Powers and Japan.
Unlike the neighbouring Empire of Japan, where the Japanese quickly woke up to the fact that they had fallen far behind foreign powers in military technology, which left their country dangerously exposed, the rulers of the ancient Chinese Empire considered themselves superior to all foreigners, and far too late began to try to catch up militarily. Rivalries between the three major Chinese fleets led to disasters and defeats at the hands of these despised foreign interlopers. Efforts to build a powerful navy were thwarted by such episodes as the failure of the shells from the heavy Krupp guns of the two Chinese battleships to actually explode on striking Japanese ships: corrupt officers had sold the high explosive in the shells and replaced it with sawdust. Again, when funds were allocated for the purchase of a third modern battleship, the Dowager Empress appropriated the money to build a marble ship on an ornamental lake, an artistic version of turning swords into ploughshares, which would have been highly commendable at any other place and time.
From the turn of the twentieth century, the Chinese navy did make determined efforts to build up a sizeable force of gunboats to patrol its internal waterways, not hesitating to turn to foreign designers and builders such as the Germans, British and, surprisingly in view of later events, the Japanese. Profiting from the design expertise of these established naval powers, the Chinese shipyards would go on to design and build their own classes of vessel. Although some carried German field howitzers as main armament, and others German-calibre Maxim Pom-Poms, mirroring the German influence on the Chinese army, the majority of river gunboats would carry a range of British-built guns, simplifying the ammunition supply.
Throughout the momentous upheavals which took place in China following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, when regional warlords sent modern armies of up to 700,000 men into combat with tanks, artillery, aircraft and armoured trains, it seems the Chinese navy managed to keep itself relatively apart from the struggles, and basically intact. This would change dramatically with the arrival of the Japanese.
In the chapter on Argentina we can see how the presence of major rivers navigable by ocean-going vessels led to the development of ‘riverine battleships’. Again, the combats in Mesopotamia saw ocean-going sloops travel and fight quite far from the mouth of the Euphrates. A similar situation arose in China, where the Yangtze is navigable by deep-draught vessels for long distances. The Japanese used large vessels such as minesweepers, destroyers and even cruisers to support their invasion of China. The Chinese navy had a long tradition of building large vessels for use as gunboats on the Yangtze.
One major development in particular had a serious impact on the Chinese riverine forces. The sailors resisting the Japanese invaders did not lack for courage, but they were sadly short of air power. Compared with South American riverine conflicts, where in the rare confrontations between river gunboats and aircraft, the former could usually rely on one or two high-angle anti-aircraft guns, plus their machine guns, to ward off attacks carried out by only one or two aircraft at a time, the major air attacks by the Japanese Navy planes in China were a completely different matter.
As the Royal Navy would soon learn in 1939, in order to survive large-scale air attacks warships would need effective fighter protection. The one or two small-calibre high-angle guns they carried would prove sadly ineffective. On the Chinese rivers, the foreign gunboats did carry some high-angle guns: on the US boats, the small 3in/23 cal, later replaced by the modern 3in/50 cal, and on the British vessels the 3in 12-pounder. However, they had been installed to cope with threats from attackers on the heights dominating the river gorges. The limited displacement available for additional armament meant that river gunboats could never be fitted with sizeable batteries of close-in anti-aircraft weapons such as the 20mm Oerlikon or Madsen, or preferably the 40mm Bofors. The Yung Sui of 1929 was the first Chinese river gunboat designed to carry a Vickers 40mm Pom-Pom, but this single gun with its low muzzle velocity and short-range self-destroying ammunition was of limited use against modern high-speed aircraft. Without effective air cover, all the gunboats in the China Theatre were extremely vulnerable to destruction by air attack.
Faced with the potential loss of virtually all their fleet to Japanese air attacks, the Chinese resorted to a desperate tactic, that of self-immolation in an attempt to block the exits from the major rivers. Thus, in a precursor of the later Japanese Kamikaze suicide attacks in the face of overwhelming air power, the larger Chinese warships were virtually all expended as blockships, alongside dozens of merchant vessels. This would prove to be a successful strategy, as the mass use of blockships proved a serious headache for the advancing Japanese, and had a greater impact than attempting to face the invaders head-on in unequal river combat.
In complete contrast to this stratagem, the majority of Chinese river gunboats lost during the war with Japan went down fighting. Many sunken Chinese river gunboats were salvaged, and served on for years, in the Japanese, Manchukuo, Nationalist and People’s Republic Navies, as a testimony to their excellent design and resilience.
Information on the vessels of the Chinese navy has always been scarce outside, and even inside China. Where details survive, they are often incomplete and sometimes contradictory. Not surprisingly, the major upheavals in the country during the first half of the twentieth century, and the flight of the Nationalist government to Taiwan, means that much information has been dispersed or even lost to history. This is sadly true of the photographic record, and it is to be hoped that this work will inspire future researchers to attempt to fill in the gaps.
THE TAIPING REBELLION
Hyson
The story of Chinese river gunboats goes back to the 1860s. The Taiping Heavenly Army fought the Quing Dynasty forces from 1850 to 1864, in a bloody and brutal conflict which by some estimates resulted in at least 20 million deaths, with possibly up to 100 million, making it the most disastrous civil war of the nineteenth century. Into this maelstrom was plunged Major Charles George Gordon of the Royal Engineers, who in March 1863 took over the Imperial unit known as the Ever Victorious Army, founded by Frederick Townsend Ward in early 1862. Gordon used one of Ward’s armed steamers, the Hyson, as his headquarters, and under his command the vessel spearheaded many successful actions by the Imperial forces. It was said her powerful steam whi
stle struck terror into the enemy, and when the river was too shallow to navigate, the Hyson simply ploughed her way across the river bed using her paddles as wheels.
Launched:
Built? Converted by Ward, used by Charles Gordon 1863.
Dimensions:
Displ: c. 240 tons; L: 27.4m/90ft; B: 7.3m/24ft; D: 1.2m/4ft max.
Crew:
4 Foreign officers; Chinese crew of 4 stokers, 10 gunners + 20 sailors.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine/8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 32-pounder in the bows; 1 × 12-pounder howitzer aft/Elm planking 3in/76mm thick and 6ft/1.83m high around the bulwarks; Additional planking protecting the steam chest.
Fate:
Unknown
Other armed steamers under Gordon’s command included the Firefly, the Tsatlee and the Cricket.
Taiping Steamers
For their part, the rebels under Chung Wang used the small screw steamer Kajow, armed with a 12-pounder howitzer. In an attack on Imperial stockades at Tajouka on 12 October 1863, powder left underneath the steamer’s howitzer was accidentally set off in an explosion which opened up the Kajow’s bows. She sank in shallow water, and was captured by Imperial troops.