by River Gunboats- An Illustrated Encyclopaedia (retail) (epub)
Doğan (‘Falcon’) was the ex-German Pionier built in 1911, and based in Baghdad as a river tug. In July 1915 the Turks chartered her for conversion to a gunboat for use on the Tigris. During the fight on 26 February 1917 when Firefly was recovered, HMS Mantis engaged Doğan. When she caught fire, her crew ran her aground and abandoned her.
Launched:
April 1911 by Gebr Weimann, Brandenburg.
Dimensions:
Displ: 250 tons; L: 35.5m/116ft 8in; B: 6.3m/20ft 8in; D: 1.6m/5ft 3in.
Crew:
35 (1915), 42 (1916).
Power/Speed:
Single screw; VTE steam engine, 350ihp/12 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1915: 1 × 60mm QF; 4 × 3-pounder QF; 1 × 1-pounder QF. 1916: 1 × 60mm QF; 1 × 6-pounder QF; 2 × 3-pounder QF; 1 × 1-pounder QF; 1 × MG.
Fate:
Lost 27 February 1917.
Patrol Boats
These Thornycroft patrol boats, designated as motor gunboats, were intended for customs duties and patrolling. Twenty-four were ordered but Nos 3 and 24 were never completed. Three of the patrol boats were lost in the Balkan wars prior to the outbreak of the Great War.
One was captured by the Royal Navy and pressed into service in Mesopotamia under the name of HMS Flycatcher – probably No 2 sunk on 7 November 1914 by HMS Espiegle near Dabba Island, which was salvaged and repaired by late 1915.
On 19 November 1914, No 6 was surprised by Espiegle in a creek near Dabba Island and was quickly destroyed by gunfire. On 23 March 1915, two of the launches, disguised by tree branches and bushes, attempted to attack HMS Shushan. Their disguise was insufficient, and Shushan’s 3-pounder QF guns quickly drove them off. No 8 was destroyed attempting to escape from Nasiriya on 24 July 1915 by the 12-pounder gun on Shushan.
In all, eight were lost or discarded during the Great War, and six more were discarded before the Second World War. Four more went by 1943, and the last survivor, No 14, renamed as Mulazim Hayati in 1932, remained in use up until 1949.
Launched:
1911: Nos 1, 2 and 4 to 10; 1914: Nos 11 to 23, by Thornycroft, Woolston.
Dimensions:
Displ: 20 tons full load; L: 18.3m (between perpendiculars)/60ft; B: 3.3m/10ft 10in: D: 1.6m/5ft 3in.
Crew:
6.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × Thornycroft paraffin engines, total 70bhp/11.9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 or 2 × 37mm Pom-Pom.
Fate:
10 lost, last stricken 1949.
Turkish Thornycroft patrol boat. (Photo via Ivan Gogin)
Patrol Boat No 11 in profile. (Drawing courtesy of The Blueprints)
Patrol Launches
In 1917, Turkey ordered twenty-five small patrol launches from German builders, but only thirteen were delivered: Nos MB 1 to 4 and 6 to 9 on 11 December 1917, and the remainder on 1 April 1918. Three were lost on 27 March 1918, and the remainder were soon discarded.
Launched:
December 1917 and April 1918, by Schlosswerft, Holtz, in Hamburg and Kremer, in Elmshorn.
Dimensions:
Displ: 13.5 tons; L: 16.5m (between pp)/54ft 1in; B: 3m/9ft 10in; D: 0.60m/1ft 11½in.
Crew:
4.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × Hanomag-Lloyd petrol engines, total 70bhp/4.8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Likely 1 or 2 × 8mm Maxim MG.
Fate:
3 lost, remainder stricken 1918.
A small Turkish armed motor boat being launched in Mesopotamia. Note the MG pulpit on the bows. (Photo by Clemens Lahr, in Kampf in der Wuste, Verlag C. Nertelsmann, Gutersloh)
DEAD SEA FLOTILLA
During the Great War, the Turkish army in Palestine used the Dead Sea to transport grain from the Eastern shore to their forces defending Jerusalem. The Allies attempted to interdict the tugs and barges from the air, but this was proving too difficult. A Martinsyde bomber with a 160bhp Beardmore engine was therefore converted to a hydro-plane, by removing the wings and tail unit, and fitting floats in the place of wheels, christened ‘Mimi’. The pilot would chase the grain convoys at high speed, then slow and stand up in the cockpit, firing a Lewis gun over the rear of his strange craft. This worked for a time, but Mimi was over-powered and easily upset, and the Turks brought in armed motor launches as tugs for the grain barges. The problem of interdiction was only solved when Allenby’s forces captured Jerusalem.
The Turks had transported the parts of a large steam tug from Haifa to Rujm el Bahr, for assembly and use on the Dead Sea grain run. She appears large enough to carry one or two 37mm Pom-Poms when completed. The parts were discovered by Australian troops, and it was decided to assemble the vessel for use by the Army. All parts were present apart from the engines, and it was planned to use petrol engines from the Army’s tractors. The Australians left the area before seeing the tug launched, or indeed without knowing whether it would be completed as planned.
A Turkish armed launch being transported to the Dead Sea. This could well be a cutter from a larger warship. No armament is fitted to lighten her for transport, but it is likely she would have carried at least one 37mm Pom-Pom as on the Mesopotamian patrol boats. (Photo Library of Congress)
Turkish twin-screw steam tug under construction at Rujm el Bahr on the Dead Sea. (Photo by Captain E H James, via The Australian Light Horse Studies Centre)
UGANDA
A landlocked country, Uganda has a small flotilla of eight patrol boats to police Lake Victoria. It is currently operating in co-operation with, and supported by, the USA.
UKRAINE
After finding only one sale outlet for their stylish Gyurza armoured patrol boats (see UZBEKISTAN), the Ukrainians decided to purchase the improved Gyurza-M Project 58155 model for their own armed forces. They wanted to rebuild their navy following the loss of two-thirds of their vessels during the Russian takeover of the Crimea in March 2014, and their objective was to build a ‘mosquito fleet’. However, faced with the massive Russian naval presence in the Black Sea, this is not likely to restore any semblance of balance of power in the near future. The fate of similar small vessels during the Georgian conflict with Russia offers no encouragement.
On the other hand, the Ukraine has an extensive river system, the longest of which is the Dnieper, and inspired by precedents during the Great Patriotic War, it is conceivable that the Ukrainians will wish to build up their riverine forces. However, since the current troubles began when the Ukrainians sought European Union membership and therefore European subsidies, it is conceivable that financial constraints will work against any enlargement of their riverine forces.
The first two Gyurza-M were commissioned in December 2016. Compared with the original Project 58150, the Ukrainian boats are larger and heavier, with a deeper draught and reduced speed. They also carry shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
Gyurza-M Project 58155
Launched:
2004 by Leninska Kuznya, Kiev.
Dimensions:
Displ: 54 tons full load; L: 23m/75ft 5½in; B: 4.8m/15ft 9in; D: 1.0m/3ft 3in.
Crew:
5.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws in tunnels; 2 × 870bhp Caterpillar 3406 E diesel engines/25 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 30mm ZTM-1 cannon; 2 × 30mm grenade launchers; 2 × 7.62mm MG; 4 × Barrier AT missiles; unspecified number of SAMs/Citadel armoured protection covering wheelhouse, engine room and armament turrets, bulletproof against 7.62mm and 5.56mm calibres.
Fate:
In service.
Gyurza-M on trials in 2016.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Against the background of the great American internal expansion of riverine and canal transport, with the widespread introduction of steam power, the US Navy was quick to capitalise on the advantages of shallow-draught gunboats able to penetrate inland far from the sea.
Following a strict chronolo
gical sequence, this chapter should begin with the launch of the paddle steamer USS Michigan on the Great Lakes in 1844. However, the story of gunboats on the Great Lakes continued well into the twentieth century. So it is the Tabasco River expedition of 1847 which begins our narrative. Alphabetically the China gunboats should precede the Civil War vessels, but again the former continued on up until the early 1940s.
Research into American river gunboats is facilitated by the fact that, unlike many other countries, information is held in the public domain, freely accessible and without copyright restrictions, enabling the rich and varied naval heritage of the United States to become available to everyone.
THE MEXICAN WAR 1846–1848
The United States Navy began using its first steam-powered river gunboats in a combined-arms role, transporting and supporting land forces, in 1847 during the Mexican War, on the Tabasco River. With the Mexican coastline blockaded by the US Navy, the Mexicans resorted to river and overland transport of their war supplies. A major transit point was the town of San Juan Bautista, situated 74 miles (110km) from the sea on the Tabasco River.
In October 1846 the Americans launched an attack on San Juan Bautista, crossing the bar at the river’s mouth with three steamers towing four other vessels, and a landing party of 200 men. In thirty-three hours they arrived before San Juan Bautista, and seized a small flotilla of vessels used to ferry arms.
The following June, the Mexicans had resumed their transport of arms and supplies via San Juan Bautista, and a second expedition was sent up the river. Commodore Perry had at his disposal four steam gunboats, Scorpion, Spitfire, Vixen and Scourge, and he used these to tow six schooners, bomb vessels and a large number of ships’ boats. In total the expedition numbered 2,500 crewmen and Marines.
They crossed the bar on 14 June 1847. At the ‘Devil’s Turn’ they came under attack from Mexican troops hidden in the dense forest which came down to the river bank. The Mexicans’ muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets were incapable of stopping or even seriously damaging the flotilla. During their first volleys it seems they aimed high, and the one American casualty was a crewman on the Vixen. In return, the vessels’ artillery made short work of the opposition. At this point Perry landed with a strong contingent to march through the swamps and jungle, supported by the flotilla proceeding upriver. This combined ops tactic succeeded in dislodging the Mexican defenders, and San Juan was duly captured.
The United States steamers Scorpion, Spitfire, Vixen and Scourge, with forty barges in tow, crossing the bar at the mouth of the Tabasco River, Mexico. Lithograph from a drawing by Lieutenant H Walke, USN. (Illustration: Library of Congress Ref LC-DIG-pga-04099)
USS Scorpion
Launched:
1846 by Bishop & Simonson, New York, as commercial steamer SS Aurora.
Dimensions:
Displ: 339 tons; L: 49m/160ft 9in; B: 7.47m/24ft 6in; D: 2.44m/8ft.
Crew:
60.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine/7.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 8in shell guns; 2 × 18-pounder carronades.
Fate:
Sold 23 December 1848, became ss Isthmus, lost at sea 1854.
USS Spitfire
Launched:
1846 by Brown & Bell, New York, for the Mexican government. Purchased for the US Navy 14 July 1846.
Dimensions:
Displ: 241 tons; L: 36m/119ft: B: 6.86m/22ft 6in; D: 2.82m/9ft 3in.
Crew:
circa 50.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine.
Guns/Armour:
Not recorded, but probably: 1 × 8in shell gun; 2 × 32-pounder carronades.
Fate:
Sold 1848.
USS Vixen
Launched:
1846 by Brown & Bell, New York, for the Mexican government. Purchased for the US Navy May 1846.
Dimensions:
Displ: 240 tons; L: 36m/118ft; B: 6.86m/22ft 6in; D: 2.1m/7ft.
Crew:
55.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine/7.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 8in shell gun; 2 × 32-pounder carronades.
Fate:
Sold 1855.
USS Scourge
Launched:
1844 by Betts, Harlan and Hollingsworth, Wilmington as the SS Bangor. Purchased for US Navy 30 December 1846.
Dimensions:
Displ: 231 tons; L: 37m/120ft; B: 7m/23ft; D: 2.7m/9ft.
Crew:
50.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines/10.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 32-pounder; 2 × 24-pounder carronades/Machinery protected by sandbags on order of her commander, Lieutenant Lockwood.
Fate:
Sold 7 October 1848 at New Orleans.
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 1861–1865
A comprehensive description of all the river gunboats of the American Civil War would fill a complete encyclopaedia. Here we have outlined the main classes and types of river gunboat used during the conflict, illustrating specific examples. The bibliography lists the sources which can be searched for further details, and there are numerous individual enthusiasts and associations which continue to research the topic and throw further light on this period of history. Many of the details here are sourced from Mark Jenkins’ excellent website. Paul Silverstone’s book Warships of the Civil War Navies is another rich source of research.
Initially the gunboats were formed into the Western Flotilla, maintained, operated and controlled by the Army, but each vessel was commanded by a naval officer. On 1 October 1862, the entire Western Flotilla was transferred to the US Navy, and became known as the Mississippi Squadron. The rams, however, were never commissioned as Navy ships and remained under the control of the Army.
Porter’s ironclads riding the breach in Bailey’s dam near Alexandria. (Illustration from Frank Leslie’s Scenes and Portraits of the Civil War, published in 1894)
A narrative of all the actions on the rivers during the Civil War would also fill a complete book. However, it is significant to mention the one action which could have led to the loss of virtually the whole river flotilla at a stroke, namely the ill-starred Red River Expedition. The naval part of the expedition began on 10 March 1864 when ten ironclads, three river monitors, eleven tinclads, and a large number of supply and support vessels, tugs, troop transports and Army rams gathered at the mouth of the Red River. Their ultimate objective would be the capture of Shreveport, in order to take control of West Texas, ward off possible Mexican intervention on the side of the Confederacy, seize the large stocks of cotton in the region, and further General Banks’ political ambitions by carrying out elections in the conquered areas.
At first all went more or less according to plan, but after capturing Alexandria, General Banks led his troops on a cross-country route to Shreveport, moving away from the close support provided by the warships. The outnumbered Confederate defenders succeeded in throwing back the Union troops in headlong retreat, which also entailed the withdrawal of the river flotilla.
To his dismay Rear Admiral Porter discovered that the river level was falling unusually fast, due to Confederate efforts to divert water higher up, and he found his ironclads trapped by the rapids above Alexandria. Blasting a channel through would take too long, with the victorious Confederates closing in on the river banks, and Porter faced the unnerving prospect of having to surrender his vessels or blow them up to avoid capture, thus losing virtually the entire Union river force.
At this juncture there stepped forward Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey, who audaciously proposed constructing a dam across the Red River in order to raise the water level. Breaking the dam would allow the trapped flotilla to ride the flood water past the rapids. General Banks agreed to provide the necessary manpower, and construction proceeded apace. However, the force of the current broke the dam befo
re all the ships were ready, and just four ironclads managed to ride the flow as planned. Undismayed, Bailey built two more dams higher up to provide an increased flow of water, and on the second attempt all the remaining vessels ran the dam to safety.
Having received the accolades of his country, and the gift of a $700 sword from Porter, it is sad to relate that, just two years after the end of the war, Joseph Bailey, by then Sheriff of Vernon County, Missouri, would be murdered by two prisoners he was escorting to jail.
Purpose - Built Ironclads and Gunboats
Eads’ ‘City’ Class
The seven ships of the ‘City’ (or Cairo) class formed the backbone of the river ironclad flotilla, and were present at most of the major engagements. Many were heavily hit and often disabled or sunk, only to be refloated and repaired for further service. They were designed by Samuel M Pook, hence their nickname of ‘Pook Turtles’, as they resembled mud turtles. All were built by James B Eads and completed by January 1862. Eads had made a fortune salvaging sunken river vessels, and funded the construction from his own resources, being reimbursed later by the US Government. When they were transferred to the US Navy, which already listed a St Louis, the iron-clad of that name was renamed Baron de Kalb.
USS Cairo. The first warship to be sunk by a ‘torpedo’ (mine) while carrying out minesweeping operations. Note the large beam running from front to rear of the casemate to provide extra stiffening to the shallow-draught hull. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 61568)
The remains of USS Cairo as salvaged and preserved. (Photo by Mark A Wilson, Department of Geology, College of Wooster)
To be able to tell the ships of the class apart, their twin funnels were painted with different-coloured bands: Cairo wore grey, Carondelet red, Cincinnati blue, Louisville green, Pittsburg light brown, St. Louis yellow, and Mound City orange (although she was also seen without coloured bands but with a star painted on each funnel).