by River Gunboats- An Illustrated Encyclopaedia (retail) (epub)
Power/Speed:
Single screw; steam engine/10.35 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × light guns.
Fate:
Sold 25 January 1893 at Nagasaki.
A painting of USS Palos dressed overall in Chinese waters. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59822)
Wilmington Class
For Wilmington on the South American Station, see South American Rivers below. On this station she once recorded rolls of up to 45 degrees, due no doubt to her huge funnel and armoured crow’s nest on her fighting mast.
Between 1923 and 1941 Wilmington cruised Lake Erie as a training ship. Renamed Dover in January 1941 she reached the open sea, and served up until the end of the Second World War.
Launched:
Wilmington 18 October 1895; Helena 13 January 1896, by Newport News Shipbuilding Co.
Dimensions:
Displ: 1,390 tons; L: 76.43m/250ft 9in; B: 12.47m/40ft 11in; D: 2.7m/9ft.
Crew:
175.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × VTE steam engines, 1,988ihp/13 knots.
Guns/Armour:
4 × 4in/40; 4 × 3-pounder QF; .30 cal Gatling MG/Light waterline armour belt protecting the machinery spaces.
Fate:
Helena sold 7 July 1934; Wilmington sold 13 September 1946.
USS Wilmington at Canton, China circa 1911. Her sister-ship USS Helena also spent several years with the Yangtze Patrol. (Photo Robert M Cieri via navalwarfare.blogspot.fr)
Enlarging the drawing shows that the MG in her masthead fighting top are Gatlings, probably with electric drive.
Captured Spanish Gunboats
The small gunboats captured from the Spanish Navy in 1898 were far from ideal for use on the Yangtze, as they could not ascend to the upper reaches of the river. Nevertheless, they were available, and of relatively modest size, so from 1903 they were pressed into service on the Yangtze Patrol (COMYANGPAT). Despite their humble origins, they would give many years of useful service before being replaced by the purpose-built China gunboats.
USS Elcano
Designed as a schooner-rigged third class protected cruiser for Spanish colonial service, Elcano was captured at Manila in 1898 and incorporated in the US Navy. Her Spanish guns were replaced by US models, and her two bow torpedo tubes were removed. She spent many years on the Yangtze, and was finally expended as a target.
Launched:
28 January 1884 by Carraca Arsenal, Cadiz.
Dimensions:
Displ: 620 tons; L: 50.44m/165ft 6in; B: 7.9m/26ft; D: 3m/10ft.
Crew:
99–103.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × vertical compound steam engines, 1,200ihp/11 knots.
Guns/Armour:
4 × 4in/40; 4 × 3-pounder QF; 1 × 3in field gun for landing party; 2 × .30 cal Colt MG/Presumed protective armoured deck, thickness not recorded.
Fate:
Sunk as target 4 October 1928.
USS Elcano on the Yangtze River circa 1917. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 69694)
Closeup of the midships section of Elcano in dry dock in Shanghai in the early 1920s. The large gun in the sponson is a 4in/40, and the smaller gun on the deck above is a 3-pounder QF. The letter ‘E’ does not indicate ‘Elcano’ but instead the award of excellence to the gun crew during gunnery exercises. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68978)
Class leader USS Quiros. Her sister-ship Villalobos was virtually identical. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 00327)
USS Villalobos and Quiros
Both were schooner-rigged composite gunboats captured from Spain and used on the Yangtze. Villalobos was the inspiration for the fictional ‘USS San Pablo’ in the book by Richard McKenna, later made into the film The Sand Pebbles. The reconstructed film gunboat, however realistic, bore little resemblance to the historical Villalobos.
Launched:
Both 1895, by Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company.
Dimensions:
Displ: 350 tons; L: 44m/145ft; B: 6.93m/22ft 9in; D: 2.36m/7ft 9in.
Crew:
57.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; VTE steam engine, 4500ihp/11 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 6-pounder QF; 2 × 3-pounder QF; 2 × 1-pounder QF; 2 × .30 cal Colt MG.
Fate:
Quiros sunk as target 16 October 1923; Villalobos sunk as target 9 October 1928.
Samar Class
Launched:
Samar November 1887, Callao and Pampanga 1888, by Manila Ship Company, Cavite.
Dimensions:
Displ: Displ: 243 tons; L: 36.9m/121ft; B: 5.4m/17ft 10in; D: 2.3m/7ft 6in.
Crew:
28.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × vertical compound 250ihp steam engines/10.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 6-pounder QF; 1 × 3-pounder QF; 2 × 1-pounder QF; 2 × .30 cal Colt MG.
Fate:
Samar sold after collision damage 11 January 1921; Callao June 1921 used as ferry in Philippines, sold 13 September 1923; Pampanga sunk as target 21 November 1928.
USS Pampanga. (Photo Robert M Cieri via Navsource)
USS Palos (PG-16) being assembled for trials at Mare Island Navy Yard, 28 April 1913. USS Monocacy (PG-20) is on the left. Both would be dismantled and shipped to China for reassembly. (Photo courtesy of Mare Island Navy Yard, Naval History and Heritage Command # NH 70618)
Palos undergoing maintenance in drydock, probably in Shanghai, circa 1933–4. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 93566)
USS Palos and Monocacy
Two new shallow-draught river gunboats, USS Palos and Monocacy, were built at Mare Island in California in 1913, specifically for service on the upper reaches of the Yangtze. Assembled at Mare Island Naval Yard, they were dismantled and shipped to Shanghai where they were reassembled by the Shanghai Dock & Engineering Co. On 28 August 1914, Palos became the first US warship to reach Chunking, 1,300 miles (more than 2,000km) upriver. Both gunboats left the upper Yangtze after 1923, and by 1927 they were operating out of Shanghai. With the entry into service of the new China gunboats in the 1920s, the older pair were laid up in reserve in 1929, but were put back into commission to help with the disastrous floods of the summer of 1931.
Launched:
Palos 23 April 1914; Monocacy 27 April 1914 by Shanghai Dock & Engineering Co.
Dimensions:
Displ: 204 tons; L: 50.4m/165ft 6in; B: 7.47m/24ft 6in: D: 0.74m/2ft 5in.
Crew:
47.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines/13.25 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 6-pounder QF; 6 × MG/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Palos sold 3 June 1937; Monocacy scuttled 10 February 1939.
USS Isabel (PY-10)
Isabel was launched as a luxury yacht with certain features of a destroyer for John North Willys, car manufacturer of Toledo, Ohio. Willys had intended to offer his yacht for purchase by the Navy in the event of war. With the entry of the USA into the Great War, the Navy finally agreed to take over the Isabel, commissioning her as a destroyer and fitting her with four 3in/50 guns and four 21in torpedo tubes. After service as an escort during the war, in 1921 she was converted to a patrol yacht with her torpedo tubes removed, for service on the Yangtze. Two of her 3in/50 single-purpose guns were also removed and replaced by two 3in/23 cal anti-aircraft guns. These high-angle weapons would be more useful than the low-angle 3in guns for dealing with ambushers firing down from the tops of the Yangtze gorges. Transiting the Panama Canal, she arrived at Hong Kong on 7 November 1921. As she was to serve as the flagship of Rear Admiral William H G Bullard, a deckhouse was installed aft to accommodate the Admiral’s staff.
When the new construction gunboats arrived in sufficient numbers, in 1928 Isabel was transferred to Manila. After act
ive service in the Second World War, Isabel was withdrawn in 1946.
Launched:
1917 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.
Dimensions:
Displ: 710 tons; L: 74.75m/245ft 3in; B: 8.46m/27ft 9in; D: 2.59m/8ft 6in.
Crew:
103.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam turbines, 8,400shp/28.8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 3in/50 QF; 2 × 3in/23 QF; 1 × Y-Gun depth-charge thrower; 2 × .30 cal Lewis MG.
Fate:
Sold 2 March 1946.
USS Isabel, photographed at Hankow, China, 1927, flying the two-star flag of Commander, Yangtze Patrol and with sandbags placed around her gun mounts. (From the collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 81171)
New Construction
By 1926, the eight veteran ex-Spanish river gunboats were all worn out and the navy began to consider replacements.
The original 1924 design for a ‘River Gun Boat’ . . . April 26, 1924 with open screw propellers. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # S-584-194)
The revised 1924 design for a ‘River Gun Boat – Tunnel Stern Type’, September 8, 1924. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # S-584-193)
The first design was based on a new set of characteristics provided by Admiral Phelps of the US Navy Yangtze River Patrol Force aimed at producing a shorter vessel having high manoeuvrability and shallower draft. It provided for open surface propellers, three rudders, and a draft close to the 4ft prescribed.
It was passed over in favour of a larger vessel shown in the second profile drawing. The second design was also based on diesel machinery but with propellers operating inside tunnels, two 3in guns, and a speed of 15 knots in a ship 180ft (54.85m) long on the waterline, 27ft (8.23m) in beam, and with a normal displacement of 385 tons in fresh water.
In the event, both designs were rejected in favour of more traditional vessels designed by local Chinese shipyards. Post-war budget restrictions meant that it was envisaged having the new gunboats built in China, to avoid the expense of assembling and then dismantling them Stateside, plus the cost of transporting their component parts to China.
These new ships consisted of two large 500-ton gunboats (USS Luzon and Mindanao); two medium-sized 450-ton boats (USS Oahu and Panay) and two small 350-ton boats (USS Guam and Tutuila).
USS Luzon and Mindanao
The largest of the new China gunboats, both Luzon and Mindanao made the difficult open sea crossing to Manila when ordered to evacuate China just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There would be no escape for them, however, and Mindanao was scuttled by her crew in Manila Bay after shell hits on 10 April and an aerial bomb in the engine room on 2 May 1942. Her sister-ship was scuttled in Manila Bay on 6 May 1942 following the surrender of Corregidor and the Bay forts. The less badly-damaged Luzon would be salvaged by the Japanese and commissioned into their navy as Karatsu. She was torpedoed and sunk by Narwhal on 3 March 1944.
Launched:
Luzon 12 September 1927, Mindanao 28 September 1927, by Kiangnan Dock & Engineering Works, Shanghai.
Dimensions:
Displ: Luzon 500 tons, Mindanao 560 tons; L: 64.24m/210ft 9in; B: Luzon 9.45m/31ft, Mindanao 9.47m/31ft 1in; D: Luzon 1.83m/6ft, Mindanao 1.7m/5ft 7in.
Crew:
Luzon 80 as flagship, Mindanao 65.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × VTE steam engines/16 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 3in/50 DP; 10 × MG/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Both scuttled in Manila Bay: Mindanao 2 May 1942; Luzon 6 May 1942.
The US Navy went there too! USS Luzon hard aground in the Yangtze in 1929. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 95401)
The aft 3in/50 on USS Luzon. This is a dual-purpose HA/LA mounting, and much more potent than the earlier 3in/23 cal AA gun. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 71981)
USS Panay and Oahu
Panay was attacked and sunk by Japanese Navy bombers and fighters on the Yangtze on 12 December 1937, while evacuating the last Americans from Nanking. The Japanese Army had ordered the attack, to sink ‘any and all ships’ on the river above Nanking. Two crewmen and two civilians were killed, and forty-three sailors and five civilians wounded. The survivors were rescued by Oahu. The Japanese government was obliged to pay a large indemnity for what became known as the ‘Panay Incident’.
USS Panay. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 51466)
Oahu made the sea crossing to Manila in late November 1941. After carrying out patrols and troop support missions around Bataan and Corregidor, she was shelled and sunk in Manila Bay on 5 May 1942. Her wreck was never salvaged by the Japanese.
Launched:
Panay 10 November 1927, Oahu 26 November 1927, by Kiangnan Dock & Engineering Works, Shanghai.
Dimensions:
Displ: Panay 474 tons, Oahu 450 tons; L: 58.2m/191ft; B: Panay 8.84m/29ft, Oahu 8.56m/28ft 1in; D: 1.6m/5ft 3in.
Crew:
Panay 59, Oahu 55.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × VTE steam engines/15 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 3in/50 DP; 8 × MG/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Panay sunk 12 December 1937; Oahu sunk 5 May 1942.
USS Guam and Tutuila
In order to free up the name for the new large cruiser being built in the States, on 23 January 1941 Guam was renamed Wake. After her commander and most of her crew had been evacuated to Manila on other gunboats, Wake was left tied up at Shanghai under the care of a temporary commander and just fourteen men. Surprised by the Japanese on the morning of 7 December 1941, the small team attempted to scuttle their ship, but failed, and she was captured by the Japanese boarding party. The Japanese commissioned her as Tatara, and she survived the war despite numerous brushes with attacking US aircraft. Given to the Chinese Nationalists in 1946 and renamed Tai Yuan, she fell into the hands of the Communists, and served in their navy until 1966.
As station ship based at Chunking, Tutuila became more and more isolated as the Japanese advanced into China. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, her crew were evacuated from China, and she was left in the care of the local embassy staff. Finally on 19 March 1942 the US government leased Tutuila to China as Mei Yuan. Permanently transferred on 17 February 1948, she fell into Communist hands, and served in their navy up until 1966.
Closeup view of the armoured bridge and the crew of either USS Guam or USS Tutuila. These gunboats are recognisable by their short-barrelled 3in/23 cal AA guns. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 85840)
The 3in/23 cal anti-aircraft gun, two of which formed the main armament of Guam and Tutuila. Also retrofitted on Isabel on her transfer to China. This was the weapon mounted on the ‘San Pablo’ film gunboat.
Launched:
Guam 28 May 1927, Tutuila 14 June 1927, by Kiangnan Dock & Engineering Works, Shanghai.
Dimensions:
Displ: Guam 350 tons, Tutuila 395 tons; L: 48.59m/159ft 5in; B: Guam 8.23m/27ft, Tutuila 8.26m/27ft 1in; D: Guam 1.6m/5ft 3in, Tutuila 1.65m/5ft 5in.
Crew:
Guam 59, Tutuila 61.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; VTE steam engines/Guam 14.5 knots, Tutuila 14.37 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 3in/23 cal AA guns; 10 × .30 cal MG/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Wake (ex-Guam) captured 7 December 1941; Tutuila ceded to China 19 March 1942.
THE GREAT LAKES
USS Michigan
As with many fresh-water lake gunboats, USS Michigan had a long and successful career. She was built as a counterpart to the Canadian iron steamer HMS Mohawk, and was also constructed in sections: as there was no iron foundry on Lake Erie, her hull was built in Pittsburgh then transported to Erie where the sections were reassembled. She was completed by 28 September 1844, but hung o
n her launch slip. The launch was abandoned until the following day, but during the night Michigan launched herself and the next morning was found floating a short distance offshore.
Her subsequent career was no less eventful. From 1853 she was deployed to attempt to stop the illegal timber trade across the Lakes, on one occasion being rammed and damaged by a timber steamer, then in 1856 she was present at the assassination of James Strang, the self-proclaimed ‘King of Beaver Island’. During the Civil War, Confederate agents planned to seize the Michigan during an operation to liberate Confederate prisoners held on Johnson’s Island, but the scheme fell through. Her last military operation was to help put an end to the Fenian raids into Canada by Irish rebels. In all these operations, Michigan had never been called upon to open fire with her main armament, but her very presence had proved decisive.
Renamed Wolverine on 17 June 1905 to release her original name for a new battleship, she was decommissioned in 1912 and given to the Pennsylvania Naval Militia for use as a training vessel. Withdrawn in August 1923 she was loaned to Erie as a relic in 1927. Attempts in 1948 to preserve her failed, and she was scrapped the following year, although her prow has been preserved in the Erie Maritime Museum.
Launched:
Built 1842 by Stackhouse & Tomlinson of Pittsburgh. Assembled and launched 5 December 1843 at Erie, Pennsylvania.
Dimensions:
Displ: 686 tons; L: 49.76m/163ft 3in; B: 8.26m/27ft 1in; D: 2.74m/9ft.
Crew:
88.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine, 365ihp/8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Original: 1 × 18-pounder. Later: 6 × 6-pounder QF; 2 × 1-pounder QF.