FRANK S.
TAYLOR FAMILY AND ROYAL NAVY HISTORY.NET
AMERICAN RIVER GUNBOATS
THE YANGTZE PATROL
USS
Panay sinking off Nanking, China 1937 after being attacked by
Japanese aircraft
The Yangtze Patrol, from 1854 to 1945, was a prolonged naval
operation to protect American interests in the Yangtze
River's treaty ports. Initially the patrol was carried out by
ships of the United States Navy's East India
and Asiatic Squadrons. In 1922, the "YangPat" was established as a
formal component and assigned to the Asiatic Fleet. Under the "unequal
treaties", the United States,
Japan, and various European powers were allowed to cruise China's
rivers and engage in gunboat diplomacy. They also patrolled coastal waters,
protecting their citizens, their property, and their religious missions. The
Yangtze is China's
longest river, and very important to commerce. Ocean-going vessels were able to
proceed as far upstream as the cities of Wuhan.
This squadron-sized unit cruised the waters of the Yangtze as far inland as Chungking, more than 1,300 mi (2,100 km) from
the sea, and occasionally far beyond.
The Yangtze Valley

Ocean-going shipping
could navigate as far as Wuhan
(Hankow).
Head of navigation
was at Chongqing.
Only small steamers and junks could pass the gorges to get there.
The
Yangtze Patrol: The Historical Basis
In 1900 - 01, all China erupted
in anti-foreign riots under the leadership of the paramilitary Society of
Boxers. The foreign Powers retaliated with a massive military expedition which
marched on Beijing,
relieved the besieged foreign embassies, and wreaked fearful vengeance on the
Chinese, sacking the Imperial tombs among other things. Under the terms of the
treaty forced on China after
this latest defeat, the western Powers and Japan
were permitted to station gunboats on China's major rivers to protect
their citizens and property.
Under previous treaties which
closed earlier wars of aggression, citizens of the Treaty Powers living in China claimed extraterritoriality. ("Extrality"
to Old China Hands - i.e. immunity from Chinese law.) The gunboats
enforced this non-accountability and patently encouraged its gross abuse by
their nationals in China.
Such injustices, which would never be tolerated today, were among the effects
of the "unequal treaties". Chinese outrage at this disrespect helped
feed the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) revolution in 1926-28. Through China's
revolutionary decades - from the turn of the century until 1950 - stirring up
anti-foreign sentiment made good political sense for warlords, KMT
generalissimo, and Communist cadre alike.
The Spanish boats were replaced
in the 1920s by the Luzon and Mindanao the largest, Oahu
and Pansy next in size, and Guam and Tutuila
the smallest. China
in the first fifty years of the 20th century, was in
low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and
invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanking
Incident in 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war.
When Chiang Kai-Shek’s massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered
the unrest, US Marines with tanks were landed.


USS
Luzon
River steamers were popular
targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take
periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS
Palos protected American interests in China down the entire length of the
Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating
American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible
presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the
period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos
was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord
soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations
between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923,
supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord
army.
The British Royal Navy had a
series of Insect Class Gunboats which patrolled between Chongqing
and Shanghai.
Cruisers and destroyers and Fly Class vessels also patrolled. The
most infamous incident was in 1937 when USS Panay and HMS Bee were dive bombed
by Japanese aeroplanes during the Nanking
Massacre.
The Europeans were forced to
leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese
takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into
Japanese or Chinese service. Probably the most curious incident involved HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese
Civil war between Kuomintang and People's Liberation Army forces; and led
to the award of the Dickin Medal to the ship's cat Simon
Another example
of the relationship between humans and animals.

USS
Helena
In 1914 the U.S. Navy began beefing
up its inland China
fleet. The old (1897) US-built gunboat Helena
(above) was the first to join the flotilla. Two shallow draft, flat-bottomed,
twin-screw vessels were purpose-built for Yangtze duty, joining the squadron
the same year. Copying long-standing British practice, the Monacy
and Palos (above) were prefabricated in the States, disassembled at San Diego, shipped out to Hong Kong
in pieces, and reassembled there to save the long ocean voyage. After WWI the
armed yacht USS Isabel was added to the American flotilla and often
served as flagship for the Yangtze operation. She was a 26-knot ship, 231 feet
long. Armed with two 3-inch guns, she was a suitable flotilla leader anywhere
there was nine feet or more of water for her to hover. Isabel also had
luxurious mahogany-panelled lounges and a spacious gourmet galley, more
convenient for entertaining than the cramped quarters on the other gunboats.

USS Panay underway during
standardization trials off Woo Sung,
China 30 August
1928

USS
Panay

1937 Press photo US
Gunboat Panay Sunk in Yangtze Dec 29 1937


1937 Press Photo US Gunboat PANAY
Sunk on Yangtze 16.12.1937

Text Reads
LATEST PICTURE OF
ILL-FATED U.S. GUNBOAT
Here is one of the
last pictures taken of the U.S.
Riverboat
Panay
which was shelled and bombed to the bottom of the
muddy
Yangtze River above Nanking by Japanese planes
and
guns.
The Panay is shown ties to the Standard oil
pontoon
at
Nankow, China, (BUOS) 12-14-37
In 1928, a further generation of
somewhat longer patrol vessels issued from Jiangnan
Dock & Engineering Works in Shanghai, after
being assembled once again from prefab hull sections shipped out from San Diego. These six
ships, the Luzon, Guam, Oahu, Mindanao, Panay,
and Tutuila, were 191 feet long x 28
feet in beam, drew 6 feet 5 inches, and could make 15 knots. At 450 tons, these twin-stack, twin-screw riverboats boasted a tall,
blocky superstructure through practically their entire length; their masts were
webbed with antennas. They replaced the worn-out, antiquated Spanish boats,
nearly all of which were sunk as targets for the Asiatic Fleet in 1928 and 1929.
In 1937 the Panay (seen above in 1928) was caught up in the currents of
history when an unprovoked and deliberate Japanese air attack sank her in the
Yangtze near Nanking.
All of these gunboats were swept up in the turbulent tides of war and
revolution affecting China.
Both the Oahu and the Mindanao were sunk by enemy air attack at Manila in early 1942.
Sister ship USS Tutuila (PR-4) was trapped in the Yangtze gorges by the
Japanese invasion of China
in 1938, and joined the Nationalist (KMT) exodus to inland Chungking (Jongqing) in Sichuan
Province. There she
huddled near the U.S. Embassy on the south bank of the Yangtze during the
furious bombing of China's
wartime capital. As a gesture of solidarity, once the U.S. had joined the war, she was
turned over to the KMT military, who renamed her Mei Yuan (translation:
"American origin"). As happened with most of the
military ‘matériel’ lavished upon Chiang Kai-shek, the gunboat
saw very little fighting. Instead she was hoarded for eventual use
against the Communists in the showdown anticipated after the U.S. had beaten Japan for Chiang. The ship was
scuttled at Shanghai
in 1949 to prevent capture by Mao's victorious forces. Her sister ship the Wake
(ex-Guam) (PR-3) had an even more amazing odyssey, being surrendered to
Japan in 1941, recaptured by the U.S. in 1945, donated to Chiang to help in his
civil war against Mao, and then captured and used by the Chinese Reds in 1949
and after. She thus served four flags under five separate names!
Another member of the class, the Luzon (PG-47), after being escorted to
Manila through a typhoon during the final days before Pearl Harbour, was
scuttled there by her crew, but raised by the Japanese, renamed HIJMS Karatsu, and refurbished as a sub chaser (although
retaining her official designation as a river gunboat), based at Cebu. In this
capacity she located and helped sink the U.S. submarine Cisco
(SS-290) with the help of two Nakajima Kate torpedo bombers. Vengeance was not
long in coming to the turncoat gunboat, however. The submarine USS Narwhal
(SS-167) torpedoed Karatsu on March 3, 1944,
blowing off her bows and effectively putting her out of business for the
duration. She was towed to Manila
for repairs but as Japanese occupation forces scrambled to ward off General
MacArthur's onslaught, they never got around to patching her up. Instead she
was scuttled as a block-ship at Manila
on March 3, 1944. Presumably the wreck was scrapped to open the harbour mouth
following the Allied takeover.
After the Japanese took
control of much of the middle and lower Yangtze, American gunboats entered into
a period of frustrating inactivity and impotence. Just prior to the attack on
Pearl Harbor, most of the ships on the Yangtze River Patrol were brought out of
China, with only the
smallest gunboats, Wake (the renamed Guam) and Tutuila
remaining behind. Wake, at Shanghai,
was subsequently captured by the Japanese. Tutuila, at Chungking,
was turned over to the Chinese. When the other gunboats reached Manila, the Yangtze River
Patrol was formally dissolved when, on 5 December 1941, Rear Admiral Glassford
sent the message, "COMYANGPAT DISSOLVED". Subsequently, the evacuated
ships were all scuttled, or captured with their crews and imprisoned by the
Japanese, after the fall of Corregidor in
mid-1942. Luzon was later salvaged and
used by the Japanese. Asheville was sunk
in battle 3 March 1942 and Mindanao was
scuttled on 2 May.
Some patrols on the river
were resumed in 1945, and included among others the destroyer USS Eaton
and light cruiser USS St. Louis. When the Chinese Civil War reached
the Yangtze Valley, this activity ended.
For further information we
suggest:
The followinig link to The Navy Department Library of the US Navy
accesses Annual Reports of the Navy Department for 1920 – 1942.
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/yangtze.htm
Japanese Imperial Navy Service
During the Pacific War, a number of former Allied, Axis and Neutral
vessels that had been scuttled or otherwise acquired in various ports in the Far East were put into service by the Japanese. This
references below cover the activities of eight such vessels that later saw
service as Imperial Japanese Navy gunboats.
Tabular Records of Movement:
Ex-Foreign Vessels in IJN Service as River Gunboats
(Ex-Countries link to specifications summaries)
USS Luzon
(PG-47)

Text reads:
US Gunboat shelled.
Nankow, China… The US River Gunboat Luzon which was struck
by a
Chinese anti-aircraft shell and its radio operator
injured slightly during a
Japanese air raid on Nankow. Another shell struck
the Luzon’s launch
killing one Chinese and injuring several other persons. The
gunboat is part
of the Yangtze River
Patrol.

Gunboat in Yangtze River China c1932
Thought to be River gunboat USS Luzon, Hankow, China 1938

Original USS Luzon River Gunboat envelope
1941

USS Luzon PG-47/PR-7
|
Career
(USA)
|

|
Name:
|
USS Luzon
|
Builder:
|
Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai
|
Laid down:
|
20 November 1926
|
Launched:
|
12 September 1927
|
Commissioned:
|
1 June 1928
|
Struck:
|
8 May 1942
|
Honors and
awards:
|
1 battle star
|
Fate:
|
Scuttled 6 May 1942
|
Career
(Japan)
|

|
Name:
|
Karatsu
|
Fate:
|
Sunk 3 March 1944
|
General
characteristics
|
Displacement:
|
500 long tons (508 t)
|
Length:
|
210 ft 9 in (64.24 m)
|
Beam:
|
31 ft (9.4 m)
|
Draft:
|
6 ft (1.8 m)
|
Speed:
|
16 kn (30 km/h)
|
Complement:
|
80
|
Armament:
|
• 2 × 3 in (76 mm) guns
• 10 × .30 caliber machine guns
|
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
The first USS Luzon (PG-47) was laid down 20 November 1926 by
the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai,
China; launched
12 September 1927; sponsored by Miss Mary C. Carter, daughter of Commander
Andrew F. Carter, USN; and commissioned 1 June 1928.
Service history
One of eight gunboats built for service on the Yangtze River in China, Luzon
was redesignated PR-7 on 15 June. From commissioning until December 1938, she
served as the flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol, operating out of Hankow,
between such ports as Nanking, Chunking, and Shanghai. In August 1937, after the Japanese
had attacked Shanghai, Luzon
evacuated the American Embassy staff to Chunking.
In December 1938 the river gunboat arrived at Shanghai
to relieve Augusta (CA-31) as station ship.
Except for infrequent calls at Nanking, Wuhu and
other ports on the Yangtze, she remained off Shanghai
until 29 November 1941 when she departed for the Philippines.
Luzon arrived at Manila on 30 December,
just 23 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States
into World War II. She then began patrol operations in the waters of the Philippines, assisting in the defense of both
Bataan, from 1 February until the surrender of the peninsula to the Japanese 9
April, and Corregidor, from the beginning evacuations of that entrance island
to Manila Bay until the enemy landings 5 May.
The next day, with the surrender of the Corregidor and Manila Bay
forts to the Japanese, Luzon, along with Oahu (PR-6) and Quail (AM-15),
were scuttled in Manila
Bay to prevent capture,
and subsequently struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1942. Luzon
received one battle star for World War II service.
Service in Imperial Japanese Navy
In late May, 1942, Luzon was salvaged by the Imperial Japanese Navy
(IJN), and repair begun at the 103rd Repair Facility at Cavite. Her forward 3-inch AA gun was
replaced by a built-up superstructure and her bow was adorned with two imperial
crests, one on each side.On August 1, Luzon was renamed Karatsu
by the Japanese, and assigned to the Sasebo Naval District and assigned to Vice
Admiral Takahashi Ibo's (36) (former CO of Kirishima) Southwest Area Fleet's
Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet. Although classified by the Japanese as a
riverine gunboat, repair work continued to convert her into a submarine chaser,
including the installation of a sonar system. When refit work completed on Oct
14, she was reassigned to Cebu Guard Unit the next day.
For the next two years she operated mostly in conjunction with Imperial
Japanese Army to conduct counterguerrilla operations, with the secondary escort
/ patrol missions, and it was during one of these escort / patrol missions that
she sunk Cisco (SS-290) with the help of two Nakajima
B5N torpedo bombers from the
IJN 954th Air Group. The river gunboat was fatally torpedoed in the Philippines by Narwhal (SS-167) on 3 March 1944,
and had to be towed back to Cebu when its bow
was blown back to the bridge. However, the damage was too extensive to be
repaired at Cebu, so she was towed to Manila to
be repaired at No.103 Repair Facility at Cavite.
On Jan 22, 1945, before the repairs could be completed, she was ordered to
depart Manila as soon as possible, but due to
the progress of the war, IJN had no options but to scuttle it as a blockship in
Manila Bay on Feb 5, and on Apr 10, Karatsu
was struck from IJN naval list.
References
This article incorporates text from the public
domain Dictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
USS Mindanao (PR-8)

USS
Mindanao PR-8 Hong Kong China
1938
Text reads:
River
Gunboat
Commissioned
10 July 1928
Dimensions:
210’ 9” x 31” 1” x 5’ 7”
Displacement:
560 Tons
Armament:
2x 3” 10x .30cal MG
Crew:
65 Speed: 16 knots

Text Reads:
AMERICAN GUNBOAT
IN CHINA.
Pictured above is the USS Mindanao, American gunboat
of the South China Patrol,
Now about 700 miles south of Shanghai. The Mindanao is in
command of Commander
George Kenyon and carries a crew of 6 officers and
54 men. (2.1.32)

USS Mindanao Gunboat Yangtze River China c1932
|
Career
|

|
Name:
|
USS Mindanao (PR-8)
|
Builder:
|
Kiangnan Dock &
Engineering Works
|
Laid down:
|
20 November 1926
|
Launched:
|
28 September 1927
|
Commissioned:
|
10 July 1928
|
Struck:
|
8 May 1942
|
Honors and
awards:
|
1 battle
star (WWII)
|
Fate:
|
Sunk to avoid capture on 2
May 1942
|
General
characteristics
|
Displacement:
|
560 long tons (569 t)
|
Length:
|
210 ft 9 in
(64.24 m)
|
Beam:
|
31 ft 1 in
(9.47 m)
|
Draft:
|
5 ft 7 in
(1.70 m)
|
Speed:
|
16 knots (18 mph;
30 km/h)
|
Complement:
|
65
|
Armament:
|
• 2 × 3 in
(76 mm) guns
• 10 × .30 caliber machine guns
|
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
The first USS Mindanao (PR‑8)
was a river gunboat in the service of the United States Navy before and during
World War II.
Construction and
commissioning
Mindanao was laid down as patrol gunboat PG-48 on 20 November 1926 by Kiangnan
Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China; launched on 28 September 1927;
reclassified as river gunboat PR-8; sponsored by Mrs. E. A. McIntyre,
wife of Lieutenant Commander McIntyre; and commissioned at Shanghai on 10 July 1928, Lt. Comdr. A. W.
Ashbrook in command.
River patrol in
China
Departing
Shanghai on 28 July 1928, Mindanao
conducted shakedown up the Yangtze River, steaming to Chungking and Wansien and
returning downstream to Shanghai
on 31 August. The gunboat stood out again on 10 September to return to Wansien
and take up station. Arriving on 22 September, the ship remained there on
convoy and patrol duty until sailing back to Shanghai for fuel and repairs on 28 December.
She underwent overhaul until 21 March 1929, and then cruised upriver on patrol,
returning intermittently to Shanghai
to investigate political conditions. On 2 May, the warship called for Hong Kong
and thence to Canton,
arriving 14 June where she became flagship of the South China Patrol Force, U.S. Asiatic Fleet. For the next 12½
years, Mindanao cruised the southern coast of China, based alternately at Hong Kong and Canton, protecting American and Allied interests in China
and suppressing piracy. In October 1938, following the Japanese invasion of southern
China and seizure of Canton, she commenced
operations to guard American neutrality.
World War II
service
On 2
December 1941 — as Japanese aggression was expected shortly and the
small, lightly armed ship could not hope to combat the overwhelming odds facing
her in China — the gunboat received orders to sail to the Philippines.
Though designed only for river travel, the valiant craft put to sea from Hong Kong on 4 December. Bucking heavy winds and high
seas, she stubbornly remained on course for Luzon.
At 03:40 on the night of 8 December, she received word of the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor. Immediately going to general
quarters, the crew remained near their guns throughout the passage, and on 9
December intercepted and sank a small Japanese trawler, taking 10
prisoners-of-war, among the first taken by Americans in World War II (the first
POW was Kazuo Sakamaki, sole survivor of the midget
submarine attack on Pearl Harbor). Mindanao
concluded this dangerous and eventful voyage upon arrival at Manila Bay
the next day.
Assigned
to inshore patrol and guard duty in Manila Bay, the gunboat acted as station
ship in connection with the minefield channels near Corregidor until the end of
December 1941, and then took nightly turns with China river gunboats USS Luzon (PR-7)
and USS Oahu (PR-6) patrolling east of Bataan. The
shortage of fuel in the Philippines
ended these patrols in early March, and the ships instead took turns watching
for Japanese small craft at a position 3 miles east of Corregidor.
On the afternoon of 25 March, they engaged nine enemy boats. Mindanao
harassed enemy artillery east of Bataan on 6
April. The same day, the gunboat helped rescue some 60 American soldiers from
both shore artillery and enemy aircraft. The ship repeatedly closed the beach
to support small boats embarking the soldiers.
When
the naval situation in Manila Bay appeared hopeless, Mindanao’s crew
was ordered ashore on 10 April to help defend Fort Hughes.
Hit by shell fire the same day, the gunboat was stripped of all useful gear. On
2 May 1942, after suffering an aerial bomb hit in the engine room, she was sunk
to prevent capture.
Mindanao received one battle star
for World War II service.
References
This article incorporates text from the public
domain Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
USS Tutuila (PR-4)

USS Tutuila envelope 1938

USS Tutuila (PR-4)
|
Career (United States)
|

|
Name:
|
Tutuila (PG-44)
|
Namesake:
|
Tutuila
|
Builder:
|
Kiangnan Dockyard and Engineering Works, Shanghai
|
Laid
down:
|
17
October 1926
|
Launched:
|
14
June 1927
|
Commissioned:
|
2
March 1928
|
Reclassified:
|
PR-4, 16 June 1928
|
Decommissioned:
|
18
January 1942
|
Struck:
|
26
March 1942
|
Fate:
|
Transferred
to China
under lend-lease, 16 February 1942; Permanent transfer, 17 February 1948
|
Career (Republic
of China)
|

|
Name:
|
RCS
Mei Yuan
|
Acquired:
|
16
February 1942
|
Fate:
|
Scuttled
to prevent capture, May 1949
|
General characteristics
|
Type:
|
River
gunboat
|
Displacement:
|
395
long tons (401 t)
|
Length:
|
159 ft 5 in
(48.59 m)
|
Beam:
|
27 ft 1 in
(8.26 m)
|
Draft:
|
5 ft 5 in
(1.65 m)
|
Speed:
|
14.37 kn
(16.54 mph; 26.61 km/h)
|
Complement:
|
61
officers and enlisted
|
Armament:
|
2
× 3 in (76 mm) guns
10 × .30 in (7.62 mm) machine
guns
|
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
USS Tutuila (PG-44) was a gunboat in the service of the
United States Navy from 1928 until her transfer to China under lend-lease in 1942.
Construction
Tutuila was laid down on 17 October 1926 at the Kiangnan Dockyard and Engineering
Works in Shanghai, China; launched on 14 June 1927,
sponsored by Miss Beverly Pollard; and commissioned on 2 March 1928, with
Lieutenant Commander Frederick Baltzly in command.
Service
history
Yangtze Patrol, 1928-1937
Assigned
to the Yangtze Patrol (YangPat) and redesignated river gunboat PR-4 on
16 June 1928, Tutuila cruised on shakedown up the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Yichang, where she joined her sister ship Guam in mid-July. Convoying river steamers through
the upper reaches of the Yangtze on her first passage through the scenic
gorges, she flew the flag of Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., Commander,
Yangtze Patrol (ComYangPat). Tutuila's
shallow draft enabled her to traverse the treacherous rapids of the gorges with
ease, so that the fluctuating water levels did not hinder her year-round access
to the upper stretch of the Yangtze. Her duty with YangPat offered excitement
and variety: conducting roving armed patrols; convoying merchantmen; providing
armed guards for American flag steamers; and "showing the flag" to
protect American lives and property in a land where civil strife and warfare
had been a way of life for centuries.
Dealing with sniping by bandits or warlord troops in the 1920s and 1930s
required both tact and—on occasion—a few well-placed rounds of
3 in (76 mm) or .30 in (7.62 mm) gunfire. One incident
which called for a mixture of diplomacy and force came in 1929, when Lt. Cdr.
S. D. Truesdell was in command of the gunboat. He called on the Chinese warlord
from whose territory some rifle shots had come. During a discussion of the
incident, the general explained that his men were merely "country boys,
who meant no harm". Truesdell replied that he, too, had some "country
boys" among his own crew. He noted that he had found them tinkering with
the after 3-inch gun, pointing it at the general's conspicuous white
headquarters as they practiced their range-finding. Truesdell's rejoinder bore
immediate fruit; the sniper fire ceased.
In
1937, the complexion of life for the Yangtze gunboats changed. The undeclared Second Sino-Japanese War began in July and
spread to the Yangtze valley in August-September. Japanese river operations
effectively bottled up the river for neutral gunboats, and their proximity to
war zones produced incidents such as the sinking of Panay
by Japanese aircraft on 12 December 1937. On 3 August 1938, Tutuila
followed Luzon up the river to Chungking,
as the YangPat flagship carried the American Ambassador Nelson
T. Johnson to that river port.
Tutuila remained at Chungking
as station ship with little hope of relief. Further Japanese operations
resulted in the capture of Hankow in October 1938, making river travel below
the former Chinese capital city subject to harassment and obstruction by the
Japanese Navy. Such conditions resulted in the stranding of Tutuila at Chungking, where she remained through 1941.
After the fall of Hankow, the Chinese moved their
capital up river to Tutuila's station, Chungking.
Japanese forces thus stepped up the intensity of their attacks on that city,
and air raids were common occurrences during the spring, summer, and fall. Only
winter bad weather prevented the Japanese from year-round heavy raids. Moored
at Lungmenhao Lagoon, Tutuila bore a
charmed life until 31 July 1941, when Japanese bombs landed close aboard,
holing the ship at her waterline and destroying the ship's motor skimmer with
its outboard motor.
By late 1941, as the situation in the Far East worsened, four gunboats remained with YangPat
and one in the South China Patrol. Admiral Hart's reduction of naval forces in
Chinese waters cut this number to two. Luzon with Rear Admiral William A. Glassford,
ComYangPat, aboard, departed from Shanghai
for Manila on 28 November 1941 in company with Oahu. Wake remained at Shanghai
as station ship; Tutuila, beyond hope of escape, remained marooned at Chungking. Mindanao departed Hong Kong at
approximately the same time and arrived in the Philippines shortly after
hostilities commenced.
World War II, 1941-1942
Shortly after his arrival in Manila,
RAdm. Glassford
deactivated the Yangtze Patrol on 6 December 1941. Within a few days, Japanese
air attacks had devastated Pearl Harbor; and hostilities were underway with a
rapidity which caught Wake unawares at Shanghai, where she was captured. For Tutuila, however, this news only heightened the
anxiety.
Her
residual complement of two officers and 22 enlisted men was ordered to depart
from Chungking without their ship. She was
then taken under the jurisdiction of the Naval Attaché attached to the
American Embassy, Chungking. She was
decommissioned on 18 January 1942, the same day Tutuila's crew flew out of the city.
Republic of China Navy, 1942-1949
The
attaché delivered the ship to an authorized representative of the
Republic of China on 16 February 1942. Then, under terms of lend-lease, the
U.S. Navy leased the gunboat to China
on 19
March, her name becoming Mei Yuan, which can be translated as
"of American origin". The name Tutuila
was struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on 26 March.
The
ship was permanently transferred to the Chinese government on 17 February 1948.
She served the Nationalist Navy until near the end of the Civil
War which ravaged China
after World War II. As Communist forces advanced upon Shanghai, the Nationalists abandoned and
scuttled Mei Yuan to prevent her capture. Her subsequent fate is
unknown.
References
This article incorporates text from the public
domain Dictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External
links
NavSource Online: Gunboat
Photo Archive: USS Tutuila (PR 4), ex-PG-44
USS Wake (PR-3)

USS Wake as IJN Tatara.
|
Career (United States)
|

|
Name:
|
USS
Wake
|
Namesake:
|
Wake
Island
|
Builder:
|
Kiangnan
Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai
|
Launched:
|
28
May 1927
|
Commissioned:
|
28
December 1927, as USS Guam (PG-43)
|
Renamed:
|
USS
Wake, January 1941
|
Reclassified:
|
PR-3 (River Gunboat), 15 June 1928
|
Struck:
|
25
March 1942
|
Fate:
|
Captured
by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 8 December 1941
|
Career (Japan)
|

|
Name:
|
Tatara
|
Acquired:
|
by
capture, 8 December 1941
|
Fate:
|
Recaptured
by U.S. Navy, August 1945
Transferred to China,
1946
|
Career (Republic
of China)
|

|
Name:
|
RCS
Tai Yuan
|
Acquired:
|
1946
|
Fate:
|
Captured
by Communist Chinese forces, 1949
|
Career (People's
Republic of China)
|

|
Acquired:
|
1949
|
Fate:
|
active
until the 1960s
|
General characteristics
|
Type:
|
Gunboat
|
Displacement:
|
350
long tons (360 t)
|
Length:
|
159 ft 5 in
(48.59 m)
|
Beam:
|
27 ft 1 in
(8.26 m)
|
Draft:
|
5 ft 3 in
(1.60 m)
|
Installed
power:
|
1,900 ihp
(1,400 kW)
|
Propulsion:
|
2
× triple expansion steam engines
2 × screws
|
Speed:
|
14.5 kn
(16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
|
Complement:
|
59
|
Armament:
|
2
× 3 in (76 mm) guns (2x1)
8 × .30 in (7.62 mm) Lewis machine guns (8x1)
|
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USS Wake
(PR-3) was a United States Navy river gunboat operating on the Yangtze River. She was seized by Japan on 8 December 1941. Originally
commissioned as the gunboat Guam
(PG-43), she was re-designated river patrol vessel PR-3 in 1928, and
renamed Wake.
Service
history
She was
launched on 28 May 1927 as Guam by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering
Works in Shanghai, China, and commissioned on 28
December 1927. Her primary mission was to ensure the safety of American
missionaries and other foreigners. Later, the ship also functioned as a
"radio spy ship," keeping track of Japanese movements. However, by
1939, she was "escorted" by a Japanese warship wherever she went, as China
fell more and more under Imperial Japanese control.
In
January 1941, she was renamed Wake, as Guam was to be the
new name of a large cruiser being built in the U.S. In March 1941, Columbus Darwin
Smith—an old China
hand who had been piloting river boats on the Yangtze
River—was asked to accept a commission in the U.S. Navy and
was appointed captain of Wake with the rank of commander.
On 25
November 1941, Cdr. Smith was ordered to close the Navy installation at Hankow,
and sail to Shanghai.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941, Shanghai
immediately fell to Japan.
Smith was in command on 8 December 1941 (7 December in Hawaii),
when the Japanese captured the ship, which was tied up at a pier in Shanghai. Smith had
received a telephone call the night before from a Japanese officer he knew. The
officer asked where Smith would be the next morning as he wanted to deliver
some turkeys for Smith and his crew. The Japanese did the same to other
American officers and officials so as to determine where they would be on
December 8th. However, Commander Smith received word from his quartermaster
about the Pearl Harbor attack and rushed to
the ship only to find it under guard by the Japanese. Surrounded by an
overwhelming Japanese force, the crew attempted unsuccessfully to scuttle the
craft. Wake surrendered, the only U.S. ship to do so in World War II.
Commander
Smith and his crew were confined to a prison camp near Shanghai,
where, coincidentally, the U.S. Marines captured on Wake
Island were also later imprisoned.
The
Japanese gave Wake to their puppet Wang Jingwei regime in Nanjing, where she was renamed Tatara.
In 1945, at the end of the war, she was recaptured by the U.S. The U.S. gave the ship to the Chinese
nationalists, who renamed her Tai Yuan. Finally, the ship was
once again captured by Communist Chinese forces in 1949.
As of
2010, no other ship of the U.S. Navy has been named Wake, though a Casablanca-class
escort
carrier launched in 1943 was named Wake Island.
References
This article incorporates text from the public
domain Dictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External
links
USS "Wake" as
"IJN Tatara" and "RCS Tai Yuan".

WW2 Naval cover USS Guam 1938 River Gunboat Patrol, Asiatic Station
envelope

Postcard 1937
Postcard 1937 (back)
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