UK Naval Ensign White R  FRANK  S. TAYLOR  FAMILY AND ROYAL NAVY HISTORY.NET UK Naval Ensign White L 

 

 

AMERICAN RIVER GUNBOATS

 

 

United States of America

 

 

 

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

 

Map of the Yangtze Valley region

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.

 

 

 

Photo of the Yangtze gunboat USS PALOS

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

 

USSLuzonPG-7.jpg
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)

Flag of Japan.svg

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.

External links NavSource Online: Mindanao

 

 

 

 

USS Tutuila (PR-4)

 

 

USS Tutuila envelope 1938

 

 

USS Tuttuila
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 (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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