Osprey - New Vanguard 293 - US Navy Gunboats 1885-1945.pdf

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US NAVY GUNBOATS
1885–1945
BRIAN LANE HERDER
ILLUSTRATED BY ADAM TOOBY
NEW VANGUARD 293
US NAVY GUNBOATS
1885–1945
BRIAN LANE HERDER
ILLUSTRATED BY ADAM TOOBY
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
GUNBOATS
• The first steel gunboats
• 1890s gunboats
• Early 20th-century gunboats
• Spanish-American War prizes
• River gunboats (PR)
• Steel monitors (BM)
• World War II gunboats 1936–42
• Armed yachts 1898–1945 (PY )
• Special flagships 1905–77
4
5
9
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 1898
• Manila Bay
• Cuba and Puerto Rico
29
BANANA WARS 1899–1916
THE ASIATIC STATION 1899–1937
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 1937–42
• The
Panay
Incident, December 12, 1937
• Escape from China, late 1941
• Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
• Twilight of the Asiatic Fleet 1941–42
34
36
39
CONCLUSION
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
46
47
48
US NAVY GUNBOATS 1885–1945
INTRODUCTION
Like their foreign contemporaries, the US Navy’s late 19th and early
20th‑century steel gunboats showed the flag, patrolled rivers and littorals,
protected expatriates, policed small crises, landed armed parties, and
provided deterrence and fast‑response capabilities around the world.
Gunboats were, in a word, “expendable,” meaning they were often the
United States’ most visible and persistent presence in far‑flung foreign lands.
During so‑called peacetime it was the unglamorous gunboats that saw by
far the most action. Gunboat life, while often tedious, was also frequently
exciting and unpredictable. Although heavily involved in the Caribbean, US
gunboats remain best remembered for their Far East service on the Asiatic
Station. Whether landing naval infantry or providing gunfire support, their
intended combat operations were against adversaries ashore. Nevertheless,
they fought many battles against ships and aircraft, including their most
famous actions.
Early in the Steel Navy era, the US Navy’s use of the terms “cruiser” and
“gunboat” largely overlapped, as both types often worked independently
and performed many of the same missions. Indeed, early US steel gunboats
did rival cruisers in size, power, range, and speed. However, US gunboats
completed after 1898 were distinctively smaller and less expensive than US
cruisers. This manifested itself
tactically in lighter batteries, less
protection, and slower speed
(about 13 knots for gunboats
against 20 knots for cruisers).
These newer, smaller gunboats
were never intended for modern
ship‑to‑ship actions; indeed,
they were “too slow to run
and too small to fight.” Many
ended their careers reclassified,
renamed, and/or performing
auxiliary roles such as convoy
escort, anti‑submarine warfare
(ASW), logistic support, and
personnel training.
The most famous (or infamous)
US Navy gunboat, USS
Panay
(PG-45/PR-5), during her
standardization trials on
August 30, 1928.
Panay
and
her five sister ships were the
last Yangtze gunboats built by
the United States.
Panay
and
the identical USS
Oahu
(PG-46/
PR-6) were 191ft long; their
sister ships USS
Luzon
(PG-47/
PR-7) and USS
Mindanao
(PG-
48/PR-8) were slightly longer at
211ft, while USS
Guam
(PG-43/
PR-3) and USS
Tutuila
(PG-44/
PR-4) were slightly shorter at
159ft. (Library of Congress)
4
In July 1920, the US Navy
officially reclassified all remaining
gunboats and “third‑class” cruisers
with the two‑letter hull designator
PG for “Patrol Gunboat.” These
included the surviving 2,000‑ton
Montgomery‑class unprotected
cruiser
Marblehead,
commissioned
in 1894, the two 3,769‑ton New
Orleans‑class protected cruisers
commissioned in 1898–1900, and
the six 3,200‑ton Denver‑class
protected cruisers commissioned in
1903–05. After a mere 13 months
under the gunboat classification,
these nine former cruisers (PG‑27
through PG‑34, plus PG‑36)
were then reclassified as “light
cruisers” (CL) on August 8, 1921.
Additionally, PG‑25 and PG‑26 had apparently been reserved for the
Montgomery‑class cruisers
Montgomery
and
Cincinnati
before they were
struck. The final “Patrol Gunboat” outlier was
Nantucket,
an iron‑hulled
1,020‑ton screw steamer commissioned in 1876 as the Alert‑class gunboat
USS
Ranger.
Decommissioned on November 10, 1908,
Ranger,
re‑named
Nantucket,
was nevertheless briefly designated PG‑23 in July 1920. For our
purposes, we will confine our examination to the more conventional US
steel gunboats.
In addition to the US Navy’s officially designated “Patrol Gunboats”
(PG), several related US Navy types will be addressed, including the
“armed yacht” or “Patrol Yacht” (PY) and the “Monitor” (BM). Both were
gunboats in all but name. The US Navy additionally converted a handful
of commissioned gunboats/yachts into special VIP flagships; these vessels
ultimately witnessed much 20th‑century history play out on their decks.
Space limitations unfortunately prevent a definitive accounting of all US steel
gunboats, operations, or combat actions between 1885 and 1945. This title
instead serves as a succinct yet broad‑ranging survey addressing the subject’s
highlights.
A US gunboat landing party
from 20th Century Fox’s 1966
film
The Sand Pebbles.
In the
foreground, Steve McQueen’s
character wields an M1918
.30-06 Browning Automatic
Rifle (BAR). Behind McQueen,
a white-dressed seaman holds
an M1903 .30-06 Springfield
rifle. Although the scene and
movie are fictional, both were
accurate to the late 1920s
Yangtze River. (Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation/
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via
Getty Images)
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Gunboats were notoriously heterogeneous in design. Overwhelmingly built in
civilian shipyards, US gunboats were generally slow, lightly armed, virtually
unarmored, and displaced anywhere between 200 and 2,000 tons. Crews
were typically between 130 and 190 officers and men, with river gunboats
employing 50–60 personnel. Draft was typically shallow, especially for river
gunboats, which might draw just a few feet.
Without overseas bases, early US steel gunboats needed to be ocean‑going.
They were nevertheless oversized, overbuilt, and over‑armed, reflecting the
early Steel Navy’s primitive design philosophy. At most a �½in to ⅜in steel
“watertight” deck shielded machinery and magazines. Below the waterline,
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