A river gunboat is a type of gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 adapted for river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more than one cannon, one might be a howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

, for shore bombardment. They were usually not armoured

Vehicle armour

Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missiles, or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include tanks, aircraft, and ships....

. The USS San Pablo described in Richard McKenna

Richard McKenna

Richard Milton McKenna was an American sailor and writer.-Early life:McKenna was born in Mountain Home, Idaho, on May 9, 1913. Seeking more opportunities than could be found in such a rural part of the country at the height of the Great Depression, McKenna joined the U.S...

's The Sand Pebbles

The Sand Pebbles

The Sand Pebbles is a 1962 novel by American author Richard McKenna about a Yangtze River gunboat in 1926. It was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post for the three issues from November 17, 1962 through December 1, 1962. The author completed it in May, 1962, just in time to enter it in the 1963...

 is an example of this class of vessel, serving on the US Navy's Yangtze Patrol

Yangtze Patrol

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...

. Stronger river warships were river monitor

River monitor

River monitors were heavily armored, and normally mounted the largest guns of all riverine warships. The name originated from the US Navy's Brown Water Navy's USS Monitor, which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by a single revolving turret.On 18 December...

s.

Chinese river gunboats

Various European powers, the USA, and Japan, maintained flotillas of these shallow draft gunboats patrolling Chinese rivers. These gunboats were enforcing those nations' treaty rights under the unequal treaties that China had started to sign following her defeat during the first Opium War with Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

.

Foreign powers had coerced concessions from China, like extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...

 for their citizens in China, and the gunboats policed these rights.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 gunboats, numbering on average 15 a year in Chinese waters, served as "station ships", assigned to specific ports, and were designed for river functions.

U.S. Navy craft were of varying age, design, size, and utility. The earliest craft made brief excursions upriver between 1861 and 1901, but were rarely assigned on permanent patrol. In 1901 two large gunboats, USS Helena

USS Helena (PG-9)

USS Helena was a gunboat of the United States Navy that participated in the Spanish-American War and was later stationed in the Far East for many years....

 (1290 tons and crew of 170) and Wilmington

USS Wilmington (PG-8)

USS Wilmington was laid down on 8 October 1894 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company; launched on 19 October 1895; sponsored by Mrs. Anne B. Gray; and commissioned on 13 May 1897 with Commander Chapman C...

 (1570 tons and 212), were assigned to the Asiatic Squadron

Asiatic Squadron

The Asiatic Squadron was a squadron of United States Navy warships stationed in East Asia during the latter half of the 19th century, it was created in 1868 when the East India Squadron was disbanded...

's "Second Division" as permanent river patrol, although too large to patrol deep inland, until 1932 and 1923 respectively. In 1903 converted gunboats of the Spanish Navy

Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

 captured in 1898

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

, began patrols designed to take them further upriver toward Chungking. USS Elcano

USS Elcano (PG-38)

USS Elcano was a gunboat captured by the United States Navy from the Spanish Navy during the Spanish-American War. She was officially commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1902. She served for many years in the Yangtze Patrol where she saw action against pirates and warlords...

, a 620-ton craft with a crew of 103, and USS Villalobos

USS Villalobos (PG-42)

USS Villalobos was a steel screw gunboat originally built for the Spanish Navy as the SPS Villalobos but captured by the United States Army in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and commissioned into the United States Navy in 1900...

, a 350-ton ship with 50 men, served until 1928, when they were decommissioned and sunk. USS Callao

USS Callao (YFB-11)

Callao was a gunboat of the United States Navy which fought in the Spanish-American War and served in the U.S. fleet from 1898-1923.Prior to her U.S. service, Callao was a gunboat in the Spanish Navy...

 (240 tons) and Quiros

USS Quiros (PG-40)

USS Quiros , a schooner rigged composite gunboat, was laid down for the Spanish Navy by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, Hong Kong, China in June 1894; launched in early 1895; captured by the U.S. Army at Manila in 1898; acquired by the Navy 21 February 1900; and commissioned at Cavite Navy...

 (sister ship to Villalobos) served until 1916 and 1923.

In 1914 two 204-ton, 50-man patrol craft of British design and built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...

 were disassembled, shipped to China, and reassembled in Shanghai. USS Palos

USS Palos (PG-16)

The second USS Palos , a shallow draft gunboat built for service on the Yangtze River, China, was pre-constructed at Mare Island Navy Yard in 1912; dismantled and shipped to Shanghai, China: laid down by the Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co., on 28 April 1913; launched on 23 April 1914; sponsored...

 patrolled until 1934, when she became the station boat at Chungking, and Monocacy

USS Monocacy (PG-20)

USS Monocacy was a shallow draft gunboat built for service on the Yangtze River. It was pre-constructed at Mare Island Navy Yard in 1912 and then dismantled and shipped to Shanghai, China. She was laid down by the Shanghai Dock & Engineering Co. 28 April 1913. One year later, or 27 April 1914 she...

 until 1939. The Yangtze Patrol

Yangtze Patrol

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...

 was formally established in 1922 as a component of the Asiatic Fleet. Six new craft were designed and built in 1928 in Shanghai, of three differing sizes. USS Guam

USS Wake (PR-3)

USS Wake was a United States Navy river gunboat operating on the Yangtze River, that was seized by Japan on 8 December 1941.Originally commissioned as the gunboat Guam , she was redesignated river patrol vessel PR-3 in 1928, and renamed Wake in 1941.-Service history:She was launched on 28 May...

 and Tutuilla

USS Tutuila (PR-4)

USS Tutuila was a gunboat in the service of the United States Navy from 1928 until her transfer to China under lend-lease in 1942.-Construction:...

, 380 tons and a crew of 60, were able to ply the entire river year round. USS Panay

USS Panay (PR-5)

|-External links:* * *...

 and Oahu

USS Oahu (PR-6)

The first USS Oahu , a Yangtze River gunboat, was laid down by Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China, 18 December 1926; launched as PG–46 on 26 November 1927; sponsored by Mrs. Bryson Bruce, wife of Comdr. Bruce; and commissioned 22 October 1928, Lt. Comdr. A. C...

, 450 tons and a complement of 65; and Luzon, 560 tons and 82 men, were "May-September" gunboats, able to patrol completely upriver only during high water months. (Luzons sister ship, USS Mindanao

USS Mindanao (PR-8)

The first USS Mindanao was a river gunboat in the service of the United States Navy before and during World War II.-Construction and commissioning:...

 served on the China coast but not in the river patrol.) Except for Panay, sunk by Japanese aircraft in December 1937, the newer ships served in China until late 1941.

See also

• USS Wake
• Panay incident
  Panay incident
  The USS Panay Incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat while she was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking , China on December 12, 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck...
  
  
• Insect class gunboat
  Insect class gunboat
  The Insect class patrol boats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube...
  
  
• Fly class gunboat
  Fly class gunboat
  The Fly class river gunboats , collectively often referred to as the "Tigris gunboat flotilla", were a class of small but well-armed Royal Navy vessels designed specifically to patrol the Tigris river during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign.-Design:They were fitted with one triple expansion...
  
  
• Mesopotamian Campaign
  Mesopotamian Campaign
  The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...
  
  
• Battle of Tobruk
• USS Cairo
• War of the Triple Alliance
  War of the Triple Alliance
  The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
  
  
• Steamboats on the Yangtze River
  Steamboats on the Yangtze River
  After thousands of years of junk and sampan traffic on the Yangtze River , river steamers came with the Europeans. While thesteam engines brought technological improvement, they also brought European involvement, war, and opium. The age of the steamer...
  
  

External links

• 1928 River Gunboats PR-3;PR-4;PR-5;PR-6;PR-7; PR-8 {reference only}
• The Yangtze Patrol
• HMS Falcon -- a site devoted to British river gunboats that patrolled China.
• Brazilian site about contemporary gunboats.