The United States Asiatic Fleet was a fleet of the United States Navy during much of the first half of the 20th century. Before World War II, the fleet patrolled the Philippine Islands. Much of the fleet was destroyed by the Japanese by February 1942, after which it was dissolved, and the remnants incorporated into the naval component of the South West Pacific Area command, which eventually became the Seventh Fleet.
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.
A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river 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, for shore bombardment. They were usually not armoured. The fictional USS San Pablo described in Richard McKenna's The Sand Pebbles is an example of this class of vessel, serving on the US Navy's Yangtze Patrol. Stronger river warships with larger guns were river monitors.
The Amethyst incident, also known as the Yangtze incident, was a historic event that occurred on the Yangtze River for three months in the summer of 1949, during the late phase of the Chinese Civil War. The incident involved the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA), who were in the middle of a river-crossing offensive to overthrow the Nationalist Government, and four British Royal Navy ships HMS Amethyst, HMS Black Swan, HMS Consort and HMS London. The British warships, whose right of passage along the Yangtze had been unchallenged previously since the late Qing dynasty, came under bombardment by PLA artillery and were forced to withdraw permanently from Chinese territorial waters.
A ship is scuttled when its crew deliberately sinks it, typically by opening holes in its hull.
The Nanking Incident occurred in March 1927 during the capture of Nanjing by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) in their Northern Expedition. Foreign warships bombarded the city to defend foreign residents against rioting and looting. Several ships were involved in the engagement, including vessels of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. Marines and sailors were also landed for rescue operations including some 140 Dutch forces. Both Nationalist and Communist soldiers within the NRA participated in the rioting and looting of foreign-owned property in Nanjing.
USS Tutuila (PR-4) was a gunboat in the service of the United States Navy from 1928, until her transfer to China, under lend-lease in 1942.
The Insect-class gunboats 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 against Austria-Hungary. The first four ships—Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula—were first employed during the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
Toba (鳥羽) was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, part of the 11th Gunboat Sentai, that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1930s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941.
The first USS Oahu (PR-6), 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.
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.
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Peterel:
HMS Cockchafer was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built by Barclay Curle and launched on 17 December 1915 as the fifth Royal Navy ship to carry this name. The Insect class was originally designed for service on the River Danube but most of them spent much of their service on Chinese rivers.
Fushimi (伏見) was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1940s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
HMS Grasshopper was a Dragonfly-class river gunboat built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. After completion was sent to the China station where she was deployed on the Yangtse River to relieve the Insect-class gunboat HMS Gnat. She remained there until the declaration of war by the Empire of Japan in December 1941. She was subsequently transferred to Singapore Naval Base and participated in the Malayan Campaign in early 1942. Near the end of the Battle of Singapore, she evacuated the base on 11 February together with her sister ship HMS Dragonfly. Three days later she was attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft off the island of Sebayer. Most of the ship's survivors were later captured on Sumatra by Japanese troops.
HMS Gannet was a river gunboat of the Royal Navy built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in 1927 for Yangtze Patrol. Gannet is the sister ship of HMS Peterel.
HMS Tern was a river gunboat built for the Royal Navy by Yarrow in 1927.
HMSCicala was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built in 1915 for shallow water work, possibly on the Danube or in the Baltic Sea during the First World War. Cicala was deployed to the Baltic for the 1918–19 British campaign against the Russian Bolsheviks. Whilst there her crew mutinied and refused to follow orders to attack a Russian shore battery. The mutiny was quelled when Admiral John Green threatened to open fire on the Cicala; five men were sentenced to imprisonment by court-martial over the matter. Cicala afterwards served on the China station, acting against pirates. She was at Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded in 1941 and provided fire support for the unsuccessful British defence. On 21 December 1941 she was struck by Japanese bombs and was afterwards scuttled.
Ermanno Carlotto was a river gunboat of the Italian Regia Marina. After the Italian armistice of 1943 she served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as Narumi, while after the end of World War II she was used by the Navy of the Republic of China and then by the Navy of the People's Republic of China as Qian Kun.
United Kingdom
