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.
USNS Stalwart (T-AGOS-1) was a Modified Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship and the lead ship of her class.
The Asheville-class gunboats were a class of small warships built for the United States Navy in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The class is named for a city in western North Carolina and the seat of Buncombe County. All Asheville-class gunboats have since been donated to museums, scheduled for scrapping, or transferred to the Greek, Turkish, Colombian and South Korean Navies. The last two Asheville-class gunboats in US service were USS Chehalis and USS Grand Rapids, which were operated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center until they were stricken in 2016.
USS Tacoma (PG-92) was an Asheville-class gunboat of the U.S. Navy and the fourth ship to be named after the city of Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma was the first in a series of revised Asheville-class gunboats. Some sources call these revised boats Tacoma- or PG-92-class, but the U.S. Navy officially designates them as Asheville-class. The keel of Tacoma was laid 24 July 1967 at the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, in her namesake city. She was launched on 13 April 1968, sponsored by Mrs. Arne K. Strom, and was commissioned on 14 July 1969, with Lt. Frank H. Thomas, Jr., in command.
USS Asheville (PGM-84/PG-84) was an Asheville-class gunboat acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of high speed patrolling in shallow waterways. The third ship to be named Asheville by the Navy, the vessel was laid down on 15 April 1964 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company and launched on 1 May 1965, sponsored by Mrs. R. E. Harris. Asheville was commissioned on 6 August 1966, Lt. Henry Dale in command.
USS Gallup (PGM-85/PG-85) was an Asheville-class gunboat acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of high speed patrolling in shallow waterways.
USS Chehalis (PGM-94/PG-94) was an Asheville-class gunboat of the U.S. Navy and the second ship to be named Chehalis. Chehalis was launched 8 June 1968 at the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company. She was commissioned 8 November 1969. The vessel was named in honor of Chehalis, a city in Washington state. Later, she was transferred to Naval Sea Systems Command and renamed Research Vessel Athena. Athena was scrapped in 2016.
USS Asheville (PF-1) was an Asheville-class patrol frigate of the United States Navy that served during World War II. She was laid down on 10 March 1942 by Canadian Vickers Ltd. in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as the River-class frigate HMS Adur (K296) to serve in the British Royal Navy. She was launched on 22 August 1942 but due to a lack of American vessels for convoy protection she was transferred to the United States Navy prior to completion. On 1 December 1942, she was commissioned in Montreal as USS Asheville (PG-101), a patrol gunboat. She was reclassified PF-1 on 15 April 1943.
USS Defiance (PGM-95/PG-95) was a gunboat in the United States Navy and later transferred to Turkey. She was an Asheville-class gunboat, and the third ship to be named Defiance, in honor of the city of Defiance, Ohio.
The second USS Ready (PGM-87/PG-87) was a Asheville-class gunboat in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.
The second USS Crockett (PGM-88/PG-88) was a Asheville-class gunboat in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.
The first USS Canon (PGM-90/PG-90) was a Asheville-class gunboat in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. She is currently on donation hold.
The second USS Welch (PGM-93/PG-93) was a Asheville-class gunboat in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.
The second USS Benicia (PGM-96/PG-96) was a Asheville-class gunboat in the United States Navy commissioned in 1970. She later served in the South Korean Navy as Paek Ku 51 (PGM-351).
USS Ozette (YTB-541), later YTM-541, was a United States Navy harbor tug commissioned in 1945 and in service until ca. 1974.
When the United States entered World War II at the end of 1941, the United States Navy found itself deficient in ocean escort-type vessels. A crash building program was instituted; but, to meet more immediate needs, the government contracted with shipbuilding firms in England and Canada to build Flower-class corvettes. Vim (PG-99) was one of those British-type escorts. She was launched on 1 April 1943 at the Collingwood Shipyard in Collingwood, Ontario. Nine days later, however, she was transferred to the Royal Navy under the terms of the lend-lease agreement in return for another Flower-class corvette then under construction in Canada. The British renamed her HMS Statice, and she served the Royal Navy under the name through World War II. On 21 June 1946, she was returned to the United States Navy. Though carried on the Navy list as PG-99, the corvette never saw active service with the United States Navy. She was sold on 7 May 1947. To whom she was sold and to what purpose she was put is unknown.
HMS Sarawak (K591) was a Colony-class frigate of the United Kingdom that served during World War II. She originally was ordered by the United States Navy as the Tacoma-class patrol frigateUSS Patton (PF-87) and was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion.
USS Douglas (PG-100) was an Asheville-class gunboat which served in the United States Navy from 1971 to 1977.
The Asheville-class gunboat was a class of two gunboats, USS Tulsa and USS Asheville, which was based on Sacramento, an earlier gunboat. Laid down between 1917 and 1919, construction was completed in the early 1920s after which both ships were employed to project US naval power across several different theaters, including Central America and the Pacific, during the interwar years. Tulsa principally served in Asia, assigned variously with the South China Patrol, Yangtze Patrol, and the Inshore Patrol; Asheville mostly stayed in Central America, but did spend a few years on the South China Patrol alongside Tulsa. When war broke out with Japan in the Pacific, both ships were used to escort convoys. Asheville was lost during the war, but Tulsa survived to be broken up in the late 1940s. The class was awarded a total of three battle stars, one for Asheville and two for Tulsa.
United States
