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Gunboat Photo Archive

Dover (IX 30)



Call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Dog - Oboe

ex-Wilmington (PG 8)
ex-Gunboat No. 8


Wilmington Class Gunboat: Laid down, 8 October 1894 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA.; Launched, 19 October 1895; Commissioned USS Wilmington, Gunboat No. 8, 13 May 1897; Designated PG-8, 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 30 June 1904 at Cavite, Philippines; Recommissioned, 2 April 1906; Reclassified as an Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary and renamed Dover (IX 30), 27 January 1941 for training Naval reserves; Decommissioned 20 December 1945; Struck from the Navy Register 8 January 1946 and sold to Hawley Forge and Manufacturing Co. of San Francisco, CA; Scuttled off the California coast in 1947.

PG-8 Specifications: Displacement 1,571 t; Length 251' 10"; Beam 40' 2"; Draft 9'; Speed unknown; Complement 212; Armament eight 4" gun mounts and four 3-pounders; Propulsion, steam.

IX-30 Specifications: Displacement 1,280 t; Length 251' 10"; Beam 40' 1"; Draft 10'; Speed unknown; Complement unknown; Armament one 4"/50 gun mount and five 3"/50 dual purpose mounts; Propulsion four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two Horizontal compound engines, two shafts.


Click on thumbnail
for fusl iize Image
Size Image Description Source
USS Wilmington (Gunboat No. 8)
Wilmington 132k Post card. Darryl Baker
Wilmington 65k . Robert Hurst
Wilmington 37k Line drawing Joe Radigan
Wilmington 81k c. 1898.
Courtesy of CDR Donald J. Robinson, MSC, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 91824
Naval Historical Center
Crew Members 118k c. 1909.
Shanghai, China.
"The Merry Cherry Pickers"
Scot McCoy
Crew Member 131k c. 1909.
Shanghai, China.
S/2c A. N. Everett, USN.
Scot McCoy
Wilmington 121k c. 1911
Hong Kong, China
Robert M. Cieri
Wilmington 142k c. 1911
Canton, China
Robert M. Cieri
USS Wilmington (PG 8)
Wilmington 50k c. 1930s.
Moored at the foot of Randolph Street, Chicago, IL. The Naval Reserve Armory is in
the background.
Ken Laesser
Wilmington 104k c. 1930/1940s
In the Great Lakes
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
USS Dover (IX 30)
Wilmington 172k c. 1942 E. C. Lowrance, Jr.
Wilmington 208k c. 1942 E. C. Lowrance, Jr.
Wilmington 219k c. 1942 E. C. Lowrance, Jr.
Wilmington 288k c. 1942
Crew photo
E. C. Lowrance, Jr.

View Wilmington (PG-8) Library of Congress Images
View the Wilmington (PG 8) DANFS History

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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
© 2006 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.