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Gunboat Photo Archive

Palos (PR 1)



Call sign (1931):
Negative - Easy - Tare - Roger

Palos (PG 16)
ex-Gunboat No. 16



Call sign:
Nan - Quack - Sail

Call sign ( Early 1919):
George - Rush - Dog - Cast
River Gunboat:

  • Laid down 28 April 1913 at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA
  • Dismantled and shipped to Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co., Shanghai, China by October 1913
  • Launched 23 April 1914
  • Commissioned USS Palos, (Gunboat No. 16), 24 June 1914
  • Designated as a Patrol Gunboat, PG-16, 17 July 1920
  • Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-1, 15 June 1928
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register 21 May 1937 at Chungking, China
  • Sold for scrap 3 June 1937 to Ming Sung Industrial Co.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 204 t.
  • Length 165' 6"
  • Length between perpendiculars 160'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 2' 5"
  • Speed 12.25 kts.
    1921 - 13.25 kts.
  • Complement 47
    1918 - 51
    1921 - 49
  • Armament: Two 6-pounders and six .30 cal. Lewis machine guns
    1918 - Two 6-pounders, four .30 cal. machine guns, three .30 cal. Benet-Mercier machine guns and one 3" field gun
    1921 - Two 6-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox box type boilers, two 400ihp vertical compound engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Palos (Gunboat No. 16)
    Palos 305k The keels of the Monocacy (PG 20) and Palos being laid at Mare Island on April 28, 1913. Palos' keel is in the foreground
    U.S. Navy photo PG 20 & 16 4-28-13    		 Darryl Baker
    Palos 532k Photo of Palos, on the left, and USS Monocacy (PG 20) shown under construction at Mare Island on 1 June 1913. Photo taken from the building ways crane
    U.S. Navy photo PG 20 & 16 6-1-13
    Palos 366k Photo of Palos, on the left, and USS Monocacy (PG 20) shown under construction at Mare Island on 1 June 1913. Photo taken from the building ways crane
    U.S. Navy photo PG 20 & 16 6-1-13
    Palos 258k Seen from left to right on the waterfront at Mare Island sometime between 18 - 31 July 1913 are Dredge No. 2, YC-29 and 30 on the seawall behind the dredge, and a small steam launch. Dart (YFB 308) and Pinafore (SP 450). The yard's 40 ton dry dock crane is to the right of the dredge. The Palos was on the ways to the left of the cantilever crane and the USS Kanawha (AO 1) is on the ways to the right
    U.S. Navy photo 5396
    Palos 990k Photo of Palos on the right and Monocacy (PG 20) under construction at Mare Island on 1 August 1913
    U.S. Navy photo PG 20 & 16 8-1-13
    Palos 450k Photo of Palos on the left and Monocacy (PG 20) under construction at Mare Island in September 1913
    U.S. Navy photo PG 20 & 16 September 1913
    Palos 677k c. 1913
    Under construction at Mare Island. To the left, her sister ship Monocacy is being built
    Photo from U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman    		 Robert Hurst
    Palos 281k 7 May 1914
    Shanghai, China
    National Archives photo    		 Tommy Trampp
    USS Palos (PG 16)
    Palos 687k Palos and USS Monocacy (PG 20) alongside “The Standard Oil Dock” at Shanghai, China
    National Archives photo 80-G-1025942 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Palos 255k Original photo: Illustrated by Tony Bryan
    Replacement photo: Artwork by Tony Bryan of the river gunboat Palos, on the Lower Yangtze from Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49, by Angus Konstam. Pub. in Great Britain and the USA by Osprey Publishing    		 Original photo: Tommy Trampp
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Palos 104k U.S. Navy photo from the 1924 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships Original photo: Derick S. Hartshorn
    Replacement photo: Tommy Trampp
    Palos 88k Her crew "manning the rail" on Christmas Day, 1924
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo taken from "Gunboats and Marines: The United States Navy in China, 1925-1928    		 Robert Hurst
    Isabel 101k U.S. Warships at Hankow, China, at low river level, 1925. Ships are USS Truxtun (DD-229) at left; USS Isabel (PY-10) in center, and USS Palos (PG-16) in the right foreground. Also present are several junks, and a British Cornflower class sloop (partially visible at far right)
    Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN
    U.S. Navy photo NH 80990    		 Naval Historical Center
    Palos 117k Original photo: U.S. Naval Institute photo. Dudley Knox Library - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey Ca.
    Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit
    Replacement photo: Naval History and Heritage Command photo taken from "Gunboats and Marines: The United States Navy in China, 1925-1928    		 Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Palos/Monocacy 238k c. 1928
    Palos and Monocacy at the Naval Buoy, Shanghai, China
    From the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg    		 Jay Milewski
    USS Palos (PR 1)
    Palos 81k c. 1930 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Palos/Monocacy 181k c. 1930
    Alongside the Houston (CA 30) at Hankow, China
    From the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg    		 Jay Milewski
    Palos/Monocacy 268k
    Palos/Monocacy 232k
    Palos/Monocacy 174k
    Palos 172k c. 1931
    Line drawing by J. M. Caiella    		 Tommy Trampp
    Palos 158k Bow view of the USS Palos (PR-1) in drydock, probably in Shanghai, 1933-34
    Collection of MMC Charles H. Randall, USN, Ret.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photos NH 93565 and NH 93566    		 Mike Green
    Palos 133k
    Palos 250k c. 1935
    Chungking, China
    Photo courtesy of Vice Admiral T. G. W. Settle, USN, (Ret) from U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Frank Rorschach, USN24 June 1914 - 7 January 1915
    02LT Stuart William Cake, USN - USNA Class of 19067 January 1915 - 9 March 1916
    03LT Harvey Delano, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		9 March 1916
    04LT George Samuel Gillespie, USN - USNA Class of 19121917
    05LT Conrad Dickinson Fry, USNRF1918 - 1919
    06LT John Pierce Bowden, USN5 April 1921
    07LCDR George Wirth Simpson, USN1923
    08CDR John Lienbach Schaffer, USN18 October 1923
    09LCDR Elwin Fisher Cutts, USN - USNA Class of 19081924
    10LCDR Glenn Fletcher Howell, USN1925
    11LCDR Ryland Dillard Tisdale, USN29 July 1927 - 1928
    12LCDR Lewis Joseph Stecher, USN18 June 1931
    13LCDR Albert MacQueen Bledsoe, USN - USNA Class of 1918
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1944) - Retired as Vice Admiral    		1932
    14LCDR Linton Herndon, USN1933
    15LCDR Thomas Greenhow Williams "Tex" Settle, USN - USNA Class of 1919
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1944) - Retired as Vice Admiral    		1934
    16LCDR Charles Antrobus, USN1936
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Palos (PR 1)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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