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Gunboat Photo Archive

Sacramento (PG-19)



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Quack - Vice


Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Victor - Jig


Call sign (1933):
Nan - Easy - Dog - Dog

ex-Gunboat No. 19



Call sign (1919):
George - Rush - King - Vice

Sacramento Class Gunboat:

  • Built by William Cramp and Sons Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia, PA (YN 403)
  • Laid down, 30 April 1913
  • Launched, 21 February 1914
  • Commissioned USS Sacramento (Gunboat No. 19), 26 April 1914
  • Designated PG-19, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned at Suisun Bay, CA, 06 February 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 12 March 1946
  • Transferred to the War Shipping Administration for disposal, 23 August 1947
  • Sold for mercantile service, initially operating under Italian registry and renamed Fermina
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,529 tons
  • Length 226' 2"
  • Length between perpendiculars 210'
  • Beam 40' 10½"
  • Draft 12' 1"
    1921 - 11' 6"
  • Speed 12 kts.
    1921 - 12.78 kts.
  • Complement 171
    1921 - 163
  • Armament: Two 4"/50 gun mounts and four 3"/50 dual purpose mounts
    1921 - Three 4"/50 mounts, two 3-pounders and two 1-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, one 1,022shp William Cramp and Son vertical triple-expansion engines, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Sacramento 171k 21 February 1914
    Launching at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    Michael Mohl
    Sacramento 364k 31 March 1914
    During trials going 6.69 knots, off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    Sacramento 399k 31 March 1914
    During trials going 10.94 knots, off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    Sacramento 280k 4 April 1914
    Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    Sacramento 60k The Yangtze Patrol website
    Sacramento 115k Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    Sacramento 102k Arriving at Archangel to help withdraw the North American forces from Northern Russia in June 1919. Note the doughboys on the stern. They are the 339th Infantry and are armed with newly issued M1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles
    U.S. Navy photo
    Mike Green
    Sacramento 87k c. 1919
    Serving in Northern Russia.
    Imperial War Museum photo
    Courtesy U.S. Warships of World War I
    Sacramento 34k c. 1919
    Off Archangel, Russia
    Serving in Northern Russia
    Courtesy of Todd Woofenden
    The Sub Chaser Archives
    Sacramento
    120901929
    141kSacramento departing a Northern Russian port, 15 June 1919.Dave Wright
    Sacramento 68k c. 1919 Robert Hurst
    Sacramento 61k c. 1920
    In dry dock, Charleston, SC
    Vance A. Adams
    Sacramento 92k
    Sacramento 113k
    Sacramento 113k c. 1920
    Sacramento, USS Robin (AM 2), and USS Asheville (PG 21) at Charleston, SC
    Sacramento 41k c. 1920
    At Gibraltar
    Sacramento 88k c. 1923
    In Chinese waters
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Gunboats and Marines: The United States in China, 1925-1928" by Bernard D. Cole
    Robert Hurst
    Helena 308k c. 1923/1924
    Hong Kong, China
    American Man of War in Hong Kong Harbor. Identified ships are: Huron (CA 9), Helena (PG 9), Sacramento (PG 19), Asheville (PG 21), Black Hawk (AD 9), Hart
    (DM 8), Rizal (DM 14), Hulbert (DD 342), Noa (DD 343), William B. Preston (DD 344), Preble (DD 345)
    , later DM-20; Sicard (DD 346), later DM -21;
    Pruitt (DD 347)
    , later DM-22; Finch (AM 9), Bittern (AM 36) and SS President Jackson
    Photo by A. Fong
    Photo from the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg
    Jay Milewski
    Sacramento 180k 4 July 1924
    Shanghai, China
    Robert M. Cieri
    Sacramento 202k U.S. Navy photo from the 1924 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships Derick S. Hartshorn
    Sacramento 112k Off Tsingtao, China, during the 1920s or 1930s. Several U.S. Navy submarines are in the foreground, among them USS S-39 (SS-144), the outboard boat in the nest.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 101685
    Naval Historical Center
    Sacramento 107k Replacement photo: WIDE WORLD PHOTO: PLEASE WATCH CREDIT 882829

    PROTECTING AMERICAN LIVES IN TSINGTAO

    TSINGTAO, CHINA - The United States gunboat Sacramento, which is standing by at this Shantung Province seaport, 390 miles north of Shanghai, to protect and evacuate if necessary some 300 Americans considered endangered by an offshoot of the Chinese * Japanese war. The gunboat was joined Dec. 20 by the cruiser Marblehead [CL 12] and destroyer Pope [DD 225] (both U.S.) which sped here from Shanghai.

    n-12/19/37

    William P. Snyder
    223 So. Sixth St.
    Philadelphia, PA
    Original photo: Darryl Baker
    Replacement photo: Tommy Trampp
    Sacramento 158k Lieutenant (Junior Grade) John D. Bulkeley, USN, (seated, center) with the men of the ship's "E" Division, at Shanghai, China, 15 February 1938. Seated to the
    right of Lt (j.g.) Bulkeley is Chief Machinist's Mate Herman W. Koch, USN. USS Bridge (AF-1) is in the left background
    Photographed by Skvirsky, Shanghai
    Courtesy of Mr. R.W. Koch, 1976
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 84944
    Bill Gonyo
    Sacramento 115k c. 1938
    Shanghai, China
    Photo from the collection of S. A. Honour
    Scott Honour
    Sacramento 42k c. 1939
    Leaving Manila Bay for home
    Photo taken by the USS Augusta's ship's photographer
    Jim McGrew
    Sacramento 31k
    Sacramento 57k c. 1939/1940 Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Sacramento 37k c. 1940
    Line drawing
    Sacramento 359k Returning from the Asiatic Fleet, steaming up the East River to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in January 1940. She flies her homeward-bound pennant and junk sail (on
    the mainmast)
    Photo from U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
    Robert Hurst
    Avocet 335k 7 December 1941
    Position of Sacramento and other ships at Pearl Harbor
    Map courtesy of National Geographic Book Division
    Joe Radigan

    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Luke McNamee, USN - USNA Class of 1892
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Admiral
    26 April 1914 - 3 August 1914
    02CDR Roscoe Carlyle Bulmer, USN - USNA Class of 1894
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918)
    3 August 1914
    03CDR William Winton Galbraith, USN - USNA Class of 1901
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain
    15 August 1917
    04CDR Otto Carl Dowling, USN - USNA Class of 190210 July 1919 - 1 July 1920
    05CDR George Julian Meyers, USN - USNA Class of 1902
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral
    1 July 1920 - 20 November 1920
    06CDR Donald Cameron Bingham, USN - USNA Class of 1902
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)
    20 November 1920 - 19 August 1921
    07CDR John Franklin Green, USN - USNA Class of 190119 August 1921 - 17 October 1922
    08CDR Frank Jack Fletcher, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Medal of Honor (1914), the Navy Cross (1918), the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1942) and the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1945) - Retired as Admiral
    1923 - 10 November 1923
    09CDR Frank Howard Sadler, USN - USNA Class of 1908
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral
    10 November 1923 - 27 June 1925
    10CDR Irving Hall Mayfield, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Awarded two Legions of Merit (1944/1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral
    27 June 1925 - 25 June 1927
    11CDR Robert Carlisle Giffen, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) and two Navy Distinguished Service Medals (1942/1944) - Retired as Vice Admiral
    25 June 1927 - 6 July 1929
    12CDR William Ward Smith, USN - USNA Class of 1909
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1942) - Retired as Vice Admiral
    6 July 1929
    13CAPT George Hall Bowdey, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Retired as Commodore
    1 May 1931
    14CDR Homer Hine Norton, USN - USNA Class of 19071 January 1932 - October 1932
    15CDR Frank Alfred Braisted, USN - USNA Class of 1909
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1944) - Retired as Rear Admiral
    October 1932 - July 1934
    16CDR Jerome Lee Allen, USNJuly 1938 - November 1939
    17CDR Audley Lyne Warburton, USN - USNA Class of 1924
    Retired as Rear Admiral
    November 1939 - 1940
    18LCDR Ola Fred Heslar, USNR - Retired as Captain1940 - June 1941
    19CDR Joseph Perkins Rockwell, USN - USNA Class of 1921-BJune 1941 - December 1941
    20CDR Audley Lyne Warburton, USN - USNA Class of 1924
    Retired as Rear Admiral
    December 1941 - 11 November 1943
    21LCDR George William Bowdey, USNR11 November 1943 - February 1945
    22CDR Robert Francis Sheffield, USNRFebruary 1945 - December 1945
    23LCDR William Arthur Pierce Bagley, USNRDecember 1945 - 6 February 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan

    View the Sacramento (PG-19)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History & Heritage Command website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index

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    Last Updated 16 February 2024