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Gunboat Photo Archive

Monocacy (PR 2)



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

Monocacy (PG 20)
ex-Gunboat No. 20



Call sign:
Nan - Quack - Quack

Call sign (Early 1919):
George - Quack - Vice - Dog
Patrol Gunboat/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
  • Launched 27 April 1914
  • Commissioned USS Monocacy, Gunboat No. 20, 24 June 1914
  • Designated PG-20, 17 July 1920
  • Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-2, 15 June 1928
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Navy Register 31 January 1939 at Shanghai
  • Towed to sea and sunk 10 February 1939.

    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
    1921 - 48
  • Armament: Two 6-pounders and six .30 cal. Lewis machine guns
    1921 - Two 6-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox box type boilers, two 800ihp vertical compound engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Monocacy (Gunboat No. 20)
    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 photos PG 20 & 16 6-1-13
    Palos 366k
    Monocacy 733k 13 June 1913
    Port engine at Mare Island machine shop
    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
    Monocacy 317k 2 May 1914
    Under construction
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Palos 281k 7 May 1914
    Shanghai, China
    National Archives photo    		 Tommy Trampp
    Monocacy 362k Original photo: c. 1916
    Yangtze Gorges, China
    National Archives photo
    Replacement photo: National Archives photo 80-G-1025897 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Original photo: Tommy Trampp
    Replacement photo: Michael Mohl
    Monocacy 48k c. 1919 Robert Hurst
    USS Monocacy (PR 2)
    Monocacy 19k . .
    Monocacy 44k U.S. Naval Institute photo
    Dudley Knox Library
    Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey Ca.,
    Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit
    Palos 687k Palos (PG 16) and Monocacy alongside “The Standard Oil Dock” at Shanghai, China
    National Archives photo 80-G-1025942 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Monocacy 154k At Wonhsien, China in the gorges of the Yangtze River Patrol, circa 1920's
    Courtesy of Mr. Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1969
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 68982    		 Mike Green
    Palos/Monocacy 238k c. 1928
    Palos and Monocacy at the Naval Buoy, Shanghai, China
    From the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg    		 Jay Milewski
    Monocacy 492k c. 1931
    Yangtze River, China    		 Paul Conley Kline
    Monocacy 90k Postcard dated 17 April 1935
    Shanghai, China    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Monocacy 90k Postcard postmarked 30 May 1938 Yangtze Patrol China Tommy Trampp
    Monocacy 102k Postcard postmarked 31 January 1939 Yangtze Patrol China
    Monocacy 134k Sinking after being scuttled on 10 February 1939 off the Chinese coast after 25 years of protecting American lives and property in a troubled nation, fighting warlords, bandits, and an unforgiving river
    Donated by Robert Bailey
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo 2014.63    		 Mike Green
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Andrew Francis Carter, USN - USNA Class of 190524 June 1914 - 19 June 1915
    02LT George Sloan Bryan, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		19 June 1915 - 1917
    03LT Albert Charles Roberts, USN27 December 1917 - 1918
    04LT Otto Nimitz, USN10 January 1918 - 15 November 1919
    05LT Cyrus Dorsey Gilroy, USN - USNA Class of 190915 November 1919 - 22 October 1920
    06LT George Edgar Brandt, USN - USNA Class of 190822 October 1920 - 30 April 1921
    07LCDR Edward William Hanson, USN - USNA Class of 1911
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		30 April 1921 - 1923
    08LCDR Eugene Arthur Oates, USN - USNA Class of 19111923 - 26 October 1923
    09LCDR Arthur Granville Robinson, USN - USNA Class of 1913
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		1924 - 7 July 1925
    10LCDR Scott Bartlett MacFarlane, USN7 July 1925 - 10 December 1926
    11CDR Randall Jacobs, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		10 December 1926 - 29 July 1927
    12LCDR Ryland Dillard Tisdale, USN - USNA Class of 191529 July 1927 - 1 February 1929
    13LCDR Harvey Edward Overesch, USN - USNA Class of 1915
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		1 February 1929 - 24 June 1929
    14LCDR Andrew Gilbert Shepard, USN - USNA Class of 1917
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1943) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		19 September 1931 - 10 July 1932
    15LCDR Robert Livingston Mitten, USN - USNA Class of 191810 July 1932 - 21 July 1934
    16LCDR Harold Carlton Fitz, USN - USNA Class of 192021 July 1934 - 12 April 1935
    17LT Leo Bernard Farrell, USN - USNA Class of 1921b12 April 1935 - 18 October 1937
    18LT Clarence Vincent Conlon, USN18 October 1937 - 1939
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Monocacy (PG-20)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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