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Gunboat Photo Archive

Elcano (PG-38)
ex-Gunboat No. 38

Patrol Gunboat:

  • Laid down 3 March 1882 by Carraca Arsenal, Cadiz, Spain
  • Launched 28 January 1884
  • Captured by the U.S. Army at Manila, Philippines 1 May 1898
  • Turned over to the Navy 9 November 1898
  • Outfitted at Cavite Naval Yard, Philippines
  • Commissioned USS Elcano, Gunboat No. 38, 20 November 1902
  • Decommissioned 1 November 1907
  • Recommissioned 5 December 1910
  • Designated PG-38, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 30 June 1928
  • Sunk as a target 4 October 1928.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 620 t
  • Length 165' 6"
  • Beam 26'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 101
  • Armament: Four 4" mounts and four 6-pounders - (1918) four 4"/50 mounts and four 3-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two single ended Scotch boilers, two 600ihp vertical compound engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Elcano 115k Lieutenant Commander A. G. Winterhalter was the commanding officer of the USS Elcano, Gunboat No. 38. Winterhalter would eventually be promoted to the rank of a Four Star Admiral on 9 July 1915. On this day he was appointed Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet (CINCAF).
    Library of Congress photo ggbain 21511    		 Bill Gonyo
    Elcano 52k U.S. Navy photo -
    Elcano 111k Somewhere in China
    Courtesy U.S. Warships of World War I    		 Mike Green
    Elcano 173k In the Dewey Drydock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, circa 1910. The submarine Shark (SS 8) is off her starboard bow
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 86963    		 Naval Historical Center
    Isabel 94k Hangchow, China. Some of the ships of the U.S. Navy's Yangtse River Patrol at Hangchow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. U.S. Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); USS Villalobos (PG-42); and Elcano.
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 67127    		 Naval Historical Center
    Elcano 111k At anchor off Hangchow, China.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Gunboats and Marines: The United States in China, 1925-1928" by Bernard D. Cole    		 Robert Hurst
    View the Elcano (PG-38)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Yangtze River Patrol Memorial
    The Yangtze Patrol
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Type Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
    © 2006 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.