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Villalobos (PG 42)



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Vice - Pup

ex-Villalobos, Gunboat No. 42

Quiros Class Gunboat:

  • The first Villalobos was laid down in June 1894 by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co., Hong Kong, British Crown Colony for service with the Spanish Navy
  • Launched 24 January 1895
    1914 Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels lists Keel Laid in September 1895 and launched in 1896
  • Completed in July 1896
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 February 1900
  • Commissioned USS Villalobos, Gunboat No. 42, 5 March 1900 at Cavite, Philippines
  • Decommissioned 20 November 1902 at Cavite
  • Recommissioned 21 January 1903
  • Decommissioned 17 June 1916
  • Recommissioned 17 August 1917
    1921 Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels lists recommissioning date as 15 August 1917
  • Designated PG-42, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 29 May 1928
  • Struck from the Navy list 4 October 1928
  • Sunk as a target 9 October 1928 off the China coast.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 350 t.
  • Length 156' 2"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 7' 6"
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 57
  • Armament: Four 3-pounders and two 1-pounders
    1905 - Two 6-pounder rapid fire mounts, two 3-pounder rapid fire mounts, two 1-pounder rapid fire mounts and two .30 cal. Colt machine guns
    1911 - Four 3-pounder rapid fire mounts and two 1-pounder rapid fire mounts
    1921 - Four 3-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two single-ended double furnace Scotch boilers, one 450ihp vertical triple-expansion engine, one shaft
    1921 - One vertical single-expansion engine.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Villalobos (Gunboat No. 42)
    Villalobos 252k Original photo: Illustrated by Tony Bryan
    Replacement photo: At anchor on the Yangtze. Incidentally, the Villalobos was used as the model for the San Pablo, the fictional gunboat portrayed in the 1966 movie "The Sand Pebbles," starring Steve McQueen
    Artwork by Tony Bryan 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
    Villalobos 96k In Chinese waters, about 1910
    U.S. Navy photo NH 48493    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Villalobos (PG 42)
    Villalobos 110k At anchor off Hankow, China
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Gunboats and Marines: The United States in China, 1925-1928" by Bernard D. Cole    		 Naval Historical Center
    Isabel 94k Hankow, China. Some of the ships of the U.S. Navy's Yangtze River Patrol at Hankow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. U.S. Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); Villalobos and USS Elcano (PG-38).
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 67127
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Edward Simpson, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1880
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		14 March 1900 - 2 August 1900
    02LCDR Harry McLaren Pinckney Huse, USN - USNA Class of 1878
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		2 August 1900
    03LCDR William Dugald MacDougall, USN - USNA Class of 1889
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		15 April 1903 - 1904
    04LCDR Henry Ariosto Wiley, USN - USNA Class of 1888
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918) - Retired as Admiral    		1904
    05LT Adolphus Andrews, USN - USNA Class of 1901
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1945) - Retired as Vice Admiral    		3 September 1906 - 24 January 1908
    06LT James Hall Comfort, USN - USNA Class of 190024 January 1908 - 1909
    07LT Roy Charles Smith, USN - USNA Class of 19051909 - 1910
    08ENS Harry Adrian McClure, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Commodore    		1910 - 7 October 1911
    09LT Ray Straith McDonald, USN - USNA Class of 19067 October 1911 - 1912
    09LT Ernest Durr, USN - USNA Class of 19051912 - 5 July 1913
    10LT Nelson Henry Goss, USN - USNA Class of 1905
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) and the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Captain    		5 July 1913 - 10 October 1913
    11LT John Morton Poole, III, USN - USNA Class of 190510 October 1913 - 5 July 1914
    12LT Wilfred Everett Clarke, USN - USNA Class of 19065 July 1914
    13LCDR Jere H. Brooks, USN - USNA Class of 19071919
    14LCDR Benjamin Perleman, USN - USNA Class of 1912January 1922 - 28 February 1924
    15LCDR Alger Herman Dresel, USN - USNA Class of 190928 February 1924 - 19241925
    16LCDR Granville Benjamin Hoey, USN - USNA Class of 19091925
    17LCDR Henry M. Kieffer, USN - USNA Class of 19121925 -13 July 1926
    18LCDR Earl Ames McIntyre, USN - USNA Class of 191013 July 1926
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Bill Gonyo and Joe Radigan
    View the Villalobos (PG 42)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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