Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online:
Gunboat Photo Archive

Wake (PR 3)
ex-Guam (PR 3)
ex-Guam (PG 43)


Wake served the Navies of the United States, Imperial Japan, the Republic of China, and the People's Republic of China.
Shallow-draft River Gunboat:

  • Laid down by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China
  • Launched 28 May 1927
  • Commissioned USS Guam (PG-43), 28 December 1927
  • Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-3, 15 June 1928
  • Renamed Wake in January 1941
  • Surrendered to Japanese forces at Shanghai 8 December 1941
  • Struck from the Naval Register 25 March 1942
  • Renamed HIJNS Tatara by Japan
  • Recovered by U.S. forces in August 1945
  • Transferred to Nationalist China in 1946 and renamed RCS Tai Yuan
  • Captured by Communist Chinese forces in 1949
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 350 t.
  • Length 159' 5"
  • Beam 27' 1"
  • Draft 5' 3"(mean)
  • Speed 14.5 kts.
  • Complement 59
  • Armament: Two 3" gun mounts and eight .30 cal. Lewis machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two 950hp triple expansion steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Guam (PR 3)
    Guam 60k U.S.Naval Institute photo Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA, Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit
    Guam 70k Underway on the Yangtze River in 1932
    Photo from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships    		 Original photo: HyperWar U.S. Navy in WWII
    Repacement photo: Robert Hurst
    USS Wake (PR 3)
    Guam 45k Photo from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Robert Hurst
    IJNS Tatara
    Guam 86k c. January 1942
    Shanghi, China    		 Wikipedia
    RCS Tai Yuan
    Guam 45k . Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert King Awtrey, USN - USNA Class of 191130 August 1926 - 1928
    02LCDR Samuel Gunnell Moore, USN1928
    03LCDR Edward Sparrow, USN1932
    04LCDR Jerome Addison Lee, USN1934
    05LCDR George Elmer Maynard, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral1936
    06LCDR Woodson Vaughn Michaux, USN1938
    07LCDR Orville Francis Gregor, USN1939
    08LCDR Andrew Earl Harris, USNApril 1940 - 25 November 1941
    09LCDR Columbus Darwin Smith, USNR25 November 1941 - 8 December 1941
    10LT Yasumura Taiichi, IJN15 December 1941
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Guam (PG-43)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Yangtze River Patrol Memorial
    The Yangtze Patrol
    USS Guam (PG 43)/USS Wake (PR 3)
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the River Gunboat (PR) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History