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Gunboat Photo Archive

Tutuila (PR 4)
ex-PG-44


Tutuila served the Navies of the United States and Nationalist China.
Shallow-draft River Gunboat: Laid down, 17 October 1926 by Kiangnan Docking and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China; Launched, 14 June 1927; Commissioned USS Tutuila (PG-44), 2 March 1928; Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-4, 15 June 1928; Stranded in Chungking by advancing Japanese forces; Transferred to Nationalist China 16 February 1942 as Mei Yuan (translated "American Origin"); Struck from the Navy Register 25 March 1942; Permanently transferred to Nationalist China, 17 February 1948; Abandoned and scuttled at Shanghai to prevent capture by Communist Chinese forces.

Specifications: Displacement 395 t; Length 159' 5"; Beam 27' 1"; Draft 5' 5"(mean); Speed 14.4 kts; Complement 61; Armament two 3"/23 gun mounts, ten .30 cal. Lewis machine guns; Propulsion one 1,950ihp triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Source
Tutuila 60k Chungking, China
Photo from Dudley Knox Library Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA, Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit		 -
Tutuila 65k . -
Tutuila 214k Chungking, China Joe Radigan
Tutuila 98k c. 1928
U.S. Navy photo from Jane's Fighting Ships		 Joe Radigan
Tutuila 173k c. 1928
Tutuila on the Yangtze River
Photo from the Tutuila (ARG 4), 20th Birthday edition (1964) Welcome Aboard pamphlet		 Fred Willshaw
Tutuila 108k The U.S. gunboat Tutuila sits at anchor across from Chungking in 1941. On the day this picture was taken five bombs narrowly missed the vessel.
Photo by Carl Mydans for Life magazine.
Photo from the October 1973 edition of All Hands magazine		 Joe Radigan
Tutuila 27k At Chungking during bombing raid.
U.S. Navy photo from the July 1978 edition of All Hands magazine		 Joe Radigan
Tutuila 155k San Francisco Bureau
U.S. Gunboat in Midst of Japanese Bombing Raid Chungking, China – The U.S.S. Tutuila, only American gunboat in Chinese nationalist waters, is shown standing by the American Embassy on the “South bank” of Chungking, as Japan’s Air forces rained incendiary bombs on the Chinese capital. Clouds of smoke swirled around the little river craft, and although bombs and shells fell close to her, the Tutuila was not injured.
Photo from the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History		 Bill Gonyo
View the Tutuila (PR 4)
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 Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the River Gunboat (PR) Photo Index
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© 2005 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.