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

Niagara (AGP 1)
ex-Niagara (PG 52)
ex-CMc-2



CMc-2 call sign:
Nan - Uncle - Mike - William

Sunk 22 May 1943
Niagara Class Coastal Minelayer/Patrol Gunboat/Motor Torpedo Boat Tender:

  • Laid down 14 November 1928 as the steel hulled yacht Hi-Esmaro by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
  • Launched 7 June 1929
  • Delivered 20 August 1929
  • Collided with a tanker off Newport, RI in July 1929 and returned to Bath Iron Works for repairs
  • Acquired by the Navy 16 October 1940 and conversion began to a Coastal Minelayer at New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY
  • Classified CMc-2, 31 October 1940
  • Renamed Niagara, 12 November 1940
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Gunboat, PG-52, 15 November 1940
  • Commissioned USS Niagara (PG-52), 20 January 1941
  • Reclassified as a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender, AGP-1, 13 January 1943
  • Lost to enemy air attack, 22 May 1943, between Tulagi and New Guinea, finished off by a torpedo from PT-147.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,922 t. (fl)
  • Length 267'
  • Beam 35' 4"
  • Draft 17'
  • Speed 16 kts.
  • Complement 139
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 1,500shp Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Hi-Esmaro
    Niagara 113k Hi-Esmaro
    Bath Iron Works photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Niagara 108k Photo courtesy of Lucy Hopkins from Floating Palaces America's Queens of the Sea by William A. Haviland and Barbara L. Britton Joe Radigan
    USS Niagara (PG 52)
    Niagara 137k Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. Aerial view, looking west, with the supply depot in upper center, 13 October 1941. Part of the Submarine Base is at lower left; the Navy Yard is in the upper left; and Ford Island is in the top right. USS Holland [AS 3] is at left, at the Submarine Base. Alongside her are submarines Sturgeon (SS-187), Spearfish (SS-190), Saury (SS-189), Seal (SS-183) and Sargo (SS-188). Niagara is alongside the wharf, ahead of Holland. Ships docked at the supply depot, upper center, are USS Oglala (CM-4) and the S.S. Maui. Among the ships at the piers in the extreme upper left are USS Indianapolis (CA-35), USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS Antares (AG-10). The two battleships moored by Ford Island, in upper right, are (left) USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and (right) USS
    Arizona (BB-39)    .
    National Archives photo 80-G-451131    		 Naval Historical Center
    Niagara 87k Allied warships in Suva harbor, Fiji, February 1942. Photographed from USS Curtiss (AV-4). These ships are (from left top right): HMNZS Leander (New Zealand Light Cruiser, 1933) Niagara, and USS Chicago (CA-29)
    National Archives photo 80-G-7293 from the Naval History and Heritage Command    		 Robert Hurst
    Niagara 55k Closeup of above photo
    Niagara 80k 31 March 1942
    Entering Pearl Harbor
    National Archives photo 19-N-29806
    USS Niagara (AGP 1)
    Niagara 234k Niagara burns after being attacked by Japanese aircraft east of Cape Surville, San Cristobal Islands [Solomon Islands], on 23 May 1943. PT-146 is alongside the stern (port) while PT-147 moves up to the starboard side, aft. The tender sank later that day. Other boats (PT-144, PT-145, PT-148, or PT-110) maneuver to pick up other men from the doomed ship
    National Archives photo 80-G-68537    		 Mike Green
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Edwin Warren Herron, USN - USNA Class of 1927
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		20 January 1941 - 27 November 1941
    02LT David Buncombe Coleman, USN - USNA Class of 1927
    Awarded the Bronze Star (1943) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		27 November 1941 - 23 May 1943
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and Spencer Clark
    View the Niagara (PG-52)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minelayer (CMc) Photo Index
    Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat Tender (AGP) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History