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River Gunboat Photo Archive

Oahu (PR 6)



Call sign (1931):
Negative - Easy - Fox - Negative

Oahu (PG 46)

Sunk 5 May 1942
Shallow-draft River Gunboat:

  • The first Oahu was laid down 18 December 1926 as PG-46 by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China
  • Launched 26 November 1927
  • Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-6
  • Commissioned USS Oahu (PR-6), 20 October 1928
  • Sunk by enemy action 5 May 1942 off Corregidor Island, Philippine Islands (at position 14° 23N, 120°35E)
  • Struck from the Navy Register 8 May 1942.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 450 t.
  • Length 191'
  • Beam 28' 1"
  • Draft 5' 3"
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 55
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 cal. gun mounts and eight .30 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two 1,900hp triple expansion engines, two shafts in tunnels, three rudders.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Oahu (PG 46)
    Tutuila 312k 3 January 1928
    Shanghai, China
    Under construction moored between the Wo Kwang and Tutuila (PG 44) at the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Panay 336k 3 July 1928
    Shanghai, China
    Oahu (PR 6) and Panay under construction
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    Oahu 325k 1 October 1928
    Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai    		 Ed Zajkowski
    Oahu 370k
    Oahu 456k 1 October 1928
    Shanghai, China
    Library of Congress photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    USS Oahu (PR 6)
    Oahu 337k Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 44570 Robert Hurst
    Oahu 69k c. 1930
    From the collection of Ernest Arroyo    		 Jim Flynn
    Oahu 292k Spar moored in rapids of Yangtze river in 1936. This maneuver was not often done. Steadied by wires out to rocks fore and aft the two spars held the ship off the beach in the 4-6 knot current
    Courtesy of J.A. Farrell
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 68440-A    		 Mike Green
    Oahu 147k Oahu in a view taken at Hogee Pontoon, Nanking, China, circa May 1937
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 80957
    Oahu 293k Oahu, on the left, with HMS Bee and HMS Ladybird, both British Insect class river gunboats, on 12 December 1937. The Bee is the flagship of Rear Admiral Yangtze Patrol
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 50831
    Oahu 74k 13 December 1937
    En route to Panay (PR 5) sinking scene. The U.S. Gunboat Oahu which was reported on 13 December steaming under forced draft for the scene of the sinking of the U.S. Gunboat Panay in the Yangtze River 25 miles above Nanking. Because of the distance the rivercraft was not expected to arrive at the scene before Tuesday, 14 December
    World Wide photo    		 Tommy Trampp
    Oahu 98k c. 1938
    Oahu sails in defiance of the Japanese
    Oahu 149k Tobacco card issued by John Player and Son's the U.K. in 1939 and came from a series entitled "Modern Naval Craft"
    Oahu 74k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Armit Chester Thomas, USN22 October 1928 - 29 June 1929
    02LCDR Stanley Livingston Wilson, USN29 June 1929
    03CDR Roland Marcy Comfort, USN27 March 1931
    04LCDR Andrew Gilbert Shepard, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral1932
    05LCDR Russell Stanley Berkey, USN - USNA Class of 1916
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1944) and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal - Retired as Admiral    		January 1933 - July 1934
    06LCDR William Alexander Stuart Macklin, USNJuly 1934
    06LCDR John Walter Rogers, USN1936
    07LCDR Charles Richardson Jeffs, USN1938
    08LCDR Lewis Elliott Coley, USN1939
    09LCDR Douglas Elwin Smith, USN1940 - 5 May 1942
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Oahu (PR-6)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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