USS Wake

History
United States
NameWake
NamesakeWake Island
BuilderKiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai
Launched28 May 1927
Commissioned28 December 1927, as Guam (PG-43)
RenamedWake, 23 January 1941
ReclassifiedPR-3 (River Gunboat), 15 June 1928
Stricken25 March 1942
FateCaptured by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 8 December 1941
Japan
NameTatara (多多良)
Acquiredby capture, 8 December 1941
Stricken30 September 1945
Fate
  • Recaptured by U.S. Navy, August 1945
  • Transferred to China, 1946
Republic of China
NameRCS Tai Yuan (太原)
Acquired1946
FateCaptured by Communist Chinese forces, 1949
People's Republic of China
Acquired1949
FateActive until the 1960s
General characteristics [1][2]
TypeGunboat
Displacement350 long tons (356 t)
Length159 ft 5 in (48.59 m)
Beam27 ft 1 in (8.26 m)
Draft5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Installed power1,900 ihp (1,400 kW)
Propulsion
Speed14.5 kn (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
Complement59
Armament2 × 3in guns (2x1) 8 × .30-06 Lewis machine guns (8x1)1942: US 3" guns replaced with 3" AA guns. Jan 1945 several Type 93 13.2 mm (0.52 in) M.G.s installed

USS Wake (PR-3) was a United States Navy river gunboat operating on the Yangtze River. Originally commissioned as the gunboat Guam (PG-43), she was redesignated river patrol vessel PR-3 in 1928, and renamed Wake 23 January 1941. She was captured by Japan on 8 December 1941 and renamed Tatara. After her recapture in 1945, she was transferred to Chinese nationalists, who renamed her Tai Yuan. Communist forces captured her in 1949. On 1 May 1949 Tai Yuan was sunk by Nationalist aircraft in the Caishiji River.[3]

  1. ^ Silverstone, Paul H (1966). U.S. Warships of World War II. Doubleday and Company. p. 243.
  2. ^ Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II. Crescent Books (Random House. 1998. p. 104. ISBN 0517-67963-9.
  3. ^ "Chinese Naval Battles(Civil War and later)(update2021)". Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.