USS Samar (PG-41)

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History
United States
NameUSS Samar
NamesakeSamar, an island in the Philippines
Acquired9 November 1898
Commissioned26 May 1899
Decommissioned6 September 1920
FateSold on 11 January 1921
General characteristics
Displacement243 tons
Length121 ft
Beam17 ft 10 in
Draft7 ft 6 in
Speed10.5 knots
Complement28
Armament

USS Samar (PG-41) was a

USS Paragua
.

Spanish career

Samar was launched in November 1887 by the Manila Ship Co.,

Philippine Islands. She was captured on 9 November 1898 at Zamboanga by US Army personnel, brought to Manila between 13 and 20 April 1899 and commissioned at Manila
on 26 May 1899, under the command of Ensign George C. Day.

US career

Philippines

Following local operations out of Manila that summer, Samar patrolled off

Paragua and rescued two "fair young maidens" who had been kidnapped by bandits from the town of Puerto Princesa. At the start of the rainy season that summer, the gunboat proceeded to Cavite, Luzon
, for boiler repairs and was decommissioned on 23 September 1901.

Recommissioned on 19 June 1902, Lt. Montgomery M. Taylor in command, Samar steamed south to

Polloc harbor before supporting Army operations at Simpetan
. Following the closing of the Naval Station at Polloc in June 1904, the gunboat returned to Cavite and decommissioned there on 22 August 1904.

Yangtze service

Recommissioned on 11 March 1908, Ensign Reed M. Fawell in command, Samar was assigned to the

Amoy. Every year the gunboat also sailed north to Nimrod Sound, outside Ningbo, Zhejiang province, for target practice near the Imperial Chinese Navy
's gunnery school.

In late 1909 the gunboat changed station to

Wuchang in October 1911. Following the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen
that winter, tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. Following another cruise upriver to Hankou in February 1914, the gunboat returned to Shanghai for an overhaul in March.

Final years

Samar remained on the China Station throughout World War I, then, in July 1919, was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze river steamer that damaged her bow. A year later, she was designated PG-41, but was ordered inspected and appraised for sale the same day, 17 July 1920. The following month she returned to Cavite, where she was decommissioned on 6 September 1920 and sold on 11 January 1921.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links