USS Wheeling (PG-14)

	Mare Island Navy Yard, California, c. August 1897.
History
United States
Name	USS Wheeling
Namesake	A city on the Ohio border of West Virginia's panhandle. Wheeling is the seat of government for Ohio County.
Builder	San Francisco, California
Laid down	11 April 1896
Launched	18 March 1897
Sponsored by	Miss Lucie S. Brown
Commissioned	10 August 1897 as USS Wheeling, Gunboat No. 14
Decommissioned	1 July 1904 at Bremerton, Washington
In service	3 May 1910
Out of service	13 February 1946
Renamed	Designated PG-14, 17 July 1920
Reclassified	as an Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary, IX-28, 21 January 1923
Stricken	28 March 1946
Homeport	New York City
Fate	Sold for scrap 5 October 1946
General characteristics
Class and type	Wheeling-class gunboat
Displacement	990 tons (fl)
Length	189' 7"
Beam	34'
Draft	12' 10"
Speed	12 knots
Complement	140
Armament	Six 4-inch guns; Four 6-pounder rifles; Two 1-pounder guns; One Colt machine gun;

USS Wheeling (PG-14) was a

schoolship for the training of Naval Reservists, and, at the end of World War II, just before being struck from the Navy records, she was temporarily assigned as a barracks ship for torpedo boat

crews.

Constructed in California

The first ship to be so named by the U.S. Navy, Wheeling (Gunboat No. 14) was laid down on 11 April 1896 at

San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works

; launched on 18 March 1897; sponsored by Miss Lucie S. Brown; and commissioned on 10 August 1897.

Following a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands in the fall of 1897, Wheeling reported for duty in the northern Pacific Ocean and spent the entire period of the Spanish–American War patrolling the Alaskan coast and the Aleutian Islands. The vessel sustained major hull damage during patrols off the coast of Alaska.

Far East operations

In the spring of 1899, the gunboat was ordered to the

U.S. Army maintain communications between its units operating on various islands of the archipelago

.

When the

Peking

.

On 9 May, she departed Taku and headed home, via

oceanographic

surveys in that vicinity.

Assigned as Samoan station ship

The gunboat operated at Mare Island until the beginning of 1902, at which time she received orders to American Samoa for duty as station ship. After a cruise to Hawaii and the Philippines, Wheeling arrived in Samoa late in May. From that time until midyear 1904, the gunboat cruised the Samoan group—erecting signal installations, performing survey work, and transporting passengers between the islands.

On one occasion in January 1903, she transported Dr.

Puget Sound Navy Yard

.

Reassigned to the Atlantic Ocean

After almost six years of inactivity, Wheeling was recommissioned at Puget Sound on 3 May 1910. In June, she made a brief cruise in Alaskan waters before starting on a voyage to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in company with Petrel. During that voyage, she nearly circumnavigated the globe.

Departing the west coast on 17 June, Wheeling sailed via Yokohama, Japan, and Singapore to the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. After transiting the canal, she steamed westward across the Mediterranean Sea, stopping at Genoa, Italy, and at the British colony at Gibraltar. On her way across the Atlantic, Wheeling made one stop—at Hamilton, Bermuda—before arriving in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 22 November.

Caribbean operations

Following voyage repairs, the gunboat embarked upon almost six years of duty patrolling the troubled waters of the

Tampico, Mexico

, to investigate reports of violence against Americans living there and remained to protect American property.

From 15 February to 7 March 1914, she plied waters off the

President of Santo Domingo on board. When the threat of violence against Americans loomed at Vera Cruz once again in mid-1914, Wheeling sailed to that port and landed a force to protect Americans during the period 25 April to 30 June. Upon being detached from duty in Mexico, Wheeling proceeded to Portsmouth, New Hampshire

, for repairs.

She returned to the

American flag

for the benefit of various political groups in each country which were attempting to terrorize resident Americans.

She patrolled the Mexican coast near Vera Cruz from 23 March to 16 June 1916 to aid Americans in case of any disturbances, and put in at

Carmen, Mexico

, where she anchored from 25 to 29 June and took on board more displaced Americans. The gunboat joined United States Army transport Sumner at Vera Cruz on 29 June 1916 and transferred her passengers to that ship. Between 9 October and 16 December 1916, Wheeling returned to the waters off Vera Cruz to provide naval gunfire support to Army units operating ashore against Mexican bandits.

World War I service

The beginning of 1917 found the warship still cruising the Mexican coast. When the United States entered

Hampton Roads, Virginia

, where she arrived on the 6th.

European operations

Wheeling cleared Hampton Roads on the 8th and shaped a course for

New York Navy Yard

on 11 August.

Following 18 days of repairs, she put to sea again, bound for Lewes, Delaware. Wheeling rendezvoused with destroyers Truxtun and Whipple there, and together, the three warships headed east on the 31st. The little group of ships stopped at Bermuda from 3 to 8 September then continued their voyage to Ponta Delgada where they arrived on the 16th.

For the next seven months, the gunboat operated out of Ponta Delgada with the Patrol Force Azores Detachment. For the most part, she conducted uneventful patrols and convoyed Allied shipping between the

Madeira Islands. On 15 April 1918, she stood out of Ponta Delgada bound for Gibraltar. After a brief stop in the Canary Islands

on the 19th, Wheeling arrived at the great British naval base on 22 April.

Antisubmarine operations

For the remainder of the war, she operated out of Gibraltar escorting

Cattaro

. Six days later on 17 May, another of her convoy's ships was lost to the combined efforts of U-39 and UB-50.

The first hint of trouble came at about 1848 that evening when SS Sculptor exploded, the victim of a torpedo from U-39. Wheeling went to

calcium light. From there, she circled outward dropping a total of six depth charges

—two of which failed to detonate.

While Wheeling had been engaged in hunting U-39 and in collecting the scattered convoy, UB-50 joined the fracas. At about 2016, the American warship witnessed a flash, then heard a report, to her port side, as UB-50's

life buoys

, two balsam rafts, and a dozen life belts. Just as she prepared to lower one of her boats to continue rescue duty, Surveyor appeared on the scene, assumed rescue duty, and released Wheeling to resume protection and collection of the convoy.

For the remainder of the night, Wheeling listened to shots being fired sporadically but did not leave station. Unknown to the gunboat, UB-50 also scored a hit on SS Elswick Grange, but the English steamer succeeded in making port under her own power. The convoy continued its voyage to Bizerte unmolested and reached port on 21 May. Upon arrival, Wheeling learned that severe damage had forced one of the two submarines which had attacked the convoy, U-39, to intern herself at Cartagena, Spain. Originally, the gunboat claimed that her depth charges had caused the damage, but that conclusion seems unlikely. German reports of the action make no mention of a depth charge attack and attribute all the damage to an attack by two British planes which occurred the following day.

Wheeling spent the month of June at Gibraltar undergoing repairs. On Independence Day 1918, she stood out of the harbor in the escort of a Bizerte-bound convoy which arrived safely on the 9th. She arrived back at Gibraltar with a return convoy on 14 July. Six days later, the gunboat started out on another escort mission which she completed uneventfully at Bizerte on the 24th. On the return voyage, her convoy once more ran afoul of UB-50 when the U-boat sank SS Magellan early in the evening of the 25th.

End-of-war operations

Compared to the events of May and July, the remainder of her wartime service proved tame and routine. On 5 August, she left Gibraltar with 21 merchantmen and three other escorts for Genoa. Six days later, the group arrived in port; and, on 12 August, she put to sea with 12 steamers bound for Gibraltar.

She made three voyages to Genoa during August, September, and October, followed by a final voyage to Bizerte before the war ended. Wheeling was in Gibraltar on 11 November when the

Lisbon, Portugal

, where she anchored on 2 December.

Assigned as a training ship

Leaving Lisbon the following day, Wheeling returned to Gibraltar on 5 December and, two days later, sailed for the United States. She stopped at Ponta Delgada, Azores, between 12 and 17 December and spent the night of 27 and 28 December coaling at St. George in the

New Orleans, Louisiana

, where she was decommissioned on 18 October 1919.

On 31 December of the same year, she was assigned to the

3d Naval District to be used as the training vessel for the 6th Naval Reserve Battalion. Wheeling reached her new home port, New York City, on 14 July 1923 and remained there until after World War II

.