USS Elcano (PG-38)

USS Elcano
History
Spain
Name:	Elcano
Ordered:	1882
Laid down:	3 March 1882
Launched:	28 January 1884
Fate:	Transferred to the U.S. Navy
United States
Name:	USS Elcano
Acquired:	9 November 1898
Commissioned:	20 November 1902
Decommissioned:	30 June 1928
Fate:	Sunk as target, 4 October 1928
General characteristics
Type:	Gunboat
Displacement:	620 long tons (630 t)
Length:	165 ft 6 in (50.44 m)
Beam:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Draft:	10 ft (3.0 m)
Installed power:	1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical compound steam engines 2 × single-ended Scotch boilers 2 × screws
Speed:	11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h)
Complement:	Spanish Navy: 115 U.S. Navy: 103
Armament:	Initial: 4 × 4 in (100 mm) guns 4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.24 in)) guns 1918: 4 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 mounts 4 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.85 in)) guns

USS Elcano (PG-38) was a gunboat that the United States Navy captured from the Spanish Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was officially commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1902. She served for many years in the Yangtze Patrol where she saw action against pirates and warlords. She served until decommissioning in 1928, when she was sunk for target practice.

The Carraca Arsenal at Cadiz, Spain, built Elcano in 1885. The Spanish Navy stationed her at the Port of Manila, where she arrived on 26 September 1886.

During the Spanish–American War, she captured the American bark Saranac on 26 February 1898.Saranac—under Captain Bartaby—was carrying 1,640 short tons (1,490 t) of coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Iloilo, for Admiral Dewey's fleet.

The Americans seized Elcano during the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898. She was officially turned over to the US Navy on 9 November 1898.

The U.S Navy had Elcano fitted at the Cavite Naval Yard, Philippines, for use as a gunboat. The U.S Navy commissioned her on 20 November 1902 as the USS Elcano, Gunboat No. 38, under her first captain, Lieutenant Commander A.G. Winterhalter.

Elcano left Manila on 26 December 1902 for service with what would become the U.S. Yangtze Patrol. She sailed with another ex-Spanish gunboat—Villalobos—and the collier Pompey; the little flotilla arrived in Shanghai in February 1903.

The gunboats' task was primarily to protect American lives and property in China, especially American-flagged vessels operating on the Yangtze River. The U.S. had sent gunboats to China in the past, but this flotilla was the first that the U.S. Navy had created specifically to patrol the Yangtze. However, they were not well-suited to river patrol because of their deep (ocean-going) draft and their weak power.

...
Wikipedia