Gunboats and Monitors

The thread I created about the Russian gunboat being sunk by the "Ferdinand" got me thinking of the use of gunboats and armored monitors during the war. They were used by quite a few countries and in almost every area of the war.


"As with the Red Army’s armored trains, the Red Navy’s river flotillas fell into disrepair in the late 1920s and early 1930s as older vessels were scrapped and requisitioned civilian boats returned to their designed uses. In 1934 the Navy issued a request for a new river monitor suitable for mass production, using as many common components as possible with the tanks of the 1931 program. The new vessels should have two turrets, armor protection for their vitals (engine, magazines, fuel) and a very shallow draft — only 0.5 meters.

BK-241, a type 1125.The chief engineer assigned to the task, Yuliy Benoit, said it was impossible to create a two-turret armored boat only drawing a half-meter. But, he believed, a smaller vessel could be built with only one turret that would meet the shallow-draft requirement. The Navy approved his suggestion, and two designs emerged from Benoit’s bureau. The bigger boat, known as BKA (bronirovannyie katera, or armored cutter) 1124, had two turrets initially taken from T-26 tanks and mounting 45mm guns. The boat displaced 42 tons, was 25 meters long and had 12mm of armor on its “citadel” protecting the engines and other vitals. While drawing more water than a half-meter, it still could operate in very shallow waters as it only drew 0.80 meters.
The smaller version, known as BKA 1125, only drew 0.5 meters and displaced 29 tons. These were only slightly shorter (22.6 meters) but had less armor protection.
When series production began in 1935 at small shipyards along the Soviet Union’s inland rivers, the T-26 turret was replaced by the 76.2mm short-barrelled gun and turret used in the T-28 medium and T-35 heavy tanks. Since this gun had no anti-aircraft capability, each boat received two machine guns in anti-aircraft mounts (12.7mm in the 1124, 7.62mm for the 1125). A slightly modified version of the 1125 was also produced for the NKVD’s border guard units.
By the time of the Hitlerite invasion, 85 boats had been delivered with 68 more under construction. They went into action very early, with boats of the Danube flotilla inflitrating Romanian defenses to land troops on 24 June and routing Romanian marines defending the Danube delta. On the 26th, boats of the Pinsk flotilla took part in the Soviet 21st Army’s counter-attacks against the German bridgehead over the Berezina River.
Though the navy’s river crews fought very hard, they often could not retreat as easily as their comrades on land and had to destroy their boats. Replacements at first proved hard to come by, despite the large number of uncompleted hulls in Soviet shipyards and a design prepared specifically for rapid construction. Tank turrets could not be diverted from the new T-34/76 program, and the older turrets were out of production. During much of 1941, new boats could only be fitted with alternative weaponry — usually 76mm anti-aircraft guns taken from Soviet “blue water” warships and installed in open mounts.
Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov pressed hard for greater allocations of turrets and guns from the tank factories, but at first found little success. “I can help only in case of overproduction,” answered Vyacheslav Malyshev, people’s commissar for tank production. “I am responsible for the tanks with my head.” Yet despite threats from Stalin, Malyshev appears to have consciously rigged production goals to result in a turret surplus, and soon the Navy was getting its guns. Malyshev also diverted powerful American-made Packard engines to the gunboat program, preferring to use native-made engines in his tanks.
As the war progressed, the gunboats gave up their shallow draft for greater armament, as official upgrades added more machine guns and 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and crews unofficially added more of their own and sometimes 82mm rocket-launching rails as well. The crews often installed electric heaters and strengthened the boat’s prows for ice-breaking, but neither of these was an official upgrade until the 1944 model was designed, a version that did not enter service until after the war’s end.
The Volga Flotilla made the Red Army’s greatest victory possible, keeping open supply lines to the troops fighting for their lives in the ruins of Stalingrad. Gunboats armed with 76mm anti-aircraft guns fought off German Stuka attacks throughout the siege, and those with tank turrets hove close to the riverbanks to provide fire support for the troops ashore. Every night, they ferried reinforcements and ammunition across the river, and brought back the wounded to safety.
“About the role of the sailors of the fleet and their exploits,” wrote Vasiliy Chiukov, the Soviet commander in Stalingrad, “I would say briefly that had it not been for them the 62nd Army might have perished without ammunition and rations, and could not have carried out its task.”

Armored gunboat BK-92, sunk by
a “Ferdinand” tank destroyer
near Pinsk, 12 June 1944.When the Red Army began its great counter-offensives to free the Soviet Union of the invaders, the river gunboats went along. They played a key role at the battles along the Vistula and Oder, helping force the way across to the Kustrin bridgehead in the last battle for Berlin."
Avalanche Press

 

US LCM Gunboat Solomon Islands 1943 At least one LCM was modified with a 3"/23 gun, some 37mm and a bow instead of a ramp. She was used as a barge hunter without a huge amount of success (too slow).

 

The Carlotto

In the course of World War II, although with a very limited force, the Regia Marina Italiana was present in the remote waters of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. This presence, dating back to the Boxer Revolution of 1901, consisted of two gun boats located in Tiensin, the Lepanto and the Carlotto (1), along with some detachments of troops assigned to the defense of the small Italian commercial interests.


Gunboat Lepanto in China



http://www.comandosupremo.com/Fareast.html

 

Serving two navies.
Shallow-draft River Gunboat: Laid down 20 November 1926 by Kiangnan Docking and Engineering Works, Shanghai China; Launched 12 September 1927; Commissioned USS Luzon (PG-47), 1 June 1928; Reclassified as a River Gunboat, PR-7, 15 June 1928; Scuttled in Manila Bay to prevent capture 6 May 1942; Struck from the Naval Register 8 May 1942; Salvaged by Japan and renamed IJNS Karatsu; Sunk 3 March 1944 by USS Narwhal (SS-167).

 

MIGHTY MIDGET GUNBOATS OF MiNDANAO, THE

Sea Classics, Nov 2006 by Gregory, Gordon

Rated as LCS(L)(3)s, highly modified LCI troop carriers became powerful mini-gunboats which brought impressive muchneeded firepower right up to an enemy-held beach
They were ugly as sin and cramped as a monk's purse, but, pound for pound, they packed more wallop than anything afloat," recalls former bluejacket Adam West, Jr., of Knoxville, Tennessee. West was of course referring to one of the oddest fighting vessels to emerge from WWII - the flat-bottomed mini-gunboats known as the "Mighty Midgets," more officially as LCS(L)s, a latewar derivative of the widely used troop hauling beachable transport - the Landing Craft Infantry, or LCI.


Dubbed "Mighty Midgets" because of their enormous firepower, the Landing Craft Support (Large) ships were developed to support amphibious landings and to intercept inter-island barge traffic. Used solely in the Pacific Theater of operations, they were a further development of the type of specialized flat-bottomed amphibious warships that came to characterize the invasion forces of our worldwide fighting fleet.
The need for a close-fire support vessel was demonstrated during the assault on Tarawa on 20 November 1944. After the larger ships had shelled the beaches and landing zones to disrupt enemy defense efforts, the landing craft headed for shore to deliver the troops. During the interval when the Naval bombardment had stopped and the troops had landed, the enemy often had time to regroup, and the effect on the Marines was deadly. In order to deliver consistent fire support to protect them, a new type of vessel was necessary. This required the ability to get in close to shore (shallow draft) and sufficient armament to support the landings. Experiments were begun using LCIs with additional guns and rockets. These improvised forward-area modified LCI(Os and LCI(R)S proved to be effective but were only an interim solution to the problem. Fortunately, a more advanced gunboat had been in the planning stages as early as 1942, and the first contracts for the new fire support vessel had been awarded in 1943.
The first of these gunboats, the LCS(L)-1, was launched on 15 May 1944 at the George Lawley and Sons Shipyard in Neponset, Massachusetts. Using the existing plans for the LCI hull, the Lawley yard had designed a new fire support ship, one that was not a modified troop carrier but a true fighting ship. The result was the Landing Craft Support (Large) or LCS(L). Packed with firepower, the LCS(L)s had two twin 40mm guns, four 20mm guns, and four .50-cal machine guns. Mounted in the bow was one of three guns, either a single 3-in/50, a single 40mm, or a twin 40mm. Just aft the bow gun were ten Mark 7 rocket launchers. One writer described LCS(L)s as the most heavily armed of the WWII gunboats, and still another claimed that they looked like the Fourth of July fireworks when they were leading an assault.
One hundred thirty LCS(L)s were produced by three shipyards. In Neponset, Massachusetts, the Lawley shipyard produced 47. In Portland, Oregon, the Albina Engine and Machine Works produced 31, and Commercial Iron Works produced 52.
LCS(L)S were usually involved in the initial beach assault. Attacking the beach in a line, they made two runs, firing multiple salvos of deadly rocket barrages at 1000-, 800-, and 500-yds. After the third rocket barrage, they turned broadside to the beach and fired on targets of opportunity before heading seaward for the next run. On the third run, they were followed by the landing craft. As they approached the shore, they slowed to allow the troopladen boats to pass by and deposit their men on the beaches. The LCS(L)s then continued to fire over the heads of the troops and remained inshore, firing on targets as they became available. On some occasions, they took Marine artillery spotters on board for assistance in locating enemy targets on shore. The Mighty Midget LCS(L)s were active in the campaigns for the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Borneo.
In the Philippines, the LCS(Ds attacked shore targets and aided Philippine rebels. Their most disastrous night came on the evening of 16 February 1945, when LCS(Ds 7, 8, 26, 27,48, and 49 were anchored across the mouth of Mariveles Bay, near Corregidor. The ships were attacked by about 20 Japanese suicide boats and suicide swimmers from Corregidor. LCS(Ds 7, 26, and 49 were sunk and LCS(L) 27 damaged. Remarkably, Ex-Qm 2C Will Harnett from Cleveland, Ohio, survived the sinking LCS(L)-26.
"Keep in mind that these bantam warships were emergency-built vessels that totally lacked the armor and survivability features of major warships like cruisers and such. One direct hit could settle our hash in a hurry and down we'd go like a sinker in a tin can. Though we often added portable armor plating around the gun tubs to cut down on casualties when the fun started, believe me, there were a lot safer places for a swabbie to be than on the deck of Mighty Midget when we began our run to an enemy-held shore. Our best defense at that juncture was the howl made by the whooshing rockets we fired en masse in hopes of at least scaring the hell out of the enemy on the beach."

Operating as their own flotilla, twelve LCS(Ds arrived at Iwo Jima just in time to lead the assault on 19 February 1945. After assaulting the beaches and leading the troop carriers ashore, the gunboats cruised just off the beach, firing on targets of opportunity. Marine spotters were often taken on board to coordinate shipboard fire with that of Marine units ashore. The Mighty Midgets continued to cruise the perimeter of the island during the campaign, adding the support of their guns and rockets wherever and whenever needed. Bristling with gun barrels of every caliber, what few Japanese aircraft were still flyable were loath to attack the ferocious, heavily-armed gunboats.

​

LCS(Ds were largely involved in leading the assault on the landing beaches at Hagushi, Okinawa, on 1 April 1945. After the initial phase of the invasion had been completed, the ships had two main duties: Skunk patrol and radar picket duty. Skunk patrol involved intercepting Japanese suicide boats that were attempting to ram American Navy ships. Many of the suicide boats went to the bottom under the guns of the Mighty Midgets. The most hazardous duty faced by the LCS(L)s involved radar picket duty. The Navy had set up a ring of radar picket stations around the island, each manned by one or more destroyers, one of which was equipped with a Fighter Director Team. The mission of the picket ships was to pick up incoming air raids from Japan and Taiwan and vector the Combat Air Patrol to intercept them. LCS(Ds were assigned to the radar picket stations as fire support for the destroyers. Soon the picket ships became targets themselves. While serving on Radar Picket Duty, LCS(Ds 15 and 33 were sunk by kamikazes, while 25,31,51, 52,57,88,116,121, and 122 were damaged. LCS(D 119 was hit by a kamikaze while retuning from a radar picket station. LCS(L)-37 was also disabled when she was attacked by a suicide boat.
Former Gunner's Mate 1C Maury Gilbert from Spokane, Washington, still recalls the helter-skelter daily routine of duty aboard these minigunboats. "Any resemblance between us and the blue-water Navy was strictly coincidental," he claims. "Pound for pound, our LCS(Ds provided more firepower than anything afloat, especially when you remember that many crews added firepower of their own such as mortars and flamethrowers borrowed from the Army or the Marines. On some vessels, we also added more .50-cal machine guns, which were exceptionally effective against the small but fast suicide motor boats the Japanese sent against our moored transports. With every other round a tracer, the hand-held mobility and killing power of the .50 Browning to hose the target with bone-crushing impact often resulted in sawing their high-speed kamikaze boats into so many splinters quicker than the 40mms could track them."
The assault on Borneo began on 1 May 1945. Prior to the landing, a number of LCS(Ds worked with YMSs to assist in clearing mines from the landing zone. Heavily involved in leading the assault troops to the beaches, the gunboats saw a great deal of action. Once the initial landings at Tarakan Island had taken place, the ships continued to see action around the main island as they assisted in minesweeping and firing at on-shore targets.

MIGHTY MIDGET GUNBOATS OF MiNDANAO, THE | Sea Classics | Find Articles at BNET

 

After the war, the ships served in minesweeping operations around the Japanese islands, Korea, Taiwan, and other locations in the Far East. By early 1946, most of the ships had returned to the states and been placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Florida, or Astoria, Washington. In 1949, the LCS(Ds still on duty in the US Navy were reclassified as LSSLs, or Landing Ship Support Large. In the early 1950s, a number of LCS(Ds were lent to our allies, with 53 of them going to Japan to serve in the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces. Still others were lent to the French and eventually the Vietnamese for use in Indochina. Other countries that received LCS(L)s were Italy, Greece, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
At present, only one ship, the exLCS(L)-102, remains in service as a gunboat. She is held in the Royal Thai Navy and is named the Nakha. The Thai government has agreed to return her, and present plans are to berth her at the Mare Island Historical Foundation in Vallejo, California. Efforts are underway to have it in California as soon as possible. Still another ship, the ex-LCS(L)-SO, is still afloat in the Pacific Northwest, where she has been converted into a fishing boat.

 

Ladoga. Soviet Flotilla
1942

 

HMS Enchantress 1941

HMS Erebus, August 1943.​

 

:Eight subchasers were converted to PGM gunboats and used to advantage in the liberation of the Philippines. Four gunboats were sent up the Mindanao River to Fort Pikit, which they captured. It was the first time since the Civil War that commissioned naval vessels operated behind enemy lines."
http://www.splinterfleet.org/


"During World War II twenty-four 173-foot PCs were modified to Motor Gunboats PGMs (PGM-9 through 32). PGMs were designed to operate with PT boats, supplying them with added fire power. However, the PGMs were to slow to operated effectively in this roll. PGMs were more effective working with minesweepers, blowing up mines as they were cut loose by the sweepers. Converted PCs had their superstructure removed and replaced with a smaller protected pilot house. The mast was shortened and fitted with SO-8 radar and TCS radio gear. All ASW gear, sonar, depth charges, K-guns and Mousetraps were removed. PGMs were armed with one twin 40mm gun mount, six 20mm guns, one twin .50 caliber machine gun and a 60mm mortar."

http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/11011.htm

 

The Sukhotai from Siam

 

The Finnish Väinämöinen.

 

DKM Flak Lighter 1944

 

Even Submarines were modified to be gun boats.

U-Flak

The "U-flak" boats were four VIIC boats (U-441, U-256, U-621, and U-953) modified to be surface escorts for the attack U-boats operating from the French Atlantic bases. They had greatly increased anti-aircraft fire-power.
Conversion began on three others (U-211, U-263, and U-271) but none were completed, and they were eventually returned to duty as traditional VIIC attack boats.
The modified boats became operational in June of 43 and at first appeared to be successful against the surprised RAF. Seeing their potential, Dönitz ordered the boats to cross the Bay of Biscay in groups at maximum speed. The effort earned the Germans about two more months of still-limited freedom, until the RAF developed counter-measures. When the RAF began calling in surface hunters to assist the aircraft, the U-flak boats were withdrawn and converted back into fighting vessels.
The concept of the U-flak began the year before, on August 31, 1942, when U-256 was seriously damaged by aircraft. Rather than scrap the boat, it was decided to refit her as a heavily-armed anti-aircraft boat intended to stop the losses in the Bay of Biscay inflicted by Allied aircraft.
Two 20mm quadruple Flakvierling mounts and the experimental 37mm automatic gun were installed on the U-flaks' decks. A battery of 86mm line-carrying antiaircraft rockets was tested, but this idea proved unworkable. At times, two additional single 20mm guns were also mounted. The submarines' fuel capacities were limited to Bay of Biscay operations only. Only five torpedoes were carried, preloaded in the tubes, to free the space was needed for the additional gunners.
In November 1943 -- less than six months after the experiment began -- all U-flaks were converted back to normal attack boats, fitted with Turm 4. The standard anti-aircraft armament for U-boats was no longer much inferior to U-flaks, and the U-flaks had not been particularly successful. According to German sources only two aircraft had been shot down by U-flaks in six missions (three by U-441, one each by U-256, U-621, and U-953).
General Characteristics

• Displacement: surfaced 769 tons, submerged 871 tons, total 1070 tons
• Length: overall 67.1m, pressure hull 50.5m
• Beam: overall 6.2m, pressure hull 4.7m
• Draft: 4.74m
• Height: 9.6m
• Power: surfaced 3200 horsepower, submerged 750 horsepower
• Speed: surfaced 17.7 knots, submerged 7.6 knots
• Range: surfaced 13,700km (8200 miles) at 10 knots, submerged 125km (80 miles) at 4 knots
• Torpedoes: 14 (4 bow, 1 stern)
• Deck gun: 88mm/45 with 220 rounds
• Crew: 44-52 men
• Max depth: 220m (722 feet)

U-BOATS Type U-Flak, 7

 

LCS(L)(3)-102

 

At Dieppe

Support from the Seas

The Commander of the Naval Forces, Capt. John Hughes-Hallet, would control at least 237 ships during the operation. Firepower support for the amphibious troops would come from eight destroyers, one large gunboat, and numerous escort craft ranging from steam gun boats to Free French Chasseurs. The nine or ten most heavily armed ships were the HMS Locust, HMS Alresford, HMS Bleasdale, HMS Berkeley, HMS Albrighton, HMS Garth, HMS Brocklesby, HMS Fernie, ORP Slazak, and HMS Calpe. The Calpe would serve as the HQ ship for the operation’s main commanders, including Maj. John Roberts, Hughes-Hallet, Air Marshal Trafford Leigh Mallory, and numerous others. Providing the landing crafts needed for transporting troops to the shores were nine Landing Ships: the HMS Glengyle, HMS Queen Emma, HMS Princess Beatrix, HMS Prince Charles, HMS Princess Astrid, HMS Prince Albert, HMS Prince Leopold, HMS Invicta, and HMS Duke of Wellington. The nine ships would provide sixty Assault Landing Craft (LCA), eight Support Landing Craft (LCS), and seven Mechanised Landing Craft (LCM). Twenty motor launches (ML) and ten Landing Craft Flotillas were also involved in bringing troops to shore. Aside from two Landing Craft Tank (LCT) Flotillas and one Landing Craft Flak (LCF) Flotilla, there were a total of seven Landing Craft Personnel (LCP) Flotillas. Two of these would disembark men at Yellow Beach, another three would land men at Green Beach, while two would be used as floating reserves off the main Dieppe coast.

The ten capitol ships were to start a naval bombardment on assigned target towns ten to twenty minutes before the first troops landed there. Providing additional fire support were twelve motor gun boats (MGB), four steam gun boats (SGB), and seven Chasseurs from the Free French Navy. The total naval force would ship off from the ports of Southampton, Newhaven, Portsmouth, Shoreham, and Gosport, among others. The heaviest naval artillery they were equipped with, however, happened to be weapons ranging from 4in. guns to 20mm light cannons. Since the idea to execute a heavy bombardment during the preceding hours had been dropped, it would also be decided that no battleships or other large naval craft would be involved in the operation. The most effective means of a bombardment that could give the ground troops enough support would have to come from the air (Ford 25-26, 30, & 33-36). "

Military History Online - Raid on Dieppe

 

Commissioned as USS Tulsa 1923; renamed Tacloban 27 Nov 44
Served on Yangze River patrol, with Panay (PR-5) and sister ship Asheville (PG-21), from 1920 to 1941; then variously in China, Philippines, Australia, and back to Philippines.

 

Karjala (ex-Filin) was a Finnish gunboat,built in 1918 by Chrichton AB in Turku . She served in the Finnish Navy during World War II.





Uusimaa was a gun boat that served in the Finnish Navy during World War II. She was built in 1917. As the ship had changed hands many times during the turbulent last years of World War I she had been renamed many times: In Russian service, she was called Golub, later, in German service, her name was Beo. Finally the Germans handed her over to the Finns in 1920, who renamed her Uusimaa. After WW2, she served as a trawler in the Baltic Sea. She was scrapped in 1953.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_gunboat_Uusimaa

 

110-FOOT, WOOD HULL SUBCHASER (SC)

 

35 Fairmile B-type Motor Launches - MLs 424 - 431; 801 - 827.
Specifications
Round-bilge plywood construction, 600 hp petrol engine. Dimensions - length 112 feet o/a, beam 18.24 feet, draft 3.6 feet, 65 tons. Performance - 20 knots maximum at 2,200 rpm. Complement - 16. Armament - various. A common armament in Australian service was one Bofors 40 mm AA gun, or one 20 mm Oerlikon gun (or both), one or two single or twin machine guns and approximately 14 depth charges.

All these launches were of the British Fairmile "B" type; though some were pre-fabricated in England all were built in Australia. It has been said that, like the Bathurst class minesweepers, the Fairmiles were to be found anywhere and everywhere in the South West Pacific. The first, ML 807, was commissioned into service on 8th April 1943. They served as boom defence patrols in harbours at home and abroad, they escorted convoys across the Torres Strait to Milne Bay and Port Moresby, acted as couriers to ships and submarines at sea, took part in the endless survey work and raided up and down the Japanese-held coasts. ML 817 endured a fierce air-raid at Morobe (New Guinea) which left her with 42 holes above the water line. MLs 816 - 819, 801, 426, 428 and 430 formed a flotilla under the command of the US CTG 70.1 at Mois Woendi. ML 430 fell victim to the dark and confusion. On the night of 6th/7th August 1944 she was mistaken for a Japanese submarine by ML 819. In the gunfire which followed she was set on fire and burned to the waterline. Others, together with similar New Zealand boats, formed the 12-boat strong 80th and 81st ML flotillas in the South West Pacific in January 1945. ML 823 shot down a fighter bomber in Jacquinot Bay (New Britain). ML 816 was in action alongside HMAS Diamantina at Bougainville at the time of the surrender there. After the war ended there was no role for the Fairmile B in a peacetime Navy. It was a Motor Gun-boat - a warship pure and simple, heavily armed, expensive to run and needing a relatively large crew. The class quickly passed out of service after August 1945.

Royal Australian Navy in WWII - little ships