Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
GUNBOATS
The first steel gunboats
1890s gunboats
Early 20th-century gunboats
Spanish-American War prizes
River gunboats (PR)
Steel monitors (BM)
World War II gunboats 1936–42
Armed yachts 1898–1945 (PY)
Special flagships 1905–77
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 1898
Manila Bay
Cuba and Puerto Rico
BANANA WARS 1899–1916 34
THE ASIATIC STATION 1899–1937 36
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 1937–42 39
The Panay Incident, December 12, 1937
Escape from China, late 1941
Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
Twilight of the Asiatic Fleet 1941–42
CONCLUSION
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Promotional Information

A study of the history of the US Navy's gunboats and their role in building a worldwide American naval presence abroad and in combat, from the Yangtze era through to World War II.

About the Author

Born in 1981, Brian Lane Herder graduated with a BA in History from the University of Kansas in 2003, and a Masters of Library Science from Emporia State University in 2009. He is a legislative librarian for the Kansas state government and his historical research interests include the US military, naval warfare, and World War II.