Name USS Wake Struck 25 March 1942 Length 49 m | Namesake Wake Island Launched 28 May 1927 | |
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Commissioned 28 December 1927, as USS Guam (PG-43) Renamed USS Wake, 23 January 1941 Reclassified PR-3 (River Gunboat), 15 June 1928 Builders Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai | ||
USS Wake (PR-3) was a United States Navy river gunboat operating on the Yangtze River, that was seized by Japan on 8 December 1941.
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Originally commissioned as the gunboat Guam (PG-43), she was redesignated river patrol vessel PR-3 in 1928, and renamed Wake 23 January 1941.
U.S. Navy
She was launched on 28 May 1927 as Guam by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works in Shanghai, China, and commissioned on 28 December 1927. Her primary mission was to ensure the safety of American missionaries and other foreigners. Later, the ship also functioned as a "radio spy ship," keeping track of Japanese movements. However, by 1939, she was "escorted" by a Japanese warship wherever she went, as China fell more and more under Imperial Japanese control.
On 23 January 1941, she was renamed Wake, as Guam was to be the new name of a large cruiser being built in the U.S. On 25 November 1941, LCDR Andrew Earl Harris, the brother of Field Harris, was ordered to close the Navy installation at Hankow, and sail to Shanghai. On 28 November 1941, LCDR Harris and most of the crew were transferred to gunboats and ordered to sail to the Philippines. Columbus Darwin Smith—an old China hand who had been piloting river boats on the Yangtze River—was asked to accept a commission in the U.S. Navy and was appointed captain of Wake with the rank of Lt. Commander.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941, Shanghai had been under Japanese occupation since the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Smith was in command on 8 December 1941 (7 December in Hawaii), with a crew of 14, when the Japanese captured the ship, which was tied up at a pier in Shanghai. Smith had received a telephone call the night before from a Japanese officer he knew. The officer asked where Smith would be the next morning as he wanted to deliver some turkeys for Smith and his crew. The Japanese did the same to other American officers and officials so as to determine where they would be on 8 December. However, Commander Smith received word from his quartermaster about the Pearl Harbor attack and rushed to the ship only to find it under guard by the Japanese. Surrounded by an overwhelming Japanese force, the crew attempted unsuccessfully to scuttle the craft. Wake surrendered, the only U.S. ship to do so in World War II.
Commander Smith and his crew were confined to a prison camp near Shanghai, where the U.S. Marines and sailors captured on Wake Island were also later imprisoned.
Japanese service
The Japanese gave Wake to their puppet Wang Jingwei regime in Nanjing, where she was renamed Tatara (多多良). 15 December 1941 refit began at Kiaguan Engineering and Dock Works. Refit finished 26 January 1942. 11 October 1942 runs aground off Nanking. 12 October returns to Kianguan E. & D. W. for repairs. Repairs finished 5 November 1942. On 3 June 1944 attacked by B-24s without damage. 18 June attacked by three B-25s without damage. Attacked by six P-51 Mustangs on 2 December, by two P-51s on 7 December and three P-51s on the 18th. Sails for Kianguan on 24 December. Enters Kianguan E. & D.W. for repairs and an AA upgrade on 1 January 1945. Repairs finished 3 February 1945.
Post-war
In 1945, at the end of the war, she was recaptured by the U.S. The U.S. gave the ship to the Chinese nationalists, who renamed her Tai Yuan (太原). Finally, the ship was captured by Communist Chinese forces in 1949.
As of 2010, no other ship of the U.S. Navy has been named Wake, though a Casablanca-class escort carrier launched in 1943 was named Wake Island.