The first
USS Luzon (PG-47) was laid down 20 November 1926 by the
Kiangnan Dock and Engineering WorksJiangnan Shipyard is the main shipyard of Jiangnan Shipyard Co. Ltd, sited at 2 Gaoxiong Rd., Shanghai, China. Its primary businesses are ships, ship building, repairs and conversions, and sales...
,
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
; launched 12 September 1927; sponsored by Miss Mary C. Carter, daughter of Commander Andrew F. Carter, USN; and commissioned 1 June 1928.
One of eight gunboats built for service on the
Yangtze RiverThe Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang , Tibetan: Bri-chu, is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon....
in China,
Luzon was redesignated PR-7 on 15 June. From commissioning until December 1938, she served as the flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol, operating out of
HankowHankou was one of the three cities the merging of which formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
, between such ports as Nanking,
ChunkingChunking may mean:* Chunking , a short-term memory mechanism and techniques to exploit it* Chunking , a method of splitting content into short, easily scannable elements, especially for web audiences...
, and Shanghai.
The first
USS Luzon (PG-47) was laid down 20 November 1926 by the
Kiangnan Dock and Engineering WorksJiangnan Shipyard is the main shipyard of Jiangnan Shipyard Co. Ltd, sited at 2 Gaoxiong Rd., Shanghai, China. Its primary businesses are ships, ship building, repairs and conversions, and sales...
,
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
; launched 12 September 1927; sponsored by Miss Mary C. Carter, daughter of Commander Andrew F. Carter, USN; and commissioned 1 June 1928.
Service history
One of eight gunboats built for service on the
Yangtze RiverThe Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang , Tibetan: Bri-chu, is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon....
in China,
Luzon was redesignated PR-7 on 15 June. From commissioning until December 1938, she served as the flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol, operating out of
HankowHankou was one of the three cities the merging of which formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
, between such ports as Nanking,
ChunkingChunking may mean:* Chunking , a short-term memory mechanism and techniques to exploit it* Chunking , a method of splitting content into short, easily scannable elements, especially for web audiences...
, and Shanghai. In August 1937, after the Japanese had attacked Shanghai,
Luzon evacuated the American Embassy staff to Chunking.
In December 1938 the river gunboat arrived at Shanghai to relieve as station ship. Except for infrequent calls at Nanking,
WuhuWuhu is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Chaohu to the northwest, Ma'anshan to the northeast, and the...
and other ports on the Yangtze, she remained off Shanghai until 29 November 1941 when she departed for the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
.
Luzon arrived at
ManilaThe City of Manila , or simply Manila or Maynila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila. It is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay, on the western portion of the National Capital Region, in the western side of Luzon...
on 30 December, just 23 days after the Japanese attack on
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
brought the United States into
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She then began patrol operations in the waters of the Philippines, assisting in the defense of both
BataanBataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
, from 1 February until the surrender of the peninsula to the Japanese 9 April, and
CorregidorCorregidor is an island in the entrance of the Philippines' Manila Bay. Due to its position in the bay, it has served as a focal point for the naval defenses of the capital city of Manila...
, from the beginning evacuations of that entrance island to
Manila BayManila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines. The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world. It has an area of , and a coastline of . The entrance is wide and expands to a width of...
until the enemy landings 5 May.
The next day, with the surrender of the Corregidor and Manila Bay forts to the Japanese,
Luzon, along with and , were scuttled in Manila Bay to prevent capture.
Struck from the
Navy listA Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 8 May,
Luzon was salvaged by the Japanese and renamed
Karatsu. For the next two years she operated in enemy hands until the river gunboat was sunk in the Philippines by on 3 March 1944.
Luzon received one battle star for World War II service.