©2007 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
20 November 1926:
Shanghai, China. Laid down as a gunboat by Kiangnan Dock & Engineering Works.
12 September 1927:
Launched and named and designated LUZON (PG-47).
1 June 1928:
Commissioned in the USN.
15 June 1928:
Redesignated PR-7. Serves as flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol (YangPat).
1932-1938:
LUZON is based at various ports along the Yangtze including Chungking, Ichang, Nanking, Kiukiang, Hankow and Shanghai.
7 July 1937: The Marco Polo Bridge (The"First China Incident") Incident:
Hun River, Peking (now Beijing), China. Japanese troops on night maneuvers at the bridge fire blank cartridges. Chinese troops fire back, but do not cause injuries. The Japanese discover a soldier missing and assume the Chinese captured him. They demand entry to a suburb of Peking, but the Chinese refuse. The Japanese shell the city and an undeclared war on China begins.
3 August 1937:
Nanking. As Japanese forces approach, LUZON and gunboat TUTUILA (PR-4) evacuate American ambassador Nelson T. Johnson and his staff to Chungking.
9 October 1937: The Conquest of Shanghai:
Shanghai is occupied by Japanese forces.
December 1938:
LUZON arrives off Shanghai to relieve AUGUSTA (CA-31) as station ship. She remains off Shanghai.
7 November 1941:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders all river gunboats and the 4th United States Marines to leave China, except those Marines assigned to protect diplomatic posts.
18 November 1941:
In response to deteriorating political conditions in China, Admiral (later Senator) Thomas C. Hart, CINC, U. S. Asiatic Fleet orders Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) William A. Glassford, CO of the Yangtze River Patrol (ComYangPat), to return to Manila with five of his larger gunboats.
26 November 1941:
LtCdr George M. Brooke's LUZON departs Hankow with Admiral Glassford aboard.
27-28 November 1941:
The 4th United States Marines are evacuated from Shanghai aboard SS PRESIDENT MADISON and SS PRESIDENT HARRISON, but six men fail to board and are left behind. [1]
LtCdr Andrew E. Harris' USS WAKE (PR-3) arrives at Shanghai from Hankow. WAKE is not seaworthy enough to undertake a crossing of the Formosa Straits, so Harris and most of his crew are transferred to USS OAHU (PR-6) and LUZON (PR-7).
29 November 1941:
At 0027, LUZON, carrying Admiral Glassford, and OAHU (PR-6) depart Shanghai for Manila.
30 November 1941:
LUZON and OAHU rendezvous with minelayer USS FINCH (AM-9) and submarine rescue vessel PIGEON (ASR-6) . They remain in company until 3 December.
1 December 1941:
Formosa Straits. FINCH, PIGEON, LUZON and OAHU encounter a large Japanese convoy headed southward. An IJN floatplane circles the Americans, followed by seven Japanese warships of various types.
2 December 1941:
Formosa Straits. Glassford's flat-bottomed river boats encounter a typhoon. In Manila, Admiral Hart, concerned for the gunboats' safety, directs FINCH and PIGEON to tow them or, if necessary, take off their crews.
3 December 1941:
Mountainous seas damage PIGEON's rudder and she loses an anchor. FINCH loses both of her anchors, but manages to take unnavigable PIGEON under tow.
5-10 December 1941:
LUZON and OAHU reach Manila followed by FINCH and PIGEON. After 22 years of operations, Glassford is forced to dissolve ComYangPat. All the other gunboats arrive over the next few days.
8 December 1941:
Philippines. At 1015, the 21st and 23rd Air Flotillas launch all available Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" and G4M Betty" bomber aircraft to attack air bases in Luzon. Because of bad weather the attack is not made until 1220, nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese are surprised to find MajGen (later LtGen) Lewis H. Brereton's Far East Air Force's Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers, Seversky P-35 "Guardsman" and Curtiss P-40 "Kittyhawk" fighters still on the ground and destroy many. [2]
30 December 1941:
LtCdr Brooke's LUZON conducts patrol operations assisting the defense of Bataan and Corregidor.
2 January 1941:
Japanese forces capture Manila and occupy Cavite. American and Filipino forces retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. MacArthur establishes his headquarters on Corregidor in Manila Bay,
12-17 March 1942:
After sunset, Lt (later Vice Admiral/MOH) John D. Bulkeley's PT-41 evacuates General (later General of the Army) Douglas MacArthur and his party from Corregidor reaching Mindanao at daybreak of the 14th. From there, MacArthur leaves by B-17 and arrives at Darwin, Australia at 0900 on the 17th. Before leaving Corregidor, MacArthur does not appoint another commander for the Philippines. MacArthur decides to continue to exercise command and control from Australia through his G-4, Colonel Lewis C. Beebe, who is given a brigadier's star and designated Deputy Chief of Staff of USAFFE. [3]
6 April 1942:
At about 1900, LUZON and MINDANAO (PR-8) are ordered into Manila Bay to investigate intelligence reports that the Japanese intend to infiltrate troops in small boats behind the lines on Bataan.
7 April 1942:
At 0200, eleven small boats are silhoutted against the moonlit sky heading for Bataan. LUZON and MINDANAO open fire. Japanese shore batteries return fire on the gunboats. LUZON and MINDANAO retreat, but not before sinking four of the small boats.
10 April 1942:
Fort Hughes, Caballo Island near Corregidor. After the fall of Bataan on 9 April, men from LUZON take over Battery Gillespie, two 14-inch disappearing naval guns that lift above a parapet to fire, then sink out of sight for reloading.
6 May 1942:
LtGen Jonathan M. Wainwright is forced to surrender Corregidor and the Manila Bay forts to the Japanese. From Australia, MacArthur repudiates Wainwright's authority to surrender. LUZON, OAHU and minesweeper QUAIL (AM-15) are scuttled in Manila Bay at 14-23N, 120-35E to prevent their capture and use by the Japanese.
8 May 1942:
Struck from the U. S. Navy List.
Late May 1942:
LUZON is refloated and salvaged by the Japanese. Her repairs commence at the 103rd Repair Facility at Cavite. Her forward 3-inch AA gun is replaced by a built-up superstructure and her bow is adorned with two imperial crests, one on each side.
1 August 1942:
LUZON is renamed KARATSU, attached to the Sasebo Naval District and assigned to Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo's (36)(former CO of KIRISHIMA) Southwest Area Fleet's Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet. Begins repairs.
14 October 1942:
Repairs are completed.
15 October 1942:
Reassigned to the Cebu Guard Unit. Departs Cavite for Manila.
16 October 1942:
Arrives at Manila.
19 October 1942:
Departs Manila.
21 October 1942:
Arrives at Cebu. Lands Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) troops near a small island to inspect a sailing ship.
19 November 1942:
Departs Cebu with Vice Admiral Sugiyama Rokuzo (38)(former CO of HYUGA), CINC, Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet, aboard.
22 November 1942:
KARATSU arrives at Manila.
26 November 1942:
Departs Manila. Operates with IJN units from Manila to mop up guerrilla units in that area.
6 January 1943:
Departs Cebu escorting KISO MARU.
10 January 1943:
Returns to Cebu.
12 January 1943:
Departs Cebu to mop up guerrilla units in Panay-Guimaras area until March.
27 March 1943:
Departs Cebu escorting army troop transport KOYO MARU to Manila.
29 March 1943:
Arrives at Manila. Undergoes repairs and replenishment of sea stores.
25 April 1943:
Departs Kanakao. Arrives at Cavite the same day. Resumes guard duties.
8 May 1943:
Departs Manila to provide distant cover for escort carrier TAIYO that departed enroute to Singapore via Surabaya. KARATSU returns to Manila that evening.
9 May 1943:
SE of Cagayan Island. LtCdr Phillip D. Quirk's USS GAR (SS-207) torpedoes and sinks auxiliary gunboat ASO MARU at 09-09N, 122-50E.
11 May 1943:
KARATSU searches the area for survivors of ASO MARU.
17 May 1943:
Arrives at Cebu.
26 May-June 1943:
Departs Cebu. Conducts ASW sweeps and inspections of sailing ships around the Visayan Islands.
25 June 1943:
Mindanao Sea. Cooperates with the Army in the Siquijor Island amphibious operation.
10 July 1943:
Departs Cebu. KARATSU cooperates with the Army in patrols of the nearby Negros and Panay islands to mop-up guerillas in the area.
2 August 1943:
Departs Cebu. Cooperates with the Army in anti-guerrilla patrols.
11 August 1943:
Arrives at Cebu.
4 September 1943:
Conducts a search for missing NITTO MARU.
11 September 1943:
Departs Cebu. Concludes 24 days of anti-guerrilla policing of Iloilo, Panay island in cooperation with the Army.
28 September 1943:
Sulu Sea, off Panay Island, 41 nm W of Iloilo Island. In the morning, KARATSU's lookouts spot a suspicious oil slick and she conducts a depth-charge attack. At 0915, two Nakajima B5N2 Kates of 954th Naval Air Group (NAG) from Cebu arrive to the scene. Thirty minutes later, KARATSU establishes sound contact with a submarine, but loses it before launching another attack. After 1120, one of the aircraft returns to Cebu to refuel.
At 1205, the remaining Kate detects a submarine and attacks it ten minutes later, dropping a heavy depth charge. Following another attack 44 minutes later, a widening oil slick appears. After the return of the first Kate, KARATSU attacks the submarine until more oil is sighted. She remains in the area until 1715. As a result of the attacks, Cdr James W. Coe's USS CISCO (SS-290) is lost with all 76 hands.
1 October 1943:
Converted minelayer CHOUN MARU No. 18 is dispatched to the area of the submarine sighting and conducts a follow-up attack with depth charges.
26 October 1943:
Off Cebu. At 1100, KARATSU joins transport KINUGASA MARU, probably enroute to Truk from Manila, as an escort. KARATSU is detached at an unknown time and place.
3 March 1944:
20 miles NE of Dapitan, Mindanao. Cdr (later KIA on LAGARTO (SS-371) Frank D. Latta's USS NARWHAL (SS-167) torpedoes KARATSU at 08-55N, 123-20E. The torpedo blows KARATSU's bow off back to the bridge. NARWHAL is heavily depth charged, but undamaged. KARATSU is towed to Cebu and later towed to Manila for repairs. Her repairs commence at the No. 103 Repair Facility at Cavite.
22 January 1945:
KARATSU is ordered to depart Manila as soon as possible.
5 February 1945:
Scuttled as a blockship in Manila Bay.
10 April 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.
Authors' Notes:
[1] SS PRESIDENT HARRISON arrived safely at Olongapo, Philippines on 3 Dec '41, only to be dispatched to Chingwangtao (near Peking) to pick up about 300 Marines of the Peking and Tientsin Legation Guards. On 8 Dec '41, after the war began, HARRISON was pursued in the East China Sea by Japanese ships and planes. Her captain ran her aground at 16 knots on Shaweishan Island, off Shanghai, to deny her use to the Japanese. Nevertheless, the Japanese refloated and repaired HARRISON and renamed her KAKKO MARU, later KACHIDOKI MARU. On 12 Sep '44 while carrying 950 British/Australian POWs, KACHIDOKI MARU was torpedoed by USS PAMPANITO (SS-383) taking down 431 POWs.
[2] The responsibility for this debacle remains controversial. In 1945, LtGen Richard K. Sutherland, MacArthur's longtime Chief of Staff, said that days before the attack all B-17s had been ordered to Del Monte 600 miles from Clark Field to be safe from Japanese attack. From Del Monte, B-17s could have staged out of Clark Field to bomb Formosa, but Brereton did not obey the order. Only half the B-17s had been sent south. According to Sutherland, holding the bombers at Clark Field that first day was entirely due to Brereton who said that because there were 25 air fields on Formosa, he first had to have recon photos to know what to bomb. For his part, Brereton recalled that Sutherland, on behalf of MacArthur, denied him authority to launch any attack. Although the attacks on Clark, Nichols and other fields reduced the strength of the American Far East Air Force by half, no formal investigation was ever conducted to determine responsibility for the disaster.
[3] The Chief of Staff of the Army, General (later General of the Army) George C. Marshall found MacArthur's arrangements to retain command in the Philippines from 4,000 miles away in Australia unsatisfactory and so told President Roosevelt who agreed. On 22 March, a message was sent from Washington to MacArthur in Melbourne that made it clear that recently promoted LtGen (later General) Jonathan M. Wainwright would command in the Philippines.
Thanks for assistance go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
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