U.S.S. Wheeling
Gunboat No.14
1897
(Hai 437)
- Class: Wheeling - 2 gunboats of 1895
- Displacement: 1,000 tons
- Dimensions: 189'7" x 34' x 12'10"
- Machinery: twin-screw vertical triple expansion, 1,080ihp = 13 knots
- Armament: 6-4"/40, 4-6pdr, 2-1pdr, 1-.30cal
- Complement: 140
- Builder: Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA
- Laid Down: 11 Apr 1896
- Launched: 18 Mar 1897
- Commissioned: 10 Aug 1897 / 26 Feb 1902 / 3 May 1910
- Deommissioned: 23 Jan 1901 / 1 Jul 1904 / 13 feb 1946
- Notes: Wheeling commissioned as Gunboat No.14; designated PG-14 on 17 Jul 1920; reclassified as miscellaneous auxiliary IX-28 on 21 Jan 1923. Following a cruise to Hawaii in 1897, she patrolled the northern Pacific during the Spanish-American War. Ordered to the Far East in 1899 to help suppress the Philippine Insurrection. Then to the Chinese coast in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. Returned to the Aleutians and Mare Island in Dec 1901. Sent to American Samoa in Jul 1902 as station ship, returning to Puget Sound in 1904. In 1910 she sailed to Portsmouth NH the long way around via Yokohama, Singapore, the Suez Canal, Genoa, Gibraltar, and Bermuda. After refit, she went to the West Indies and Central American coast. At Vera Cruz and Tampico during troubles with Mexico, as well as Haiti, in 1914. Returned to Vera Cruz in 1916 to protect American citizens from Mexican bandits.
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