Japanese 15m gunboat, ROCN Patrol 122

hypilot · December 27, 2024, 7:58pm

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Not 122 but her sister Patrol 8 in IJN service.

History

These mysterious gunboats served in the Imperial Japanese navy during the second sino Japanese war and WW2. They were first built at Yokohama yacht workshop in 1939 and were assigned to the China area fleet mainly in Shanghai and surrounding areas. There they more than likely carried out patrol missions and infantry landing missions. Two types exist with possibly 1201-1204 having a low exposed front gunner and shielding all around above the wheelhouse. 1205-1208 had a small tower above the wheelhouse and maybe a machine gun next to it. Its front gunner was a little less protected and more exposed than those of 1201-1204. Outside of the main bow machine gun some boats had 1-2 extra machine guns installed. For 1201-1204 based on photographs it looks like an extra mg was mounted in the rear cabin. For 1205-08 extra machine guns were mounted above the wheelhouse or above the rear cabin. Machine gun positions may have been different throughout the boats service life with the IJN and ROCN.
After the war they were received by the Republic of China (ROCN) Navy and were pressed into service with the 2nd and 9th gunboat squadrons. The second gunboat squadron was based in Gaoyou and the 9th in Shanghai. There’s 5 known boats in ROCN service 巡(xun: patrol) 8 (former IJN 7) and 9 (former IJN 9), (Patrol 10 (former IJN 14), 120 (IJN 11), and 122 (IJN 10). Patrol 8, 9, 10 were part of the 2nd gunboat squadron and Patrol 120 and 122 were part of the 9th gunboat squadron, however 122 was moved to the 2nd gunboat squadron sometime later.
During their service with the ROCN they mainly carried out patrol missions around Gaoyou, Shanghai and Nanjing. On September 10, 1947 Patrol 122 participated in combat exercises with gun boat 69 and landing craft 306. Sometime in 1948 Patrol 10 and 122 carried out bandit suppression missions in Xinghua.
In 1949 Patrol 10 was in communist Chinese service. The others whereabouts are unknown. The most heavily armed was patrol 122 with a type 93 13mm instead of all 7.7mm’s like the others. This was possibly the bow turret gun.

Other: Identifying these gunboats to what types they may be was a bit hard. Only identifier was their common numbers (8, 9, 14). In Japanese surrender records I could only find 1207 (ち8), 1208 (ち9) (in ZhenJiang) and 1203 (イ14?) (in Nanjing). 1207 and 1208 are more than likely patrol 8 and 9. Patrol 10 is probably 1203 since 1203 was left in Nanjing and in 1947 Patrol 10 was initially in Nanjing and not the Gaoyou area. It’s possible Patrol 120 and 122 were 1205 and 1206 respectively but there’s not really any identifiers even in what I could find in Japanese records.

Patrol 9 in IJN service as 1208 and an older number 22.

Specifications

Displacement: Varies in ROCN documents. Between 10,15-18 tons

Length: 14.63m

Width: 3.35m

Draft: 0.91m

Engine: 1 x 120 HP navy type petroleum/crude oil engine (ran on gasoline in later ROCN service)

Max speed: 11-12 knots

Armament (Patrol 122 in 1948)

1 x 13mm type 93
1 x 7.7mm type 92
1 x 7.7mm Lewis gun

Was apparently armored according to ROCN records, possibly the same as the 25 ton gunboats (4-6mm steel). Hull is wood.

The type Patrol 10 possibly was/ more angles for reference:

Spoiler

There were other Japanese 15m gunboat types in China and later used by the ROCN. One of the main ones were the types stationed in Guangdong these had a single 7.7 on the bow. They served until 1950 with the ROCN and were probably captured by the communists as they took over the Guangdong area.

Spoiler