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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images
Ships of the Spanish-American War--
U.S. NAVY SHIPS -- Larger Gunboats

Seven of the Navy's gunboats were of larger types, displacing over 1300 tons. They represented five different basic designs: Dolphin, built in the mid-1880s as a dispatch vessel; Concord (Gunboat # 3) and Bennington (Gunboat # 4), sea-going ships with relatively heavy gun batteries; Nashville (Gunboat # 7), a seagoing gunboat of relatively shallow draft; Wilmington (Gunboat # 8) and Helena (Gunboat # 9), lightly armored and intended for service in rivers; and Topeka, an older ship purchased in England just before the war started.

With two exceptions, these ships performed their war service in the Caribbean. Concord was in the Asiatic Squadron and took part in the Battle of Manila Bay. Her sister ship, Bennington, spent the war in the eastern Pacific and Hawaii. The latter ship was lost to a boiler explosion in 1905, Concord left active service before World War I, but the others lasted at least up to the 1920s. Remarkably, Wilmington, then nearly fifty years old, remained on duty throughout the Second World War.

This page features views of these seven gunboats.

If better quality reproductions than these digital images are desired, see "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

In all cases, clicking on the small photograph will prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 69188

USS Dolphin (1885-1922)

Photographed during the 1890s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53,205 bytes; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 71781

USS Concord (PG-3)

Photographed in Far Eastern waters, 1898, wearing wartime gray paint.

Courtesy of Mrs. D.M. Corn, Las Cruces, NM, in memory of Dr. K.L. Rosencrance, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 48,005 bytes; 740 x 630 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 82133

USS Bennington (PG-4)

In San Francisco Bay, California, circa 1894-98.

Courtesy of Myles DeSomer, 1975.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 58,633 bytes; 740 x 510 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100931-KN (Color)

USS Bennington (PG-4)

In drydock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa 1894-98. The original photograph was published on a color-tinted postcard by Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco.

Courtesy of Ed Coffer, 1986.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 77,895 bytes; 740 x 490 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 63415

USS Nashville (PG-7)

At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 8 January 1898.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 63,321 bytes; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 91824

USS Wilmington (PG-8)

View of midships area, 1898, with crewmen on deck. The masts of a schooner are visible beyond her port side. The original photograph was printed on a stereograph card, copyright by Strohmeyer & Wyman, 1898.

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1981.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 91824-A.

Online Image: 65,770 bytes; 590 x 660 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53500

USS Helena (PG-9)

Photographed in Far Eastern waters sometime after 1899, while dressed with flags for a holiday.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 60,223 bytes; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85566-KN (Color)

USS Helena (PG-9)

Painted by the Chinese artist Qikit, 1905.

Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.
Donation of Mrs. A.W. Lott.
Navy Art Accession #: 76-301-A.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 64,542 bytes; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 63371

USS Topeka (1898-1930)

Off the New York Navy Yard, 1898. The receiving ship USS Vermont is visible at right, beyond Topeka's bow.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 78,201 bytes; 740 x 610 pixels

 

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13 March 1998