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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Documentary Histories
WWI

War Diary of U.S.S. Palos

August 16, 1917

Extract from log of U.S.S. Palos

8:00 a.m. until meridian.

x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x

The gunboats at Shanghai, China, were this date released from internment1 and placed in commission in accordance with Commander-in-Chief’s cablegram.2 09018.

                                   C. C. Campbell,

                                   Seaman, U.S.Navy.

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517.

Footnote 1: On the internment of the “Shanghai flotilla” by the government of China, see: Diary of Josephus Daniels, 13 April 1917.

Footnote 2: On 14 August 1917, China declared war on Germany, formally joining the Allied Powers. For this reason, the internment of all Allied vessels, including those of the United States, ended. While the cable from Adm. Austin M. Knight, Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, has not been found, Knight received a cable from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on 15 August ordering that the formerly interned vessels be placed in commission; see, Daniels to Knight, 15 August 1917, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517. On 26 August, Knight reported that the nine small gunboats in the Shanghai squadron were operational, well in advance of the vessels of other nations that had been interned in China; ibid.

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