was a

river gunboat A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried mor ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, part of the 11th Gunboat ''

Sentai In Japanese, is a military unit and may be literally translated as "squadron", " task force", " division (of ships)", "group" or "wing". The terms "regiment" and "flotilla", while sometimes used as translations of ''sentai'', are also used to ...

'', that operated on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

in China during the 1920s, and during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Background

''Seta'' was the

lead vessel The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the river gunboats built under the 1920 Fleet Building Program of the Imperial Japanese Navy for operations on the inland waterways of China.Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 120

Design

The basic design of ''Seta'' was modeled after that of the gunboat , with the same general dimensions and layout. ''Seta'' had a hull with an overall length of and width of , with a normal displacement of 338 tons and draft of . She was propelled by two reciprocating engines with two Kampon boilers driving three shafts, producing and had a top speed of 16 knots. The ship was initially armed with two /28 cal. guns and six 7.7mm

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

Service record

'' Seta '' was laid down on 29 April 1922 and launched 30 June 1922 at the Harima Shipyards at Aioi, Hyogo, Japan. As the design was incapable of open ocean sailing, she was then broken down into sections and shipped to the Tunghwa Shipyard in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, where she was reassembled and completed on 20 October 1923. She was assigned to patrols of the

from Shanghai to the

Three Gorges The Three Gorges () are three adjacent gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in the hinterland of the People's Republic of China. With a subtropical monsoon climate, they are known for their scenery. The "Three Gorges Scenic A ...

, for commerce protection and as a

show of force A show of force is a military operation intended to warn (such as a warning shot) or to intimidate an opponent by showcasing a capability or will to act if one is provoked. Shows of force may also be executed by police forces and other armed, non ...

in protection of Japanese nationals and economic interests through the rest of the 1920s and early 1930s. From February 1932, she was assigned to the

First China Expeditionary Fleet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

. With the start of the

, ''Seta'' was based in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...

, and was used to evacuate Japanese residents from the interior of China. During the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

, ''Seta '' landed reinforcements of the

Special Naval Landing Force The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF; ja, 海軍特別陸戦隊, Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were naval infantry units of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN Land Forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino ...

(SNLF), and bombarded Chinese positions at Shanghai on 13 August 1937. She also helped assist in the evacuation of 20,000 of Shanghai's 30,000 Japanese civilian residents, and covered the landings of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

’s 3rd Division,

8th Division 8th Division, 8th Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division may refer to: Infantry divisions * 8th Division (Australia) * 8th Canadian Infantry Division * 8th Air Division (People's Republic of China) * 8th Division (1st Formation) (People's Rep ...

and 11th Divisions north of Shanghai. On 26 June 1938, ''Seta'', and with the gunboats and and minelayers , , and participated in the

Battle of Madang The Battle of Madang, fought between early February and late April 1944, was the Breakout (military), break-out and Breakthrough (military), pursuit phase of the Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign, Markham and Ramu Vall ...

and subsequent

Battle of Jiujiang A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, bombarding Chinese positions and sweeping for mines in the Yangtze River. Many exposed crewmen are wounded or killed by Chinese light arms fire before the SNLF can capture the Madang Forts. Around 1940, ''Seta'' was refitted with two 3.1-in/40 cal anti-aircraft guns and five 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns. From 4 November 1941, she was based in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...

, cooperating with

units in mopping up operations. On 22 June 1942, she participated in “Operation SE” and was assigned to the Tung Ting Lake task force with gunboats and . On 25 November, five crewmen were killed when ''Seta'' was strafed by fighters from the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

. Around the end of 1943, her anti-aircraft weaponry was further upgraded with the replacement of the five Hotchkiss machine guns with six Type 96 AA guns. On 6 June 1943, seven USAAF

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

fighters strafed ''Seta'' near

Shansi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

, killing 14 crewmen, including her captain, Commander Hisashi Matsumoto and wounding 14 more. She was repaired at the Kiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai by the end of July. She was reassigned back to

Hangkow Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers whe ...

for patrols of the upper Yangtze River, and was attacked again on 1 September 1943, 22 May 1944, and 11 June 1944 without taking any damage. However, an attack on 17 August wrecked her stern and rudder, and she had to be towed to Shanghai for repairs. Repairs were completed on 24 October; however two days later she was bombed again and sank. Her armaments were salvaged to help bolster the land-based defenses of Shanghai, and she was removed from the

navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 30 September 1945. The wreck was raised after the end of the war and after repairs was commissioned into the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN; ), also called the ROC Navy and colloquially the Taiwan Navy, is the maritime branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCAF). The service was formerly commonly just called the Chinese Navy during World Wa ...

as the ''Chang Teh'' (). She was then captured together with ''Toba'' by the People's Republic of China in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

and commissioned into the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

on 30 November 1949 as the gunboat ''Min Jiang'' (). She was finally scrapped in the 1960s.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

*
Japanese gunboats (with photos)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seta Seta-class gunboats Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Ships built by IHI Corporation 1922 ships Gunboats sunk by aircraft Ships of the Republic of China Navy Ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy