Helena 1897
| No | Name | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comm | Fate |
| PG8 | Wilmington | 8 | Newport News | 10.1894 | 19.10.1895 | 5.1897 | miscellaneous auxiliary (Naval Reserve TS) IX30 Dover 1.1941 |
| PG9 | Helena | 9 | Newport News | 10.1894 | 30.1.1896 | 7.1897 | stricken 5.1932 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
1397 |
|
Displacement full, t |
1689 |
|
Length, m |
76.4 |
|
Breadth, m |
12.5 |
|
Draught, m |
2.74 mean |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
2 VTE, 6 cylindrical boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
1900 |
|
Max speed, kts |
15 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 277 |
| Endurance, nm(kts) | 5500(10) |
|
Armour, mm |
belt: 25, deck: 38 |
|
Armament |
8 x 1 - 102/40 Mk III/IV/V/VI, 4 x 1 - 57/50 Driggs-Schroeder Mk II/III, 4 x 1 - 37/40 Driggs-Schroeder heavy Mk I |
| Complement |
183 - 199 |
Project history: Authorized under the Act of 2.3.1893. Single-masted ships, rated as sloops in British lists, with one tall funnel, and were cut down to the main deck aft. Two of the 102mm guns were on the upper deck forward with two aft and four amidships on the main deck. Their draught was shallower than in other US gunboats of their size.
Ship protection: 102mm guns on the main deck had 64mm protection and there was a strip of 25mm amidships on the wl.
Modernizations: 1914, both: - 4 x 1 - 57/50, 4 x 1 - 37/40; + 4 x 1 - 47/40-45 Driggs-Schroeder Mk I/II
1921, Wilmington: was reboilered with 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
by 1940, Wilmington: was armed with 1 x 1 - 102/50 Mk 9, 5 x 1 - 76/52 Mk 10
Naval service: Wilmington was latterly a training ship, and in the Second World War was renamed Dover and numbered IX30. Wilmington was finally stricken only in January 1946.
Wilmington
© Ivan Gogin, 2014