USS Oahu ( PR - 6 ) The first USS " Oahu " ( PR - 6 ) , a Yangtze River gunboat , was laid down by Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works , Shanghai , China , 18 December 1926 ; launched as PG – 46 on 26 November 1927 ; sponsored by Mrs . Bryson Bruce , wife of Comdr . Bruce ; and commissioned 22 October 1928 , Lt . Comdr . A . C . Thomas in command . Service history . One of six river gunboats built for use on the Yangtze Kiang in south central China , " Oahu " departed Shanghai on her shakedown cruise 3 November 1928 , proceeding upriver to Chungking , inland , stopping at the open treaty ports en route and returning to Shanghai 2 June 1929 . She then operated all along the Yangtze from the river ' s mouth to Chungking and in the tributaries in protection of American lives and property into the 1930s . In the course of her service with the Yangtze Patrol Force , the gunboat convoyed American and foreign merchantmen up and down the river , supplied armed guards to U . S . and British river craft , landed bluejackets at treaty ports threatened by unrest and evacuated foreign nationals in times of danger . Beginning in 1934 , " Oahu " took up duty as station ship at various Yangtze ports supplying the ever increasing river traffic with naval armed guard detachments on a regular basis . Serving station ship duty at Ichang , Chungking , Hankow , Wuhu , and Nanking into 1937 , the gunboat made intermittent patrols down the length of the river on convoy duty and then following the Japanese invasion of China in July , served as escort for merchantmen and protected American neutrality in the conflict . Following the sinking of sister gunboat off Nanking by Japanese planes 12 December 1937 , " Oahu " picked up the survivors and carried them to Shanghai , returning to the scene of the incident to conduct salvage operations . As the Japanese campaign in China grew , the gunboat operated only on the lower river as far as Wuhu and Hankow , in addition serving as station ship and radio relay vessel for American officials at the temporary U . S . embassy at Nanking . Whenever the warship attempted to cruise the river on regular patrol , she was convoyed by Japanese minesweepers that kept watch on her movements while protecting her from attacks by their planes . " Oahu " remained as station ship at ports below Hankow , returning to the latter city to refit and give liberty to her crew until late in November 1941 and then , under orders of Commander , Asiatic Fleet departed Shanghai for the Philippines as signs of approaching war with Japan became clearer . Following a long and perilous voyage across the South China Sea , the gunboat , never designed for open sea operations , arrived at Manila Bay in the week before the attack on Pearl Harbor . When war began , the warship operated in and around Manila Bay and Cavite Navy Yard on inshore patrol and in support of U . S . - Filipino forces on Bataan until after the fall of that peninsula 8 April 1942 , and then continued to operate about the island fortress of Corregidor until sunk by enemy gunfire 5 May . She was struck from the Navy List three days later . " Oahu " , one of the last " old China hands " that never saw the land she served so well , received one battle star for World War II service .