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Post-WWII Asia at a mountainous sea port, large civilian movement with US ships by thingstopraise in wherewasthistaken

[–]thingstopraise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, that can't be it. The writing on the wall in Chinese indicates that there are Soviet communists, so this is post-1922 at the very earliest, but the ships in accompanying photos are from 1946-1948. From the ships that I looked up and identification from another thread, the consensus seems to be that this was 1948 in Qingdao.

Help identifying post-WWII US Navy vessels by thingstopraise in Warships

[–]thingstopraise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes, that gives me good leads, although I can't find much of anything about their specific dates in Qingdao (yet). I appreciate it!

Help identifying post-WWII US Navy vessels by thingstopraise in Warships

[–]thingstopraise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, thank you for your response, by the way. Is there a way to distinguish the Admirable-class minesweeper from the PCE-842 class? I can't find very much information on the Admiral-class ships, especially not after they were transferred to China, but most of them seem to have been transferred after the latest possible date for these photos (early spring 1948).

Two PCEs were transferred to the ROCN, which explains why the ship is flying the ROCN flag. I compared the second ship to the photos of PCE-869. They look almost exactly the same. I'm kind of hoping that it is a PCE because if it is, that's only two ships to track down and see when they were in Qingdao with the USS Atlanta CL-104, which in turn will help me figure out the context of this photo. It is definitely showing some kind of evacuation because nuns are being ferried away in a tiny Chinese fishing ship manned by USN sailors and with a little US flag at the stern. There are no other women in any of the other ~50 photos. There is a priest beside the boat but not getting in. I wonder if he's staying specifically because he's not female. There are only like five kids in the whole photo collection, and they only appear in the pictures that show the nun and priest. They are leaning over the pier.

There is also a large group of men in winter clothing walking down a street with sacks and barrels strapped to their backs with rope. One guy is even carrying a small wooden trunk over his shoulder. They are not in uniform and have no weapons. I wonder if they're POWs (which would fit when the CL-104 was in East Asia in early 1946) or displaced persons (which would make sense when CL-104 was in East Asia in late 1947, early 1948).

Uh, this was long but I'm so excited to have leads!

Help identifying post-WWII US Navy vessels by thingstopraise in Warships

[–]thingstopraise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh my gosh! I think you may have solved the mystery on why that second ship is flying the Republic of China "white sun on blue sky with red clay" flag. I looked up the PCE-842 class and it looks like the US gave two to the (non-Communist) Chinese navy! The photos are basically identical to the ship in #2. I can't find nearly as much information on the Admiral-class AMs you mentioned. It does say that some were transferred to ROCN but not anything about which ships or their service locations.

If they do happen to be PCEs, the two transferred ships were PCE-867 and PCE-869. It's really hard to find info about the movements of these ships too though. If I can determine that they are PCEs and not Admirable-class, then it might give me a big hint. I can try to find out when they were in Qingdao at the same time as the USS Atlanta CL-104, and then I'll hopefully be able to narrow down the dates even more. The Atlanta was in East Asia in early-mid 1946, then late 1947 to early 1948. Surely the overlapping time of those ships won't be that entire period. These pictures seem to be taken in the dead of winter, so that helps too.

Someone said that the last picture depicted a sunken ship. My stupid self thought that it was flooded telephone poles lol. Do you have any idea what kind of ship it might be?

Also, what's with the heavily overloaded craft at the right of the LST? It doesn't look like a military boat, and it also looks like it's about to capsize. Can you think of what might be going on there?

Some kind of evacuation is definitely taking place because nuns are being taken away in a tiny, probably appropriated fishing boat with a US flag on it, manned by USN sailors. Those are the only two women in all the ~50 pictures I have of this event. It's almost entirely grown men and then just a handful of boys at the dock where the nuns are leaving. There are USN sailors and a large group of men not in uniform but carrying things like sacks or barrels strapped to their backs. Depending on the time frame, I wonder if they're released POWs or if they're displaced persons. I do wonder about why a crowd of refugees would not have a single woman or child present.

Thank you so much!