Captain Paul Rice of TULSA standing at left 1931

Commander Paul Rice of TULSA standing left l931 p 29-863 CHINAchapter

The Gunboat TULSA was "the northernmost ship of the Asiatic Fleet, kept in North China for intelligence purposes, Jack Barrett used to say. Its normal station was on the Hai Ho river at Tientsin. In November l930 and spring l931 it put to sea to participate in Asiatic Fleet maneuvers, and in the spring of l931 when Jack Barrett was Gunnery officer and William Paca in charge of Marines, the TULSA won fleet gunnery competition. Commander Rice delayed the November l930 sailing of the TULSA so Jack Barrett could meet Sophie on her November 13 arrival after a three month Pacific voyage on big Navy transport HENDERSON. This photo was taken near Chefoo during a picnic about June 1931.Paul Rice l886-l981 was an Annapolis classmate of Hawaii governor Samuel Wilder King, the first native Hawaiian to attend the Naval Academy, and of Floyd Sexton, who became a Coast Guard Admiral, World War II. Hs wife Gertrude was born Dec. 3, l893 in Juneau Alaska and lived to age 102 and a half to July l996. Their daughter Nathalie is Mrs. Vernon Hawley, St. Helena, Napa Valley California.PAUL RICE letter:--PAUL RICE letter On February l0,l970 a letter came from Paul Rice Captain USN who was with us on the TULSA in Tientsin l930-3l, visited Panama in l935 & lived in Waikiki l94l when the war struck until February l942."Dear John, As you surmise,Sexton was a classmate pf mone, class of l909 at the Naval Academy. Captain Samuel Wilder King was a classmate-= knew him very well.He relieved me of command of the USS SAMAR at Hankow,China in June,l9l5. We had no Chaplain on the TULSA. As I remember the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku (note by Sophie M. Barrett"Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock.")The TULSA used oil-not coal.I spent about three years on the Yangtze- had command of the SAMAR & navigated it to Ichang one thousand miles up the river.Navigation on the river was similar to that on the Mississippi,I suppose.Duringthe summer floods good sized ships could navigate to Hankow.Of course Gertrude & I would be glad to try to identify pictures.Mrs. Rice says she & Nathalie met your uncle Bill in New York City in l942 (but did not meet your aunt Virginia)).Please give our regards to your mother. Sincerely, Paul H. Rice.