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River monitors are military craft designed to patrol rivers. They are normally the largest of all riverine warships in river flotillas, and mount the heaviest weapons. The name originated from the US Navy's , which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by the use of revolving , which were particularly useful in rivers, whose narrow channels could severely limit the directions vessels could face.
River monitors were used on such as rivers, estuaries, deltas and lakes. Usually they had a shallow draft which was necessary for them to be able to operate in enclosed waters; but their displacement, size and draft varied depending on where they were used.
Most river monitors were lightly armored although this varied, with some carrying more armor. Exceptional examples, however, most notably the Royal Navy's s, which could operate in coastal or certain riparian/estuarine situations, bore extra-thick armor plating and heavy shore-bombardment guns, up to a massive 18 inches (457 mm) in size. Typically, however, river monitors displayed a mixture of gun sizes from 3-inch (75 mm) to 6-inch (152 mm), plus . This type of vessel overlaps with the river gunboat that would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns.
On 18 December 1965, the US Navy, for the second time in one hundred years, authorized the reactivation of a brown-water navy for riparian operations in Vietnam War. In July 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara authorized the formation of a Mobile Riverine Force (MRF);Carrico, p. 11 a force that would bring back the river monitor.
The US Navy operated its Monitors as part of their River Assault Flotilla One, which initially consisted of four River Assault Divisions (RAD); with RAD 91 containing three monitors, RAD 92 having two monitors, RAD 111 having three monitors, and RAD 112 operating two monitors.Carrico, p. 12
The Vietnam monitors were divided into two programs; program 4 would consist of the 40 mm gun monitors, while the later program 5 would entail the eight Monitor (H) Howitzer versions, and the six Monitor (F) Flamethrower models.Carrico p. 63 All of the monitors were converted from World War II long Landing Craft Mechanized (LCMs) Mk 6s.Carrico, p. 16, 17 When completed, they were long, wide, with a draft of , had two screws driven by two Gray Marine model 64NH9 , could do and were manned by usually 11 or more crewmen.Carrico, p. 63 They usually carried about ten tons of armor.
During the Vietnam War, the United States Navy, in conjunction with other riverine craft, commissioned 24 monitors, ten of which mounted a single 40 mm cannon in a Mk 52 turret, eight which mounted an M49 105 mm howitzer within a T172 turret,Carrico, p. 27 and six monitors which mounted two M10-8 flamethrowers from two M8 turrets located on either side of the vessel's 40 mm cannon. Referred to as "river battleships"Carrico, p. 20, 21, 63 by their crews, they provided the firepower of the brown-water navy.
During World War I, the Romanian were the largest river monitors on the Danube, displacing 680 tons, armed mainly with three 120 mm guns and protected by at least 70 mm of armor around the belt, turrets and conning tower. They were built in sections at Trieste in Austria-Hungary, transported to Romania by rail and assembled by the Romanians at the Galați shipyard in 1907–1908.Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World Fighting Ships 1906–1921, p. 422Roger Kafka, Roy L. Pepperburg, Warships of the World, p. 881Frederick Thomas Jane, Jane's Fighting Ships, p. 343 They did not engage enemy ships, however, instead they were used to support ground forces during the Battle of Turtucaia and the First Battle of Cobadin, and also took part in the 1917 campaign, contributing to the stemming of the enemy advance.Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, World War I: Encyclopedia, Volume 1, p. 999 During the Interwar period, the Romanian Danube Flotilla was the most powerful riverine fleet in the world.Axworthy, p. 327 In 1924, the Romanian river monitors helped suppress the Tatarbunary Uprising, along with the entire Romanian Danube Flotilla. In late 1980s and 1990s Romania commissioned newly built Smârdan-class river monitors (classified as large armoured boats), and three big Mihail Kogălniceanu-class river monitors, used still in the 21st century.
Czechoslovakia had one monitor, , of about 200 tons displacement. She was however classified as a patrol boat ( hlídková loď). She was captured by the Germans in 1939 and commissioned as Bechelaren. She was extensively rebuilt in 1943 and her armament was also modified in February 1945. She supported German troops during Operation Spring Awakening and later fought in Austria, sinking two Soviet gunboats.
Yugoslav river monitors were former Austro-Hungarian warships received as reparations. They were renamed (ex- Bosna), (ex- Bodrog), (ex- Enns) and Morava (ex- Körös). After the fall of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Morava (renamed Bosna) and Sava were commissioned by the newly created Independent State of Croatia.
Six smaller monitors (70–100 ton displacement) were used by Poland in 1939 on shallow Pripyat River. Captured by the Soviet Union, they were used in 1941 by the Soviets on the Pripyat and Dnieper rivers, along with Soviet riverine ships. The Soviet Union also had five Zheleznyakov-class monitors of 263 tons, which served with the Danube Flotilla and Dnieper Flotilla in World War II.
Hungary also used river monitors, five of them notably taking part during the Kozara Offensive in 1942.
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