 Shown in 1905 in the Pacific Ocean, USSPaul Jones was completed with a high forecastle for improved sea-keeping characteristics. The two set of stacks indicate that the boiler rooms are separated by their engine room, which should improve her survivability in a battle, as one hit would not disable all of her boilers. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Paul Jones |
| Namesake | CaptainJohn Paul Jones awardedContinental Congress Gold Medals |
| Builder | Union Iron Works,San Francisco |
| Laid down | 20 April 1899 |
| Launched | 14 June 1900 |
| Commissioned | 19 July 1902 |
| Decommissioned | 29 July 1919 |
| Stricken | 15 September 1919 |
| Fate | Sold, 3 January 1920 and broken up for scrap |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class & type | Bainbridge-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 23 ft 7 in (7.2 m) |
| Draft | 6 ft 6 in (2 m) (mean) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph) (designed speed) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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The secondUSSPaul Jones was aBainbridge-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy. She was named forJohn Paul Jones.
Paul Jones was laid down on 20 April 1899, by theUnion Iron Works ofSan Francisco; launched on 14 June 1902; sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Goldsborough Adams; and commissioned on 19 July 1902.
Originally built as a torpedo boat destroyer,Paul Jones served in thePacific Fleet, homeported at San Francisco. A unit of the Pacific Torpedo Fleet, she was at San Francisco at the beginning ofWorld War I.
Paul Jones sailed on 23 April 1917, forNorfolk, Virginia, viaSan Diego,Acapulco, thePanama Canal Zone, andGuantanamo Bay, Cuba, arriving on 3 August. On 4 August, she took station off theYork River on patrol assignment until joiningDuncan,Henley,Truxtun,Stewart,Preble,Hull,Macdonough, andHopkins as escorts for Battleship Force,Atlantic Fleet, on 13 August, for passage toBermuda andNew York.
Paul Jones departed theBrooklyn Navy Yard on 24 August and reported toNewport, Rhode Island where she began a series of convoy patrols up and down the coast and returning to Newport on 24 September. She then commenced training operations, in conjunction with other duties, off Norfolk,Lynnhaven Roads, andChesapeake Bay, prior to reporting toPhiladelphia on 20 December.
On 15 January 1918, in company withStewart,Hopkins andWorden,Paul Jones sailed for theAzores by way of Bermuda. After departing Bermuda, she had to request permission to turn back due to a serious leak in her port after bunker. From 23–26 January,Paul Jones' crew struggled against great odds and succeeded in saving the ship from sinking. Wallowing in stormy seas with her after fire room flooded, barely able to maintain headway, having lost all drinking and feed water and steaming under two boilers with salt feed, manning bucket brigades for lack of operable pumps, and receiving no answers to her distress signals, she finally sighted a light offSt. David's Head, Bermuda, signalled the fort for assistance and dropped her anchor.
Paul Jones remained at Bermuda until 22 February for repairs and then sailed for Philadelphia escorted byMars arriving on 25 February. Following permanent repairs at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard,Paul Jones reported toFortress Monroe, Virginia on 18 April, and performed various duties in and around the Chesapeake Bay until 6 August.
The highlight ofPaul Jones' career came on 2 July whenHenderson was on fire in the Atlantic north of Bermuda and east of Virginia.Paul Jones made four trips from the burning ship toVon Steuben saving 1,250 Marines and officers together with over 50 tons of luggage. The next day she accompaniedHenderson toDelaware Breakwater.
Paul Jones was involved in afriendly fire incident in the Atlantic Ocean in August 1918. She was escorting aconvoy of 28cargo ships on 7 August when at 15:00 the last ship in the convoy, the American armed cargo shipSS Jason, which was slightly behind the rest of the convoy's ships, sighted the U.S. NavysubmarineUSS O-6 on the surface behind the convoy and mistook her for a German submarine with amast andsail set. U.S. Navy gunners aboardJason opened fire onO-6 withJason′s 5-inch (127 mm) gun at a range of 3,000 yards (2,740 m).Jason fired eight rounds, scoring five hits. After the first hit,O-6 attempted to dive, but the second hit struck her conning tower and started leaks that made it impossible for her to submerge.O-6 blew herballast tanks and returned to the surface. She flashed recognition signals by blinker light and members of her crew waved aUnited States flag on her deck.Jason reported thatO-6 fired six shots from herdeck gun atJason, apparently misinterpretingO-6′s recognition signals as gun flashes. Another of the convoy's cargo ships also opened fire, andshell splashes from that ship's gunfire fell short ofO-6 and may have appeared toJason′s crew and gunners to have come fromO-6.O-6 stopped, andJason ceased fire as she steamed out of range ofO-6.Paul Jones meanwhile had reversed course and approachedJason, which signaled that she had a submarine in sight.Paul Jones then closed withO-6 and opened 3-inch (76.2 mm) gunfire, but all of her shots fell short, and she ceased fire when she closed to a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m) and saw thatO-6 was flying a U.S. flag from her conning tower.Paul Jones came alongsideO-6 to render assistance.O-6 suffered no casualties, but she had sustained serious damage, including to hercompasses — which had been knocked out — and her steering gear.Paul Jones escorted her to port[2] at theDelaware Breakwater, where they arrived on 8 August 1918.
Paul Jones reported atHampton Roads,Virginia, on 9 August 1918 and remained in and around the Chesapeake Bay conducting mine patrols, convoy duties, and other services until slated for inactivation on 31 January 1919. She decommissioned on 29 July; was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 15 September; and was sold on 3 January 1920 toHenry A. Hitner's Sons Company, Philadelphia, who subsequently scrapped her.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in August 1918 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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