World War I
Paul Jones sailed on 23 April 1917, for Norfolk, Virginia, via San Diego, Acapulco, the Panama Canal Zone, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arriving on 3 August. On 4 August, she took station off the York River on patrol assignment until joining Duncan, Henley, Truxtun, Stewart, Preble, Hull, Macdonough, and Hopkins as escorts for Battleship Force, Atlantic Fleet, on 13 August, for passage to Bermuda and New York.
Paul Jones departed the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 24 August and reported to Newport, 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, and Chesapeake Bay, prior to reporting to Philadelphia on 20 December.
On 15 January 1918, in company with Stewart, Hopkins and Worden, Paul Jones sailed for the Azores 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 off St. 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 by Mars arriving on 25 February. Following permanent repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Paul Jones reported to Fortress Monroe, Virginia on 18 April, and performed various duties in and around the Chesapeake Bay until 6 August.
The highlight of Paul Jones' career came on 2 July when Henderson was on fire in the Atlantic north of Bermuda and east of Virginia. Paul Jones made four trips from the burning ship to Von Steuben saving 1,250 Marines and officers together with over 50 tons of luggage. The next day she accompanied Henderson to Delaware Breakwater.
Paul Jones was involved in a friendly fire incident in the Atlantic Ocean in August 1918. She was escorting a convoy of 28 cargo ships on 7 August when at 15:00 the last ship in the convoy, the American armed cargo ship SS Jason, which was slightly behind the rest of the convoy's ships, sighted the U.S. Navy submarine USS O-6 on the surface behind the convoy and mistook her for a German submarine with a mast and sail set. U.S. Navy gunners aboard Jason opened fire on O-6 with Jason′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 her ballast tanks and returned to the surface. She flashed recognition signals by blinker light and members of her crew waved a United States flag on her deck. Jason reported that O-6 fired six shots from her deck gun at Jason, apparently misinterpreting O-6′s recognition signals as gun flashes. Another of the convoy's cargo ships also opened fire, and shell splashes from that ship's gunfire fell short of O-6 and may have appeared to Jason′s crew and gunners to have come from O-6. O-6 stopped, and Jason ceased fire as she steamed out of range of O-6. Paul Jones meanwhile had reversed course and approached Jason, which signaled that she had a submarine in sight. Paul Jones then closed with O-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 that O-6 was flying a U.S. flag from her conning tower. Paul Jones came alongside O-6 to render assistance. O-6 suffered no casualties, but she had sustained serious damage, including to her compasses — which had been knocked out — and her steering gear. Paul Jones escorted her to port [2] at the Delaware Breakwater, where they arrived on 8 August 1918.
Paul Jones reported at Hampton 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 the Naval Vessel Register on 15 September; and was sold on 3 January 1920 to Henry A. Hitner's Sons Company, Philadelphia, who subsequently scrapped her.
USS Jacob Jones (DD-130), named for Commodore Jacob Jones USN (1768–1850), was a Wickes-class destroyer. She was sunk by a German submarine in 1942 during World War II.
The first USS Stewart was a Bainbridge-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart.
The second USS Trippe (DD-33) was a Paulding-class destroyer in commission in the United States Navy from 1911 to 1919. She was named for Lieutenant John Trippe. She saw service during World War I.
The first USS Patterson (DD-36) was a modified Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later in the United States Coast Guard, designated as CG-16. She was named for Daniel Patterson.
USS O-6 (SS-67) was an O-class submarine in commission in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1931 and from 1941 to 1945. She served in both World War I and World War II.
USS Rudderow (DE-224) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer escorts, in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947. After spending decades in reserve, she was sold for scrap in 1970.
USS Forrest (DD-461/DMS-24), was a Gleaves-class destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS Hayter (DE-212/APD-80) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. In 1967, she was transferred to South Korea where she served as ROKS Jonnam until 1986.
USS William T. Powell (DE/DER-213), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Gunner's Mate William T. Powell (1918-1942), who was killed in action, aboard the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco off Guadalcanal on 12 November 1942.
USS Mason (DE-529), an Evarts-class destroyer escort, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named Mason, though DE-529 was the only one specifically named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason. USS Mason was one of two US Navy ships with largely African-American crews in World War II. The other was USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser. These two ships were manned by African Americans as the result of a letter sent to President Roosevelt by the NAACP in mid-December 1941. Entering service in 1944, the vessel was used for convoy duty in the Battle of the Atlantic for the remainder of the war. Following the war, Mason was sold for scrap and broken up in 1947.
USS Bayntun (DE-1) was the first of the American built lend lease Captain-class frigates in the Royal Navy as HMS Bayntun (K310). She was named for Henry William Bayntun.
USS Stewart (DE–238) is an Edsall-class destroyer escort, the third United States Navy ship so named. This ship was named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart, who commanded USS Constitution during the War of 1812. Stewart is one of only two preserved destroyer escorts in the U.S. and is the only Edsall-class vessel to be preserved. She is on display in Galveston, Texas as a museum ship and is open to the public.
USS Bronstein (DE-189) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1945. In 1952, she was sold to Uruguay, where she served as ROU Artigas (DE-2) until being decommissioned and scrapped in 1988.
USS Tomich (DE-242) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1974.
USS Roy O. Hale (DE-336) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 and from 1957 to 1963. She was scrapped in 1975.
USS Martin H. Ray (DE-338) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Jaccard (DE-355) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The primary purpose of the destroyer escort was to escort and protect ships in convoy, in addition to other tasks as assigned, such as patrol or radar picket. Post-war, she returned home with one battle star to her credit.
USS Borum (DE-790) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, in service from 1943 to 1946. She was finally sold for scrap in 1966.
USS Wilhelmina (ID-2168) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. Built in 1909 for Matson Navigation Company as SS Wilhelmina, she sailed from the West Coast of the United States to Hawaii until 1917. After her war service, she was returned to Matson and resumed Pacific Ocean service. In the late 1930s she was laid up in San Francisco, California, until sold to a British shipping company in 1940. While a part of a convoy sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool, she was sunk by U-94 on 2 December 1940.
USS Lyndonia (SP-734), later known as USS Vega (SP-734) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was assigned as an armed patrol craft, but, at times, performed other duties along the U.S. East Coast, such as dispatch boat and training ship for the U.S. Naval Academy. Post-war, she was disposed of through sale to the public.
United States
