USS Paulding
USS Paulding (DD-22) was the lead ship of the Paulding-class destroyers in the United States Navy. Named after Rear Admiral Hiram A. Paulding, she was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine, laid down in July 1909, launched in April 1910 and commissioned in September 1910. She was the first American destroyer powered entirely by fuel oil.
Paulding operated mainly along the U.S. East Coast until the United States entered World War I in 1917. In 1917 she patrolled New England waters and then sailed to the United Kingdom to help escort convoys. From May 1917 she escorted convoys from Queenstown, Ireland, protecting them from German U-boats through the end of the war.
On February 24, 1918, off the coast of Ireland, Paulding and two other destroyers fired on what they believed was a German submarine, HMS L2, after spotting its periscope. L2 fled to deeper water, and the U.S. ships depth-charged and surfaced it. L2 was not badly damaged, and the British commander commended the American actions. Paulding returned to the United States after the Armistice on November 11, 1918 and was decommissioned in August 1919, joining the Reserve Fleet.
From 1924 to 1930 she served in the U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Paulding (CG-17), based in Boston on the Rum Patrol during Prohibition. In 1927 she accidentally rammed and sank the submarine USS S-4 while it was surfacing; a later inquiry cleared the Coast Guard of fault. Paulding was returned to the Navy in 1930, placed again in reserve, and was sold for scrap in 1934 under the London Naval Treaty.
Key specifications:
- Paulding-class destroyer; displacement about 742 tons normal (887 tons full load)
- Length 293 ft 10 in; beam 27 ft; draft 8 ft 4 in
- Speed about 29.5 to 30.8 knots
- Armament: 5 × 3-inch guns and 6 torpedo tubes (3 × 2)
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:22 (CET).