USS Paducah (PG-18)

USS Paducah (PG-18)
History
United States
Name:	Paducah
Namesake:	City of Paducah, Kentucky
Builder:	Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury Co., Morris Heights, New York
Laid down:	22 September 1903
Launched:	11 October 1904
Commissioned:	2 September 1905
Decommissioned:	2 March 1919
In service:	2 May 1922
Out of service:	7 September 1945
Renamed:	Geula
Struck:	19 December 1946
Identification:	Hull symbol: PG-18
Fate:	scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Dubuque-class gunboat
Displacement:	1,237 tons
Length:	200 ft (61 m)
Beam:	35 ft (11 m)
Draft:	12 ft (3.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 500ihp Gas Engine Power Co. vertical triple-expansion engines 2 × 623.5ihp vertical triple-expansion engines (1921)
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) 12.85 knots (23.80 km/h; 14.79 mph) (1921)
Complement:	162 161 (1921)
Armament:	1905- 6 × 4 in (100 mm)/40 cal rapid-fire guns 4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid-fire guns 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) rapid-fire guns 1 × .30 cal Colt machine gun 1911- 6 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal rapid-fire guns 4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid-fire guns 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) rapid-fire guns 1918- 4 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal rapid-fire guns 4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid-fire guns 1921- 4 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal rapid-fire guns 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/23 cal anti-aircraft gun 1940- 1 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal DP guns 2 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal guns 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal DP guns anti-aircraft gun

USS Paducah (PG-18) was a Dubuque-class gunboat acquired by the US Navy prior to World War I. Her task was to patrol, escort, and protect Navy ships.

Paducah (Gunboat No. 18/PG-18) was launched 11 October 1904, by Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury Co., Morris Heights, New York; sponsored by Miss Anna May Yeiser; and commissioned 2 September 1905, Comdr. Albert G. Winterhalter in command. She was reclassified AG–7 in 1919; IX–23, 24 April 1922; and PG–18, 4 November 1940.

After shakedown, Paducah joined the Caribbean Squadron early in 1906 to protect American lives and interests through patrols and port calls to Caribbean and Central American and South American cities. She patrolled Mexican waters in the aftermath of the Vera Cruz incident through the summer of 1914, then returned to her Caribbean operations, performing surveys from time to time.

Paducah was ordered north to prepare at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for European service in World War I, for which she sailed from New York 29 September 1917. She reached Gibraltar 27 October, and based there as convoy escort to North Africa, Italy, the Azores, and Madeira. She attacked a U-boat 9 September 1918 after it had sunk one of her convoy, and was credited with possibly damaging the submarine. Leaving Gibraltar 11 December, Paducah reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 7 January 1919 to decommission 2 March 1919.

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