USS John Paul Jones (DD-932 / DDG-32)

Figure 1:  USS John Paul Jones (DD-932) just prior to her commissioning, March 1956, at Bath, Maine. Photograph courtesy of David Buell. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS John Paul Jones (DD-932), date and location unknown. Photograph courtesy of Robert Hurst. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS John Paul Jones (DD-932) underway at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 10 November 1958. US Navy photograph No. 1040184. From the collection of CDR Thomas B. Ray (USS Essex , CV-9).  Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS John Paul Jones (DD-932) underway May or June 1960 off Newport, Rhode Island. Photograph courtesy of Girard Kelly. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32), date and location unknown. This photograph was taken after the ship was modernized and re-classified as a guided missile destroyer on 15 March 1967. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32) at San Diego, California, in 1978. Photograph courtesy of   Ron Reeves. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32) off Singapore, February 1980. Photograph courtesy of Marc Piché. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32) at San Francisco, California, 3 April 1982. Photograph courtesy of Marc Piché. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, 25 January 1990. Laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility are the guided missile destroyers USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32) and USS Decatur (DDG-31) and the destroyer USS Turner Joy (DD-951). Ironically, in the background at left is the attack aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31), namesake of the famous warship John Paul Jones once commanded.  Photograph courtesy of Fred Weiss. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the famous American naval Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones (1747-1792), the 4,619-ton USS John Paul Jones (DD-932) was a Forrest Sherman class destroyer that was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 5 April 1956. The ship was approximately 418 feet long and 45 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 324 officers and men. John Paul Jones was initially armed three 5-inch guns, four 3-inch guns, four 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, but this armament changed dramatically in later years after the ship was converted into a guided missile destroyer.

After being commissioned, John Paul Jones completed a lengthy shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The destroyer then proceeded to northern Europe and Great Britain, where she visited Kirkcudbright, Scotland, which was the birthplace of John Paul Jones. After that, the ship returned to the United States and arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, on 8 October 1956.

On 25 March 1957, John Paul Jones left the United States and sailed to the Mediterranean Ocean to join the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet. In May, the ship was part of the American naval task force that positioned itself off the coast of Jordan. A crisis developed after communists in that country tried to overthrow Jordan’s King Hussein. Evidently, the presence of the US warships did the trick in suppressing the communist uprising and a major crisis was averted. John Paul Jones returned to Newport on 6 June 1957. After that, the ship participated in NATO maneuvers in the north Atlantic in October. John Paul Jones completed another brief cruise in the Mediterranean before going back to the United States on 27 November. In January 1958, the destroyer took part in fleet exercises in the Caribbean.

In the spring of 1958, John Paul Jones joined Canadian warships in training maneuvers in the Atlantic. After completing additional training exercises off America’s east coast and in the Caribbean, the ship returned to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean on 17 March 1959. Once this tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet ended, John Paul Jones came back to the United States and arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, on 24 July.

During the first few months of 1960, John Paul Jones was part of the Navy’s Second Fleet while based at Newport. In June 1960, the destroyer embarked midshipmen from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, for a training cruise. The ship left the United States on 22 August for a tour of South America. As part of Operation “UNITAS,” John Paul Jones circumnavigated the continent, visiting many of America’s southern allies and taking part in joint exercises with their navies. After transiting the Straits of Magellan and the Panama Canal, John Paul Jones returned to Newport on 13 December 1960.

From 1961 to 1962, the destroyer carried out antisubmarine exercises in the Caribbean. In April 1962, John Paul Jones participated in a fleet review and weapons demonstration for President John F. Kennedy and in July she conducted a brief training exercise for midshipmen. In October 1962, the ship was on station with the Atlantic Recovery Forces during the orbital rocket flight of Commander Walter Schirra. That same month, John Paul Jones took part in the famous naval quarantine of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came perilously close to thermonuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1963, John Paul Jones completed another Mediterranean cruise which lasted from 6 February to 1 July. The remainder of the year was spent participating in antisubmarine exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. Operations along America’s east coast continued until John Paul Jones began another deployment with the Sixth Fleet on 20 June 1964. The destroyer patrolled the western Mediterranean on antisubmarine warfare assignments and returned to the United States on 3 September. Early in 1965, the ship conducted training exercises in the Caribbean. John Paul Jones returned to the Mediterranean on 18 June for NATO exercises with the French, Greek, and British navies. After completing those exercises, the ship came back to the United States and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 6 November. John Paul Jones then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 2 December and entered the US Naval Shipyard there for conversion to a guided missile destroyer. She was decommissioned on 20 December 1965.

John Paul Jones was re-classified DDG-32 on 15 March 1967 and was re-commissioned in the fall of 1967 after her conversion to a guided missile destroyer was completed. The ship underwent some major changes in Philadelphia. Roughly 90% of her superstructure was replaced and the ship received the SM-1MR Standard surface-to-air missile system as well as ASROC anti-submarine missiles. In addition, the ship’s engineering equipment was completely overhauled and a large amount of new electronic equipment was installed.

After her major modernization and overhaul, John Paul Jones was transferred to the Pacific and based at Long Beach, California, in the fall of 1967. After completing extensive training on the new equipment over the next several months, the ship left California and sailed to the Far East. From 1968 to 1972, John Paul Jones completed three combat tours of duty off the coast of Vietnam. During her third Vietnam deployment, John Paul Jones was at sea nearly 80% of the time. In addition to carrying out search and rescue operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, the ship spent 40 days providing gunfire support for American troops on shore. On 15 occasions, John Paul Jones steamed so close to shore that she came under enemy artillery fire. Fortunately, no hits were ever scored on the ship.  

In 1973, John Paul Jones’ fourth Far East deployment consisted of anti-aircraft picket missions in the Gulf of Tonkin and mine sweeping duty in Haiphong Harbor as American involvement in Vietnam was ending. In August 1973, the ship participated in naval exercises with warships from Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. John Paul Jones returned to Long Beach in November.

In 1974, John Paul Jones was sent on another deployment to the Far East and joined warships from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force on anti-submarine warfare exercises off the coast of Japan. In 1975, the ship participated in Operations Eagle Pull and Frequent Wind, which were the evacuation of US citizens from Cambodia and South Vietnam. After completing another overhaul in 1976, John Paul Jones was sent back to the Far East. After returning to the United States for two years, another tour of duty in the Far East took place from April to October 1979. During that deployment, the ship participated in joint naval exercises with warships from Taiwan and the Philippines. After returning to the United States for an overhaul, John Paul Jones completed her final deployment to the Far East in 1980.

USS John Paul Jones was decommissioned for the last time on 15 December 1982 after more than 26 years of service. She was stricken from the Navy list on 30 April 1986 and was sunk as a target off the coast of southern California on 31 January 2001.