The second USS Paul Jones was a in the United States Navy. She was named for John Paul Jones. Construction Paul Jones was laid down on 20 April 1899, by the Union Iron Works of San 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 the Pacific Fleet, homeported at San Francisco. A unit of the Pacific Torpedo Fleet, she was at San Francisco at the beginning of World War I. 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 , , , , , , , and 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 , 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 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 Chesapeake Bay until 6 August. The highlight of