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NavSource Online:
Motor Gunboat / Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive
Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Marathon (PG 89)
ex-PGM-89

Asheville Class Gunboat:

  • Laid down as Motor Gunboat, PGM-89, 21 June 1966 at Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., Tacoma, WA
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Gunboat, PG-89, 1 April 1967
  • Launched 22 April 1967
  • Commissioned USS Marathon (PG-89), 11 May 1968
  • Decommissioned 31 January 1976
  • Struck from the Naval Register 15 December 1976
  • Transferred 1 April 1977 to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as a training vessel
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 240 t. (lt), 285 t. (fl)
  • Length 164' 6"
  • Beam 24'
  • Draft 5' 2" (lt), 9' 6" (fl)
  • Speed 40 kts.
  • Complement 37
  • Armament: One 3"/50 gun mount, one 40mm gun mount, two twin .50 cal. machine gun mounts, GPCS Mk-63 Mod 29 with AN/SPG-50 Radar
  • Propulsion: CODOG (Combination Diesel or Gas Turbine) two 12 cyl. 725 hp Cummins diesels engines, one General Electric model 7 LM 1500 gas turbine engine, two controllable pitch propellers,
    13,300shp. The CODOG system allows for diesel propulsion up to about 12--14 knots and marine gas turbine propulsion for speeds in excess of 35 knots.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Marathon 119k Patrol Gunboat Association
    Terry W. McManuels, ETCM(SW), Ret.
    Marathon 79k Tom Hayden
    Marathon 121k BMCS Richard Miller, USNR, Ret.
    Marathon 117k
    Marathon 218k c. 1968
    U.S. Navy photos    		 Robert Hurst
    Marathon 216k
    Marathon 151k c. 1971/1972
    Western Pacific
    Photos by GMG2 Bill Liesch taken from the Waddell (DDG 24)    		 GMG2 Bill Liesch
    Marathon 164k
    Asheville 79k c. 1974
    Marathon, Asheville (PG 88) and Crockett (PG 88) moored at the Naval Armory, Chicago, IL
    Photo by Lou Garard from Industrial History website    		 Bob Canchola, BT
    USS Oriskany 1971-1973
    Marathon 132k Photo caption: "USS Marathon Cmdr. Robert Buckley shows the ship's Vietnam campaign ribbons to Debbie Murdock of Medford. The small-scale battleship toured Boston Harbor as part of Maritime Celebration Day yesterday. The Navy presented the ship to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy"
    Staff photo by Stanley Forman from the 21 May 1977 edition of the Boston Herald American    		 Tom Hayden
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Larry Wayne Waterman, USN11 May 1968 - 12 December 1968
    02LT Jerald C. Beaver, USN12 December 1968 - 30 September 1971
    03LT Leonard Francis Picotte, USN - Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and two Legions of Merit
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		30 September 1971 - 23 July 1973
    04LT Carl Francis Kauffmann, USN23 July 1973 - 22 June 1975
    05LT Jeffrey A. Finley, USN22 June 1975 - 31 January 1976
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Pamela Dunn and Joe Radigan
    View the Marathon (PG-89)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Motor Gunboat (PGM) Photo Index
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