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Motor Gunboat/Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive
Left patch courtesy of HTC Ron Reeves, USN, Ret., right patch Mike Smolinski

Defiance (PG-95)



Call sign:
November - India - November - Hotel


Defiance served the Navies of the United States and Turkey
Tacoma Class Motor Gunboat:

  • Laid down 3 October 1967 by Peterson Builders Inc., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
  • Commissioned USS Defiance (PG-95), 24 September 1969
  • Decommissioned 11 June 1973 at Izmir, Turkey, transferred to the Turkish Navy and renamed Yildirim (P 338)
  • Destroyed by an explosion and fire 11 April 1985 off the Greek island of Mitelene in the north east Aegean Sea
  • Struck from the Navy Register 6 July 1987.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 250 t.
  • Length 165'
  • Beam 24'
  • Speed 40 kts.
  • Armament: One 3"/50 gun mount, one 40mm gun mount and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two diesel engines and one gas turbine, two shafts
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Defiance (PG 95)
    Defiance 41k Gunboat Riders
    Defiance 19k
    Defiance 184k . CAPT John Kost, USN, Ret.
    Defiance 106k Photos from the January 1970 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Defiance 95k
    Defiance 91k c. 1971
    Mediterranean Sea
    Photo taken from RFA Tidespring (A 75)    		 Original photo: CAPT John Kost, USN, Ret.
    Replacement photo: Tommy Trampp
    Defiance 445k c. 1973
    Defiance makes approach for underway replenishment.
    Courtesy of LT Bob Schofield    		 Derick S. Hartshorn
    Defiance 575k c. 1973
    Defiance prepares to pull away after underway replenishment.
    Courtesy of LT Bob Schofield
    Defiance 244k 2 February 1973
    Departing Monte Carlo    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Defiance 95k c. Spring 1973
    Kithria Strait, Eastern Mediterranean
    Defiance as she comes round the Soviet Kashin class DDG Krasny Krim    		 Eugene Ivkin
    Defiance 136k
    Defiance 72k
    Defiance 282k
    Defiance 169k
    Defiance 375k
    Defiance 140k
    TCG Yildirim (P 338)
    Defiance 74k Cüneyt Demir
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John Gregory Kost, USN24 September 1969 - 6 February 1971
    ActingLTJG Patrick J. Kusiak, USN6 February 1971 - 10 March 1971
    02LCDR Paul David Frazer, USN10 March 1971 - 18 June 1971
    03LT James Francis Giblin, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 196618 June 1971 - 1972
    04LT Stephen Howard Hamilton, USN1972 - 11 June 1973
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and John G. Kost
    There is no DANFS history available for Defiance (PG-95)
    View the Defiance (PG-95) Unofficial History entry located on the Gunboat Riders Website
    View the Defiance Commissioning Ceremony Pamphlet and Aluminum Ships, Iron Men
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Gunboat Riders
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
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