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NavSource Online:
Motor Gunboat / Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive
Left patch courtesy of the Patrol Gunboat Association, right patch courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Benicia (PG 96)
ex-PGM-96


Benicia served the Navies of the United States and South Korea.
Asheville Class Gunboat: Laid down 14 April 1969 as PGM-96 at Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., Tacoma, WA.; Launched, 20 December 1969; Commissioned USS Benicia (PG-96), 20 April 1970; ; Decommissioned 15 October 1971 at San Diego, CA and transferred to South Korea as Paek Ku 51 (PGM 351), (Paek Ku means Seagull); Decommissioned and returned to U.S. Navy custody in 1991; Struck from the Navy Register 30 August 1996; Scrapped in Korea
in 1998.

Specifications: Displacement 237 t.; Length 164' 5"; Beam 23' 8"; Draft 9' 5"; Speed 40k; Armament one 3"/50 gun mount, one 40mm gun mount, two twin .50 cal. machine guns; Propulsion two 725hp VT-12 875M Cummins diesels engines, one 1,370shp General Electric model LM 1500 gas turbine engine, two controllable pitch propellers, two shafts.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Source
USS Benicia (PG 96)
Benicia 58k - Robert W. Robb
via Patrol Gunboat Association
Terry W. McManuels, ETCM(SW), Ret.
Benicia 98k U.S. Navy photo Joe Radigan
Benicia 184k U.S. Navy photo from the April 1987 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
Paek Ku 51 (PGM 351)
Benicia 82k . Joe Radigan
View the Benicia (PG 96)
DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center web site
USS Benicia (PG 96)
"Commissioning Program"
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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
© 2006 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.