Specifications:

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description		Source
	97k	Namesake: Scorpion - An order of arachnids having an elongated body and a narrow segmented tail bearing a venomous sting at the tip		Tommy Trampp
	260k	At the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, circa April 1898. Note battery of four 5"/40 guns located on her sides, fore and aft of the superstructure. This was by far the heaviest battery fitted to any yacht converted for Spanish-American War service U.S. Navy photo NH 108713		Naval History and Heritage Command
	98k	Starboard broadside photo of the Scorpion underway in 1899 Detroit Photographic Co. photo 05523 © 1899 from the Library of Congress (Photo LC-D4-5523)		Mike Green
	95k	c. early 1900s In peacetime rig, there is virtually nothing about her appearance to mark her as a Navy ship other than her color scheme and the identifying letter "S" on the bows of her boats		Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
	112k	c. 1910 - Turkey Moored in the Bosporus U.S. Navy photo from the August 1961 edition of All Hands magazine		Joe Radigan
	117k	Dressed with flags, probably for an American holiday in about 1912. Location is probably in Turkish waters. A yacht-like British Royal Navy vessel is in the immediate background, also dressed with flags. The original image is printed on a post card published by R. Gailleminot, Bæspilug et Cie., Paris. It was postmarked on board Scorpion on 13 July 1912 Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 105482		Mike Green
	50k	Photo from the 1914 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships		Robert Hurst
	225k	Anchored off the Dolma Bagtche Palace, Constantinople, [Turkey] probably during the early 1920s Original negative, given by Mr. Franklin Moran in 1967 Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 65006		Mike Green
	118k	c. 1925 Courtesy U.S. Warships of World War I
	183k	Anchored at Naples, Italy, circa 1926-1927, shortly before her final return to the United States Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 101672
	167k	U.S. Navy photo from the January 1959 edition of All Hands magazine		Joe Radigan
	218k	U.S. Navy photo from the December 1961 edition of All Hands magazine

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Commanding Officers
01	LCDR Adolph Marix, USN - USNA Class of 1868 Retired as Rear Admiral	11 April 1898 - 21 May 1898
02	LCDR William Henry Turner, USN - USNA Class of 1869	21 May 1898 - 22 August 1899
03	LCDR Nathan Sargent, USN - USNA Class of 1870	22 August 1899
04	LCDR Clifford Joseph Boosh, USN - USNA Class of 1876	1 July 1902
05	LCDR Hilary Pollard Jones, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1884 Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal - Retired as Admiral	11 June 1905
06	LCDR Frank Woodruff Kellogg, USN - USNA Class of 1879	1907
07	LT Allen Buchanan, USN - USNA Class of 1899 Awarded the Medal of Honor (1914) and the Navy Cross (1918)- Retired as Captain	1908
08	LCDR Walter Selwyn Crosley, USN - USNA Class of 1893 Retired as Rear Admiral	26 February 1909
09	LCDR George Wood Logan, USN - USNA Class of 1887	1910
10	LCDR Frank Brooks Upham, USN - USNA Class of 1893 Retired as Rear Admiral	21 February 1912 - 2 January 1913
11	LCDR Edward McCauley, Jr., USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1920)	2 January 1913
12	LCDR William F. Bricker, USN - USNA Class of 1900	14 March 1915
13	CDR Herbert Stephens Babbitt, USN - USNA Class of 1906	20 March 1915
14	CDR James Proctor Morton, USN - USNA Class of 1895	24 June 1915
15	LT William Owen Baldwin, USN	3 July 1917 - 27 October 1917
16	CDR Richard Philip McCullough, USN - USNA Class of 1904	27 October 1917 - 1918
17	CDR Elmer Wayne Tod, USN	1919
18	LT Samuel Russell Deets, USN - USNA Class of 1915	1919 - 1 June 1920
19	LCDR Guy Evans Baker, USN - USNA Class of 1907	1 June 1920 - 10 November 1921
20	CAPT Robert William Henderson, USN - USNA Class of 1904	10 November 1921- 26 October 1922
21	LCDR Arthur Samuel Dysert, USN - USNA Class of 1909	26 October 1922 - 26 January 1924
22	CDR Alfred Walton Atkins, USN - USNA Class of 1907	26 January 1924

Courtesy Bill Gonyo and Joe Radigan

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View Scorpion (PY-3) Library of Congress Images

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Following commissioning, Scorpion proceeded to Hampton Roads where she joined the Flying Squadron on 1 May and prepared for duty in the Caribbean. On the 22d, she arrived with the squadron off Cienfuegos, Cuba, then continued on to the Santiago area with dispatches for ships scouting off that port. On the 25th the day after war against Spain had been declared, she returned to Cienfuegos; patrolled on blockade until the next day; then sailed for Key West for coal and water.

On 7 June, Scorpion sailed south, escorted a provisions ship and an ammunition ship to Santiago; then, until the 22d, performed blockade duties off the harbor there. On the 22d, she assisted in clearing the beach at Daiquiri in preparation for an army landing and, on the 23d, carried out a similar mission at Siboney. On the 24th, she resumed blockade duties off Santiago. On the 30th, she shifted to Cape Cruz, and, on 1 July, she joined Osceola in an unsuccessful attack on Spanish gunboats in Manzanillo harbor. After the attack, she retired to waters off the entrance, captured a provisions lighter, and patrolled there until the 5th.

Scorpion then proceeded to Guantanamo for water, coal, provisions, and ammunition. She returned to Manzanillo on the 11th, and, seven days later, participated in another attack which destroyed all Spanish Government vessels then in the harbor.

After the second attack on Manzanillo, Scorpion resumed blockade duties, continued them until 3 August; then returned to Guantanamo, whence she carried dispatches for the remainder of the war.

On 27 November, Scorpion departed Cuban waters. A month later, she arrived at New York and, on 14 January 1899, she was decommissioned in preparation for conversion to a gunboat. Recommissioned on 22 August, she was assigned to the Isthmian Canal Commission and ordered south. Into the spring of 1900, she remained in the Caribbean as the Commission investigated the proposed canal routes. In June, she returned to the United States, operated off the northeast coast into the fall, then resumed operations in the Caribbean. From November 1900 to May 1901, she cruised off Hispaniola. In June, she arrived at Boston; and, on 24 July, she was again decommissioned.

On 1 July 1902, the gunboat was recommissioned and assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron. For the next six years, she carried dispatches and personnel, conducted hydrographic surveys, and participated in exercises along the east coast and in the Caribbean, operating primarily off Santo Domingo during 1906 and 1907.

Ordered to the Mediterranean in 1908, Scorpion sailed from Philadelphia on 22 October. On 4 December, she arrived at Constantinople to take up duties as station ship; but, on the 21st, she was ordered to Messina, Italy, to assist in relief efforts for the survivors of an earthquake there. She supported International Medical Service efforts from 3 to 8 January 1909, then steamed back to Turkey. From 10 February until 15 July, she was at Naples for repairs. She returned to Constantinople on the 20th and assumed station ship duties, which included work for the United States Embassy. From 27 November 1910 to 28 January 1912, she was at Trieste for extensive repairs, and, in February, she returned to Constantinople. In August, she assisted Turkish earthquake victims and in October, as the first Balkan War broke out, she commenced operations to assist Americans caught in disputed areas.

Through that six-month war and the second Balkan War, which followed in the summer of 1913 and set the stage for the incident at Sarajevo in 1914, Scorpion continued to protect American interests. After the wars, she assisted the international commissions which gave aid to refugees and displaced persons.

During the first years of World War I Scorpion was held at Constantinople and, on 11 April 1917, after the United States had entered the war on the side of the Allies, she was interned. Under Turkish guard from 15 November 1917, she was allowed to assist British personnel released from POW camps in the interior of Turkey during late October 1918. On 9 November, she was allowed to resume her previous activities and soon thereafter began assisting the many refugees in the area.

With the arrival of Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol High Commissioner to Turkey and Senior U.S. Naval Officer in Turkish Waters, Scorpion assumed duties as flagship and dispatch vessel, continuing, at the same time, her station ship and relief work. Designated PY-3 in 1920, she shifted to Phaleron Bay, Greece, in November 1923 and took up duties as station ship in the eastern Mediterranean. On 16 June 1927, she departed the Mediterranean and steamed west. On 11 July, she arrived at Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on 27 October 1927. Struck from the Navy list on 23 March 1929, she was sold to the Boston Iron and Metal Co., Baltimore, Md., on 25 June of the same year.

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