Yale Specifications: Displacement 10,669 t.; Length 527' 6"; Beam 63' 2"; Draft 23'; Speed 21.8 kts.; Complement 436; Armament four 6-pounders and four
3-pounders.
Harrisburg Specifications: Displacement 10,499 t.; Length 585'; Beam 63' 3"; Draft 29'; Speed 20 kts.; Complement 541; Armament two 6", two 4" and two
1-pounders.
Yale
SS Paris—a steamship built in 1888 and 1889 by J. & G. Thompson at Glasgow, Scotland—was acquired by the Navy on 27 April 1898 under charter from the International Navigation Co.; renamed Yale; and commissioned on 2 May 1898, Capt. W. C. Wise in command.
That same day, she put to sea from New York bound for Puerto Rico to patrol and help locate Admiral Cervera's Spanish fleet. On 8 May, two days after her arrival off Puerto Rico, Yale encountered and captured the Spanish cargo ship Rita, installed a prize crew in her, and sent her into Charleston, S.C.
The following day, she had another brief encounter with the enemy off San Juan when a Spanish armed transport came out and fired a few shots. Yale, possessing armament greatly inferior to the enemy ship, was forced to retire from the scene. She returned to San Juan the following day, and a shore battery fired two poorly aimed shots at her, both of which fell far short.
Pursuant to her orders, Yale patrolled off Puerto Rico until 13 May at which time she cleared the area for St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies (Virgin Islands) to telegraph her report to Washington. She returned briefly to Puerto Rico on 16 and 17 May, then headed for Cape Haitien, Haiti, in company with St. Paul. She remained at Cape Haitien until 21 May, then headed for waters off Santiago de Cuba where the Spanish fleet had been discovered. Yale remained there while the United States fleet assembled off Santiago to blockade Cervera's ships in that port. On the 28th, she quit the area; stopped briefly at Port Antonio, Jamaica; and then set a course for Newport News, Va. The ship spent 20 days at Newport News, heading back to Cuba on 23 June. She arrived off Santiago on 27 June but remained there only two days. On the 29th, she got underway for Key West, Fla., stopping there overnight on 3 and 4 July before continuing on to Charleston. Yale returned to Santiago on 11 July and remained in Cuban waters until the 17th. After a stop at Guanica, Puerto Rico, she set a course for New York on 26 July. She spent most of the first two weeks of August in New York and returned to Cuba on the 15th. Remaining only briefly, she embarked troops for the return voyage to New York.
Yale arrived back in New York on 23 August and remained there until decommissioned on 2 September 1898. Though returned to her owners after decommissioning, Yalewas not struck from the Navy list until 3 July 1899. She returned to merchant service—first under the name SS City of Paris and later as SS Philadelphia—and operated out of New York until the mid-1920's, at which time all reference to her in merchant registers ceased.
Harrisburg
The capital of Pennsylvania.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Paris was acquired by the Navy as an auxiliary cruiser, and commissioned Yale 2 May 1898, Captain W. C. Wise commanding. Sent to Puerto Rico to watch for the entrance of the Spanish fleet into the Caribbean, Yale patrolled those waters until putting in at Key West, Fla., 3 July. During this period she captured Spanish merchantman Rita and was fired upon by Spanish ships off San Juan. Subsequently, she was used by the Army to transport troops to and from Puerto Rico. Yale departed Charleston, S.C., 8 July, sailed to Puerto Rico, and arrived at New York 1 August. She decommissioned 2 September 1898 and was returned to the American Line, from whom she had been leased.
Reverting to Paris, the sleek ship again sailed the Atlantic, but had the misfortune to run aground on the Manacles, England, 21 May 1899. She remained there until 11 July, when she was reloaded and sent to Belfast, Ireland, for extensive refit. Paris emerged from Belfast with two funnels instead of her original three and powerful new engines. Renamed Philadelphia, she continued her transatlantic passenger service.
Philadelphia was acquired by the Navy in 1918 and renamed Harrisburg. She commissioned 29 May 1918, Comdr. Wallace Bertholf commanding. During the war Harrisburg made four voyages to Europe, two to Liverpool and two to Brest, with troops and supplies, and made six additional trips after the war carrying veterans of the European fighting home to the United States. She was then decommissioned at Hoboken, N.J., 25 September 1919, and returned to her owner, the American Line, for passenger service. She was subsequently sold to the New York-Naples Steamship Co. in 1922 and scrapped in 1923.
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