SS Saint Paul (1895)
The elegant ocean liner SS St. Paul under steam
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Saint Paul |
| Builder: | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Launched: | 10 April 1895 |
| Acquired: | by charter, 12 March 1898 |
| Commissioned: | 20 April 1898 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 September 1898 |
| Recommissioned: | 27 October 1917 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 January 1919 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner, 24 March 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Passenger ship/Auxiliary cruiser |
| Displacement: | 14,910 long tons (15,150 t) |
| Length: | 553 ft 2 in (168.61 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Speed: | 22 kn (25 mph; 41 km/h) |
| Complement: | 381 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The SS Saint Paul was a trans-Atlantic ocean liner named for the capital of Minnesota.
Saint Paul was launched on 10 April 1895 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, as a steel passenger liner; chartered for United States Navy service as an auxiliary cruiser from her owner, International Navigation Company, by a board appointed on 12 March 1898; and commissioned on 20 April 1898 for Spanish–American War service, Captain Charles D. Sigsbee in command.
Departing Philadelphia on 5 May 1898, Saint Paul's first assignment was to cruise in search of Admiral Cervera's squadron between Morant Point, Jamaica, and western Haiti. She captured the British collier Restormel—bound for Cuba with a critical cargo of Cardiff coal—on 25 May and sent her into Key West under a prize crew. She cruised off Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo Bay into mid-June, then sailed to join the force blockading San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Saint Paul arrived off San Juan on the morning of 22 June. Shortly after midday, in the 2nd battle of San Juan, the Spanish cruiser Isabel II, emerged from the harbor and, remaining under protection of shore batteries, opened fire on Saint Paul at long range without success. Isabel II was joined shortly by the destroyer Terror, which attempted to close Saint Paul to launch torpedoes. Saint Paul took Terror under heavy fire, scoring at least one direct hit which heavily damaged the destroyer. Terror gave up the attack and returned to port, followed by Isabel II. Saint Paul was relieved by Yosemite off San Juan on the 26th and made for New York to coal.
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