USS Panther (1889)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Panther |
| Builder: | William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia |
| Laid down: | 1889 as SS Venezuela |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 12 April 1898 |
| Commissioned: | 22 April 1898, as USS Panther |
| Decommissioned: | 20 October 1899 |
| Recommissioned: | 19 June 1902 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 October 1903 |
| Recommissioned: | 8 November 1907 |
| Decommissioned: | May 1922 |
| Reclassified: | AD-6, 1920 |
| Fate: | Sold, 24 March 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Auxiliary cruiser |
| Displacement: | 4,260 long tons (4,328 t) |
| Length: | 324 ft 4 in (98.86 m) |
| Beam: | 40 ft 6 in (12.34 m) |
| Draft: | 18 ft 2.5 in (5.550 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Panther (AD-6), the former SS Venezuela, was an auxiliary cruiser and naval troop transport in the United States Navy.
Panther was built by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, in 1889. As the SS Venezuela, a merchant steamship, it was used for several years as a cargo freighter transporting bananas from Central and South America. The Panther was purchased by the Navy from Red D Line Steamship Co. on 12 April 1898, and commissioned at New York on 22 April 1898, Commander George Cook Reiter in command.Panther was designated AD-6 in 1920.
Panther was pressed into service immediately after commissioning on the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, and was hastily converted into a troop transport. On 27 April 1898 the ship took aboard the First Marine battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert W. Huntington in preparation for combat operations in Cuba, sailing from Brooklyn, New York just five days later. As a converted 'banana boat', the Panther proved totally inadequate as a troop transport, and the morale of the Marines suffered in the tight and sweaty confines of the hastily converted ship as it steamed southward. As the Panther was unarmed, it was forced to stop at Hampton Roads, Virginia to obtained an armed escort before steaming to Key West, Florida, to await orders while the Marines disembarked for battalion drills, rifle practice, and route marches. The ship then joined the North Atlantic Fleet, portions of which blockaded Cuba throughout the conflict. Admiral William T. Sampson received word from Key West early in May that Spanish Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete's squadron was very likely to sortie against U.S. naval forces at Santiago, Cuba. Panther and other ships of the American fleet patrolled off that port until she steamed to Guantánamo with a battalion of 633 enlisted Marines and 24 officers commanded by Lt. Col. Robert W. Huntington.
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