USS Yosemite (1892)
USS Yosemite in 1898.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Yosemite |
| Namesake: | Yosemite Valley |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. |
| Launched: | 1892 |
| Acquired: | 6 April 1898 |
| Commissioned: | 13 April 1898 |
| Fate: | Scuttled November 1900 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Auxiliary cruiser |
| Tonnage: | 6,179 long tons (6,278 t) |
| Length: | 389 ft 2 in (118.62 m) |
| Beam: | 48 ft (15 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft 1 in (6.12 m) |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Complement: | 285 |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Yosemite was an auxiliary cruiser of the United States Navy. Built as El Sud in 1892 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in Newport News, Virginia for the Southern Pacific Railroad's Morgan Line. At the beginning of the Spanish–American War El Sud was acquired by the Navy on 6 April 1898. The ship was renamed Yosemite and placed in commission on 13 April 1898, Comdr. William H. Emory in command.
After fitting out at League Island, Philadelphia, and at Newport News, Virginia, Yosemite departed Hampton Roads on 30 May for duty with the Eastern Squadron off the coast of Cuba. She stopped at Key West, Florida, for five days and then headed for Havana on 7 June, arriving there the same day. Yosemite, however, kept on the move. She left Havana the next day; visited Santiago and Guantanamo Bay on the 10th; and then, after a brief return to Santiago, headed for Kingston, Jamaica, on the 12th. The auxiliary cruiser spent the night of 16 and 17 June at Kingston and returned to Cuban waters on the 19th. On 23 June, she cleared the Guantanamo Bay area for San Juan, Puerto Rico. She arrived off San Juan on the 25th to participate in the blockade of that port.
Soon after her arrival, Yosemite intercepted the Spanish steamer SS Antonio Lopez at 5:20 AM on 28 June when the latter tried to run into San Juan, beginning the Third Battle of San Juan. In spite of heavy covering fire from enemy shore batteries and gunboats Ponce de Leon, Isabella II, and Concha, Yosemite attacked the blockade runner and succeeded in pounding her almost to pieces. She expended 251 5-inch (127-mm) shells in the encounter. At the conclusion of that encounter, the auxiliary cruiser pulled back out of range of the gunboats and their protecting shore batteries to resume her blockade station. She concluded that assignment on 15 July and, after a three-day visit to St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies (Virgin Islands), headed back toward the Virginia Capes on the 18th.
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