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USS Annapolis (PG-10)
Encyclopedia
The first USS Annapolis (PG-10/IX-1) was a gunboat
in the United States Navy
. She was named for Annapolis, Maryland
.
Annapolis was laid down on 18 April 1896 at Elizabethport, New Jersey
, by Lewis Nixon
and his shipyard superintendent, Arthur Leopold Busch
; launched on 23 December 1896; sponsored by Ms. Georgia Porter, the daughter of Captain
Theodoris Porter; and commissioned at New York
on 20 July 1897, Commander
John J. Hunker in command.
engaged in training missions. In March 1898, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Fleet. By April, the U.S. was on the verge of war with Spain
over conditions in Cuba
. On 18 April, the warship departed New York on her way to the Florida
coast. She arrived at Key West
on the 25th, the day on which President
William McKinley
signed a joint resolution of Congress that formalized the fact that a state of war had existed between the U.S. and Spain
since the 21st. She made a round-trip voyage from Key West to Port Tampa and back before joining the blockade off Havana
on 2 May. She remained there for 19 days. On 8 May, she assisted in capturing the Spanish sailing vessel Santiago Apostol, bound from Yucatan
to Havana with a cargo of fish.
The remainder of that tour passed more or less routinely, and Annapolis retired from Cuban waters on 21 May. She spent eight days at Key West and two weeks at Port Tampa before rejoining the blockade at Daiquiri on 22 June. The following day, the gunboat moved to Guantanamo Bay
. On 29 June, while she was on station at Guantanamo Bay with the torpedo boat
and cruiser
, Annapolis she assisted those ships in the capture of the British
steamer Adula. On 13 July, she left the Guantanamo Bay area to make a reconnaissance visit to Baracoa
on Cuba's northeastern coast. While at Baracoa on the 15th, she conferred with a group of friendly Cubans and engaged in a brief gun duel with an enemy shore battery near the eastern end of the town. She departed Baracoa that same day and resumed duty at Guantanamo Bay on the 16th.
On the 18th, she received orders to help capture Nipe Bay
located about 90 mi (144.8 km) up the northeastern coast from Baracoa. Following , , and into the bay on the 21st, Annapolis successfully passed through a known minefield. Inside, the four American ships discovered the lying at anchor inside the bay. After a brisk exchange of fire, the Americans bested the Spanish warship in the resulting Battle of Nipe Bay
, and she began to sink. Annapolis and the three other ships set about the tasks of completing the capture of the Nipe Bay littoral and removing the mines from the bay itself. The gunboat departed Nipe Bay on 22 July and set a course for Puerto Rico
where she assisted the Army
in the capture of the city of Ponce
on the 30th. For the remainder of the war, she served at Puerto Rico, making one voyage from that island to St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies
at the end of the first week in August just before the armistice of 12 August.
coast where she visited Newport, Rhode Island
; Portsmouth, New Hampshire
; and New York City
. Late in October, the gunboat headed back to the West Indies where she cruised for the next six months. Annapolis returned to the New England coast late in April 1899 and operated along the eastern seaboard for the next four months. On 5 September, she was placed out of commission at Norfolk, Virginia
.
She was recommissioned on 14 November 1900, Lieutenant Commander
Karl Rohrer in command. At the end of December 1900, she departed Hampton Roads
, bound for the Far East
. Steaming via the Atlantic Ocean
, the Mediterranean Sea
, the Suez Canal
, and the Indian Ocean
, the warship arrived at Cavite
in the Philippines
on 24 April 1901. She remained in the Far East for the next three years. For the most part, the Philippine Islands constituted her sphere of operations. She conducted patrols, carried passengers and mail among the islands, and supported the Army during the first stage of the Philippine-American War
. She also participated extensively in the hydrographic surveys made of the islands.
In the summer and fall of 1903, she joined American's Far Eastern fleet for a cruise to Chinese
and Japan
ese waters. During that voyage, she visited Chefoo and Shanghai
in China, Kobe
and Yokohama
in Japan, and Tamsui on the island of Formosa
before returning to Cavite on 19 November.
The gunboat operated in the Philippines for the next three months, but late in February 1904, she returned to Shanghai for a month. After a week of target practice in Chinese waters from 30 March-8 May, Annapolis headed back to the Philippines, arriving in Cavite on 13 May. However, her stay was brief because she departed Cavite again on 2 June and shaped a course via Yokohama back to the U.S.
Annapolis reached Mare Island, California later that summer, was decommissioned, and entered the navy yard there for extensive repairs. She was placed back in commission on 25 March 1907, Lt. Cdr. Lewis J. Clark in command, and departed San Francisco, California
on 5 April bound—via Hawaii
—for American Samoa
. The gunboat arrived at Tutuila
, Samoa
on 22 May and began duty as station ship. She discharged those duties until 9 September 1911, when she departed Pago Pago to return home. The warship made a stop at Honolulu on the way back, arrived at San Francisco on 9 October, and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard later that day. The gunboat was decommissioned once more on 16 December 1911.
Annapolis remained at Mare Island until recommissioned on 1 May 1912, Cdr. Warren J. Terhune in command. Sometime in May, the warship moved south to San Diego, California
, whence she departed the 21st and headed for the coast of Central America
. She arrived at Corinto—off the coast of Nicaragua
—on 13 June. Conditions in that Central American republic had been unstable throughout the first decade of the 20th century but, after 1910, became increasingly worse as three factions vied with each other for power. By the summer of 1912, General Manuel Estrada Cabrera
—more or less democratically elected under American auspices—had been forced put of office. His vice president—Adolfo Diaz
—took over his duties; but, by the end of July, full scale civil war raged in Nicaragua. Annapolis returned to the Corinto area on 1 August following a six-week cruise along the coasts of Honduras
, El Salvador
, and Guatemala
. The gunboat remained at Corinto for the following four months, periodically sending landing parties ashore to protect Americans lives and property and to restore order in areas where Americans were located. On 9 December, she departed Nicaraguan waters to return to San Francisco where, after stops at Acajutla
, El Salvador, and at San Diego, she arrived on 30 December. That same day, the warship entered the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.
She completed repairs late in January 1913 and returned to sea on the 20th. The gunboat made a 16-day stop at San Diego before resuming her voyage to Central American waters on 7 February. Annapolis arrived at Amapala
, Honduras on 17 February and remained there until 9 March. After a short cruise to the Gulf of Fonseca
and to Petosi in Nicaragua on 9-10 March, she returned to Amapala on the 10th and remained there until 23 April.
At that time, she departed the Honduran coast and headed for Mexico
where successive coups had unseated first Porfirio Díaz
and then his successor Francisco Madero
. Gen. Victoriano Huerta
seized the reins of government, but others—notably Venustiano Carranza
, Emiliano Zapata
, Álvaro Obregón
, and Francisco "Pancho" Villa
—contested his usurpation of power and generally added to the mayhem in Mexico. For the next six years, Annapolis patrolled the Mexican coast investigating conditions, protecting American interests, and assisting American refugees. She spent most of her time along the Mexican coast but returned periodically to California for repairs, provisions, and training.
In June 1918, she moved through the Panama Canal
to begin duty out of New Orleans, Louisiana
with the American Patrol. She cruised the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
until 25 April 1919, at which time she was detached from the American Patrol. She departed New Orleans early in May and arrived in San Diego later that month. On 1 July, Annapolis was placed out of commission at the Mare Island Navy Yard. Early in 1920, the gunboat was towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
where she was turned over to the Pennsylvania State Nautical School on 1 April 1920. She served as a school ship, on a loan basis, for the next 20 years.
, and she was turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal. Presumably, she was scrapped.
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. She was named for Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
.
Annapolis was laid down on 18 April 1896 at Elizabethport, New Jersey
Elizabethport, New Jersey
A neighborhood in the City of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Formerly home of the Singer Manufacturing Company, makers of Singer Sewing Machines....
, by Lewis Nixon
Lewis Nixon (naval architect)
Lewis Nixon I was a naval architect, shipbuilding executive, public servant, and political activist. He designed the United States' first modern battleships, and supervised the construction of its first modern submarines, all before his 40th birthday. He was briefly the leader of Tammany Hall...
and his shipyard superintendent, Arthur Leopold Busch
Arthur Leopold Busch
Arthur Leopold Busch or Du Busc was a British-born American naval architect responsible for the development of the United States Navy's first submarines.-Career:...
; launched on 23 December 1896; sponsored by Ms. Georgia Porter, the daughter of Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Theodoris Porter; and commissioned at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on 20 July 1897, Commander
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...
John J. Hunker in command.
Spanish-American War
Following commissioning, the gunboat operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean SeaCaribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
engaged in training missions. In March 1898, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Fleet. By April, the U.S. was on the verge of war with Spain
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
over conditions in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. On 18 April, the warship departed New York on her way to the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
coast. She arrived at Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
on the 25th, the day on which President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
signed a joint resolution of Congress that formalized the fact that a state of war had existed between the U.S. and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
since the 21st. She made a round-trip voyage from Key West to Port Tampa and back before joining the blockade off Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
on 2 May. She remained there for 19 days. On 8 May, she assisted in capturing the Spanish sailing vessel Santiago Apostol, bound from Yucatan
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
to Havana with a cargo of fish.
The remainder of that tour passed more or less routinely, and Annapolis retired from Cuban waters on 21 May. She spent eight days at Key West and two weeks at Port Tampa before rejoining the blockade at Daiquiri on 22 June. The following day, the gunboat moved to Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
. On 29 June, while she was on station at Guantanamo Bay with the torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
and cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
, Annapolis she assisted those ships in the capture of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
steamer Adula. On 13 July, she left the Guantanamo Bay area to make a reconnaissance visit to Baracoa
Baracoa
Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1511...
on Cuba's northeastern coast. While at Baracoa on the 15th, she conferred with a group of friendly Cubans and engaged in a brief gun duel with an enemy shore battery near the eastern end of the town. She departed Baracoa that same day and resumed duty at Guantanamo Bay on the 16th.
On the 18th, she received orders to help capture Nipe Bay
Nipe Bay
Nipe Bay is a bay on the northern coast of eastern Cuba. It is where the statue of Our Lady of Charity, Patroness of Cuba, was discovered miraculously around 1600. The Battle of Nipe Bay happened on July 21, 1898; it was a naval engagement in the Spanish-American War. Fidel Castro was born near...
located about 90 mi (144.8 km) up the northeastern coast from Baracoa. Following , , and into the bay on the 21st, Annapolis successfully passed through a known minefield. Inside, the four American ships discovered the lying at anchor inside the bay. After a brisk exchange of fire, the Americans bested the Spanish warship in the resulting Battle of Nipe Bay
Battle of Nipe Bay
The Battle of Nipe Bay on July 21, 1898 was an engagement of the Spanish-American War. The battle was fought in Nipe Bay, Cuba, by four United States Navy warships against the Spanish sloop-of-war Jorge Juan and three gunboats which were supported by forts guarding the harbor.-Battle:Nipe Bay had...
, and she began to sink. Annapolis and the three other ships set about the tasks of completing the capture of the Nipe Bay littoral and removing the mines from the bay itself. The gunboat departed Nipe Bay on 22 July and set a course for Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
where she assisted the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in the capture of the city of Ponce
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
on the 30th. For the remainder of the war, she served at Puerto Rico, making one voyage from that island to St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies
Danish West Indies
The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...
at the end of the first week in August just before the armistice of 12 August.
Post-war deployment
On 24 August, she departed Puerto Rico and proceeded — via Key West — to the New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
coast where she visited Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
; Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
; and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Late in October, the gunboat headed back to the West Indies where she cruised for the next six months. Annapolis returned to the New England coast late in April 1899 and operated along the eastern seaboard for the next four months. On 5 September, she was placed out of commission at Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
She was recommissioned on 14 November 1900, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
Karl Rohrer in command. At the end of December 1900, she departed Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, bound for the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. Steaming via the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
, and the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, the warship arrived at Cavite
Cavite
Cavite is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the CALABARZON region in Luzon, just 30 kilometers south of Manila. Cavite is surrounded by Laguna to the east, Metro Manila to the northeast, and Batangas to the south...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
on 24 April 1901. She remained in the Far East for the next three years. For the most part, the Philippine Islands constituted her sphere of operations. She conducted patrols, carried passengers and mail among the islands, and supported the Army during the first stage of the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
. She also participated extensively in the hydrographic surveys made of the islands.
In the summer and fall of 1903, she joined American's Far Eastern fleet for a cruise to Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese waters. During that voyage, she visited Chefoo and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in China, Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
and Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
in Japan, and Tamsui on the island of Formosa
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
before returning to Cavite on 19 November.
The gunboat operated in the Philippines for the next three months, but late in February 1904, she returned to Shanghai for a month. After a week of target practice in Chinese waters from 30 March-8 May, Annapolis headed back to the Philippines, arriving in Cavite on 13 May. However, her stay was brief because she departed Cavite again on 2 June and shaped a course via Yokohama back to the U.S.
Annapolis reached Mare Island, California later that summer, was decommissioned, and entered the navy yard there for extensive repairs. She was placed back in commission on 25 March 1907, Lt. Cdr. Lewis J. Clark in command, and departed San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on 5 April bound—via Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
—for American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
. The gunboat arrived at Tutuila
Tutuila
Tutuila is the largest and the main island of American Samoa in the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific located roughly northeast of Brisbane, Australia and over northeast of Fiji. It contains a large, natural harbor,...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
on 22 May and began duty as station ship. She discharged those duties until 9 September 1911, when she departed Pago Pago to return home. The warship made a stop at Honolulu on the way back, arrived at San Francisco on 9 October, and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard later that day. The gunboat was decommissioned once more on 16 December 1911.
Annapolis remained at Mare Island until recommissioned on 1 May 1912, Cdr. Warren J. Terhune in command. Sometime in May, the warship moved south to San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, whence she departed the 21st and headed for the coast of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. She arrived at Corinto—off the coast of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
—on 13 June. Conditions in that Central American republic had been unstable throughout the first decade of the 20th century but, after 1910, became increasingly worse as three factions vied with each other for power. By the summer of 1912, General Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Manuel José Estrada Cabrera was President of Guatemala from 8 February 1898 to 15 April 1920.Manuel Estrada forcibly took the presidency after the assassination of José María Reina. The Guatemalan cabinet called an emergency meeting to appoint a new successor, but declined to invite the General...
—more or less democratically elected under American auspices—had been forced put of office. His vice president—Adolfo Diaz
Adolfo Díaz
Adolfo Díaz Recinos was the President of Nicaragua between 9 May 1911 and 1 January 1917 and between 14 November 1926 and 1 January 1929...
—took over his duties; but, by the end of July, full scale civil war raged in Nicaragua. Annapolis returned to the Corinto area on 1 August following a six-week cruise along the coasts of Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. The gunboat remained at Corinto for the following four months, periodically sending landing parties ashore to protect Americans lives and property and to restore order in areas where Americans were located. On 9 December, she departed Nicaraguan waters to return to San Francisco where, after stops at Acajutla
Acajutla
Acajutla is a seaport and municipality in Sonsonate Department, El Salvador. The town is located at on the Pacific Coast of Central America and is El Salvador's principal seaport from which a large portion of the nation's exports of coffee, sugar, and balsam are shipped. As a municipality,...
, El Salvador, and at San Diego, she arrived on 30 December. That same day, the warship entered the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.
She completed repairs late in January 1913 and returned to sea on the 20th. The gunboat made a 16-day stop at San Diego before resuming her voyage to Central American waters on 7 February. Annapolis arrived at Amapala
Amapala
Amapala is a municipality in the Honduran department of Valle. It is formed by El Tigre Island and its satellite islets and rocks in the Gulf of Fonseca. It has an area of 75.2 km² and a population of 2,482 as of the census of 2001...
, Honduras on 17 February and remained there until 9 March. After a short cruise to the Gulf of Fonseca
Gulf of Fonseca
The Gulf of Fonseca , part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.-History:Fonseca Bay was discovered in 1522 by Gil Gonzalez de Avila, and named by him after his patron, Archbishop Juan Fonseca, the implacable enemy of Columbus.In 1849, E. G...
and to Petosi in Nicaragua on 9-10 March, she returned to Amapala on the 10th and remained there until 23 April.
At that time, she departed the Honduran coast and headed for Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
where successive coups had unseated first Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
and then his successor Francisco Madero
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...
. Gen. Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...
seized the reins of government, but others—notably Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...
, Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution...
, Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....
, and Francisco "Pancho" Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
—contested his usurpation of power and generally added to the mayhem in Mexico. For the next six years, Annapolis patrolled the Mexican coast investigating conditions, protecting American interests, and assisting American refugees. She spent most of her time along the Mexican coast but returned periodically to California for repairs, provisions, and training.
In June 1918, she moved through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
to begin duty out of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
with the American Patrol. She cruised the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
until 25 April 1919, at which time she was detached from the American Patrol. She departed New Orleans early in May and arrived in San Diego later that month. On 1 July, Annapolis was placed out of commission at the Mare Island Navy Yard. Early in 1920, the gunboat was towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
where she was turned over to the Pennsylvania State Nautical School on 1 April 1920. She served as a school ship, on a loan basis, for the next 20 years.
Fate
On 17 July, when the Navy adopted its alphanumeric system of classification, Annapolis was designated PG-10. On 30 June 1940, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel RegisterNaval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
, and she was turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal. Presumably, she was scrapped.