The first USS Farragut (Torpedo Boat No. 11/TB-11/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 5) was a 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...

 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 David Farragut

David Farragut

David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...

, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

History

Farragut was launched 16 July 1898 by Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.-History:...

, 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...

; sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Ashe, Admiral Farragut's niece; and commissioned 5 June 1899, Lieutenant Commander R. F. Nicholson in command.

Farragut's first operations were between Mare Island

Mare Island

Mare Island is a peninsula in the United States alongside the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the east side of San Pablo Bay. Mare Island is considered a peninsula because no full...

 and Sausalito in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

, and occasionally 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...

, in target and torpedo practice. She was decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard 4 September 1902; in commission in reserve from 8 October 1904; and restored to full commission 28 March 1908 for duty with the Pacific Torpedo Fleet.

She resumed her operations along the coast of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 aside from 30 May to 10 June 1908, when she sailed to visit Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. Farragut was placed in reserve 18 September 1909 and recommissioned 10 May 1911, again for service in the San Francisco area aside from a cruise to Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, that summer. Once more, on 1 July 1912, she went into reserve, and then on 26 March 1914, into ordinary.

Between 12 January 1915 and 14 April 1917, Farragut was assigned to the San Pedro Division of the California Naval Militia as a training ship. Returning then to full commission, Farragut sailed for the Panama Canal Zone

Panama Canal Zone

The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...

 11 July 1917, and for the remainder of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, patrolled both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances to 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...

, and carried troops and supplies in the Balboa

Balboa, Panama

Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.- History :The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the construction of the Panama Canal, was named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean...

area.

Renamed Coast Torpedo Boat No. 5 on 1 August 1918, she completed her service in the Canal Zone 30 December, and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard 18 January 1919. There she was decommissioned 13 March 1919 and sold 9 September 1919.