Built by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, USS McCulloch commissioned 12 December 1897 as a cruising cutter of the Revenue Cutter Service, Capt. D. B. Hogsdon, RCS, in command.

As the Spanish American War was about to commence, the new cutter was steaming via 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 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,...

 to her first station at San Francisco. Upon her arrival in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 on 8 April 1898, two full weeks before war was declared, orders directed McCulloch to report to Commodore Dewey

George Dewey

George Dewey was an admiral of the United States Navy. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War...

 on the Asiatic station.

Dewey’s squadron was composed of cruisers Olympia

USS Olympia (C-6)

USS Olympia is a protected cruiser which saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The ship was decommissioned after...

, Boston

USS Boston (1884)

The fifth USS Boston, a protected cruiser, was launched 4 December 1884 by John Roach & Sons, Chester, Pennsylvania, and commissioned 2 May 1887, Captain Francis M. Ramsay in command....

, Baltimore

USS Baltimore (C-3)

The fourth USS Baltimore was a United States Navy cruiser, the second protected cruiser to be built by an American yard. Like the previous one, , the design was commissioned from the British company of W...

, and Raleigh

USS Raleigh (C-8)

USS Raleigh was a United States Navy protected cruiser commissioned in 1894 and in periodic service until 1919.The second ship named Raleigh, C-8 was laid down on 19 December 1889 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia; launched 31 March 1892; sponsored by Mrs. Alfred W. Haywood; and...

; gunboats Concord

USS Concord (PG-3)

USS Concord was a member of the of steel-hulled, twin-screw gunboats in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the second U.S. Navy ship named in honor of the town of Concord, Massachusetts, site of the Battle of Concord in the American Revolutionary War.The...

 and Petrel

USS Petrel (PG-2)

|-External links:* at navsource.org...

; and cutter
McCulloch, with her charges, the valuable store ships Nanshan

USS Nanshan (AG-3)

USS Nanshan was a collier in the service of the United States Navy.Nanshan was launched in 1896 by Grangemouth Dockyard Company, Grangemouth, Scotland for merchant service as a collier in the Far East; purchased at Hong Kong on 6 April 1898 from Frank Smythe; and placed in service the same day,...

 and Zafire. The squadron stood out of Mirs Bay, China

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...

, on 27 April 1898, and entered Manila Bay

Manila Bay

Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...

 the evening of 30 April 1898. By midnight Olympia had stealthily passed into the harbor. Successive ships followed in close order.

Just as McCulloch brought El Fraile Rock

Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)

Fort Drum , also known as the “concrete battleship,” is a heavily fortified island fortress situated at the mouth of Manila Bay in the Philippines, due south of Corregidor Island. It was occupied by the Japanese in World War II, and was recaptured by the U.S...

 abaft the starboard beam. the block stillness was broken. Soot

Soot

Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...

 in the cutter’s stack caught fire and sent up a column of fire like a signal light. Immediately thereafter a battery on El Fraile took McCulloch under fire. Boston, in column just ahead of the cutter, answered the battery, as did McCulloch, and the Spanish gun emplacement was silenced.

As the rock fell astern, Dewey reduced speed to 4 knots so as to reach the head of the Bay in time to join action with the Spanish Fleet at daybreak. His order of battle required McCulloch to guard the precious store ships from enemy gunboats. She was also to protect the ships in line of battle from surprise attack, to tow any disabled ship out of range of gunfire, and to take her place in the line.

Americans present off 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...

 that day, long recalled, with satisfaction, that McCulloch found no need to tow any warship out of the battle line. During five firing runs, made at close range, the accurate gunners of Dewey’s squadron wrought devastation upon the Spaniards. The battle, which began at 05:40, was over in 7 hours. All of the Spanish warships were destroyed, and 381 Spanish seamen were killed. No American warship was seriously damaged, and only eight American sailors were wounded.

In a message to Secretary of the Navy John D. Long

John Davis Long

John Davis Long was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 32nd Governor of Massachusetts between 1880 and 1883. He later served as the Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1902....

, Dewey commended Captain Hogsdon for the efficiency and readiness of his ship. After the battle, because of her speed, McCulloch was dispatched to the closest cable facility, that at Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, bearing the first dispatches of the great naval victory. According to Samuel Eliot Morison

Samuel Eliot Morison

Samuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...

, the United States wrested an American empire from Spain after 10 weeks’ fighting, and “it was control of the ocean that did it.”

McCulloch arrived at San Francisco on 10 January 1899 and operated on patrol out of that port, cruising from the Mexican

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...

 border to Cape Blanco

Cape Blanco (Oregon)

Cape Blanco is a prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States, forming the westernmost point in the state. It contests with Cape Alava in Washington for the title of westernmost point in the contiguous United States...

. Designated to enforce fur seal

Fur seal

Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds in the Otariidae family. One species, the northern fur seal inhabits the North Pacific, while seven species in the Arctocephalus genus are found primarily in the Southern hemisphere...

 regulations 9 August 1906, she operated in the vicinity of the Pribilof Islands

Pribilof Islands

The Pribilof Islands are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of Unalaska and 200 miles southwest of Cape Newenham. The Siberia coast is roughly northwest...

 until 1912. During these years of service in the Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

 patrol, she was especially well known because of her services as a floating court to the Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n towns. Upon return to San Francisco in 1912, McCulloch resumed patrol operations in her regular West Coast

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

 cruising district.

Transferred to the U.S. Navy on 6 April 1917, she continued patrol operations along the Pacific coast. She sank on 13 June 1917, three miles northwest of Point Conception

Point Conception

Point Conception is a headland along the Pacific coast of U.S. state of California, located in southwestern Santa Barbara County. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and the...

, 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...

, after colliding with the Pacific Steamship Company’s steamer Governor.