USS Arethusa (AO-7) - Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

Arethusa was built in 1893 at Stockton, England, by Craig, Taylor & Company as Lucilene, was purchased by the Navy on 12 August 1898 to support the Fleet during the Spanish-American War and was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Commander John F. Merry in command.

After fitting out, the ship departed Philadelphia on 16 December, headed for the West Indies, anchored off Havana on Christmas Day, and provided water for American warships operating in the area until sailing for home on 14 January 1899. She reached Philadelphia on the 18th and was decommissioned there on 1 February.

Recommissioned on 22 August 1900, she sailed for the Far East — via the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean route — and arrived on the Asiatic Station early in December of that year. She furnished water and supplies to American warships and, in 1901, she carried relief supplies to Guam. During the first half of the following year, she made several trips to the Philippine Islands delivering passengers and supplies to Olongapo, Luzon. After one of these runs, she arrived at Manila on 4 July 1902 and prepared for the long voyage home. Getting underway on 9 August, she retraced the same general route she had used in coming to the Orient and stopped at Singapore and Aden en route to the Suez Canal which she reached on 15 September. Departing Port Said, Egypt on the 17th, she emerged from the Strait of Gibraltar 10 days later and reached Tompkinsville, N.Y., on Columbus Day.

Some two months of operations preceded her arrival at Culebra, Puerto Rico on 14 December 1902. During most of the first half of 1903, Arethusa operated at San Juan and Ponce, before returning to Culebra on 14 June. She then bagan a long tour of dutyas a "water boat" there which ended early in 1906 when she moored at Philadelphia to be placed out of service on 16 March.