USS San Francisco (C-5) - Pre-Spanish-American War

Pre-Spanish-American War

Assigned to the South Pacific Squadron, San Francisco moved south and became the squadron's flagship on 31 March 1891. Five months later, as an eight-month-old civil war drew to a close in Chile, she landed a force of sailors and Marines to protect the United States Consulate. September brought an end to the war, and San Francisco resumed her cruising off the South American coast. With the new year, 1892, she sailed north and west and arrived at Honolulu on 27 February as political differences deepened between monarchists and republicans. San Francisco departed Hawaii in August 1892, en route to Norfolk, Virginia, where she arrived in February 1893.

San Francisco became the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron on 31 May and cruised off the New England coast into the fall. In November, she sailed south, visited ports in the Caribbean; and, in late December, reached Rio de Janeiro and assumed flagship duties for the South Atlantic Squadron. She called at ports in Brazil, the Netherlands West Indies, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua during the next six months, then returned to the United States, anchoring at New York on 29 July 1894.