USS Yale

USS Yale, a 10,499 gross ton auxiliary cruiser, was built in 1889 at Glasgow, Scotland, as the British-flag passenger liner City of Paris. Transferred to U.S. registry in 1893 and renamed Paris, she was chartered by the Navy in April 1898, converted for Spanish-American War use and renamed Yale. Placed in commission in early May, she was initially employed off Puerto Rico, capturing a Spanish freighter and seeing action with an enemy warship and shore batteries. Later in May Yale operated off Haiti, Santiago de Cuba and Jamaica. In June and July the ship cruised between the U.S. and the Caribbean, and in August transported troops home from Cuba. USS Yale was decommissioned in September 1898. Returned to her owners, she resumed commercial service as SS Paris.

During World War I, the liner, which had been renamed Philadelphia in 1901, was used as a troop transport on behalf of the U.S. Army. The Navy took her over in 1918, placing her in commission as USS Harrisburg in late May. For the remainder of the conflict she continued to take troops to Europe, making four voyages to England and France before the November 1918 Armistice brought an end to the fighting. She then reversed the flow, making six more trips to transport servicemen home from the former war zone. USS Harrisburg was decommissioned in September 1919 and again took up civil employment as Philadelphia. She was scrapped at Genoa, Italy, in 1923.

Source: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER