USS Dolphin (PG-24) was a gunboat/dispatch vessel; the fourth ship of the United States Navy to share the name. Dolphin was the first U.S. Navy ship to fly the flag of the president of the United States during President Chester A. Arthur's administration, and the second Navy ship to serve as a presidential yacht.
Design and construction
Dolphins keel was laid down by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works of Chester, Pennsylvania. She was launched on 12 April 1884, with Captain George Dewey in command, and commissioned on 8 December 1885 with Captain R. W. Meade in command.
Dolphin was originally built as a dispatch vessel, intended to courier messages, as radio had not yet been invented. She was the only U.S. Navy vessel ever specifically designated as such. She was also called an "unarmored" or "unprotected" cruiser, and was eventually designated as a patrol gunboat (PG-24) on 1 July 1921, a few months before she was sold to Mexico. two 6-pounder () rapid-fire guns, and four 3-pounder () Hotchkiss revolving cannon.
Dolphin was powered by four coal-fired cylindrical boilers and one 1 vertical compound engine producing for a speed of . In 1913 her armament was replaced with six 6-pounders, augmented by two /50 caliber guns in 1918. By 1921 her armament was one /50 caliber gun and two 6-pounders.
Service history
Before Spanish–American War
thumb|Dolphin at [[Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth Virginia, 5 February 1892]]
The first of the vessels of the "New Navy" to be completed, Dolphin was assigned to the North Atlantic Station, cruising along the eastern seaboard until February 1886. She then sailed around South America on her way to the Pacific Squadron for duty.
She visited ports in Japan, Korea, China, Ceylon, India, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain, and England, and the islands of Madeira and Bermuda, before arriving at New York City on 27 September 1889 to complete her round-the-world cruise.
She returned to duty on the North Atlantic Station, cruising in the West Indies from 9 December 1889 to 12 June 1890. On 23 December 1890, she was reassigned to the Squadron of Evolution and sailed from New York City on 7 January 1891 for a Caribbean cruise, returning to Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 April 1891.
Out of commission from 1 May 1891 to 14 March 1892, Dolphin then resumed her cruising along the United States East Coast, often carrying the United States Secretary of the Navy. In April 1893, President Grover Cleveland conducted New York's inaugural International Naval Review from the deck of the Dolphin. On 3 December 1895, she was assigned to the Special Service Squadron and made a surveying expedition to Guatemala in January–February 1896. She carried President William McKinley and his party during the naval review following the ceremonies dedicating Grant's Tomb in New York City on 27 April 1897. Dolphin was placed out of commission at New York on 23 November 1897. Early in August 1905, she carried the Japanese peace plenipotentiaries from Oyster Bay, New York, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to negotiate the settlement of the Russo-Japanese War. In 1907, the first live singing performed over radio, by Eugenia Farrar from Lee de Forest's laboratory atop the Parker Building, was received by the Dolphins wireless operator, Oliver A. Wyckoff, while docked at Brooklyn Navy Yard.
She continued on primarily ceremonial duty, participating in the interment of John Paul Jones at the United States Naval Academy, and the departure ceremonies for the Great White Fleet until 22 October 1908, when she became flagship of the Third Squadron, Atlantic Fleet.
Sailing from Washington, D.C., on 2 April 1917 to take possession of the recently purchased United States Virgin Islands, Dolphin received word four days later that war had been declared between the U.S. and Germany.
The next day, she arrived at St. Thomas and the squadron commander assumed office as Governor of the Virgin Islands on 9 April. Dolphin carried the Governor and his staff to the islands of Saint Croix and St. John to hoist the American flag with proper ceremony. On 26 April, she began a search for the steamer Nordskar, flying Danish colors, but suspected of aiding enemy operations. She found her at St. Lucia on 5 May and since her registry showed irregularities, Dolphin kept her in custody until departing for Key West, Florida on 28 June, when she turned her charge over to British authorities. Dolphin continued to patrol in the Caribbean Sea until arriving at Washington on 6 September. She was scrapped circa 1927.