USS Salem (CS-3/CL-3), Scout Cruiser No. 3, was a scout cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship named for the city of Salem, Massachusetts.
Salem was laid down on 28 August 1905, by the Fore River Shipyard; launched on 27 July 1907, sponsored by Mrs. Lorna Pinnock; and commissioned on 1 August 1908.
Pre-World War I
As one of the Navy's first turbine-engined warships, Salem departed Boston on 17 October 1908 to carry out extensive trials along the Atlantic coast. Joining her sister ships, and , in the Scout Cruiser Division in June 1909, Salem cruised in the Atlantic, making one voyage to Funchal, Madeira. Assigned to the 5th Division, Atlantic Fleet, in, 1910, Salem briefly deployed to Haitian waters during August 1911, returning to the New York Navy Yard on 11 September. In April 1912, Salem was dispatched to escort the liner RMS Carpathia which was returning to New York City with the survivors of the Titanic disaster. Subsequently placed in reserve at the Boston Navy Yard on 20 April 1912, Salem relieved as receiving ship there on that date and served until 7 October. Then reassigned to the Reserve Force, Atlantic Fleet, Salem subsequently made a cruise to Gibraltar and returned to the United States in late March 1913. Arriving at Hampton Roads on 25 March, she shifted to Philadelphia on 30 March. From 31 March-15 June, she served as flagship for two convoys of submarine chasers, leaving both at Ponta Delgada, Azores, and returning westward. On 18 June, she became a flagship of a flotilla of 12 submarine chasers assigned to Key West to operate against German submarines. Arriving at Key West on the 22nd, Salems force carried out antisubmarine patrols off Florida and as far south as the Yucatán Peninsula through the remainder of World War I.