| The second Arethusa -- a steam tanker 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 [as Arethusa ?] at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard, Comdr. 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 1899. |
| 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, New York, 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 began a long tour of duty as a "water boat" there which
ended early in 1906 when she moored at Philadelphia to be placed out of service
on 16 March. The ship was given a civilian crew and, on 17 July, began providing
water to ships of the Atlantic Fleet. |
| On 29 November, Arethusa received a new naval complement
and was recommissioned to serve with the small group of auxiliaries that
had been selected to support the "Great White Fleet" during its forthcoming
cruise around the world. After being fitted out at the Norfolk Navy Yard,
the ship moved to Lambert Point, Virginia on 9 December 1907 and, two days
later, sailed for the Pacific. |
| Proceeding down the Atlantic coast of South America, she rounded
Cape Horn and steamed north to the Mare Island Navy Yard which she reached
on 30 April 1908. Following voyage repairs and replenishment, Arethusa
left the California coast on 17 June and reached Honolulu on the 30th, however,
her service with the "Great White Fleet" did not take the ship beyond Hawaiian
waters. |
| Instead, she was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet and, on 30 July,
she got underway for San Francisco. She arrived at that port on 10 August
and remained in that vicinity until sailing on 1 October for Magdalena Bay,
Mexico, where she anchored on the 6th and began supplying American warships
there. During this period, she served briefly as the flagship of the Pacific
Torpedo Flotilla. Her hold emptied, the ship got underway for San Francisco
on 1 October 1908 and, after reentering the Golden Gate, operated in nearby
waters until decommissioned at Mare Island on 15 October 1909. |
| That same day, she was placed in service under a civilian crew
and began preparations for a voyage back to the East Coast. After departing
San Francisco on 7 January 1910, she again sailed around South America and
reached Hampton Roads on 29 March. As the Navy's first oiler, she was based
at Norfolk and issued oil to the ships of the Atlantic Fleet, primarily torpedo
boat destroyers. She continued this duty until after the United States entered
World War I, filling her tanks with oil at ports along the gulf coast and
delivering it to bases in the Caribbean and on the Atlantic seaboard. During
this phase of her career, she served between 30 April and 7 June 1914 with
the fleet gathered off Veracruz, Mexico. |
| Recommissioned on 9 January 1918 for service in the Naval Overseas
Transportation Service, Arethusa carried oil from the New York Navy
Yard to the Azores where she issued it to destroyers and submarines. Upon
returning to New York on 5 March, she spent more than a month undergoing
repairs before sailing on 10 April. She reached the Azores on the 27th and,
but for a quick run to Bermuda and back in mid-May, operated there until
returning to New York on 10 June. On 28 June, she began another mid-Atlantic
deployment which took her twice to Bermuda and once to the Azores before
she refilled her tanks at Port Arthur, Texas, for another cargo of fuel oil
which she once more issued in the Azores and at Bermuda before putting in
at New York on 22 December, one month and 11 days after the signing of the
Armistice stopped the fighting of World War I. |
| At New York, she filled her cargo tanks before sailing on 3 January
1919 for France. After topping off the fuel tanks of destroyers and submarine
chasers operating out of Marseille, she headed for the Portuguese coast on
13 March and reached Lisbon on the 16th. From that port, she headed home
via Gibraltar, the Azores, and Bermuda, supplying oil to warships whose bunkers
were low, and arrived at Charleston South Carolina, on 14 May. The following
day, she entered the navy yard there for a thorough overhaul. |
| During the ensuing three years of peacetime operations -- primarily
carrying oil from gulf ports to bases on the Atlantic seaboard -- the ship
was classified an oiler on 17 July 1920 and simultaneously designated AO-7.
She was decommissioned at Boston on 28 June 1922 and sold on 7 July 1927
to Mr. Marshall B. Hall of Boston. |
Displacement, 3,319; Length 343'5. 5"; Beam, 42'2";
Draft, 23'6"; Speed, 9.5 knots; Complement, 94 |
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