The second USS ''Rodgers'' (Torpedo Boat No. 4/TB-4/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 2) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

, laid down by the Columbian Iron Works & Dry Dock Co.,

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, on 6 May 1896; launched on 10 November 1896; and commissioned on 2 April 1898, Lt. Joseph Lee Jayne in command. It was named after

John Rodgers John Rodgers may refer to: Military * John Rodgers (1728–1791), colonel during the Revolutionary War and owner of Rodgers Tavern, Perryville, Maryland * John Rodgers (naval officer, born 1772), U.S. naval officer during the War of 1812, first ...

as well as

Service history

Spanish–American War

Fitted out at Norfolk, Virginia, ''Rodgers'' began training in

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

in mid-April. On 24 April 1898, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

declared war on Spain and five days later the

got underway for the Caribbean. Arriving at Key West on 9 May, she joined the blockading vessels off

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

on the 21st; remained with them through the 23rd; then sailed to join the fleet cruising off the north coast of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

to prevent the Spanish fleet from reaching the blockaded city from the east. Employed primarily as a

dispatch boat Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...

, she returned to Key West in early June, only to depart again on the 15th to carry mail to the fleet convoying Major General Shafter's army to

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. Making rendezvous on the 16th, she remained with the force until the 21st when she moved along the coast to Guantanamo Bay to deliver dispatches. On the 22nd she returned to Santiago for picket duty at the harbor entrance, but returned to Guantanamo Bay for repairs 23 June – 22 July. A short dispatch run preceded another repair period, 24 July – 14 August, by which time ''Rodgers'' had received orders back to the United States. At Hampton Roads by the 26th, she continued on to New York, arriving on the 31st for a yard overhaul.

1899–1919

The torpedo boat remained in port for much of the next eight years, occasionally commissioning for short periods of active duty with the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla and the East Coast Squadron. In the spring of 1906 she was transferred to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla and on 1 November she was decommissioned at Norfolk. Shifted to Charleston in 1908, ''Rodgers'' was assigned to the

Massachusetts Naval Militia The Massachusetts Naval Militia (at first called the Massachusetts Colonial Navy and later the Massachusetts State Navy), was a naval militia active during the American Revolutionary War. It was founded December 29, 1775, to defend the interests ...

on 14 May 1910. From 8 June, when she was delivered to that organization, until 1916, she conducted training cruises out of Boston along the southern

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

coast. Between 1916 and 1918, she extended her range of operations and performed coastal patrol duties as far north as the

Maritime Provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

. Renamed ''Coast Torpedo Boat No. 2'', 1 August 1918, she was decommissioned for the last time on 12 March 1919; struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...

on 28 October 1919; and sold to the U.S. Rail & Salvage Corp.,

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

, in 1920.

References

* * ''Technical data from''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers (TB-4) Torpedo boats of the United States Navy Ships built in Baltimore 1896 ships