From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol.I, Part A - p 183


Algonquin

An American Indian tribe which inhabited the area of the Ottawa River valley.


(RC: dp. 1,181; 1. 205'6''; b. 32'0"; dr. 13'2" (aft); s. 16 k.; cpl. 71; a. 2 guns)

The second Algonquin--a revenue cutter built at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1897 by the Glove Iron Works--was commissioned in the United States Revenue Cutter Service later that year.

On 24 March 1898, after United States relations with Spain over the situation in Cuba had deteriorated to the point of an open break which might lead to war, President McKinley issued an executive order instructing the Revenue Cutter Service to cooperate with the Navy. Algonquin was assigned to the North Atlantic Fleet. Records are scanty regarding the exact nature of her service during the Spanish American War. There is nothing to suggest that she ever participated in an engagement, nor did she capture any prizes. It is probable that she did not serve on the Cuban blockade but, rather, replaced ships of the North Atlantic Fleet patrolling home waters. She served with the Navy until 17 August 1898 at which time she resumed operations under the Treasury Department.

Over the next two decades, Algonquin conducted normal Revenue Cutter Service/Coast Guard cruises. Initially, she operated along the east coast of the United States with periodic assignments to the West Indies. A break in that routine came in September of 1900 when she departed Baltimore, Md., bound for Galveston, Tex., and duty in the Gulf of Mexico. That tour of duty lasted until 25 November 1901 at which time the cutter returned to the east coast at Charleston, S. C. She resumed her east coast-West Indies duties, and they occupied her time up until the United States entered World War I.

When the United States joined the Allies in the war against the Central Powers on 6 April 1917, the Coast Guard was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Navy. Algonquin served in the 5th Naval District, based at Norfolk, for the first five months of this stint of naval service. Late in September, she embarked upon a 16-month tour of duty in European waters. Assigned to Division 6, Squadron 2, Patrol Force, she operated from the base at Gibraltar and escorted convoys between various Mediterranean ports. She concluded her European service and returned to the United States early in February 1919.

While still under Navy control, the cutter departed New York on 26 June 1919, bound for the west coast. On 28 August, after her arrival in the 13th Naval District, she was returned to Treasury Department jurisdiction. For the remaining 11 years of her Coast Guard service, Algonquin patrolled the Pacific Northwest and the islands and coast of Alaska. Decommissioned at San Francisco on 11 December 1930, the cutter was sold to the Foss Launch & Tug Co., Tacoma, Wash., on 23 September 1931.