USS Tacoma ( CL - 20 ) USS " Tacoma " ( C - 18 / PG - 32 / CL - 20 ) was a " Denver " - class protected cruiser in the United States Navy during World War I . She was the second Navy ship named for the city of Tacoma , Washington . " Tacoma " was laid down on 27 September 1900 at Mare Island , California , by the Union Iron Works ; launched on 2 June 1903 ; sponsored by Miss Julia M . Harris ; and commissioned on 30 January 1904 , Commander Reginald Fairfax Nicholson in command . Service history . Pre - World War I . Following a post - commissioning visit to her namesake city , Tacoma , Washington , the protected cruiser voyaged to Hawaii in April and May . She returned to San Francisco on 2 June and , a month later , sailed for Cape Horn . During the voyage , she participated in the search for merchant ship SS " Conemaugh " , which had departed from Valparaíso , Chile , and vanished . After rounding the Horn and steaming up the Atlantic coast of South and North America , " Tacoma " entered New York Harbor on 5 November and remained there until joining the North Atlantic Fleet on New Year ' s Day 1905 . Following the completion of maneuvers off Culebra Island on 25 January , " Tacoma " sailed for Hispaniola where she performed special duty protecting American interests during one of the many periods of turmoil that have troubled that island . Following that assignment , " Tacoma " conducted target practice off the Florida coast between 27 March and 25 April . She returned to New York on 19 May to prepare for a voyage to Europe . On 18 June , she sailed for France and arrived at Cherbourg on 30 June . She remained there while a battalion of sailors went to Paris to participate in ceremonies honoring the remains of John Paul Jones which were being returned to the United States . On 8 July , " Tacoma " departed Cherbourg to escort the remains to their final resting place at Annapolis , Maryland . After the ceremony at the United States Naval Academy on 24 July , the warship proceeded to Tompkinsville , New York . On 5 August , she embarked Japanese diplomats at New York and transported them to Sagamore Hill , President Theodore Roosevelt ' s summer home at Oyster Bay , New York . There , they first met the Russian commissioners for the peace negotiations which were later held at Portsmouth , New Hampshire , and resulted in the termination of the Russo - Japanese War . " Tacoma " returned to Philadelphia on the 8th and conducted training for the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts naval militias before rejoining the North Atlantic Fleet for operations in the Caribbean Sea . Deployed to the Mediterranean for the first five months of 1906 , the ship visited Tangier , Algiers , Ville - Franche , Naples , and Genoa . After a trip to Grand Canary Island , she returned to the Mediterranean and visited Alexandria and Port Said before returning to the U . S . in June . For the next ten years , except for an eight - month period in reserve at Philadelphia in 1911 and 1912 , " Tacoma " alternated service along the east coast with cruises to the Caribbean and West Indies protecting American citizens and interests there during this turbulent period . In late 1906 and early 1907 , Cuba was the major trouble spot ; and the cruiser operated along her coasts from late September until mid - November and again from late December until June , visiting Havana , Tunas , Manzanilla , Santiago de Cuba , Cienfuegos , and Guantanamo Bay . She returned to the West Indies again in the spring of 1908 for stops at St . Thomas , St . Christopher , Martinique , Margarita Island , Port Mochima , Cunamá , La Guaira , and Curaçao . During the second half of 1908 and the first half of 1909 , she observed political conditions in Haiti and Honduras . From July to September 1909 , the cruiser operated of Nicaragua . Later , her itinerary included a visit to Costa Rica and a return to Honduras , all in an effort to bring the steadying influence of American military power to the volatile Latin American republics . Between January and March 1910 , " Tacoma " cruised off the coast of Nicaragua and visited the Canal Zone and Costa Rica . After a spring voyage to the east coast of the United States , the ship headed back to Central America to protect United States interests there . During the following nine months , she visited Panama , Honduras , Costa Rica , Nicaragua , and Guatemala . In January 1911 , pursuant to the orders of the senior naval officer present embarked in the gunboat , " Tacoma " prevented the converted yacht " Hornet " from participating in an insurrection against the government financed by U . S . banana baron Samuel Zemurray . Later that month , she landed a force of marines at Puerto Cortés , Honduras , to protect American banana companies . Negotiations were held aboard which resulted in Francisco Bertrand being named interim President of Honduras . In February , her deck was the scene of a peace conference conducted by special commissioner T . C . Dawson . The negotiations brought the revolution to a close and established a new provisional government in Honduras . That summer , " Tacoma " steamed — via Puerto Mexico and Galveston — to New York . She remained at the New York Navy Yard until mid - November when she went into reserve at Philadelphia . In July 1912 , " Tacoma " came out of reserve and was soon on her way back to the troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico . Late that month , a revolution broke out in Nicaragua and lasted until November . The cruiser patrolled almost incessantly off the Nicaraguan coast at Bluefields and at Great Corn Island from 3 August to 25 October . In November , she headed — via Tampico , Mexico , and Galveston , Texas — for the Navy Yard at Boston where she remained through mid - February 1913 . By the 22nd , she was back patrolling and observing , this time along the coasts of Honduras and Guatemala . The ship returned to New York in July ; then operated off the Mexican coast . She cruised off Tampico and Vera Cruz until January 1914 when she returned to the east coast of the U . S . for repairs . " Tacoma " resumed operations in Mexican waters early in May in the wake of the Tampico Incident and the resultant seizure of the customs house at Vera Cruz . The warship cruised the Mexican coast through September during the latter stages of the Huerta - Carranza struggle and while the new Carranza government consolidated its power against former allies , notably Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata . Late in September 1914 , " Tacoma " departed the Mexican coast ; steamed , via Jamaica and Cuba , to Haiti , and patrolled off Cape Haitien until early December . After a visit to the Canal Zone , the cruiser returned to Haiti in February ; then moved to Santo Domingo in March . On the 21st , she entered the Portsmouth ( N . H . ) Navy Yard for repairs . While at Portsmouth , " Tacoma " was placed in reserve . On 19 May 1916 , she shifted to Boston , Massachusetts , where she served as receiving ship . On 1 December , she again was placed in full commission . She made another voyage to Mexican waters for patrol duty from January to April 1917 . World War I . Upon U . S . entry into World War I , " Tacoma " returned to the Atlantic seaboard to prepare for convoy duty . During the war , she made five round trips to Europe protecting troop and supply convoys . While returning to the U . S . from her third voyage to Europe , she stopped at Halifax , Nova Scotia , just after the French munitions ship , exploded on 6 December 1917 and severely damaged the city . " Tacoma " assisted in relief work ; and , for eight days , the cruiser ' s officers and men worked diligently to help the devastated port community . Post - war . At the end of the war , the cruiser joined the Pacific Squadron and served with it until 1920 . Early that year , she returned to her old duty of encouraging stability in the perennially volatile Caribbean . As a unit of the Special Service Squadron , which was ordered to observe events in Latin America and the Caribbean and to protect American interests in those areas , " Tacoma " patrolled the isthmian coast until January 1924 . During that time , she was redesignated a light cruiser , CL - 20 . During a heavy storm on 16 January , the warship ran aground on Blanquilla Reef near Vera Cruz . For almost a week , her crew tried without success to free her , her captain and three crewmen drowning in those attempts . After a board of inquiry , the Navy struck her name from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 February 1924 . She was sold to R . Sebastian of the American Consulate at Vera Cruz on 5 September 1924 .