USS Brutus ( AC - 15 ) USS " Brutus " , formerly the steamer " Peter Jebsen " , was built in 1894 at South Shields - on - Tyne , England , by John Readhead & Sons and was acquired by the United States Navy early in 1898 from L . F . Chapman & Company . She was renamed " Brutus " and commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 27 May 1898 , with Lieutenant Vincendon L . Cottman , commanding officer and Lieutenant Randolph H . Miner , executive officer . In June 1898 , Brutus departed San Diego , California , towing the monitor bound for Manila Bay in the Philippines to reinforce Admiral George Dewey ' s Asiatic Fleet . Following a voyage of over 3 , 700 miles during which they made several stops , the two ships entered Manila Bay on 4 August 1898 . She remained at Manila until 20 December , at which time she headed back to the United States . After repeating stops at Guam and Hawaii , " Brutus " arrived in San Francisco , California , on 7 March 1899 . The collier stayed in the San Francisco area until 10 April when she got underway for the South Pacific . " Brutus " arrived in Samoa on 29 April and operated among the islands until early July . On the 5th , she shaped a course for Hawaii . After a 10 day stopover at Honolulu between 16 and 26 July , the collier put to sea bound for the Marianas . She entered Apra Harbor on 13 August and remained there as station ship through the end of the year . During her sojourn at Guam , " Brutus " was out of commission between 20 October and 24 December . On 6 January 1900 , the ship got underway for Japan , via Manila in the Philippines . She arrived at Nagasaki , Japan , on 17 January and underwent repairs . On 1 February , she shaped a course back to Guam , arriving in Apra Harbor on the 9th . She resumed duties as station ship at Guam and , on 16 February , was placed out of commission there . The collier underwent a drydock period while at Guam and went back into commission in the fall of 1900 . On 23 September , " Brutus " departed Apra Harbor . She stopped at Yokohama , Japan , for the first 26 days of October and then headed for Manila . She arrived at her destination on 4 November and began loading coal . The ship completed taking on her cargo and departed the Philippines on the 27th . She reentered Apra Harbor on 6 December . She operated in the Marianas through the first quarter of 1901 . On 28 March 1901 , " Brutus " departed Guam bound for the Philippines . She arrived at Cavite on 4 April and began a month of repairs . On 4 May , she put to sea bound for the east coast of the United States . Steaming via Singapore , Ceylon , and Aden , she arrived at Suez , Egypt , on 25 June . The collier transited the Suez Canal on 27 and 28 June . Then , after crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean , " Brutus " arrived at New York City on 6 August . She was placed out of commission at New York on 29 August 1901 . Recommissioning . She remained inactive at New York until recommissioned on 8 March 1902 . On the 25th , she departed New York bound for Baltimore , Maryland , where she arrived two days later . At Baltimore , " Brutus " loaded cargo , stores , and coal for her own bunkers . On 16 April , the collier put to sea on the long voyage around Cape Horn to Samoa , in the South Pacific . She made stops at San Juan , Puerto Rico , and Montevideo , Uruguay , and arrived in Tutuila on 11 July . She remained there exactly one month , heading back the way she came on 11 August . After repeating her stops at Montevideo and San Juan , she entered Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 27 October . Except for one round - trip voyage to Culebra Island near Puerto Rico between 5 and 19 December , " Brutus " operated in the Chesapeake Bay area until late January 1903 . Between 24 January and 18 April 1903 , she cruised in the West Indies and along the coast of Central America returning to Hampton Roads on 18 April . In the middle of 1903 , " Brutus " was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet . Worked by a merchant crew made up of Chinese nationals , she carried coal to various units of the Navy ' s squadron in the Orient . Late in 1905 , she returned to the east coast of the United States to help perform a monumental task . On 28 December 1905 , she steamed out of Chesapeake Bay in company with and towing the drydock to Manila . Steaming across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea , they transited the Suez Canal between 27 April and 1 May 1906 . They resumed the voyage early in May and arrived at Olongapo , Luzon , on 10 July . Thereupon , " Brutus " resumed her former duties as collier to the Asiatic Fleet . In 1907 , the collier returned to the United States and began operations out of Norfolk , Virginia , in support of the Atlantic Fleet . Except for two periods in reserve at the Norfolk Navy Yard , 13 May 1908 to 2 January 1909 and 20 May to 2 July 1912 , and a resupply voyage to the Mediterranean Sea in 1915 , that employment occupied her time until the spring of 1916 . In April 1916 , " Brutus " transferred to the Pacific Fleet and operated from the Mare Island Navy Yard . When the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917 , her merchant crew was taken into the service as members of the United States Naval Reserve Forces . Soon thereafter on 24 April , she ran aground on Cerros Island in a heavy fog . She was refloated 10 days later and was towed to San Diego for temporary repairs . From there , she headed back to the Mare Island Navy Yard where she completed permanent repairs . She spent the remainder of the war cruising the California and Mexican coast . When the worldwide influenza epidemic struck late in 1918 , " Brutus " loaded supplies and stores and headed for Alaska as part of a Red Cross relief expedition . She returned south from that mission in January 1919 . After the war , she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet Train . Early in 1920 , the collier voyaged from the west coast to Tutuila , Samoa , carrying coal and supplies to the naval station located there . Later that spring she returned via Hawaii to the west coast and resumed her duties with the Pacific Fleet Train . She remained so employed until decommissioned on 17 August 1921 . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 July 1922 , and she was sold to the A . Bercovich Company in Oakland , California .