USS Nero ( AC - 17 ) USS " Nero " ( AC – 17 ) , a steel steam collier , was built in 1895 as steamer " Whitgift " by J . L . Thompson and Sons , Sunderland , England ; purchased on 30 June 1898 from McCondray and Co . at San Francisco ; and commissioned on 8 June 1898 , Commander Charles Belknap in command . Service . Spanish - American War . Acquired by the United States Navy for service as a collier and supply ship , " Nero " was part of the first mobile Fleet Train , organized to meet logistic demands created by far - flung U . S . Naval Operations in the Spanish – American War . Following conversion at Mare Island Navy Yard , the ship departed San Francisco on 23 June 1898 for the Philippines , in company with the monitor . Sailing by way of Honolulu and Guam , the collier arrived Manila on 14 August and remained there supporting U . S . forces occupying the Philippines until departing on 4 October on a coaling voyage , steaming to Taku , China and Nagasaki , Japan , before returning to Cavite on 20 November . " Nero " sailed for home on 1 December and arrived Mare Island on 7 January 1899 , where she was placed out of commission . " Nero " recommissioned on 10 April and sailed five days later for the Hawaiian Islands for deep sea soundings , then steamed via Guam to the Philippines arriving Cavite on 4 August . There she coaled various naval vessels until sailing on 9 September for Yokohama to continue deep sea sounding . The collier got under way for the west coast on 24 September , stopping at Guam and Honolulu and arriving Mare Island on 15 February 1900 . During this voyage she took a sounding in the area of the Challenger Deep , recording a depth of 5269 fathoms ( 9 , 636 m , 31 , 614 ft ) , the greatest depth recorded at that time . She decommissioned on 20 May . Placed in service on 4 October , " Nero " departed on 23 October from Mare Island on her third voyage to the Far East . Steaming to Yokohama by way of Honolulu from 23 October - 27 November , she then proceeded to Cavite on 12 December to supply American forces putting down the Philippine insurrection . On 9 February 1901 , the collier sailed for the United States , taking the long way home by way of Ceylon , Suez , Algiers , Malta , and Gibraltar , and docking at Norfolk on 16 April . The ship departed Norfolk on 11 June on a long coaling voyage down the east coast of South America , returning on 12 December . Two months later , she sailed again for Latin America , this time going around Cape Horn to supply the Pacific outpost of Tutuila , Samoa . Returning to the States on 29 July , " Nero " underwent overhaul at New York and then sailed on 12 October for a return voyage to the Philippines . Once again steaming through the Mediterranean , the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean , the well - traveled collier arrived at Cavite on 21 December where she remained for one month , giving needed logistic support , and then returned the way she had come , putting into Boston on 28 April 1903 . " Nero " sailed on 25 July for the Pacific . Rounding Cape Horn once again , the collier made intermittent stops along the coast of South America and arrived San Francisco on 22 February 1904 . She remained in the Pacific making one voyage to Honolulu and then Kiska in the Aleutians from 14 April - 22 August , then departed Mare Island to return around Cape Horn to Norfolk , arriving on 2 March 1905 . World War I . Serving as an Atlantic Fleet auxiliary for the next six years , the collier cruised the east coast from Boston to Rio de Janeiro , decommissioning twice for brief periods of upkeep — first from 23 June 1906 - 1 February 1907 and then again from 3 January 1910 - 16 September 1911 — and coaling many ships of the Atlantic Fleet and South American Patrol Force in her valuable service to the Fleet . On 21 October , the collier departed Norfolk to return to the Pacific . Steaming once more around Cape Horn , she arrived San Diego on 29 January 1912 and the next month began supply operations off Mexico . Following a voyage to the North Pacific from 20 May - 23 November , visiting various ports in Alaska and the Aleutians , " Nero " continued cruising the eastern Pacific , making two brief trips to Pearl Harbor from 5 February - 6 March 1913 and 31 March - 8 May , until decommissioning on 31 July 1913 at Puget Sound Navy Yard . " Nero " was once again placed in full service on 29 April 1914 and 3 days later resumed her logistic operations , cruising from Bremerton to La Paz . Assigned to the Pacific Fleet on 5 June 1915 , the collier continued her operations on into 1917 . On 19 July , she departed San Francisco for New York , to meet the demand for auxiliaries in the $ 3 due to the increasing scope of U . S . naval operations in World War I . Passing through the Panama Canal on 2 August , " Nero " arrived Norfolk on the 18th . She sailed for Europe via the Azores on 11 September and shortly after her arrival at Queenstown , Ireland on 13 October , was assigned to duty with the newly formed Naval Overseas Transportation Service . Based at Cardiff , Wales , " Nero " began operations with the Army ' s Cross Channel Service , transporting coal from English ports to France until 25 February 1919 , subject to German submarine attacks and the hazardous English Channel weather . She then sailed for Norfolk , arriving on 17 March . After unloading , the collier proceeded to New York on 22 April , and then cruised the east coast for the next month , carrying cargo to New England and Middle Atlantic ports until arriving Charlestown on 22 May for extensive overhaul . There she remained for over a year , undergoing complete repair and alteration . On 14 August 1920 , she sailed to Hampton Roads to load cargo and then steamed to the Caribbean to coal U . S . naval vessels at Guantanamo Bay and Santo Domingo , returning to Norfolk on 28 September . " Nero " departed Norfolk for the last time on 5 December 1920 to return to the Pacific and her homeport of San Francisco . Proceeding by way of the Panama Canal , the veteran collier arrived Mare Island on 7 February 1921 . She departed on her last voyage the next day , steaming first to Pearl Harbor and then to Tutuila and returning by way of Pearl Harbor to San Francisco on 6 June . " Nero " decommissioned on 12 September and was sold to A . Bercovich and Co . of Oakland , California on 29 July 1922 .