USS Buffalo ( 1893 ) The second USS " Buffalo " ( later AD - 8 ) was an auxiliary cruiser of the United States Navy , and later a destroyer tender . " Buffalo " was launched on 31 May 1893 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company , in Newport News , Virginia , as " El Cid " . She was completed in August 1893 and sold to Brazil and renamed " Nichtheroy " . Purchased by the Navy from the Brazilian Government on 11 July 1898 , she was renamed " Buffalo " , commissioned in ordinary a week later , fitted out as an auxiliary cruiser at New York Navy Yard ; and placed in full commission on 22 September 1898 , with Lieutenant Commander Joseph Newton Hemphill in command . Service history . 1898 – 1915 . Her first cruise , from 7 December 1898 to 7 May 1899 , was from New York City to Manila and return , sailing east . Upon her return she was placed out of commission on 3 July 1899 . On 2 April 1900 , she was recommissioned and served as a training vessel . As a training vessel , " Buffalo " traveled widely . She made four voyages to the Philippines with replacement crews for the Asiatic Fleet ( 24 April – 20 October 1900 , 24 December 1900 – 13 May 1901 , 5 June – 13 October 1902 , and 17 December 1903 – 14 July 1904 ) . All except the last , which terminated at Mare Island , began and ended at east coast ports . On her last voyage , " Buffalo " conveyed the 1st Torpedo Flotilla to Manila . Between 12 September and 23 November 1904 she cruised in the Pacific , returning to Mare Island . Out of commission at Mare Island from April 1905 to 17 November 1906 , she then served as a transport until 1915 in the Pacific . During 17 – 20 December 1909 , she carried Marines to Nicaragua and remained there in support until 16 March 1910 . In 1911 – 12 , she served briefly with the Asiatic Fleet in Chinese waters ; and then from 14 November through 4 December 1914 operated off Mexico . She spent 27 January through 29 November 1915 out of commission at Mare Island , and then rejoined the Pacific Fleet . 1916 – 1927 . In 1916 , she again served in Mexican waters , and between May and August 1917 , " Buffalo " transported the Special Diplomatic Mission of the United States to Russia . Upon her return she was ordered into Philadelphia Navy Yard for conversion to a destroyer tender and reclassified AD - 8 . Conversion was completed in June 1918 , and after loading torpedo equipment at Newport , Rhode Island , she departed for Brest , France , via Bermuda . She then proceeded to Gibraltar , where she operated as station and repair ship to destroyer s and subchaser s . From February until September 1919 she had similar duty with the Azores Detachment at Ponta Delgada and then returned to New York . On 31 December 1919 , " Buffalo " arrived at San Diego , California to commence her duties as repair ship and tender to Destroyer Squadrons 5 and 11 , Pacific Fleet . In November 1921 , she was ordered to the Asiatic Station as tender to Destroyer Squadron , Asiatic Fleet , and arrived at Manila in December . During the summer of 1922 she cruised with the fleet in Chinese waters and in September arrived at Yokohama , Japan . She returned to the west coast on 8 October and was decommissioned on 15 November 1922 at San Diego . She was used as a barracks ship until stricken from the Navy List on 27 May 1927 . She was sold four months later .