USS Topeka ( PG - 35 ) USS " Topeka " ( PG - 35 ) was a gunboat of the United States Navy . The ship was built in 1881 as the steamer Diogenes by the Howaldtswerke at Kiel , Germany . Acquired by the Navy from the Thames Iron Works , London , England , on 2 April 1898 , she was renamed Topeka , and placed in commission the same day , Lieutenant John J . Knapp in command . Service history . Spanish - American War , 1898 – 1899 . " Topeka " cleared Falmouth , England , on 19 April 1898 and arrived at Tompkinsville , New York , on 1 May 1898 . The following day , she moved to the New York Navy Yard to begin a two - month overhaul during which she received her armament and generally prepared for duty on the Cuban blockade . The gunboat departed New York on 30 June 1898 and , after a five - day stop at Key West , Florida , joined the blockading forces off Havana on 11 July 1898 . That same day , she was assigned station off Nipe Bay , located on the northeastern shore of Cuba almost directly opposite Santiago de Cuba on the island ' s southeastern coast . On 17 July 1898 , she and captured the Spanish sloop " Domingo Aurelio " off Nipe Bay . Four days later , " Topeka " joined gunboat , armed yacht , and armed tug in a foray into Nipe Bay . The four warships encountered no real resistance from the Spanish and , therefore , easily captured the port and sank the , abandoned by her crew , in the Battle of Nipe Bay . Following the capture of the Bahia de Nipe littoral , " Topeka " steamed to Key West with dispatches . She returned to Cuban waters on 28 July and remained until 5 August , when she again steamed to Key West . She made one more voyage to Cuba in mid - August , visiting Port Francis on the 14th before heading north on the 15th . After stops at Key West and Hampton Roads , she visited Provincetown and Boston , Massachusetts , and then arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 13 September . " Topeka " exited New York harbor on 22 October and reached Philadelphia the following day . She remained there until 19 November when she sailed for the Caribbean . During that cruise , she visited Cuba , Haiti , San Domingo , and Puerto Rico before returning — via Norfolk , Virginia , and Newport , Rhode Island — to Boston , early in February 1899 . On 15 February 1899 , " Topeka " was placed out of commission at the Boston Navy Yard . 1900 – 1905 . After 18 months of inactivity , the gunboat was re - commissioned at Boston on 15 August 1900 , Comdr . Francis H . Delano in command . She departed Boston on 19 September and , after a five - day stop at Tompkinsville , New York , embarked upon a training cruise to the Mediterranean Sea on 27 September . Steaming via the Azores and Lisbon , Portugal , and Gibraltar , she entered the Mediterranean on 7 November . During the cruise , she visited Villefranche , Genoa , Livorno , Naples , Algiers , and Tangier . " Topeka " , transited the Strait of Gibraltar on 5 January 1901 and , after visits to the Azores and to St . Vincent and Barbados in the West Indies , returned to the United States at Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 4 March 1901 . For more than a year , " Topeka " operated along the southeastern coast of the United States and in the West Indies , working out of Norfolk and the South Carolina ports of Charleston and Port Royal . On 16 May 1902 , the gunboat cleared Port Royal and headed — via Port - au - Prince , Haiti , and San Juan , Puerto Rico to the Caribbean for a summer training cruise in the waters off Venezuela . Over the next three months , when not conducting gunnery drills , she was a frequent caller at the Venezuelan ports of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira as well as at nearby Curaçao in the Dutch West Indies . She departed Puerto Cabello on 23 August 1902 and reached Hampton Roads on 5 September . That same day , she entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for three months of repairs . On 10 December , " Topeka " completed repairs and departed Norfolk to join the fleet in the West Indies . She reached Culebra , Puerto Rico , on the 16th and , for the following two months , conducted exercises in the West Indies and the Caribbean . On 21 February 1903 , the ship got underway from Kingston , Jamaica , to return to the United States . She arrived in Charleston , South Carolina , on 1 March , and began operations along the length of the eastern seaboard . Those operations occupied her until late in the year . On 10 December , she steamed out of Hampton Roads to return south to the Caribbean Sea — Gulf of Mexico area . After a visit to New Orleans , Louisiana , between 16 and 22 December , she began duty with the Caribbean Squadron . In January and early February 1904 , she cruised along the coast of Panama in the wake of the revolution which separated that republic from Colombia and paved the way for the construction of the Panama Canal . During the latter part of February , " Topeka " visited Kingston , Jamaica ; Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ; and San Juan , Puerto Rico , before joining other units of the fleet off the coast of Dominican Republic late in the month . She plied the waters around Hispanola through the end of March protecting American lives and interests while civil strife tore the island asunder . " Topeka " left the West Indies on 30 March and returned to the United States upon her arrival at Charleston on the 5th . On 15 May , the warship reported for duty at Newport , Rhode Island , and , for the next four months , participated in wireless telegraphy experiments conducted off the New England coast . During October and November , " Topeka " participated in the trials of three new warships — ( Armored Cruiser No . 7 ) , ( Armored Cruiser No . 5 ) , and ( Armored Cruiser No . 4 ) . Late in November , she resumed duty along the east coast . On 5 January 1905 , " Topeka " stood out of Newport News , Virginia , to return to the West Indies . She stopped at Key West for 11 days , from 11 to 22 January and then continued on to Cuba . Between 23 and 25 January , the warship gathered hydrographic and commercial information at Havana . She coaled at Bahia de Nipe on the 27th and headed for Puerto Rico , where she trained with the North Atlantic Fleet until 17 February . She operated out of Guantanamo Bay from 19 February to 22 March and then headed back to the United States . After visits in Florida at Key West and Pensacola , " Topeka " arrived in Hampton Roads on 11 April . On the 23rd , the gunboat again headed south to the troubled waters of the West Indies . She arrived off the Dominican Republic on the 28th and patrolled the coastline of that strife - torn country into August . On 13 August , the gunboat weighed anchor at Guantanamo Bay and shaped a course for Portsmouth , New Hampshire , where she arrived on the 21st . " Topeka " was placed out of commission on 7 September 1905 and assigned duty as station ship at Portsmouth . World War I , 1916 – 1918 . She remained at Portsmouth — serving as station ship , auxiliary to and as a prison ship — until the summer of 1916 . On 14 June 1916 , she was recommissioned and moved to New York where she served as receiving ship until decommissioned again on 14 September . Two weeks later , she departed New York , under tow by the tug , and returned to Portsmouth . There , she served as a training ship for 1st Naval District recruits throughout the United States ' participation in World War I . Post - World War I , 1919 – 1929 . On 24 March 1919 , " Topeka " was recommissioned at Boston , Comdr . Earl P . Finney in command . After fitting out , she cleared Boston on 28 May and headed south . She arrived in Charleston , South Carolina , on 9 June and reported for duty with the American Patrol Detachment . From then until late October , she cruised the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Mexico . The gunboat returned to Charleston on 23 October . " Topeka " was placed out of commission on 21 November 1919 and was turned over to the Commandant of the Charleston Navy Yard . On 17 July 1920 , the Navy adopted the alpha - numeric system of hull designations , and the gunboat became PG - 35 . Almost a year later , on 1 July 1921 , she was redesignated IX - 35 . On 1 July 1922 , " Topeka " was put up for sale . However , no satisfactory bids were forthcoming ; and the vessel was withdrawn from the market on 29 September . " Topeka " was recommissioned again on 2 July 1923 and was turned over to the 4th Naval District as a training ship for Philadelphia units of the Naval Reserve Forces . Final decommissioning and sale . " Topeka " was decommissioned for the last time on 2 December 1929 . On 2 January 1930 , her name was struck from the Navy List . In accordance with the terms of the London Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armaments , on 13 May 1930 she was sold for scrapping to the Union Shipbuilding Co . , of Baltimore , Maryland . The bell currently sits on the parade deck of the Marine Corps Security Force Company Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .