16 January 1903. On the Caribbean Station from 26 May 1903 – 4 March 1904, the Nashville was instrumental in preventing Colombian troops in Colón using the Panama railway thereby ensuring the success of the revolutionary junta in Panama and securing a treaty with the United States in building the Panama Canal. She returned to Boston on 18 June and decommissioned on 30 June. Recommissioned on 8 August 1905 at Boston Navy Yard, Nashville sailed on 8 September for Santo Domingo, operating off Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo until 26 June 1906, when she returned to Boston to decommission on 23 July. After three years in reserve, Nashville was assigned to the Illinois Naval Militia on 29 April 1909. From May 1909 – July 1911, she trained militiamen on the Great Lakes, homeported at Chicago. USS Nashville caused an incident in 1909 when she was sent to the Great Lakes through the Canadian canal system unarmed. She was then later armed, along with four other ships, in contravention of the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1817. After extensive overhaul and sea trials, she departed Boston on 7 January 1912, arriving Santo Domingo on 31 January to begin five years of patrol operations in the West Indies and off Central America, protecting United States interests. The ship participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz, proclaimed in April 1914 by United States President Woodrow Wilson, against the Mexican government of Victoriano Huerta. After a short period of reduced commission status from 10 May-8 July 1916 in New Orleans, the gunboat returned to Tampico, Mexico, where she remained until the U.S. entered World War I on 6 April 1917. World War I After temporary duty off Tampico, Nashville sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on 2 August 1917, arriving Gibraltar on 18 August to patrol off the Moroccan coast. After serving as convoy escort off North Africa and in the western Mediterranean until 15 July 1918, Nashville departed Gibraltar, arriving on 1 August at Charleston, South Carolina. Fate Nashville decommissioned on 21 October 1918 at Charleston, South Carolina, and was sold on 20 October 1921 to J. L. Bernard and Company, Washington, D.C. References External links Patrol vessels of the United States Gunboats of the United States Navy Philippine–American War ships of the United States World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Newport News, Virginia Boxer Rebellion naval ships of