Commissioned in December 1885, she steamed around the World during her first three years' service, and then served off the U.S. east coast and in the West Indies area for the next three decades. For much of this time, Dolphin was employed in support of high-ranking Government officials, as well as on more conventional gunboat-type duties.
"On July 24, 1892, with Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Soley aboard, the "Dolphin" participated in a practice cruise of New York's First Naval Battalion.
At about this time, work began converting the "Dolphin" to a presidential yacht…" - “Special Fleet: The History of the Presidential Yachts” by Fred Eugene Crockett, published by Down East Books, 1985, p. 28-36. See these pages for a description of her conversion and the presidents who sailed in her. Dolphin was decommissioned in October 1921 and sold in February 1922.
