Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) had quite a history for the Navy sailing mostly in the Pacific. From official navy website:
After 18 months of inactivity, Bennington was recommissioned on 2 March 1903, Comdr. Chauncey Thomas in command. Over the next 27 months, she cruised in the eastern Pacific along the coasts of North and South America. The warship visited Alaskan ports in the summer of 1903 and the coast of Central America the following fall and winter. In May 1904, she steamed to Hawaii and then proceeded to the Aleutians in June. The winter of 1904 and 1905 saw her voyage south for visits to Pacific ports in Central and South America. In February of 1905, she departed San Francisco for a two month cruise to the Hawaiian Islands. She returned to San Diego on 19 July. Two days after her return, Bennington was rocked by a boiler explosion and sank. The gunboat lost 1 officer and 65 men dead, and nearly every other man on board suffered some injury. Later refloated, the ship was towed to the Mare Island Navy Yard. Her condition, however, precluded repairs, and she was decommissioned on 31 October 1905. The warship remained inactive for five more years. On 10 September 1910, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register, and she was sold on 14 November 1910 for scrapping.
Raymond A. Mann
8 February 2006