 Under the command of Captain William Wise USN, the renamed "Yale", commissioned on 2 May 1898, was dispatched to Puerto Rico to look for the Spanish fleet.On the day of her commissioning into the Navy, "Yale" put to sea from New York, bound for Puerto Rico to patrol and help locate Admiral Cervera's Spanish fleet.Off of San Juan, Captain Wise realized that he must pass the Spanish guns at Morro Castle and sail into the harbor to determine if the Spanish Fleet was anchored there.