 USS Bennington ( Gunboat No. 4 / PG @-@ 43 ) was a member of the Yorktown class of steel @-@ hulled , twin @-@ screw gunboats in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . She was the first U.S. Navy ship named in honor of the town of Bennington , Vermont , site of the Battle of Bennington in the American Revolutionary War .
Bennington was laid down on 29 May 1894 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company , Newport News, Virginia ; launched on 10 June 1895 ; sponsored by Miss