Captain Walker had already admitted to the race, however, saying in an interview: “We sighted the St. Paul at 8:30 o’clock Friday morning, when she was fifteen miles ahead of us on the port bow.

[6][7] Departing Philadelphia on 5 May 1898, Saint Paul's first assignment was to cruise in search of Admiral Cervera's squadron between Morant Point, Jamaica, and western Haiti.

She cruised off Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo Bay into mid-June, then sailed to join the force blockading San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Shortly after midday, in the second battle of San Juan, the Spanish cruiser Isabel II, emerged from the harbor and, remaining under protection of shore batteries, opened fire on Saint Paul at long range without success.

She landed troops at Siboney, Cuba, and Arroyo, Puerto Rico, subsequently returning soldiers from Guantanamo Bay to New York City through 15 August.

On 25 April 1908, outward bound from Southampton, England, in a late snowstorm, Saint Paul was involved in a collision with the British cruiser HMS Gladiator in the Needles Channel.

Saint Paul entered the New York Navy Yard the following day, but the end of World War I led to cancellation of plans to convert the ship to a troopship.

Placed in temporary commission on 14 January 1919 for the purpose of fixing responsibility for her care outside the Navy Yard, Saint Paul soon began reconversion for mercantile service.