While the main fleets were engaged Gloucester closed with the Spanish torpedo-boat destroyers Plutón and Furor driving them ashore as wrecks with her 6-pounder guns.

[1] The victory came with no casualties, which was attributed to "The accuracy and rapidity of her fire, making the proper service of the guns on the Spanish ships impossible."

On 1 August, with assistance from Wasp, Gloucester took possession of Arroyo, and hoisting the U.S. flag, Wainwright held it until arrival of the Army, a day later.

Subsequently Gloucester cruised along the Eastern seaboard from New York City to Provincetown, Massachusetts in the fall of 1898, and from 1899–1902 served as a schoolship at Annapolis, Maryland.

[2] Gloucester conducted harbor patrols at New York City until her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 August 1919, and she was sold on 21 November.