USS Prairie (AD-5), formerly Morgan Liner SS El Sol, was built in 1890 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia.

She was purchased by the United States Navy on 6 April 1898 from the Southern Pacific Company, and commissioned two days later at New York, Commander Charles J.

Prairie was converted into an auxiliary cruiser and assigned at first to the Northern Patrol Squadron and later to the North Atlantic Fleet.

On 25 August she stranded in dense fog 3 miles east of the Amagansett, New York Life saving Station.

Prairie was placed in reserve commission on 23 March 1899 and cruised with the naval militia off the Atlantic coast until she was decommissioned at New York on 18 February 1901.