After an initial assignment on 20 October 1896 to
Jacksonville, Florida,
Windom was transferred to Baltimore on 21 November with an assignment making annual winter cruises of the fishing grounds between the
Virginia Capes and
Cape Hatteras. On 24 March 1898, she was ordered to cooperate with the U.S. Navy. Five days later,
Windom departed
Hampton Roads on her way to the blockade off
Cuba. She stopped at
Key West, Florida, for four days and arrived off the Cuban coast on 8 May. She patrolled the southern coast of Cuba near
Cienfuegos until the 13th. During that time, she cut the Cienfuegos cable, the Spanish colonial government's only link with the outside world; and, on 12 May, she helped to cover the withdrawal of a Navy boat expedition. At a critical point in that action, the cutter closed the enemy shore and silenced the Spanish battery and briefly dispersed their infantry allowing the harassed boats to reach safety. The following day, she withdrew from the area to return to Key West. She again got underway for the combat zone on 27 May and took up station off
Havana on the 28th. For the remainder of the Spanish–American War,
Windom participated in the blockade of Havana, returning to Key West on two occasions, once during the last two weeks of June and again during the first week in August. On 13 December 1915, near the end of a year of inactivity,
Windom was renamed
Comanche. Less than a month later, on 8 January 1916, the cutter went back into service under her new name. On 19 January, she departed the Chesapeake Bay area to return to her patrol area in the Gulf of Mexico. She arrived at Galveston on 2 February and resumed her former patrol routine.
World War I The United States' declaration of war on the
Central Powers once again brought the cutter under Navy Department control on 6 April 1917.
Comanche continued to patrol the Gulf Coast even in naval service. Her second period of service with the Navy lasted over two years until 28 August 1919 at which time she was returned to the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department.
Return to the Coast Guard Comanche continued her patrols of the gulf for another seven months and then headed for Key West where she was decommissioned on 17 April 1920 for repairs. Recommissioned in July, the ship relieved cutter at Mobile and rejoined the Gulf Division. Serving successively at Mobile, Key West, and Galveston, she patrolled coastal waters constantly until June 1930. During that period, she left the Gulf of Mexico only once, in 1923, for repairs at Baltimore and Norfolk. On 2 June 1930, she was detached from the Gulf Division and was ordered back to the
Coast Guard Yard at Baltimore.
Disposal She arrived at the Coast Guard Yard on 1 July and was placed out of commission on 31 July 1930. She was sold to Weiss Motor Lines, of Baltimore, on 13 November 1930 for 4,501. ==Notes==