USS Puritan, a 6060-ton monitor, was built at Chester, Pennsylvania, and completed by the New York Navy Yard. Commissioned in December 1896, she was actively employed off Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After that conflict, she served as a Naval Academy practice ship, a receiving ship and a naval militia training vessel. Decommissioned for the final time in April 1910, Puritan was subsequently used for target duties. The old monitor was sold in January 1922.