High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Yankee was originally El Norte, a steamer built in 1892 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding Drydock Co.. The ship was acquired by the United States Navy from the Southern Pacific Company on 6 April 1898. The ship was renamed and commissioned at New York on 14 April 1898, Commander Willard H. Brownson in command.