Ajax, a Greek hero during the Trojan War, was second only to Achilles' prowess and valor. The son of Telemon of Salamis and Periboea, Ajax vied with Ulysses for the arms which had belonged to the fallen Achilles. Maddened by disappointment and anger when they were awarded to the latter, Ajax slew the Greek army's flock of sheep, mistaking them for enemies. When he regained his senses and realized what he had done, he killed himself from shame and despair.

Four ships in the United States Navy were named USS Ajax for the Greek Hero of the Trojan War. The following write-up is the ship's history of the second ship in the United States Navy so named.

On 12 May 1898--three weeks after the opening of the Spanish-American War--the United States Navy purchased at New York the screw steamer "Scindia," a steel-hulled freighter built in 1890 at Glasgow, Scotland, by D. and W. Henderson and Company. Fitted out at the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York, for service as a collier (coal carrier), USS Scindia (Collier Number 14) was placed in commission there on 21 May 1898 with Commander Eugene W. Watson in command.

When commissioned, the collier was 387 feet 6 inches in length overall, had a beam of 46 feet 6 inches at the waterline, had a Normal Displacement of 9,250 tons, and, at that weight, had a mean draft of 24 feet 8 inches. The depth of her hold was 30 feet. The ship was manned by 101 officers and enlisted men. Armament included four 6-pounder guns. The collier could carry 4,800 tons of coal as cargo, and an additional 500 tons of coal in her own bunkers for fuel for her 3,000 horsepower steam engine...which could drive the vessel at 10 knots at speed.

Following a round-trip voyage carrying coal from New York to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, between 2 June and 1 July 1898, the ship departed New York on 12 October with a cargo of coal for the Hawaiian Islands. The collier made a number of goodwill calls en route--both before and after rounding Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America--and delivered her cargo at Honolulu.

During December of 1898, the armed conflict between Spain and the United States was terminated.

From the Territory of Hawaii, USS Scindia transited to the west coast of the United States, and, after reaching San Francisco Bay, California, early in the spring of 1899, was surveyed at the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, and decommissioned, there, on 27 May 1899 for repairs to her boilers and propulsion machinery.

Recommissioned on 23 December 1899, the collier got underway on 18 January 1900 and headed westward across the Pacific Ocean and proceeded, via Guam, to the newly acquired Philippine Islands, laden with coal for the ships of the United States Asiatic Fleet. After unloading at Manila, the vessel transited the Strait of Malacca, crossed the Indian Ocean, and continued on, via the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar, to Cardiff, Wales...where she filled her bunkers with coal before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Norfolk, Virginia... where she arrived on 1 March 1901.

During her first circumnavigation of the Earth, USS Scindia was renamed USS Ajax...on 1 January 1901.

USS Ajax (Collier Number 14) was decommissioned on 16 March 1901.

Reactivated on 16 October 1901, USS Ajax made two more round-the-world voyages carrying coal to the Asiatic Station, and, then, returned to the Philippines, during September of 1903, for operations with the Asiatic Fleet through the end of 1904. The collier then returned to the east coast of the United States, and, upon arrival, operated along the eastern seaboard until placed out of service at Norfolk on 4 November 1905.

Reactivated on 20 January 1907, USS Ajax again served along the east coast of the United States...until she departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, during December of 1907, to support the cruise of the "Great White Fleet" around the world...to demonstrate the good will of the United States and to make known to any potential enemy the power of the American Navy. The collier returned to Norfolk on Washington's Birthday in 1909, and, after serving the Atlantic Fleet through the spring, was placed out of service at the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine...during June of 1909.

Laid up until 30 April 1910, the ship put in over two more years supporting the Atlantic Fleet along the east coast of the United States...and in the Caribbean Sea...before she was ordered to the Orient for the last time. During December of 1912, the vessel took on a cargo of coal at Hampton Roads and loaded Submarines USS B-2 (Submarine Number 11) and USS B-3 (Submarine Number 12) on her decks before steaming, via the North Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, and the Indian Ocean, to the Philippine Islands. The collier arrived in Manila Bay on 30 April 1913, and, after launching and delivering her two deck cargo submarines, began shuttling coal to American warships at ports in such places as Guam, the Philippines, China, Japan, and even Burma.

Soon after the United States entered the First World War as an active participant on the side of the Allies in 1917, USS Ajax towed the formerly interned German ship "Elsass" from Samoa to Honolulu, Hawaii.

The shooting phase of the First World War ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918...when the terms of the Armistice went into effect.

During the American intervention in Siberia following the activation of the Armistice, USS Ajax made coal deliveries to Vladivostok, Russia.

The collier was laid up at the Cavite Navy Yard near Manila from 20 April to 17 October 1921...and then became the receiving ship, there, for the 16th Naval District. During this period, USS Ajax served briefly, during 1923, as submarine tender to the submarines of Submarine Division 18, Asiatic Fleet...and was based at Chefoo, China.

After resuming her role as receiving ship at Cavite during September of 1923, USS Ajax became the tender for the aircraft of the Asiatic Fleet aircraft squadrons...during February of 1924.

On 1 July 1924, USS Ajax was reclassified as a "miscellaneous auxiliary" and was redesignated "AG-15."

Relieved of all duties during June of 1925, the ship was decommissioned on 8 July 1925...and her name was simultaneously stricken from the Navy List.

The former USS Ajax (Collier Number 14) (AG-15) was sold at the Cavite Navy Yard on 14 August 1925 to S. R. Paterno.