The first USS Dixie (later AD-1) was a United States Navy auxiliary cruiser and later a destroyer tender. The Dixie was the first ship of the United States Navy to have this name.
She was built as the steam brig El Rio in 1893 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, purchased by the Navy 15 April 1898, converted to an auxiliary cruiser by her builder, and commissioned 19 April 1898, Commander Charles Henry Davis in command.