USS Commodore Perry

USS Commodore Perry (1858) was a 512 LT steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War.

Commodore Perry was outfitted as a gunboat with heavy guns and a large crew of 125 officers and enlisted personnel. Her powerful guns were capable of doing considerable damage to blockade runners or shore fortifications of the Confederate States of America.

Built in New York in 1859
Commodore Perry — an armed, side-wheel ferry — was built in 1859 by Stack and Joyce, Williamsburg, New York; purchased by the Navy on 2 October 1861; and commissioned later in the month, Acting Master F. J. Thomas in command.

The ship was named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who commanded American forces on Lake Erie in the War of 1812, and his brother Matthew Calbraith Perry, who negotiated the historic treaty which opened Japan to American commerce, and who had died the previous year, in 1858.

Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade
Commodore Perry sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia on 17 January 1862 to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and on 7–8 February took part in the attack, in cooperation with the Union Army, which resulted in the surrender of Roanoke Island, part of the long campaign through which the Navy secured key coastal points.

Commodore Perry took part in the capture of Elizabeth City, North Carolina on 10 February, and the next day captured the schooner Lynnhaven. As operations along the North Carolina coast continued, she joined in the capture of USS New Berne (1862) and USS Washington (1837) in March, and in April took singly or in concert with others of her squadron four schooners and a sloop in the Pasquotank River and New Begun Creek. On 3 October, Commodore Perry joined in an Army-Navy expedition against Franklin, Virginia, and on 10 December joined an attack against Plymouth, North Carolina. Four crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the expedition against Franklin: Boatswain's Mate John Breen, Seaman Daniel Lakin, Seaman Alfred Peterson, and Seaman John Williams. After another combined expedition against Hertford, North Carolina on 30 January 1863, Commodore Perry patrolled constantly in Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and the streams which enter them, frequently exchanging fire with small detachments of Confederates ashore.

Repaired at Norfolk and at Baltimore


Repaired at Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland late in 1863, she returned to her squadron in March 1864 for duty in the inland and coastal waters of Virginia on picket, guard, and patrol duty, joining in many amphibious expeditions, until the close of the war.

Post-war decommissioning
She sailed from Norfolk for New York City on 12 June 1865, and there was decommissioned on 26 June and sold on 12 July.

Note
As of 2005, no other ship in the United States Navy has been named Commodore Perry. See USS Perry and USS Oliver Hazard Perry for other ships named for Oliver Hazard Perry.