USS Commodore Perry

USS Commodore Perry, Pamunkey River, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
History
United States
Name	Commodore Perry
Namesake	Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
Launched	1859 at Williamsburg, New York
Acquired	2 October 1861
Commissioned	October 1861
Decommissioned	26 June 1865
Fate	Sold, 12 July 1865
General characteristics
Type	Gunboat
Displacement	512 long tons (520 t)
Length	143 ft (44 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draft	10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion	Steam engine side wheel-propelled
Speed	7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph)
Complement	125
Armament	2 × 9 in (230 mm) guns 2 × 32-pounder smoothbore guns 1 × 12-pounder howitzer

USS Commodore Perry was a 512-long-ton (520-tonne) steamer acquired by the Union Navy in 1861, the first year of the American Civil War. She was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819), a naval officer who had commanded American forces on Lake Erie in the War of 1812.^[1] In January–February 1862, Commodore Perry was part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, taking part in the attack, in cooperation with the Union Army, which resulted in the surrender of Roanoke Island by the Confederate States of America. She participated in several other campaigns through 1862, including the capture of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and army–navy expeditions against Franklin, Virginia, and Hertford, North Carolina. From 1863 until the end of the war, she was engaged in patrols, both inland and in Virginia coastal waters.

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.