USS Vanderbilt (1862) - Launched in New York in 1857

Launched in New York in 1857

Vanderbilt -- originally a transatlantic passenger and mail steamer—was built by Jeremiah Simonson of Greenpoint, Long Island, New York, in 1856 and 1857; chartered by the Union Army shortly after the start of the Civil War in April 1861; offered to the Army by her owner, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, in early 1862; and transferred to the Navy on 24 March.

Popularly known as "Vanderbilt's Yacht," the former flagship of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's North Atlantic Mail Steamship Line began her military career in Hampton Roads, Virginia, intended for use as a ram against the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. Commodore Vanderbilt, himself, suggested filling the bow of the vessel with concrete and reinforcing it with iron plating.

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