USS Cumberland ( 1842 ) The first USS " Cumberland " was a 50 - gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy . She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS " Virginia " . " Cumberland " began in the pages of a Congressional Act . Congress passed in 1816 ' An act for the gradual increase of the Navy of the United States . ' The act called for the U . S . to build several ships - of - the - line and several new frigates , of which " Cumberland " was to be one . Money issues , however , prevented " Cumberland " from being finished in a timely manner . It was not until Secretary of the Navy Abel Parker Upshur came to office that the ship was finished . A war scare with Britain led Upshur to order the completion of several wooden sailing ships and for the construction of new steam powered ships . Designed by famed American designer William Doughty , " Cumberland " was one a series of frigates in a class called the " Raritan " - class . The design borrowed heavily from older American frigate designs such as " Constitution " and " Chesapeake " . Specifically , Doughty liked the idea of giving a frigate more guns than European designs called for . As a result , he called for " Cumberland " and her sister ships to have a fully armed spar deck , along with guns on the gun deck . The result was a heavily - armed , 50 - gun warship . First Mediterranean Cruise . She was launched on 24 May 1842 by Boston Navy Yard . Her first commanding officer was Captain S . L . Breese , and her first service was as flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron from 1843 to 1845 where she had among her officers men like Foote ( who served as executive officer ) and Dahlgren ( who served as a flag aide to Commodore Joseph Smith ) . The ship sailed to several parts of the Mediterranean including Port Mahon ( homeport for U . S . Navy ships operating in the Mediterranean at this time ) , Genoa , Naples , Toulon , Jaffa , and Alexandria . The cruise was largely uneventful , though there was a diplomatic scuffle with the Sultan of Morocco who refused to recognize the newly appointed American ambassador . The incident possibly was the result of the Sultan being misled by the outgoing American ambassador who did not want to leave his post . Smith cleared up the misunderstanding and the new ambassador assumed his duties . The most notable event was Foote ' s successful effort to ban the grog ration . He believed it was a grand success in turning sailors into harder working , upstanding men . It later became Department policy in 1862 and it is still in effect to this day ( with some exceptions . ) Mexican - American War . As the ship was being made ready for a second trip to the Mediterranean , the Secretary of the Navy ordered the vessel to Mexico to assist in a show of force off the coast of Vera Cruz . Here she was flagship of the Home Squadron between February and December 1846 , serving in the Gulf of Mexico during the Mexican - American War under the command of Cmdre . David Conner and Capt . Thomas Dulay . Capt . French Forrest later took command when Dulay fell ill . Other notable officers in this cruise were future Civil War rivals Raphael Semmes and John Winslow . The ship oversaw the blockade of the eastern Mexican coast for most of the war . She participated in several aborted attacks on Mexican ports , before running aground on 28 July off the coast of Alvarado . The ship was freed and her ship ' s company later participated in a raid on Tabasco . The grounding damaged her enough to force her to retire to Norfolk for repairs . Her crew , however , stayed behind and swapped ships with the crew of the sister frigate " Raritan " , which had been at sea for three years . The old crew participated in the siege of Vera Cruz as part of the Naval battery . " Cumberland " returned to Mexico just as a cease fire was in place . Commodore Matthew C . Perry took over as flag officer from Conner . From " Cumberland " , Perry was instructed by the Polk Administration to assist settlers fleeing a major Mayan insurrection ( known as the Caste War of Yucatán ) . Perry was also ordered to enforce the Monroe Doctrine and keep Spanish and English forces from interfering . With no realistic way to assist the setters Perry partially ignored the order when Spanish warships arrived from Cuba loaded with guns , bullets , and money . Perry left the region when he read that the Treaty of Guadalupe - Hidalgo had been ratified . Second Mediterranean Cruise . " Cumberland " made her second cruise to the Mediterranean from 1849 – 1851 . Notable officers on board during the second and third cruises to the Mediterranean included Louis Goldsborough , John Upshur , Silas Stringham , Andrew Hardwood , John Worden ( future commanding of officer of ) , and naval surgeon Dr . Edward Squibb ( co - founder of the company now known as Bristol Myers Squibb ) " Cumberland " s primary mission during these two cruises was to uphold American neutrality during a very turbulent period in European history by assisting American diplomats , merchants , and increasingly large number of American missionaries . The ship made visits to La Spezia ( the U . S . Navy ' s new overseas homeport after being expelled from Port Mahon ) , Naples , Trieste , and Brindisi . At one point police in Naples boarded the ship based on a false rumor that Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi was on board . The ship also sailed to the eastern half the Mediterranean and visited Athens , Beirut , and Alexandria . Third Mediterranean Cruise . During the third cruise , the ship worked closely with diplomat and early environmentalist George Perkins Marsh who was serving as American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire . Marsh needed " Cumberland " s help in dealing with zealous Greek priests who were harassing American missionaries , notably Rev . Jonas King . Cmdre . Stringham and Marsh met with Greek monarch King Otto and stopped the harassment . Marsh needed " Cumberland " a second time when the powers of Europe were about to clash in the Crimean War . Stringham invited any American on board who felt they needed protection or assistance . Abd - ul - Mejid I , Sultan of the Ottoman Empire , invited Stringham and Marsh for an official visit to determine the position of the U . S . in a possible war with Russia . Both Stringham and Marsh expressed their sympathies to the Sultan but maintained American neutrality on the subject . The third was long even by 19th century standards . Due to a lack of sailors to man a replacement ship , SecNav James C . Dobbin did not recall " Cumberland " until the ship had been at sea for three years . The ship returned home to Boston in 1855 . Conversion . From 1855 – 1857 , " Cumberland " was razeed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston . From his office in Washington , D . C . , John L . Lenhart , the chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair , directed the changes to the ship . The Navy gave her new weapons in the form of 24 Dahlgren smoothbore cannons ( 22 x IX - inch and 2 x X - inch ) . By razeeing the ship , " Cumberland " got an extension of life . The Navy made her a lighter ship and thus slightly faster . Specifically , the shipyard workers removed the top deck , removed the quarter galleries , removed all guns from the spar deck , and removed several of sections of wood . This move was assisted by the revolution in naval weapons that provided more powerful guns ( and thus needing fewer guns ) . While steam powered ships were entering the fleet , there was still a need for all the sail ships . As late as 1860 , SecNav Isaac Toucey suggested that all " Potomac " - class frigates be razeed . Africa / Slave Trade Patrol . From 1857 – 1859 , she cruised on the coast of Africa as flagship of the African Squadron patrolling for the suppression of the slave trade . Like many U . S . Navy ships in Africa , " Cumberland " employed a number of Krooman ( indigenous Africans who lived on the western coast ) to serve as scouts , interpreters , and fishermen . The ship ' s surgeons had to deal with a number of issues , including an outbreak of smallpox . " Cumberland " boarded several dozen merchant ships . Her crew almost seized one , the schooner " Cortez " , after shackles and known slave trading items had been found on the deck of the schooner , a slave trading holding pen had been spotted in the distance , the ship ' s papers were highly suspect , and the ship was far from any port . " Cumberland " s boarding officer , however , chose not seize the ship possibly realizing the legal difficulty of bringing slave traders to trial without overwhelming evidence . " Cortez " was later captured by HMS " Arrow " in 1858 off the coast of Cuba . Otherwise , the ship served as the squadron ' s supply vessel providing supplies to the other three ships in the squadron , the sloops - of - war " Dale " , " Vincennes " , and " Marion " and served as roving diplomat along the three thousand mile coast line . Home Squadron . After her return from Africa , " Cumberland " became flagship of the Home Squadron in 1860 . She made a return trip to Vera Cruz Mexico , which was in the middle of a civil war . The Navy recalled her to Hampton Roads , VA when domestic issues in the U . S . took a turn for the worse . American Civil War . At the outbreak of the American Civil War , " Cumberland " was at the Gosport Navy Yard , with orders to monitor the situation in Norfolk and Portsmouth . After the attack on Fort Sumter , the ship ' s company was ordered to gather up or destroy U . S . Government property . This included several crates of small arms and possibly ( not yet confirmed ) gold from the U . S . Customs House in Norfolk . The company was also ordered to spike all 3 , 000 guns at the Navy Yard within just a few hours . This latter task was impossible , given that only 100 sailors were assigned to the task . Sailors from the Yard and the barracks ship " Pennsylvania " boarded " Cumberland " as a part of the evacuation . She was towed out of the yard by the steam sloop " Pawnee " , escaping destruction when other ships there were scuttled and burned by Union forces on 20 April 1861 to prevent their capture . She sailed back to Boston for repairs . The aft 10 - inch Dahlgren was removed and replaced with what many officers referred to as a 70 - pounder rifle . This gun did not exist in the Navy ' s inventory at the time . It was possibly a , Parrott rifle . She sailed back to Hampton Roads and took up station as a blockader . She served as one several ships of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron until 8 March 1862 . The sloop - of - war engaged Confederate forces in several minor actions in Hampton Roads and captured many small ships in the harbor . Additionally , " Cumberland " was a part of the expedition that captured the forts at Cape Hatteras . " Cumberland " was rammed and sunk in an engagement with the Confederate ironclad CSS " Virginia " ( formerly ) at Newport News , Virginia on 8 March 1862 . The engagement known as the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads between the two ships is considered to be a turning point in the history of world naval affairs as it showed the advantage of steam powered , armored ships over sail powered wooden hulled ships . It should be noted that because of " Cumberland " , " Virginia " lost two of her guns , her ram , and suffered some internal damage . Congress later recognized that " Cumberland " did more damage to " Virginia " than the U . S . Navy ' s ironclad " Monitor " , which did battle with " Virginia " the next day . One of the men who died aboard " Cumberland " was Navy chaplain John L . Lenhart , a Methodist minister . He was the first Navy chaplain to lose his life in battle . The battle with " Virginia " was commemorated in a poem " On Board the Cumberland " that was illustrated by F . O . C . Darley . Salvage . " Cumberland " became an archaeological site the moment she sank to a watery grave , in that the federal government almost immediately solicited work from salvage companies to secure valuable items from the shipwreck . In his memoir , " When the Yankees Came " , Virginia resident George Benjamin West described some post - war work on " Cumberland " : " After the war . . . I have very often been on the boats that worked on the Cumberland , first by a German named West and then by a company of Detroit , Michigan , which purchased her from West and which brought down a great many of the [ Great ] Lakes divers to try to secure the $ 40 , 000 in gold said to be in an iron chest in the paymaster ' s stateroom . . . . . . . His [ the German diver West ' s ] plan , as told to me , was to start under the stern , which lay down the river , and blow a hole in her and work towards the paymaster ' s stateroom . He did the diving himself and did not attempt to get any wreckage save the pieces he blew out of the side and brought up on deck , and the copper bolts cut out . The difficulty he had was the foiling - in of mud and sand , and having to grope in the utter darkness . It was very dangerous , and several times he was brought up unconscious . " Occasional salvage of the shipwrecks continued into the early 20th century . In 1909 , part of " Cumberland " s anchor chain was recovered and sent to the museum of the Confederacy in Richmond ( Newport News Daily Press , 12 November 1909 ) . In 1981 , the National Underwater and Marine Agency ( NUMA ) contracted with Underwater Archaeological Joint Ventures ( UAJV ) , a private firm based in Yorktown , VA . UAJV team members consulted local watermen ( whose oyster dredges had picked up artifacts for years ) to help locate the ships . This information and a remote sensing survey , led archaeologists to two significant wrecks . The recovery of numerous artifacts confirmed that these shipwrecks were most likely " Cumberland " and CSS " Florida " . Artifacts recovered included fasteners , fittings , apothecary vessels , a ship ' s bell ( from " Cumberland " ) , canon fuses and other ordnance items . The artifacts proved the NUMA / UAJV team had indeed found " Cumberland " and " Florida " . Most of the artifacts from this NUMA / UAJV excavation are on exhibit at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Norfolk , VA ( Newport News Daily Press , 8 March 1987 ) . Cumberland today . " Cumberland " is currently a ship wreck under the protection of several Federal laws including the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2005 , the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 , and the Territorial Clause of the U . S . Constitution ( which gives the U . S . Government exclusive rights to its own property ) . Federal courts have upheld these laws and the U . S . Government ' s exclusive rights to its own ships . Since her sinking , the ship has been the subject of many expeditions . Some of these expeditions have been in violation of Federal law and artifacts were seized by Federal agents . Many artifacts from these expeditions ( both legal and illegal ) are at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum . Wreck is facing west to east , with the bow of the vessel slightly above the floor of Hampton Roads .