James Alden , Jr . James Alden , Jr . ( March 31 , 1810 – February 6 , 1877 ) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy . Early career . Alden was born in Portland , Maine , and was a direct descendant of John Alden , a Mayflower pilgrim . He was appointed midshipman on April 1 , 1828 and spent the initial years of his naval career ashore at the Naval Station in Boston , Massachusetts before he served in the Mediterranean squadron on board the sloop of war USS " John Adams " . Promoted to passed midshipman on June 14 , 1834 , Alden then served at the Boston Navy Yard until he was assigned to the United States Exploring Expedition under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes . During the course of this voyage ( 1838 – 1842 ) , the officers and men of the expedition were transferred freely from one vessel to another ; Alden , promoted to lieutenant on February 25 , 1841 , concluded the cruise as executive officer of the sloop USS " Porpoise " . He saw action at Malolo , in the Fiji Islands , on July 26 , 1840 , in the punitive expedition against the tribe which had murdered Lieutenant Joseph Underwood and Midshipman Wilkes Henry , the latter a nephew of the expedition ' s leader , two days before . After another tour of duty at the naval station at Boston , Alden was assigned to USS " Constitution " , and circumnavigated the globe in the frigate during her cruise under Captain John ( " Mad Jack " ) Percival . While serving therein , he commanded a boat expedition that cut out several war junks from under the guns of a fort at Zuron Bay , Cochin China . Later serving in the Home Squadron during the Mexican - American War ( 1846 ) , Alden , an adept surveyor , participated in the captures of Veracruz , Tuxpan and Tabasco . Following the war with Mexico , Alden served as inspector of provisions and clothing at Boston until detached from this duty on May 18 , 1849 to go to Washington , D . C . , and report to the Secretary of the Treasury for duty with the United States Coast Survey . From the summer of 1849 to the late winter of 1851 , he commanded , in succession , the Coast Survey steamers " John Y . Mason " and " Walker " in survey duty off the eastern seaboard . Assigned to duty on the Pacific coast thereafter , Alden traveled to San Francisco where he ultimately assumed command of the Coast Survey steamer " Active " , and carried out survey work off the United States West Coast into 1860 . During this time , on September 1 , 1855 , he was promoted to commander . " Active " . Indian disturbances in the Washington Territory in January 1856 highlighted Alden ' s tour of duty in command of " Active " ; and his ship , joining the sloop - of - war USS " Decatur " and the steamer USS " Massachusetts " , proved " of great service " during those troubled times . " Active " operated in the headwaters of Puget Sound , where her presence reassured the settlers . In the summer of 1859 , during tensions incident to an American ' s killing a Britisher ' s pig on San Juan Island , " Active " ' s timely arrival at that isle apparently helped to quiet a potentially dangerous situation in what became later known as the " Pig War . " U . S . Civil War . The outbreak of the U . S . Civil War in the spring of 1861 found Alden in command of the steamer USS " South Carolina " , in which he participated in the relief of Fort Pickens . Next given the steam sloop USS " Richmond " , Alden commanded that ship in the passage of Fort Jackson and Fort St . Philip , and in the engagements with Confederate batteries at Chalmette , Louisiana , twice passing the southern guns at Vicksburg , Mississippi , and in the battle at Port Hudson , Louisiana . Promoted to captain on January 2 , 1863 , Alden next assumed command of the steam sloop USS " Brooklyn " , and led that ship in the action with Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan and with the Confederate gunboats in the Battle of Mobile Bay . While " Brooklyn " was being sent north for repairs , she was attached to the naval forces gathering off Fort Fisher , North Carolina , and took part in both assaults on that Confederate bastion . Promotion and late career . Promoted to commodore on July 25 , 1866 , Alden , over the next two years , commanded , in succession , the steam sloop USS " Susquehanna " and the steam frigate USS " Minnesota " before he was given the commandantcy of the Mare Island Navy Yard . Appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in April 1869 , Alden — promoted to rear admiral on June 19 , 1871 — returned to sea in 1871 with orders to command the naval force on the European Station . Departing New York in his flagship , USS " Wabash " , on November 17 , 1871 , Alden relieved Rear Admiral Charles S . Boggs at Villefranche , France , on January 1 , 1872 . Although placed on the retired list on March 31 , 1872 , Alden remained on active duty commanding the European Fleet until relieved by Rear Admiral A . Ludlow Case at Villefranche on June 2 , 1873 . His last tour of duty afloat completed , he sailed home in his former command , " Brooklyn " . Alden died at San Francisco on February 6 , 1877 , but was buried in his native Portland on February 24 , 1877 . Namesake . The U . S . Navy destroyer USS " Alden " was named for him .