USS Hartford ( 1858 ) USS " Hartford " , a sloop - of - war , steamer , was the first ship of the United States Navy named for Hartford , the capital of Connecticut . " Hartford " was launched 22 November 1858 at the Boston Navy Yard ; sponsored by Miss Carrie Downes , Miss Lizzie Stringham , and Lieutenant G . J . H . Preble ; and commissioned 27 May 1859 , Captain Charles Lowndes in command . " Hartford " served in several prominent campaigns in the American Civil War as the flagship of David G . Farragut , most notably the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864 . She survived until 1956 , when she sank awaiting restoration at Norfolk , Virginia . Service history . East India Squadron , 1859 - 1861 . After shakedown out of Boston , the new screw sloop of war , carrying Flag Officer Cornelius K . Stribling , the newly appointed commander of the East India Squadron , sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and the Far East . Upon reaching the Orient , " Hartford " relieved as flagship . In November she embarked the American Minister to China , John Elliott Ward , at Hong Kong and carried him to Canton , Manila , Swatow , Shanghai , and other Far Eastern ports to settle American claims and to arrange for favorable consideration of the Nation ' s interests . Civil War , 1861 - 1865 . With the outbreak of the American Civil War , " Hartford " was ordered home . She departed the Sunda Strait with on 30 August 1861 and arrived Philadelphia on 2 December to be fitted out for wartime service . She departed the Delaware Capes on 28 January as flagship of Flag Officer David G . Farragut , the commander of the newly created West Gulf Blockading Squadron . ( See also : Confederate blockade mail . An even larger purpose than the important blockade of the South ' s Gulf Coast lay behind Farragut ' s assignment . Late in 1861 , the Union high command decided to capture New Orleans , the South ' s richest and most populous city , to begin a drive of sea - based power up the Mississippi River to meet the Union Army which was to drive down the Mississippi valley behind a spearhead of armored gunboats . " Other operations , " Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles warned Farragut , " must not be allowed to interfere with the great object in view — the certain capture of the city of New Orleans . " " Hartford " arrived 20 February at Ship Island , Mississippi , midway between Mobile Bay and the mouths of the Mississippi . Several Union ships and a few Army units were already in the vicinity when the squadron ' s flagship dropped anchor at the advanced staging area for the attack on New Orleans . In ensuing weeks a mighty fleet assembled for the campaign . In mid - March Commander David Dixon Porter ' s flotilla of mortar schooners arrived towed by steam gunboats . The next task was to get Farragut ' s ships across the bar , a constantly shifting mud bank at the mouth of each pass entering the Mississippi . Farragut managed to get all of his ships but across the bar and into the river where Forts St . Philip and Jackson challenged further advance . A line of hulks connected by strong barrier chains , six ships of the Confederate Navy — including ironclad " Manassas " and unfinished but potentially deadly ironclad " Louisiana " , two ships of the Louisiana Navy , a group of converted river steamers called the Confederate River Defense Fleet , and a number of fire rafts also stood between Farragut and the great Southern metropolis . On 16 April , the Union ships moved up the river to a position below the forts , and David Dixon Porter ' s gunboats first exchanged fire with the Southern guns . Two days later his mortar schooners opened a heavy barrage which continued for six days . On the 21st , the squadron ' s Fleet Captain , Henry H . Bell , led a daring expedition up river and , despite a tremendous fire on him , cut the chain across the river . In the early hours of 24 April , a red lantern on " Hartford ' s " mizzen peak signaled the fleet to get underway and steam through the breach in the obstructions . As the ships closed the forts their broadsides answered a fire from the Confederate guns . Porter ' s mortar schooners and gunboats remained at their stations below the southern fortifications covering the movement with rapid fire . " Hartford " dodged a run by ironclad ram " Manassas " ; then , while attempting to avoid a fireraft , grounded in the swift current near Fort St . Philip . When the burning barge was shoved alongside the flagship , only Farragut ' s leadership and the training of the crew saved " Hartford " from being destroyed by flames which at one point engulfed a large portion of the ship . Meanwhile the sloop ' s gunners never slackened the pace at which they poured broadsides into the forts . As her firefighters snuffed out the flames , the flagship backed free of the bank . When Farragut ' s ships had run the gantlet and passed out of range of the fort ' s guns , the Confederate River Defense Fleet attempted to stop their progress . In the ensuing melee , they managed to sink converted merchantman " Varwut " , the only Union ship lost during the historic night . Battle of New Orleans , 1862 . The next day , after silencing Confederate batteries , a few miles below New Orleans , " Hartford " and her sister ships anchored off the city early in the afternoon . A handful of ships and men had won a great decisive victory that secured the north , the mouth of the Mississippi river . Early in May , Farragut ordered several of his ships up stream to clear the river and followed himself in " Hartford " on the 7th to join in the conquest of the valley . Defenseless , Baton Rouge and Natchez promptly surrendered to the Union ships and no significant opposition was encountered until 18 May when the Confederate commandant at Vicksburg replied to Commander Samuel P . Lee ' s demand for surrender : " . . . Mississippians don ' t know and refuse to learn , how to surrender to an enemy . If Commodore Farragut or Brigadier General Butler can teach them , let them come and try . " When Farragut arrived on the scene a few days later , he learned that heavy Southern guns mounted on the bluff at Vicksburg some 200 feet ( 60 m ) above the river could shell his ships while his own guns could not be elevated enough to hit them back . Since sufficient troops were not available to take the fortress by storm , the Flag Officer headed downstream on 27 May leaving gunboats to blockade it from below . Orders awaited Farragut at New Orleans , where he arrived on 30 May , directing him to open the river and join the Western Flotilla and stating that Abraham Lincoln himself had given the task highest priority . The Flag Officer recalled Porter ' s mortar schooners from Mobile , Alabama and dutifully got underway up the Mississippi in " Hartford " on 8 June . Battle of Vicksburg , 1863 . The Union Squadron was assembled just below Vicksburg by 26 June . Two days later the Union ships , their own guns blazing at rapid fire and covered by an intense barrage from the mortars , suffered little damage while running past the batteries . Flag Officer Davis , commanding the Western Flotilla , joined Farragut above Vicksburg on the 30th ; but again , naval efforts to take Vicksburg were frustrated by a lack of troops . " Ships , " Porter commented , " . . . cannot crawl up hills 300 feet high , and it is that part of Vicksburg which must be taken by the Army . " On 22 July , Farragut received orders to return down the river at his discretion and he got underway on 24 July , reached New Orleans in four days , and after a fortnight sailed to Pensacola , Florida , for repairs . The flagship returned to New Orleans on 9 November to prepare for further operations in the unpredictable waters of the Mississippi . The Union Army , ably supported by the Mississippi Squadron , was pressing , on Vicksburg from above , and Farragut wanted to assist in the campaign by blockading the mouth of the Red River from which supplies were pouring eastward to the Confederate Army . Meanwhile , the South had been fortifying its defenses along the river and had erected powerful batteries at Port Hudson , Louisiana . On the night of 14 March , Farragut in " Hartford " and accompanied by six other ships , attempted to run by these batteries . However , they encountered such heavy and accurate fire that only the flagship and , lashed alongside , succeeded in running the gauntlet . Thereafter , " Hartford " and her consort patrolled between Port Hudson and Vicksburg denying the Confederacy desperately needed supplies from the West . Porter ' s Mississippi Squadron , cloaked by night , dashed downstream past the Vicksburg batteries on 16 April , while General Ulysses S . Grant marched his troops overland to a new base also below the Southern stronghold . April closed with the Navy ferrying Grant ' s troops across the river to Bruinsburg whence they encircled Vicksburg and forced the beleaguered fortress to surrender on 4 July . Battle of Mobile Bay , 1864 . With the Mississippi River now opened , Farragut turned his attention to Mobile , a Confederate industrial center still building ships and turning out war supplies . The Battle of Mobile Bay took place on 5 August 1864 . Farragut , with " Hartford " as his flagship , led a fleet consisting of four ironclad monitor s and 14 wooden vessels . The Confederate naval force was composed of newly built ram " Tennessee " , Admiral Franklin Buchanan ' s flagship , and gunboats " Selma " , " Morgan " , and " Gaines " ; and backed by the powerful guns of Forts Morgan and Gaines in the Bay . From the firing of the first gun by Fort Morgan to the raising of the white flag of surrender by " Tennessee " little more than three hours elapsed — but three hours of terrific fighting on both sides . The Confederates had only 32 casualties , while the Union forces suffered 335 casualties , including 113 men drowned in when the monitor struck a torpedo and sank . Twelve of " Hartford " ' s sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay . These men were : Pacific , 1865 – 1926 . Returning to New York on 13 December , " Hartford " decommissioned for repairs a week later . Back in shape in July 1865 , she served as flagship of a newly organized Asiatic Squadron until August 1868 when she returned to New York and decommissioned . Recommissioned 9 October 1872 , she resumed Asiatic Station patrol until returning home 19 October 1875 . Two of her crewmen , Ordinary Seaman John Costello and Ordinary Seaman Richard Ryan , were awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing drowning shipmates in separate 1876 incidents . In 1882 , as Captain Stephen B . Luce ' s flagship of the North Atlantic Station , " Hartford " visited the Caroline Islands , Hawaii , and Valparaíso , Chile , before arriving San Francisco on 17 March 1884 . She then cruised in the Pacific until decommissioning 14 January 1887 at Mare Island , California , for apprentice sea - training use . From 1890 to 1899 " Hartford " was laid up at Mare Island , the last five years of which she was being rebuilt . On 2 October 1899 , she recommissioned , then transferred to the Atlantic coast to be used for a training and cruise ship for midshipmen until 24 October 1912 when she was transferred to Charleston , for use as a station ship . Final years , 1926 – 1956 . Again placed out of commission 20 August 1926 , the " Hartford " remained at Charleston until moved to Washington , D . C . , on 18 October 1938 . FDR wanted to build a naval museum there featuring the Hartford , USS Olympia and a four stack destroyer from WWI . When FDR died , the plans to establish this museum and to save the ships were abandoned . On 19 October 1945 , she was towed to the Norfolk Navy Yard and classified as a relic . Unfortunately she was allowed to deteriorate , and as a result , the " Hartford " sank at her berth on 20 November 1956 . She proved to be beyond salvage and was subsequently dismantled . Remains . Major relics from her are at various locations :