USS Pensacola ( 1859 ) The first USS " Pensacola " was a screw steamer that served in the United States Navy during the U . S . Civil War . " Pensacola " was launched by the Pensacola Navy Yard on August 15 , 1859 , and commissioned there on December 5 , 1859 , for towing to Washington Navy Yard for installation of machinery . She was decommissioned January 31 , 1860 , and commissioned in full on September 16 , 1861 , Captain Henry W . Morris in command . Service history . Civil War , 1862 – 1864 . " Pensacola " departed Alexandria , Virginia on January 11 , 1862 , for the Gulf of Mexico to join Admiral David Farragut ' s newly created West Gulf Blockading Squadron . She steamed with that fleet in the historic dash past Confederate Fort St . Philip and Fort Jackson which protected New Orleans , Louisiana on April 24 . The next day , " Pensacola " engaged batteries below that great Confederate metropolis . On April 26 , a landing party raised the United States flag over the mint at New Orleans . Four of her sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for their part in the battle : Boy Thomas Flood , Seaman Thomas Lyons , Captain of the Foretop James McLeod , and Quartermaster Louis Richards . During the next two years , she helped guard the lower Mississippi River , returning to New York Navy Yard where she decommissioned April 29 , 1864 , for the installation of new and improved machinery originally intended for the cancelled sloop - of - war . Pacific Squadron , 1866 – 1884 . Recommissioned August 16 , 1866 , " Pensacola " sailed around Cape Horn to join the Pacific Squadron , serving from time to time as flagship . Her cruising ranged from Chile to Puget Sound and west to Hawaii . While in the harbor of Coquimbo , Chile , on 30 July 1873 , Ordinary Seaman Patrick Regan jumped overboard and rescued a drowning shipmate , for which he was later awarded the Medal of Honor . But for two periods in ordinary , February 15 , 1870 to October 14 , 1871 , and December 31 , 1873 to July 13 , 1874 , " Pensacola " continued this duty until detached from the Pacific squadron in June 1883 . Departing Callao , Peru on July 18 , she sailed west across the Pacific and Indian Oceans , transited the Suez Canal , and steamed the length of the Mediterranean Sea before crossing the Atlantic to arrive in Hampton Roads on May 4 , 1884 . She decommissioned at Norfolk , Virginia on May 23 . Atlantic and Pacific , 1885 – 1892 . Recommissioned April 4 , 1885 , " Pensacola " operated in European waters until returning to Norfolk in February 1888 for repairs . Operations along the Atlantic Coast and a cruise along the coast of Africa ended when the ship returned to New York in May 1890 . In August she headed back to familiar haunts in the Pacific , arriving in San Francisco on August 10 , 1891 . Following a visit to Hawaii , she decommissioned at Mare Island on April 18 , 1892 . Training and receiving ship , 1898 – 1911 . Recommissioned on November 22 , 1898 , " Pensacola " served as a training ship for Naval apprentices until going back into ordinary on May 31 , 1899 . She was back in commission July 14 , 1901 , subsequently used as receiving ship at Yerba Buena Training Station , San Francisco until finally decommissioning on December 6 , 1911 , and struck from the Navy Register on December 23 . She was burned and sunk by the Navy in San Francisco Bay near Hunters Point early in May 1912 .