USS Warren ( 1827 ) The fourth USS " Warren " was a second - class sloop - of - war in the United States Navy . " Warren " was built at the Boston Navy Yard between 1825 and 1827 and was commissioned at her builders on 14 January 1827 , Master Commandant Lawrence Kearny in command . Service history . Mediterranean Squadron . " Warren " sailed for the Mediterranean on 22 February 1827 to stop Greek - flag pirates from victimizing American merchantmen . Unsettled conditions in the Near East and the Greek fight for independence had resulted in some excesses against third parties , notably American flag merchantmen . The piracy caused the American Mediterranean Squadron to establish a regular convoy system from Malta to Smyrna . " Warren " sailed with a convoy of American vessels on 25 September 1827 and separated from them some 200 miles west of Kythira . On 4 October , Kearny ' s command bagged her first " piratical boat " and its crew of five . Later that same day , " Warren " captured a brig " peerced ( sic ) for 16 guns " flying the Greek flag . For the next three weeks , " Warren " cruised between Cape Matapan and Carabusa , touching occasionally to contact outward - bound American merchantmen . While off Milos on 25 October , Kearny learned of recent pirate attacks on the American ships " Cherub " and " Rob Roy " . That same day , " Warren " chased a 10 - gun pirate brig ashore at the island of Kimolos ; but the brigands escaped to the nearby hills . " Warren ' s " men cut away the masts of the erstwhile pirate ship and stripped them of their sails , leaving the rigging submerged in the waters offshore . Three days later , " Warren " came across " Cherub " and took possession of her . That evening , the brig arrived and assumed protective guard over " Cherub " while " Warren " returned to the pirate - hunt . The next day , between Tinos and Mykonos , " Warren " fell in with the Austrian brig " Silence " " robbed of everything . " The American sloop - of - war towed " Silence " to Syros , where she left her in care of " Lexington " . Cruising around the island of Mykonos , " Warren " captured a large tratta " capable of rowing 40 oars , " before she put in to Mykonos harbor on 1 November . The following day , Kearny and his men recovered sails and some property taken from " Cherub " and two cases of opium taken from the brig " Rob Roy " , as well as the sails and rigging from " Silence " . The local inhabitants turned over four men accused of being pirates while a landing party of " Warren " men picked up a fifth man from the mountains . Kearny and his men also took possession of a boat belonging to pirates living at Mykonos and later burned it . Returning to Syros on the 7th , Kearny restored the goods to " Cherub " and the sails and rigging from the Austrian ship . " Cherub " , escorted by " Lexington " , set sail for Smyrna . That evening , " Warren " put to sea , bound for the reputed pirate lair of the island of Andros . A boat expedition , led by Lieutenant William L . Hudson , departed the ship to circle Andros Island . While Hudson ' s party was thus engaged , a brig with a convoy of some 20 to 30 boats opened fire on them in the darkness . Although shot went through the sails of " Warren " s boats and through the clothing of some of her sailors , no one was hurt . After this action — which probably occurred because he and his expedition had been mistaken for pirates — Hudson continued on , undaunted . Near the south end of the town of Andros , " Warren " s men brought out one " piratical craft " and burned another in a small bay nearby . At the head of that bay , the American sailors blew up a house believed to have been owned by a pirate and raised and took possession of a boat which had been sunk by pirates to avoid detection by the Americans . " Rob Roy " s master later identified the boat as the craft in which pirates had attacked his vessel . Kearny , in " Warren " , remained in the vicinity of Andros and Gioura until 14 November . The people of Andros again cooperated and produced a pirate boat which contained a 12 - pounder carronade and some tools from " Cherub " . Four days later , " Warren " made port at Milos and tarried there into late November . On the 27th of that month , the American brig " Sarah " and " Esther " and six other vessels arrived . Three days later , that convoy sailed for Smyrna under " Warren ' s " protection . They arrived at their destination , without incident , on 6 December . For the next two years , " Warren " remained in the western Mediterranean guarding American commerce . Brazil Station . She returned to the United States in the summer of 1830 , arriving at Norfolk , Virginia , on 30 August . Decommissioned for repairs , on 10 September , " Warren " was recommissioned on 2 September 1831 , Master Commandant Benjamin Cooper in command , for service on the Brazil Station . After two years in the South Atlantic , the sloop - of - war headed northward and reached Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 31 October 1833 . Caribbean . " Warren " then made three successive tours in the West Indies , protecting American commerce in deployments that began in 1836 with the West Indies Squadron and with the Home Squadron in 1839 , and 1841 . On 19 October 1843 , " Warren " sailed for service with the Pacific Squadron and remained on the western coast of the North American continent for the remainder of her naval career . Pacific . During the war with Mexico , " Warren " acted as a guardship at Monterey , California and eventually moved to San Francisco , for duty as a stores and receiving ship . On 13 November 1846 , the former sloop - of - war ' s launch , in charge of Acting Master William H . Montgomery , departed the ship with $ 900 . 00 to pay bills accrued by the Navy for supplies , bound for Sutter ' s Fort , up the Sacramento River . By the end of the month , when no word came from the launch ' s crew , " Warren ' s " commanding officer felt " great anxiety " and sent out a hired boat with some men from his ship to hunt for the missing craft and its crew . On 18 December , the search party – having combed the river and inlets as far as Fort Sacramento — returned and reported finding no sign of the launch or of the crew . Eventually , the fate of " Warren ' s " launch came to light . The officers had been murdered – their throats cut – and their bodies thrown overboard . The men divided the money and split up , some returning overland across the North American continent to the east ; others remained in California to pan for " washing gold . " Records do not indicate whether or not the guilty men were ever found and brought to trial . However , they do show that orders were issued that valid discharges were to be shown by all naval personnel returning overland to prove that they were not deserters . The log of the whaleship " Niantic " records that the " US Sloop of War " Warren " " rendered immediate assistance 9 July 1849 in San Francisco harbor , when two of " Niantic ' s " crew assaulted her captain with a knife . Thereafter , " Warren " was solely a stores ship . She was sold at Panama on 1 January 1863 . Her eventual fate is unrecorded , although records indicate that the erstwhile sloop - of - war was used as a coal hulk by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as late as 1874 .