USS Carondelet ( 1861 ) USS " Carondelet " ( ) ( 1861 ) was a gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B . Eads during the American Civil War . It was named for the town where it was built , Carondelet , Missouri . " Carondelet " was designed for service on the western rivers , with a combination of shallow draft and variety of heavy guns ( and a light howitzer ) , she was suited for riverside bombardment and ship - to - ship combat against Confederate gunboats . Built in Missouri in 1861 . USS " Carondelet " , an ironclad river gunboat , was built in 1861 by James Eads and Co . , St . Louis , Missouri , at the Union Marine Works , in Carondelet , Missouri under contract to the United States Department of War . " Carondelet " was commissioned 15 January 1862 , at Cairo , Illinois , U . S . Navy Commander Henry A . Walke in command , and reported to Army ' s Western Gunboat Flotilla , commanded by U . S . Navy Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote . Civil War service . Union Army service . Between January and October 1862 , " Carondelet " operated almost constantly on river patrol and in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February ; the passing of Island No . 10 and the attack on and spiking of the shore batteries below New Madrid , Missouri , in April ; the lengthy series of operations against Plum Point Bend , Fort Pillow , and Memphis , Tennessee , from April through June , and the engagement with on 15 July , during which " Carondelet " was heavily damaged and suffered 35 casualties . Union Navy service . Transferred to Navy control with the other ships of her flotilla on 1 October 1862 , " Carondelet " continued the rapid pace of her operations , taking part in the unsuccessful Steele ' s Bayou Expedition in March 1863 . One of those to pass the Vicksburg and Warrenton , Missouri batteries in April 1863 , " Carondelet " took part on 29 April in the five and one - half hour engagement with the batteries at Grand Gulf . She remained on duty off Vicksburg , bombarding the city in its long siege from May to July . Without her and her sisters and other naval forces , the great operations on the rivers would not have been possible and the Federal victory might not have been won . From 7 March to 15 May 1864 , she sailed with the Red River Expedition , and during operations in support of Union Army movements ashore , took part in the Bell ' s Mill engagement ( part of the Franklin - Nashville Campaign ) of December 1864 . For the remainder of the war , " Carondelet " patrolled in the Cumberland River . Four of " Carondelet " ' s sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor during the war : Signal Quartermaster Matthew Arther for actions at the Battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson , February 1862 ; Seaman John Dorman for actions in various engagements ; Fireman Michael Huskey , for actions during Steele ' s Bayou Expedition , March 1863 ; and Coxswain John G . Morrison , for actions in the engagement with , 15 July 1862 . Commanding Officers . The " Carondelet " had several commanding officers over the duration of her service . Post - war decommissioning and sale . She was decommissioned at Mound City , Illinois , on 20 June 1865 , and sold there on 29 November 1865 . Subsequent career and sinking . In 1873 , shortly before she was to be scrapped , a flood swept the " Carondelet " from her moorings in Gallipolis , Ohio . She then drifted approximately 130 miles down the Ohio River , where she grounded near Manchester , Ohio . Her ultimate fate remained unknown until a May 1982 search operation by Clive Cussler ' s National Underwater and Marine Agency pinpointed the location of the wreckage , just two days after a dredge passed directly over the wreckage , demolishing most of the wrecked vessel . Armament . Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads , USS " Carondelet " had its armament changed multiple times over life of the vessel . To expedite the entrance of " Carondelet " into service , she and the other " City " - class gunboats were fitted with whatever weapons were available ; then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces became available . Though the Dahlgren smoothbore cannons were fairly modern most of the other original armaments were antiquated ; such as the 32 - pounders , or modified ; such as the 42 - pounder " rifles " which were in fact , old smoothbores that had been gouged out to give them rifling . These 42 - pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose - built rifled cannons . Additionally , the close confines of riverine combat greatly increased the threat of boarding parties . The 12 - pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat .