USS New London ( 1859 ) USS " New London " ( 1859 ) was a screw steamer of the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was outfitted with a Parrott rifle and 32 - pounders , and was assigned as a gunboat in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America . Built in Connecticut in 1859 . " New London " was built at Mystic , Connecticut in 1859 , purchased by the Navy at New York City on 26 August 1861 ; and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 29 October 1861 , Lt . Abner Read in command . Civil War service . Gulf of Mexico operations . Ordered to the Gulf of Mexico on 2 November , " New London " , aided by , captured the schooner " Olive " laden with lumber shortly before midnight on 21 November . Early the next morning , she took the steamboat " Anna " carrying turpentine and rosin from Pascagoula , Mississippi , to New Orleans , Louisiana . About dawn a week later , she took the steamboat " Henry Lewis " carrying sugar and molasses ; and that afternoon she captured a schooner trying to slip through the blockade with naval stores for Havana , Cuba . On 28 November 1861 she captured , which was later put into service in the U . S . Navy . " New London " captured the steamer " Advocate " on 1 December ; and the schooner " Delight " with sloops " Empress " and " Osceola " on 9 December . On the 28th the schooner " Gypsy " became her prize . Operations on shore Not content just to capture ships , " New London " , with and " Henry Lewis " , rounded out her record on the last day of 1861 by sending a landing party ashore to capture Biloxi , Mississippi , destroying a Confederate battery and taking possession of two guns and the schooner " Captain Spedden " . On 20 February 1862 a boat expedition from " New London " landed on Cat Island , Mississippi and interned 12 small sloop s and schooners suspected of being pilot boat s for blockade runners . On 4 April , with and , " New London " engaged CSS " Carondelet " , CSS " Pamlico " , and CSS " Oregon " while " Henry Lewis " landed 1 , 200 Union Army troops at Pass Christian , Mississippi and destroyed a Confederate camp there . Boats from " New London " captured the yachts " Comet " and " Algerine " near New Basin , Louisiana on 2 June . On 17 June she captured and destroyed batteries at North and South passes . On 18 July , accompanied by the " Grey Cloud " , the " New London " approached the large hotel at Pascagoula and announced its arrival by firing two shells over the hotel . Both steamers had been reinforced by men from the for this raid . The " New London " docked at the Hotel Wharf at Pascagoula , Mississippi , and deployed about 60 sailors and marines to the village to capture mails and confiscate the telegraph equipment . Sentries quickly spotted a Confederate cavalry patrol and the sailors and marines withdrew to their gunboats . The " Grey Cloud " moved about a half - mile west and attempted to enter the Pascagoula River with the intent on capturing local schooners with turpentine and lumber . However , the mouth of the river was obstructed to prevent passage . At this point the gunboats stood off shore and put in three launches loaded with about 25 sailors and marines each and proceeded up the river . About a mile from the mouth where the river is not but 200 yards wide , the launches were ambushed by a platoon of 30 troopers of the Mobile Dragoons under Lieut Hallett , a cavalry unit armed with Sharps carbines . The launches returned fire , but where in the open and withdrew to the mouth of the river with eight or nine wounded . Once the launches were clear , the " New London " fired 25 shells into the village and the " Grey Cloud " fired seven shells ; however , only one civilian was reported slightly wounded . After sitting off shore 19 July , the ships withdrew from the shoreline . Ref : Charleston Daily Courier , 29 July 1862 Blockading the Texas coast . During the ensuing years " New London " served on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico , operating primarily off the Texas coast . She and captured the British schooner " Tampico " off Sabine Pass , Texas , attempting to run out laden with cotton on 3 April 1863 . On the 10th , while reconnoitering near Sabine City , a boat crew from " New London " captured a small sloop . Among the prisoners was Capt . Charles Fowler , CSN , who had commanded CSS " Josiah Bell " when the Confederate warship took and in January . On 18 April , another boat expedition was surprised and driven off by Confederate troops . On 7 July , with , " New London " engaged batteries below Donaldsonville , Louisiana . Three days later , while steaming to New Orleans , the ship engaged Confederate batteries at White Hall Point , Mississippi . Back off the Texas coast , she captured the schooner " Raton del Nilo " on 3 December . Post - war decommissioning and subsequent career . " New London " continued to serve the West Gulf Blockading Squadron through the end of the Civil War . She sailed north on 12 July 1865 and decommissioned at Boston , Massachusetts , 3 August 1865 . She was sold at public auction on 8 September 1865 to M . M . Comstock . Redocumented as " Acushnet " on 27 December 1865 , she operated in merchant service until 1910 .