USS Arizona ( 1858 ) The first USS " Arizona " was an iron - hulled , side - wheel merchant steamship . Seized by the Confederate States of America in 1862 during the American Civil War , she was captured later the same year by the United States Navy . USS " Arizona " . USS " Arizona " was laid down in 1858 at the shipyard of Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington , Delaware , and completed in 1859 . She was intended to carry passengers and freight on a route from New Orleans to the Brazos River ( in Texas ) for the Southern Steamship Company but also made other voyages along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the United States . As " Caroline " . On 15 January 1862 , Confederate Maj . Gen . Mansfield Lovell seized SS " Arizona " at New Orleans . Her U . S . enrollment was surrendered and replaced by a Confederate Register on 17 March 1862 . " Arizona " was converted along with several of the faster steamers seized at the same time to run the blockade to Cuba . On her first voyage to Havana , " Arizona " took a provisional British registry from the British consul and was renamed " Caroline " . She served as a blockade runner for the Confederate States of America operating from New Orleans and Mobile to Havana . On the morning of 28 October 1862 , the side - wheeler was steaming from Havana to Mobile with a cargo of munitions when she was sighted by . The Union gunboat immediately set out in pursuit of the stranger , beginning a six - hour chase . When " Montgomery " pulled within range of " Caroline " , she opened fire with her 30 - pounder Parrott rifle and expended 17 shells before two hits brought the quarry to . Two boats from the blockader rowed out to " Caroline " and one returned with her master , a man named Forbes , who claimed to have been bound for the neutral port of Matamoros , Mexico , not Confederate Mobile . " I do not take you for running the blockade , " the flag officer , with tongue in cheek , replied , " but for your damned poor navigation . Any man bound for Matamoros from Havana and coming within twelve miles of Mobile light has no business to have a steamer . " As USS " Arizona " . Rear Admiral David Farragut sent the prize to Philadelphia where she was condemned by admiralty court . The Federal Government purchased her on 23 January 1863 . The Navy restored her original name , " Arizona " , and placed her in commission on 9 March 1863 , Lieutenant Daniel P . Upton in command . Nine days later , the steamer stood down the Delaware River and headed for the Gulf of Mexico . En route south , she chased and overtook the cotton - laden sloop " Aurelia " off Mosquito Inlet , Florida , on 23 March , captured her and sent her to Port Royal . Shortly before " Arizona " joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at New Orleans , Farragut had led a naval force up the Mississippi past Port Hudson to close off the flow of supplies down the Red River and across the Mississippi to Confederate armies fighting in the East . His warships met a fierce cannonade as they attempted to pass Port Hudson , and only the flagship and her consort made it safely through to the strategic stretch of the river between Port Hudson and Vicksburg . " Arizona " played an important role in strengthening Farragut ' s drastically reduced force and opening up communications between its commander and the rest of his squadron . From New Orleans she proceeded to Berwick Bay to join a naval force commanded by Commander Augustus P . Cook which , in cooperation with troops commanded by Major General Nathaniel P . Banks , was operating in the swampy backwaters of the Louisiana lowlands west of the Mississippi . On 14 April , while carrying army units , she , , and attacked CSS " Queen of the West " on Grand Gulf , a wide and still stretch of the Atchafalaya River . A shell from USS " Calhoun " blew up the " Queen of the West " ' s boiler and ignited the cotton lining her hull . The burning cotton - clad drifted downstream for several hours before running aground and exploding . The three Union steamers also captured 90 members of the doomed vessel ' s crew who had jumped overboard to escape scalding . Six days later , joined the same force and , working with four companies of Union infantry , took Fort Burton , a Southern battery consisting of two old siege gun s emplaced at Butte La Rose , Louisiana . This victory opened a passage for Union ships - through Atchafalaya Bay and the River of the same name - connecting the gulf with the Red and Mississippi Rivers . Thus , Farragut could bypass Port Hudson with supplies , messages , and ships . After this path was clear , " Arizona " entered the Red River and descended it to its mouth where she met Farragut ' s flagship , " Hartford " . On 3 May , she was part of a three - ship reconnaissance force that ascended the Red River until it encountered heavy fire from two large Confederate steamers , " Grand Duke " and " Mary T . " , which were supported by Southern shore batteries and sniper s . Since the narrow channel prevented the Union ships from maneuvering to bring their broadsides to bear on their attackers , they were compelled to retire . As they descended , the Northern vessels met a large force led by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter who ordered " Arizona " and " Estrella " to join him in a much more powerful drive up the Red River . He allowed , the third ship , to return to the Mississippi to report to Farragut . The next morning , Porter ' s force arrived at Fort DeRussy - an uncompleted stronghold the South had been building on the banks of the river - and found it abandoned . After partially destroying the fortifications , Porter continued on up stream to Alexandria which surrendered without resistance . Before Porter left the river , " Arizona " took part in a reconnaissance of the Black River , a tributary of the Red . On 10 May , she joined in an attack on Fort Beauregard at Harrisonburg , Louisiana , on the Ouachita River . Following her return to the Mississippi , " Arizona " supported operations against Port Hudson which finally fell on 9 July — five days after the surrender of Vicksburg — removing the last Southern hold on the river and finally cutting the Confederacy in two . " Arizona " then returned to New Orleans for repairs . During this work , Acting Master Howard Tibbito relieved Upton in command of the side - wheeler . On 4 September , " Arizona " departed New Orleans and proceeded to Southwest Pass to embark 180 sharpshooter s to be distributed among , , and herself in a forthcoming attack on Sabine Pass , Texas . She next proceeded to Atchafalaya Bay where she met her consorts and a group of Army transports , distributed her sharpshooters , and continued on to Sabine Pass . On the morning of 8 September , the combined force crossed the bar and then split , with " Sachem " and " Arizona " advancing up the Louisiana ( right ) channel , and " Clifton " and moving forward through the Texas ( left ) channel . When they arrived within range of the Confederate batteries they opened fire preparatory to landing the troops . The Southern gunners held their fire until the gunboats were within close range before countering with a devastating cannonade . A shot through her boiler totally disabled " Sachem " , another carried away ' s wheel rope , causing her to run aground under the Confederate guns . Crocker — who commanded " Clifton " as well as the whole naval force — fought his ship until , with ten men killed and nine others wounded , he ordered the magazine flooded to prevent its exploding , deeming it his duty " to stop the slaughter by showing the white flag . . . " " Sachem " also surrendered . " Clifton " was taken under tow by . With the loss of ' s and ' s firepower , the two remaining gunboats and troop transports recrossed the bar and departed for New Orleans . The Sabine Pass expedition had , in the words of Commodore Henry H . Bell , " totally failed " . Nevertheless , Major General Banks reported : " In all respects the cooperation of the naval authorities has been hearty and efficient . . . " " Arizona " subsequently served on blockade duty along the Texas coast , especially at Galveston . Later in the year , yellow fever broke out on board " Arizona " , forcing her back to New Orleans until the ship ' s company had returned to good health . During the month of November , she had made trips to Calcasieu Pass , Vermilion Bay , and Mermentau Lake on convoy and transport trips , and on 10 December she transported Captain John B . Marchand to Forts St . Philip and Jackson to investigate a mutiny . In December 1863 , " Arizona " went to Berwick Bay and , when the rise of water permitted , entered Grand Lake and the Atchafalaya and remained there on constant blockade . In February 1864 , she went to New Orleans and , when repaired , returned to Sabine Pass for blockade duty , one of 14 vessels under Captain Marchand in . That duty lasted until September 1864 when " Arizona " proceeded to New Orleans for repairs . There , she was fitted out for service as the flagship of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron . In January 1865 , Lieutenant Commander George Brown took command of the ship . On the evening of 27 February 1865 while underway from South West Pass to New Orleans , below New Orleans , a fire broke out in the engineer ' s after storeroom and spread very rapidly . Brown ordered the magazine flooded and , when no possibility of saving the ship remained , ordered the crew to the boats . Some leaped overboard and swam to shore . The vessel drifted to the west bank of the river , grounded , and burned until she exploded 35 minutes past midnight . Out of a crew of 98 on board four were missing .