USS Vanderbilt ( 1862 ) USS " Vanderbilt " ( 1862 ) was heavy ( 3 , 360 - ton ) steamer obtained by the Union Navy during the second year of the American Civil War . " Vanderbilt " – with her high speed of 14 knots — was outfitted with a large battery of heavy guns and sent out on the high seas in a futile search for commerce raiders of the Confederate States of America which were inflicting serious damage to Union commercial shipping . Later she served as part of the Union blockade of the Confederacy , and , post war , she had the honor of transporting the Queen of Hawaii from San Francisco , California , to Hawaii . Launched in New York in 1857 . " Vanderbilt " — originally a transatlantic passenger and mail steamer — was built by Jeremiah Simonson of Greenpoint , Long Island , New York , in 1856 and 1857 ; chartered by the Union Army shortly after the start of the Civil War in April 1861 ; offered to the Army by her owner , Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt , in early 1862 ; and transferred to the Navy on 24 March . Popularly known as " Vanderbilt ' s Yacht , " the former flagship of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt ' s North Atlantic Mail Steamship Line began her military career in Hampton Roads , Virginia , intended for use as a ram against the Confederate ironclad CSS " Virginia " . Commodore Vanderbilt , himself , suggested filling the bow of the vessel with concrete and reinforcing it with iron plating . Civil War service . Searching for the CSS " Alabama " . This was not done , however , and " Vanderbilt " was turned over to the Union Navy on 24 March and fitted with a heavy battery of 15 guns at the New York Navy Yard during the summer of 1862 . She left New York on 10 November and — after conducting a brief search for CSS " Alabama " , the most destructive Confederate commerce raider of the entire war — put into Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 17 January 1863 . Ten days later , " Vanderbilt " received orders to conduct a much longer and more thorough search for " Alabama " . This year - long cruise took the vessel to the West Indies , eastern coast of South America , Cape of Good Hope , St . Helena , Cape Verde , the Canary Islands , Spain and Portugal . During the West Indies portion of her deployment , " Vanderbilt " served as flagship of Commodore Charles Wilkes ' Flying Squadron . During the search , " Vanderbilt " captured the blockade - running British steamer " Peterhoff " on 25 February , off St . Thomas , Virgin Islands , causing a dispute between the British and Americans as to the disposition of mail carried aboard the steamer . President Abraham Lincoln eventually ordered the mail returned to the British . " Vanderbilt ' s " captures also included the British blockade runner " Gertrude " , taken off Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas on 16 April , and the British bark " Saxon " , seized at Angra Peguena , Africa , on 30 October . " Saxon " was suspected of having rendezvoused with and taken cargo off CSS " Tuscaloosa " earlier . However , pursuing leads as to the whereabouts of " Alabama " , herself , became increasingly frustrating as " Vanderbilt " would often arrive at a port only to discover that her quarry had departed only a few hours earlier . She eventually returned to New York City in January 1864 for repairs without ever having sighted the Confederate vessel . North Atlantic operations . " Vanderbilt " left New York City in September and cruised off Halifax , Nova Scotia , searching for blockade runners . The Halifax - Wilmington , North Carolina , route for blockade runners was used heavily at this time owing to outbreaks of yellow fever at Bermuda and Nassau , Bahamas . Nevertheless , the Union cruiser failed to take any prizes and put into Boston , Massachusetts , on 13 October . She was deployed with the blockade off Wilmington in November and participated in the unsuccessful first amphibious assault upon Confederate Fort Fisher in the Cape Fear River , North Carolina , on 24 and 25 December . The Fleet took the fort during a second amphibious assault on 13 and 15 January 1865 . " Vanderbilt " returned to New York in late January , remaining until 24 March when she left for the Gulf of Mexico ferrying new recruits . From there , she proceeded to Charleston , South Carolina , towing the uncompleted Confederate ram " Columbia " from Charleston to Norfolk , Virginia , in May , and towed the " Onondaga " from Norfolk to New York in June . " Vanderbilt " served as a receiving ship at the Portsmouth Navy Yard ( Maine ) during the summer of 1865 . Post - war operations . Circumnavigating the Americas . The Civil War now over , " Vanderbilt " sailed from Portsmouth on 14 August and put into the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 27 August to be fitted put for a cruise around Cape Horn . She left Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 25 October and arrived in Hampton Roads three days later . There , she was designated flagship of a special squadron consisting of herself , " Tuscarora " , " Powhatan " , and " Monadnock " . The squadron was commanded by Commodore John Rodgers and intended to increase the Pacific Squadron to a 14 - ship force . The vessels left Hampton Roads on 2 November and arrived at San Francisco , California , on 21 June 1866 after stopping at most major South American ports while circumnavigating the South American continent . Carrying Queen Emma to Hawaii . " Vanderbilt " was decommissioned at Mare Island , California , on 30 June , but was soon recommissioned and , on 13 October , sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu , Hawaii , with the Hawaiian monarch , Queen Emma of Hawaii , on board . Final decommissioning and subsequent career . The cruiser returned to San Francisco on 3 December and remained there at anchor until placed in ordinary at Mare Island on 24 May 1867 . She lay there , in ordinary , until sold on 1 April 1873 to Howe & Company of San Francisco . Her new owners removed her machinery , gave her a graceful clipper bow , and full rigging . Renamed " Three Brothers " , she spent most of her time in the grain trade between San Francisco , Le Havre , Liverpool , and New York City where she acquired an enviable reputation for speed and handling . " Vanderbilt ' s Yacht " served successive owners until 1899 , at which time the vessel , now a coal hulk , was sold for scrap at Gibraltar .