User:Dhartung/USS Fulton (1837)

The USS Fulton was a side-wheel steamship of the US Navy named for steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton.

Built in the New York Navy Yard in 1837, the Fulton served as a coastal defense ship until 1842, in many respects a more advanced version of her predecessor USS Fulton the First. In 1851 the ship was rebuilt along more conventional lines to serve the cruising missions preferred by the Navy. She served in the Caribbean and Atlantic Seaboard theaters, participated in the Paraguay expedition of 1858-59, and performed anti-slavery patrols near Cuba where she was damaged by grounding. Laid up in Pensacola, Florida when the American Civil War broke out, and having been seized by Florida for use in the Confederate Navy, she was destroyed by the Confederacy just before the city was retaken by Union forces in 1862.

She was also known as Fulton II or Fulton the Second, and after the 1851 refit, Fulton III or Fulton the Third.