USS Underwriter (1852)

Underwriter—a wooden-hulled side-wheel steamer—was built for merchant service at Brooklyn, New York in 1852. She was in length, with a beam of and draft of . Her registered (gross) tonnage was 341. Underwriter was powered by a single-cylinder steam engine of unknown type, with bore of and stroke of . Her boilers, of the double return drop flue type, were in length by in diameter. Both engine and boilers were built by the West Street Foundry of Brooklyn. ==Service history==

Underwriter was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 23 August 1861, and commissioned there on 22 August, Lt. James M. Prichett in command. Assigned to the Potomac Flotilla, USS Underwriter arrived in the Potomac River off Aquia Creek, Virginia, ill-prepared for active duty, and was sent to the Washington Navy Yard on 28 August for extensive repairs and alterations. While laid up, she was transferred to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. == References ==