CSS Rappahannock, a steam sloop-of-war, was built at the Blackwall Yard on the River Thames by Money Wigram & Son in 1855 as an Intrepid-class gunvessel for the Royal Navy and named HMS Victor.

Nevertheless, she succeeded in escaping from Sheerness, England, on November 24, with workmen still on board and only a token crew.

She was commissioned a Confederate man-of-war underway, but while passing out of the Thames Estuary her bearings burned out and she had to be taken across to Calais for repairs.

Detained on various pretexts by the French Government, Rappahannock never got to sea and was turned over to the United States at the close of the war.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.