[4] Rodgers was appointed midshipman on 5 October 1833,[5] serving aboard the frigate Brandywine in the Pacific Squadron in 1834–35, then in the sloop Vincennes on the same station in 1836.

[4] After the war Rodgers returned to the U.S. Coast Survey for three years, before serving aboard the screw sloop Congress on the Brazil Station in 1850–51.

[7] Rodgers also saw action at the capture of Fort Pulaski in April 1862, before serving as captain of the flagship, the broadside ironclad New Ironsides at Charleston in 1863.

"[4][8] In March 1864 he recommissioned the screw sloop Iroquois, on an independent assignment to capture Confederate ships, which took him to the Mediterranean, and around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore in pursuit of the commerce raider CSS Shenandoah.

[9] Rodgers was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866,[5] and in 1867–68 commanded the screw frigate Franklin,[4] flagship of Admiral David Farragut in the European Squadron.

By upgrading and rationalizing the academy's curriculum, especially in regard to the new four-year course for engineers, introducing the first mechanical engineering course in the country, concentrating professional subjects in the first- and second-class years, and adding upper-level electives in mathematics, mechanics, physics, and chemistry, Rodgers laid the groundwork for an American naval renaissance in the 1880s.

[13] Rodgers was a member of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and was assigned insignia number 571.