USS Chattanooga was constructed during the final years of the American Civil War, but was not commissioned because the war was winding down in the Union’s favor.

The first U.S. Navy ship to be so named, was built in Philadelphia, a screw steamer, was launched 13 October 1864 by William Cramp & Sons, and completed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The ship was named after the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

After sea trials in August 1866, Chattanooga returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was decommissioned 3 September 1866.

She remained inactive there and at League Island, where in December 1871 she was holed and sunk at her dock by floating ice.