USS Galena was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

The ship was initially assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and supported Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.

She was damaged during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff because her armor was too thin to prevent Confederate shots from the guns of Fort Darling from penetrating her hull.

Repairs were completed in March 1865 and Galena rejoined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in Hampton Roads the following month.

After the United States received word of the construction of the Confederate casemate ironclad, CSS Virginia, Congress appropriated $1.5 million on 3 August to build one or more armored steamships.

[1] Well before this date, Cornelius Bushnell had commissioned a design for an armored sloop from naval architect Samuel H. Pook in June for $1,500 anticipating an order from the Union Navy to counter the Confederate ironclad already known to be under construction.

Bushnell expected that order because his bid, at a higher cost, for building the steam Unadilla-class gunboat Owasco had already been accepted provided that he subcontract the construction to Charles Mallory & Sons Shipyard of Mystic, Connecticut.

He could and subcontracted the building of his design to Maxson, Fish & Co., also of Mystic, on 20 July, the day after a bill to authorize construction of a number of armored ships was introduced in the Senate.

The board required a guarantee from Bushnell that his ship would float despite the weight of its armor and he needed to have his design reviewed by a naval constructor to that end.

Despite a preliminary rejection, the board accepted Ericsson's proposal on 16 September after he explained his design in person the previous day.

The Monitor was the most innovative design by virtue of its low freeboard, shallow-draft iron hull, and total dependence on steam power.

The rubber backing was replaced by an additional 5⁄8 inch (16 mm) of iron although Commodore Joseph Smith, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and Pook were uncertain if the ship could support this weight.

[12] Galena arrived in Hampton Roads on 24 April, after having suffered several engine breakdowns en route,[13] and was assigned to Flag Officer L.M.

[12] On 8 May, the ship, together with the gunboats Port Royal and Aroostook, sailed up the James River with orders to cooperate with Major General George B. McClellan's Army in Peninsula Campaign and harass retreating Confederate forces.

[17] Two sailors and one marine aboard Galena were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle: Fireman Charles Kenyon, Quartermaster Jeremiah Regan, and Corporal John F. Mackie.

She shelled Confederate soldiers along the river banks and bombarded City Point to cover a landing force which set fire to the depots.

Galena patrolled the river to defend transports and supply ships against Confederate raids and ambushes until she was detached from the James River Flotilla in September 1862[12] Galena and Monitor were retained at Newport News, Virginia, in case the Confederate ironclads building at Richmond sortied into Hampton Roads.

[21] Most of her ineffective armor was removed, except around the engines and boilers; her armament was increased to eight nine-inch Dahlgren guns and a single 100-pounder Parrot rifle,[22] and she was rebuilt as a ship-rigged sloop with three masts.

The ship became icebound at New Castle, Delaware, until she was towed out to sea by an ice boat, and was forced to put into port for repairs.

[12] Rear Admiral David Farragut, commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, was to split his ships into two columns.

[25] While passing the fort, Oneida had her starboard boiler disabled by a shell hit and her crew was attempting to reroute her steam to both engines when she was engaged by Tennessee at a range of 200 yards (180 m).