Iron Age was built at Kennebunk, Maine, in 1862; then purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, 28 April 1863 and commissioned 25 June 1863, Lt. Comdr.

That day she sailed from Boston in search of Confederate commerce raider, CSS Tacony, which was taking a heavy toll of New England shipping.

On her fifth day of blockade duty, she discovered a runner attempting to escape, drove her back, and forced her to run ashore just abreast of Fort Fisher.

In January 1864, the Confederate blockade runner Bendigo, returning from the port of Nassau with critical supplies for the Confederacy, saw the wreck of Elizabeth and thought it to be a Union warship.

After untiring efforts to lighten her failed, she was put to the torch at 04:00 on 11 January, and was destroyed an hour and a half later when her magazine exploded.