Though ready for launch by 1825, she remained on the stocks for preservation; an economical measure that avoided the expense of manning and maintaining a ship of the line.

She returned to Norfolk, Virginia, on 8 June 1866, serving as a receiving ship there until 10 May 1876, when she sailed back to Port Royal.

Four of New Hampshire's crewmen earned the Medal of Honor for jumping overboard to rescue fellow sailors from drowning in two separate 1882 incidents: Quartermaster Henry J. Manning and Ship's Printer John McCarton on 4 January 1882, and Boatswain's Mate James F. Sullivan and Chief Boatswain's Mate Jeremiah Troy on 21 April 1882.

The following year, she was loaned as a training ship for the New York Naval Militia, which was to furnish nearly 1,000 officers and men to the Navy during the Spanish–American War.

[8] The towline parted during a storm, she again caught fire and sank off Half Way Rock near Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, on 26 July.