She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

Penguin was purchased at New York City on 23 May 1861, was commissioned on 25 June 1861, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas A. Budd in command.

Assigned originally to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Penguin joined the Potomac Flotilla on 19 August 1861.

After the Civil War, Penguin returned to the U.S. East Coast, decommissioned at Boston, Massachusetts on 24 August and was sold, to Fogg and Co. on 8 September.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.