The ship played a critical role in the Union Navy victory at the First Battle of Memphis and sank the Confederate flagship CSS Colonel Lovell.

The hull was reinforced, the forward end filled with hard oak wood, the steam-engine secured and the pilot house protected by thick wooden planks.

[4] On June 6, Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr. led the ram ships in the First Battle of Memphis as captain of the Queen of the West.

The Queen of the West rammed the Arkansas but inflicted only minor damage and rejoined the Mississippi River Squadron ships above Vicksburg.

The Queen of the West also conducted operations in the Yazoo River clearing mines and engaging Confederate batteries.

On November 5, Charles Rivers Ellet was promoted to the rank of colonel[7] and assigned command of the ram fleet.

Ellet intended to "run the gauntlet" of Vicksburg by cover of night, however delays resulted in passage of the guns at daybreak.

[11] Once past the batteries, the Queen of the West found the City of Vicksburg docked, rammed her, and set her ablaze with turpentine-soaked balls fired from the forward gun.

[14] The Queen of the West rendezvoused with the De Soto and on February 12, both ships went down the Atchafalaya River to Simmesport, Louisiana in search of Confederate forces.

[15] The Queen of the West continued upstream to investigate reports of steamships at Gordon's Landing near Marksville, Louisiana.

She came under heavy fire by the shore batteries of Fort DeRussy and was run aground onto the right bank by her pilot instead of backing down river as ordered.

[16] In conjunction with the Confederate ram, CSS Webb, she forced the surrender of USS Indianola in the Mississippi River below Vicksburg on February 24.

[17] On April 11, 1863, she was attacked on the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana by Union ships USS Estrella, Calhoun, and Arizona.

A shell from Calhoun set fire to Queen of the West's cotton, and her burning wreck drifted down the river for several hours before she grounded and exploded.