Late in May, her effort in behalf of the Union cause in North Carolina was interrupted by General George McClellan's request for more naval assistance in his drive up the peninsula from Fort Monroe toward Richmond, Virginia.

At the end of August, after McClellan had evacuated his army, the double-ender was sent to the Norfolk Navy Yard for badly needed repairs before returning to the North Carolina sounds.

Back in fighting trim, Southfield departed Hampton Roads on December 2, arrived at Hatteras Inlet the next day, and proceeded to Plymouth, North Carolina.

Boats were lowered to pull the disabled ship downstream; but USS Commodore Perry, hearing the firing, steamed up, took Southfield in tow, and returned with her to Plymouth.

She and other Union gunboats also carried supplies through the blockade to sustain the beleaguered Northern troops, finally forcing the Southern attackers to withdraw on April 16.

The next day, Southfield headed back for Plymouth and, for the following year of relative quiet in the sounds of North Carolina, labored to protect the Union's tenuous hold on the region.

The air was rife with rumors that Rebel ironclad ram CSS Albemarle was ready to descend the Roanoke River to destroy the Union warships in the sounds.

That night, in anticipation of an attack by Albemarle, Southfield was brought alongside USS Miami, and the two ships were lashed together for mutual protection and concentration of firepower.

When the three ships collided, the ram scraped across Miami's bow, smashed through Southfield's starboard side, and pierced the wooden gunboat's boiler.

Before she could pull free from the wreck by backing her engines, the ram had taken on so much water that her forward deck was too far depressed to permit her to overtake Miami or to let her guns open fire on the departing side-wheeler.