Tremendous debate caused by this design delayed construction, preventing Wampanoag from being completed in time to serve in the American Civil War.

On 11 February, she commenced speed tests, running flat-out in rough weather from Barnegat Light, New Jersey, to Tybee Island, Georgia.

[2] This record for a United States Navy vessel stood for 21 years until it was broken by USS Charleston (C-2), though HMS Mercury (1878) achieved 18.6 knots on her trial a decade later.

Rear Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough, Commodore Charles S. Boggs, and Engineers Edward D. Robie, John W. Moore, and Isaac Newton judged the ship unacceptable for active duty in the Navy.

They calculated that of all the weight the hull could accommodate, 84% was taken up by engines, boilers and coal supplies, leaving only 16% for masts, sails, rigging, anchors, guns, provisions and water.

[b] As a result, Florida remained in ordinary at New York for five years before departing on 5 March 1874, bound for New London, Connecticut, to become a receiving and store ship at the naval station there.