Shortly after noon on 8 March, the tug was moored to a wharf at Newport News, Virginia, when the quartermaster spotted some black smoke near the mouth of the Elizabeth River.

After a Confederate flag came in view, the men on Zouave concluded that the strong looking craft was the long expected Southern ironclad CSS Virginia—the rebuilt Merrimack—finally emerging to challenge the Union blockaders.

Zouave then opened up with her 30-pounder Parrott rifle and fired about a half-dozen rounds before she was recalled by a signal hoisted on board Cumberland.

By this time, the Union warships in Hampton Roads and batteries at Newport News had also opened fire on the Southern ironclad.

When Virginia reached a position abreast of Congress, she fired a broadside into that Union frigate and headed straight for Cumberland.

At this point, Zouave was in between the fire of Virginia, that of her escorts Patrick Henry and Jamestown, and the "friendly" Union guns based ashore at Newport News and Fort Monroe.

On 26 October 1862, Zouave received instructions to hail USS Delaware, then cruising between the Piankatank and York Rivers, Virginia, and ordering her to report to Hampton Roads to prepare for duty in the North Carolina sounds.

She served as part of the Union force capturing the formidable Confederate position at Hill's Point on the Nansemond River, Virginia, on 20 April 1863.