USS St. Louis (1828)

St. Louis serving as a receiving ship at Philadelphia, 1874. She has been housed over to provide accommodations, but she still retains her masts and the stump of her bowsprit
History
Name:	USS St. Louis
Namesake:	St. Louis, MO
Laid down:	12 February 1827
Launched:	18 August 1828
Commissioned:	20 December 1828
Decommissioned:	12 May 1865
Struck:	9 August 1906
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 5 June 1907
General characteristics
Type:	Sloop-of-war
Displacement:	700 long tons (711 t)
Length:	127 ft (39 m)
Beam:	33 ft 9 in (10.29 m)
Draft:	15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	125 officers and enlisted
Armament:	20 × 24-pounder smoothbore guns

USS St. Louis was a sloop in the United States Navy through most of the 19th century.

St. Louis was laid down on 12 February 1827 at the Washington Navy Yard; launched on 18 August 1828; and commissioned on 20 December 1828, Master Commandant John D. Sloat in command.

On the day of her commissioning, St. Louis got underway and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, for final outfitting. She departed Hampton Roads on 14 February 1829 and headed for Havana, Cuba. Thence, she proceeded, via Rio de Janeiro and Cape Horn, to Callao, Peru. Arriving there on 20 June, the sloop of war joined the Pacific Squadron under Commodore Jacob Jones; and, until 8 September 1831, she cruised the coasts of the Americas to protect the trade and interests of the United States. On that day, she sailed for Cape Horn and the east coast; and arrived off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on 9 December. She was laid up in ordinary at New York City on the 25th.

Recommissioned on 19 September 1832, St. Louis departed New York on 12 October to base at Pensacola, Florida, as a unit of the West Indies Squadron. She spent the following six years, largely as flagship for the squadron, cruising the Caribbean. On 28 May 1838, she sailed from Havana for New York where she again was placed in ordinary on 1 July and laid up until 5 April 1839.

St. Louis sailed on 30 June to join the Pacific Squadron at Monterey, California. En route, she put in at San Francisco, California where her commanding officer interceded with the government of California for imprisoned foreign residents. She had the distinction of being the first American man-of-war to carry the flag into that port. Following operations off the coast of Peru, she returned to Norfolk on 15 September 1842 and was laid up in ordinary there the following day.