The U.S.S. Brooklyn was launched in 1858 and was commissioned in 1859. She had eight captains throughout the Civil War, but the deck logs I studied focused on Captain James Alden who commanded the ship from April 14th, 1864 to January 31st, 1865. The intentions for the ship were meant for it to be in the West Indies, but instead the ship spent its time in the Civil War patrolling the Gulf of Mexico as a blockade ship to prevent shipping of supplies to the Confederacy. The U.S.S. Brooklyn was used by the Union as part of the West Coast Blockading Force. The ship was 233 feet long with six muzzle loading rifles, 4 howitzers, and 87 smoothbores during the time it served in the war. During the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5th, 1864, it was one of the leading steam ships for the battle. The ship won eight war prizes for its service and was featured in Harper's Weekly a total of four times, three of those times being in 1861, and once again in 1864.