USS Para, a 190-ton mortar schooner, was built in 1860 at Wilmington, Delaware, for commercial purposes. Purchased by the Navy in September 1861 and outfitted with guns and other military features, she was commissioned in February 1862 and sent to join the Mortar Flotilla on the lower Mississippi River. In April 1862, Para bombarded the Confederate forts below New Orleans. She also shelled Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the following June and July.

After transfer to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Para helped bombard Fort McAllister, Georgia, in March 1863. She captured a blockade running schooner in June 1863, and participated in an attack on New Smyrna, Florida, a month later. Other operations along the Florida coast followed, including the capture of the steamer Hard Times in February 1864. In July of that year Para took part in an expedition on South Carolina's Stono River. Decommissioned in August 1865, USS Para was sold in September 1865.