USS Penguin, a 389-ton (burden) screw steam gunboat, was built at Mystic, Connecticut, in 1859 as a commercial steamship. She was purchased by the Navy in May 1861, during the early stages of the Civil War expansion of Federal forces. Placed in commission in June, she intially operated with the Potomac Flotilla and off North Carolina, where in early August she chased a blockade runner until it ran aground and was wrecked.

In October 1861, Penguin was sent south to participate in the combined Army-Navy operation that captured Port Royal, South Carolina. She captured a sailing blockade runner in late November and took part in the seizure of positions along the northern Florida and Georgia coast during March-May 1862.

In 1863 Penguin was reassigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, where she was active along the Texas coast. While there, she was involved in the destruction of the blockade running steamers Matagorda in July 1864 and Granite City in January 1865. USS Penguin was sold in August 1865, some months after the end of the Civil War. Soon returning to commercial service as the steamer Florida, she was converted to a sailing schooner in 1884.