USS Stars and Stripes, a 407-ton (burden) screw steam gunboat, was built at Mystic, Connecticut, for commercial employment. The Navy purchased her new in July 1861, converted her to a warship and placed her in commission in September. Stars and Stripes initially served along the North Carolina Outer Banks, where she took a sailing blockade runner in mid-December 1861. In February and March 1862 she participated in the capture of Roanoke Island and New Bern. While on blockade duty during the summer she helped destroy the steamer Modern Greece and seized another sailing ship.

Following repairs in September 1862 Stars and Stripes was sent to join the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, which operated off western Florida. She was involved in the capture or destruction of additional sailing blockade runners in 1863 and took the steamship Laura on 18 January 1864. The gunboat was also active in raids to destroy Confederate salt works and other economic enterprises. Returning north after the Civil War's end, USS Stars and Stripes was decommissioned at the end of June 1865 and sold at auction in August. Under the names Stars and Stripes and Metropolis, she engaged in civilian trade until wrecked on the coast of North Carolina on 31 January 1878.