The first USS Colorado, a , three-masted steam screw frigate, was launched on 19 June 1856, by the Norfolk Navy Yard. Named after the Colorado River, she was sponsored by Ms. N. S. Dornin, and commissioned on 13 March 1858, with Captain W. H. Gardner, in command. She was the fifth of the "Franklin-class" frigates, which were all named after US rivers, except for . Pre-Civil War Putting to sea from Boston on 12 May 1858, Colorado cruised in Cuban waters deterring the practice of search by British cruisers until 6 August, when she returned to Boston and was placed in ordinary until 1861. Civil War Colorado was recommissioned on 3 June 1861, and sailed from Boston on 18 June, to join the Union Navy's Gulf Blockading Squadron. She was under the task force commander, Commodore William Marvine, acting as his flagship for the Blockade. On 14 September, an expedition under Lieutenant J. H. Russell, from Colorado, cut out the schooner Judah, believed to be preparing for service as a privateer and spiked one gun of a battery at the Pensacola Navy Yard, losing three men in the raid. On 11 December, another expedition was sent to Pilot Town, and succeeded in capturing a small schooner and two men. Colorado assisted in the capture of the steamer Calhoun (or Cuba) on 23 January 1862, off South West Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and a week later engaged four Confederate steamers. In April 1862, Colorado, built for fighting at sea, was prevented from participating in the Battle of New Orleans because her draft was too deep to cross the bar. Nineteen guns and one howitzer were removed and distributed across the fleet. She returned to Boston, on 21 June, and was decommissioned from 28 June-10 November. Colorado sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 9 December, to rejoin the blockading force off Mobile, Alabama, on 13 March 1863. She shared in the capture of the schooner Hunter on 17 May. Returning to Portsmouth Navy Yard, on 4 February 1864, she was again placed out of commission from 18 February-1 September. Clearing Portsmouth, on 6 October, she joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and cruised off the coast of North Carolina, until 26 January 1865. Colorado participated in the bombardment and capture of Fort Fisher from 13 to 15 January. She was struck six times by enemy fire which killed