The first USS Wyoming of the United States Navy was a wooden-hulled screw sloop that fought on the Union side during the American Civil War. Sent to the Pacific Ocean to search for the CSS Alabama, Wyoming eventually came upon the shores of Japan and engaged Japanese land and sea forces. On 16 July 1863, Wyoming won the first-ever United States naval victory over Japan in the Battle of Shimonoseki Straits. Service history The ship was laid down at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in July 1858, launched on 19 January 1859, sponsored by Mary Florida Grice, and commissioned in October 1859, Commander John K. Mitchell in command. She was named for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, not the state of Wyoming which did not yet exist. West Coast, 1859–1862 Wyoming soon sailed via Cape Horn for the Pacific and arrived off the coast of Nicaragua in April 1860. There, she relieved and operated along the Pacific coast of the United States and Central America into the spring of 1861. During that time, she participated in the search for Levant when that warship disappeared in the late autumn of 1860. The outbreak of the Civil War found Wyoming at San Francisco, California, preparing for another cruise. She was instructed to remain in the vicinity of the Golden Gate to protect mail steamers operating off the California coast, but CDR Mitchell — a naval officer of Southern origin and persuasion — defied his orders and took his ship to Panama instead. Mitchell's flagrant disobedience cost him his command and also resulted in his dismissal from the service. As a result, Wyoming came under the temporary command of her executive officer, Lt. Francis K. Murray, on 4 July 1861. While returning to Monterey, California, Wyoming was plagued by mishaps. First, her bottom struck a coral head off La Paz, Baja California Sur, and was pulled free only after three days aground during which she lost her false keel. She then ran short of coal and arrived at Monterey with empty bunkers. Wyoming subsequently shifted to San Francisco where, on 9 August, she received a new commanding officer, Commander David McDougal. The warship then proceeded to the coast of Lower California to protect American whaling interests against possible incursions by Confederate cruisers. After that service, she operated in South American waters into 1862. Far East, 1862–1863 Following repairs at Mare Island, Wyoming received orders