The first USS Gettysburg was a steamer in the Union Navy. The ship was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1858, named Douglas, and operated for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between Liverpool, United Kingdom and Douglas on the Isle of Man until November 1862. She was then sold to the Confederacy, renamed Margaret and Jessie, and operated as a blockade runner until her capture by the Union on 5 November 1863. The ship was renamed Gettysburg, and commissioned into the Union Navy on 2 May 1864. During her military service, Gettysburg operated with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, was involved in both the first and second attacks on Fort Fisher, helped lay telegraph cables between Key West and Havana and undertook navigational surveys of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Gettysburg was decommissioned on 6 May 1879 and sold two days later. Construction and dimensions Douglas was built by Robert Napier & Co. in Glasgow in 1858. Napier's also supplied her engines and boilers. Her purchase cost was £17,500, plus an allowance from Napier's of £5,000 for the King Orry. Douglas had a tonnage of ; length 205 feet; beam 26 feet; depth 14 feet and a service speed of 17 knots. The first Steam Packet steamer with a straight stern, no fiddle bow and no figurehead. She was launched at 13:30hrs on Wednesday 28 April 1858, the christening of the ship being performed by the wife of John Napier. Also in attendance on behalf of the Isle of Man Steam Packet was Captain Edward Quayle, the Commodore of the Company. The launch had been delayed for a short period as the berth where her fitting out was to take place was occupied by another vessel. Following her launching she was towed to Launcefield Dock in order to receive her engines. Douglas was fitted with a full complement of lifeboats, these being fitted with Clifford's patent lowering apparatus, which enabled the boats to be lowered safely whilst the vessel was under steam. Below the main saloon and ladies cabin, in one of the watertight compartments was the cargo hold which also contained two fresh water storage tanks each capable of accommodating 500 gallons of water. Moving aft, the cargo hold was followed by the fuel bunkers, furnaces and engines. Pre-Civil War Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, 1858–1862 PS (RMS) Douglas (I) No. 20683; the first ship in the