Pennant numbers were introduced in 1898. The ships listed below represent the period of transition from sail power and wooden hulls to steam and iron. All were steam-powered but some had wooden hulls. A few - generally the ones with no builders identified - were merchant vessels acquired by the Navy at the outset of the Civil War. Most of the Civil War-period ships were sold at auction when the war ended and their subsequent careers are a mystery.
| Shipbuilder | Location | Name | Tons | Delivered | Disposition |
| Ironclads | |||||
| New Albany IN | Choctaw | 1853 | Sold 1866 | ||
| Cincinatti OH | General Sterling Price | 633 | 1856 | Sold 1866 | |
| Cincinatti OH | Chillicothe | 1862 | Sold 1865 | ||
| Bushnell Bros. | Mystic CT | Galena | 738 | 1862 | Scrapped 1872 |
| Merrick & Sons | Philadelphia PA | New Ironsides | 3,486 | 1862 | Destroyed by fire 1865 |
| Richmond VA | Texas | 1862 | Sold 1867 | ||
| Gilbert Elliot | Elizabeth City NC | Albemarle | 1863 | Sold 1867 | |
| Charles W. Whitney | New York NY | Keokuk | 677 | 1863 | Sunk by CSN 1864 |
| William H. Webb | New York NY | Dunderberg | 1865 | Sold to France 1867 as Rochambeau | |
| Bath Iron Works | Bath ME | Katahdin | 2,155 | 1893 | Sunk as target 1909 |
| Frigates | |||||
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Cumberland | 1,726 | 1842 | Sunk by CSS Virginia 1862 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Congress | 1,867 | 1842 | Sold 1865 |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | San Jacinto | 1,567 | 1850 | Sold 1871 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Merrimack | 3,200 | 1856 | Later CSS Virginia, scuttled 1856 |
| Philadelphia NSY | Philadelphia PA | Wabash | 4,808 | 1856 | Scrapped 1912 |
| Norfolk NSY | Portsmouth VA | Roanoke | 4,772 | 1857 | Scrapped 1883 |
| Norfolk NSY | Portsmouth VA | Colorado | 3,425 | 1858 | Sold 1885 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Ammonoosuc | 3,850 | 1864 | Sold 1883 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Franklin | 5,170 | 1867 | Sold 1915 |
| Sloops | |||||
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Saranac | 1,463 | 1850 | Wrecked 1875 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Hartford | 2,900 | 1859 | Sank at her berth 1958 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Narragansett | 1,235 | 1859 | Sold 1883 |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | Iroquois | 1,016 | 1859 | Struck 1910 |
| Philadelphia NSY | Philadelphia PA | Wyoming | 1,457 | 1859 | Sold 1892 |
| Norfolk NSY | Portsmouth VA | Dacotah | 996 | 1860 | Sold 1873 |
| Norfolk NSY | Portsmouth VA | Richmond | 2,604 | 1860 | Scrapped 1919 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Canandaigua | 1,395 | 1862 | Scrapped 1884 |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | Adirondack | 1,240 | 1862 | Wrecked in the Bahamas 1862 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Kearsarge | 1,550 | 1862 | Wrecked 1884 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Ossippee | 1,240 | 1862 | Sold 1891 |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | Lackawanna | 1,533 | 1863 | Sold 1887 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Sacramento | 2,100 | 1864 | Wrecked 1867 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Resaca | 1,129 | 1866 | Wrecked 1875 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Guerriere | 1867 | Sold 1872 | |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | Talladega | 2,400 | Cancelled 1867 | |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Contoocook | 2,348 | 1868 | Sold 1872 |
| New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | Plymouth | 1,122 | 1869 | Scrapped 1884 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | Benicia | 2,400 | 1869 | Sold 1884 |
| Philadelphia NSY | Philadelphia PA | Congress | 3,003 | 1870 | Sold 1883 |
| Portsmouth NSY | Kittery ME | California | 2,354 | 1870 | Sold 1875 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Worcester | 3,050 | 1871 | Sold 1883 |
| Boston NSY | Charlestown MA | Vandalia | 2,033 | 1876 | Wrecked 1889 |