USS Commodore Hull, a 376-ton gunboat, was built at the New York in 1861 as the civilian ferryboat Nuestra Señora del Regla, intended for use at Havana, Cuba. Purchased by the Navy in September 1862, she was converted to a gunboat and commissioned in the following November. Her ferryboat design made her especially useful for operations in sheltered waters, and Commodore Hull spent most of her service in the North Carolina Sounds and its adjacent rivers. In that area, she took part in the 5 May 1864 battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle, and in attacks on and the capture of Plymouth, N.C., on 29-31 October 1864. Though badly damaged in the latter action, Commodore Hull remained active until the end of the Civil War. Decommissioned in June 1865 and sold in September of that year, she subsequently was named Waccamaw in civilian employment, which lasted until sometime prior to 1885.
USS Commodore Hull was named in honor of Commodore Isaac Hull (1773-1843), a signficant Naval commander during and after the War of 1812.
