USS Congress (1868)

USS Congress was a Contoocook-class sloop of the United States Navy. She was laid down during the American Civil War to deter British intervention in 1864, although timber shortages and a rushed construction delayed progress. The sloop was initially planned to be named Pushmataha, but several changes to naming policies renamed her first to Cambridge and later Congress. Launched in 1868, her commissioning was delayed until 1870 in an attempt to season the wood.

Between 1870 and 1871, Congress served as the flagship of the South Atlantic Squadron. In 1871, she carried supplies to USS Polaris at Greenland in preparation for the Polaris expedition. Later that year, she served as the flagship during a visit by the Russian Navy to the US. Between 1872 and 1876, she made two tours with the Mediterranean Squadron and visited both Africa and Europe. She was decommissioned after a visit to the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and laid up. She was sold off in 1883 to be broken up and moored off New York alongside several other decommissioned ships. On 21 August 1885, a fire on an adjacent vessel broke out; Congress sank after catching fire and another ship's mast collapsed on top of her.