USS Levant

The first USS Levant was a second-class sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.

Levant was launched on 28 December 1837 by New York Navy Yard; and commissioned on 17 March 1838, with Commander Hiram Paulding in command.

Levant sailed from New York on 1 April 1838 for four years' service in the West Indies Squadron protecting American interests in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia, the sloop-of-war decommissioned 26 June 1842.

She recommissioned 27 March 1843, Comdr. Hugh N. Page in command, and departed Norfolk to join the Pacific Squadron under Commodore John D. Sloat. From 1843 to 1845 Levant cruised between Panama and Latin American ports carrying diplomats and dispatches and generally furthering American national policy.

With the Mexican–American War impending, Levant was ordered to the California coast to protect American citizens and property, and was en route when Mexico declared war on 12 May 1846. The sloop arrived off Monterey, California, on 1 July, and six days later a landing force from Levant, Savannah, and Cyane took possession of the recently proclaimed Republic of California.

On 23 July, Commodore Sloat relinquished command of the Pacific Squadron because of illness, and sailed 29 July in Levant for the east coast. Upon arriving at Norfolk on 28 April 1847, the sloop was placed in ordinary.

Levant was recommissioned on 12 July 1852, Comdr. George P. Upshur in command, and sailed for the Mediterranean. When Commander Upshur died on board Levant off Spezia, Italy on 3 November, Comdr. Louis M. Goldsborough, later to win fame in the American Civil War, took command. On 7 April 1853 at Leghorn, Italy, Levant loaded statues by American sculptor Horatio Greenough, including one of George Washington, destined for the Capitol at Washington, D.C. After embarking the U.S. Minister to Turkey and his family at Piraeus, Greece on 24 June, Levant sailed to Constantinople, arriving on 5 July. Returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 29 April 1855, Levant decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 4 May.

Recommissioned on 31 October, Comdr. William N. Smith in command, Levant sailed on 13 November for Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, and Hong Kong, where she arrived to join the East India Squadron on 12 May 1856. On 1 July she embarked the U.S. Commissioner to China for transportation to Shanghai, arriving 1 August. At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Chinese, Levant arrived Whampoa on 28 October. Comdr. Andrew H. Foote then sent a landing party from Levant and his own ship, Portsmouth, to Canton to protect American lives and property there. On 15 November, while in the process of withdrawing this force, Commander Foote was fired on while passing in a small boat by the "Barrier Forts" on the Pearl River below Canton. On the 16th Levant was towed upriver to join Portsmouth and San Jacinto in keeping the Pearl open to American shipping. As the forts were being strengthened in disregard of American neutrality, Foote was ordered by Commodore James Armstrong, commanding the squadron, "to take such measures as his judgment would dictate... even the capture of the forts."