USS Minnesota, a sailing/steam frigate, was launched in 1855 at the Washington Navy Yard and commissioned eighteen months later. She was decommissioned some five years later, then, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

The first Minnesota was actually named for the Minnesota River, keeping with the US Navy's tradition of naming sail and steam frigates for rivers, streams and bodies of water, not for the territory and later state of Minnesota.

During the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, Minnesota ran aground, and the following battle badly damaged her and inflicted many casualties. On the second day of the battle, Monitor engaged Virginia, allowing tugs to free Minnesota on the morning of 10 March. Minnesota was repaired and returned to duty, and she served until 1898, when she was stricken, beached and burnt to recover her metal fittings and to clear her name for a newly-ordered battleship.