This model of the USS Tyler was a converted side wheel gunboat. She was commissioned in September 1861 and was protected with thick wooden bulwarks.
She had 1 × 32-pounder gun and 6 × 8 in guns . The USS Tyler had a speed of 8Kts . She was 180 ft long and a beam of 45 ft. She had 61 officers and men In February 1862, USS Tyler assisted in General Ulysses S. Grant’s advance up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, helping in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, securing western Kentucky for Federal forces. Between assaults on the two forts, USS Tyler joined USS Conestoga and USS Lexington moving along the Tennessee River, destroying an important railroad bridge and capturing three Confederate gunboats