USS Advance, the second United States Navy ship to be so named, was later known as USS Frolic, and was originally the blockade runner Advance captured by the Union Navy during the latter part of the American Civil War. She was purchased by the Union Navy and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She also served as dispatch ship and supply vessel when military action eventually slowed.
Construction and Irish service
Lord Clyde, named for Scottish military officer Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, was built for the packet service between Ireland and Scotland operated by the Dublin & Glasgow Sailing and Steam Packet Company. She was launched at Greenock, Scotland, by Caird & Co. as Yard No.97 on 3 July 1862. Lord Clyde was an iron-hulled vessel with a length of , a beam of , a depth of and a draft of . She measured and and was powered by a 2-cylinder oscillating side-lever steam engine of 350 nhp, also made by Caird, driving two side paddle wheels.
Service with the Confederacy
During the American Civil War, a growing shortage of supplies for the manufacture of uniforms for North Carolina troops in 1862 prompted incoming governor Zebulon B. Vance to propose that the state purchase its own blockade runner. With the assistance of British businessman Alexander Collie, Lord Clyde was purchased by the state of North Carolina and on 28 June 1863 she successfully ran the Union blockade into Wilmington.