USS Aries was an 820-ton iron screw steamer built at Sunderland, England, during 1861–1862, intended for employment as a blockade runner during the American Civil War. She was captured by Union Navy forces during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America, and was commissioned as a Union gunboat. Aries was named for the constellation. Although sold by the United States Navy post-war in 1865, Aries – the first ship to bear that name for the U.S. Navy – continued her work in the merchant service for nearly half a century, before being scrapped in 1908.