High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Carolina, a schooner, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the British colony that became the states of North Carolina and South Carolina. Her keel was laid down at Charleston, South Carolina. She was purchased by the Navy while still on the stocks, launched on 10 November 1812, and commissioned on 4 June 1813 with Lieutenant J. D. Henley in command.