With defective boilers requiring repair, "Rhode Island" entered Boston Navy Yard on 28 March 1864 for overhaul and was decommissioned there on 21 April. Extensive alterations were made transforming "Rhode Island" into an auxiliary cruiser mounting one 11-inch gun, eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns, one 30-pounder (14 kg) Parrott rifle, and one 12-pounder (5 kg) rifle. Ordered to tow the monitor from Boston to New York on 26 September 1864, "Rhode Island" recommissioned on 3 October 1864 and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron soon afterward.