Funnily enough, this happened during the Civil War... with a Russian warship https://www.historynet.com/us-russian-alliance-civil-war/ https://www.historynet.c

Funnily enough, this happened during the Civil War... with a Russian warship https://www.historynet.com/us-russian-alliance-civil-war/ https://www.historynet.com/us-russian-alliance-civil-war/ > The reasons for the fleet’s visit remain open to interpretation. While there is little doubt that the Russian government saw it as an opportunity to display its support for the Lincoln administration, considerable self-interest was also at work. The Russians were anxious to avoid their misfortune of 10 years earlier when the British and French navies had been able to trap the Russian fleet in the Baltic during the Crimean War. Should war now break out over the Russians’ brutal suppression of a revolt in Poland, the czar wanted his fleet to be available and in position to raid enemy shipping. The voyage to North America also provided opportunities to demonstrate the Russian navy’s capabilities and to observe the Union ironclads that promised to revolutionize maritime warfare.