USS Vixen (1803)
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.jpg) Artist's rendering of Vixen rigged as a brig | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Vixen |
| Ordered | 28 February 1803 |
| Builder | William Price |
| Cost | $20,872 |
| Laid down | 1803 |
| Launched | 25 June 1803 |
| Commissioned | 3 August 1803 |
| Fate | Captured by the British, 22 November 1812, and wrecked 27 November |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Schooner |
| Displacement | 170 long tons (170 t) |
| Length | 83 ft 6 in (25.45 m) |
| Beam | 23 ft 2 in (7.06 m) |
| Depth of hold | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 111 officers and enlisted |
| Armament | 14 × 6-pounder[1] |
USS Vixen was a schooner in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War. Vixen was one of four vessels authorized by Congress on 28 February 1803. She was built at Baltimore, Maryland, in the spring of 1803, by the agency of Col. Stricker.[2] Lt. Andrew Sterrett was ordered to assist in supervision of construction in late May.[3] In a letter dated 7 June Lieutenant John Smith was ordered to take over supervision of construction.[4] She was launched on 25 June, Lieutenant Smith in command.
First Barbary War
Designed especially for operations in the shoal waters off the coast of Tripoli, Vixen joined Commodore Edward Preble's squadron for duty in the First Barbary War (1801–1805) immediately upon her commissioning. She sailed from Baltimore on 3 August 1803 under the command of Lieutenant John Smith, arriving in Hampton Roads on 5 August, sailing from there on 11 August[5] and deployed with the squadron off Gibraltar on 14 September.[6] Commodore Preble dispatched Vixen and the frigate Philadelphia in October to establish a blockade of Tripoli.[7] However, Vixen soon departed in search of two Tripolitan warships and was not present when Philadelphia grounded and was captured on September 30th. Instead, she carried the dispatches announcing the loss of the frigate and the imprisonment of Captain William Bainbridge, his officers, and crew back to Gibraltar in December.
Retribution for this latest action by the Tripoli pirates came swiftly and dramatically. Lt. Stephen Decatur, Jr., boarded and destroyed Philadelphia where she lay in Tripoli harbor on 16 February 1804. On 24 February she was in a collision with Merchantman "Port Mary" that she was convoying off Gozo. There was damage to her stern, boat davits, her boar was lost and main boom broken.[8] Commodore Preble later followed this up with five heavy bombardments of the pirate state on the 3, 7, 24, and 28 August, and on 3 September. Vixen participated in all these actions, and performed tactical service by helping to coordinate the movements of the various American vessels. While in Malta in 16 October 1804, she was rerigged as a brig,[9][10] ostensibly to improve her sailing qualities. On 3 July command changed from Master Commandant John Smith to Master Commandant George Cox.[11] On 30 July she was with the U.S. fleet at Tunis.,[12] now under Commodore John Rodgers, in actions before Tunis in August 1805. On 3 June 1806 sailed from Gibraltar for the United States, arriving at Charleston, South Carolina on 20 July, then departing 28 July for the Washington Navy Yard, arriving 3 August 1806.[6][13]
Between wars
Vixen was placed in ordinary at the Washington Navy Yard immediately upon her return from the Mediterranean. She left the yard one year later and subsequently operated along the Atlantic coast under Lieutenants James Lawrence and Charles Ludlow.
On 18 June 1810, Vixen came upon on the sloop HMS Moselle off Barbados, which fired on her. Commander Henry Boys apologized to the Americans, reporting that he had been unable to make out her colors and that he thought she might be a French privateer that he was seeking. The Americans suffered one casualty, a man wounded in the mouth by a splinter.[14]
War of 1812
Vixen continued patrolling the Atlantic coast until the outbreak of the War of 1812, at which time she sailed along the southern coast under Master Commandant Christopher Gadsden, Jr., and, after his death on 28 August 1812, under Lt. George Washington Reed, youngest son of General Joseph Reed. During one of her war cruises among the West Indies, Vixen encountered the 32-gun British frigate Southampton, under the command of Captain James Lucas Yeo. Southampton chased, intercepted, and captured Vixen on 22 November 1812.
Yeo described Vixen as a brig armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and two 9-pounder guns. She had a crew of 130 men and had been out five weeks but had not captured anything.[15]
