Artist rendering of Vixen rigged as a brig
Career
Ordered:	28 February 1803
Laid down:	1803
Launched:	25 June 1803
Commissioned:
Decommissioned:
Fate:	22 November 1812, captured by British 1812, wrecked the United States naval jack File links The following pages link to this file: USS Indianapolis (CA-35) USS Monitor USS Peleliu (LHA-5) USS Oregon (BB-3) USS Akron (ZRS-4) USS Housatonic (1861) USS Holland (SS-1) USS S-1 (SS-105) USS R-14 (SS-91) USS... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	170 tons
Length:	83 ft 6 in
Beam:	23 ft 2 in
Draft:	9 ft 6 in
Propulsion:	Sail
Speed:
Range:
Complement:	111 officers and enlisted
Armament:	12 18-pdr car.

The first USS Vixen was a schooner in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War. Two-masted fishing schooner A schooner is a type of sailing ship characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Burning of the frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804, by Edward Moran, painted 1897, depicts a naval action of 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; and launched on 25 June, Lieutenant John Smith in command. The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... City nickname: Charm City Location in the state of Maryland Founded 30 July 1729 County Independent city Mayor Martin OMalley (Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 349. ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ...

Designed especially for operations in the shoal waters off the coast of Tripoli, Vixen joined Commodore Edward Preble's squadron for duty in the Tripolitan War of 1801 to 1805 immediately upon her commissioning. She sailed from Baltimore on 3 August and deployed with the squadron off Gibraltar on 14 September. Commodore Preble dispatched Vixen and the frigate Philadelphia to Tripoli in October 1803 to establish the blockade there. However, Vixen soon departed in search of two Tripolitan warships and was not present when Philadelphia grounded and was captured on the 31st. 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. Tripoli (population 1 million, Arabic: Ţarabulus) is the capital of Libya. ... Edward Preble (15 August 1761 - 25 August 1807) was a U.S. naval officer. ... Sailing frigates were 4th, 5th, or 6th-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... The second USS Philadelphia of the United States Navy was a 28 gun sailing frigate. ... William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774 – July 28, 1833) was a Commodore in the United States Navy, notable for his victory over HMS Java during the War of 1812. ...

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, and Commodore Preble later followed this up with five heavy bombardments of the pirate state on 3, 7, 24, and 29 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. She was rerigged as a brig in September 1804, ostensibly to improve her sailing qualities, and was with the squadron, now under Commodore John Rodgers, in actions before Tunis in August 1805. The warship returned to the United States one year later in August 1806. Stephen Decatur, Jr. ... In sailing, a brig is a vessel with two masts at least one of which is square rigged. ... John Rodgers (11 July 1772 - 1 August 1838), American naval officer, was born near present Havre de Grace, Maryland. ...

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. She continued this duty 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 Read. During one of her war cruises among the West Indies, Vixen was chased, intercepted, and captured by the 32-gun British frigate HMS Southhampton on 22 November 1812. Both vessels were soon afterwards wrecked on Concepcion Island in the Bahamas, but the officers and crews all survived. Lt. Read, however, died of yellow fever in Jamaica before he could be exchanged. The Washington Navy Yard is the U.S. Navys oldest shore establishment. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... James Lawrence (October 1, 1781–June 4, 1813) was an American naval hero. ... The War of 1812 was a conflict fought in North America between the United States and Great Britain from 1812 to 1815. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ...

See USS Vixen for other ships of this name.

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS for short) is the primary reference work for the basic facts about every ship ever used by the United States Navy. ...