USS Oneida (1809)

Configuration of typical brig-sloop
History
Name:	USS Oneida
Laid down:	1808
Launched:	1809
Commissioned:	1810
Fate:	Sold 15 May 1815, afterwards repurchased, laid up, and sold in 1825
General characteristics
Type:	Brig
Displacement:	243 long tons (247 t)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	100
Armament:	16 × 24-pounder carronades

The first USS Oneida was a brig of war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.

Oneida was built at Oswego, New York 1808–1809, under contract awarded by her first commanding officer, Lieutenant M. T. Woolsey, to Henry Eckford and Christian Bergh. Although her displacement was 243 tons by carpenter's measurement, her draft could compare with a sloop of 80 tons. This enabled her to enter the rivers feeding Lake Ontario without fear of grounding. She was delivered by the contractors in the spring of 1809, but was not equipped and sent upon the lake until the fall of 1810.

Oneida operated principally from Sackets Harbor, New York, not far from the commencement of the St. Lawrence, while the British port of Kingston lay nearly opposite in Canada.

On 5 June 1812, Oneida captured the British schooner Lord Nelson, while enforcing the Embargo Act of 1807. On 19 July, the British squadron sailed on Sackets Harbor where Oneida and her prize were anchored. After failing to gain the open lake, Oneida anchored again near a bank in a position to rake the harbor entrance. She mounted the guns from her off side ashore and presented a full battery. After an exchange of cannonade, of two hours duration, the British squadron broke off the engagement and sailed for Kingston, Canada.

On 8 November, Oneida, flying the broad pennant of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, sailed from Sackets Harbor to intercept British ships conveying supplies to the Army at Kingston. The sloop HMS Royal George was sighted and chased into the Bay of Quinte and lost sight of during the night. Sighted again the following morning, the chase was resumed. Oneida brought up the rear of the squadron to allow the heavy guns of her schooners to open way for a close attack. Royal George cut her mooring cables and attempted to make further headway up the channel, finally making fast to a wharf under the protection of troop muskets. Royal George suffered extensive damage, and Oneida had some damage aloft with one seaman killed and three wounded, but a gale ended the engagement and the Americans returned to Sackets Harbor.