USS St. Mary's (1844)

USS St. Mary's in drydock at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, ca. 1854
History
Name:	USS St. Mary's
Builder:	Washington Navy Yard
Laid down:	1843
Launched:	1844
Commissioned:	1844
Decommissioned:	1873
Fate:	Scrapped, 1908
General characteristics
Type:	Sloop-of-war
Displacement:	958 long tons (973 t)
Length:	149 ft 3 in (45.49 m)
Beam:	37 ft 4 in (11.38 m)
Draft:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	195 officers and enlisted
Armament:	16 × 32-pounder guns 6 × 8 in (200 mm) Paixhans guns

The second USS St. Mary's was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.

St. Mary's was built in 1843-44 at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., was commissioned in the fall of 1844, Commander John L. Saunders in command.

Designated initially for duty with the Mediterranean Squadron, St. Mary's was at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania awaiting the sailing of her squadron, under Commodore , when tension over Mexican-Texan-American territorial disputes heightened during the winter of 1845. On 1 March, President John Tyler signed a joint resolution of Congress recommending the annexation of Texas. By the end of the month, Mexico had severed diplomatic relations with the new James Polk Administration, and Stockton's Squadron was ordered south to reinforce that of Commodore David Conner in the Gulf of Mexico.

At the end of April, Stockton's ships sailed to Galveston, Texas where they stood by as a Texas convention voted on acceptance of the resolution. On 3 July, St. Mary's, detached from duty off Galveston, was ordered to join Conner's Squadron. On the 4th, the Texas convention approved the annexation resolution and St. Mary's headed east, to New Orleans, Louisiana, to escort transports carrying U.S. Army units to Texas. The troops, under General Zachary Taylor, were embarked on the 22nd and 23rd; and, by the 25th, were encamped on St. Joseph Island, near Corpus Christi, Texas. St. Mary's then stood by, off that town, as Conner's ships took station off Vera Cruz.