USS Vixen (1846)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Name: | USS Vixen |
| Builder: | Brown and Bell, New York City |
| Acquired: | by purchase, May 1846 |
| Decommissioned: | 1853 |
| Fate: | Sold, 1855 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Gunboat |
| Displacement: | 240 long tons (244 t) |
| Length: | 118 ft (36 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Draft: | 7 ft (2.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) |
| Complement: | 55 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The third USS Vixen was a steamboat in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War.
Vixen was originally built for the government of Mexico by Brown and Bell of New York City, she was purchased by the Navy in May 1846 at the outset of the Mexican-American War.
Immediately after her purchase, Vixen was deployed off the Gulf Coast of Mexico with Commodore David Conner's blockade squadron. There, she performed numerous patrol and reconnaissance assignments and was helpful in securing the Mexican coast in preparation for combined Army-Navy movements inland. Under the command of Joshua R. Sands, Vixen first saw action on 16 October 1846 when she participated in the unsuccessful attempt to take Alvarado, Mexico, the most important Mexican port east of Vera Cruz. During the engagement, she towed the schooners Bonita and Reefer but, together with the rest of the American fleet, was unable to cross the bar off the port and soon broke off the attack.
After this initial failure, the squadron moved south in an attempt to cut off the Yucatán Peninsula from the rest of Mexico. Success hinged upon the capture of the coastal port of Frontera, at the mouth of the Tabasco River, followed by the surrender of the city of Tabasco, upstream. Vixen and the rest of the squadron maneuvered into position off Frontera on 23 October. Commodore Matthew C. Perry assumed command of the gunboat and, with the schooners Bonita and USRC Forward in tow, dashed across the bar and captured the Mexican flotilla defending the port. Vixen and Perry ascended the Tabasco River on the 24th and 25th with other vessels of the squadron and finally secured Tabasco on the 26th after a three-shot bombardment of the city by Vixen.
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