USS Spitfire (1803)

History
United States
Name:	USS Spitfire
Cost:	$17,303
Laid down:	date unknown
Completed:	in Connecticut in 1803
Acquired:	by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 April 1805
Commissioned:	25 April 1805 at Boston
Decommissioned:	3 August 1806
In service:	July 1807
Out of service:	December 1807
Reclassified:	converted from a sloop to a bomb ketch by the Boston Navy Yard
Fate:	broken up at the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1820
General characteristics
Type:	bomb ketch
Displacement:	92 tons
Length:	not known
Beam:	not known
Draft:	not known
Propulsion:	Ketch sail
Speed:	not known
Complement:	25
Armament:	One 13-inch mortar Two long 9-pounder guns

USS Spitfire (1803) was a bomb ketch converted from a sloop that served the U.S. Navy during the early years of the republic. She carried ammunition for the U.S. Navy warships in the Mediterranean in their battles with the Barbary pirates.

Built in Connecticut

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Spitfire -- a merchant sloop built in Connecticut in 1803—was purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 April 1805; was commissioned the same day; and converted to a bomb ketch by the Boston Navy Yard.

Barbary Wars support

Commanded by Midshipman Daniel McNeill, Jr., Spitfire sailed for the Mediterranean on 23 June 1805 and reached Gibraltar on 1 August. The bomb ketch operated in the Mediterranean supporting American operations against the Barbary powers until sailing for home on 3 June 1806.

She arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, on 19 July and was placed in ordinary at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 August 1806.

Reactivation

The ship reactivated in July 1807 under command of Midshipman F. Cornelius de Kroff but remained at Norfolk until laid up again in December.

Spitfire was broken up at the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1820.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.