USS Chippewa (1815)

USS Chippewa (1815)
Sail plan of USS Chippewa
History
United States
Launched1815
Fate
  • Ran aground and sank,
  • 12 December 1816
General characteristics
Tons burthen410 (bm)
Length108 ft (33 m)
Beam29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Draft16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Depth of hold13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Complement90
Armament
  • 14 × 32 pounder (15 kg) carronades
  • and 2 × 12 pounder (5 kg) guns

USS Chippewa was a brig built in 1815 at Warren, Rhode Island, under the direction of Commodore Oliver Perry, and sent to New York City to be outfitted and manned. Chippewa sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, 3 July 1815, with Lieutenant George C. Read in command, as a part of a squadron under the command of Commodore William Bainbridge. It was intended to go to the Mediterranean for use against the Barbary pirates based in North Africa.

Chippewa as a part of the United States Mediterranean squadron of 1815 (Second Barbary War)

Before the squadron's arrival in the Mediterranean, another squadron under the command of Commodore Stephen Decatur had succeeded in making peace with the Dey of Algiers. Bainbridge, after showing the flag in several ports in the Mediterranean, departed for home 6 October 1815. Upon her arrival at Boston, Chippewa was placed in ordinary service.

Chippewa sailed from Boston 27 November 1816 for the Gulf of Mexico to join the frigate Congress in the anti-piracy and anti-slave trade patrols in the Caribbean. The United States and Britain were cooperating in attempts to suppress the international slave trade. Chippewa ran aground on an uncharted reef at the North West of Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands and sank on 12 December 1816 without loss of life.