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Patrol Yacht Photo Archive

Vixen (PY 4)



Call sign (1912):
Nan - Vice - Sail

Call sign (1921):
Nan - Sail - Unit
Patrol Yacht:

  • The fifth Vixen was built in 1896 as Josephine by Lewis Nixon, Elizabethport, NJ
  • Acquired by the Navy 9 April 1898 and renamed Vixen
  • Commissioned USS Vixen 11 April 1898
  • Placed in reserve 18 January 1899 at Norfolk, VA
  • Recommissioned 17 March 1899
  • Decommissioned 30 March 1906 at Pensacola, FL
  • Loaned to the New Jersey Naval Militia 6 December 1907
  • Recommissioned 2 April 1917
  • Designated as a Patrol Yacht, PY-4, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 15 November 1922
  • Struck from the Navy list 9 January 1923
  • Sold 22 June 1923 to the Fair Oaks Steamship Corp. of New York and renamed Tamiami Queen
  • Renamed Collier County in 1924
  • Renamed Princess Montagu in 1928
  • Forced ashore and wrecked 27 September 1929 at Nassau during a gale
  • Wreck was scuttled in June 1930.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 806 t.
  • Length 182' 3"
  • Beam 28'
  • Draft 12' 8"
  • Speed 16 kts.
  • Complement 105
    1922 - 80
  • Armament: Eight 6-pounders
    1910 - Two 6-pounders and two 3-pounders
    1918 - Four 3-pounders and two 1-pounders
    1922 - Four 6-pounders and two 1-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,250hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Vixen 71k
    Namesake:

    Vixen - A female fox

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Vixen 72k c. 1898
    U.S. Navy photo NR&L(O) 605    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Vixen 37k
    Vixen 282k
    Vixen 118k
    Vixen 124k
    Vixen
    12130407    		 69k

    A 6 Pounder gun aboard the US Navy yacht, USS Vixen. Published by Detroit Publishing Company, probably between 1890 and 1901.

    National Museum of the U.S. Navy LC-DIG-DET-4a13998.

    		 Robert Hurst
    Vixen
    12130408    		 121k

    A 6 pounder gun aboard the US Navy yacht, USS Vixen. Published by Detroit Publishing Company, probably between 1890 and 1901.

    National Museum of the U.S. Navy. LC-DIG-DET-4a14809.

    		 Robert Hurst
    Vixen
    12130409    		 148k

    A Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith. The gun appears to be a Maxim-Nordenfelt 1-pounder (37 mm) autocannon, known to the British as a "pom-pom". Image taken between 1898 and 1901.

    This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID det.4a14810.

    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Alexander Sharp, USN - Awarded three Navy Distinguished Service Medals (1944/1945)
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		11 April 1898
    02LCDR John Clark Wilson, USN - USNA Class of 186917 March 1899 - 30 November 1899
    03CDR William Plummer Day, USN30 November 1899 - 15 June 1900
    04LCDR Walter McLean, USN - USNA Class of 1876
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		15 June 1900 - 9 October 1901
    052CDR Carlos Gilman Calkins, USN - USNA Class of 18729 October 1901 - 25 January 1902
    06LCDR William Henry Allen, USN - USNA Class of 1901
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		25 January 1902
    07CAPT William R. White, USN - USNA Class of 1897
    Senior Aide on the staff of the Governor of U.S. Virgin Islands, RADM James Harrison Oliver, USN and Captain of the Navy Yard    		17 October 1916 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Vixen (PY 4)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command Website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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