{{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= |image_caption= }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag={{shipboxflag|United States|1822}} |name=USS ''Weasel'' |namesake= |ordered= |builder= |laid_down= |launched=c. 1822 |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |homeport= |motto= |honors= |fate=Sold |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |type=Schooner |displacement= |length= |beam= |draft= |propulsion=Sail |speed= |range= |complement= |armament=3 × {{convert|9|pdr|kg|lk=on|abbr=on}} guns |notes= }} }}
The '''USS ''Weasel''''' was a three-gun schooner in the United States Navy.
The ''Weasel'' was built at Baltimore and was initially intended to serve as a merchant vessel that would operate the area of Chesapeake Bay.<ref name= "Navy">{{cite web|url= https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/weasel.html|title=Weasel|publisher= Naval History and Heritage Command|accessdate=2020-07-22}}</ref> However, the build of her keel favored the strategic approach of the West Indies Squadron, which became notorious for using smaller vessels to pursue escaping pirates into shallow waters, so it was acquired by the Navy in 1822 and outfitted for military use.<ref name="Navy"/> The process took place at Norfolk, with the ship being commissioned in 1823.<ref name="Navy"/>
==Service history== Lieutenant Beverley Kennon was placed in charge of the vessel, serving under squadron leader commodore David Porter.<ref name="Navy"/> On February 15, 1823, she sailed off Hampton Roads along other members of the anti-piracy operations.<ref name="Navy"/> By the following month, the Weasel was monitoring the waters in the eastern Caribbean. Porter to assigned it to the Mona Passage along the brigantine {{USS|Spark|1813|6}} following orders from United States Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard as the area had become the operation center of Roberto Cofresí and other pirates.<ref name="bonet75">{{Harvnb|Cardona Bonet|1991|pp=75}}</ref> By the year's end, an outbreak of yellow fever forced the ''Weasel'' to withdraw from the region in order to recruit a new crew.<ref name="Navy"/>
Returning to the West Indies in 1824, captain Charles Boarman was commanded to monitor the western waters of Puerto Rico as part of an international force.<ref name="bonet140">{{Harvnb|Cardona Bonet|1991|pp=140}}</ref> There, the ''Weasel'' located a sloop commanded by Cofresí off Culebra, but it fled to Vieques and ran inland into dense vegetation;<ref name="bonet140"/> Boarman could only recover the abandoned vessel.<ref name="bonet140"/> A second outbreak forced another return to the United States, returning in fall.<ref name="Navy"/> However, the capture of Cofresí in early 1825 resulted in a sharp decline of piracy in the Caribbean. Consequently, the United States Navy sold the schooners that belonged to the West Indies Squadron. The ''Weasel'' itself was sold to an unknown buyer within a year of Cofresí's capture.<ref name="Navy"/>
==References== ===Notes=== {{Reflist}}
===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|title=El Marinero, Bandolero, Pirata y Contrabandista Roberto Cofresí (1819–1825)|first=Walter A.|last=Cardona Bonet|publisher=Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Genealogía|year=1991|isbn=9781933545059|location=|pages=}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weasel, USS}} Category:Schooners of the United States Navy Category:Ships built in Baltimore Category:Individual sailing vessels Category:1820s ships