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Patrol Yacht Photo Archive

Vixen (PY 4)

Vixen served both the U. S. Navy and the State of New Jersey.

Patrol Yacht: Built in 1896 as Josephine by Lewis Nixon at Elizabethport, New Jersey; Acquired by the Navy 9 April 1898; 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 State 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. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 806 t.; Length 182' 3"; Beam 28'; Draft 12' 8"; Speed 16 kts.; Complement 82; Armament four 6-pounders and four 1-pounders.


Click on thumbnail
for full size image
Size Image Description Source
Vixen 73k Photographed in 1898, with sails hoisted on both masts.
U.S. Navy photo NR & L(O) 605
Naval Historical Center
Vixen 38k Photo probably taken while serving with the New Jersey State Naval Militia.
Courtsey of H. Reuterdahl, Esq. from the 1914 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
Robert Hurst

View Vixen (PY-4) Library of Congress Images
View the Vixen (PY 4)
DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center web site
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