USS Viper

USS Viper may refer to:

USS B-1 (SS-10)

USS B-1 (SS-10) was the lead ship of her class of submarines built for the United States Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Description

The B-class submarines were enlarged versions of the preceding Plunger class. They had a length of 82 feet 5 inches (25.1 m) overall, a beam of 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 m) and a mean draft of 10 feet 7 inches (3.2 m). They displaced 145 long tons (147 t) on the surface and 170 long tons (170 t) submerged. The B-class boats had a crew of one officer and nine enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 150 feet (45.7 m).

For surface running, they were powered by one 240-brake-horsepower (179 kW) gasoline engine that drove the single propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a 115-horsepower (86 kW) electric motor. The boats could reach 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) on the surface and 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) underwater. On the surface, they had a range of 540 nautical miles (1,000 km; 620 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) and 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged.

USS Viper (1814)

USS Viper was a heavily armed row galley commissioned by the United States Navy for service in the War of 1812. She was successful in her operations against the British on Lake Champlain, and was retired after the war.

Built in Vermont

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Viper was one of six large row galleys hastily built and commissioned in the mid-1814 at Vergennes, Vermont, for use by Commodore Thomas Macdonough against the British on Lake Champlain.

Service in the War of 1812

Under the command of Lieutenant Francis Mitchell, Viper participated in the capture of the British squadron, under Commodore George Downie, off Plattsburg, New York, on 11 September 1814, where she helped drive the surviving enemy gunboats back towards Canada.

This American naval victory ended English attempts to invade and split the United States in two by way of the Lake Champlain-Hudson River corridor, immeasurably strengthening the American bargaining position during peace negotiations at Ghent. Viper remained with the squadron for the remainder of the war but, with the return of peace, was partially dismantled and laid up at Whitehall, New York.