USS Sylph was a schooner launched in 1831 at Baltimore as the mercantile Sarah Ann.

She underwent fitting out at the Washington Navy Yard and was commissioned there on 19 May 1831 under the command of Lieutenant H. E. V.

[1] On that day or shortly thereafter she sailed for Norfolk in company with the schooners USS Shark and Fourth of July.

[2] In July 1831 Sylph sailed on her first patrol from Pensacola and was never heard from again.

[3] A vessel reported that during a strong storm near the mouth of the Mississippi she had sighted a ship in distress that was believed to have been Sylph.