USS Vesuvius was a bomb ketch, and the first ship of the United States Navy named for the Italian volcano.

The ship lost her rudder and floated free only after her crew had jettisoned all of her guns and their carriages; her shot and shell; and even part of the kentledge.

Repaired and rearmed with ten 6-pounders (2.7 kg), the ship subsequently sailed for Natchez, Mississippi, and operated out of that port from February 1807 until returning to New Orleans on 30 May.

Embarking upon duties to suppress slave traders and pirates operating out of the trackless bayous, Vesuvius cruised off the mouth of the muddy Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, alert for any sign of illegal activity.

The crew's vigilance was rewarded in February 1810 when, under the command of Lieutenant Benjamin F. Read, Vesuvius gave chase to a pirate vessel off the mouth of the Mississippi and captured Duc de Montebello, a schooner named by Frenchmen who had been expelled from Cuba by the Spanish government.