USS Spitfire (1776 gunboat)

History
United States
Name	Spitfire
Launched	1776
Commissioned	August 1776
Out of service	13 October 1776
Fate	Sunk due to battle damage
General characteristics
Type	Gundalow
Length	53 ft 4 in (16.26 m)
Beam	15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Draught	3 ft 10 in (1.17 m)
Propulsion	Oar / Sail
Speed	4 knots under sail
Complement	45
Armament	3 x 9 pounders 8(?) x swivel guns
Armor	facines & wood planks
Notes
Spitfire (gunboat)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Address Restricted, Lake Champlain, New York
Area	1.4 acres (0.57 ha)
Built	1776
Architectural style	Revolutionary War Gunboat
NRHP reference No.	08000694
Added to NRHP	July 24, 2008

USS Spitfire was an American gundalow that operated as a gunboat in 1776 on Lake Champlain. She was part of Benedict Arnold's small, hastily built fleet of ships whose purpose was to counter any British invasion forces passing through the lake from Canada. Her service life was brief; after only a few months patrolling the lake she was lost in the aftermath of the Battle of Valcour Island. The gunboat's wreck was located and documented in the 1990s by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.