USS Vincennes - Definition and Overview

Four United States Navy ships have been named USS Vincennes, after the town of Vincennes, Indiana, site of an important victory in the American Revolution.

• The first Vincennes was an 18-gun sloop-of-war commissioned in 1826, the first Navy vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
• The second Vincennes (CA-44) was a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1937 and lost in the World War II Battle of Savo Island.
• The third Vincennes (CL-64) was a light cruiser commissioned in 1944 and active in the war, and decommissioned in 1946.
• The fourth Vincennes (CG-49) is a guided missile cruiser commissioned 1985 and notorious for shooting down an Iranian airliner (Iran Air Flight 655, of flag carrier Iran Air) in 1988.