USS Hornet, a 441-ton brig-sloop built at Baltimore, Maryland, was commissioned in October 1805. She operated along the U.S. Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean until decommissioned in late 1807. Recommissioned a year later, she again cruised in U.S. waters and took dispatches to Europe. In 1811 Hornet was converted to a ship-sloop at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C..

Hornet rendered conspicuous service during the War of 1812. Early in the conflict she served with Commodore John Rodgers' squadron, capturing the privateer Dolphin in July 1812. Later in the year she blockaded the British sloop of war Bonne Citoyenne at Bahia, Brazil, and on 24 February 1813 defeated and sank HMS Peacock. For much of the rest of 1813 and most of 1814 Hornet was in port at New London, Connecticut, unable to leave in the face of superior British forces offshore. However, she got to sea in mid-November 1814 and sailed to the south Atlantic. On 23 March 1815, off Tristan da Cunha island, USS Hornet captured the British sloop Penguin, one of several actions between the U.S. and Royal Navies that took place after the War of 1812 had formally ended, but before all ships at sea had learned of the settlement.

In 1818-1819 Hornet operated in the West Indies and the Mediterranean. She participated in the anti-piracy campaign in the Caribbean during the 1820s, capturing one pirate schooner off Santo Domingo in late October 1821. While off Tampico, Mexico, on 29 September 1829, USS Hornet was dismasted in a gale and sank with her entire complement.