The first USS Hecla was a bomb brig that served in the United States Navy from 1846 to 1848, seeing service in the Mexican War. Hecla was purchased at New York, New York, in 1846, and was commissioned there on 9 March 1847 with Lieutenant Archibald B. Fairfax in command. On 10 March 1847, Hecla sailed for the Gulf of Mexico to support American actions during the Mexican War. She arrived off Isla de Sacrificios, near Veracruz, Mexico, on the morning of 29 March 1847, just in time to see Veracruz fall to American forces that evening.