After their ship returned to service, "Vermont"s crew began preparations to perform the normal spring target practice off the Virginia Capes, but the exercises were cancelled when the situation in Mexico worsened. "Vermont" steamed out of Hampton Roads on 15 April, bound for Veracruz. There, she joined her sister , the pre-dreadnought , and the dreadnoughts and . "Vermont" contributed twelve officers and 308 men to a landing force that occupied the city to prevent an arms shipment—aboard the steamship —from reaching the dictator Victoriano Huerta. One man from "Vermont" was killed and two earned the Medal of Honor: Lieutenant Julius C. Townsend, the commander of "Vermont"s contingent, and Surgeon Cary DeVall Langhorne, the regimental surgeon of the Second Seaman Regiment. The ship remained in Veracruz through October, apart from a visit to Tampico from 21 September to 10 October.