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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28th of November

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1627 – The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy has its greatest and last victory in the Battle of Oliwa
The naval Battle of Oliwa, also Battle of Oliva or Battle of Gdańsk Roadstead, took place on 28 November 1627 (N.S.) during the Polish–Swedish War slightly north of the port of Danzig (Gdańsk) near the village of Oliva (Oliwa). It was the largest naval battle fought by the Polish royal navy, and resulted in the defeat of a small Swedish squadron. The Poles slipped out of the Danzig harbor and captured the Swedish flagship and sank another vessel.
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1758 - HMS Lichfield (1746 - 50), Cptn. Matthew Barton, went aground on the Barbary coast and the crew were enslaved until 1760
HMS Lichfield
was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Harwich to the dimensions laid down in the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 26 June 1746. She was wrecked on the Barbary Coast of North Africa on 28 November 1758.
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1780 – Launch of HMS Repulse, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,
HMS Repulse
was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 November 1780 at East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.
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1788 - slaver Tarleton foundered on 28 November 1788 off St David's Head
Tarleton was built in France under another name in 1778 (or simply captured then). The partnership of the Tarletons and Backhouse purchased her in 1779. She first traded between Liverpool and Jamaica, and then became a slaver. She was lost in November 1788.
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1795 – Launch of French Résistance, a Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy.
Résistance was a Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. She was captured by HMS St Fiorenzo in 1797 and taken into British service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.
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1924 - HMS Marlborough (1855 - 131), a first-rate three-decker 131 gun screw ship built for the Royal Navy in 1855, capsized and sank
HMS Marlborough
was a first-rate three-decker 131 gun screw ship built for the Royal Navy in 1855. She was begun as a sailing ship of the line (with her sister ships HMS Duke of Wellington, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Royal Sovereign), but was completed to a modified design and converted to steam on the stocks.
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1941 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) sails from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island to ferry Marine aircraft to the island. By Dec. 5, there are no carriers left at Pearl Harbor.
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1944 - 10 days after commissioning Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano sunk by submarine USS Archerfish
Shinano (信濃), was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, the largest such built up to that time. Laid down in May 1940 as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano's partially complete hull was ordered to be converted to a carrier following Japan's disastrous loss of four fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. Her conversion was still not finished in November 1944 when she was ordered to sail from the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to Kure Naval Base to complete fitting out and transfer a load of 50 Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka rocket-propelled kamikaze flying bombs. Hastily dispatched, she had an inexperienced crew and serious design and construction flaws, lacked adequate pumps and fire-control systems, and did not carry a single aircraft. She was sunk en route, 10 days after commissioning, on 29 November 1944, by four torpedoes from the U.S. Navy submarine Archerfish. Over a thousand sailors and civilians were rescued and 1,435 were lost, including her captain. She remains the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29th of November

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1612 – The two-days Battle of Swally takes place, which loosens the Portuguese Empire's hold on India.
The naval Battle of Swally, also known as Battle of Suvali, took place on 29–30 November 1612 off the coast of Suvali (anglicised to Swally) a village near the Surat city (now in Gujarat, India) and was a victory for four English East India Company galleons over four Portuguese galleons and 26 barks (rowing vessels with no armament).
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1682 - Death of Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland
, KG, PC, FRS (17 December 1619 – 29 November 1682) was a noted German soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century. He first came to prominence as a Cavalier cavalry commander during the English Civil War.
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The Four Days' Battle, 1–4 June 1666, by Abraham Storck, during which Rupert's new aggressive fleet tactics were first applied

1762 - HMS Marlborough (1669 / 1706 / 1732 - 68), Cptn. Thomas Burnett, met very heavy weather and had to be abandoned in a sinking condition and destroyed
HMS St Michael (1669), a second rate, renamed HMS Marlborough 1706; fought in the Seven Years' War; present in Sir George Pocock's fleet at the taking of Havana from the Spanish 1762; foundered at sea 1762.
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1781 – The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance.
The Zong massacre was the mass killing of more than 130 African slaves by the crew of the British slave ship Zong on and in the days following 29 November 1781.The Gregson slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, owned the ship and sailed her in the Atlantic slave trade. As was common business practice, they had taken out insurance on the lives of the slaves as cargo. When the ship ran low on potable water following navigational mistakes, the crew threw slaves overboard into the sea to drown, in part to ensure the survival of the rest of the ship's passengers, and in part to cash in on the insurance on the slaves, thus not losing money on the slaves who would have died from the lack of drinking water.
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1784 – Launch of HMS Mermaid, an Active-class frigate
HMS Mermaid
was a 32-gun Active-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1784 and broken up in 1815. During the French Revolutionary Wars she served in the West Indies, the Channel, and the Mediterranean. During the Napoleonic Wars she first served in the Americas, but from early 1811 on, she was armed en flute and served as a troopship until she was broken up.
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1811 - Action of 29 November 1811 - HMS Alceste (38), HMS Active (38) and HMS Unite (38) took Pomone and Pesanne off Lissa
The Action of 29 November 1811 was a minor naval engagement fought between two frigate squadrons in the Adriatic Sea during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The action was one of a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy and the French Navy to contest dominance over the Adriatic between 1807 and 1814. During this period the Adriatic was surrounded by French territory or French client states and as a result British interference was highly disruptive to the movement of French troops and supplies.
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1913 – Launch of german SMS Lützow, the second Derfflinger-class battlecruiser
SMS Lützow
was the second Derfflinger-class battlecruiser built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (English: Imperial Navy) before World War I. Ordered as a replacement for the old protected cruiser Kaiserin Augusta, Lützow was launched on 29 November 1913, but not completed until 1916. Lützow was a sister ship to Derfflinger from which she differed slightly in that she was armed with an additional pair of 15 cm (5.9 inch) secondary guns and had an additional watertight compartment in her hull. She was named in honor of the Prussian general Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
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1940 – HMS Javelin torpedoed and lost bow and stern, but did not sunk
HMS Javelin
was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 11 October 1937, launched on 21 December 1938, and commissioned on 10 June 1939 with the pennant number F61.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30th of November

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1652 - Battle of Dungeness.
Dutch fleet of 88 ships and 5 fireships, under Lt. Admiral Maarten Tromp, defeat English fleet of 42 ships, under Robert Blake

The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 30 November 1652 (10 December Gregorian calendar), [a] during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the cape of Dungeness in Kent.
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1780 – HMS Tamar (1758 – 16) captured at sea by 24-gun French privateer Duc de Chartres (1780 - 24)
HMS Tamar
or Tamer was a 16-gun Favourite-class sloop-of-war of the Royal Navy.
The ship was launched in Saltash in 1758 and stationed in Newfoundland from 1763 to 1777.
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, an outboard profile and plan view of the Tamar (1758), a 16-gun ship sloop. The plan specifically illustrates the jury rudder made on the return voyage to Britain after she lost her rudder through electrolysis between the copper sheathing and iron rudder pintles [see Mariner's Mirror, volume 87, No. 4 (Nov 2001)].

1803 - British squadron, under Commodore John Loring of HMS Bellerophon (1786 - 74) accepted the surrender of French vessels at Cape Francois, including French frigates Surveillante (1802 - 40), Vertu (1794 -40) and Clorinde (1800 - 40), which were threated by the insurgents.
The Blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the Northern coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
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Scale model of the Duquesne

1803 – The Balmis Smallpox Expedition starts in Spain with the aim of vaccinating millions against smallpox in Spanish America and Philippines - The First Public Health Vaccination Campaign in South America
The Balmis Expedition (1803–1806) was a three-year mission to Spanish America and Asia led by Dr. Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of vaccinating millions against smallpox. Vaccination, a much safer way to prevent smallpox than older methods such as inoculation, had been introduced by the English physician Edward Jenner in 1798.
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1811 - French frigate Flore was wrecked in a heavy storm off Chioggia
Flore was a 44-gun Armide-class frigate of the French Navy.
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1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop:
The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey.

The Battle of Sinop, or the Battle of Sinope, was a Russian naval victory over the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War that took place on 30 November 1853 at Sinop, a sea port in northern Anatolia, when a squadron of Imperial Russian warships struck and defeated a squadron of Ottoman ships anchored in the harbor. The battle was a contributing factor to bringing France and Great Britain into the conflict. It is commemorated in Russia as a Day of Military Honour.
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1942 – World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga;
A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizō Tanaka defeats a U.S. cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.

The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the Battle of Lunga Point (ルンガ沖夜戦), was a nighttime naval battle that took place on November 30, 1942, between United States (US) Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near the Tassafaronga area on Guadalcanal.
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USS Minneapolis at Tulagi with torpedo damage

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New Orleans near Tulagi the morning after the battle, showing everything missing forward of turret two

1994 – MS Achille Lauro catches fire and sinks 2 days after off the coast of Somalia.
MS Achille Lauro
was a cruise ship based in Naples, Italy. Built between 1939 and 1947 as MS Willem Ruys, a passenger liner for the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, she was hijacked by members of the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985.
In other incidents, she also suffered two serious collisions (in 1953 with the MS Oranje and in 1975 with the cargo ship Youseff) and four onboard fires or explosions (in 1965, 1972, 1981, and 1994). In the last of these, in 1994, the ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean off Somalia.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1st of December

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1768 – The former slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøya in Norway.
The Fredensborg was a frigate built in Copenhagen in 1753. She was originally named Cron Prindz Christian after the crown prince, the future king Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, and was fitted out as a slave ship. Following an initially unsuccessful stint in the triangular trade, her operational area was limited to the Caribbean, where she sailed as a trader until 1756.
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1811 – Launch of French Impérial, a 118 gun Ocean-class, at Toulon – Renamed Royal Louis April 1814, renamed Impérial March 1815, renamed Royal Louis July 1815, condemned 31 March 1825 at Toulon.
The Impérial was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané and built by François Poncet.
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1842 - Midshipman Philip Spence, Boatswains Mate Samuel Cromwell, and Seaman Elisha Small of the Bainbridge-class brig USS Somers are executed for mutiny.
Spencer was the son of then-Secretary of War, John Canfield Spencer.

The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration which became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions.
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1855 – Launch of USS Minnesota, a wooden steam frigate in the United States Navy.
USS Minnesota
was a wooden steam frigate in the United States Navy. Launched in 1855 and commissioned eighteen months later, the ship served in east Asia for two years before being decommissioned. She was recommissioned at the outbreak of the American Civil War and returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
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1906 – Launch of SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, an ocean liner built in Stettin,
SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie
was an ocean liner built in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), in 1906 for North German Lloyd that had the largest steam reciprocating machinery ever fitted to a ship. The last of four ships of the Kaiser class, she was also the last German ship to have been built with four funnels. She was engaged in transatlantic service between her homeport of Bremen and New York until the outbreak of World War I.
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1910 - The japanese Antarctic Expedition on board of the Kainan Maru started - they will come back in summer 1912
The Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910–12 was the first exploration of Antarctic territory by an expedition from Japan. Led by Army Lieutenant Nobu Shirase, its ship Kainan Maru left Tokyo in December 1910, reached the ice on 26 February 1911 and sailed on into the Ross Sea. As it was very late in the Antarctic season, the ship was not able to get beyond Coulman Island, and returned to Sydney, Australia to winter there.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2nd of December

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1799 - HMS Racoon (1795 - 16), R. Lloyd, captured French privateer lugger Vrai Decide (14) in the Channel.
HMS Racoon
(or Raccoon) was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
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1804 - Launch of french Hermione, a 40-gun Hortense-class frigate of the French Navy.
Ordered by the Italian Republic as a gift to France under the name République Italienne, she was renamed to Hermione on 26 December 1803, to be launched in December 1804.
Under Captain Jean-Michel Mahé, she took part in the capture of HMS Cyane, the Battle of Cape Finisterre, in the Battle of Trafalgar and in Lamellerie's expedition. In late 1807, she took part in a division under Rear-Admiral Baudin, ferrying troops to Martinique.
Hermione was wrecked in Iroise on 18 August 1808. The wreck was discovered in 1972.
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1840 - HMS Zebra (1815 - 18), Robert Stopford, wrecked off Mt. Carmel near Haifa.
HMS Zebra
, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built of teak in the East India Company's Bombay Dockyard and launched in 1815 as the last of her class. She chased pirates in the Mediterranean, just missed the Battle of Navarino, sailed to East Indies, where she almost foundered, and on to Australia, chased Malay pirates, and was wrecked in 1840 during the Syrian War.
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1891 - New York (CA 2) launches. In 1911, it is renamed Saratoga and renamed again in 1917 to Rochester. Rochester serves as the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet from 1932-33 and is decommissioned in 1933.
USS New York (ACR-2/CA-2)
was the second United States Navy armored cruiser so designated; the first was the ill-fated Maine, which was soon redesignated a second-class battleship. Due to the unusually protracted construction of Maine, New York was actually the first armored cruiser to enter U.S. Navy service. The fourth Navy ship to be named in honor of the state of New York, she was later renamed Saratoga and then Rochester. With six 8-inch guns, she was the most heavily armed cruiser in the US Navy when commissioned.
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1942 - Battle of Skerki Bank
The Battle of Skerki Bank was a World War II naval battle which took place near Skerki Bank in the Mediterranean Sea on the early hours of 2 December 1942 between British and Italian forces, as the last major naval battle in the Mediterranean during 1942.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3rd of December

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1670 - Launch of HMS Prince (also referred to as Royal Prince), a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett the Younger - renamed into HMS Royal William and after several rebuilts broken up in 1813 - so 143 years of service
HMS Prince
(also referred to as Royal Prince) was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett the Younger at Deptford Dockyard and launched in 1670.
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1775 – The USS Alfred becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.
Alfred was the merchant vessel Black Prince, named for Edward, the Black Prince, and launched in 1774. The Continental Navy of what would become the United States acquired her in 1775, renamed her Alfred, and commissioned her as a warship. She participated in two major actions, the battle of Nassau, and the action of 6 April 1776. The Royal Navy captured her in 1778, took her into service as HMS Alfred, and sold her in 1782. She then became the merchantman Alfred, and sailed between London and Jamaica.
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1798 - HMS Kingfisher (1782 - 18), Lt. Frederick Maitland, wrecked on the bar at the mouth of the Tagus.
HMS Kingfisher
was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy which saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.

1807 - HMS Curieux (18), John Sheriff (Killed in Action), engaged privateer Revanche (25) off Barbados.
HMS Curieux
was a French corvette named Curieux, launched in September 1800 at Saint-Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock; all her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.
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1810 - Capture of Ile de France (Mauritius) by the British – the ending of the Mauritius Campaign
The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Isle de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign lasted from the spring of 1809 until the spring of 1811, and saw both the Royal Navy and the French Navy deploy substantial frigate squadrons with the intention of disrupting or protecting trade from British India. In a war in which the Royal Navy was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the French Navy in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict. After their victory, the British used the original Dutch name of Mauritius for Isle de France. In 1814, Île Bonaparte was returned to France, who eventually renamed it La Réunion.
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1906 – HMS Dreadnought commissioned
HMS Dreadnought
was a Royal Navy battleship that revolutionised naval power. Her name and the type of the entire class of warships that was named after her stems from archaic English in which "dreadnought" means "a fearless person". Dreadnought's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that its name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of ships named after it. Likewise, the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as "pre-dreadnoughts". Admiral Sir John "Jacky" Fisher, First Sea Lord of the Board of Admiralty, is credited as the father of Dreadnought. Shortly after he assumed office, he ordered design studies for a battleship armed solely with 12-inch (305 mm) guns and a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). He convened a "Committee on Designs" to evaluate the alternative designs and to assist in the detailed design work.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4th of December

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1695 – Launch of Adventure Galley, also known as Adventure, an English sailing ship captained by William Kidd, the notorious privateer.
Adventure Galley, also known as Adventure, was an English sailing ship captained by William Kidd, the notorious privateer. She was a type of hybrid ship that combined square rigged sails with oars to give her manoeuvrability in both windy and calm conditions. The vessel was launched at the end of 1695 and was acquired by Kidd the following year to serve in his privateering venture. Between April 1696 and April 1698, she travelled thousands of miles across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in search of pirates but failed to find any until nearly the end of her travels. Instead, Kidd himself turned pirate in desperation at not having obtained any prizes. Adventure Galley succeeded in capturing two vessels off India and brought them back to Madagascar, but by the spring of 1698 the ship's hull had become so rotten and leaky that she was no longer seaworthy. She was stripped of anything movable and sunk off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar. Her remains have not yet been located.
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1770 – Launch of HMS Intrepid, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich
HMS Intrepid
was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich. She was sold in 1828.
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1799 - HMS Racoon (1795 - 16) captured lugger Intrepide (16) in the Channel
HMS Racoon
(or Raccoon) was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
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1811 - HMS Saldanha (1809 - 36), Cptn. William Packenham, lost in Lough Swilly, Donegal . There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard.
HMS Saldanha
was a 36-gun Apollo-class frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1809 and wrecked on the coast of Ireland in 1811. Before she was wrecked she participated in the capture of a noted French privateer.
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1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.
Mary Celeste (/səˈlɛst/; often misreported as Marie Celeste) was an American merchant brigantine, discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition, under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7, and on discovery was still amply provisioned. Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.
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1868 - The sailing ship Andrew Jackson, a 1,679-registered-ton medium clipper wrecked
The sailing ship Andrew Jackson, a 1,679-registered-ton medium clipper, was built by the firm of Irons & Grinnell in Mystic, Connecticut in 1855. The vessel was designed for the shipping firm of J.H. Brower & Co. to carry cargo intended for sale to participants in the California Gold Rush.
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1939 – World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.
HMS Nelson
(pennant number 28) was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy between the two World Wars. She was named in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson the victor at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of 16 inch (406mm) guns and the only ones to carry all the main armament forward of the superstructure. These were a result of the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. Commissioned in 1927, Nelson served extensively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian oceans during the Second World War. She was decommissioned soon after the end of the war and scrapped in 1949. She was nicknamed "Nels-ol" from the resemblance in her outline to RN oilers, whose names ended in "-ol".
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5th of December

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A day rich of events - in the following you can find some events in Pre-Views - for more detailed information and also other events, please use the link

1691 – Launch of French Ambitieux, a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy.
The Ambitieux (1691 - 92) was a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was armed with 92 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the middle deck, and twenty-six 8-pounder guns on the upper deck, with ten 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck.
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and in Rochefort we had a wonderful scratch built based on the drawings of Jean Boudriot - Denis Desormiere showed his L´AMBITIEUX in scale 1:48

1758 – Birth of Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey GCB (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830)
Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey GCB (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830) was an eccentric and hot-tempered officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars who was as distinguished for his gambling and dueling as for his military record. Although Harvey was a significant naval figure for over twenty years, his martial reputation was largely based on his experiences at the Battle of Trafalgar, when he took his ship HMS Temeraire into the thick of the action. Harvey used Temeraire to force the surrender of two French ships of the line and later created his family motto from the names of his opponents in the engagement; "Redoutable et Fougueux".
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1763 – Launch of HMS Guadeloupe, a 28-gun sixth-rate Coventry-class frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Guadeloupe
was a 28-gun sixth-rate Coventry-class frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade, and was initially contracted to be built with the Pembrokeshire shipwright John Williams of Neyland; however he became bankrupt and the Admiralty transferred the order to the Plymouth Naval Dockyard.
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1779 - HMS Roebuck (1774 - 44) took American privateer Lady Washington
HMS Roebuck
was a 44-gun, fifth-rate ship of the Royal Navy which served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1769, to operate in the shallower waters of North America, she joined Lord Howe'ssquadron towards the end of 1775 and took part in operations against New York the following year, engaging the American gun batteries at Red Hook during the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, and forcing a passage up the Hudson River in October. On 25 August 1777, Roebuck escorted troopships to Turkey Point, Maryland, where an army was landed for an assault on Philadelphia. She was again called upon to accompany troopships in December 1779; this time for an attack on Charleston. When the ships-of-the-line, which were too large to enter the harbour, were sent back to New York, Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot made Roebuck his flagship. She was therefore at the front of the attack; leading the British squadron across the bar to engage Fort Moultrie and the American ships beyond.
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1797 - Insurgente captured Prince Frederick
The Insurgente was a 40-gun Sémillante-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1793. USS Constellation, Captain Thomas Truxtun in command, captured her off the island of Nevis during the Quasi-War. After her capture she served in the US Navy, patrolling the waters in the West Indies. In September 1800 she was caught up in a severe storm and was presumed lost at sea
Prince Frederick was launched at Amsterdam in 1793 for the Dutch East India Company as Prinz Fredrik. Captain Daniel Correch stopped at Duins (The Downs), where the English detained her. In December 1795, the British Government confiscated the ship.
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1797 - Launch of Hercule, a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy
HMS Hercule
was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was previously Hercule, a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy, but was captured on her maiden voyage in 1798, and spent the rest of her career as a British ship. She was broken up in 1810
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1812 - HMS Plumper (1807 - 14), Lt. Josias Bray, lost on a ledge of rocks near Dipper Harbour, New Brunswick
HMS Plumper
was launched in 1807. She captured three small American privateers early in the War of 1812 but was wrecked in December 1812.
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1830 - HMS Thetis (46), Cptn. Samuel Burgess, wrecked on Cabo Frio, South America.
HMS Thetis
was a 46-gun Leda-class fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s. She was first commissioned in 1823 and was assigned to the South America Station three years later. The ship was wrecked in 1830 off Cape Frio, Brazil, with the loss of 22 crewmen; most of her cargo of bullion was successfully salvaged.
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1904 - During the Siege of Port Arthur - Entire russian fleet was lost
Russian battleship Poltava (1894) and Retvizan were hit and sunk at 5th December, the battleships Pobeda and Peresvet and the cruisers Pallada and Bayan four days later. Battleship Sevastopol was scuttled to prevent her capture

The Siege of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順攻囲戦, Ryojun Kōisen; Russian: Оборона Порт-Артура, Oborona Port-Artura, August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905), the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.
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1931 – Launch of Pola, a Zara-class heavy cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy)
Pola was a Zara-class heavy cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). She was built in the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard in Livorno in the early 1930s and entered service in 1932. She was the third of four ships in the class, which also included Zara, Fiume, and Gorizia. Pola was built as a flagship with a larger conning tower to accommodate an admiral's staff. Like her sisters, she was armed with a battery of eight 203-millimeter (8.0 in) guns and was capable of a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph).
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


As usual some of the Events in Pre-View - for more detailed information and other events please use the link

1667 – Launch of HMS Resolution, a 70-gun Third rate ship of the line
HMS Resolution
was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich Dockyard on 6 December 1667. She was one of only three third rate vessels designed and built by the noted maritime architect Sir Anthony Deane.
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1743 – Launch of French Alcide, a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy,
Alcide was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1742. The captain of the vessel was Toussaint Hocquart, for the re-enforcement campaign that was sent to Canada in May 1755.
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1782 - french Solitaire, 64-gun Solitaire-class, and french brig Speedy were captured by HMS Ruby and a british squadron
Solitaire was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1774, lead ship of her class. She was captured by the Royal Navy on 6 December 1782, and commissioned as the third rate HMS Solitaire. She was sold out of the navy in 1790.
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1812 – Launch of French Montebello, an Océan type 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
Montebello was an Océan type, second modified group subclass "Later Dauphin Royal" class, 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was launched in 1812 and refitted in 1821.
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1842 – Launch of Corse, initially named Napoléon before its second commission, a sail and steam experimental schooner
Corse, initially named Napoléon before its second commission, was a sail and steam experimental schooner, initially commissioned as a mail steamer. Largely overperforming her specifications and an excellent sailor, she was purchased by the Navy and commissioned to serve as an aviso, becoming the first propeller ship in service in the French Navy. She took part in the Crimean War and ferried Prince Napoléon to Iceland in 1856. She was eventually broken up in 1902.
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1862 – Launch of USS Keokuk, an experimental ironclad screw steamer
USS Keokuk
was an experimental ironclad screw steamer of the United States Navy named for the city of Keokuk, Iowa. She was laid down in New York City by designer Charles W. Whitney at J.S. Underhill Shipbuilders, at the head of 11th Street. She was originally named Moodna (sometimes incorrectly spelled "Woodna"), but was renamed while under construction, launched in December 1862 sponsored by Mrs. C. W. Whitney, wife of the builder, and commissioned in early March 1863 with Commander Alexander C. Rhind in command.
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1875 - SS Deutschland, an iron passenger steamship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, wrecked
Deutschland was an iron passenger steamship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, built by Caird & Company of Greenock, Scotland in 1866.
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1886 – Launch of Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska, Pacific Queen, or Sailing Ship Balclutha, a steel-hulled full rigged ship
Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska, Pacific Queen, or Sailing Ship Balclutha, is a steel-hulled full rigged ship that was built in 1886. She is the only square rigged ship left in the San Francisco Bay area and is representative of several different commercial ventures, including lumber, salmon, and grain. She is a U.S. National Historic Landmark and is currently preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. She was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 7 November 1976.
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1917 - The Halifax Explosion was a maritime disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Norwegian vessel SS Imo collided with SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives. A fire on board the French ship ignited her cargo, causing a large explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. Approximately 2,000 people were killed.
The Halifax Explosion was a maritime disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, which happened on the morning of 6 December 1917. The Norwegian vessel SS Imo collided with SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. A fire on board the French ship ignited her cargo, causing a large explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by the blast, debris, fires or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest man-made explosion at the time, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12,000 GJ).
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


1748 – Launch of HMS Unicorn, a 28 gun Lyme-class frigate
HMS Unicorn
was a 28-gun Lyme-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was originally ordered as a 24-gun ship to the draft of the French privateer Tyger. The third vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name, Unicorn, as well as HMS Lymewhich was a near-sister, were the first true frigates built for the Royal Navy. They were actually completed with 28 guns including the four smaller weapons on the quarterdeck, but the latter were not included in the ship's official establishment until 22 September 1756. The two ships differed in detail, Unicorn having a beakhead bow, a unicorn figurehead , two-light quarter galleries and only five pairs of quarterdeck gunports, while Lyme had a round bow, a lion figurehead, three-light quarter galleries and six pairs of quarterdeck gunports.
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1798 - HMS Perdrix (1784 - 22) captured Armee d'Italie (1798 - 18).
Perdrix was a corvette of the French Royal Navy, launched in 1784. The British captured her off Antigua in 1795 and she served briefly in the Royal Navy in the West Indies, where she captured a French privateer, before being broken up in 1798.
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1798 - HMS Colossus (1787 - 74), Cptn George Murray, drifted onto a shelf of rocks known as Southern Wells near the island of Sampson, Scilly Isles, after her cables parted in a gale.
HMS Colossus
was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Gravesend on 4 April 1787[1] and lost on 10 December 1798.
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1804 - Action of 7 December 1804
The Action of 7 December 1804 was a minor naval action that took place at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. Royal Navy ship-of-the-line HMS Polyphemus (64) under the command of Captain John Lawford, and the frigate HMS Lively (38) under the command of Captain Graham Hamond captured the Spanish frigate Santa Gertrudis off Cape Santa Maria.
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1906 - Launch of SMS Schleswig-Holstein, the last of the five Deutschland-class battleships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine.
SMS Schleswig-Holstein
(pronounced [ˈʃleːsvɪç ˈhɔlʃtaɪn]) was the last of the five Deutschland-class battleships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship, named for the province of Schleswig-Holstein, was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and commissioned into the fleet nearly three years later. The ships of her class were already outdated by the time they entered service, being inferior in size, armor, firepower and speed to the new generation of dreadnought battleships.
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1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The U.S. is brought into the World War II as a full combatant.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.
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The attack was an initial shock to all the Allies in the Pacific Theater. Further losses compounded the alarming setback. Japan attacked the Philippines hours later (because of the time difference, it was December 8 in the Philippines). Only three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk off the coast of Malaya, causing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later to recollect "In all the war I never received a more direct shock. As I turned and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me. There were no British or American capital ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor who were hastening back to California. Over this vast expanse of waters Japan was supreme and we everywhere were weak and naked".
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During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Arizona was bombed. After a bomb detonated in a powder magazine, the battleship exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, straddles but does not touch the ship's hull.
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1942 - SS Ceramic, a British ocean liner, was sunk by a German submarine in 1942, leaving only one survivor from the 656 people aboard.
SS Ceramic
was a British ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the LiverpoolAustralia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923. In 1934 Shaw, Savill & Albion Line took over White Star's Australia route and acquired Ceramic. The liner served as a troopship in both World Wars. She was sunk by a German submarine in 1942, leaving only one survivor from the 656 people aboard.
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1942 – battleship USS New Jersey launched
exactly one year later 7 December
1942 - battleship USS Wisconsin launched, Both Iowa-class battleships
USS New Jersey
(BB-62) ("Big J" or "Black Dragon") is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the US state of New Jersey. New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and was the only US battleship providing gunfire support during the Vietnam War.
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uring the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Arizona was bombed. After a bomb detonated in a powder magazine, the battleship exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, straddles but does not touch the ship's hull.
Thank you, Uwe for reminding us of big tragedy. To all who are interested, one of our member @SigEp Ziggy (Shane) building the diorama in the below-mentioned build log

 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


1693 - HMS St. Albans (1687 - 50) wrecked off Kinsale.
HMS St Albans
was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Deptford Dockyard in 1687. The ship fought in the Battle of Placentia (1692).
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See also the Alexander´s alias @Foxtrott building log of his model

1809 – Launch of french La Golymin, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy (of the Duquesne sub-class)
The Golymin was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy (of the Duquesne sub-class). Built in Lorient in 1804, she was launched in 1809. Wrecked on Mengam Rock in the roads of Brest on 23 March 1814, she is the source of the Obusier de vaisseau currently on display in the Musée national de la Marine in Paris and in Brest.
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1846 - USS Somers (10), Lt. Raphael Semmes, capsized and sank in a sudden storm while chasing a blockade runner off Vera Cruz.
The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration which became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions. ("Somers Affair")
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1896 - British Peer was a 1428-ton three-masted iron sailing ship built wrecked
The British Peer was a 1428-ton three-masted iron sailing ship built for the British Shipowners Company at the Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland, in 1865. She was 247.5 feet (75.4 m) long, 36.4 feet (11.1 m) wide and 22.5 feet (6.9 m) deep. She was bought by the Nourse Line in 1883, and was the fastest vessel in their fleet until the British Ambassador was commissioned. In 1878, however, British Peer's sailing power was compromised, when alterations were made to increase her tonnage by lengthening her hull by 32 feet (9.8 m), and she was never as fast again. She carried a crew of 23, including her master.
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1896 - SS Salier, a Cargo boat and passenger ship of Norddeutscher Lyoyd wrecked at Basoñas, Corrubedo. Porto do Son - No survivors of the 281 people on board
The Salier was a steam liner carrying cargo and passengers between Europe and South America, launched in 1874. It was the years of emigration to the New World. The ship, which was about 108 metres long, had an iron hull. It had been built in 1875 by Earle’s SB & E Co. in Hull (England). It had left the port of Bremen and, after a stop in La Coruña, it headed for Vigo before travelling to La Plata.
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1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914, during the First World War in the South Atlantic. The British, after the defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday.
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1929 - SMS Ägir , the second and final member of the Odin class of coastal defense ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe), wrecked
SMS Ägir
was the second and final member of the Odin class of coastal defense ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe) built for the Imperial German Navy. She had one sister ship, Odin. Ägir was named for the norse god, and was built by the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig shipyard between 1893 and 1896. She was armed with a main battery of three 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns. She served in the German fleet throughout the 1890s and was rebuilt in 1901–1903. She served in the VI Battle Squadron after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but saw no action. Ägir was demobilized in 1915 and used as a tender thereafter. After the war, she was rebuilt as a merchant ship and served in this capacity until December 1929, when she was wrecked on the island of Gotland.
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1936 - Battleship Gneisenau launched
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935 and launched on 8 December 1936. Completed in May 1938, the ship was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets, though there were plans to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets.
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1938 - german Aircraft carrier / Flugzeugträger Graf Zepellin launched
The German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the lead ship in a class of two carriers of the same name ordered by the Kriegsmarine. She was the only aircraft carrier launched by Germany and represented part of the Kriegsmarine's attempt to create a well-balanced oceangoing fleet, capable of projecting German naval power far beyond the narrow confines of the Baltic and North Seas. The carrier would have had a complement of 42 fighters and dive bombers.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


in the following some of the events in Pre-View -> for more details and also events please use the link

1694 – French The Téméraire, a 52-gun Anjou Class ship of the line of the French Navy. sunk by the English frigate HMS Montagu
Lyme was a 52-gun third rate Speaker-class frigate built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England at Portsmouth, and launched in 1654.
After the Restoration in 1660 she was renamed HMS Montagu. She was widened in 1675 and underwent her first rebuild in 1698 at Woolwich Dockyard as a 60-gun fourth rateship of the line. Her second rebuild took place at Portsmouth Dockyard, from where she was relaunched on 26 July 1716 as a 60-gun fourth rate to the 1706 Establishment.
The Montagu was broken up in 1749.
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1768 – Launch of Spanish San Agustín, a 74-gun ship of the line built at the royal shipyard in Guarnizo
The San Agustín was a 74-gun ship of the line built at the royal shipyard in Guarnizo (Santander) and launched in 1768.
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1779 – Launch of HMS Mercury, a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate
HMS Mercury
was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary Wars and most of the Napoleonic Wars, until being broken up in 1814.
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1791 – Launch of spanish Conquistador, a 74-gun San Ildefonso class ship of the line at Cartagena - transferred to France 23 April 1802, renamed Conquérant, stricken 1804
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1798 - HMS Brazen, the ex-French privateer Invincible General Bonaparte (or Invincible Bonaparte or Invincible Buonaparte) captured frigate Boadicea
HMS Brazen
was the French privateer Invincible General Bonaparte (or Invincible Bonaparte or Invincible Buonaparte), which the British captured in 1798. She is best known for her wrecking in January 1800 in which all but one of her crew drowned.
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1815 - Spanish Reina Maria Luisa, a 112-gun Santa Ana-class wrecked
Reina María Luisa was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1791 to plans by Romero Landa. One of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos. Reina María Luisa served in the Spanish Navy for three decades throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, finally being wrecked off Béjaïa in 1815. Although she was a formidable part of the Spanish battlefleet throughout these conflicts, she did not participate in any major operations.
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1905 – Launch of Greek Lemnos, sometimes spelled Limnos (Greek: Θ/Κ Λήμνος), a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship
Lemnos, sometimes spelled Limnos (Greek: Θ/Κ Λήμνος), was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship originally built by the United States Navy in 1904–1908. As Idaho, she was purchased by the Greek Navy in 1914 and renamed Lemnos, along with her sister Mississippi, renamed Kilkis. Lemnos was named for the Battle of Lemnos, a crucial engagement of the First Balkan War. Armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns, Lemnos and her sister were the most powerful vessels in the Greek fleet.
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1996 - Alexandria was a cargo-carrying three-masted schooner built in 1929 sunk
Alexandria was a cargo-carrying three-masted schooner built in 1929. Originally named Yngve, she was built at Björkenäs, Sweden, and fitted with a 58 H.P. auxiliary oil engine.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


As usual some events in pre-view - for more details and more events, please use the link

1665 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Johan de Witt and Michiel de Ruyter
The Korps Mariniers is the elite amphibious infantry component of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Their motto is Qua Patet Orbis ("As Far As The World Extends").
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1748 – Launch of HMS Lyme, a 28-gun, sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Lyme
was a 28-gun, sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Originally ordered as a 24 gun ship to the draft of the French privateer Tyger. The sixth vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name, Lyme, as well as Unicorn, which was a near-sister, were the first true frigates built for the Royal Navy. They were actually completed with 28 guns including the four smaller weapons on the quarterdeck, but the latter were not included in the ship's official establishment until 22 September 1756. The two ships differed in detail, Unicorn having a beakhead bow, a unicorn figurehead, two-light quarter galleries and only five pairs of quarterdeck gunports, while Lyme had a round bow, a lion figurehead, three-light quarter galleries and six pairs of quarterdeck gunports.
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1768 – Launch of HMS Raisonnable (sometimes spelt Raisonable), a 64-gun third rate ship of the line
HMS Raisonnable
(sometimes spelt Raisonable) was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 10 December 1768 and commissioned on 17 November 1770 under the command of Captain Maurice Suckling, Horatio Nelson's uncle. Raisonnable was built to the same lines as HMS Ardent, and was one of the seven ships forming the Ardent-class of 1761. Raisonnable was the first ship in which Nelson served.
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1772 – Launch of French Éveillé, a 64-gun Artésien class ship of the line, at Brest
The Artésien class was a type of 64-gun ships of the line of the French Navy. A highly detailed and accurate model of Artésien, lead ship of the class, was part of the Trianon model collection and is now on display at Paris naval museum.

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A Model of the 64-gun Third Rate Ship of the lIne L´ARTESIEN built by Pierre Blanc in scale 1:48 based on a monographie from Gerard Delacroix about the Le Fleuron published at ancre
https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/55-monographie-du-fleuron-vaisseau-de-64-canons-1729.html

1808 - HMS Jupiter (1778 - 50), Cptn. Henry Edward Reginald Baker, wrecked on reef of rocks in Vigo Bay.
HMS Jupiter was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years. She was also one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy as shown by her attempt to capture the cutter Eclipse under Nathaniel Fanning.
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1843 - Launch of USS Princeton, the first steam ship with screw propeller
In 1844, its guns explode during a demonstration and kill Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer and several others.

The first USS Princeton was a screw steam warship in the United States Navy. Commanded by Captain Robert F. Stockton, Princeton was launched on September 5, 1843. (some sources tells 10th December)
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1888 - Seiki (清輝 Pure Brightness), a screw sloop in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, sank
Seiki (清輝 Pure Brightness) was a screw sloop in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and was the first vessel built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal after its acquisition by the Meiji government. It was one of the first domestically-produced warships in Japan.
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1917 - SMS Wien ("His Majesty's Ship Vienna"), one of three Monarch-class coastal defense ships, was struck by two torpedoes and sank in less than five minutes
SMS Wien
("His Majesty's Ship Vienna") was one of three Monarch-class coastal defense ships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1890s. After her commissioning, the ship participated in an international blockade of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Wien and the two other Monarch-class ships made several training cruises in the Mediterranean Sea in the early 1900s. They formed the 1st Capital Ship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy until they were replaced by the newly commissioned Habsburg-class predreadnought battleships at the turn of the century. In 1906 the three Monarchs were placed in reserve and only recommissioned for annual summer training exercises. After the start of World War I, Wien was recommissioned and assigned to 5th Division together with her sisters.
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1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near British Malaya.
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval engagement in the Second World War, part of the war in the Pacific, that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang, where the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 10 December 1941. In Japanese, the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya (マレー沖海戦 Marē-oki kaisen).
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


1785 - Launch of HMS Majestic, a 74-gun Canada-class third rate ship of the line launched on 11 December 1785 at Deptford.
HMS Majestic
was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line launched on 11 December 1785 at Deptford. She fought at the Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ships Tonnant and Heureux, helping to force their surrenders. She was captained by George Blagdon Westcott, who was killed in the battle.
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1799 - Battle of Port Louis
HMS Tremendous and HMS Adamant (50), Cptn. William Hotham, drove ashore French frigate Preneuse (44), Cptn. L'Hermite, ashore about three miles from Port Louis, Mauritius. She struck and was boarded and set on fire by the ships boats. Shortly afterwards she blew up.

The Battle of Port Louis was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 11 December 1799 at the mouth of the Tombeau River near Port Louis on the French Indian Ocean island of Île de France, later known as Mauritius. Preneuse had originally been part of a powerful squadron of six frigates sent to the Indian Ocean in 1796 under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey, but the squadron dispersed in 1798 and by the summer of 1799 Preneuse was the only significant French warship remaining in the region. The battle was the culmination of a three-month raiding cruise by the 40-gun French Navy frigate Preneuse, commanded by Captain Jean-Matthieu-Adrien Lhermitte. Ordered to raid British commerce in the Mozambique Channel, Lhermitte's cruise had been eventful, with an inconclusive encounter with a squadron of small British warships in Algoa Bay on 20 September and an engagement with the 50-gun HMS Jupiter during heavy weather on 9–11 October.
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1802 – Launch of HMS Sceptre, a 74-gun Repulse-class third rate of the Royal Navy,
HMS Sceptre
was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821.
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1807 - HMS Grasshopper (1806 - 18), Thomas Searle, captured Spanish brig San Josef (12), Don Antonio de Torres Teniento de Navaro, off Cape Palos.
HMS Grasshopper
was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806, captured several vessels, and took part in two notable actions before the Dutch captured her in 1811. She then served The Netherlands navy until she was broken up in 1822.
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1810 – Launch of HMS Crescent, a 38-gun Lively-class frigate
The Lively class were a successful class of sixteen British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates.
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1941 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy suffers its first loss of surface vessels during the Battle of Wake Island.
The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval/air bases in Hawaii and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its minor islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.
The island was held by the Japanese for the duration of the Pacific War theater of World War II; the remaining Japanese garrison on the island surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines on 4 September 1945, after the earlier surrender on the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay to General Douglas MacArthur.
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1942 - Raid on Algiers
The Raid on Algiers took place on 11 December 1942, in the Algiers harbour. Italian manned torpedoes and commando frogmen from the Decima Flottiglia MAS were brought to Algiers aboard the Perla-class submarine Ambra. The participating commandos were captured after setting limpet mines which sank two Allied ships and damaged two more.
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1954 - The first supercarrier USS Forrestal (CVA 59) is launched.
USS Forrestal (CV-59)
(later CVA-59, then AVT-59), was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz class, Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She surpassed the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest carrier yet built, and was the first designed to support jet aircraft.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


as usual some of the events in pre-View

1710 – Launch of French Le Superb, a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line
HMS Superb
was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She had previously been Le Superbe, a 56-gun warship of the French Navy, until her capture off Lizard Point by HMS Kent in July 1710. Commissioned into the Royal Navy in September 1710, HMS Superb served throughout Queen Anne's War and the War of the Quadruple Alliance, during which she participated in the destruction of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. She was broken up in 1732.
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1724 – Birth of Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (d. 1816)
Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of Antelope, he drove a French ship ashore in Audierne Bay, and captured two privateers in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. He held senior command as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station and then as Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station, leading the British fleet to victory at Battle of the Mona Passage in April 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, then First Naval Lord and, after briefly returning to the Portsmouth command, became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet during the French Revolutionary Wars.
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1779 - Action of 12 December 1779
HMS Salisbury (1769 - 50), Cptn. Charles Inglis, took Spanish private ship of war San Carlos (1779 - 20), Don Juan Antonio Zaveletta, off Porto del Sall, Bay of Honduras.

The Action of 12 December 1779 was a minor naval engagement that took place in the Bay of Honduras during the Anglo-Spanish War between a British Royal naval Fourth-rate fifty gun ship and a fifty gun Spanish privateer.
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1781 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant: A British fleet led by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet.
The Second Battle of Ushant was a naval battle fought between French and British squadrons near the island of Ushant on 12 December 1781, as part of the American Revolutionary War.
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1782 - Action of 12 December 1782
HMS Mediator (40) engaged enemy line of 3 French and 2 American ships, L'Eugene (1782 - 36), Menagere (1776 - 26), Dauphin Royal (1782 - 24/12), Alexander (1781 - 24) and a brig (14), in the Bay of Biscay. Alexander and Menagere were taken.

The Action of 12 December 1782 was a naval engagement fought off the coast of Spain near Ferrol, in which the British 40-gun fifth rate HMS Mediator successfully attacked a convoy of five armed ships. Mediator succeeded in capturing one American privateer, the Alexander, and then captured the French ex-ship of the line La Ménagère. The convoy was part of Pierre Beaumarchais's supply chain to the American colonists.
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1810 - HMS Entreprenante' (10), Lt. Peter Williams, repulsed four French privateers off the coast of Spain.
HMS Entreprenante
(also Entreprenant), was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She took part in several small engagements, capturing Spanish and French ships before she was sold in 1812 for breaking up.
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1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by a controlled mine.
USS Cairo
was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.
Cairo was the lead ship of the City-class gunboats and named for Cairo, Illinois. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, enabling Union forces to occupy Memphis. As part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff. Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by a mine remotely detonated by hand.
The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons and naval stores.
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1878 – Launch of HMS Sealark
HMS Sealark
was a Royal Navy vessel used primarily for hydrographic survey work. She was originally a luxurious private auxiliary steam yacht for a number of wealthy owners and in 1903 was acquired by the Royal Navy, serving until 1914. She was sold to James Patrick Steamships Ltd and converted to a merchant ship for the Australian coast and finally hulked in 1924.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13th of December

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....


Some of the events in a pre-view -> for more details and other events, please use the link

1642 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.
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1669 – Launch of French Soleil Royal, a French 104-gun ship of the line, flagship of Admiral Tourville.
Soleil Royal (Royal Sun) was a French 104-gun ship of the line, flagship of Admiral Tourville.
She was built in Brest between 1668 and 1670 by engineer Laurent Hubac, was launched in 1669, and stayed unused in Brest harbour for years. She was recommissioned with 112 guns and 1200 men when the Nine Years' War broke out in 1688 as the flagship of the escadre du Ponant (squadron of the West).
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THE THREE-DECKER of the Chevalier DE TOURVILLE- 1680 by Jean Boudriot
https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/68-monographie-de-l-ambitieux-vaisseau-3-ponts-1680.html

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1693 - Death of Willem van de Velde the Elder
Because of painters like him, we know now, how these ships were looking like
Willem van de Velde the Elder (c. 1611 – 13 December 1693) was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter.
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1758 – The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 Acadian civilians, also ships Ruby and Violet with Acadians on board were lost in these days
The Duke William was a ship which served as a troop transport at the Siege of Louisbourg and as a deportation ship in the Île Saint-Jean Campaign of the Expulsion of the Acadians during the Seven Years' War. While the Duke William was transporting Acadians from Île St Jean (Prince Edward Island) to France, the ship sank in the North Atlantic on December 13, 1758, with the loss of over 360 lives. The sinking was one of the greatest marine disasters in Canadian history.

1763 – two-masted brigantine packet ship Hanover wrecked
The Hanover was a two-masted brigantine packet ship owned and operated by the Falmouth Packet Company, which operated between 1688 and 1852. Hanover was 100-foot (30 m) long and was built in 1757.
On 13 December 1763, while en route from Lisbon to Falmouth, she was driven ashore by a gale. There were only three survivors out of 27 crew and 40 passengers. The location, near Perranporth has become known as Hanover Cove as a result. At the time she was carrying a large amount of gold and valuables; historical evidence suggests that this was mostly recovered around the time of the wrecking.
The wreck made legal history, when in 1765 an iron trunk containing bullion was recovered. The insurers had already paid out on the loss and the case established that where insurers paid out on cargo and the owners subsequently recovered their property, the insurers were entitled to a refund.
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1796 - HMS Terpsichore (32), Cptn. Bowen, captured French frigate Vestale (36) Cptn. Foucaud (Killed in Action), off Cadiz - and retaken by the crew the day after
HMS Terpsichore
was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, in a career that spanned forty-five years.
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1809 - HMS Junon (36), Cptn. John Shortland, captured and destroyed by the French frigates Renommee (40), Clorinde (40), Loire (20) and Seine (20).
The Junon was a Gloire class 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. Launched in 1806, she saw service during the Napoleonic Wars, escorting merchant convoys to France's besieged Caribbean colonies. In February 1809 she was captured at sea after a fierce engagement with four Royal Navy vessels.
Recommissioned as HMS Junon, she served as part of the British blockade of French ports in the Caribbean. French frigates recaptured her in December 1809 off the French colony of Guadeloupe. The engagement so damaged Junon that her captors scuttled her.
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1809 - Boats of HMS Kent (74), HMS Ajax (74), HMS Cambrian (40), HMS Sparrowhawk (18) and HMS Minstrel (18) took and destroyed a convoy inside the mole of Palamos of a national ketch (14), two xebecs (3) and eight merchant vessels.
HMS Kent
was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 January 1798 at Blackwall Yard.
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1814 - Capture of USS President
The capture of USS President was one of many naval actions fought at the end of the War of 1812. The frigate USS President tried to break out of New York Harbor but was intercepted by a British squadron of four warships and forced to surrender. The battle took place several weeks after the Treaty of Ghent, but there is no evidence that the combatants were aware that the war had officially ended.
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1911 – SS Delhi sunk
SS Delhi
was a steamship of the Peninsular & Orient Line (P&O) that was lost off Cape Spartel, northern Morocco, at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, on 12 December 1911. Among the passengers was Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, whose subsequent death in Egypt was ascribed to ill-health caused during the wreck, and his family, the Princess Royal and daughters Princesses Alexandra and Maud.
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1939 - Battle of the River Plate
Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.

The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War and the first one of the Battle of the Atlantic in South American waters. The German panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee had cruised into the South Atlantic a fortnight before the war began, and had been commerce raiding after receiving appropriate authorisation on 26 September 1939. One of the hunting groups sent by the British Admiralty to search for Graf Spee, comprising three Royal Navy cruisers, HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles (the last from the New Zealand Division), found and engaged their quarry off the estuary of the River Plate close to the coast of Uruguay in South America.
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