Naval/Maritime History 27th of August - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

11 August 1695 - unsuccessfull Bombardment of Dunkirk by british

By the mid-17th century the channel port of Dunkirk had a reputation for being a haven for privateers who were a menace to Dutch and English shipping. However, when Dunkirk was acquired by France in 1662, after a brief period of English rule, the harbour entrance was becoming silted and large ships could not enter. French king Louis XIV decided to transform the town into an important naval harbour and fortress, spending vast sums of money there throughout the rest of the 17th century.

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As a fortress, Dunkirk formed the northern anchor of the first line of Vauban's Pré Carré, a system of fortresses protecting northern France from attack. As a naval harbour, Dunkirk provided a valuable base for naval ships and privateers operating in the English Channel, an area where France had few good harbours.

Vauban, the king's military engineer, fortified the town with 10 large bastions, based on the existing Spanish works, and built a citadel next to the harbour entrance. The fortifications were protected by a flooded ditch, with numerous outworks and redoubts.

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In order to achieve the king's naval aspirations for Dunkirk a large basin was excavated in 1670s that could hold 30 warships. The basin was prevented from running dry at low tide by a huge double lock that was built at its entrance. To enable large vessels to come into the harbour a channel was dug across the Banc Schurken, a sandbank that lay just off Dunkirk. This channel was secured by two jetties, which ran about a kilometre from the town to the deep water. When this work was complete in 1678, large vessels could use the harbour and France had a powerful naval base from which to strike at English and Dutch shipping.

The French recognised that the jetties were the lifeline of Dunkirk's harbour. In wartime an enemy naval force would only have to destroy or damage the jetties and the channel would quickly silt up. There were also concerns that an enemy would try to bombard the town from the sea. Because the channel was so long, it was not possible for the guns in the town's fortifications to cover the length of the jetties or keep enemy bomb vessels out of range. To provide protection for the town and the jetties, six forts were built in the sea in the 1680s. At first glance, the sea forts appear to be scattered at random across the area between the town and the low tide mark, but in fact each fort was built to cover a specific approach.

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The sea forts and the landward fortifications were completed in the 1680s, with the exception of Fort Blanc, which was built in 1701. They successfully defended Dunkirk from several Anglo-Dutch naval attacks in the 1690s, so that not a single shell was able to reach the citadel or the town. The landward fortifications were never put to the test. During the War of the Spanish Succession the Allies avoided attacking Dunkirk because of its strength, advancing instead via Lille and Tournai.

In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, bringing an end to the war between France and Great Britain. According to this treaty the fortifications and port facilities of Dunkirk had to be completely demolished. This meant an end to the jetties, the sea forts and the land fortifications. In the mid-18th century new sea forts and landward fortifications were built, partially utilising the ruins of the earlier forts, but these were also fairly short-lived. Today nothing remains of Vauban's great coastal fortress of Dunkirk. The Risban lighthouse is built on top of the ruins of the Grand Risban, but there are no traces of the fort itself.
 
Other events on 11 August


1705 - HMS Plymouth (1653 - 60 guns) foundered.

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The English ship ‘Plymouth’, 60 guns, was built in 1653 and rebuilt in 1705. The drawing is inscribed pleijmoud vergadt which identifies the ship. There is a drawing in the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam (MB1866.T331) of ‘de oude pleijmout daer Sr thomas/hallin mede naer konstantinoobelen was’ (The old ‘Plymouth’ in which Sir Thomas Allin went to Constantinople).
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/220129.html#lPOlk4H66TlFEoSy.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Plymouth_(1653)

1718 - Battle of Cape Passaro. British fleet under Sir George Byng defeated Spanish fleet under Antonio de Gaztaneta off Sicily.

The Battle of Cape Passaro (or Passero) was the defeat of a Spanish fleet under Admirals Antonio de Gaztañeta and Fernando Chacón by a British fleet under Admiral George Byng, near Cape Passero, Sicily, on 11 August 1718, four months before the War of the Quadruple Alliance was formally declared.

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The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 by Richard Paton (oil on canvas, 1767)

The men-of-war of the Spanish fleet were made up of eleven ships of the line of 50 guns or above, ten frigates[contradictory], four bomb vessels, two fireships and seven galleys; the rest were merchantmen with stores and provisions.

The fleet was sailing in a scattered way and it sensed no danger when it caught sight of the British ships because it was unaware of the Quadruple Alliance's ultimatum. When the British fleet began to approach in an aggressive way, the Spanish fleet split into two – the smaller ships and merchantmen made for the coast, while the larger men-of-war engaged the British as they came up. HMS Canterbury, under George Walton was detached along with HMS Argyll, HMS Burford and four other ships to chase the first group and captured most of them. These captured Spanish warships were afterwards laid up in Menorca.

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Painting of battle showing Spanish flagship Real San Felipe (centre) being bombarded by British ships

A shipwreck has been found (2012) just off Avola, near the south-eastern tip of Sicily. Cannon have been raised from the wreck identifying it as a British ship, probably one sunk in this battle. The location of the wreck helps to pinpoint the site of the battle.

Order of battle
Britain (Sir George Byng)
Total was 1 of 90 guns, 2 of 80 guns, 9 of 70 guns, 7 of 60 guns, 2 of 50 guns, 1 of 44 guns. The British fleet also comprised 6 smaller vessels – the fireships Garland (Samuel Atkins) and Griffin (Humphrey Orme), the storeship Success (Francis Knighton), the hospital ship Looe (Timothy Splaine), the bomb-ketch Basilisk (John Hubbard) and an unnamed bomb tender.

Spain (Vice-Admiral Don José Antonio de Gaztañeta)
  • Real San Felipe (El Real) 74 (flag) – Captured by Superbe and Kent, blew up after being towed to Mahon
  • Principe de Asturias 70 (Rear-Admiral Don Fernando Chacón) – Captured by Breda and Captain
  • San Juan Bautista 60 (Don Francisco Guerrero) – Escaped to Malta.
  • San Luis 60 (Rear-Admiral Don Balthasar de Guevara) – Escaped to Malta.
  • San Pedro 60 (Don Antonio de Arizaga) – Escaped
  • San Carlos 60 (Prince de Chalois) – Captured by Kent
  • Real Mazi (El Real) 60 (Rear-Admiral Marquiss de Mari) – Captured by Canterbury's division
  • San Fernando 60 (Rear-Admiral George Cammock) – Escaped to Malta
  • Santa Isabel(la) / San Isabel 60 (Don Andrea Reggio) – Captured by Dorsetshire
  • Santa Rosa 60 (Don Antonio González) – Captured by Orford
  • Perla de España 54 (Don Gabriel de Alderete) – Escaped to Malta
  • San Isidro 46 (Don Manuel de Villavicencio) – Captured by Canterbury's division
  • Hermione 44 (Don Rodrigo de Torres) – Escaped, but then burnt at Messina
  • Volante 44 (Don Antonio Escudero) – Captured by Montagu and Rupert
  • Esperanza 46 (Don Juan Maria Delfin) – Burnt to avoid capture
  • Juno 36 (Don Pedro Moyano) – Captured by Essex
  • Sorpresa 36 (Don Miguel de Sada, count of Clavijo) – Captured by Canterbury's division
  • Galera 30 (Don Francisco Álvarez Barreiro) – Escaped
  • Castilla 30 (Don Francisco de Liaño) – Escaped
  • Conde de Tolosa 30 (Don José de Goycoechea) – Escaped, but then captured at Messina
  • Aguila 24 (Don Lucas Masnata) – Captured by Canterbury's division
Total was one 74-gun, 1 70-gun, 8 60-gun, 1 54-gun, 2 46-gun, 2 44-gun, 2 36-gun, 3 30-gun, 3 26-gun, 1–24 gun and 13 other ships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Passaro

1750 - french Florissant class 74 gun ship Florissant launched in Rochefort

Florissant 74 (launched 11 August 1750 at Rochefort) - condemned 1762 at Cadiz.

1779 French Sibylle class 32 gun frigate Fine launched in Nantes

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylle-class_frigate

1779 - french Galathee class 32 gun frigate Railleuse launched

Railleuse, (launched 11 August 1779 at Bordeaux); she was sold on 17 January 1798 at Rochefort. She became the privateer Egyptienne, which HMS Hippomenes, captured in 1804. The British took Egyptienne into service as HMS Antigua. Antigua served as a prison ship until she was scrapped in 1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Antigua_(1804)

1791 - Battle of Cape Kaliakra

The Battle of Cape Kaliakra was the last naval battle of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). It took place on 11 August 1791 off the coast of Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria, in the Black Sea. Neither side lost a ship, but the Ottomans retreated to Istanbul afterward.


the complete Russian Film “Admiral Uschakow”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Kaliakra

1797 - HMS Sylph (18) and consorts destroyed gunboats at Sable d'Olonne.

1799 - HMS Pylades (16), Adam Mackenzie, HMS Espiegle (16), J. Boorder and HMS Courier (12), Lt. Thomas Searle, under Cptn. Frank Sotheron, HMS Latona (38), attacked a captured British gun-brig Crash, in the passage between Schiermonikoog and the coast of Holland HMS Courier started the action but Crash would not surrender until the two sloops came up.

1801 - HMS Lowestoffe (32), Cptn. Robert Plamplin, while working through the windward (Caycos) passage, escorting a convoy, was wrecked during the early hours of the morning on the Great Heneaga (Inagua). The loss was due to a sudden change of current after dark.

1808 - HMS Comet (10) captured Sylphe.

1808 - Boats of British squadron under Rear Ad. Sir R. Keats captured the Danish brig Fama (18), Lt. Otto F. Rasch, and the royal yacht Søeormen (12), Sub Lt. Tøger Rosenørn, off Nyborg inlet, Baltic

1812 - USS Constitution (44), Cptn. Isaac Hull, captures and destroys brig Lady Warren

1812 - Boats of HMS Menelaus (38), Cptn. Peter Parker, at Port St. Stefano captured a brig and destroyed other vessels over 3 days.

1861 - USS Penguin, commanded by Cmdr. John L. Livingston, engages blockade-runner Louisa during the Civil War. The blockade-runner hits a sandbar near Cape Fear, N.C., and sinks.

1901 - The first german South Polar Expedition of Erich von Drygalski started from Kiel the voyage on board of ship Gauß .

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Drygalski

2006The oil tanker M/T Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_1
 
12 August 1499 - The naval Battle of Zonchio


(Turkish: Sapienza Deniz Muharebesi, also known as the Battle of Sapienza or the First Battle of Lepanto) took place on four separate days: 12, 20, 22 and 25 August 1499. It was a part of the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1499–1503. It was the first naval battle in history in which cannons were used on ships.[citation needed]

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In January 1499 Kemal Reis set sail from Constantinople with a force of 10 galleys and 4 other types of ships, and in July 1499 met with the huge Ottoman fleet which was sent to him by Davud Pasha and took over its command in order to wage a large scale war against the Republic of Venice. The Ottoman fleet consisted of 67 galleys, 20 galliots and about 200 smaller vessels.

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Kemal Reis

After reaching Cape Zonchio in the Ionian Sea with the large Ottoman fleet in August 1499, Kemal Reis defeated the Venetian fleet of 47 galleys, 17 galliots and about 100 smaller vessels under the command of Antonio Grimani. Grimani was 65 and although he was a proven captain in battle, he was not an experienced leader and had never commanded large battle fleets. He had only been given command because of a donation of 16,000 ducats to the state and personally funding the arming of 10 galleys. He was not told whether to fight an offensive or defensive campaign. Many captains ignored his orders to attack the Ottomans and he did not take part in the battle. His indecisiveness and reluctance to attack led to failure during the battle.

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"Göke" (1495) was the flagship of Kemal Reis.

On the second day, Grimani ordered the crews to kill any captains who refused to fight. Despite this, and the arrival of four French galleys, he sent just two galleys out of 170 against the Ottomans. Both somehow returned unharmed.

On 25 August the Venetians captured some Ottoman galleys, then discipline broke down and the Ottomans recaptured the vessels while they were being looted; the French reinforcements abandoned the Venetians in disgust and fled to Rhodes.

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Antonio Grimani (1434-1523)

In her book Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500, Susan Rose writes about one of the most of critical stages of the battle, when the Venetians were about to start an attack:
As the trumpeters sounded the advance, a squadron of light galleys joined Grimani’s force from Corfu led by Andrea Loredano who had the reputation of being a dashing and popular commander. His arrival was greeted with enthusiastic shouts of his name from the galleymen who seem to have had no very good opinion of Grimani. Loredano went to board the Pandora the largest of the Venetian round ships and with another commanded by Albano Armer attacked the largest Turkish ship believed to be commanded by Kemal Ali (or Camali to the Venetians), a notorious corsair long hunted unsuccessfully by the Venetian galley patrols. The three vessels became grappled together. A fire broke out on the Turkish ship which spread to the others and soon all were in flames.
The sight of the three great ships burning together dealt a severe blow to the Venetian morale.

Antonio Grimani was arrested on 29 September and banished to the island of Cherso. Grimani later became the Doge of Venice in 1521. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II gave 10 of the captured Venetian galleys to Kemal Reis, who later stationed his fleet at the island of Cefalonia between October and December 1499.

The Ottomans and Venetians soon confronted each other for a second time at the Second Battle of Lepanto, which is also known as the Battle of Modon, and the Ottomans were victorious under Kemal Reis.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zonchio
https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/mwblog/top-five-naval-battles-of-the-middle-ages/
http://deremilitari.org/2014/03/fou...ii-orseoto-to-the-battle-of-zoncho-1000-1500/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemal_Reis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Grimani
 

Attachments

12 August 1780 - HMS Bienfaisant (1758 - 64), Cptn. John Macbride, took Count d'Artois off the Old Head of Kinsale.

The Action of 13 August 1780 (other sources says 12th August, others 9/1780) was a minor naval battle fought off the Old Head of Kinsale (County Cork, Ireland) in which the 64-gun French "private man of war" (privateer) Comte d'Artois fought two British Royal Navy ships, HMS Bienfaisant and HMS Charon, during the American Revolutionary War.

After Royal Navy admiral George Rodney successfully brought relief to the defenders of Gibraltar, capturing a Spanish convoy off Cape Finisterre and eight days later winning the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, his fleet returned to Britain in March 1780. One of the ships of his fleet, HMS Bienfaisant, under John MacBride, sailed back with them and kept a watch of the Irish coast in order to report if there were any movements by Spanish and French fleets in the area.

Reports arrived in early August 1780 of a large French privateer, the 64-gun Comte d'Artois, which had sailed from Brest to cruise off the Irish south coast, and was at once to be dealt with. MacBride was ordered to sail together with the 44-gun HMS Charon to capture Comte d'Artois. After several days in search of the vessel, a mysterious sail was finally sighted early on 13 August, chasing after some of the ships of a British convoy departing from Cork.

Comte d'Artois
Comte d'Artois was an Indiaman of the French East India Company, launched in 1759. She had been hulked in 1767 to serve as a careening hulk, but in 1780 was sold as a privateer. From May 1780 until the action she cruised under the command of Lieutenant Chevalier Robert Sutton de Closnard (or Clonard).

Bienfaisant
was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1754.

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The Engagement off Ushant 27th of July 1778 between the British fleet Commanded by Adml Keppel and the French Fleet under Count D'Orvilliers: Drawn by an Officer on board the Victory; engraving

A cutting out expedition ordered by Admiral Edward Boscawen of the British Royal Navy captured her on the night of 25 July 1758 during the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg. Bienfaisant and the 74-gun Prudent were the last remaining ships of the line of the French squadron in Louisbourg harbour. Prudent had run aground and so her captors set her alight, but men commanded by Commander George Balfour of HMS Aetna boarded and brought out Bienfaisant. The action provided a decisive moment of the siege; the fortress surrendered the next day.

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Profil d'un vaisseau de 64 canons du même type que le Bienfaisant.

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La capture du Bienfaisant lors du siège de Louisbourg, en 1758.

British Service
The Royal Navy commioned Bienfaisant as the third rate HMS Bienfaisant. She took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the capture of the Comte de Artois off Ireland in August. She participated, under the command of Captain Braithwaite, in the 1781 Battle of Dogger Bank with reduced armament on her lower deck as the last ship in the line. Bienfaisant was broken up in 1814.

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Captain John MacBride inscribed (l.l): Captain MacBride / 1788 inscribed (l.r.): Painted by / Gilbert Stewart / Born in America / 1754. Died 1828

Action
MacBride ranged up and fell in with the unidentified ship, which hoisted English colours. Both ships came within pistol shot, and it was not until there was some communication between the two ships, that MacBride could be satisfied of her identity. By now the two ships were so close, with Bienfaisant off the Comte d'Artois's bow, that neither ship could bring their main guns to bear. Instead both ships opened fire with muskets until MacBride could manoeuvre away and a general action ensued.

After an hour and ten minutes the French vessel surrendered. She proved to be the Comte D'Artois, a private ship of war, mounting 64 guns, and with a crew of 644 men Closnard's command. Closnard himself was slightly wounded. Of his crew, 21 men were killed and 35 wounded. Bienfaisant had three men killed and 20 wounded. Charon had only joined the action towards the end of the engagement and only had a single man wounded. Two British frigates, HMS Licorne and HMS Hussar, also came up towards the end of the action and so shared in the prize money with Bienfaisant and Charon. The Royal Navy did not take Comte d'Artois into service.

The capture had an unusual sequel, as just over a year later and under a different captain, Bienfaisant captured another privateer, this time named Comtesse d'Artois.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bienfaisant_(1758)
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bienfaisant_(1758)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_13_August_1780
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_MacBride_(Royal_Navy_officer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hussar_(1763)
 
12 August 1798 - HMS Hazard (1794 - 16), William Butterfield, captured french Neptune (20/10) from the Isle de France bound for Brest.

HMS Hazard was a 16-gun Royal Navy Cormorant class ship-sloop built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury, Kent, and launched in 1794. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and throughout the Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes, and participated in a notable ship action against Topaze, as well as in several other actions and campaigns, three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. Hazard was sold in 1817.

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Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798. On 7 August he captured the American snow Two Brothers that a French privateer had taken three days earlier. The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find the privateer. On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase. The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped. As she escaped, Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her.

The new quarry turned out to be the French warship Neptune, with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board, sailing from Île de France to Bordeaux. She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10. In the ensuing two-hour engagement, Neptune fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets. She also attempted to board Hazard. Eventually Neptune surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded; Hazard had 6 men wounded. During the fight Hazard saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved. As she returned to port with Neptune, Hazard saw a French privateer with an English prize, Britannia, in tow, and directed a British frigate to the scene.


The Cormorant class were built as a class of 16-gun ship sloops for the Royal Navy, although they were re-rated as 18-gun ships soon after completion.

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Design
The two Surveyors of the Navy – Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow – jointly designed the class. A notation on the back of the plans held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, states that the designers based their plan on the lines of the captured French sloop Amazon, captured in 1745.

The Admiralty ordered six vessels to this design in February 1793; it ordered a seventh vessel in the following year. These ships were initially armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns, later supplemented with eight 12-pounder carronades (6 on the quarter deck and 2 on the forecastle). The 6-pounder guns were eventually replaced by 24-pounder carronades.

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His Majesty's ship Blossom off the Sandwich Islands

Twenty-four more were ordered to the same design in 1805 – 1806, although in this new batch 32-pounder carronades were fitted instead of the 6-pounder guns originally mounted in the earlier batch; the 12-pounder carronades were replaced by 18-pounders, and some ships also received two 6-pounders as chase guns on the forecastle.

Of this second batch one ship (Serpent) was cancelled and another (Ranger) completed to a slightly lengthened variant of the design.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hazard_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant-class_ship-sloop
 
12 August 1809 - HMS Monkey (1801 - 12), Lt. Thomas Fitzgerald, and HMS Lynx (1794 - 16), John Willoughby Marshall, captured three Danish luggers off Dais Head near Rostock.


On 12 August, Commander John Willoughby Marshall and Lynx, in the company of the gun-brig Monkey under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Fitzgerald, discovered three Danish luggers off the Danish coast.

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HMS 'Lynx' and 'Monkey' capturing three Danish luggers, 12 August 1809

The water was too shallow for Lynx, so Marshall sent Monkey and boats from Lynx in to cut them out. The largest of the luggers, which had four guns and four howitzers, opened fire on Monkey before all three luggers ran ashore once Monkey and the launch's 18-pounder carronade returned fire. The British refloated the luggers and brought them out the next day, having taken no casualties. In their haste to quit the vessel, the Danes failed to fire the fuse on a cask of gunpowder they had left by the fireplace on the largest lugger. Marshall thought the Danes' behaviour in leaving the explosive device disgraceful. The largest lugger was Captain Japen (or Captain Jassen). She had had a crew of 45 men, who had fled, and during the engagement she had thrown two of her howitzers overboard. The second lugger, name unknown, had four guns and a crew of 20. The third lugger was Speculation, of three guns and 19 men. Her crew too had thrown two guns overboard.[49] At the end of the month, on 27 August, Lynx captured a Danish sloop that also bore the name Speculation.


HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant-class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on the USRC Eagle. She was at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took numerous prizes, mostly merchant vessels but also including some privateers. She was also at the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was sold in April 1813.

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HMS Monkey, Gun-brig of the Bloodhound-class, launched 1801.
Ordered 7 January 1801, Builder John Nicholson, Rochester, Launched 11 May 1801, Wrecked 25 December 1810

Sir John Henslow produced his equivalent design to that of Rule's Archer batch, and ten vessels were ordered to this design just nine days after those of his colleague's design.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lynx_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gun-brigs_of_the_Royal_Navy#Bloodhound_class
 
1809 – Launch of HMS Orpheus, Apollo class 36 gun frigate

HMS Orpheus was a 36-gun Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1809 from Deptford Dockyard. She was broken up in 1819.

Construction
Ordered on 27 February 1807 and laid down in August 1808 at Deptford Dockyard. Launched on 12 August 1809 and completed on 21 September 1809.

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Scale: 1:48. A model of one of the nine ships of the 'Artois/Apollo' class of 38-gun frigates designed by Sir John Henslow and built between 1793 and 1795. Seven were built conventionally in private shipyards and two more were constructed experimentally in fir in the Royal Dockyards at Chatham and Woolwich. Four of the conventional ships were wrecked between 1797 and 1799, and the fir-built ships deteriorated rapidly. The model shows the hull of the ship fully planked and set on a launching cradle, though without the rails on which it will run, as is common on models of this period. The stern decoration and figurehead are carefully carved and some features such as decorations and the steering wheel are made in bone. The figurehead is of Diana the huntress, which identifies the ship. Two other models of this ship are in the Museum collection.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66533.html#1ptVYIjCjiA5S0r3.99


Service
Orpheus also saw service in the War of 1812. While in Long Island Sound, she chased the American privateer Holkar and ran her aground, before destroying Holkar by cannon fire.

Orpheus was part of the British patrolling squadron in Long Island Sound. When the British fleet encountered an American fleet, commanded by Stephen Decatur it chased them to New London where the American fleet escaped. The British squadron there formed a blockade, confining the American fleet until the end of the war.

On 27 April Orpheus chased the American ship Whampoa on shore near Newport, Rhode Island. Whampoa had been sailing from Lorient. The British took possession of Whampoa but then abandoned her due to fire from the shore.

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Fate
She was broken up at Chatham Dockyard in August 1819.

Model:
The kit of HMS Diana in scale 1:64 from Jotika / Caldercraft is an Apollo class frigate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Orpheus_(1809)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_class&id=12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-class_frigate
 
12 August 1812 – Launch of French Ceres , 40 gun Pallas-class frigate

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Clorinde, also Pallas class

The Pallas class constituted the standard design of 40-gun frigates of the French Navy during the Napoleonic Empire period. Jacques-Noël Sanédesigned them in 1805, as a development of his seven-ship Hortense class of 1802, and over the next eight years the Napoléonic government ordered in total 62 frigates to be built to this new design. Of these some 54 were completed, although ten of them were begun for the French Navy in shipyards within the French-occupied Netherlands or Italy, which were then under French occupation; these latter ships were completed for the Netherlands or Austrian navies after 1813.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate_(1808)
 
12 August 2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew

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Kursk was an Oscar-class submarine, twice the length of a 747 jumbo jet, and one of the largest submarines in the Russian Navy.

The Kursk submarine disaster, the sinking of the Oscar-class submarine (Russian: Project 949A Антей) Kursk, took place during the first major Russian naval exercise in more than ten years, in the Barents Sea on 12 August 2000, killing all 118 personnel on board. Nearby ships registered the initial explosion and a second, much larger, explosion two minutes and fifteen seconds later, which was powerful enough to register on seismographs as far away as Alaska. The Russian Navy did not realise that the sub had sunk and did not halt the exercise or initiate a search for it for more than six hours. Because the sub's emergency rescue buoy had been intentionally disabled, it took more than 16 hours for them to locate the sunken boat.

Over four days, the Russian Navy used four different diving bells and submersibles to try to attach to the escape hatch without success. The navy's response was criticised as slow and inept. The government initially misled and manipulated the public and media about the timing of the accident, stating that communication had been established and that a rescue effort was under way, and refused help from other governments. On the fifth day, President Vladimir Putin authorised the navy to accept British and Norwegian offers of assistance. Seven days after the submarine went down, Norwegian divers finally opened a hatch to the escape trunk in the boat's ninth compartment, hoping to locate survivors, but found it flooded.

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Silhouette of soviet Oscar-II class guided missile submarine (project 949A "Antey").

An official investigation after most of the wreck was raised along with analysis of pieces of debris concluded that the crew of Kursk was preparing to load a dummy 65–76 "Kit" torpedo when a faulty weld in the casing of the practice torpedo caused high-test peroxide (HTP) to leak, which caused the kerosenefuel to explode. The initial explosion blew off the internal torpedo tube cover and the external tube door, ignited a fire, destroyed the torpedo room, destroyed the bulkhead between the first and second compartments, severely damaged the control room, incapacitated or killed the control room crew, and caused the submarine to sink. The intense fire resulting from this explosion in turn triggered the detonation of between five and seven torpedo warheadsafter the submarine struck bottom. This second explosion was equivalent to between 2 and 3 tonnes (2.0 and 3.0 long tons; 2.2 and 3.3 short tons) of TNT. It collapsed the bulkheads between the first three compartments and all the decks, tore a large hole in the hull, destroyed compartments four and five, and killed everyone still alive who was forward of the nuclear reactor in the fifth compartment. An alternative explanation to the faulty weld offered by critics suggested that the crew was neither familiar with nor trained on firing HTP torpedoes and had unknowingly followed preparation and firing instructions intended for a very different type of torpedo. Combined with poor oversight and incomplete inspections, the sailors initiated a set of events that led to the explosion.

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Wreck of Russian submarine Kursk (K-141) in a floating dock at Roslyakovo.

Following salvage operations, analysts concluded that 23 sailors in the sixth through ninth compartments had survived the two explosions. They took refuge in the small ninth compartment and survived more than six hours. When oxygen ran low, crew members attempted to replace a volatile potassium superoxide chemical oxygen cartridge when it contacted oily sea water that had seeped into the compartment. The resulting explosion killed several crew members and triggered a flash fire that consumed the remaining oxygen, suffocating the remaining survivors. All 118 personnel—111 crew members, five officers from 7th SSGN Division Headquarters, and two design engineers—aboard Kursk died. The investigation concluded the Russian Navy was completely unprepared to respond to the disaster. The following year, a Dutch team was contracted by the Russians to raise the hull. Employing newly developed lifting technologies, they recovered all but the bow of the vessel, including the remains of 115 sailors, who were buried in Russia. More than two years after the sinking, the Russian government completed a 133-volume, top-secret investigation of the disaster. The government released a four-page summary to the public that was published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. It revealed "stunning breaches of discipline, shoddy, obsolete and poorly maintained equipment," and "negligence, incompetence, and mismanagement." The report said the rescue operation was unjustifiably delayed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Kursk_(K-141)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster
https://americandigitalnews.com/201...uclear-material-kursk-submarine/#.W2_RaCgzZPY
 
Other Events on 12 August

1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.

1812 - USS Constitution (44), Cptn. Isaac Hull, captures and destroys brig Adeona

1812 - Battery carried at Benidorm by party from HMS Minstrel (18), John Strutt Peyton

1814 - Boats of HMS Cherwell and HMS Netley took Somers and Ohio.

1898 - USS Mohican and USS Philadelphia (C 4) crew members take part in official ceremonies marking the assumption of sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States.

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Protected steel cruiser USS Philadelphia

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United States Navy screw sloop-of-war USS Mohican off Mare Island Naval Base in November of 1894.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mohican_(1883)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_(C-4)

1918 - The Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the acceptance of women in the Marine Corps. The following day, Aug. 13, Opha M. Johnson becomes the first woman Marine.
 
13 August 1704 - Battle of Malaga

An Anglo-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke, flying his flag in HMS Royal Katherine (84), fought an inconclusive action with a Franco-Spanish fleet under the Comte de Toulouse, in Foudrayant (104).

large.jpgThis shows the only fleet action fought at sea during the War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-14 and it was inconclusive. Each fleet included 51 ships of the line and the action was fought in strict line order. The Anglo-Dutch commander-in-chief was Sir George Rooke and his Franco-Spanish opposite number was the Comte de Toulouse, a bastard son of Louis XIV. In the left foreground the French flagship, the 'Foudroyant', 104 guns, in starboard-quarter view, is closely engaged to starboard with Rooke in the 'Royal Katherine', 90 guns. In the extreme left foreground is the port quarter of a Spanish ship and to the right of the flagships and in the background are groups of ships in action. The Spanish coast is seen in the distance. French galleys are also shown towing the French ships in and out of the action. The artist has shown the battle from a high horizon, depicting a panoramic view and colourful emphasis on flags and ensigns. Although the battle itself was indecisive and neither side lost a ship, the casualties were heavy and it put an end to the Franco-Spanish attempt to capture Gibraltar.


The Battle of Málaga (or Vélez-Málaga) was the largest naval battle in the War of the Spanish Succession. It took place on 24 August 1704 N.S. (13 August O.S.), south of Vélez-Málaga, Spain.

The Battle
Less than a week after the Capture of Gibraltar, Admiral George Rooke received intelligence that a French fleet under the command of Toulouse and d'Estrées was approaching Gibraltar. Leaving half his marines to defend the newly won prize, Rooke immediately set off with his combined Anglo-Dutch fleet to engage the French.

France (Toulouse) fleet: 51 ships of the line, 6 frigates, 6 fireships, 28 galleys, (3,577 guns), 24,275 men
England/Netherlands (George Rooke) fleet: 53 ships of the line, 6 frigates, 7 fireships, 2 bombships, (3,614 guns), 22,543 men[

The outcome of the action that followed, the Battle of Vélez-Málaga, was indecisive. Not a single vessel was sunk or captured on either side but the mutual battering left many ships barely seaworthy and casualties on both sides were high. As the French and the British approached each other two days later, on 26 August, they finally decided not to engage each other. Considering the British had a significant number of casualties and highly damaged ships, particularly their masts, the French mistakenly interpreted the British fleet's prudence as an overall victory. Byng's squadron, having expended so much ammunition in the previous bombardment of Gibraltar, was obliged to quit the line.

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The French had returned to Toulon claiming victory. The reality was, however, that by retreating to Toulon the French turned what had been a tactical stalemate into an Anglo-Dutch strategic victory, because after the Battle of Vélez-Málaga the French Navy never again emerged from Toulon in full strength.


Order of Battle and Ships invloved:

England/Netherlands (George Rooke)

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Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an English naval officer.

Vanguard
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HMS Warspite was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1666 at Blackwall Yard.
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HMS Nottingham was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 10 June 1703.
A depiction of a sea battle between HMS Nottingham and the French ship Mars in 1746. The Mars was returning to Europe after the failed 1746 Duc d'Anville Expedition attempting the recapture of the w:Fortress of Louisbourg.

Centre
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HMS Royal Katherine (HMS Ramilles after 1706) was an 84-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1664 at Woolwich Dockyard.

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HMS Monmouth was a 66-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and was likely named for James, Duke of Monmouth. Launched in at Chatham Dockyard in 1667 by Phineas Pett II. She served from 1667 to 1767, winning ten battle honours over a century of active service. She was rebuilt a total of three times during her career—each time effectively becoming a completely new ship.
The Capture of the Foudroyant by HMS Monmouth, 28 February 1758

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HMS Kent was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1679
Battle between the Spanish 70-gun Princesa and HMS Lenox, Oxford and Kent, 8 April 1740

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HMS Essex was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1679
The French Soleil Royal and Héros are in flames on the right, in the foreground HMS Resolution lies wrecked on her starboard side. In front of her is HMS Essex, with other members of the British fleet at anchor in the background. The captured French Formidable is attended by a British frigate on the left of the picture

Rear
The rear division comprised the Dutch element of the Anglo-Dutch fleet.
  • Graaf van Albemarle (64, flag of Lieutenant-Admiral Gerard Callenburgh) - blew up on 27 August on the way back to Gibraltar.
  • Unie (90, flag of Vice-Admiral J. G. van Wassenaer)
  • Gelderland (72)
  • Dordrecht (72)
  • Katwijk (72)
  • Wapen van Vriesland (64)
  • Wapen van Utrecht (64)
  • Bannier (64)
  • Leeuw (64)
  • Vlissingen (64)
  • Nijmegen (54)
  • Damiaten (52)
Others
His_Majesty's_Yacht_WILLIAM_&_MARY_1696.jpg
HM Yacht William and Mary was a royal yacht of the Kingdom of Great Britain, named after the joint monarchs who ruled between 1689 and 1694. She was launched in 1694 and completely rebuilt in 1765. In all, she remained in service for over a century before being sold in 1801.

France (Toulouse)

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Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse (1681), duc de Penthièvre (1697), (1711), (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737), a legitimated prince of the blood royal, was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. At the age of five, he became grand admiral of France (Grand Admiral of France).

Vanguard
  • Éclatant (66)
  • Éole (62)
  • Oriflamme (62)
  • Saint Philippe (92, flag of CdE Marquis d'Infreville de Saint-Aubin)
  • Heureux (72)
  • Rubis (56)
  • Arrogant (56)
  • Marquis (56)
  • Constant (68)
  • Fier (90, flag of LG Philippe, Marquis de Villette-Mursay)
  • Intrépide (84)
  • Excellent (60)
  • Sage (58)
  • Écueil (68)
  • Magnifique (90, flag of CdE Jean de Belle-Isle-Érard)
  • Monarque (84)
  • Perle (52)
Centre
  • Furieux (58)
  • Vermandois (60)
  • Parfait (74)
  • Tonnant (90, flag of LG Comte de Coëtlogon)
  • Orgueilleux (72)
  • Mercure (50)
  • Sérieux (60)
  • Fleuron (54)
  • Vainqueur (86, flag of CdE Bailli de Lorraine, Chevalier d'Armagnac)
  • Foudroyant (104, flag of Vice-Admiral Comte de Toulouse, with Capt Comte d'Estrées)
  • Terrible (102, flag of CdE Comte de Relingue)
  • Entreprenant (58)
  • Fortuné (54)
  • Henri (66)
  • Magnanime (74)
  • Lys (88)
  • Fendant (58)
Rear
  • Zélande (60)
  • Saint Louis (60)
  • Admirable (92)
  • Couronne (76)
  • Cheval Marin (44)
  • Diamant (58)
  • Gaillard (54)
  • Invincible (68)
  • Soleil Royal (102, flag of LG Marquis de Langeron)
img_1722.jpg 800px-Chateau_arrière_du_vaisseau_français_le_Foudroyant_lancé_en_1693.jpg
The Soleil Royal (Regal Sun) was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was designed by Étienne Hubac and laid down the same month at Brest Dockyard, and launched on 24 December 1692.
Model and photo by Michel Saunier
  • Sceptre (84)
  • Trident (56)
  • Content (60)
  • Maure (54)
  • Toulouse (62)
  • Triomphant (92, flag of CdE Comte de La Harteloire)
1024px-Vaisseau_français_de_premier_rang_à_trois_ponts_portant_pavillon_d'amiral.jpg
Le Triomphant est un navire de guerre de la Marine royale française en service de 1693 à 1717. C'est un vaisseau de ligne de premier rang portant 98 canons sur trois ponts.
  • Saint Esprit (74)
  • Ardent (64)
Others
  • 8 frigates - Oiseau (36) - Étoile (30) - Méduse (28) - Hercule (20) - Galatée (18) - Sibylle (10) - Andromède (8) - Diligence (6)
  • 9 fireships - Enflammé - Dangereux - Turquoise - Croissant - Bienvenue - Aigle Volant - Etna - Violent - Lion
  • 28 large galleys
  • 5 tenders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Málaga_(1704)
 

Attachments

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13 August 1761 - The Battle of Cape Finisterre

was a naval engagement fought off the Northern Spanish Atlantic coast near Cape Finisterre between British and French squadrons during the Seven Years' War. A British force comprising the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Bellona and 36-gun frigate HMS Brilliant was sailing from Lisbon to Britain with a cargo of specie when on 13 August they encountered a French force comprising the 74-gun Courageux and the 32-gun frigates Malicieuse and Hermione. The British ships immediately chased the French squadron, maintaining contact through the night, and on the following morning two separate engagements occurred as Brilliant fought the French frigates and Bellona battled Courageux.

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A drawing depicting the action of 14 August 1761 off Cape Finisterre at which HMS Bellona captured French ship Courageux. Drawn by H. Fletcher c. 1890

In a short but hard-fought engagement both ships of the line were damaged. The battle was decided when Bellona's captain, Robert Faulknor succeeded in manoeuvering his ship into a raking position, inflicting severe damage and appalling casualties on Courageux, forcing the French ship to surrender. Although outnumbered, Brilliant successfully held off the French frigates, preventing them from intervening in the battle between the ships of the line, Malicieuse and Hermione both successfully withdrew following the surrender of Courageux. Courageux was subsequently repaired and recommissioned in the Royal Navy, serving for 35 years in two later conflicts.

Action
Background
Following their defeat Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, the French Navy was no longer able to compete with the Royal Navy for control of European waters in the Seven Years' War. In April 1761 the Royal Navy capitalised on its regional dominance to invade Belle Île, an island off Brittany, which was captured in June.[2] With the main French Atlantic fleet confined to harbour, smaller squadrons were sent to conduct raiding operations. One squadron comprised the 74-gun ship of the line Courageux under Captain Dugué L'Ambert and the 32-gun frigates Malicieuse under Captain Longueville and Hermione under Captain Montigney, which was sent to the West Indies. After a very successful raiding cruise, the squadron returned to European Waters in early August.

In the late evening of 13 August 1761 L'Ambert's squadron was sailing towards the Spanish coast, off Cape Finisterre, when sails were sighted close inshore to the north east. This was a British squadron of the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Bellona under Captain Robert Faulknor and 36-gun frigate HMS Brilliant under Captain John Loggie sailing from Lisbon to Britain with a cargo of more than £100,000 in specie. The French initially identified both British ships as ships of the line and turned away in the face of perceived British superiority, attempting to escape in the darkness, but the bright moonlight enabled the British to remain in pursuit.


The Ship HMS Bellona was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she was a prototype for the iconic 74-gun ships of the latter part of the 18th century. "The design of the Bellona class was never repeated precisely, but Slade experimented slightly with the lines, and the Arrogant, Ramillies, Egmont, and Elizabeth classes were almost identical in size, layout, and structure, and had only slight variations in the shape of the underwater hull. The Culloden class ship of the line was also similar, but slightly larger. Thus over forty ships were near-sisters of the Bellona." Bellona was built at Chatham,[1]starting on 10 May 1758, launched on 19 February 1760, and commissioned three days later. She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, and saw service in the Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars.

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Scale: 1:38.4 (5/16 inch to the foot). A model of the 74-gun ship Bellona (1760), made entirely in wood with wood, metal, and organic and inorganic material fittings and painted and varnished. The vessel is depicted on a slipway with a drawer at the stern end of its scenic carrying case, which opens to extend the slipway to twice its length so that the model can be launched. The hull is coppered below the waterline, and varnished or polished wood above and the broad closed wale is painted black. The gunports are all depicted open and the interior faces of the lids are painted red. The three channels are shown above the two principal gundecks, complete with deadeyes. Some deck and stern gallery fittings and embellishments are made from ivory and windows are glazed in mica. Forecastle fittings include stove pipe and belfry, waist includes a capstan with bars fitted, upper deck houses the double wheel and the poop has a skylight. Some deck planks have been removed to show interior structure. Other fittings include an elaborate figurehead with a green glaze and three stern lanterns. The model is displayed on a launch cradle and slipway within a stylised section of dock. This is set inside a travelling case with side panels in dark, polished wood to which is fitted two pairs of brass carrying handles. On the counter of the stern ‘Bellona’.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66299.html#F3hzAKs5M9o5lGw6.99


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Scale: 1:48. A model of the 74-gun ship Bellona (1760) made entirely in a mid-brown patinated wood and varnished or polished. The model depicts the framing and construction of the vessel and other features such as channels and figurehead. The hull framing is complete with all full and filling frames in position. The construction of features such as keel, deadwood and stem post is shown and sections of planking have been fastened to the port side below the main wale. Below this, from bow to stern, are four ribbands. A number of port lids and channels, complete with ivory or bone deadeyes, are shown in position. The figurehead depicts a female figure and abaft of it are four hawse holes. The decks are depicted in frame but contain fittings such as gratings, pin rails and a capstan in the waist. The model is asymmetrical: the rails, for example, are complete along the entire port side forecastle, upper and poop decks, but missing on the starboard side. The model is displayed on a pair of moulded wood crutches with rectangular bases.

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary block design model of the ‘Bellona’ (1760), a 74-gun, two-decker ship of the line. The ‘Bellona’ was designed by Sir T. Slade and built at Chatham. It measured 168 feet along the gun deck, by 47 feet in the beam. Its armament comprised twenty-eight 32-pounders on the main deck, twenty-eight 18-pounders on the upper deck, fourteen 9-pounders on the quarterdeck and four 9-pounders on the forecastle. Commissioned into the Navy in 1860 as part of Hawke’s Fleet, the ‘Bellona’ served for over 50 years, taking part in such actions as the Relief of Gibraltar (1782) and the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). It was broken up around 1814. For other models of the ‘Bellona’, see also SLR0503, a skeleton model and SLR0338, a full hull model.


Battle
At 05:00 on the morning of 14 August, L'Ambert changed his opinion of the strength of the British squadron, assuming that Bellona was a 50-gun fourth rate ship. Confident of victory, he turned his squadron back towards Faulknor's ships, ordering Malicieuse and Hermione to attack Brilliant while he led Courageux against Bellona. The ships of the line approached one another head on, L'Ambert pulling Courageux alongside Bellona at 06:25 and opening fire with his broadside at close range. Faulknor delayed his response until the second broadside, his crew firing two broadsides of their own in quick succession while he backed his sails, throwing Bellona into reverse and swinging alongside Courageux. The French ship's gunnery was however more effective in the initial stages of the action, and Faulknor's mizenmast was brought crashing down nine minutes after the first gunfire. When a crewman expressed dismay at this damage, Faulknor was reported to have responded "Confound you! you rascal, what has a two-decked ship to do with a mizen-mast in the time of action. See and knock away his mizenmast."

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A view from the deck of Bellonaduring the engagement with Courageux

Faulknor was now concerned that, with his ability to manoeuvere his ship compromised, L'Ambert might take the opportunity to escape, and he planned to initiate a boarding action to seize Courageux, but the French ship sheered away, her own mizenmast coming down at 06:45. Despite the severe damage to his sails and rigging, Faulknor then attempted to wear around, successfully bringing Bellona across the French ship's starboard stern quarter and firing a series of raking broadsides. These causes enormous damage to the hull of Courageux, killing and wounding hundreds of sailors and convincing the mortally wounded L'Ambert to strike his colours and surrender at 07:04. Some of the lower deck guns on the French ship had continued firing after the surrender, and Faulknor ordered two further broadsides to be fired into the shattered hull of Courageux to ensure its compliance.


The ship Courageux was a heavy 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1753. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1761 and taken into service as HMS Courageux. She was wrecked in 1796.
General characteristics: Class and type:74-gun third-rate ship of the lineTons burthen: 1,721 bm Length:140 ft 10 3⁄8 in (42.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:48 ft (14.6 m) Depth of hold:20 ft 10 1⁄2 in (6.4 m)
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and name in a cartouche on the counter, the sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and the longitudinal half-breadth for 'Courageux' (1761), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off prior to fitting as a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Portsmouth Dockyard. Signed by Edward Allin [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1755-1762] Reverse: Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the roundhouse, quarterdeck and forecastle, upper deck, gun (lower) deck, and orlop deck with fore and aft platforms for 'Courageux' (1762).

While Bellona and Courageux fought their duel, Brilliant successfully fought off the two French frigates from 06:00 to 07:30, attacked first by Malicieuse and then by Hermione in turn, deliberately preventing them from intervening in the battle between the larger ships. When it became clear that L'Ambert had surrendered, the French frigates made sail and retreated, Brilliant remaining with Bellona and their prize. British losses in the battle numbered six killed and 28 wounded on Bellona and five killed and 16 wounded on Brilliant, while losses on Courageux alone were listed in Faulknor's after action report as the very high figures of 240 killed and 110 wounded. Historian William Laird Clowes considers that this discrepancy was probably the result of differences in British and French tactical doctrine, the French trained to fire at the masts and rigging of an enemy ship in order to disable them, while British doctrine trained crews to fire into the hull of enemy ships to kill the crew.


Aftermath
The captured Courageux was taken to Lisbon under a prize crew, to be greeted by cheering crowds. A later historian wrote "I can only compare the conduct of the Bellona to that of a dextrous gladiator, who not only plants his own blows with certainty, but also guards against those of his antagonist." Writing in 1825, historian Edward Pelham Brenton listed the battle as one of only four decisive encounters between single ships of the line of comparable size in the history of warfare under sail (the others being the Battle of Ushant in 1782 when HMS Foudroyant captured Pégase, the Battle of the Raz de Sein in April 1798, when HMS Mars captured Hercule and the Battle of Pirano in February 1812 when HMS Victorious captured Rivoli). Following repairs, Courageux joined the Royal Navy as HMS Courageux, serving for 35 years and seeing action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War before being wrecked in a storm at Monte Hacho on 18 December 1796 with the loss of more than 470 lives


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Finisterre_(1761)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bellona_(1760)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Brilliant_(1757)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Courageux_(1753)
 
13 August 1764 - Launch of HMS Ardent


HMS Ardent was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by contract by Hugh Blaydes at Hull according to a design by Sir Thomas Slade, and launched on 13 August 1764 as the first ship of the Ardent-class. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with quarter gallery decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for building Ardent (1764) at Hull, and later for Raisonnable (1768), both 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by Thomas Slade [Surveyor of the Navy, 1755-1771], and John Clevland [Secretary to the Admiralty].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81292.html#K1hXexAxcSAko1eq.99

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Career
The Ardent was first commissioned in October 1774 under Captain Sir George Douglas. In 1778, under the command of Captain George Keppel, she was with Admiral Lord Howe's squadron off New York, defending the town from the larger French fleet under the command of Admiral d'Estaing. The two forces engaged in an action off Rhode Island on 11 August, though both fleets were scattered by a storm over the following two days. She returned home to Portsmouth and was paid off in January 1779.

June 1779 saw Ardent recommissioned under the command of Captain Phillip Boteler, sailing from Plymouth in August to join Sir Charles Hardy in the Channel. According to the ship's logs, as many as 4/5 of the crew were landmen, and neither Boteler nor the captain of the Marlborough, in whose company Ardent was sailing, were aware that a French fleet had put to sea. Ardent encountered a fleet two days after sailing, and after receiving the correct replies to the private signal, ran down to meet them. The fleet however was a Franco-Spanish fleet, somehow in possession of the Royal Navy signal code book, thus permitting the correct response to Ardent's signals.

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Capture of HMS Ardent by the frigates Junon and Gentille

With Ardent within range, the French frigate Junon fired two broadsides before raising her colours. Three further frigates, and the Spanish ship of the line Princesa joined the action shortly afterward. In response, Ardent offered sporadic and inaccurate return fire before striking her colours to the vastly superior enemy force. At his subsequent court martial Captain Boteler blamed his failure to return fire on an inadequate supply of gunpowder for Ardent′s cannons, a statement strongly denied by the ship's gunner Archibald Macintyre who presented evidence there was enough powder for fifty minutes of vigorous engagement. The court martial rejected Boteler's claims, finding instead that the inexperience of the crew was the principal cause of Ardent′s failure to respond to the attack. Boteler was dismissed from the Navy for his failure to adequately defend his ship.

Little is known of Ardent's career in the French Navy; however the British re-captured her on 14 April 1782 following the Battle of the Saintes, and recommissioned her that month under Captain Richard Lucas. On 28 August 1783 the ship was renamed Tiger. She was sold out of the service in June 1784.


The Ardent-class ships of the line were a class of seven 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

Design
Slade based the design of the Ardent class on the captured French ship Fougueux.

Ships
Builder: Blades, Hull
Ordered: 16 December 1761
Launched: 13 August 1764
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1784
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 11 January 1763
Launched: 10 December 1768
Fate: Broken up, 1815
Builder: Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 8 April 1777
Launched: 10 April 1781
Fate: Wrecked, 1809
Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 19 February 1778
Launched: 5 June 1780
Fate: Broken up, 1816
Builder: Raymond, Northam
Ordered: 10 December 1778
Launched: 27 December 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1814
Builder: Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 3 August 1780
Launched: July 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1816
Builder: Hilhouse, Bristol
Ordered: 14 November 1782
Launched: 28 September 1785
Fate: Wrecked, 1799


The model kit from Jotika / Caldercraft:

There is a wonderfull kit of The HMS Agamemnon in scale 1:64 available!
See herefore the kit review on SOS:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...781-64-gun-ship-scale-1-64-jotika-krick.2009/

Agamemnon_lrg.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ardent_(1764)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardent-class_ship_of_the_line
 
13 August 1777 - newly developed powder keg torpedoe made by David Bushnell attached to the 'Turtle' was used to attack HMS Cerberus (28), Cptn. J. Symons, at anchor off New London, CT. It actually blew up a schooner astern of the frigate, and killed several men on board. This was the first vessel ever destroyed in such a manner.

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A diagram of Bushnell's American Turtle

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An engraving depicting the destruction of a small British ship near the HMS Cerberus in 1777 by a floating mine designed by David Bushnell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bushnell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1758)
 
13 August 1779 - The Penobscot Expedition

was a 44-ship American naval task force mounted during the Revolutionary War by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 smaller support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779 for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying a ground expeditionary force of more than 1,000 colonial Marines and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere. The Expedition's goal was to reclaim control of what is now mid-coast Maine from the British who had seized it a month earlier and renamed it New Ireland. It was the largest American naval expedition of the war. The fighting took place both on land and at sea in and around the mouth of the Penobscot and Bagaduce Rivers at what is today Castine, Maine over a period of three weeks in July and August of 1779. One of its greatest victories of the war for the British, the Expedition was also the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor 162 years later in 1941.

PenobscotExpeditionBySerres.jpg
This is a depiction of naval action in the American Revolutionary War's 1779 Penobscot Expedition.

On June 17 of that year, British Army forces under the command of General Francis McLean landed and began to establish a series of fortifications centered on Fort George, on the Majabigwaduce Peninsula in the upper Penobscot Bay, with the goals of establishing a military presence on that part of the coast and establishing the colony of New Ireland. In response, the Province of Massachusetts, with some support from the Continental Congress, raised an expedition to drive the British out.

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A 1785 map depicting this action. The map is in mirror image (the Penobscot River is actually west of the Majabigwaduce peninsula, where the fort is located) and not to scale.

The Americans landed troops in late July and attempted to establish a siege of Fort George in a series of actions that were seriously hampered by disagreements over control of the expedition between land forces commander Brigadier General Solomon Lovell and the expedition's overall commander, Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, who was later dismissed from the Navy for ineptness and failure to effectively prosecute the mission. For almost three weeks General McLean held off the assault until a British relief fleet under the command of Sir George Collier arrived from New York on August 13, driving the American fleet to total self-destruction up the Penobscot River. The survivors of the American expedition were forced to make an overland journey back to more populated parts of Massachusetts with minimal food and armament.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penobscot_Expedition
 
Other Events on 13 August


1688 - Launch of Henri 68, later 70 guns (designed and built by Hendryck Houwens) at Dunkirk – burnt 1736,

1696 Launch of French Galathee, 20 gun Heroine class frigate, Galathée, 20 guns, at Brest – captured by the English Navy 1708.

1722 - Launch of Duc d'Orléans 74 at Toulon - hulked 1748 and taken to pieces in 1766., Duc d'Orléans Class. Four ships built at Toulon to a design by René Levasseur, 1719.

1759 - HMS Crescent (32) took Berkeley.

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Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the half-breadth for quarter deck and forecastle, upper deck, lower deck, and fore & aft platforms for Crescent (1759), a captured French Frigate, as taken off/fitted as a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate at Sheerness Dockyard. The ship was recommissioned for the Falkland Island dispute in 1771. Signed by Edward Hunt [Master Shipwright, Sheerness Dockyard, 1767-1772]

1762 - Havana capitulated to British.

1778Engagement between French 74 gun Vengeur du Peuple (1766 – 74) and HMS Preston (1757 – 50) just after storm in which both were heavily damaged.

On 8 August, the French squadron sailed into Newport harbour, Marseillois coming sixth in the line. They had begun to disembark troops the following day when Howe's squadron arrived from New York. D'Estaing found his anchored ships were now vulnerable to attacks from land batteries, warships and fireships, and cancelled the landing, putting to sea to challenge Howe in battle. Howe's force moved off, pursued by the French. On 11 August the French closed in and the two fleets manoeuvred in preparation for a battle, but around 16:00, a Nor'easter storm broke out, scattering both fleets. Marseillois sustained damage to her rigging, losing her mizzen and her bowsprit, and was cut off from the bulk of the French squadron. The next day, around 20:00, having only just erected jury rigging, she was attacked by the 50-gun HMS Preston, under William Hotham. The two ships duelled indecisively for one hour before parting. Marseillois rejoined the French fleet on 14 August.

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Model of Vengeur du Peuple as Marseillois, on display at the Musée de la Marine et de l'Économie de Marseille.

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Arrival of d'Estaing's squadron at Newport on 8 August. Engraving by Pierre Ozanne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Vengeur_du_Peuple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Preston_(1757)

1799 - Launch of French Themis, 40 gun Patriote (Coquille) class frigate designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran / Thémis, at Bayonne.
Patriote (Coquille) class, (40-gun design by Raymond-Antoine Haran, with 28 x 12-pounder and 12 x 6-pounder guns).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Thémis_(1801)

1805 - Boats of HMS Swift (16), John Wright, take guarda costa schooner Caridad Perfecta (12) at Truxillo.

1806 - Seventeen years after the Bounty mutiny, on 13 August 1806, William Bligh was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh

1811 - HMS Temeraire (98), Cptn. Joseph Spear, and HMS Caledonia (20), Cptn. Francis William Austen, engaged a battery on the Cap des Medes at the N. E. end of the island of Porquerolles, near Toulon.

1812 - HMS Alert (16), Thomas Lamb Laugharne, captured by USS Essex (46), Cptn. Porter.

During the War of 1812 and while returning to New York from Bermuda waters, the frigate, USS Essex, commanded by Capt. David Porter, engages the British brig HMS Alert in intense gunfire, broadsides the British brig and forcing her surrender.

1813 - Launch of French Perle, Milanaise class , at Dunkirk – deleted August 1823., Milanaise class, (40-gun design by Charles Segondat, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns).

1814 - The series of Engagements on Lake Huron left the British in control of the lake and their Native American allies in control of the Old Northwest for the latter stages of the War of 1812.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement_on_Lake_Huron

1914 - Baron Gautsch was an Austro-Hungarian passenger ship that sank in the northern Adriatic Sea

BaronGautsch.jpg

during its voyage from Kotor to Trieste, after running into a minefield laid by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 127 passengers and crew members. The ship was operated by Österreichischer Lloyd, and was built by the Gourlay Brothers shipyard in Dundee, United Kingdom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Baron_Gautsch

1919 – Italian protected cruiser Basilicata sunk after Boiler explosion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cruiser_Basilicata

1979 - Das von Rupert Neudeck für das Hilfskomitee Ein Schiff für Vietnam, der spätere Cap Anamur / Deutsche Not-Ärzte e. V. erworbene deutsche Frachtschiff Cap Anamur erreicht das Südchinesische Meer und nimmt die ersten vietnamesischen Boatpeople auf. Es ist der Beginn einer 7-jährigen Rettungsaktion, bei der über 11.000 Flüchtlinge vor dem Ertrinken und dem Hungertod gerettet werden.

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https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_Anamur_(Schiff,_1979)
 
14 August 1813 - capture of USS Argus by HMS Pelican

The first USS Argus, originally named USS Merrimack, was a brig in the United States Navy launched on 31 August 1803 and commissioned on 6 September 1803. She enforced the Embargo Act of 1807 and fought in the First Barbary War – taking part in the blockade of Tripoli and the capture of Derna – and the War of 1812.

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Argus during the War of 1812

After the outbreak of war of 1812, Argus continued her cruises off the U.S. Atlantic coast. During one cruise between 8 October 1812 and 3 January 1813, she captured six valuable prizes and eluded an entire British squadron during a three-day stern chase. Through clever handling, she even managed to take one of the prizes as she was fleeing from the overwhelmingly superior British force.

Capture by HMS Pelican

Prelude
Under the command of Master Commandant William Henry Allen, Argus broke out of New York Harbor on 18 June 1813, eluding the British blockade. Her mission was not warlike to begin with; it was to deliver William H. Crawford to his post as Minister to the First French Empire. Argus arrived at Lorient in Brittany, France, on 11 July 1813, disembarked Crawford, and put out to sea again three days later to begin raiding British shipping in the English Channel and Irish Sea. During the next month, she captured nineteen merchant ships. Rather than weaken his crew by sending the captured ships to American, French, or neutral ports under prize crews, Allen set most of the captured ships on fire. The intense operations exhausted Argus's crew.

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Lieutenant William Henry Allen, USN

The shipping losses soon caused insurance rates for merchant shipping to increase greatly. The cargo on the sunken ships was worth about two million dollars. The British Admiralty sent orders to all available ships to hunt down Argus. The British brig-sloop HMS Pelican had just arrived in Cork Harbour in Ireland, having escorted a convoy from the West Indies, and immediately put to sea again on 10 August 1813. Pelican's captain was Commander John Fordyce Maple, an officer who had joined the Royal Navy when twelve years old in 1782, two years before William Henry Allen was born.

On 13 August, Argus took two final prizes. One of them was from Oporto, Portugal, and was carrying wine. Both American and British historians have suggested that Argus's crew looted some of the cargo, and that their debauched state affected their performance during the coming battle with Pelican. As with Argus's previous captures, the Americans set fire to the prize; unfortunately for them, Pelican was near enough to sight the smoke from the burning vessel and make for it.

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Capture of the Argus, August 14th, 1813. From a painting in the possession of Capt.n Maples.
Painted by Whitcombe. Engraved by T. Sutherland. [n.d., c.1813]. Hand coloured aquatint. Sheet size: 155 x 225mm (6 x 8¾"). Sligh stain in sky. Cut inside platemark.
The first USS Argus, originally named USS Merrimack, was a brig in the United States Navy commissioned in 1803. Under the command of Master Commandant William Henry Allen, Argus broke out of New York Harbor on 18 June 1813, eluding the British blockade. The heavier British ship HMS Pelican intercepted Argus on the morning of August 14th 1813. A sharp fight commenced, during which Captain Allen was mortally wounded, and the American crew surrendered when the crew of the Pelican were about to board. Pelican and the captured Argus then sailed to Plymouth, England, where Allen died of his wounds a week after the battle. He was buried with full military honours. The rest of the crew, including sailing master Uriah P. Levy, were held as prisoners of war in Dartmoor, England for the duration of the war.



Battle and capture
At 05:00 on the morning of 14 August 1813, Argus and Pelican sighted each other five leagues (about 15 miles) west of St David's Head. Argus was the faster but more lightly armed vessel, with eighteen 24-pounder carronades and a 12-pounder chase gun against the Pelican's sixteen 32-pounder carronades, one 12-pounder long gun, and two 6-pounder long guns. Argus clewed her courses to shorten sail but being unable to get the weather-gage gave Captain Maples the opportunity of running alongside. Allen could have used Argus's greater speed to escape. Instead, he accepted battle. Allen's decision to accept battle against a heavier opponent stemmed from confidence gained while he was the first lieutenant of the frigate USS United States when she captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian on 25 October 1812; following his promotion he had said that he could "take any British 22-gun sloop-of-war in ten minutes."

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USS ARGUS vs. HMS PELICAN - Brig USS Argus (18) engages Sloop HMS Pelican (16) in British waters, 14th, August 1813.
Artwork by Montaque Dawson.


The wind was from the south, giving Pelican the weather gauge (i.e. the windward position). Allen sailed westward on the port tack (i.e., with the wind to port) and opposed his port side battery to Pelican's starboard battery.

Four minutes after the ships exchanged their first broadsides, Allen lost a leg. His first lieutenant was also badly wounded, and Argus's rigging was badly cut up. Pelican tried to cross Argus's stern to deliver raking fire but Argus's second lieutenant, William Howard Allen(not related to the commanding officer), threw his sails aback to slow the American brig and instead raked Pelican. This did not fatally cripple the British vessel, and the two brigs continued to exchange broadsides, with Pelican now to leeward. After four more minutes, Argus's rigging was too badly damaged for the Americans to prevent Pelican from crossing Argus's stern and delivering several raking broadsides.

Boarding_the_Argus.jpg
The crew of the HMS Pelican prepare to board the USS Argus. Captain Maples leading the Pelican's boarding party.
The illustration above, from a 19th Century publication, shows a perhaps idealised (was Maple's uniform this smart?) at the moment of boarding.


Finally, three-quarters of an hour after the action began, the two vessels came into contact, Argus's bow against Pelican's quarter. As British boarding parties mustered. It met only a single volley of musketry, which killed Pelican’s master’s mate, a Mr. Young, but before they could board Argus, the Americans surrendered.

Unusually for the War of 1812, the American gunnery in this engagement was comparatively ineffective, although Pelican's sides were "filled with grapeshot" and two of Pelican's carronades had been dismounted. British gunnery was "at least of the standard which had brought victory in a hundred victories against the French."

Aftermath
Both vessels were badly damaged and Pelican’s losses amounted to six killed and twenty-one wounded out of a total complement of 104. Total American losses were 40. The entire action lasted some 45 minutes and Maples was rewarded by immediate promotion to Post Captain and the Order of the Bath. The less fortunate American commander, Captain Allen was taken to the hospital at Plymouth's Millbay Prison where he died on 18 August 1813 during amputation of his leg. He was buried with full honours in a churchyard in Plymouth. The rest of the crew, including sailing master Uriah P. Levy, were held as prisoners of war in England for the duration of the war.


The Ships
HMS Pelican
was a 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in August 1812. She is perhaps best known for her capture of the brig the USS Argus in August 1813. When the navy sold Pelican in 1865 she was the last Cruizer-class vessel still in service.

The Cruizer class was the most numerous class of warships built by the British during the Napoleonic wars, with 110 vessels built to this design, and the second most numerous class of sailing warship built to a single design for any navy at any time, after the smaller 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloops.

Of the vessels in the class, eight (8%) were lost to the enemy, either destroyed or taken. Another was taken, but retaken. Fourteen (13%) were wrecked while in British service. Lastly, four (4%) foundered while in British service. In all cases of foundering and in many cases of wrecking all the crew was lost. Many of the vessels in the class were sold, some into mercantile service. One at least was wrecked. The fate of the others is generally unknown.

Most plans in the following are from the brig sloop HMS Childers of the same class
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USS Argus (I)
Construction and commissioning
The United States Congress authorized construction of the brig, originally named USS Merrimack, the second U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 23 February 1803, and on 29 April 1803 the U.S. Navy contracted with the shipyard of Edmund Hartt at Boston, Massachusetts, to construct the ship. Edmund Hartt's brother, Joseph Hartt, drafted the plans for the brig, designed with a flush deck and fine lines to optimize her for sailing conditions in the Mediterranean Sea. Captain Edward Preble was appointed superintendent of her construction, and her keel was laid down at Hartt's yard on 12 May 1803.

On 14 May 1803, two days after Merrimack's keel was laid, United States Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith assigned Preble to duty as commanding officer of the frigate USS Constitution, then at Boston, in addition to his duties related to Merrimack's construction. Smith informed Preble on 21 May 1803 that Preble was to take command of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean Squadron, which was to include Constitution and Merrimack, and on 27 May ordered Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr. to take command of Merrimack and supervise her construction to allow Preble to focus on preparing Constitution for Mediterranean service.

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USS Argus bombarding Tripoli, 3 August 1804. Detail from the painting (see below) of this action by Michaele F. Corne, 1805.
US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 57041


Smith found that U.S. Navy officers disliked the name Merrimack for the new brig, and he directed that she be renamed Argus, the first U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 4 June 1803. Although work on her construction proceeded quickly at first, Decatur reported on 11 July 1803 soon after arriving to take command that her construction had fallen behind schedule, although her builders assured him that she would be launched before the end of July. Decatur recruited her crew and procured her armament from Providence, Rhode Island, but by the beginning of August 1803 heavy and persistent rains had delayed her launching by two weeks. Her launch day finally came on 20 August 1803, but the attempt to launch her failed when she did not move down the ways. After the ways' degree of incline was increased, Argus was successfully launched on 21 August 1803. Labor problems during her fitting out then delayed her completion but, though no document recording the date of her commissioning has been found, she was in commission and ready for sea by early September 1803.

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Pen and ink sketch of USS Argus bearing the inscription ... James Lawrence Esqr. Commander 1st April 1811.
US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 78671. Donation of Charles H. Taylor, circa 1935.


In service, Argus was reported to sail swiftly and easily, although prone to heavy pitching when lying to (i.e., when her sails were arranged so as to counteract each other). On more than one occasion, observers described her as a remarkably handsome ship.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_USS_Argus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pelican_(1812)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Allen
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Biography/Maples,_John_Fordyce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruizer-class_brig-sloop
 
14 August 1744 - Launch of HMS Colchester


HMS Colchester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Harwich according to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 14 August 1744.

Colchester.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile, and longitudinal half-breadth for Harwich (1743) and Colchester (1744), both 1741 Establishment 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-deckers. A copy of the draught sent to Harwich was not approved of, and later the two foremost upper deck gunports were moved aft. Note that the Harwich is referred to by her original building name of Tyger [Tiger].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81580.html#cBKQ5VSRWW1owpUZ.99


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Very short Service of 2 months and her early fate

After being commissioned under Captain Frederick Cornewall, Colchester took aboard a pilot to guide the ship out of the Nore anchorage and on to the Downs. Sailing on Sunday 21 October 1744, the ship ran aground between Long Sand and the Kentish Knock, and became stuck in weather that was 'not at all tempestuous. A boat was sent back to the shore the following morning for help, and whilst the crew waited for it to return, another ship from the Nore arrived to offer assistance, having heard Colchester's cannons being fired in a signal of distress. The would-be rescuer was however kept from the stricken ship by the wind.

In the afternoon of Monday 22 October, the fore and mizzen masts were cut away in an effort to prevent the ship working herself to pieces. This was deemed insufficient, for Captain Cornewall had the ship scuttled. That evening the main mast was also cut away as it was feared the ship might overset. With water now filling the ship, the crew were crammed onto the weather decks and bowsprit; on Tuesday morning lots were drawn to decide who could use the ship's longboat to get to safety. In spite of this, the ship's surgeon and 30 others took the longboat whilst the crew were drawing their lots; the boat subsequently sank, drowning 13. Four others who had jumped for the boat but missed were also drowned.

The boat Colchester had sent away in the morning of 22 October returned with six fishing vessels on 23 October, but they were unable to come to the ship's aid until the following morning when the sea, which had worked up a little overnight, had calmed again. The captain and 365 men were saved; approximately 40 men and one lieutenant were lost in total.

The court-martial for the loss of Colchester was held aboard HMS Royal Sovereign on 14 February 1745. The pilot taken on to guide the ship to the Downs was sentenced to 12 months in the Marshalsea prison.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Colchester_(1744)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-303748;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
 
14 August 1787 - Launch of unique HMS Veteran, 64 guns third rate


HMS Veteran was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 August 1787 at East Cowes. She was designed by Sir Edward Hunt, and was the only ship built to her draught.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Veteran (1787), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker to be built at East Cowes by Mr Robert Fabian. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784] and Edward Hunt [Surveyor of the Navy, 1778-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81259.html#UCQCM4gV8qxoDkwz.99


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In 1801, Veteran was present at the Battle of Copenhagen, as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker's reserve fleet.

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Sketch of the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)

In 1805, Veteran was captained by Capt. Andrew Fitzherbert Evans. She subsequently served as the flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres, then second in command on the Jamaica Station.

HMS Veteran was broken up in 1816.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Veteran_(1787)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_(1801)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Richard_Dacres_(1749–1810)
 
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