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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1776 – Launch of French Fendant 74, designed by Antoine Groignard, at Rochefort – condemned and broken up 1785 at Mauritius.


The Fendant was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Designed by Antoine Groignard, she was the first ship to be built under a roof cover. She served in Suffren's campaign against the British in India during the American Revolutionary War, and was wrecked in 1783 near Pondicherry.

Career
Started in May 1772 on a design by Antoine Groignard, construction of Fendant proceeded slowly, due to shortages in timber in Rochefort. In November 1771, a permanent roof was erected over her stacks, as well as that of Réfléchi, making the first ships to be completed in a covered dock.

Fendant was commissioned in December 1776 under Captain Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil. She took part in the Battle of Ushant, where she sustained five killed and 27 wounded.

Fendant served in the Anglo-French War, notably taking part in the Battle of Grenada. In July 1781, she fought in the Invasion of Minorca before being sent to the Indian Ocean in November to reinforce Suffren's squadron. Arrived there in March 1782, Fendant took part in the Battle of Cuddalore on 20 June 1783.

Later the year, Fendant ran aground near Pondicherry and became a total loss.

A model of Fendant is on display at the Musée de la Marine in Rochefort.

Displacement: 1400 tonnes
Length: 53.3 m (175 ft)
Beam: 14.3 m (47 ft)
Draught: 7.3 m (24 ft)
Armament: 74 guns
Armour: Timber


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Fendant_(1777)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1806 – Launch of French Flore at Rochefort – wrecked 1811.


Flore was a 44-gun Armide-class frigate of the French Navy.

TRianon Flore.jpg
A 1⁄48 scale model of Flore on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris

Service history
In 1808, she was part of Ganteaume's squadron that cruised in the Mediterranean.

On 12 March 1811, she was part of Bernard Dubourdieu's squadron sailing to raid the British commerce raider base of the island of Lissa. The squadron encountered William Hoste's frigate squadron, leading to the Battle of Lissa.

In the ensuing fight, Flore was distanced by her flagship Favorite, which engaged the British flagship HMS Amphion, and ran aground. Flore and Bellona caught on and engaged Amphion in a crossfire. Amphion outmanoeuvred Flore and raked her for ten minutes, after which Flore struck her colours.

The battle still raging, the British failed to send a capture crew aboard, and Flore eventually joined the surviving Carolina and Danaé and fleeing to Ragusa.

Flore was wrecked in a tempest off Chioggia on 30 November 1811, with the loss of 75. Her commanding officer, Frigate Captain Lissilour, was acquitted by the court martial.

A 1⁄48 shipyard model of Flore, originally part of the Trianon model collection, is on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.
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http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/9019?expo=5&index=5


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Flore_(1806)
http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/9019?expo=5&index=5
 
Today is the 100th anniversary of the ending of WW1.
GOD BLESS ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THAT CONFLICT, AND ALL THE OTHERS
Lest We Forget
Greg
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1811 - HMS Skylark (16), James Boxer, and HMS Locust (16), Lt. John Gedge, engaged 12 gunbrigs of the Boulogne flotilla. They cut out gunboat No. 26 (4), Enseigne Bouchet, and drove the flotilla commodore ashore in the Calais Roads.


HMS Skylark was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in February 1806. She served primarily in the Channel, capturing several vessels including a privateer, and taking part in one notable engagement. She grounded in May 1812 and her crew burnt her to prevent the French from capturing her.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with midship framing and scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Seagull (1805), Nightingale (1805), Oberon (1805), Imogen (1805), Savage (1805), Electra (1806), Paulina (1805), Delight (1806), Satellite (1806), Sheldrake (1806), Skylark (1806), Orestes (1805) and Julia (1806), all 14 (later 16) gun Brigs. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84293.html#ZUv9XLYSGm56K12S.99


On 10 November, Skylark and Locust engaged the Boulogne flotilla. Skylark was seven miles NNE of Cape Gris Nez when Boxer sighted twelve French gun-brigs to his east, sailing along the coast. He gave chase and during the morning Locust appeared and joined in. Together, the two British vessels forced the French flotilla to shelter in the Calais roads. The British succeeded in cutting out gun-brig No. 26, which was armed with four 24-pounder guns and which had a crew of 60 men under the command of Enseigne de vaisseau Boucher, despite small-arms fire from the beach and cannon fire from shore batteries. The British also succeeded in driving the commodore of the flotilla on shore but Boxer called off his attempt to capture the commodore and his vessel when Boxer saw that a great number of troops from Calais had boarded the French vessel. Boxer credited Lieutenant John Gedge, captain of Locust, with being the principal cause of the British success.[21] A prize money notice credited Skylark and Locust with capturing the French privateer Cannoniere the next day.[Note 2] However, this may have been gun-brig No. 26 given a generic name and mis-identified as a privateer. For his conduct, Gedge received promotion to the rank of Commander. Furthermore, in 1847 the Admiralty awarded the surviving claimants from Skylark and Locust the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Skylark 11 Novr. 1811" and "Locust 11 Novr. 1811".

large.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck with hold for Seagull (1805), Nightingale (1805), Oberon (1805), Imogen (1805), Savage (1805), Electra (1806), Paulina (1805), Delight (1806), Satellite (1806), Sheldrake (1806), Skylark (1806), Orestes (1805) and Julia (1806), all 14 (later 16) gun Brigs being built in private yards by contract. The riders on the inboard profile were omitted for Electra, Paulina and Delight.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84294.html#5TTfHRHQ1JJUBQAp.99


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Skylark_(1806)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1864 - USS Tulip (1862), a 183-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War, exploded and sank


USS Tulip (1862) was a 183-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

Tulip was outfitted with heavy guns and was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy in order to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

uss_fuchsia_uss_tulip.jpg

Built in New York City in 1862
Tulip—a wooden-hulled, steam lighthouse tender built at New York City in 1862 and 1863 as Chih Kiang by Jowett & Company for the Chinese Navy—was purchased by the Navy on 22 June 1863 at New York.

Civil War operations
Assigned to the Potomac River Flotilla

Renamed Tulip and refitted for service as a tugboat and gunboat, the screw steamer joined the Potomac River Flotilla in August 1863. That force patrolled the river protecting Union waterborne communications between the nation's capital and the port cities of the divided nation during the Civil War.

She initially performed towing duties at the Washington Navy Yard, and then served with the flotilla in operations against Confederate forces in the Rappahannock River.

In the latter duties, the ship carried Federal troops and supported naval landing parties which from time to time went ashore for operations against Confederate traffic across the river.

Boiler explodes and ship is lost

USS Tulip Memorial, St. Inigoes, Maryland, July 2009

As she continued this wartime riverine service into 1864, Tulip developed a defective starboard boiler. Commander Foxhall A. Parker, Jr., commanding the Potomac Flotilla, ordered the ship home to the Washington Navy Yard so that repairs could be made to correct her defective propulsion plant.

Tulip got underway on 11 November with orders restricting her steaming on the port boiler only. Not long after departing from St. Inigoes Creek, St. Inigoes, St. Mary's County, Maryland, her engineers, against all orders, began supplying steam to the starboard boiler. When abreast Ragged Point (east of Ragged Point Beach), the boiler exploded and tore the fragile ship apart—killing 47 men instantly—of the 57-man complement. Of the 10 survivors, two died later as a result of the injuries received in the violent explosion which claimed the ship.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tulip_(1862)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1918 – World War I: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.


The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their opponent, Germany. Previous armistices had eliminated Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the war. Also known as the Armistice of Compiègne from the place where it was signed, it came into force at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 ("the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month") and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender.

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Photograph taken after reaching agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This is Ferdinand Foch's own railway carriage and the location is the Forest of Compiègne. Foch is second from the right. Left of Foch in the photo (on Foch’s own right) is the senior British representative, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. On the right is Admiral George Hope.

The actual terms, largely written by the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, included the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of German forces to behind the Rhine, Allied occupation of the Rhineland and bridgeheads further east, the preservation of infrastructure, the surrender of aircraft, warships, and military materiel, the release of Allied prisoners of war and interned civilians, eventual reparations, no release of German prisoners and no relaxation of the naval blockade of Germany.

Although the armistice ended the fighting, it needed to be prolonged three times until the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on 28 June 1919, took effect on 10 January 1920.

Terms
Among its 34 clauses, the armistice contained the following major points:

A. Western Front
  • Termination of hostilities on the Western Front, on land and in the air, within six hours of signature.
  • Immediate evacuation of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Alsace-Lorraine within 15 days. Sick and wounded may be left for Allies to care for.
  • Immediate repatriation of all inhabitants of those four territories in German hands.
  • Surrender of matériel: 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfers, 1,700 aircraft (including all night bombers), 5,000 railway locomotives, 150,000 railway carriages and 5,000 road trucks.
  • Evacuation of territory on the west side of the Rhine plus 30 km (19 mi) radius bridgeheads of the east side of the Rhine at the cities of Mainz, Koblenz, and Cologne within 31 days.
  • Vacated territory to be occupied by Allied troops, maintained at Germany's expense.
  • No removal or destruction of civilian goods or inhabitants in evacuated territories and all military matériel and premises to be left intact.
  • All minefields on land and sea to be identified.
  • All means of communication (roads, railways, canals, bridges, telegraphs, telephones) to be left intact, as well as everything needed for agriculture and industry.
B. Eastern and African Fronts
C. At sea
  • Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and surrender intact of all German submarines within 14 days.
  • Listed German surface vessels to be interned within 7 days and the rest disarmed.
  • Free access to German waters for Allied ships and for those of the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
  • The naval blockade of Germany to continue.
  • Immediate evacuation of all Black Sea ports and handover of all captured Russian vessels.
D. General
  • Immediate release of all Allied prisoners of war and interned civilians, without reciprocity.
  • Pending a financial settlement, surrender of assets looted from Belgium, Romania and Russia.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 1940 – World War II: The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail from the Automedon, and sends it to Japan.


The SS Automedon was a passenger and cargo steamer which was shelled and sunk on 11 November 1940 during World War II by the German surface raider Atlantis. She was carrying Top Secret documents to the British Far East Command, the capture of which is thought by some to have played a prominent part in the Japanese decision to enter World War II.

History
At around 07:00 on 11 November 1940, Automedon encountered the German surface raider Atlantis about 250 mi (400 km) northwest of Sumatra, approaching on a heading that would bring the two ships close together. At 08:20, when Automedon was less than 5000 metres away, Atlantis ran up her German ensign and uncovered her guns. Automedon at once responded by transmitting a distress signal, but only managed to send "RRR – Automedon – 0416N" ("RRR" meant "under attack by armed raider") before the Germans jammed her transmissions.

Atlantis' gunners then opened fire from a range of 2000 metres, four salvos hitting Automedon's bridge and midsection. The first shells destroyed Automedon's bridge, killing everyone present there including her captain and all her officers. Automedon was still steaming at full speed and a crewman attempted to reach her stern gun to return fire. A final salvo was fired which hit the ship, killing the would-be gunner and stopping her.

When the Atlantis' boarding party went on board Automedon they were met by the vessel's first mate. Ulrich Mohr of Atlantis later said that the ship was in the worst condition he had ever seen; the close-range shelling had destroyed virtually every structure above the hull, and nothing was left undamaged. Six crew members had been killed and 12 injured; six of the injured were at once transferred to Atlantis for medical assistance.

The freighter's cargo of crated aircraft, motor cars, spare parts, liquor, cigarettes, and food bound for Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai was valuable but of little use to Atlantis, so no thought was given to salvaging any of it. A thorough search of the ship, however, found 15 bags of Top Secret mail for the British Far East Command, including a large quantity of decoding tables, Fleet orders, gunnery instructions, and Naval Intelligence reports. The most significant find was, however, a small green bag discovered in the chart room near the bridge. Marked "Highly Confidential" and equipped with holes to allow it to sink if it had to be thrown overboard, the bag contained an envelope addressed to Robert Brooke Popham, Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command. The envelope contained documents prepared by the British War Cabinet's Planning Division which included their evaluations of the strength and status of British land and naval forces in the Far East, a detailed report on Singapore's defenses, and information on the roles to be played by Australian and New Zealand forces in the Far East in the event that Japan entered the war on the Axis side.

Captain Bernhard Rogge of Atlantis set a time limit of three hours during which time 31 British and 56 Chinese crewmen, 3 passengers, their possessions, all the frozen meat and food and the ship's papers and mail bags were transferred. He was concerned about the situation as another ship observing the two stationary vessels would quickly guess what was happening and send a radio message before any action could be taken by Atlantis. Automedon was sunk by scuttling charges at 15:07 after being judged too badly damaged to tow. Her survivors eventually reached Bordeaux, France, aboard the captured Norwegian tanker Storstad.

Captain Rogge soon realised the importance of the intelligence material he had captured from Automedon and quickly transferred the documents onto the vessel Ole Jacob, captured earlier, ordering Lieutenant Commander Paul Kamenz and six of his crew to take charge of the vessel and convey the captured material to the German representatives in Japan.

After an uneventful voyage Ole Jacob arrived in Kobe, Japan, on 4 December 1940. The mail reached the German embassy in Tokyo, on 5 December, and was then hand-carried to Berlin via the Trans-Siberian railway. A copy was given to the Japanese and it is sometimes argued that this played a prominent part in the Japanese decision to initiate what it referred to as the "Greater East Asia War". Following Japan's entry into the war and the fall of Singapore, Capt. Rogge was presented with an ornate katana on 27 April 1943; Japan only ever presented three such swords, the other two being to Hermann Göring and Erwin Rommel.

Hilfskreuzer_Atlantis.jpg
Hilfskreuzer Atlantis
The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis (HSK 2), known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted German Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser), or merchant or commerce raider of the Kriegsmarine, which, in World War II, travelled more than 161,000 km (100,000 mi) in 602 days, and sank or captured 22 ships totaling 144,384 t (142,104 long tons). Atlantis was commanded by Kapitän zur See Bernhard Rogge, who received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. She was sunk on 22 November 1941 by the British cruiser HMS Devonshire.

Commerce raiders do not seek to engage warships, but rather attack enemy merchant shipping; the measures of success are tonnage destroyed (or captured) and time spent at large. Atlantis was second only to Pinguin in tonnage destroyed, and had the longest raiding career of any German commerce raider in either world war. She captured highly secret documents from SS Automedon. A version of the story of Atlantis is told in the film Under Ten Flags with Van Heflin appearing as Captain Rogge.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Atlantis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Automedon
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 November 2008 - 11 November 2008 incident off Somalia


The Action of 11 November 2008 was a naval engagement fought off Somalia between pirates and British forces. Russia has stated that its forces fought off the pirates also, though Russia's involvement has been disputed by the Royal Navy. The incident took place 60 nautical miles (110 km) south of the Yemeni coast, in the Gulf of Aden, and the engagement is a part of Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa. When the Royal Navy ship HMS Cumberland attempted to board a Somali pirate dhow with twelve pirates on board, the pirates initially resisted with assault rifle fire. After a brief shoot-out with the Royal Marines, two pirates were killed and the dhow was captured by Cumberland. The Times has described the incident as "the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory." The Independent has also stated that the confrontation "is believed to be the first time recently that British [naval] service personnel have been involved in a confrontation that resulted in deaths", and The Toronto Starhas stated that the engagement is "the first time since the 1982 Falklands War that the Royal Navy had killed anyone on the high seas." Russia Today has reported that the incident was "the first time Russian forces have moved against Somali pirates."

Pirates_Surrender_to_Royal_Marine_Boarding_Teams_MOD_45149776.jpg
Pirates surrendering after engaging Royal Marines

Background
As of 11 November 2008, 32 ships had been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden by pirates.[6] The Gulf of Aden has been described as "a treacherous stretch for ships, particularly along the Somali coast". To protect commercial vessels off the coast of Somalia, a multi-national task force was deployed to the area.

Incident
On 11 November pirates on board a dhow attacked MV Powerful, a Danish-registered cargo ship, using assault rifles in a failed attempt to hijack the ship. A Russian Navyspokesman, Igor Dygalo, said that the pirates attempted twice to capture the ship, and were rebuffed by British and Russian helicopters operating from HMS Cumberland and the Russian frigate Neustrashimy respectively. However, Russian involvement in preventing the pirates from capturing the Powerful has been disputed by the Royal Navy.

Later that day, Cumberland detected the dhow, which was towing a skiff, and identified it as a vessel involved in the attack against Powerful. The Royal Marines unit on board Cumberland was dispatched in Rigid Raider craft towards the dhow. The Marines then proceeded to circle the dhow, which had on board 12 men armed with rocket launchers and machine guns, in an attempt to force it to stop.

The pirates opened fire on them, but no casualties were sustained by the Marines. Returning fire, the Marines killed two Somalis. The pirates subsequently surrendered, and the Marines boarded the dhow. The Royal Navy described the boarding itself as "compliant". Russia has claimed that one of its helicopters, based aboard Neustrashimy, was involved in this firefight between the pirates and the Marines, though the Royal Navy deny this claim, stating that the Marines were supported by a Lynx helicopter from HMS Cumberland.

Aftermath
“This [November 11, 2008 incident off Somalia] is bound to have an impact on pirates who for the last two years have been getting away with seizing vessels and receiving large ransoms. Now suddenly there’s the threat of death and this may force them to think again, but they are determined people, so we’ll have to see.” – Captain Mike Davis-Marks, a senior spokesman for the Royal Navy.

On board the dhow was a Yemeni male who, despite receiving emergency treatment, died from his injuries. The British Ministry of Defence reported that it was unclear as to whether the fatal injuries were the result of the gunfight, or whether they were sustained beforehand. The incident, according to The Times, "signalled a new policy of maximum robustness for the Royal Navy on the high seas".

The remaining eight men who had been captured on board the dhow were handed over by Cumberland to Kenyan authorities on November 18.

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HMS Cumberland and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

HMS Cumberland was a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She was launched in 1986 and commissioned on 10 June 1989. The frigate was on station during the First Gulf War and was part of the Devonport Flotilla based at Devonport Dockyard. Cumberland was decommissioned on 23 June 2011.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_11,_2008_incident_off_Somalia
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 11 November


1723 – Launch of French Ferme 74 at Toulon - converted to careening hulk 1755.

Duc d'Orléans Class. Four ships built at Toulon to a design by René Levasseur, 1719.


1758 - Adam Duncan was promoted to First Lieutenant of HMS Torbay

Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan (1 July 1731 – 4 August 1804) was a British admiral who defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown (north of Haarlem) on 11 October 1797. According to the British, this victory should be considered one of the most significant actions in naval history.

220px-Adam_Duncan,_1st_Viscount_Duncan_by_John_Hoppner.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Duncan,_1st_Viscount_Duncan


1779 – Launch of spanish San Justo 74 at Cartagena - BU 1824[6] or 1828


1755 – French Espérance 74 at Toulon - captured and burnt by the British 11 November 1755.

Duc d'Orléans Class. Four ships built at Toulon to a design by René Levasseur, 1719.


1768 – Launch of French Flore at Brest, (one-off 32-gun design of 1768 by Antoine Groignard, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns) – deleted 1787.


1784 – Launch of French Superbe was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Her hull was copper sheathed

Superbe was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Her hull was copper sheathed.
She took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver, where she sank due to a leak. Her crew were rescued by Pierre Maurice Julien de Quérangal.

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Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Superbe (1784), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Superbe_(1784)


1806 - HMS Sceptre (74), Cptn. Joseph Bingham, and HMS Cornwallis (54), Cptn. Charles James Johnston, engaged frigate Semillante and batteries in St. Paul's Bay, Isle of Bourbon.

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.

HMS Cornwallis was a Royal Navy 54-gun fourth rate. Jemsatjee Bomanjee built the Marquis Cornwallis of teak for the Honourable East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1801. In March 1805 Admiral Sir Edward Pellew purchased her from the Company shortly after she returned from a voyage to Britain. She served in the Far East, sailing to Australia and the Pacific Coast of South America before returning to India. In February 1811 the Admiralty renamed her HMS Akbar. She captured forts and vessels in the Celebes and Amboyna, and participated in the invasion of Isle de France, and the 1811 invasion of Java. She also served in the West Indies before being laid up at Portsmouth in December 1816. She then stayed in Britain in a number of stationary medical and training capacities until the Admiralty sold her in the 1860s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sceptre_(1802)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cornwallis_(1805)


1848 – Launch of HMS Meeanee was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Meeanee was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 11 November 1842 at Bombay Dockyard. She was named after the Battle of Meeanee.
Meeanee was fitted with screw propulsion in 1857, and was broken up in 1906.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Meeanee_(1848)


1861 - Thaddeus Lowe conducts an aerial observation of Confederate positions from balloon boat G.W. Parke Custis. This observation paves the way for the Navys present effective use of the air as an element of sea power.

City_of_NY_balloon.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_S._C._Lowe


1870 - The Navy expedition to explore the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Southern Mexico, commanded by Capt. Robert W. Shufeldt, enters the Coatzacoalcos River to begin a survey for a possible inter-oceanic canal. Support is provided by the gunboat Kansas and the screw tug Mayflower.


1918 - Fighting ceases on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month when an armistice is signed between Germany and the Allied nations, regarding this day as the end of World War I. In Nov. 1919, President Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.


1920 - Lenah S. Higbee becomes the first woman to be awarded the Navy Cross for her service as a nurse in World War I. Named in her honor, USS Higbee (DD 806) is commissioned in 1945 and is the first U.S. Navy combat ship to bear the name of a female member of U.S. Navy service.

Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (May 18, 1874 – January 10, 1941) was a pioneering Canadian-born United States Navy chief nurse, who served as Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps during World War I. She is best known for being the first female recipient of the Navy Cross.

Lenah_Higbee.jpg

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


2008 - Queen Elizabeth 2 left Southampton Docks for the final time at 1915 GMT on 11 November 2008, to begin her farewell voyage by the name of "QE2's Final Voyage"

Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as QE2, is a floating hotel and retired ocean liner built for the Cunard Line which was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic linerand a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. Since 18 April 2018 she has been operating as a floating hotel in Dubai.

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RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 on her last visit to the Clyde where she was built.

QE2 was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Designed in Cunard's then headquarters and regional offices in Liverpool and Southampton respectively, and built in Clydebank, Scotland, QE2 was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners until Queen Mary 2 entered service.

The QE2 was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service until she was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986/1987. During almost forty years of service, Queen Elizabeth 2 undertook regular world cruises and later operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. QE2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. QE2 did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life. QE2 was never given a Royal Mail Ship designation, instead carrying the SS and later MV or MS prefixes in official documents.

QE2 was retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008. She had been acquired by the private equity arm of Dubai World, which planned to begin conversion of the vessel to a 500-room floating hotel moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. The 2008 financial crisis, however, intervened and the ship was laid up at Dubai Drydocks and later Port Rashid. Subsequent conversion plans were announced by Istithmar in 2012 and by the Oceanic Group in 2013 but these both stalled. In November, 2015 Cruise Arabia & Africa quoted DP World chairman Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem as saying that QE2 would not be scrapped and in March, 2017, a Dubai-based construction company announced it had been contracted to refurbish the ship. The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018, with a soft opening, with discounted rates and only five of the planned 13 restaurants and bars completed. The grand opening is set for October 2018.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_2
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November - The Births and Deaths of some important people


1595 – Death of John Hawkins, English admiral and shipbuilder (b. 1532)

Admiral Sir John Hawkins (also spelled as Hawkyns) (1532 – 12 November 1595) was an English slave trader, naval commander and administrator, merchant, navigator, shipbuilder and privateer. His elder brother and trading partner was William (b. c. 1519). He was considered the first English trader to profit from the Triangle Trade, based on selling supplies to colonies ill-supplied by their home countries, and their demand for African slaves in the Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo and Venezuela in the late 16th century. He styled himself "Captain General" as the General of both his own flotilla of ships and those of the English Royal Navy and to distinguish himself from those Admirals that served only in the administrative sense and were not military in nature. His death and that of his second cousin and mentoree, Sir Francis Drake, heralded the decline of the Royal Navy for decades before its recovery and eventual dominance again helped by the propaganda of the Navy's glory days under his leadership.

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Portrait of John Hawkins at the National Maritime Museum, London

As Treasurer of the Navy (1577-1595) and comptroller (1589) of the Royal Navy, Hawkins rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588. One of the foremost seamen of 16th-century England, Hawkins was the chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. In the battle in which the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, Hawkins served as a vice admiral. He was knighted for gallantry. He later devised the naval blockade to intercept Spanish treasure ships leaving Mexico and South America.

Death
In 1595 Hawkins accompanied his second cousin Sir Francis Drake on a treasure-hunting voyage to the West Indies. They twice attacked San Juan in Puerto Rico, but could not defeat its defences. During the voyage they both fell sick. Hawkins died on 12 November 1595, and was buried at sea off Puerto Rico. Drake succumbed to disease, most likely dysentery, on 27 January, and was buried at sea somewhere off the coast of Portobelo in Panama. Hawkins was succeeded by his son Sir Richard Hawkins.

John Hawkins gained notice again in June 2006, more than four centuries after his death, when his descendant Andrew Hawkins publicly apologized for his ancestor's actions in the slave trade. Andrew and 20 friends from the Christian charity Lifeline Expedition knelt in chains before 25,000 Africans to ask forgiveness for his ancestor's involvement in the slave trade at Independence Stadium in Bakau, the Gambia. The Vice President of the Gambia Isatou Njie Saidy symbolically removed the chains in a spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hawkins_(naval_commander)


1684 – Birth of Edward Vernon, English admiral and politician (d. 1757)


Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was an English naval officer. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 1739 he was responsible for the capture of Porto Bello, seen as expunging the failure of Admiral Hosier there in a previous conflict. However, his later amphibious operation against Cartagena de Indias suffered a severe defeat. Vernon also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) on three occasions and was out-spoken on naval matters in Parliament, making him a controversial figure.

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Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon. Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough

The origin of the name "grog" for rum diluted with water is attributed to Vernon. He was known for wearing coats made of grogram cloth, earning him the nickname of "Old Grog", which in turn came to mean diluted rum. The use of citrus juice helped to avoid scurvy.

Defensa_de_Cartagena_de_Indias_por_la_escuadra_de_D._Blas_de_Lezo,_año_1741.jpg
ttack of the British army on Cartagena de Indias commanded by the Vice Admiral Edward Vernon

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


1729 – Birth of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1811)

Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (12 November 1729 – 31 August 1811) was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he took part in the Seven Years' War in North America and the American Revolutionary War against Britain. Bougainville later gained fame for his expeditions, including circumnavigation of the globe in a scientific expedition in 1763, the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands, and voyages into the Pacific Ocean. Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea as well as the Bougainvillea flower were named after him.

Louis_Antoine_de_Bougainville_-_Portrait_par_Jean-Pierre_Franquel.jpg
Portrait of French explorer and navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Antoine_de_Bougainville
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1795 - HMS Fleche (1768 - 14) wrecked on reef of Rocks off Fernelli Tower, Saint Fiorenzo's Bay, Mediterranean.


Fleche was a French corvette built by Louis-Hilarion Chapelle (cadet) and launched at Toulon in 1768. The British captured her at the Fall of Bastia in May 1794 and commissioned her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. She observed the naval battle of Hyères Islands, but then wrecked in 1795.

Type: Corvette
Tons burthen: 278 (bm)
Length:
  • 92 ft 9 in (28.3 m) (overall);
  • 74 ft 4 in (22.7 m) (keel)
Beam:26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
Depth of hold:11 ft 0 in (3.4 m)
Complement:
  • French service: 130-40
  • British service: 75
Armament:
  • French service: initially 18 x 6-pounder guns; later 14 x 6-pounders
  • British service: 18 x 18-pounder carronades


French service and capture
Fleche was a French corvette built by Louis-Hilarion Chapelle (cadet) and launched at Toulon on 19 October 1768. In the early 1790s she was stationed at Smyrna. In April 1790, while under the command of major de vaisseau chevalier de Lestang-Parade, she sailed on a mission to Saloniki, and then to Largentière. She then returned to Toulon via Paros. Between 12 May and June 1792, while under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Blanquet Du Chayla, she sailed from Tunis southward via Cerigo and Largentière.

The British captured Fleche on 21 May 1794 at the fall of Bastia.[5] The French proposed in the articles of capitulation that the French Republic retain Fleche and a pink to transport the garrison, such civilians as wished to accompany them, and some timber, to France. The British refused, simply stating that they would provide any necessary transport.

British service and fate
The Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS Fleche under Commander John Gore upon her capture. He fitted her out and sailed her to Malta where he negotiated with the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc for seamen, supplies, and the like. On 13 September Gore was a witness at the trial of Lieutenant William Walker, commander of the hired armed cutter Rose, on charges that Walker had accepted money from merchants at Bastia to convoy their vessels to Leghorn, where the court-martial took place. Walker was acquitted. Gore received promotion to post captain on 14 November 1794.

Commander Henry Hotham replaced Gore, but then received promotion on 13 January 1795 to Mignonne. Lieutenant Thomas Boys replaced Gore in 1795, on Boys' promotion to Commander on 30 January 1795.

Under Boys, Fleche was one of the vessels that alerted the British fleet to the whereabouts of the French fleet in the run up to the battle of Hyères Islands, which was fought on 13 July 1795 off the Hyères Islands, a group of islands off the French Mediterranean coast, about 25 km east of Toulon. Fleche observed the battle from a distance. Lieutenant Charles Came replaced Boys.

Fleche wrecked in the bay of San Fiorenzo in November 1795, but without loss of life. As she was entering the port during the night she grounded. The next day efforts to lighten her failed to free her and her crew left. By morning it was clear that she had capsized. The subsequent court martial castigated Came for his "great want of attention".



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleche_(1768)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 to 14 November 1797 - HMS Cerberus (1794 - 32), Cptn. J. Drew, captured French ship-privateer Epervier (1788 - 16) and French privateer Renard (1797 - 18) and recaptured Adelphi, prize to Epervier


HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for Pallas (1793), Stag (1793), Unicorn (1734),all 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates. The plan was later used in 1793 for Cerberus (1794) and in 1795 for Galatea (1794), Lively (1794), Alcemene (1794), Maidstone (1795), and Shannon (1796). The alterations in red relate to Maidstone and Shannon only.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82979.html#tiH0XWi42QKGUvlg.99


Class and type: 32-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 806 1⁄94 (bm)
Length: 135 ft (41.1 m) (gundeck); 112 ft 2 3⁄8 in (34.2 m) (keel)
Beam: 36 ft (11.0 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft (3.7 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 241 men; 254 after 1796
Armament:
  • Upper deck: 26 x 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 x 6-pounder guns + 4 x 24-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 x 6-pounder guns + 2 x 24-pounder carronades


Cerberus was on the Irish station when on 12 and 14 November 1797 she captured two French privateers, the Epervier and the Renard. Both vessels were pierced for 20 guns, were copper-bottomed, quite new, and fast sailers. Epervier was armed with sixteen 4-pounder guns and had a crew of 145 men. Renard carried eighteen 6-pounders and had a crew of 189 men. Lloyd's List reported Cerberus's capture of two privateers, one of 30 guns and one of 18, and the arrival of both at Cork. The Royal Navy took both into service, though it never actually commissioned Epervier, which was listed as Epervoir. Renard retained her name unchanged.

Between these two captures, Cerberus recaptured the Adelphi, prize to Epervier. Adelphi, Patterson, master, had been sailing from Quebec to London when Epervier captured her; she too went into Cork.

During this time, Cerberus also chased the privateer Buonaparte but failed to capture the French ship after Cerberus's studding sails and top gallant mast were carried away. Buonaparte was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 250 men. Apparently, in order to escape Cerberus, Buonaparte threw many of her guns and stores overboard, necessitating her return to Bordeaux.



The first HMS Epervier, sometimes spelled HMS Epervoir, was the French ex-naval brick-aviso and then privateer Épervier, launched in 1788. The British captured her in 1797 and registered her in 1798 as an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. The Navy never commissioned her and she was sold in 1801.

Design
Epervier was an Expédition-class "brick-aviso" (advice brig). Benjamin Dubois built the six members of the class at Saint-Malo Montmarin to a 3 October 1787 design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, and all were launched in 1788. They cost 86,000 Livre tournois each.

Class and type: Expédition-class
Type: Brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 253 89⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 94 ft (28.7 m) (gundeck)
  • 76 ft 3 1⁄8 in (23.2 m) (keel)
Beam: 25 ft 0 1⁄4 in (7.6 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 7 in (3.2 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement:
  • Initially: 82 officers and men
  • Later (1794): 130
  • Privateer: 145
Armament:
  • Brick-aviso: 6 × 4-pounder guns (initially)
  • Privateer: 16 × 4-pounder guns
  • British service: 18 × 18-pounder carronades


The British captured two other members of the class, but never added them to the navy. The two were Curieux (captured in June 1793), and Impatient (captured in May 1803), by Naiad.

French service
Épervier was originally armed with six 4-pounder guns. In 1792 her armament was increased to ten 4-pounders and four 12-pounder howitzers. The next year she received six more 4-pounder guns. She was in dry-dock at Rochefort in 1795. In April 1797 she was condemned at Cayenne, but then became a privateer. Between 1794 and 1797, she carried eighteen 4-pounders and four two-pounder guns.

Capture
Epervier was operating as a French privateer when HMS Cerberus, under the command of Captain John Drew, captured her. Cerberus was on the Irish station when on 12 and 14 November 1797 she captured two French privateers, Epervier and Renard. Both vessels were pierced for 20 guns, were copper-bottomed, quite new, and fast sailers. Epervier was armed with sixteen 4-pounder guns and had a crew of 145 men. Renard carried eighteen 6-pounders and had a crew of 189 men. Lloyd's List reported Cerberus's capture of two privateers, one of 30 guns and one of 18, and the arrival of both at Cork.

Between these two captures, Cerberus recaptured the Adelphi, prize to Epervier. Adelphi, Patterson, master, had been sailing from Quebec to London when Epervier captured her; she too went into Cork. Epervier arrived at Plymouth on 12 January 1798, and was registered on 14 February. However, the Navy never commissioned her. The Navy did take Renard into service, retaining her name; she served until 1807. Although the Navy did not commission Epervier/Epervoir, two legal notices in the London Gazette give the names of two men, one of whom is described as a master on Epervoir, and one of whom is named as having been a lieutenant on her.

Fate
The Commissioners of the Navy listed Epervoir, of 254 tons burthen, for sale at Plymouth in August 1801. She was sold on 7 September 1801.


HMS Renard was the French privateer Renard, launched in 1797, that Cerberus captured in the Channel that same year. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name and she participated in some notable engagements on the Jamaica station before the Navy sold her in 1809.

Type: Sloop
Tons burthen: 345 57⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 103 ft 1 in (31.4 m) (overall)
  • 81 ft 5 in (24.8 m) (keel)
Beam: 28 ft 3 in (8.6 m)
Depth of hold:11 ft 6 1⁄2 in (3.5 m)
Complement:
  • French service: 189
  • British service: 90
Armament:
  • French service: 18 × 6-pounder guns
  • British service (initial):
  • 16 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns
  • British service (after 1799):
  • 16 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Quarterdeck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns 2 × 18-pounder carronades

Capture
Cerberus was on the Irish station when on 12 and 14 November 1797 she captured two French privateers, the Epervier and the Renard. Both vessels were pierced for 20 guns, were copper-bottomed, quite new, and fast sailers. Renard carried eighteen 6-pounders and had a crew of 189 men. Lloyd's List reported Cerberus's capture of two privateers, one of 30 guns and one of 18, and the arrival of both at Cork. The Royal Navy took both into service, though it never actually commissioned Epervier, which was frequently listed as Epervoir.

Career
Renard arrived in Plymouth on 12 January 1799. She sat there for six months, finally undergoing fitting between July 1799 and January 1800. While undergoing fitting she may have received additional cannons and extensive upperworks to hold them. There is some question though whether she in fact received the additional armament and upperworks (see below). Commander Peter Spicer commissioned Renard in August 1799 for the Channel.

Renard shared in the recapture of the brig Defiance on 13 December 1800 with Suffisante, Spitfire, and the hired armed cutter Swift (2). Twelve days later, Renard and Spitfire captured the Danish galliot Palmboom (or Palm Baum). Then on 29 December Renard captured Neptunus.

In April 1801 Commander James A. Worth replaced Spicer. Renard, Dasher, and Suffisante were in company for the recapture of the brig William on 3 April 1801. On 1 April a French privateer Renard had captured William, Wedland, master, which had been sailing from Bristol to Newfoundland. Dasher sent William into Plymouth. Also on 3 April, Renard, Suffisante, and Garland shared in the recapture of the brig Swan.

Renard and Spitfire shared in the capture on 24 April of Prince Hendrich. The next day they captured Prince Frederick Van Prussia.

In May 1802 Commander Charles M. Gregory assumed command, and that same month sailed Renard for the Leeward Islands. Commander Robert Pearson replaced Gregory, only to be himself replaced in October by Commander William Cathcart. Reports in Lloyd's List of ship arrivals and departures make it clear that between 1803 and 1804 Renard convoyed vessels between Britain and the Leeward Islands.

Cathcart received promotion to post captain in June 1804 and with it command of Clorinde, however he died of yellow fever before fully taking command. His replacement on Renard was Commander Jeremiah Coghlan.

On 20 March 1805 Renard was at 21°14′N 71°30′W when she sighted a ship to the north-west. Renard gave chase and as she approached, her quarry shortened sail and made ready to engage. At 2:20 p.m., Renard opened fire. After 35 minutes, the French vessel appeared to be on fire, and ten minutes later she exploded. Renard lowered a boat and was able to rescue 55 men, all the rest of the 160 men aboard having perished. She had been under the command of Paul Gerard Pointe, and was seven days out of Basseterre. She had intended to intercept the homeward-bound Jamaica fleet. The survivors reported that their vessel was the Général Ernouf. Général Ernouf was the former HMS Lily. Prior to the explosion, Général Ernouf had 20-30 men killed and wounded; Renard had only nine wounded.

Earlier, Renard captured Eugene, which had been sailing from Bordeaux to New Orleans, and sent her into Jamaica.

On 11 October, Renard, after a long chase and some firing, captured the French privateer schooner Bellona (or Bellone) on the north side of San Domingo. Bellona was armed with four guns and had a crew of 50 men. She was seven days out of Barracona and had taken an American brig. Coghlan reported that Bellona was only four months old and was considered the fastest sailer out of Cuba. It is possible that this Bellona was the vessel that captured the American schooner Hiram, of New York, Fusson, master, that Success recaptured.

A French privateer captured, on 21 February 1806, the sloop James and the schooner Betsey, both of which were sailing from Calabash Bay to Kingston. The privateer also captured Hard Times, Banee, master, which was sailing from Black River to Kingston. Renard recaptured all three.

On 28 May 1806 Renard captured the French navy brig Diligent (or Diligente), after a 64-hour-long chase. Diligent, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Vincent Thévenard, was armed with fourteen 6-pounders and two 32-pounder brass carronades, and carried a crew of 125 men. She was seven days out of Pointe a Petre, Guadeloupe, with dispatches for France that she succeeded in throwing overboard while Renard was chasing her. She was coppered and copper fastened, and Coghlan believed only three years old. Vice-Admiral Dacres had her purchased and commissioned as Diligent. French records report that the capture took place in the Puerto Rico channel. She had sailed from Concarneau to Cayenne, and was cruising in the Antilles prior to her capture by the English sloop "Fox". Diligente arrived at Jamaica on 3 June.

Thévenard had surrendered his ship without a shot being fired by either side. When taken on board Renard, her smallness surprised him and he requested to return to his ship to continue the fight. Coghlan naturally laughed at this request. Thévenard then asked that Coghlan award him a certificate stating that he had not acted in a cowardly manner. Coghlan replied "No, I cannot do that; but I will give you one that shall specify you have acted 'prudently'!"

In July or August 1807 Coghlan transferred to Elk. It is not clear who replaced him as commander of Renard.

On 1 October 1807 Renard captured the Danish vessel Peder and Anna.[20] Within five days the sloop-of-war Renard had arrived at Deal, together with three other vessels, all four coming from Honduras.

Fate
In December 1808 the Commissioners of the Navy offered "His Majesty's sloops ...Renard..." for sale at Sheerness. The Commissioners continued advertising her availability into May 1809, suggesting that she sold soon after that.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1794)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-301039;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Epervier_(1797)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Renard_(1797)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 -16 November 1810 - Start of engagement by HMS Diana (38), HMS Niobe (38), HMS Donegal (80), and HMS Revenge (74) engaged 2 French frigates Elisa and Amazone which went ashore at La Hogue and Tatillon.


The Action of 15 November 1810 was a minor naval engagement fought during the British Royal Navy blockade of the French Channel ports in the Napoleonic Wars. British dominance at sea, enforced by a strategy of close blockade, made it difficult for the French Navy to operate even in their own territorial waters. In the autumn of 1810, a British squadron assigned to patrol the Baie de la Seine was effectively isolating two French squadrons in the ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg. On 12 November, the squadron in Le Havre, consisting of frigates Elisa and Amazone attempted to reach Cherbourg at night in order to united the squadrons. This squadron was spotted in the early hours of 13 November by the patrolling British frigates HMS Diana and HMS Niobe, which gave chase.

The French ships took shelter at the heavily fortified Iles Saint-Marcouf, sailing the following morning for the anchorage at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. For two days the British frigates kept watch, until two ships of the line from the blockade of Cherbourg, HMS Donegal and HMS Revenge, arrived. On 15 November, the British squadron attacked the anchored French ships, which were defended by shore batteries at La Hougue and Tatihou. After four attempts to close with the French the British squadron, under heavy fire, withdrew. During the night, the British commander, Captain Pulteney Malcolm, sent his ship's boats close inshore to attack the French ships with Congreve rockets, a newly issued weapon. None are recorded as landing on target, but by morning both frigates had been forced to change position, becoming grounded on the shore. The French ships were later refloated, and Malcolm's squadron maintained the blockade until 27 November when Amazone successfully escaped back to Le Havre. The damaged Elisa remained at anchor until 6 December, when an attack by a British bomb vessel forced the frigate to move further inshore, becoming grounded once more. Elisa remained in this position until 23 December, when the boats of Diana entered the anchorage at night and set the beached ship on fire, destroying her.

Baie de la Seine in 1810
By 1810 the French Navy fleet based in the Atlantic ports had been prevented from launching any major operations for four years, penned into harbour by the British strategy of close blockade. A failed attempt by a French fleet to sail had been defeated at the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809, and the main operations still carried out by the Navy were undertaken by privateers and frigate squadrons operating commerce raiders operating from smaller ports, such as those on the English Channel. In November 1810 squadrons were based at Cherbourg, with two ships of the line and the newly built frigate Iphigénie, and Le Havre, with the frigates Elisa and Amazone, commanded by Captains Louis-Henri Fraycinet-Saulce and Bernard-Louis Rosseaurespectively. To blockade these squadrons, the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet had assigned the ships of the line HMS Donegal under Captain Pulteney Malcolm and HMS Revenge under Captain Charles Paget to patrol the entrance to Cherbourg, while frigates HMS Diana under Captain Charles Grant and HMS Niobe under Captain John Wentworth Loring kept watch on Le Havre.[2] The blockade had achieved some minor successes; in October 1810 Revenge had captured the privateer Vengeur from Dieppe, and on 6 November Donegal ran down and seized the privateer Surcouf from Cherbourg.

Pursuit of Amazone and Elisa
At 22:00 on 12 November Amazone and Elisa sailed from Le Havre to unite with the force at Cherbourg, hoping to evade the blockade in the darkness. They successfully passed the patrolling Diana and Niobe but were spotted sailing northwest at 00:30 by the British ships which gave chase, Niobe turning inshore in an attempt to cut off the French line of advance.[5] With the wind in the northeast, the French frigates were unable to pass Cape Barfleur under pursuit, and Rosseau instead turned his squadron towards the Iles Saint-Marcouf at 04:00, using superior local knowledge to bypass the pursuing British ships. The heavily fortified islands had been under British control during the French Revolutionary Wars, but reverted to the French at the Peace of Amiens in 1802. Diana and Niobe attempted to intercept the French frigates before they came under the shelter of the guns, but were only able to fire two long-distance broadsides at the trailing Elisa.

At 11:00, Rosseau gave orders for the French frigates to sail once more, slipping away from the British ships which had drifted to the north and anchoring safely between the batteries at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and the island of Tatihou. Observing the strong position the French frigates had taken up, Grant sent messages to Malcolm's force at Cherbourg requesting reinforcements. Malcolm brought Donegal and Revenge to support the frigates on 14 November, maintaining position off the anchorage despite a strong gale which caused Elisa to drag her anchors. Captain Fraycinet-Saulce was forced to throw much of the ship's stores overboard to prevent his frigate from being wrecked on the shore. The following day, Diana took advantage of the rising tide to attack the anchored Amazone, Captain Rosseau withdrawing deeper into the sheltered anchorage under protection from the batteries. Twice more Grant launched probing attacks on the French frigate, each time beaten off by heavy fire from the batteries. Joined by Malcolm and the remainder of the British force, four successive attacks were launched against Amazone, each one driven back by cannon fire. At 13:00, with the tide falling, the British squadron was compelled to retreat to deeper water, out of range of the French. All four British ships had suffered under fire, with two killed and five wounded on Revenge, three wounded on Donegal and one wounded on Diana. French losses were a single man killed on Amazone.

On the evening of 15 November Malcolm ordered the ship's boats of the squadron to approach the anchorage under cover of darkness, commanded by Lieutenant Joseph Needham Taylor. The boats had been equipped with Congreve rockets, a recently invented artillery system which was not then widely in use by the Royal Navy. None of the rockets fired during the night appeared to have hit their targets, but they seem to have panicked the French crews; dawn the following morning revealed that both frigates had cut their anchors and drifted onto the shore, Elisa in particular had struck hard and heeled over onto her side. Both ships were however successfully refloated by the rising tide on 16 November, and the situation reached an impasse, with Malcolm's forces blockading Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue to prevent the French from sailing.

Destruction of Elisa
For nearly two weeks the French frigates remained at anchor, Malcolm and Grant drawing up plans for an attack with fireships, when Amazone successfully slipped out of harbour on 27 November, returning successfully to Le Havre before dawn the following day. With Amazone gone, Grant maintained a closer watch on Elisa, calling up a bomb vessel to attack the anchorage on 6 December. This proved no more accurate than the rockets, but Elisa was again driven into shallow waters to avoid the attack, this time becoming irretrievably grounded on a shoal. Over the next two weeks Elisa remained grounded, the frigate gradually being reduced to the state of a total wreck. On 23 December Grant sent his boats, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Rowe, into the anchorage under cover of darkness and set the wreck on fire to ensure that the frigate's stores could not be salvaged.

With the destruction of Elisa, the British squadrons returned to their blockade duties off Cherbourg and Le Havre. The blockade remained in place throughout the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars; Rosseau in Amazone made another attempt to join the squadron in Cherbourg in March 1811, only to be run down and destroyed by a squadron led by the ship of the line HMS Berwick. The new Iphigénie survived a little longer, being intercepted and captured in the Atlantic during a raiding mission in January 1814.


The british ships:

HMS Diana was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794.
Diane was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1796. She participated in the battle of the Nile, but in August 1800 the Royal Navy captured her. She was taken into British service as HMS Niobe, and broken up in 1816.
HMS Donegal was launched in 1794 as Barra, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Pégase in October 1795, and Hoche in December 1797. The British Royal Navy captured her on 12 October 1798 and recommissioned her as HMS Donegal.
HMS Revenge was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1805. Sir John Henslow designed her as one of the large class 74s; she was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck, rather than the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.

The french ships:

Elisa, (launched 1808 at Le Havre) – wrecked 1810 / Pallas class, (40-gun design of 1805 by Jacques-Noël Sané on basis of the Hortense class, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns). This was the 'standard' frigate design of the French First Empire, numerically outweighing all other types.
Amazone, (launched 20 July 1807 at Le Havre) – burnt by the British Navy 1811. / Gloire class, (40-gun design of 1802 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns).




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_15_November_1810
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Diana_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Diane_(1796)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Donegal_(1798)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Revenge_(1805)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_rocket
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1893 – Launch of Tri Sviatitelia (Russian: Три Святителя meaning the Three Holy Hierarchs), a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy


Tri Sviatitelia (Russian: Три Святителя meaning the Three Holy Hierarchs) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the 1890s. She served with the Black Sea Fleet and was flagship of the forces pursuing the mutinous battleship Potemkin in June 1905. During World War I the ship encountered the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben (formally Yavuz Sultan Selim) twice, but never hit the German ship, nor was she damaged by her. From 1915 onward she was relegated to the coast bombardment role as she was the oldest battleship in the Black Sea Fleet. Tri Sviatitelia was refitting in Sevastopol when the February Revolution of 1917 began and she was never operational afterwards.

Tri Sviatitelia was captured when the Germans took the city in May 1918 and was turned over to the Allies after the Armistice in November 1918. Her engines were destroyed in 1919 by the British when they withdrew from Sevastopol to prevent the advancing Bolsheviks from using her against the White Russians. She was abandoned when the Whites evacuated the Crimea in 1920 and was scrapped in 1923.

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Tri Sviatitelia's design was based on an enlarged version of the Baltic Fleet battleship Navarin with some improvements in armour and armament.

General characteristics
Tri Sviatitelia was 371 feet (113.1 m) long at the waterline and 378 feet (115.2 m) long overall. She had a beam of 73 feet 3 inches (22.3 m) and a draught of 28 feet 6 inches (8.7 m). She displaced 13,415 long tons (13,630 t), over 800 long tons (810 t) more than her designed displacement of 12,480 long tons (12,680 t). Tri Sviatitelia was considerably larger than Navarin, being 23 feet 6 inches (7.2 m) longer, 6 feet (1.8 m) wider and displacing 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) more. She had a metacentric height of 5.58 feet (1.7 m).

Propulsion
Tri Sviatitelia had two three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines built by the British firm of Humphreys & Tennant that had a total designed output of 10,600 indicated horsepower(7,900 kW). 14 cylindrical fire-tube boilers provided steam to the engines at a pressure of 128 psi (883 kPa; 9 kgf/cm2), which drove two four-bladed screw propellers. On sea trials, the powerplant produced a total of 11,308 ihp (8,432 kW) and a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). She carried a maximum of 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of coal at full load that provided a range of 2,250 nautical miles (4,170 km; 2,590 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Tri Sviatitelia had three dynamos with a total output of 305 kW, but these were too small and could not supply full power to all the electrical equipment simultaneously.

Armament
Her main armament consisted of two pairs of 12-inch (305 mm) Obukhov Model 1895 40-calibre guns mounted in hydraulically powered twin turrets fore and aft. Each turret had a firing arc of 270°. The guns had a rate of fire of 105 seconds between rounds. These guns had a maximum elevation of 15 degrees and could depress to −5 degrees. They fired a 731.3-pound (331.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,598 ft/s (792 m/s) to a range of 12,010 yards (10,980 m) at an elevation of 10°. 75 rounds per gun were carried.

All eight 6-inch (152 mm) Canet Pattern 1892 45-caliber guns were mounted in casemates on the upper deck. The guns could elevate to a maximum of 20 degrees and depress to −5 degrees. They fired shells that weighed 91.27 lb (41.40 kg) with a muzzle velocity of 2,600 ft/s (790 m/s). They had a maximum range of 12,600 yards (11,500 m) when fired at maximum elevation.

The anti-torpedo boat armament consisted of a large number of different guns. Four 4.7-inch (119 mm) Canet Pattern 1892 45-calibre guns were mounted at the corners of the superstructure. The gun fired 45.15-pound (20.48 kg) shells to a range of about 11,000 yards (10,000 m) at 18 degrees elevation with a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s). The rate of fire was between twelve and fifteen rounds per minute. A total of 10 47-millimetre (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns were carried: six between the 4.7-inch guns, two at the forward end of the superstructure and two in embrasures in the aft hull.[9] They fired a 3.3-pound (1.5 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,476 ft/s (450 m/s) at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of 2,020 yards (1,850 m). A total of 40 37-millimetre (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns were mounted; eight in each of the fighting tops, eight on top of the superstructure, twelve in small hull embrasures fore and aft and the locations of the remaining four are uncertain. They fired a 1.1-pound (0.50 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,450 ft/s (440 m/s) at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of 3,038 yards (2,778 m).

Tri Sviatitelia carried six 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes. The forward broadside tubes were underwater, but the other four tubes were above water, one each in the bow and stern and the aft pair of broadside tubes. The Type L torpedo carried a 141-pound (64 kg) warhead of TNT. It had two speed settings which gave it a maximum range of 980 yards (900 m) at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) or 660 yards (600 m) at 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).

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Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1896

Protection
Tri Sviatitelia was the first Russian ship to use Harvey armour.[9] The armour was made by Vickers in Britain as well as the French firms of Schneider et Cie and Saint Chamond. The maximum thickness of the waterline belt was 18 inches (457 mm) which reduced to 16 inches (406 mm) abreast the magazines. This was the thickest armour ever carried by a Russian battleship.[9] It covered 246 feet (75.0 m) of the ship's length. The belt was 8 feet (2.4 m) high, and tapered down to a thickness of 9 inches (229 mm) at the bottom edge. The upper 18 inches (457.2 mm) of the belt was intended to be above the waterline, but the ship was overweight and much of the belt was submerged. The belt terminated in 14–16-inch (356–406 mm) transverse bulkheads.

The lower casemate was above the belt, 218 feet (66.4 m) long and eight feet high, and was intended to protect the bases of the turrets. It had 16-inch sides and was closed off by 16-inch transverse bulkheads fore and aft. The upper casemate protected the six-inch guns and was 5 inches (127 mm) thick on all sides. The sides of the turrets were 16 inches (406 mm) thick and the conning tower's sides were 12 inches (305 mm) in thickness. The nickel steel armor deck was 2 inches (51 mm) thick over the lower casemate, but 3 inches (76 mm) thick forward and aft of the main armor belt to the bow and stern.

Major refit in 1911–12
Tri Sviatitelia was reconstructed between November 1911 and August 1912. A number of different proposals had been considered earlier, including one to replace all of her obsolete Harvey armour with modern Krupp armour and others to replace her main guns or turrets, but these were rejected as too expensive. Her masts and fighting tops were replaced by pole masts and all of her light guns and torpedo tubes were removed with the exception of two 47-millimetre guns retained for use as saluting guns. Her 4.7-inch guns were replaced by four shielded 6-inch guns on the roof of the upper casemate. The upper casemate was modified to accommodate two extra 6-inch guns and her superstructure was reduced in size. The maximum elevation of her main guns was increased to 25° and their breeches and loading mechanisms were upgraded to increase their rate of fire to one round every 40 seconds. These modifications had the effect of reducing her displacement by almost 100 long tons (102 t) and she was capable of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) on her post-reconstruction sea trials.

Service
Tri Sviatitelia was named after the Three Holy Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church. She was built by Nikolayev Dockyard and laid down 15 August 1891, although actual construction had begun about January 1891. The ship was launched 12 November 1893 and transferred to Sevastopol for completion the following year. Officially she entered service in 1895 with the Black Sea Fleet, but her sea trials did not begin until September–October 1896. In 1899 Tri Sviatitelia became the first ship in the world to be fitted with a radio, an installation designed by the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popovthat had a range of about 3 miles (4.8 km). The ship was flagship of Rear Admiral F. F. Vishnevetskii during the failed attempt to recapture the mutinous battleship Potemkin on 30 June [O.S. 17 June] 1905.[18] Her forward fighting top was removed about 1908.

World War I
Tri Sviatitelia, accompanied by the pre-dreadnoughts Evstafi (flagship), Ioann Zlatoust, Panteleimon (the former Potemkin), Rostislav, bombarded Trebizond on the morning of 17 November 1914 and was intercepted by the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau the following day on their return voyage to Sevastopol in what came to be known as the Battle of Cape Sarych. Despite the noon hour the conditions were foggy and the capital ships initially did not spot each other. The Black Sea Fleet had experimented on concentrating fire from several ships under the control of a "master ship" before the war and Evstafi held her fire until Ioann Zlatoust, the master ship, could see Goeben. When the gunnery commands were finally received they showed a range 4,000 yards (3,700 m) in excess of Evstafi's own estimate of 8,000 yards (7,300 m), so Evstafi opened fire using her own data before the Goeben turned to unmask its broadside. However the Tri Sviatitelia used Ioann Zlatoust's inaccurate range data and failed to register any hits on the German ship.

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Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav bombarded Ottoman fortifications at the mouth of the Bosphorus on 18 March 1915, but only fired 105 rounds before sailing north to rejoin the covering force. Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav were to have repeated the bombardment the following day, but heavy fog prevented the operation. On 3 April, Goeben and several ships of the Turkish navy raided the Russian port at Odessa; the Russian battleship squadron sortied to intercept them. The battleships chased Goeben the entire day, but were unable to reach effective gunnery range and were forced to break off the chase. On 25 April Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav repeated their bombardment of the Bosporus forts. Sviatitelia, Rostislav and Panteleimon bombarded the forts again on 2 and 3 May. However, this time a total of 337 main gun rounds were fired in addition to a total of 528 six-inch shells between the three battleships.

On 9 May 1915, Tri Sviatitelia and Panteleimon returned to bombard the Bosphorus forts, covered by the remaining pre-dreadnoughts. Goeben intercepted the three ships of the covering force, although no damage was inflicted by either side. Tri Sviatitelia and Pantelimon rejoined their consorts and the latter scored two hits on Goeben before she broke off the action. The Russian ships pursued her for six hours before giving up the chase. Tri Sviatitelia was fitted with a pair of 63.5-millimetre (2.50 in) anti-aircraft guns on top of each of her turrets during 1915 and screens were added on top of her funnels to keep out light bombs. On 12 August 1915 she, and all the other pre-dreadnoughts, were transferred to the 2nd Battleship Brigade, after the dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya had entered service. During 1916 she conducted coast bombardment and anti-shipping missions off the Anatolian coast.

Tri Sviatitelia was refitting in Sevastopol during the February Revolution of 1917. Immobile, she was captured by the Germans in Sevastopol in May 1918 and handed over to the Allies in December 1918 after the Armistice. The British wrecked her engines on 24 April 1919 when they left the Crimea to prevent the advancing Bolsheviks from using her against the White Russians. The ship was captured by both sides during the Russian Civil War, but was abandoned by the White Russians when they evacuated the Crimea in November 1920. Tri Sviatitelia was scrapped in 1923, although she was not stricken from the Navy List until 21 November 1925


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Tri_Sviatitelia
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1928 – SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.


SS Vestris was a 1912 passenger steamship owned by Lamport and Holt Line and used in their New York to River Plate service. On 12 November 1928 she began listing about 200 miles off Hampton Roads, Virginia, was abandoned, and sank, killing more than 100 people. Her wreck is thought to rest some 1.2 miles (2 km) beneath the North Atlantic.

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The sinking, which attracted much press coverage at the time, remains notable for the loss of life, particularly of women and children, after the vessel was abandoned. The sinking and subsequent inquiries may also have shaped the second International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) in 1929.

History
Workman, Clark & Company of Belfast, Ireland built Vestris in 1912. She was the third of an order of three V-class sister ships from the same yard, the others being SS Vandyck and SS Vauban. They were built for the New York to River Plate service. Vestris was launched 16 May 1912 and made her maiden voyage on 19 September 1912 from Liverpool to River Plate.

Vestris was chartered as a military transport in World War I to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to France. While on this service she was narrowly missed by a torpedo in the English Channel. In 1919 Cunard Line chartered Vestris and she operated six circular services; Buenos Aires – Liverpool – New York – Buenos Aires. According to A. A. Hoehling Vestris was among the last ships in contact with USS Cyclops in 1918.

In September 1919, Vestris, carrying 550 people, suffered damage from a fire in her coal bunkers. The crew fought the fire for four days before either HMS Dartmouth or HMS Yarmouth escorted the ship to Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Several days later the fire was extinguished.

In 1922 the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company briefly chartered Vestris.

Sinking

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Vestris listing to starboard so badly that part of the upper deck was awash

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Vestris left New York bound for the River Plate on 10 November 1928 with 325 passengers and crew. A day after leaving New York, the ship ran into a severe storm and developed a starboard list. The following day, the list worsened as cargo and coal bunkers shifted and the ship took on water through numerous leaks.

On 12 November, at 9:56 a.m., an SOS was sent out giving her position as latitude 37° 35' N. and longitude 71° 81' W., which was incorrect by about 37 miles. The SOS was repeated at 11:04 a.m..

Between 11 a.m. and noon, while the ship was off Norfolk, Virginia, the order was given to man lifeboats and the ship was abandoned. Two hours later, at about 2 p.m., Vestris sank at lat. 37° 38' N, long. 70° 23' W. The rescue vessels arriving on the scene, late in the evening of 12 November and early in the morning of 13 November, were the steamships American Shipper, Myriam, and Berlin and the battleship USS Wyoming.

Death toll
While estimates of the dead vary from 110 to 127, Time and The New York Times reported that from the complement of 128 passengers and 198 crew on board, 111 people were killed:

  • 68 dead or missing from a total 128 passengers. 60 passengers survived.
  • 43 dead or missing from a total of 198 crew members. 155 crew survived.
None of the 13 children and only eight of the 33 women aboard the ship survived. The captain of Vestris, William J. Carey, went down with his ship. 22 bodies were recovered by rescue ships.

The father of future Major League Baseball pitcher Sam Nahem was among those who drowned when the ship sank.

Aftermath
Press reports after the sinking were critical of the crew and management of Vestris. In the wake of the disaster, Lamport and Holt experienced a dramatic drop in bookings for the company's other liners and their service to South America ceased at the end of 1929.

Many inquires and investigations were held into the sinking of Vestris. Criticism was made of:
  • overloading of the vessel
  • the conduct of the Master, officers and crew of the vessel
  • delays in issuing an SOS call
  • poor decisions made during deployment of the lifeboats, which led to the two of the first three lifeboats to be deployed (containing mostly women and children) sinking with Vestris and another swamping
  • legal requirements governing lifeboats and out-dated life-preservers
  • lack of radio sets in nearby vessels at the time
Lawsuits were brought after the sinking on behalf of 600 claimants totaling $5,000,000.

Vestris' sinking was covered by Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok. Her story on the event became the first to appear in The New York Times under a woman's byline.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Vestris
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1934 – Panzerschiff SMS Admiral Scheer commissioned


Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer, German commander in the Battle of Jutland. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by November 1934. Originally classified as an armored ship (Panzerschiff) by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers.

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Admiral Scheer in Gibraltar in 1936

The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 15,180 long tons (15,420 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets, Admiral Scheer and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) left only a handful of ships in the Anglo-French navies able to catch them and powerful enough to sink them.

Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including a deployment to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, where she bombarded the port of Almería. Her first operation during World War II was a commerce raiding operation into the southern Atlantic Ocean; she also made a brief foray into the Indian Ocean. During the operation, she sank 113,223 gross register tons (GRT) of shipping, making her the most successful capital ship surface raider of the war. Following her return to Germany, she was deployed to northern Norway to interdict shipping to the Soviet Union. She was part of the abortive attack on Convoy PQ 17 and conducted Operation Wunderland, a sortie into the Kara Sea. After returning to Germany at the end of 1942, the ship served as a training ship until the end of 1944, when she was used to support ground operations against the Soviet Army. She was sunk by British bombers on 9 April 1945 and partially scrapped; the remainder of the wreck lies buried beneath a quay.

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Admiral Scheer capsized in Kiel

Design
Main article: Deutschland class cruiser

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Recognition drawing of Admiral Scheer

Admiral Scheer was 186 meters (610 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.34 m (70.0 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.25 m (23.8 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 13,440 long tons (13,660 t) and a full load displacement of 15,180 long tons (15,420 t), though the ship was officially stated to be within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) limit of the Treaty of Versailles. Admiral Scheer was powered by four sets of MANnine-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines. The ship's top speed was 28.3 knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph), at 52,050 shaft horsepower (38,810 kW). At a cruising speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), the ship could steam for 9,100 nautical miles (16,900 km; 10,500 mi). As designed, her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men, though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers and 921–1,040 sailors.

Admiral Scheer's primary armament was six 28 cm (11.0 in) SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The ship carried a secondary battery of eight 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Her anti-aircraft battery originally consisted of three 8.8 cm (3.5 in) L/45 guns, though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8.8 cm L/78 guns. By 1940 the ship's anti-aircraft battery was significantly increased, consisting of six 10.5 cm (4.1 in) C/33 guns, four twin-mounted 3.7 cm (1.5 in) C/30 guns and up to twenty-eight 2 cm (0.79 in) Flak 30 guns. By 1945, the anti-aircraft battery had again been reorganized and comprised six 4 cm guns, eight 3.7 cm guns, and thirty-three 2 cm guns.

The ship also carried a pair of quadruple 53.3 cm (21.0 in) deck-mounted torpedo launchers placed on her stern. The ship was equipped with two Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult. Admiral Scheer's armored belt was 60 to 80 mm (2.4 to 3.1 in) thick; her upper deck was 17 mm (0.67 in) thick while the main armored deck was 17 to 45 mm (0.67 to 1.77 in) thick. The main battery turrets had 140 mm (5.5 in) thick faces and 80 mm thick sides.[2] Radar initially consisted of a FMG 39 G(gO) set, though in 1941 this was replaced with an FMG 40 G(gO) set and a FuMO 26 system

See her History in wikipeida.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Admiral_Scheer
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1940 - Battle of the Strait of Otranto


The Battle of the Strait of Otranto was a minor naval skirmish on 12 November 1940 during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II. It took place in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Albania.

Background
The battle occurred when an Allied squadron entered the Adriatic Sea looking for Italian naval targets. Although they did not know it at the time the squadron's real purpose was to help draw enemy attention from a major action against the main Italian fleet base at Taranto (Battle of Taranto). The Allied squadron was commanded by Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Whippel in the light cruiser HMS Orion, and included the light cruisers HMAS Sydney and HMS Ajax and the destroyers HMS Nubian and Mohawk.

On 12 November, an Italian Navy (Regia Marina) convoy of four merchant ships—Antonio Locatelli, Premuda, Capo Vado and Catalani—were on their way back from Valona, Albania to Brindisi, Italy while escorted by the World War I-era torpedo boat Fabrizi, commanded by T.V.c. Giovanni Barbini and the auxiliary cruiser Ramb III commanded by C.F. Francesco De Angelis. The ships were travelling darkened without navigational lights.

Battle
The Allied ships proceeded north during the night of 11 November, and upon reaching a notional line between Bari and Durazzo by 01:00 without incident, they turned to run southward. Twenty minutes later, the raiders encountered six darkened enemy ships, including what they thought were two destroyers and four merchantmen. The enemy vessels passed across their front and were making for the Italian mainland. HMS Mohawk opened fire at 01:27, and action became general.

In a confused night time action, HMAS Sydney attacked the leading freighter at a range of 11 km (5.9 nmi; 6.8 mi), setting it on fire. Over the next 23 minutes, the other three merchantmen were either sunk or damaged and left burning. Fabrizi was hit and heavily damaged and retired toward Valona with 11 dead and 17 wounded. Ramb III after an initial discharge of 19 salvoes from her 120 mm (4.7 in) guns broke off the action unscathed. The merchantmen were all sunk in the engagement.

The Allies suffered no damage or casualties, although a torpedo narrowly missed Sydney's stern at 01:40. The Regia Marina suffered casualties totalling 36 dead and 42 wounded.

Aftermath

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Ramb III, the only surviving participant in the battle, is on display at Rijeka as the museum ship Galeb.

The Italians retaliated by sending aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica to locate the British naval squadron; however, the CANT flying boats which eventually located the naval squadron were shot down. The Regia Marina sent motor torpedo boats located north of Valona, Cruiser Squadron 7, consisting of light cruisers Muzio Attendolo, Eugenio di Savoia, Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta, the 15th Destroyer Division from Brindisi, Cruiser Squadron 8, consisting of light cruisers Duca degli Abruzzi and Giuseppe Garibaldi, with the 7th and 8th Destroyer Divisions from Taranto sailed to intercept the British naval squadron in the Otranto Straits, but they failed to make contact.

The day after the battle, two Italian torpedo boats—Curtatone and Solferino—rescued a total of 140 sailors.

Order of battle
Regia Marina

  • Captain Francesco De Angelis
    • Torpedo boat Fabrizi (damaged)
    • Auxiliary cruiser Ramb III
    • 4 merchantmen, Antonio Locatelli (5,691 t (5,601 long tons)), Premuda (4,427 t (4,357 long tons)), Capo Vado (4,391 t (4,322 long tons)) and Catalani (2,429 t (2,391 long tons)) (all sunk)
Allies



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Strait_of_Otranto_(1940)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1940 - Battle of Taranto


The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, employing 21 obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack struck the battle fleet of the Regia Marina at anchor in the harbour of Taranto, using aerial torpedoes despite the shallowness of the water. The success of this attack augured the ascendancy of naval aviation over the big guns of battleships. According to Admiral Cunningham, "Taranto, and the night of 11–12 November 1940, should be remembered for ever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has its most devastating weapon."

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Aerial view of the inner harbour showing damaged Trento-class cruisers surrounded by floating oil

Origins
Long before the First World War, the Italian Regia Marina's First Squadron was based at Taranto, a port-city on Italy's south-east coast. In that period, the British Royal Navy developed plans for countering the power of the Regia Marina. Blunting the power of any adversary in the Mediterranean Sea was an ongoing exercise. Plans for the capture of the port at Taranto were considered as early as the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935.

In 1940–41, Italian Army operations in North Africa, based in Libya, required a supply line from Italy. The British Army's North African Campaign, based in Egypt, suffered from much greater supply difficulties. Supply convoys to Egypt had to either cross the Mediterranean via Gibraltar and Malta near the coast of Sicily, or steam around the Cape of Good Hope, up the east coast of Africa, and then through the Suez Canal to reach Alexandria. The latter was a very long and slow route, and the Italian fleet was in an excellent position to interdict British supplies and reinforcements using the direct route through the Mediterranean.

Following the concept of a fleet in being, the Italians usually kept their warships in harbour and were unwilling to seek battle with the Royal Navy on their own, also because any ship lost bigger than a destroyer could not be replaced. The Italian fleet at Taranto was powerful: six battleships (of which one was not yet battleworthy, Andrea Doria having her crew still in training after her reconstruction), seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and eight destroyers. This made the threat of a sortie against British shipping a serious problem.

During the Munich Crisis of 1938, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was concerned about the survival of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious in the face of Italian opposition in the Mediterranean. Pound ordered his staff to re-examine all plans for attacking Taranto. He was advised by Arthur LStG Lyster, the captain of Glorious, that her Fairey Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers were capable of a night attack. Indeed, the Fleet Air Arm was then the only naval aviation arm capable of it. Pound took Lyster's advice and ordered training to begin. Security was kept so tight there were no written records. Just a month before the war began, Pound advised his replacement, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, to consider the possibility. This came to be known as Operation Judgment.

The fall of France and the consequent loss of the French fleet in the Mediterranean (even before Operation Catapult) made redress essential. The older carrier, HMS Eagle, on Cunningham's strength, was ideal, possessing a very experienced air group composed entirely of the obsolescent Swordfish aircraft. Three Sea Gladiator fighters were added for the operation. Firm plans were drawn up after the Italian Army halted at Sidi Barrani, which freed up the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Operation Judgment was just a small part of the overarching Operation MB8. It was originally scheduled to take place on 21 October 1940, Trafalgar Day, but a fire in an auxiliary fuel tank of one Swordfish led to a delay. 60 imp gal (270 L) auxiliary tanks were fitted in the observers position on torpedo bombers - the observer taking the air gunner's position - to extend the operating range of the aircraft enough to reach Taranto.) This minor fire spread into something more serious that destroyed two Swordfish. Eagle then suffered a breakdown in her fuel system, so she was eliminated.

When the brand-new carrier HMS Illustrious, based at Alexandria, became available in the Mediterranean, she took on board five Swordfish from Eagle, and launched the strike alone.

The complete naval task force—commanded by Rear Admiral Lyster, who had authored the plan of attack on Taranto—consisted of Illustrious, the heavy cruisers HMS Berwick and York, the light cruisers HMS Gloucester and Glasgow, and the destroyers HMS Hyperion, Ilex, Hasty and Havelock. The 24 attack Swordfish came from 813, 815, 819, and 824 Naval Air Squadrons. The small number of attacking warplanes raised concern that Judgment would only alert and enrage the Italian Navy without achieving any significant results. Illustrious also had Fairey Fulmar fighters of 806 Naval Air Squadron aboard to provide air cover for the task force, with radar and fighter control systems.

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A Fairey Swordfish

Half of the Swordfish were armed with torpedoes as the primary strike aircraft, with the other half carrying aerial bombs and flares to carry out diversions. These torpedoes were fitted with Duplex magnetic/contact exploders, which were extremely sensitive to rough seas, as the attacks on the German battleship Bismarck later showed. There were also worries the torpedoes would bottom out in the harbour after being dropped. The loss rate for the bombers was expected to be fifty percent.

Several reconnaissance flights by Martin Marylands of the RAF's No. 431 General Reconnaissance Flight flying from Malta confirmed the location of the Italian fleet. These flights produced photos on which the intelligence officer of Illustrious spotted previously unexpected barrage balloons; the attack plan was changed accordingly. To make sure the Italian warships had not sortied, the British also sent over a Short Sunderland flying boat on the night of 11 November, just as the carrier task force was forming up off the Greek island of Cephalonia, about 170 nmi (310 km; 200 mi) from Taranto harbour. This reconnaissance flight alerted the Italian forces in southern Italy, but since they were without any radars, they could do little but wait for whatever came along. The Regia Marina could conceivably have gone to sea in search of any British naval force, but this was distinctly against the naval philosophy of the Italians between January 1940 and September 1943.

The complexity of Operation MB8, with its various forces and convoys, succeeded in deceiving the Italians into thinking only normal convoying was under way. This contributed to the success of Judgment.

The base of Taranto was defended by 101 anti-aircraft guns and 193 machine-guns, and was usually protected against low-flying aircraft by barrage balloons, of which only 27 were in place on 11 November, as strong winds on 6 November had blown away 60 balloons. Capital ships were also supposed to be protected by anti-torpedo nets, but 12,800 m (42,000 ft) of netting was required for full protection, and only one-third of that was rigged before the attack due to a scheduled gunnery exercise. Moreover, these nets did not reach the bottom of the harbour, allowing the British torpedoes to clear them by about 60 cm (24 in).

Attack

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Attack directions of the British planes

Italian_ship_BB_LIttorio_on_November_12,_1940,_after_Taranto_attack_(P00090.091).jpg
Littorio surrounded by salvage tugs

The first wave of 12 aircraft, led by Lieutenant Commander M.W. Williamson RN of 815 Squadron, left Illustrious just before 21:00 hours on 11 November 1940, followed by a second wave of nine about 90 minutes later. Of the second wave, one aircraft turned back with a problem with its auxiliary fuel tank, and one launched 20 minutes late, after requiring emergency repairs to damage following a minor taxiing accident, so only eight made it to the target.

The first wave, which consisted of six Swordfish armed with torpedoes, two with flares and four 250 lb (110 kg) bombs, and four with six bombs, was split into two sections when three of the bombers and one torpedo bomber strayed from the main force while flying through thin clouds. The smaller group continued to Taranto independently. The main group approached the harbor at Mar Grande at 22:58. Sixteen flares were dropped east of the harbour, then the flare dropper and another aircraft made a dive bombing attack to set fire to oil tanks. The next three aircraft, led by Lieutenant Commander K Williamson RN of 815 Squadron, attacked over San Pietro Island, and struck the battleship Conte di Cavour with a torpedo that blasted a 27 ft (8.2 m) hole in her side below her waterline. Williamson's plane was immediately shot down by the Italian battleship's anti-aircraft guns. The two remaining aircraft in this sub-flight continued, dodging barrage balloons and receiving heavy anti-aircraft fire from the Italian warships and shore batteries, to press home an unsuccessful attack on the battleship Andrea Doria. The next sub-flight of three attacked from a more northerly direction, attacking the battleship Littorio, hitting it with two torpedoes and launching one torpedo at the flagship, the battleship Vittorio Veneto, which missed. The bomber force, led by Captain O. Patch RM, attacked next. They found the targets difficult to identify, but attacked and hit two cruisers moored at Mar Piccolo hitting both with a single bomb each from 1,500 ft (460 m), followed by another aircraft which straddled four destroyers.

The second wave of eight aircraft - nine were lined up on deck, but number 8 and 9 collided while preparing to launch, one took off but had to abort when an auxiliary fuel tank fell off in flight; meanwhile, the other was repaired and launched late - led by Lieutenant Commander J. W. Hale of 819 Squadron, was now approaching from a northerly direction towards the Mar Grande harbour, with two of the four bombers also carrying flares, the remaining five carrying torpedoes. Flares were dropped shortly before midnight. Two aircraft aimed their torpedoes at Littorio, one of which hit. One aircraft, despite having been hit twice by anti-aircraft fire, aimed a torpedo at Vittorio Veneto but the torpedo missed. Another aircraft hit the battleship Caio Duilio with a torpedo, blowing a large hole in her hull and flooding both of her forward magazines. The aircraft flown by Lieutenant G. W. L. A. Bayly RN was shot down by antiaircraft fire from the heavy cruiser Gorizia following the successful attack on Littorio, the only aircraft lost from the second wave. The final aircraft to arrive on the scene 15 minutes behind the others made an unsuccessful dive bombing attack on one of the Italian cruisers despite heavy anti-aircraft fire, then safely returned to Illustrious, landing at 02:39.

Of the two aircraft shot down, the two crew members of the first were taken prisoner. The other two were killed.

The Italian battleships suffered significant damage:

  • Conte di Cavour had a 12 m × 8 m (39 ft × 26 ft) hole in the hull, and permission to ground her was withheld until it was too late, so her keel touched the bottom at a deeper depth than intended. 27 of the ship's crew were killed and over 100 more wounded. In the end, only her superstructure and main armament remained above water. She was subsequently raised, partially repaired and transferred to Trieste for further repairs and upgrades, but the mutated strategic situation put these works in low priority. She was still undergoing repairs when Italy surrendered, so she never returned to full service;
  • Caio Duilio had only a slightly smaller hole (11 m × 7 m (36 ft × 23 ft)) and was saved by running her aground;
  • Littorio had considerable flooding caused by three torpedo hits. Despite underwater protection (the 'Pugliese' system, standard in all Italian battleships), the damage was extensive, although actual damage to the ship's structures was relatively limited (the machinery was intact). Casualties were 32 crewmen killed and many wounded. She was holed in three places, once on the port side (7 m × 1.5 m (23 ft 0 in × 4 ft 11 in)), and twice on the starboard side (15 m × 10 m (49 ft × 33 ft) and 12 m × 9 m (39 ft × 30 ft)). She too was saved by running her aground. Despite this, in the morning, the ship's bows were totally submerged.
Italian defences fired 13,489 shells from the land batteries, while several thousand were fired from the ships. The anti-aircraft barrage was formidable, having 101 guns and 193 machine-guns. There were also 87 balloons, but strong winds caused the loss of 60 of them. Only 4.2 km (2.3 nmi; 2.6 mi) of anti-torpedo nets were actually fielded around the ships, up to 10 m (33 ft) in depth, while the need was for 12.8 km (6.9 nmi; 8.0 mi). There were also 13 aerophonic stations and 22 searchlights (the ships had two searchlights each). Denis Boyd, Commanding Officer HMS Illustrious, stated in his after-action report, "It is notable that the enemy did not use the searchlights at all during either of the attacks."

Littorio was repaired with all available resources and was fully operational again within four months, while restoration of the older battleships proceeded at a much slower pace (repairs took seven months for Caio Duilio, and the repairs for Conte di Cavour were never completed). In all, the Swordfish attack was made with just 20 aircraft. Two Italian aircraft were destroyed on the ground by the bombing, and two unexploded bombs hit the cruiser Trento and the destroyer Libeccio. Near misses damaged the destroyer Pessagno.

Meanwhile, X-Force cruisers attacked an Italian convoy (Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940)). This force had three cruisers (HMS Ajax, Orion and HMAS Sydney) and two Tribal-class destroyers (HMS Nubian and Mohawk). Just past midnight, they met and destroyed four Italian merchantmen (Capo Vado, Catalani, Locatelli and Premuda), damaging the torpedo-boat Fabrizi, while the auxiliary cruiser Ramb III fled.

Cunningham and Lyster wanted to strike Taranto again the next night with Swordfish (six torpedo-bombers, seven bombers, and two flare-dispensers) – one wag in the pilots' room remarked, "They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once!" – but bad weather prevented the action.

Aftermath
The Italian fleet lost half of its capital ships in one night; the next day, the Regia Marina transferred its undamaged ships from Taranto to Naples to protect them from similar attacks, until the defenses at Taranto (mainly the anti-torpedo nets) were brought up to adequate levels to protect them from further attacks of the same kind (which happened between March and May 1941). Repairs to Littorio took about four months, to Caio Duilio seven months; Conte di Cavour required extensive salvage work and her repairs were incomplete when Italy changed sides in 1943. Cunningham wrote after the attack: "The Taranto show has freed up our hands considerably & I hope now to shake these damned Itiys up a bit. I don't think their remaining three battleships will face us and if they do I'm quite prepared to take them on with only two." Indeed, the balance of power had swung to the British Mediterranean Fleet which now enjoyed more operational freedom: when previously forced to operate as one unit to match Italian capital ships, they could now split into two battlegroups; each built around one aircraft carrier and two battleships.

  • Taranto_1940_(4).jpg
    Aerial photo of Italian warships moored in Mar Grande harbour at Taranto. Note the 'Y' jetty.

  • Taranto_1940_(3).JPG
    Aftermath of the battle showing an Italian battleship down by the bows and beached (far right)
Nevertheless, Cunningham's estimate that Italians would be unwilling to risk their remaining heavy units was quickly proven wrong. Only five days after Taranto, Campioni sortied with two battleships, six cruisers and 14 destroyers to successfully disrupt a mission to deliver aircraft to Malta. The follow-up to this operation led to the Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November 1940. Two of the three damaged battleships were repaired by mid-1941 and control of the Mediterranean continued to swing back and forth until the Italian armistice in 1943.

The attack on Taranto was avenged a year later by the Italian navy in its Raid on Alexandria, when the Mediterranean fleet of the Royal Navy was attacked using midget submarines, severely damaging HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant.

However, measured against its primary task of disrupting Axis convoys to Africa, the Taranto attack had very little effect. In fact, Italian shipping to Libya increased between the months of October 1940 – January 1941 to an average of 49,435 tons per month, up from the 37,204-ton average of the previous four months. Moreover, rather than change the balance of power in the central Mediterranean, British naval authorities had "failed to deliver the true knockout blow that would have changed the context within which the rest of the war in the Mediterranean was fought."

Aerial torpedo experts in all modern navies had previously thought that torpedo attacks against ships must be in water at least 75 ft (23 m) deep. Taranto harbour had a depth of only about 39 ft (12 m); but the Royal Navy had developed a new method of preventing torpedoes from diving too deep. A drum was attached beneath the nose of the aircraft, from which a roll of wire led to the nose of the torpedo. As it dropped, the tension from the wire pulled up the nose of the torpedo, producing a belly-flop rather than a nose dive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taranto
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 - 15 November 1942 – World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces near Guadalcanal - Day 1


The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, the Battle of Friday the 13th, or, in Japanese sources, the Third Battle of the Solomon Sea (第三次ソロモン海戦 Dai-san-ji Soromon Kaisen), took place from 12–15 November 1942, and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied (primarily American) and Imperial Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands during World War II. The action consisted of combined air and sea engagements over four days, most near Guadalcanal and all related to a Japanese effort to reinforce land forces on the island. The only two U.S. Navy admirals to be killed in a surface engagement in the war were lost in this battle.

Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal.jpg
Smoke rises from two Japanese aircraft shot down off Guadalcanal on 12 November 1942. Photographed from USS President Adams; ship at right is USS Betelgeuse.

Allied forces landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 and seized an airfield, later called Henderson Field, that was under construction by the Japanese military. There were several subsequent attempts to recapture the airfield by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy using reinforcements delivered to Guadalcanal by ship, efforts which ultimately failed. In early November 1942, the Japanese organized a transport convoy to take 7,000 infantry troops and their equipment to Guadalcanal to attempt once again to retake the airfield. Several Japanese warship forces were assigned to bombard Henderson Field with the goal of destroying Allied aircraft that posed a threat to the convoy. Learning of the Japanese reinforcement effort, U.S. forces launched aircraft and warship attacks to defend Henderson Field and prevent the Japanese ground troops from reaching Guadalcanal.

In the resulting battle, both sides lost numerous warships in two extremely destructive surface engagements at night. Nevertheless, the U.S. succeeded in turning back attempts by the Japanese to bombard Henderson Field with battleships. Allied aircraft also sank most of the Japanese troop transports and prevented the majority of the Japanese troops and equipment from reaching Guadalcanal. Thus, the battle turned back Japan's last major attempt to dislodge Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi, resulting in a strategic victory for the U.S. and its allies and deciding the ultimate outcome of the Guadalcanal campaign in their favor.

Background
The six-month Guadalcanal campaign began on 7 August 1942, when Allied (primarily U.S.) forces landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and the Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands, a pre-war colonial possession of Great Britain. The landings were meant to prevent the Japanese using the islands as bases from which to threaten the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and to secure them as starting points for a campaign to neutralize the major Imperial Japanese military base at Rabaul and support of the Allied New Guinea campaign. The Japanese had occupied Tulagi in May 1942 and began constructing an airfield on Guadalcanal in June 1942.

By nightfall on 8 August, the 11,000 Allied troops secured Tulagi, the nearby small islands, and a Japanese airfield under construction at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal (later renamed Henderson Field). Allied aircraft operating out of Henderson were called the "Cactus Air Force" (CAF) after the Allied code name for Guadalcanal. To protect the airfield, the U.S. Marines established a perimeter defense around Lunga Point. Additional reinforcements over the next two months increased the number of U.S. troops at Lunga Point to more than 20,000 men.

In response, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army's 17th Army, a corps-sized command based at Rabaul and under the command of Lieutenant-General Harukichi Hyakutake, with the task of retaking Guadalcanal. Units of the 17th Army began to arrive on Guadalcanal on 19 August, to drive Allied forces from the island.

Because of the threat posed by CAF aircraft based at Henderson Field, the Japanese were unable to use large, slow transport ships to deliver troops and supplies to the island. Instead, they used warships based at Rabaul and the Shortland Islands. The Japanese warships—mainly light cruisers or destroyers from the Eighth Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa—were usually able to make the round trip down "The Slot" to Guadalcanal and back in a single night, thereby minimizing their exposure to air attack. Delivering the troops in this manner, however, prevented most of the soldiers' heavy equipment and supplies—such as heavy artillery, vehicles, and much food and ammunition—from being carried to Guadalcanal with them. These high-speed warship runs to Guadalcanal occurred throughout the campaign and came to be known as the "Tokyo Express" by Allied forces and "Rat Transportation" by the Japanese.

Aerial_view_of_Henderson_Field,_Guadalcanal,_in_late_August_1942.jpg
Aerial view of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, late August 1942. The view looks northwest with the Lunga River and Lunga Point at the top of the image.

The first Japanese attempt to recapture Henderson Field failed when a 917-man force was defeated on 21 August in the Battle of the Tenaru. The next attempt took place from 12 to 14 September, ending in the defeat of the 6,000 men under the command of Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi at the Battle of Edson's Ridge.

In October, the Japanese again tried to recapture Henderson Field by delivering 15,000 more men—mainly from the Army's 2nd Infantry Division — to Guadalcanal. In addition to delivering the troops and their equipment by Tokyo Express runs, the Japanese also successfully pushed through one large convoy of slower transport ships. Enabling the approach of the transport convoy was a nighttime bombardment of Henderson Field by two battleships on 14 October that heavily damaged the airfield's runways, destroyed half of the CAF's aircraft, and burned most of the available aviation fuel. In spite of the damage, Henderson personnel were able to restore the two runways to service and replacement aircraft and fuel were delivered, gradually restoring the CAF to its prebombardment level over the next few weeks.

The next Imperial attempt to retake the island with the newly arrived troops occurred from 20 to 26 October and was defeated with heavy losses in the Battle for Henderson Field. At the same time, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet) defeated U.S. naval forces in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, driving them away from the area. The Japanese carriers, however, were also forced to retreat because of losses to carrier aircraft and aircrewmen. Thereafter, Yamamoto's ships returned to their main bases at Truk in Micronesia, where he had his headquarters, and Rabaul while three carriers returned to Japan for repairs and refitting.

Map_of_Solomons_area_in_1942.png
The Solomon Islands. "The Slot" (New Georgia Sound) runs down the center of the islands, from Bougainville and the Shortlands (center) to Guadalcanal (lower right).

The Japanese Army planned another attack on Guadalcanal in November 1942, but further reinforcements were needed before the operation could proceed. The Army requested assistance from Yamamoto to deliver the needed reinforcements to the island and to support their planned offensive on the Allied forces guarding Henderson Field. To support the reinforcement effort, Yamamoto provided 11 large transport ships to carry 7,000 army troops from the 38th Infantry Division, their ammunition, food, and heavy equipment from Rabaul to Guadalcanal. He also sent a warship support force from Truk on 9 November which included the battleships Hiei and Kirishima. Equipped with special fragmentation shells, they were to bombard Henderson Field on the night of 12–13 November and destroy it and the aircraft stationed there in order to allow the slow, heavy transports to reach Guadalcanal and unload safely the next day. The warship force was commanded from Hiei by recently promoted Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe. Because of the constant threat by Japanese aircraft and warships, it was difficult for Allied forces to resupply their forces on Guadalcanal, which were often under attack from Imperial land and sea forces in the area. In early November 1942, Allied intelligence learned that the Japanese were preparing again to try to retake Henderson Field in another attempt. Therefore, the U.S. sent Task Force 67 (TF 67)—a large reinforcement and re-supply convoy, split into two groups and commanded by Rear AdmiralRichmond K. Turner—to Guadalcanal on 11 November. The supply ships were protected by two task groups—commanded by Rear Admirals Daniel J. Callaghan and Norman Scott—and aircraft from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The transport ships were attacked several times on 11 and 12 November near Guadalcanal by Japanese aircraft based at Buin, Bougainville, in the Solomons, but most were unloaded without serious damage. Twelve Japanese aircraft were shot down by antiaircraft fire from the U.S. ships or by fighter aircraft flying from Henderson Field.

to be continued ....... tomorrow


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 November 1944 – World War II: Operation Catechism - The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers, which sink the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.


Operation Catechism was the last of nine attempts to sink or sabotage the Kriegsmarine battleship Tirpitz during the Second World War. The ship was finally sunk in this attempt.

Tirpitz_(AWM_SUK14095).jpg
German battleship Tirpitz capsized after Operation Catechism

Action
On 12 November 1944, RAF Bomber Command dispatched thirty Avro Lancaster heavy bombers from No. 9 Squadron RAF and No. 617 Squadron RAF (including a film unit aircraft from No. 463 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force) from RAF Lossiemouth to Tirpitz's mooring in Tromsø, Norway. Each bomber carried a single 12,000 pound (5,400 kg) Tallboy bomb. No. 9 Squadron was led by S/L A.G. Williams DFC and No. 617 Squadron led by Wing Commander J.B. "Willie" Tait DSO DFC. In spite of calls for air cover to the German fighter base at Bardufoss Air Station, the Germans did not send the requested support in time. (The base commander Heinrich Ehrler was later sentenced to 3 years in prison because of the failure to provide prompt fighter support.)

Two Tallboy bombs hit Tirpitz, which suffered a violent internal explosion in its ammunition stores magazine. Within ten minutes the ship rolled over to port and capsized. It remained bottom upwards. Approximately 1,000 of the 1,900 men on board were killed.

Flight_Lieutenant_John_Howland_Leavitt.jpg
RAF Flight Lieutenant John Leavitt (center) and crew prior to taking off on Operation Catechism

None of the attacking aircraft were seriously damaged and were able to continue flying. The Lancasters continued to Russia for refueling.

Aftermath
The destruction of Tirpitz meant that the threat from German surface ship attack against the Allied Arctic convoys supplying the Soviet Union was considerably lessened. According to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada, "Hitler lost the last influential ship of his surface battle fleet and this marked the end of Germany's naval war in northern waters" when the Tirpitz was destroyed.


Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.

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Tirpitz in the Ofotfjord/Bogenfjord

After completing sea trials in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centrepiece of the Baltic Fleet, which was intended to prevent a possible break-out attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early 1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union, and two such missions were attempted in 1942. This was the only feasible role for her, since the St Nazaire Raidhad made operations against the Atlantic convoy lanes too risky. Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.

In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen, the only time the ship used her main battery in an offensive role. Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs scored two direct hits and a near miss which caused the ship to capsize rapidly. A deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the attack range from 950 to 1,204. Between 1948 and 1957 the wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation.

Construction and characteristics
Main article: Bismarck-class battleship
Tirpitz was ordered as Ersatz Schleswig-Holstein as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein, under the contract name "G". The Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 20 October 1936. The hull was launched on 1 April 1939; during the elaborate ceremonies, the ship was christened by Ilse von Hassell, the daughter of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the ship's namesake. Adolf von Trotha, a former admiral in the Imperial German Navy, spoke at the ship's launching, which was also attended by Adolf Hitler. Fitting-out work followed her launch, and was completed by February 1941. British bombers repeatedly attacked the harbour in which the ship was being built; no bombs struck Tirpitz, but the attacks did slow construction work. Tirpitz was commissioned into the fleet on 25 February for sea trials,[2] which were conducted in the Baltic.

Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-63-40,_Schlachtschiff__Tirpitz_,_Stapellauf.jpg
Tirpitz sliding down the slipway at her launch

Tirpitz displaced 42,900 t (42,200 long tons) as built and 52,600 tonnes (51,800 long tons) fully loaded, with a length of 251 m (823 ft 6 in), a beam of 36 m (118 ft 1 in) and a maximum draft of 10.60 m (34 ft 9 in).[c] She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines and twelve oil-fired Wagner superheated boilers, which developed a total of 163,023 PS (160,793 shp; 119,903 kW) and yielded a maximum speed of 30.8 knots (57.0 km/h; 35.4 mph) on speed trials. Her standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1,962 enlisted men; during the war this was increased to 108 officers and 2,500 men. As built, Tirpitz was equipped with Model 23 search radars mounted on the forward, foretop, and rear rangefinders. These were later replaced with Model 27 and then Model 26 radars, which had a larger antenna array. A Model 30 radar, known as the Hohentwiel, was mounted in 1944 in her topmast, and a Model 213 Würzburg fire-control radar was added on her stern 10.5 cm (4.1 in) Flak rangefinders.

She was armed with eight 38 cm SK C/34 L/52 guns arranged in four twin gun turrets: two superfiring turrets forward—Anton and Bruno—and two aft—Caesar and Dora. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm L/55 guns, sixteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen 3.7 cm (1.5 in) L/83, and initially twelve 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 antiaircraft guns. The number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to 58. After 1942, eight 53.3 cm (21.0 in) above-water torpedo tubes were installed in two quadruple mounts, one mount on each side of the ship. The ship's main belt was 320 mm (13 in) thick and was covered by a pair of upper and main armoured decks that were 50 mm (2.0 in) and 100 to 120 mm (3.9 to 4.7 in) thick, respectively. The 38 cm turrets were protected by 360 mm (14 in) thick faces and 220 mm (8.7 in) thick sides.

German_battleship_Tirpitz_partly_covered_by_a_smokescreen_at_Kaafjord_A22634.jpg
Tirpitz moored in Kaafjord; the smoke is an artificial fog generated to hide the ship

Operation Catechism
Main article: Operation Catechism

Universal Newsreel about the attack on Tirpitz

Operation Catechism, the final British attack on Tirpitz, took place on 12 November 1944. The ship again used her 38 cm guns against the bombers, which approached the battleship at 09:35; Tirpitz's main guns forced the bombers to disperse temporarily, but could not break up the attack. A force of 32 Lancasters from Nos. 9 and 617 Squadrons dropped 29 Tallboys on the ship, with two direct hits and one near miss. Several other bombs landed within the anti-torpedo net barrier and caused significant cratering of the seabed; this removed much of the sandbank that had been constructed to prevent the ship from capsizing. One bomb penetrated the ship's deck between turrets Anton and Bruno but failed to explode. A second hit amidships between the aircraft catapult and the funnel and caused severe damage. A very large hole was blown into the ship's side and bottom; the entire section of belt armour abreast of the bomb hit was completely destroyed. A third bomb may have struck the ship on the port side of turret Caesar. The amidships hit caused significant flooding and quickly increased the port list to between 15 and 20 degrees. In ten minutes, the list increased to 30 to 40 degrees; the captain issued the order to abandon ship. Progressive flooding increased the list to 60 degrees by 09:50, though this appeared to stabilise temporarily. Eight minutes later, a large explosion rocked turret Caesar. The turret roof and part of the rotating structure were thrown 25 m (82 ft) into the air and over into a group of men swimming to shore, crushing them. Tirpitz rapidly rolled over and buried her superstructure in the sea floor.

Tromsö,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_CL2830.jpg
Tirpitz capsized

In the aftermath of the attack, 82 men trapped in the upturned hull were rescued by cutting through the bottom hull plates. Figures for the death toll vary from approximately 950 to 1,204. Approximately 200 survivors of the sinking were transferred to the heavy cruiser Lützow in January 1945.

The performance of the Luftwaffe in the defence of Tirpitz was heavily criticised after her loss. Major Heinrich Ehrler, the commander of III./Jagdgeschwader 5 (3rd Group of the 5th Fighter Wing), was blamed for the Luftwaffe's failure to intercept the British bombers. He was court-martialled in Oslo and threatened with the death penalty. Evidence was presented that his unit had failed to help the Kriegsmarine when requested. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released after a month, demoted, and reassigned to an Me 262 fighter squadron in Germany. Ehrler was exonerated by further investigations which concluded poor communication between the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe had caused the fiasco; the aircrews had not been informed that Tirpitz had been moved off Håkøya two weeks before the attack.

The wreck of Tirpitz remained in place until after the war, when a joint German-Norwegian company began salvage operations. Work lasted from 1948 until 1957; fragments of the ship are still sold by a Norwegian company. Ludovic Kennedy wrote in his history of the vessel that she "lived an invalid's life and died a cripple's death".



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Tirpitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Catechism
 
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