Naval/Maritime History 22nd of March - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 September 1909 – Launch of HMS Neptune was a dreadnought battleship


HMS Neptune was a dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century, the sole ship of her class. She was the first British battleship to be built with superfiring guns. Shortly after her completion in 1911, she carried out trials of an experimental fire-control director and then became the flagship of the Home Fleet. Neptune became a private ship in early 1914 and was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron.

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The ship became part of the Grand Fleet when it was formed shortly after the beginning of the First World War in August 1914. Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August several months later, her service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. Neptune was deemed obsolete after the war and was reduced to reserve before being sold for scrap in 1922 and subsequently broken up.

Background and description

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Right elevation and plan from Brassey's Naval Annual 1915

The launch of Dreadnought in 1906 precipitated a naval arms race when Germany accelerated its naval construction plans in response. Despite this sudden expansion of another nation's fleet, the British Admiralty felt secure in the knowledge that Germany would only have four modern capital ships in commission by 1910, while the Royal Navy would have eleven. Accordingly they only proposed the construction of a single battleship and a battlecruiser in the 1908–1909 naval budget that they sent to the government in December. The Liberals, committed to reducing military expenditures and increasing social welfare spending, wished to cut the budget by £1,340,000 below the previous year's budget, but were ultimately persuaded not to do so after the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, was thoroughly briefed on each part of the budget in February 1908. The debates over the budget in March were heated; critics were dissatisfied with the number of ships being built, arguing that the Government was too complacent about the superiority of the Royal Navy over the Imperial German Navy, but they were satisfied when H. H. Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, filling in for the fatally-ill Prime Minister, announced that the government was prepared to build as many dreadnoughts as required to negate any possible German superiority as of the end of 1911.

Neptune was an improved version of the preceding St Vincent class with additional armour and the armament rearranged for greater efficiency. She was the first British dreadnought that differed in her gun turret layout from Dreadnought. Unlike the earlier ships, her wing turrets were staggered "en echelon" so that all five turrets could shoot on the broadside, although in practise the blast damage to the superstructure and boats made this impractical except in an emergency. This was done to match the 10-gun broadside of the latest foreign designs like the American Delaware class, although the all-centreline turret configuration of the American ships eliminated the blast problems that compromised the effectiveness of the "en echelon" arrangement. Neptunewas also the first British dreadnought to be equipped with superfiring turrets, in an effort to shorten the ship and reduce costs. A further saving in length was achieved by siting the ship's boats on girders over the two wing turrets to reduce the length of the vessel. The drawback to this arrangement was that if the girders were damaged during combat, they could fall onto the turrets, immobilising them. The bridge was also situated above the conning tower, which similarly risked being obscured if the bridge collapsed.

Neptune had an overall length of 546 feet (166.4 m), a beam of 85 feet (25.9 m), and a deep draught of 28 feet 6 inches (8.7 m).[4] She displaced 19,680 long tons (20,000 t) at normal load and 23,123 long tons (23,494 t) at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of 6.5 feet (2.0 m) at deep load. Her crew numbered about 756 officers and ratings upon completion and 813 in 1914.

The ship was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each of which was housed in a separate engine room. The outer propeller shafts were coupled to the high-pressure turbines and these exhausted into low-pressure turbines which drove the inner shafts. The turbines used steam from eighteen Yarrow boilers at a working pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2). They were rated at 25,000 shaft horsepower (19,000 kW) and gave Neptune a maximum speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). She carried a maximum of 2,710 long tons (2,753 t) of coal and an additional 790 long tons (803 t) of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. This gave her a range of 6,330 nautical miles (11,720 km; 7,280 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Armament

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Arrangement of Neptune's main-gun turrets, bow to the right

Neptune was equipped with ten 50-calibre breech-loading (BL) 12-inch (305 mm) Mark XI guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, three along the centreline and the remaining two as wing turrets. The centreline turrets were designated 'A', 'X' and 'Y', from front to rear, and the port and starboard wing turrets were 'P' and 'Q' respectively. The guns had a maximum elevation of +20° which gave them a range of 21,200 yards (19,385 m). They fired 850-pound (386 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,825 ft/s (861 m/s) at a rate of two rounds per minute. The ship carried 100 shells per gun.

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The ship's aft 12-inch gun turrets

Neptune was the first British dreadnought with her secondary armament of sixteen 50-calibre BL four-inch (102 mm) Mark VII guns installed in unshielded single mounts in the superstructure. This change was made to address the problems that plagued the turret-roof locations used in earlier battleships. Notably, the exposed guns were difficult to work when the main armament was in action as was replenishing their ammunition. Furthermore, the guns could not be centrally controlled to coordinate fire at the most dangerous targets. The guns had a maximum elevation of +15° which gave them a range of 11,400 yd (10,424 m). They fired 31-pound (14.1 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,821 ft/s (860 m/s). They were provided with 150 rounds per gun. Four quick-firing three-pounder (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss saluting guns were also carried. The ships were equipped with three 18-inch (450 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 18 torpedoes were provided.

Fire control

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Neptune, 1911. The gunnery director is the round object halfway up the foremast. Torpedo nets and their supporting booms are visible on the side of the hull.
The control positions for the main armament were located in the spotting tops at the head of the fore and mainmasts. Data from a nine-foot (2.7 m) Barr and Stroud coincidence rangefinder located at each control position was input into a Dumaresq mechanical computer and electrically transmitted to Vickers range clocks located in the transmitting station located beneath each position on the main deck, where it was converted into elevation and deflection data for use by the guns. The target's data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target. The turrets, transmitting stations, and control positions could be connected in almost any combination.

Neptune was the first British dreadnought to be built with a gunnery director, albeit an experimental prototype designed by Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Scott. This was mounted on the foremast, underneath the spotting top and electrically provided data to the turrets via pointer on a dial, which the turret crewmen only had to follow. The director layer fired the guns simultaneously which aided in spotting the shell splashes and minimised the effects of the roll on the dispersion of the shells. The ship's director was later replaced as a new one was ordered in 1913 and installed by May 1916.

Additional nine-foot rangefinders, protected by armoured hoods, were added for each gun turret in late 1914. Furthermore, the ship was fitted with Mark I Dreyer Fire-control Tables by early 1916 in each transmission station that combined the functions of the Dumaresq and the range clock.

Armour
Neptune had a waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour that was 10 inches (254 mm) thick between the fore and aftmost barbettes that reduced to 2.5 inches (64 mm) before it reached the ships' ends. It covered the side of the hull from the middle deck down to 4 feet 4 inches (1.3 m) below the waterline where it thinned to 8 inches (203 mm) amidships. Above this was a strake of 8-inch armour. The forward oblique 5-inch (127 mm) bulkheads connected the amidships portion of waterline and upper armour belts once they reached the outer portions of the forward barbette. Similarly the aft bulkhead connected the armour belts to the rearmost barbette, although it was 8 inches thick. The three centreline barbettes were protected by armour 9 inches (229 mm) thick above the main deck and thinned to 5 inches (127 mm) below it. The wing barbettes were similar except that they had 10 inches of armour on their outer faces. The gun turrets had 11-inch (279 mm) faces and sides with 3-inch roofs.

The three armoured decks ranged in thickness from 1.25 to 3 inches (32 to 76 mm) with the greater thicknesses outside the central armoured citadel. The front and sides of the conning tower were protected by 11-inch plates, although the rear and roof were 8 inches and 3 inches thick respectively. The torpedo control tower aft had 3-inch sides and a 2-inch roof. Neptune had two longitudinal anti-torpedo bulkheads that ranged in thickness from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76 mm) and extended from the forward end of 'A' barbette to the end of 'Y' magazine. She was the first British dreadnought to protect her boiler uptakes with 1-inch armour plates.[18] The compartments between the boiler rooms were used as coal bunkers.

Modifications
Gun shields were fitted to the forward four-inch guns after September 1913 and the upper forward four-inch guns were enclosed. In 1914–1915, the upper amidships four-inch guns were enclosed, the forward boat girder was removed and a three-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) gun was added on the quarterdeck. Approximately 50 long tons (51 t) of deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. By early 1917, four guns had been removed from the aft superstructure and a single four-inch AA gun had been added, for a total of a dozen four-inch guns. The stern torpedo tube was removed in 1917–1918 as was the aft spotting top. A high-angle rangefinder was fitted on the remaining spotting top and a flying-off platform was installed on the 'A' turret in 1918.

Construction

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Neptune being launched, 30 September 1909

Neptune, named after the Roman god of the sea, was ordered on 14 December 1908. She was laid down at HM Dockyard, Portsmouth on 19 January 1909, launched on 30 September and completed in January 1911 at the cost of £1,668,916, including her armament. The ship was commissioned on 19 January 1911 for trials with Scott's experimental gunnery director that lasted until 11 March and were witnessed by Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Atlantic Fleet. Neptune relieved Dreadnought as the flagship of the Home Fleet and of the 1st Division on 25 March and then participated in the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 24 June. On 1 May 1912, the 1st Division was renamed the 1st Battle Squadron (BS); Neptune was relieved as the squadron's flagship on 22 June. The ship participated in the Parliamentary Naval Review on 9 July at Spithead. Neptune became a private ship on 10 March 1914 when she was replaced by Iron Duke as the flagship of the Home Fleet and rejoined the 1st BS



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Neptune_(1909)
 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 September 1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel.


USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958.

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Groton, Conn., May 8, 2002 — Nautilus (SSN 571), the world's first nuclear powered submarine, leaves the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton en route Naval Submarine Base New London. Nautilus underwent a five-month preservation at a cost of approximately $4.7 million. On Jan. 17, 1955, USS Nautilus put to sea for the first time and signaled her historic message "Underway on nuclear power." She steamed submerged 1,300 miles from New London to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in just 84 hours. The success of Nautilus ensured the future of nuclear power in the Navy. Now a museum, Nautilus is expected to re-open to the public at Groton's Submarine Force Library and Museum by Armed Forces Day. The historic ship attracts some 250,000 visitors annually. U.S. Navy photo by Nicole Hawley.

Sharing names with Captain Nemo's fictional submarine in Jules Verne's classic 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, the new atomic powered Nautilus was authorized in 1951, with laying down for construction in 1952 and launched in January 1954, attended by Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States, wife of 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and commissioned the following September into the United States Navy. Final construction was completed in 1955.

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USS Nautilus during her initial sea trials, 20 January 1955

Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than the then current diesel-electric submarines previously, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives around 250,000 visitors per year.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_(SSN-571)
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 September 1975 – Launch of Russian aircraft carrier Minsk


Minsk is an aircraft carrier that served the Soviet Navy, and later the Russian Navy, from 1978 to 1994. She was the second Kiev-class vessel to be built.
From 2000 to 2016 it has been a theme park known as Minsk World in Shatoujiao, Yantian, Shenzhen, China.
In April 2016, Minsk aircraft carrier was towed to Jiangsu for exhibition

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An aerial port beam view of the Soviet Kiev class aircraft carrier Minsk underway.

History
Russian service

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Minsk being shadowed by the US destroyer USS Elliot during her 1979 Pacific cruise

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Ka-25 Hormone helicopters and Yakovlev Yak-38 VTOL strike fighters parked on the flight deck of carrier MINSK (CVHG) 1 August 1986
Named after the capital city of Belarus, Minsk was laid down in 1972, launched on 30 September 1975, completed on 27 September 1978, and decommissioned on 30 June 1993.

Minsk operated with the Pacific Fleet. Shortly after the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979, Minsk was deployed to the South China Sea, making a port of call at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, in September 1980. She visited Vietnam again in 1982 during her second deployment before sailing onto the Indian Ocean. In 1984, Minsk, the Ivan Rogov-class landing ship Aleksandr Nikolayev, and Vietnam forces conducted the Soviet Navy's first amphibious landing in Vietnam.

The carrier was retired as a result of a major accident (details not known) which required the facilities at the Chernomorskiy yard, in Mykolayiv, located in the newly independent Ukraine (the reasons for not attempting a repair are not known).

Shenzhen Minsk World, China

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Minsk at Minsk World, Shenzhen, China

In 1995 Minsk was sold for scrap to a South Korean company. Due to protests from South Korean environmentalists, the ship was resold to the Chinese state-owned Guangdong Ship Dismantling Company. The ship was again saved from the scrapyard when a group of Chinese video-game arcade owners formed the Shenzhen Minsk Investment Company to buy the ship for $4.3 million.

Minsk became the centerpiece of a military theme park in Yantian district, Shatoujiao (沙头角) sub-district, Shenzhen called Minsk World. However, the Shenzhen Minsk company went bankrupt in 2006, and the carrier was put up for auction on 22 March 2006. On 31 May 2006, the carrier was sold in Shenzhen for 128 million RMB to CITIC Shenzhen.

The ship was again sold to Dalian Yongjia Group, a real estate company in Dalian in North China, on 1 Jannary 2013. On 3 April 2016, Chinese news reported the aircraft carrier had been towed to a new destination, Zhoushan for refit,[7] because of the decline of the number of tourists after 2006. After the refit is completed, the ship would be taken to Nantong on the Yangtse River in Jiangsu Province and moored to the west of Sutong Yangtze River Bridge as part of a new theme park that will be opened in 2017.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_aircraft_carrier_Minsk
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 30 September


1767 – Launch of Spanish San Luis 80-gun San Carlos-class ship of the line - Stricken 4 August 1789 and BU

San Carlos class. Built (all at Havana) as 80-gun (Third Rate) ships, with a length of 197 Burgos feet (180 British feet), these ships were later reconstructed as 94-gun Second Rates, and in the case of the San Carlos, as a First Rate (three-decker) of 112 guns.

San Carlos 80 (launched 30 April 1765) - Converted to 112-gun 3-decker in 1801, BU 1819
San Fernando 80 (launched 29 July 1765) - Stricken 8 October 1813 and sold 1815
San Luis 80 (launched 30 September 1767) - Stricken 4 August 1789 and BU


1800 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and American envoys sign the Treaty of Mortefontaine that releases the United States from its Revolutionary War alliance with France and ends the Quasi-War.

The Convention of 1800 or the Treaty of Mortefontaine between the United States of America and France ended the 1798–1800 Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war waged primarily in the Caribbean, and terminated the 1778 Treaty of Alliance.

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The Signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine, 30th September 1800 by Victor-Jean Adam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_1800


1813 – Launch of French Rancune, a 40 gun Pallas-class frigate

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

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Clorinde (sistership)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate_(1808)


1814 - HMS Crane Sloop (1809 - 18), Robert Standly, foundered in the West Indies with the loss of all hands.

HMS Crane was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop launched in 1809. She had a completely and unusually uneventful five-year career before she foundered in 1814.
She was commissioned in September 1809 under Cmdr. James Stuart for the Irish station. Stuart captured two American vessels, the Asia of Boston and the Washington of Marblehead, on their way home from Archangel. He brought the crews into Horta, in the Azores, and released them to John B. Dabney, the American consul, who repatriated them. It is not at all clear why Stuart had detained the Americans.
In August 1811 Commander William Haydon took temporary command and sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 29 September 1812. Her next captain was Commander Thomas Forrest. In December 1813 Commander Robert Standly became her captain.
On 4 April 1814 Crane chased the American privateer Chasseur, of 14 guns and 135 men, off St Kitts, but was unable to capture her.
Crane was lost, presumed foundered with all hands, in September 1814 while en route from Bermuda to Canada

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Crane_(1809)


1822 - HMS Eliza tender (1) engaged two pirates off Guajaba and took one Firme Union (5).
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1693 – Launch of french Triomphant, a 94/98 guns ship of the line, designed and built by Laurent Coulomb, at Lorient


Triomphant was a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was armed with 94 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, thirty 18-pounder guns on the middle deck, and twenty-eight 8-pounder guns on the upper deck, with eight 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck. In 1699 the 8-pounders on the upper deck were replaced by twenty-six 12-pounders, and one pair of 6-pounders was removed from the quarterdeck.

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Vaisseau à trois-ponts de 98 canons des années 1690 d'une modèle voisin du Triomphant

Designed and constructed by Laurent Coulomb, she was begun at Port Louis, Lorient in February 1693 and launched on 1 October 1693. She was a replacemnent for the previous ship of the same name (originally named Constant), destroyed by an English fireship at Cherbourg in June 1692. She took part in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga on 13 August 1704. In July 1707 she was sunk in shallow water at Toulon to avoid the fire from bomb vessels, but was refloated in October. She was condemned and hulked at Toulon in June 1717, and was broken up in February 1726.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Triomphant_(1693)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1746 - HMS Exeter (1697 - 60) and consorts captured and burnt Ardent.


HMS Exeter was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 26 May 1697.

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Unrigged model (scale 1:48). This 60-gun Fourth-Rate was built during the reign of King William III, and shows the elaborate carving and gilding of the Stuart period. She was the second Royal Navy warship to be named 'Exeter', and was involved in engagements against the French off Newfoundland (1702), in Quiberon Bay (1711), and at the siege of Pondicherry, India (1748), having been rebuilt betwen 1740 and 1744. The model was based on a set of lines of the ship in a portfolio of 1719.

She was involved in repeated actions against the French, in 1702 off Newfoundland, and in 1705 when she captured the frigate Thétis. She was in the Mediterranean in 1711, and at the Battle of Quiberon Bay. She was rebuilt according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Plymouth, and relaunched on 19 March 1744. She was at the Siege of Pondicherry in 1748. Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood briefly served aboard her.

Exeter continued to serve until 1763, when she was broken up

A stern reconstruction by my friend Willi
http://www.schifferlbauer.com/Seite8t.html

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Exeter_(1697)
http://www.schifferlbauer.com/Seite8t.html
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1748 - Battle of Havana.
British Caribbean squadron under Charles Knowles engaged a Spanish squadron Don Andres Reggio near Havana. After a number of aborted attacks, the British succeeded in driving the Spanish back to their harbour after capturing the Conquistador and running the vice-admiral's ship Africa on shore where she was blown up by her own crew after being totally dismasted and made helpless. Both commanders were reprimanded by their respective commands for their conduct during the engagement.

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End of Knowles' action off Havana, 1 October 1748
by Samuel Scott

The Battle of Havana was a naval engagement that took place between the British Caribbean squadron and a Spanish squadron based near Havanaduring the War of Jenkins' Ear. The battle occurred on the morning of the 12th and ended on the 14th October 1748. The belligerents consisted of two squadrons under the command of Admiral Don Andres Reggio of the Spanish Navy and Admiral Sir Charles Henry Knowles of the Royal Navy, respectively. The British succeeded in driving the Spanish back to their harbour after capturing the Conquistador and ran the vice-admiral's ship Africaon shore, where she was blown up by her own crew after being totally dismasted and made helpless. Although the advantage had clearly been with Knowles, he failed to use this to deliver a decisive blow. The battle was the last major action in the War of Jenkins' Ear which had merged with the larger War of the Austrian Succession.

Background
By 1747 actions fought between Great Britain and Spain in the America's during the War of Jenkins' Ear had led to stalemate; British forces had failed to subdue any of the Spanish colonies and had lost heavy casualties as a result, while Spain had also failed to subdue any British colonies. Naval warfare did not play a significant role in the outcome of the War of the Austrian Succession. There were however a few individual actions of importance.The rise to prominence of First Baron George Anson of the Royal Navy through his raiding of Spanish possessions off the West Coast of the Americas in 1740 during his circumnavigation of the globe. Britain's blockade of Toulon which effectively paralysed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet based there and also interdicted this ports potential role as a base for convoy activity until the Battle of Toulon on February 11, 1744. This battle resulted in the retirement of the blockading fleet by its commander. A planned French invasion of England was stopped by severe weather and the Royal Navy in March and April of the same year but after this naval operations were tied mainly with privateers.

In April 1747 Admiral Sir Charles Henry Knowles had become commander in chief on the Jamaica station but had failed to subdue Santiago de Cuba the following year. After having his ships had refitted at Port Royal Knowles sailed on a cruise in search of Spanish treasure convoys hoping to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet off Cuba before news came of a final peace between Spain and Britain. By this time news of the peace between France and Britain had arrived but no news had been received as of the latters peace with Spain so Knowles sailed on.

On 30 September he fell in with HMS Lenox, under Captain Charles Holmes, who reported that he had encountered a Spanish fleet some days earlier. Admiral Don Andrés Reggio, commanding the Havana Squadron, left Havana on October 2 with the intention of protecting Spain's shipping lanes from raids by British forces. His undermanned crews supplemented by a regiment of troops and several hundred conscripts on board. The wind was easterly and varied in intensity throughout the day but diminished significantly around mid-day and picked up again in early afternoon.

Battle

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Knowles action off Havana
by Thomas Craskell

On the morning of October 1, 1748 the Havana Squadron under the command of Admiral Don Andres Reggio was sailing North in a disorganized formation off of Havana. Reggio sighted what he believed to be a Spanish convoy and thus with the intention of offering escort to this "squadron" he signalled his command to bear directly on a course to intercept it. Around the same time Admiral Sir Charles Henry Knowles, commanding the British Jamaican squadron, sighted a formation of vessels on a course directly towards him and immediately signalled his own squadron to form line ahead bearing North. His intention was to put sufficient distance between himself and the Havana Squadron which would enable him to gain the weather gauge and close in.

Reggio realized the convoy he had sighted was in actuality the British Jamaican squadron. Immediately he signalled his command to steer to leeward to facilitate the formation of a line ahead bringing him to almost the same course as Knowles. The result of this however meant that he had lost the weather gauge whilst Knowles on the other hand was in a favourable position to obtain it. Knowles gave the signal for the ships in his line to "lead large" with the Spanish on a more convergent course. With the afternoon change in the wind the two leading ships Canterburyand HMS Warwick in Knowles' line drifted within long range of Reggio's centre which then opened fire on them. Knowles had issued standing orders to his entire command to hold their fire but despite this the lead ships returned the fire of the Spanish.

Due to the slowness of Warwicks progress Knowles ordered HMS Canterbury to pass her at 3pm. However it was not until 4pm that the Knowles' flagship HMS Cornwall, and HMS Lenox entered the engagement.[21] This time the combined British ships battered the Spanish and inflicted heavy damage on Conquistador which had soon lost fore and mizzen masts and could only manoeuvre in a small way.

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Drawing showing the burning of the dismasted Africaby the Cornwall and Strafford

Cornwall held its fire until shortly after 4pm when it comes within pistol range and unleashed a broadside into Reggio’s Africa. Ahead, HMS Strafford poured broadsides into Conquistador while Lenox joined the action from astern. At 4:30pm HMS Strafford came up close and fired a devastating broadside into the Conquistador; after which she was unable to reply. Within less than an hour Conquistador was battered out of the Spanish line, its captain and two lieutenants lying dead and so soon after struck to Strafford before another broadside could any more damage. Strafford had failed however to send any boats to take possession of her and Reggio recognized this fact and forced Conquistador to re hoist her colours by firing on her from his flagship Africa. HMS Cornwall came up in support with an angry Knowles along with Canterbury - finally Conquistador again struck her colours to Cornwall. Canterbury's captain however later claimed that Conquistador had struck to her subsequent to her entrance into the battle. HMS Warwick finally appeared ready to overtake the Spanish by 5:30pm and with this every Spanish ship attempted to save themselves, Strafford and Canterbury attempted to rest away Africa while HMS Tilbury and HMS Oxford pursued the vice flag Invencible.

By 9:00pm Invencible appeared silenced, but the British were too weak to prevent its escape. HMS Cornwall having been slowed down by the loss of her fore topsail but Strafford and Canterbury pounded Africa until its main- and mizzenmasts fell. However, with night falling fast the Royal Navy ships are unable to pursue so break off at 11pm to begin setting up jury rigging and claw back out to sea.

Of Regio's Squadron, four ships returned to Havana's harbour whilst Conquistador had been captured during the action Invincible had suffered heavy damage and avoided capture by a very narrow margin. Africa, the flagship, was dismasted and badly damaged that she retreated into a small bay 25 miles East of Havana to make repairs. Knowles with a lead part of his squadron Cornwall and Strafford headed Eastward on October 14 and soon discovered her and opened fire. The stranded crew cut Africa's cables set her on fire and ran on her on shore; an hour later further helped by British cannon fire she blew up.

Aftermath

Edward Knowles by Francis Cotes pointing to the burning Africa

Knowles then reunited with the rest of his ships but before any action could be planned a Spanish sloop was intercepted where news was received of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle and that the war in Europe was over. Knowles dropped the Spanish prisoners on Cuba and set sail towards Jamaica with his lone prize.

The Battle of Havana demonstrated the importance of tactical cohesion within a unit.[26] Due to a lack of such cohesion Knowles squadron was not able to come to a close engagement quickly enough. If Regio had so desired he could have easily evaded the British squadron by retiring to the west. The British squadron also fired on the Spanish too soon at too great a range. Casualties aboard the four surviving Spanish ships were more than 150 dead and a like number seriously wounded.

Both commanders, Knowles and Reggio, were reprimanded by their respective commands for their conduct during the engagement, in Knowles' case for not bringing his full fleet to bear and achieving a total rout. Knowles vilification of the Captains under his command, excepting David Brodie of the Strafford and Edward Clark of the Canterbury, after this action resulted in there petitioning the Admiralty for his court-martial. He had managed to force and win the battle and was only reprimanded as a result of the proceedings. Although Knowles was to suffer a mixed reputation as a result the battle he eventually attained the rank of admiral in 1758.

Regio was Court martialed by Spanish Naval authorities on thirty separate counts dealing with virtually every aspect of the battle and in particular with the destruction of his own his flagship Africa.

Ships envolved

Britain
Spain


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Havana_(1748)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1803 – Launch of French Vengeur ("Avenger") was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané.


Vengeur ("Avenger") was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was the first ship in French service to sport 18-pounder long guns on her third deck, instead of the lighter 12-pounder long guns used before for this role.

1280px-Duckworth's_action_off_San_Domingo,_6_February_1806,_Nicholas_Pocock.jpg
The Battle of San Domingo: Impérial harassed by the much weaker HMS Northumberland before being driven ashore.

Career
Laid down as Peuple in covered basin no.3 at Brest Dockyard in October 1793, she was renamed as Vengeur after the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 in honour of the Vengeur du Peuple by a decree passed by the National Convention.

She was launched on 1 October 1803 and completed in February 1804. She was again renamed in March 1805, becoming Impérial.

She took part in the Battle of San Domingo on 6 February 1806. Severely battered by several British ships, most of her artillery out of order and without means to manoeuver, she was beached by her captain to prevent her sinking and capture. It took several days to evacuate her crew, of whom many were wounded; after a few days, British ships closed in and sent boats to capture those remained aboard and set fire to the wreck.

800px-Ocean_class_ship_of_the_line.jpg
1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille, on display at Marseille naval museum, combined with a half-hull of a generic Ocean-type 120-gun ship of the line on display at Brest navl museum.

The Océan-class ships of the line were a series of 118-gun three-decker ships of the line of the French Navy, designed by engineer Jacques-Noël Sané. Fifteen were completed from 1788 on, with the last one entering service in 1854; a sixteenth was never completed, and four more were never laid down.

The first two of the series were Commerce de Marseille and États de Bourgogne in the late 1780s. Three ships to the same design followed during the 1790s (a further four ordered in 1793–94 were never built). A second group of eleven were ordered during the First Empire; sometimes described as the Austerlitz class after the first to be ordered, some of the later ships were not launched until after the end of the Napoleonic era, and one was not completed but broken up on the stocks. A 'reduced' (i.e. shortened) version of this design, called the Commerce de Paris class, with only 110 guns, was produced later, of which two examples were completed.

The 5,095-ton 118-gun type was the largest type of ship built up to then, besting the Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad. Up to 1790 Great Britain, the largest of the battle fleet nations, had not built especially large battleships because the need for large numbers of ships had influenced its battleship policy. The French initiated a new phase in battleship competition when they laid down a large number of three-deckers of over 5,000 tons.

Along with the 74-gun of the Téméraire type and the 80-gun of the Tonnant type, the Océan 120-gun type was to become one of the three French standard types of battleships during the war period 1793 to 1815.

These were the most powerful ships of the Napoleonic Wars and a total of ten served during that time. These ships, however, were quite expensive in terms of building materials, artillery and manpower and so were reserved for admirals as their fleet flagships.

Some of the ships spent 40 years on the stocks and were still in service in 1860, three of them having been equipped with auxiliary steam engines in the 1850s.

Design
The design for the first 118-gun three-decker warships originated in 1782 with a design prepared by the shipwright Antoine Groignard. Carrying an extra pair of cannon on each deck (including the quarterdeck), this raised the firepower of these capital ships from 110 to 118 guns, including an unprecedented thirty-two 36-pounder guns in the lowest tier. The French Navy ordered two of these, to be built at Toulon and at Brest, the shipwright entrusted with the construction of the latter ship being Jacques-Noël Sané. However, with the onset of peace following the conclusion of the American War of Independence, these two ships were cancelled in 1783, along with several others. The concept was revived in 1785 when Sané, in conjunction with Jean-Charles de Borda, developed the design of the Commerce de Marseille, marking a leap in the evolution of ship of the line design, when the first two ships were re-ordered at Toulon and Brest. The hull was simple with straight horizontal lines, minimal ornaments, and tumblehome. The poop deck was almost integral the gunwale, and the forecastle was minimal.

800px-Ocean-IMG_8745.jpg
Scale model of an Océan-class ship, including the inner disposition of the lower decks, on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

They were highly successful as gun platforms and sailers, a fact which indicates that great improvements had been made in warship design since the late 17th century when battleships of less than half their size were regarded as unwieldy giants which ought to be brought into harbour before the September gales began. However, at least the first two of this class appear to have had less strength than necessary - one (Commerce de Marseille) which was taken by the British in 1793, was never used by them, and the other (by now renamed Ocean) had to be extensively rebuilt after a decade. This indicates that the growth in size of wooden warships caused structural problems which only gradually were solved.

Although these ships were costly, their design changed to become even larger in terms of overall tonnage with the introduction of a second (modified) group in 1806. Mounting 18-pounder cannon on her third gun deck (unheard of in French three-decked ships of the period), the Austerlitz set the example for all of the French 118 gun ships to follow.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Vengeur_(1803)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Océan-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1807 - The capture of the Jeune Richard


The capture of the Jeune Richard was the result of a naval engagement that took place in the Caribbean on 1 October 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars between the British packet ship Windsor Castle and the French privateer Jeune Richard. In an unequal battle, the Windsor Castle, under the command of her acting captain William Rogers, not only defended repeated attacks from the privateer, but finally engaged her, boarded her and after overpowering the much larger crew, forced them below decks and took the privateer as its prize. The victory was widely reported in contemporary papers and journals, and Rogers and his crew were hailed as heroes and lavishly rewarded for their valour.

800px-William_Rogers_boards.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_the_Jeune_Richard

Background
The Windsor Castle sailed from England under the command of Acting Captain William Rogers, bound for the Leeward Islands and Barbados in September 1807, carrying the mail. She carried six 4-pounder guns and two 9-pounder carronades and had a crew of 28 men and boys. Early on the morning of 1 October a sail was sighted and by half past eight the mystery ship was piling on sail to catch the packet. Identifying her as a privateer schooner, Rogers attempted to outrun the enemy, but she continued to close and he realised he would be compelled to fight. His enemy was the Jeune Richard, carrying six long 6-pounder guns and one long 18-pounder gun, a considerably heavier weight of shot than the Windsor Castle. The Jeune Richard also had a crew of 92, over three times that of the British packet.

Battle

Fighting_on_the_Jeune_Richard.jpg
A contemporary engraving of the sort that popularised Rogers' exploits.

Rogers prepared for action and stood by to sink the mail should it become necessary to keep it out of enemy hands.[2] By noon the Jeune Richard had closed the distance and, running up the French colours, she opened fire. The Windsor Castle returned fire, at which the French called on Rogers to surrender. He refused, so the Jeune Richard ran alongside the Windsor Castle deploying grappling irons, and attempted to board. The Windsor Castle′s crew mustered with pikes and repelled the boarders, killing or wounding between eight and ten of the French. The Jeune Richard′s crew attempted to cut the lines and pull away but the Windsor Castle′s main yard remained locked in the privateer's rigging, holding the two ships together.

The fighting continued for several hours, but by 3pm one of the Windsor Castle′s 9-pounder carronades had been brought up on deck and loaded with double grape, canister and 100 musket balls. When the French made another attempt to force their way aboard, the British discharged it to great effect, sweeping the privateer's decks and causing considerable casualties and damage. Rogers then led five of his men onto the Jeune Richard and forced the French from their guns, driving them below after a fierce fight and securing control of the privateer. With the French crew trapped below but still considerably greater in number than the small British force that had control of the decks, Rogers ordered each Frenchman up on deck one at a time, where he had them placed in irons.


Acting-Captain William Rogers, of the Windsor Castle.

Aftermath
With the Jeune Richard secured, Rogers took her and the Windsor Castle to the nearest British port. The British had three dead and ten wounded, the French had twenty-one dead and thirty-three wounded. Rogers then made his report to the officer commanding the station, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. Cochrane forwarded his report to the Admiralty, adding an accompanying note:

Sir, The enclosed letter which I have just received from Mr. Rogers, the master of the Windsor Castle packet, gives an account of the capture of a French privateer. It is an instance of bravery and persevering courage, combined with great presence of mind, as was scarcely ever exceeded. He has shewn such ability defending one of His Majesty's packets, that I hope it will secure him the command of the first which is vacant.
— I have the honour to be, &c, Alexander Cochrane​
The news of how Rogers had turned upon his pursuer and taken her as his prize created a sensation. The account appeared in numerous newspapers, journals and periodicals. Societies and guilds joined to raise subscriptions to reward Rogers and his crew.[5] In addition to sums of money Rogers received two swords, a piece of plate worth 100 guineas, a vase worth £60 and command of another packet ship.[5] The artist Samuel Drummond painted Rogers' portrait, and also created a depiction of the action, while other engravers and artists produced versions to illustrate the stories carried in the papers.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_the_Jeune_Richard
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1808 - HMS Cruizer (1797 - 18), Lt. (act. Cdr.) Thomas Well, captured a Danish gun brig (10)

this event stands only as an example of the intensive active history of this vessel and several others of the same type or class......

HMS Cruizer (often Cruiser) was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Stephen Teague of Ipswich and launched in 1797. She was the first ship of the class, but there was a gap of 5 years between her launch and the ordering of the next batch in October 1803; by 1815 a total of 105 other vessels had been ordered to her design. She had an eventful wartime career, mostly in the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic, and captured some 15 privateers and warships, and many merchant vessels. She also participated in several actions. She was laid up in 1813 and the Commissioners of the Navy sold her for breaking in 1819.

NavalMonument11_byAbelBowen_1838.png
HMS Epervier (right), a Cruzier class sloop, fighting against the larger USS Peacock (left) during the War of 1812.

Design
Cruizer was a prototype brig-rigged sloop-of-war designed in 1796 by Sir William Rule, the Surveyor of the Navy. Her hull was identical to the Snake-class ship-sloop, but she carried a pair of square-rigged masts instead of the three masts fitted in the Snake class. The original design had an armament of eighteen 6-pounder long guns but it was soon decided to replace the broadside weapons with sixteen 32-pounder carronades, leaving two 6-pounders as chase guns. The net effect was to increase the broadside weight of shot massively, at the cost of reducing her broadside's effective range. This mix became the pattern for all the other, later members of her class.

Construction
Cruizer was ordered by the Admiralty on 19 December 1796 to be built in the commercial yard of Stephen Teague at Ipswich.[3][Note 2] She was laid down in February 1797 and launched on 20 December the same year.

History
the list of actions and activities is too long to show it all here....therefore only some excerpts - captured vessels are visible with bold letters-

.......
On 11 February 1805 Cruizer and Ann captured Hoop, Mailer, master.
On 8 March Cruizer captured the galiot Triton and recaptured Vriendschap. Cruizer shared with Minx and Bold in the proceeds of the capture seven days later of Industria, Labea, master. Cruizer's crew did a little better from the capture on 20 June of Johanna Tbolen.
Earlier, on 5 June, Cruizer was in company with the hired brig Ann, Minx, and Mariner when they captured Dogter Catherina.
Cruizer was again in company with Ann on 2 August 1805 when they captured Frederick. Then on 22 August they captured Susannah Margaretha. Cruizer, Active, Mariner, and Minx shared in the proceeds of the detention on 5 September of Sophia Amelia. Cruizer, Minx, and Mariner were in company and shared with Griper and Earnest in the proceeds of the recapture on 29 September of Rover, of Newcastle, Hillary, master.
On 13 November Cruizer intercepted two French pirate luggers attempting to take a brig. Hancock chased them and after two hours captured Vengeur after his bow guns brought down the lugger's main topsail and main-lug sail. Vengeur was under the command of Jean Augustin Hirrel, carried a crew of 56 men, and was armed with 14 guns. She was two days out of Boulogne and had that day taken two Swedish brigs, one laden with salt, from Liverpool, the other from Boston, in Lincolnshire, in ballast.
...............
...............
Astraea, Agamemnon, and Cruizer shared the proceeds of the detention during August of the Danish merchant vessels Anne and Catherine, Anne and Margaret, and Three Brothers. Banterer, Kite, hired armed cutter Joseph, and Whiting shared with Cruizer in the proceeds of Twee Gebruders.
Cruizer
and Kite shared in the capture on 20 August of the William August, Thuren, master. That same day Cruizer and Kite captured Patriot, Thomson, master. Eleven days later, Cruizer captured Mary. Two days later Cruizer captured Emanuel.
Cruizer shared with Dictator and Prometheus in the capture on 16 April 1808, of a Danish mail boat. The mail boat was carrying, inter alia, foreign gold, silver, copper coins, Holstein and Sleswick paper notes, and £2000.
Cruizer was in company with Euryalus, Captain George Dundas, in the Great Belt when on 11 June they discovered several vessels at anchor close to shore at the entrance to the river Naskon. Dundas anchored at dark and sent a cutting out party in four boats from the two ships to destroy the vessels. The cutting out party burnt two large troop transports and retrieved a gun-vessel armed with two 18-pounders and carrying 64 men. The successful foray took place directly under the guns of a Danish battery of three 18-pounder guns and numerous enemy troops who lined the shore. The enemy lost seven men killed (and possibly a number drowned), and twelve wounded; the British had one man slightly wounded. In 1817 the crews of the British ships received prize money for "Danish gun-boat E".
Cruizer recaptured Mary on 31 August.
On 1 November, Cruizer was under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Wells (acting). She was off Gothenburg when 20 gunboats attacked her; she captured a schuyt of ten guns and 32 men, and drove off the others, which took refuge at Læsø. On 16 November Wells wrote to his wife Nancy that she should buy a weekly paper to see his letter describing his capture. His feat resulted in Well's promotion to the rank of Commander some weeks later. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Cruizer 1 Novr. 1808" to all surviving claimants from the action.
Wells was still a lieutenant and acting captain when between 1 and 9 November Cruizer captured the Danish vessels Rinaldo, Proben, Trende Brodre, and Kirstina.
........................

large.jpg

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging. A ship-sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig-sloop was rigged as a brig with only a fore mast and a main mast.

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

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

Design
In December 1796, the Navy Board placed new orders for four flush-decked sloops, to differing designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy — Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow. In order to compare the qualities of ship-rigged and brig-rigged vessels, one vessel to each design was to be completed as a ship-sloop and the other as a brig-sloop. While the Henslow-designed vessels (the brig-sloop Busy and the ship-sloop Echo) would see no further sister ships built, the Rule-designed vessels (the brig-sloop Cruizer and the ship-sloop Snake) would each have a single sister ship ordered in the following March, and Rule's Cruizer design would subsequently see 106 constructed during the Napoleonic War. The hull design was exceeding fine (narrow as compared to length), a noted deadrise amidships, and a sharp sheer, giving away the design that had origins in the smaller cutter-type designs.

The order placed in March 1797 for the first sister ship to Cruizer was subsequently cancelled, but new orders were placed from 1802 up to 1813. A final order in 1815 (HMS Samarang) was cancelled in 1820.

The Cruizer-class brig-sloops proved to be fast sailers and seaworthy, and the 32-pounder carronade armament gave them enormous short-range firepower, exceeding the nominal broadside of a standard 36-gun 18-pounder frigate. To a Royal Navy increasingly desperate for manpower, the great attraction of the design was that — thanks to the two-masted rig and the use of carronades with their small gun crews — this firepower could be delivered by a crew only a third the size of a frigate's. The Dutch built three 18 gun-brigs — Zwaluw, Mercuur and Kemphaan — to a similar design; in one case apparently a copy, though without the square tuck stern. The Russian brig Olymp was also built to the same lines.

HMS_Surinam_struck_by_lightning.jpg
HMS Surinam struck by lightning, 11 December 1806, by Nicholas Matthews Condy, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The naval historian C.S. Forester commented in relation to the smaller gun-brigs (brig-rigged vessels of under 200 tons) that

The type was a necessary one but represented the inevitable unsatisfactory compromise when a vessel has to be designed to fight, to be seaworthy and to have a long endurance, all on a minimum displacement and at minimum expense. Few men in the Royal Navy had a good word to say for the gun-brigs, which rolled terribly and were greatly over-crowded, but they had to be employed.​
It should be noted that later in the same book he was more complimentary as regards the larger brigs such as the Cruizer class HMS Penguin.

Perhaps the most salient aspect of his statement is that the Cruizer class and its smaller sister class, the Cherokee class, highlight the huge expansion of the Royal Navy. Whatever else one may say of the class, the Cruizer-class brig-sloops were both fast and provided serious firepower for minimal crewing, characteristics that appealed to a Navy suffering serious and ever increasing staffing shortages. The class proved to be ideal for many of the shallow water commitments in the Baltic and Ionian Seas, as well as around Danish waters.

Manning
Prior to 1808, the complement of officers, men, and boys for a Cruizer-class brig-sloop included 15 Royal Marines. After 1808, the vessels carried 20 marines comprising 1 sergeant, 1 corporal and 18 privates (the marine contingent on unrated vessels did not include a commissioned officer).

Service in the War of 1812

HMS Epervier (right), a Cruzier class sloop, fighting against the larger USS Peacock (left) during the War of 1812.

During the Anglo-American War of 1812, several ships of the class fell victim to larger American ship-rigged sloops of war of nominally the same class. The American vessels enjoyed an advantage in weight of broadside and number of crew. The ship-rigged sloops enjoyed the ability to back sail, and their rigging proved more resistant to damage; by contrast, a single hit to the brig-sloop's rig could render it unmanageable. In many cases, however, the American advantage was in the quality of their crews, as the American sloops generally had hand-picked volunteer crews, while the brigs belonging to the overstretched Royal Navy had to make do with crews filled out with landsmen picked up by the press gang. During a battle with the eqivlently armed and crewed American brig Hornet, HMS Penguin was unable to land a single shot from her cannons, with the only American losses being incured by Royal Marines aboard the British ship.

The comparison was made in the London press unfavorably and was not entirely fair. The American ship-rigged sloops were bigger vessels, averaging just over 500 tons (bm); the Cruizer-class vessels were not quite 400 tons (bm). The crew sizes were disproportionate at 175 to 120, and at least some of the Cruizerclass in these combats were outfitted with 24-pounder carronades vice the normal 32-pounders. The rigging was often the deciding factor as the USS Peacock vs. HMS Epervier combat would highlight. When HMS Epervier lost her main topmast and had her foremast damaged she was disabled. USS Wasp, in another combat, would retain control despite the loss of her gaff, main topmast, and the mizzen topgallant. USS Wasp vs. HMS Avon provides another example. Despite being fought gallantly, Avon was crippled by loss of a gaff. She then lost her main mast, which loss rendered her immobile. The Cyrus-class vessels, built in 1813–1814, were intended as an answer to the American ship-rigged sloops.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cruizer_(1797)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruizer-class_brig-sloop
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_class&id=30
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1942 – World War II: USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru, not knowing that she is carrying British prisoners of war from Hong Kong


Lisbon Maru (りすぼん丸) was a Japanese Cargo liner built at Yokohama in 1920 for a Japanese shipping line. During World War 2 the ship became an armed troopship. On her final voyage Lisbon Maru was also transporting 1.800 prisoners-of-war between Hong Kong and Japan when torpedoed on 1 October 1942, sinking with a loss of over 800 lives.

Lisbon-maru.jpg

Construction and commercial service
Lisbon Maru was completed on 8 July 1920 at the Yokohama Dock Company shipyard in Yokohama, Japan as Yard No. 70, entering service for a major Japanese shipping line, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, and registered at the port of Tokyo.

The ship was 445 feet (135.6 metres) long, with a beam of 58 ft (17.7 m) and a depth of 34 ft (10.4 m). The ship measured 7,053 GRT and 4,308 NRT. Twin propellers were powered by a pair of triple expansion steam engines with a combined rating of 632 nhp, giving a service speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The engines and four boilers were made by the shipbuilder.

Sinking
On her final voyage she was carrying, in addition to 700 Japanese Army personnel, 1,816 British and Canadian prisoners of war captured after the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941. The POWs were held in "appalling conditions ... [those] at the bottom of the hold ... showered by the diarrhoea of sick soldiers above".

On 1 October 1942 the ship was torpedoed by USS Grouper (SS-214). The Japanese troops were evacuated from the ship but the POWs were not; instead the hatches were battened down above them and they were left on the listing ship. After 24 hours it became apparent that the ship was sinking and the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors, the Japanese ships also rescued survivors.

The British government insisted that over 800 of these men died either directly as a result of the sinking, or were shot or otherwise killed by the Japanese while swimming away from the wreck. The ship was not marked to alert Allied forces to the nature of its passengers. However, over 1,000 Allied prisoners were rescued by the Japanese military. The Japanese Government insisted that British prisoners were in fact not deliberately killed by Japanese soldiers and chastised the British Government.

Aftermath
A memorial was placed in the chapel of Stanley Fort, Hong Kong, which was moved to the chapel of St. Stephen's College, Hong Kong, due to Hong Kong's change in sovereignty.

A reunion of survivors was held on board HMS Belfast on 2 October 2007 to mark the 65th anniversary of their escape. Six former prisoners attended, alongside many bereaved families of the escapees.


USS Grouper (SS/SSK/AGSS-214), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grouper.

USS_Grouper;0821405.jpg
Grouper off Mare Island 17 July 1945

Grouper was launched by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut on 27 October 1941 (sponsored by Mrs. Albert F. Church), and commissioned at New London on 12 February 1942, with Lieutenant Commander C. E. Duke in command.


Lyrics
Up to mighty London
Came an Irishman one day.
As the streets are paved with gold
Sure, everyone was gay,
Singing songs of Piccadilly,
Strand and Leicester Square,
Till Paddy got excited,
Then he shouted to them there:

Chorus
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.

Paddy wrote a letter
To his Irish Molly-O,
Saying, "Should you not receive it,
Write and let me know!"
"If I make mistakes in spelling,
Molly, dear," said he,
"Remember, it's the pen that's bad,
Don't lay the blame on me!"

Chorus

Molly wrote a neat reply
To Irish Paddy-O,
Saying "Mike Maloney
Wants to marry me, and so
Leave the Strand and Piccadilly
Or you'll be to blame,
For love has fairly drove me silly:
Hoping you're the same!"

Chorus
An alternative bawdy concluding chorus:

That's the wrong way to tickle Mary,
That's the wrong way to kiss.
Don't you know that over here, lad
They like it best like this.
Hoo-ray pour les français,
Farewell Angleterre.
We didn't know how to tickle Mary,
But we learnt how over there.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Grouper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Maru
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Long_Way_to_Tipperary
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 October 1955 - USS Forrestal (CVA 59), the first postwar super-carrier, is commissioned


USS Forrestal (CV-59) (later CVA-59, then AVT-59), was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz class, Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She surpassed the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest carrier yet built, and was the first designed to support jet aircraft.

1024px-USS_Forrestal_(CVA-59)_underway_at_sea_on_31_May_1962_(KN-4507).jpg
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) underway at sea on 31 May 1962, while preparing for her fifth deployment. Forrestal, with assigned Carrier Air Group 8 (CVG-8) was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea from 3 August 1962 to 2 March 1963. Note that the carrier has McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II jet fighters of Fighter Squadron 74 (VF-74) "Be-Devilers" in her air group. This was the first operational deployment of the Phantom II.

The ship was affectionately called "The FID", because her namesake was the first Secretary of Defense, FID standing for "First In Defense". This is also the slogan on the ship's insignia and patch. She was also informally known in the fleet as the "USS Zippo" and "Forest Fire" or "Firestal" because of a number of highly publicized fires on board, most notably a 1967 fire in which 134 sailors died and 161 more were injured.

Forrestal served for nearly four decades in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. She was decommissioned in 1993, and made available as a museum. Attempts to save her were unsuccessful, and in February 2014 she was towed to Brownsville, Texas, to be scrapped. Scrapping was completed in December 2015.

Construction and commissioning
Forrestal's keel was laid down at Newport News Shipbuilding on 14 July 1952. During construction, her design was adjusted several times—the original telescoping bridge, a design left over from the canceled USS United States, was replaced by a conventional island structure, and her flight deck was modified to include an angled landing deck and steam catapults, drawing on British innovations. She was launched on 11 December 1954, and commissioned into service on 1 October 1955.

Design features
Forrestal was the first American aircraft carrier to be constructed with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and an optical landing system, as opposed to having them installed after launching.

The original design—USS United States—provided for the island to retract flush with the deck during flight operations, but that was found to be too complicated. Another solution was considered where the two masts were to fold down, in lieu of the retractable island, to allow the carrier to pass under the Brooklyn Bridge. The larger center mast was to fold to the side and rest on the flight deck, and the smaller mast was to fold toward the stern.


The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were four aircraft carriers designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. It was the first class of supercarriers, combining high tonnage, deck-edge elevators and an angled deck. The first ship was commissioned in 1955, the last decommissioned in 1998.

Design

CV-59_study_NAN11-52.jpg
A 1952 design study

The Forrestal class was the first completed class of "supercarriers" of the Navy, so called because of their then-extraordinarily high tonnage (75,000 tons, 25% larger than the post-World War II-era Midway class), full integration of the angled deck, very large island, and most importantly their extremely strong air wing (80–100 jet aircraft, compared to 65–75 for the Midway class and fewer than 50 for the Essex class). Forrestal and Saratogawere laid down as axial deck carriers and converted to angled deck ships while under construction; Ranger and Independence were laid down as angled deck ships and had various minor improvements compared to the first two. The most visible differences were between the first pair and second pair: Forrestal and Saratoga were completed with two island masts, an open fantail, and a larger flight deck segment forward of the port aircraft elevator; Ranger and Independence had a single island mast, a more closed fantail (as seen in all carriers since), and a smaller flight deck segment forward of the port aircraft elevator. Compared to the Midway class, the Forrestals were 100 feet (30 m) longer and nearly 20 feet (6 m) wider abeam, resulting in a far more stable and comfortable aircraft platform even in very rough weather. When commissioned, the Forrestal-class ships had the roomiest hangar decks and largest flight decks of any carrier ever built. Because of their immense size they were built to a new, deep-hulled design that incorporated the armored flight deck into the hull (previous American design practice was to design the flight deck as superstructure). This was a very similar structural design as used on British "armored" carriers, and grew out of the requirement for such a very large carrier, because carrying the strength deck at the flight deck level produced a stronger and lighter hull.[4] The Midway-class ships sat very low in the water and were poor sea boats through their long careers; they were very wet forward and their aviation characteristics were poor. The deeper Forrestal hull allowed the ships more freeboard and better seakeeping. The Forrestal-class carriers, like the Midway class that preceded it, were designed with armored flight decks.


Forrestal-class_aircraft_carrier_deck_plan_1962.png

1962 deck plan of the Forrestalclass, showing the port side elevator at the forward end of the angled deck, in the path of both aircraft being launched from the waist catapults, and aircraft being recovered; and the arrangement of the starboard elevators, with only one forward of the island serving the two forward catapults.

1280px-USS_John_F_Kennedy_(CV-67)_and_USS_Saratoga_(CV-60)_underway_crop.jpg
Saratoga (top) cruising with Kitty Hawk class John F. Kennedy; note the arrangement of the elevators.

Forrestal-class ships were the first examples of supercarriers and thus not quite a perfected design; their elevators in particular were badly arranged for aircraft handling. The portside elevator, a relic of the original axial-deck design, was especially poorly suited, as it was located at the fore end of the angled deck, in the landing path as well as the launch path of aircraft from the No. 3 and No. 4 catapults. The subsequent Kitty Hawk classmoved the portside elevator to the aft end of the angle and reversed the position of the island and the second starboard elevator, vastly improving aircraft handling. The sponson-mounted guns suffered from poor range and complicated firing arcs, and were located in very wet and thus nearly useless positions in the bow and stern. They were removed after only a few years and were later replaced by missiles and much later by close-in weapon systems (CIWS). The aft guns in Forrestal lasted until the fire in 1967, then were removed and eventually replaced by missiles in the mid-70s.

The original design of the Forrestal-class ships would have had a very small, retractable island; this design had numerous problems (the mechanism to raise and lower the island was never perfected before the angled deck was added to the design) and smoke fouling of the deck was expected to be a severe problem due to lack of adequate venting. The redesign to an angled deck allowed a very large island, much larger than on previous carriers, giving unprecedented flexibility and control in air operations.

In the late 1990s, the US offered Brazil a Forrestal-class carrier, but the offer was declined on the grounds of significant operating costs; Brazil instead received from France the aircraft carrier Foch, which was renamed São Paulo.

All four ships have been struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Although one, ex-Ranger, had at one time been on donation hold as a potential museum ship, as of January 2016 it and two others have been dismantled, with the fourth's scrapping said to be imminent.

USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)_underway_at_sea_in_1987_(NH_97657-KN).jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrestal-class_aircraft_carrier
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 1 October


1775 – Launch of French Vaillant' 64-guns at Toulon - hulked 1783.

Vaillant class. Designed and built by Noël Pomet.
Sistership Modeste 64 (launched 12 February 1759 at Toulon) – captured by the British in the Battle of Lagos in August 1759 and added to the RN under the same name, BU 1800

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and the name in a cartouche, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Modeste' (1759), a captured French Third Rate, prior to being fitted as a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Portsmouth Dockyard. Signed by Edward Allin [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1755-1762]. Reverse: Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the roundhouse, quarterdeck and forecastle, upper deck, gun deck (lower deck), orlop deck, hold and platforms, for 'Modeste' (1759).
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81141.html#DRcFZb3VrkJtCRAM.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Modeste_(1759)


1773 – Launch of HMS Triton, a 28 gun modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate

HMS Triton was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge.

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and name on the stern counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half breadth for Triton (1773), a 28-gun Sixth Rate Frigate, as built by MBs Adams at Bucklers Hard. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 307, states that 'Triton' arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard from Bucklers Hard on 15 October 1773, and was docked on 7 September 1775. She was undocked on 23 September 1775 and sailed on 4 November 1775 fitted for sea.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83026.html#78zsbkdjlwzOr6BJ.99

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for bow, stern quater and midship areas, proposed and approved for Triton (1773), Greyhound (1773), Boreas (1774), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83032.html#u2MrIuAibWdabryv.99

Ordered: 25 December 1770
Built by: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard.
Keel laid: February 1771
Launched: 1 October 1773
Completed: 15 October 1773 to 4 November 1775 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in January 1796.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Triton_(1773)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid-class_frigate


1800 - Schooner USS Experiment captures French Schooner Diana.

USS Experiment was a schooner in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France.
Experiment was built in 1799 at Baltimore, Maryland; and first put to sea late in November 1799, Lieutenant W. Maley in command.

ExperimentFightsPicaroons.jpg
A depiction of Experiments fight with Picaroons in the Action of 1 January 1800.

Experiment joined the squadron commanded by Captain Silas Talbot on the Santo Domingo station, and for seven months, cruised against French privateers in the Caribbean, taking a number of valuable prizes. On 1 January 1800, while becalmed in the Bight of Leogane with a convoy of four merchantmen, Experiment was attacked by 11 armed pirate boats, manned by about four or five hundred buccaneers. In the seven hours of fighting that followed, the pirates boarded one of the merchantmen, killing her captain, and towed off two other ships of the convoy after their crews had abandoned them. But Experiment sank two of the attacking craft, and killed and wounded many of the pirates, suffering only one man wounded.
Arriving in the Delaware River early in July 1800, Experiment refitted, and returned to the West Indies. Again successful in her patrols against the French, she captured several armed vessels, one of which was carrying a high-ranking army officer. She also recaptured a number of American merchantmen, and in January 1801 rescued 65 Spaniards from the ship Eliza, wrecked on a reef of the island of Saona.
Experiment returned to Norfolk early in February 1801, and was laid up there until August, when she sailed to Baltimore. There, she was sold in October 1801.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Experiment_(1799)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1786 – Death of Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (b. 1725)


Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel PC (25 April 1725 – 2 October 1786) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.

800px-Augustus_Keppel_BHC2821.jpg

During the American Revolutionary War Keppel came into a notorious dispute with Sir Hugh Palliser over Palliser's conduct as his second-in-command at the inconclusive Battle of Ushant in July 1778; the dispute led to Keppel being court-martialled, although he was subsequently acquitted. During the final years of the American Revolutionary War Keppel served as First Lord of the Admiralty.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Keppel,_1st_Viscount_Keppel
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1817 - Brig HMS Julia (1806 - 16), Jenkin Jones, wrecked off Tristan d'Acunha, coast of Africa.


HMS Julia was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in February 1806. After a fairly uneventful decade-long career she was wrecked at Tristan da Cunha in 1817 with heavy loss of life.

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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#4V8f8Fkwmx2BkjPF.99


Napoleonic Wars
Commander Robert Yarker (occasionally mis-written as Tarker) commissioned Julia in February 1806 for the North Sea. He sailed her for the West Indies on 28 June 1807.

In March 1808 she was under the command of Commander John Ellis Watt, but one month later Commander Charles Warde was appointed to replace Watt. At the time Julia was in the Leeward Islands. After Netley capsized on 10 July, Julia rescued the nine survivors.

Watt still commanded Julia on 30 August when he captured a French lugger boat privateer, the Petit Decide, of Martinique. She had a crew of 22 men, armed with small arms, and was sailing from Guadeloupe to Marie-Galante with a howitzer, ammunition, and other stores for the troops there.

In November Commander Charles Kerr took command. Commander William Dowers replaced Kerr in 1809, who later was appointed to Wolverine on 11 December 1809.

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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.

On 21 May 1809, Julia and Unique were at Basse Terre as part of a squadron under Captain Philip Beaver of Acasta. They sighted a French schooner sheltering under the protection of some guns, and recognized the vessel as one that had sailed under their protection for several days while flying the Swedish flag. Beaver sent in Julia and Unique to try and cut her out, but she was stuck fast on shore. Lieutenant Thomas Fellowes, captain of Unique, then led a party of 24 men ashore to spike an enemy battery's guns despite being opposed by a large French regular force; in the attack one man was killed, a midshipman from Julia, and seven men were seriously wounded. Of the remaining men, all but Fellowes were at least lightly wounded; he was the only unwounded man to return from the raid.

In early June 1809 Cherub and Julia, under Dowers's command, sailed into the anchorage at Basse-Terre to cut out two French frigates lying there under the protection of a fort and some batteries. As they sailed in they were subject to fire from shore batteries, which fortunately had no effect. The wind suddenly failed the British vessels, which were nevertheless able to extricate themselves from the situation with no losses or damage, but no success either.

On 18 June 1809 Latona and Cherub captured one of the French frigates, the Félicité . At the time of her capture, Félicité was armed with only 14 guns, but had 174 men on board. She had left Guadeloupe in company with another frigate and was sailing to France with colonial produce. The second frigate escaped through superior sailing despite Cherub having conducted a long chase. Julia was among the vessels in sight or on the blockade of the Saints and so shared in the proceeds of the capture. HMS Bonne Citoyenne captured the second frigate, the Furieuse , on 5 July 1809.

In October 1810 Commander Henry Coxen replaced Dowers. The next year Commander Valentine Gardner replaced Coxen.

Julia was at Portsmouth on 31 July 1812 when the British authorities seized the American ships there and at Spithead on the outbreak of the War of 1812. She therefore shared, with numerous other vessels, in the subsequent prize money for these vessels: Belleville, Aeos, Janus, Ganges, and Leonidas.

Between September 1813 and March 1814 Julia underwent repairs and fitting for ordinary. She then remained in ordinary until 1815.

Post war and fate
Between August and November 1815, Julia underwent fitting for sea at Chatham. Commander John Watling commissioned her in September for Saint Helena, but soon had to return to Britain for his health. In May 1816 Commander Jenkin Jones was appointed to replace Watling at St Helena, but from May to August Julia was under the command of Lieutenant Francis James Lewis (acting).

Julia was stationed at Ascension Island when Jones received orders to sail her to Tristan da Cunha. She arrived on 28 September, but the weather was bad and she spent two days cruising off Falmouth Bay.

On 1 October Jones was able to anchor two miles off shore and he and a boat crew came on shore. During the night a sudden gale came up. Julia lost her anchor and cables and the gale drove her onshore, battering her to pieces. Some men were able to get ashore via a fallen mast. Still, 55 men drowned, as did one woman, the wife of a marine. Forty-two bodies were buried on shore; later a memorial was erected on the spot.

Griffon arrived at Tristan da Cunha two days after the wreck. Jones prevailed upon Captain Wright of Griffon to return the survivors to the Cape. The subsequent court-martial at Portsmouth exonerated Jones for the loss of Julia.


The Seagull class were built as a class of thirteen 16-gun brig-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 carronades were added soon after completion. The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - Sir William Rule - and approved on 4 January 1805. Five vessels to this design were ordered in December 1804; eight more were ordered in the summer.

Armament
Unlike the larger Cruiser-class brig-sloops, whose main battery was composed of 32-pounder carronades, the Seagull class (and the similar Fly-class brig-sloops designed by Rule's co-surveyor - Sir John Henslow) were armed with a main battery of 24-pounder slide-mounted carronades.

Ships
Name - Launched - Fate
Seagull - 1 July 1805 - Captured 1808; decommissioned from Norwegian navy 1817
Oberon - 13 August 1805 - Broken up May 1816
Imogen - 11 July 1805 - Sold for breaking on 3 April 1817
Nightingale - 29 July 1805 - Sold for breaking 23 November 1815
Savage - 30 July 1805 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1819
Skylark - February 1806 - Grounded 3 May 1812 west of Boulogne; burnt to avoid capture.
Paulina - 7 December 1805 - Sold for breaking 30 May 1816
Delight - June 1806 - Captured 31 January 1808 while stranded on the coast of Calabria.
Orestes - 23 October 1805 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1817
Electra - 21 January 1806 - Wrecked 1808; salved but broken up later that year at Malta
Julia - 4 February 1806 - Wrecked at Tristan de Cunha 2 October 1817
Satellite - March 1806 - Foundered 19/20 December 1810
Sheldrake - 21 March 1806 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1816




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Julia_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull-class_brig-sloop
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1830 – Launch of HMS Stag, a 44-gun Seringapatam-class fifth-rate frigate


HMS Stag was a 44-gun Seringapatam-class fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1820s, one of three ships of the Andromeda sub-class.

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H.M.S. Stag 1830
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140790.html#PhkFl38AKrpllAxr.99


Description
The Andromeda sub-class was a slightly enlarged and improved version of the Druid sub-class, with a more powerful armament. Stag had a length at the gundeck of 159 feet 3 inches (48.5 m) and 133 feet 3 inches (40.6 m) at the keel. She had a beam of 42 feet (12.8 m), a draught of 14 feet 8 inches (4.5 m) and a depth of hold of 13 feet 3 inches (4.0 m). The ship's tonnage was 1167 42⁄94 tons burthen. The Andromeda sub-class was armed with twenty-six 18-pounder cannon on her gundeck, ten 32-pounder carronades and a pair of 68-pounder guns on her quarterdeck and four more 32-pounder carronades in the forecastle. The ships had a crew of 315 officers and ratings.

Construction and career
Stag, the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,[4] was ordered on 9 January 1823, laid down in April 1828 at Pembroke Dockyard, Wales, and launched on 2 October 1830. She was completed for ordinary at Plymouth Dockyard in October 1830. The ship was commissioned on 15 April 1831 and ready for sea by 9 July.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Nemesis (1826) and Druid (1825), and later with alterations dated January 1828 to the depth of the hold and decks for Stag (1830), Forth (1833), Seahorse (1830), and Severn (cancelled 1831), all 46-gun Fifth Rate Frigates building at Pembroke Dockyard. Signed by Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy 1806-1822], Joseph Tucker [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831], and Robert Seppings [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1832].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81835.html#MUC4fsY53qG3i9Rz.99


The Seringapatam-class frigates, were a class of British Royal Navy 46-gun sailing frigates. The first vessel of the class was HMS Seringapatam. Seringapatam's design was based on the French frigate Président, which the British had captured in 1806. Seringapatam was originally ordered as a 38-gun frigate, but the re-classification of British warships which took effect in February 1817 raised this rating to 46-gun.

The Admiralty ordered six further ships to this design – including three ships which had originally been ordered as Leda-class frigates, but the Seringapatamdesign was subsequently altered to produce a Modified version which was labelled the Druid sub-class, and three of the ships formerly ordered to the Seringapatam original design (Madagascar, Nemesis and Jason) were re-ordered to this modified design. Subsequently a further modification of the design was produced, which was labelled the Andromeda sub-class, and the remaining three of the ships formerly ordered to the Seringapatam original design (Manilla, Tigris and Statira) were re-ordered to this modified design. Further vessels were ordered to both modified designs, but the majority of these were subsequently cancelled. Both modified types are listed below.
Druid sub-class (1st modified version of Seringapatam Class)
  • HMS Druid
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 23 July 1817
    • Laid down: August 1821
    • Launched: 1 July 1825
    • Completed: 21 December 1825 at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Sold to be broken up in April 1863.
  • HMS Nemesis- had first been ordered to Modified Leda class, later to original Seringapatam design
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 23 July 1817
    • Laid down: August 1823
    • Launched: 19 August 1826
    • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Broken up in July 1866.
  • HMS Madagascar – had first been ordered to original Seringapatam design
    • Builder: East India Company, Bombay Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 5 April 1819
    • Laid down: October 1821
    • Launched: 15 November 1822; 1164 tons (bm)[1]
    • Completed: January 1829 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Sold to be broken up at Rio de Janeiro 5 May 1863.
  • HMS Leda
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 15 May 1821
    • Laid down: October 1824
    • Launched: 15 April 1828
    • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Sold to be broken up on 15 May 1906.
  • HMS Hotspur
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 15 May 1821
    • Laid down: July 1825
    • Launched: 9 October 1828
    • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Renamed Monmouth 1868. Sold to be broken up in 1902.
  • HMS Africaine
    • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 8 January 1822
    • Laid down: September 1825
    • Launched: 20 December 1827
    • Completed: 3 March 1828.
    • Fate: Sold to Trinity House in May 1867.
  • HMS Eurotas
    • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 13 September 1824
    • Laid down: February 1827
    • Launched: 19 February 1829
    • Completed: 20 March 1828.
    • Fate: Sold to be broken up in November 1865.
  • A further vessel, HMS Jason, also first ordered to Modified Leda Class, then to the original Seringapatam design, was again re-ordered subsequently, now to the Andromeda design, but was never finally built.

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Andromeda sub-Class (2nd modified version of Seringapatam Class)
  • HMS Andromeda
    • Builder: East India Company, Bombay Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 5 April 1827
    • Laid down: August 1827
    • Launched: 6 January? 1829; 1166 tons (bm)[1]
    • Completed: not completed – laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Provision hulk November 1846. Sold to be broken up on 24 December 1863.
  • HMS Seahorse
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 9 January 1823
    • Laid down: November 1826
    • Launched: 22 July 1830
    • Completed: never completed as sailing frigate; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Converted to a steam/screw-driven frigate 1845–47. Screw mortar frigate 1856. Coal hulk 1870, renamed Lavinia. Sold to be broken up 1902.
  • HMS Stag
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 9 January 1823
    • Laid down: April 1828
    • Launched: 2 October 1830
    • Completed: 9 July 1831 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Broken up in August 1866.
  • HMS Maeander
    • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 13 September 1824
    • Laid down: February 1829
    • Launched: 5 May 1840
    • Completed: 17 January 1848.
    • Fate: Hulked 1857. Wrecked at Ascension in July 1870.
  • HMS Forth
    • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
    • Ordered: 9 June 1825
    • Laid down: November 1828
    • Launched: 1 August 1833
    • Completed: never completed as a sailing frigate; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
    • Fate: Converted to a steam/screw-driven frigate 1845–47. Screw mortar frigate 1856. Coal hulk 1869, renamed Jupiter. Sold to be broken up 1883.
The remaining ships ordered or re-ordered to this design were never completed:
  • HMS Jason – ordered 23 July 1817 from Woolwich Dockyard, firstly to Modified Leda Class design, later altered to original Seringapatam design in October 1820, to Druid design in 1822, and finally to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Statira – ordered 23 July 1817 from Plymouth Dockyard, originally to Modified Leda Class, later altered to original Seringapatam design in October 1820, to Druid design in 1822, and finally to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 31 August 1832.
  • HMS Manilla – ordered 5 April 1819 from East India Company's Bombay Dockyard, firstly ordered to original Seringapatam design, later altered to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Euphrates – ordered 22 October 1820 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Pique – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 16 June 1832.
  • HMS Tigris – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard (utilising teak frames from Bombay Dockyard), firstly to original Seringapatam design, later altered to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 31 August 1832.
  • HMS Pique – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 16 June 1832.
  • HMS Spartan – ordered 13 September 1824 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Theban – ordered 13 September 1824 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Inconstant – ordered 9 June 1825 from Sheerness Dockyard, cancelled 9 March 1832.
  • HMS Orpheus – ordered 9 June 1825 from Chatham Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Severn – ordered 9 June 1825 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
  • HMS Tiber – ordered 9 June 1825 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Stag_(1830)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seringapatam-class_frigate
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1836 - The second voyage of HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board ends at Falmouth, Cornwall, England


Second voyage (1831–1836)
FitzRoy had been given reason to hope that the South American Survey would be continued under his command, but when the Lords of the Admiralty appeared to abandon the plan, he made alternative arrangements to return the Fuegians. A kind uncle heard of this and contacted the Admiralty. Soon afterwards FitzRoy heard that he was to be appointed commander of HMS Chanticleer to go to Tierra del Fuego, but due to her poor condition Beagle was substituted for the voyage. FitzRoy was re-appointed as commander on 27 June 1831 and Beagle was commissioned on 4 July 1831 under his command, with Lieutenants John Clements Wickham and Bartholomew James Sulivan.

1280px-PSM_V57_D097_Hms_beagle_in_the_straits_of_magellan.png
HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan

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Longitudinal section of HMS Beagleas of 1832

Beagle was immediately taken into dock at Devonport for extensive rebuilding and refitting. As she required a new deck, FitzRoy had the upper-deck raised considerably, by 8 inches (200 mm) aft and 12 inches (300 mm) forward. The Cherokee-class ships had the reputation of being "coffin" brigs, which handled badly and were prone to sinking. Apart from increasing headroom below, the raised deck made Beagle less liable to top-heaviness and possible capsize in heavy weather by reducing the volume of water that could collect on top of the upper deck, trapped aboard by the gunwales. Additional sheathing added to the hull added about seven tons to her burthen and perhaps fifteen to her displacement.

The ship was one of the first to be fitted with the lightning conductor invented by William Snow Harris. FitzRoy spared no expense in her fitting out, which included 22 chronometers, and five examples of the Sympiesometer, a kind of mercury-free barometer patented by Alexander Adie which was favoured by FitzRoy as giving the accurate readings required by the Admiralty. To reduce magnetic interference with the navigational instruments, FitzRoy proposed replacing the iron guns with brass guns, but the Admiralty turned this request down. (When the ship reached Rio de Janeiro in April 1832, he used his own funds for replacements: the ship now had a "six-pound boat-carronade" on a turntable on the forecastle, two brass six-pound guns before the main-mast, and aft of it another four brass guns; two of these were nine-pound, and the other two six-pound.)

FitzRoy had found a need for expert advice on geology during the first voyage, and had resolved that if on a similar expedition, he would "endeavour to carry out a person qualified to examine the land; while the officers, and myself, would attend to hydrography." Command in that era could involve stress and loneliness, as shown by the suicide of Captain Stokes, and FitzRoy's own uncle Viscount Castlereaghhad committed suicide under stress of overwork. His attempts to get a friend to accompany him fell through, and he asked his friend and superior, Captain Francis Beaufort, to seek a gentleman naturalist as a self-financing passenger who would give him company during the voyage. A sequence of inquiries led to Charles Darwin, a young gentleman on his way to becoming a rural clergyman, joining the voyage. Fitzroy was influenced by the physiognomy of Lavater, and Darwin recounted in his autobiography that he was nearly "rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent disciple of Lavater, & was convinced that he could judge a man's character by the outline of his features; & he doubted whether anyone with my nose could possess sufficient energy & determination for the voyage."

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The Beagle Laid Ashore drawn by Conrad Martens (1834) and engraved by Thomas Landseer (1838)

Beagle was originally scheduled to leave on 24 October 1831 but because of delays in her preparations the departure was delayed until December. Setting forth on what was to become a ground-breaking scientific expedition she departed from Devonport on 10 December. Due to bad weather her first stop was just a few miles ahead, at Barn Pool, on the west side of Plymouth Sound. Beagle left anchorage from Barn Pool on 27 December, passing the nearby town of Plymouth. After completing extensive surveys in South America she returned via New Zealand, Sydney, Hobart Town (6 February 1836), to Falmouth, Cornwall, England, on 2 October 1836.

Darwin had kept a diary of his experiences, and rewrote this as the book titled Journal and Remarks, published in 1839 as the third volume of the official account of the expedition. This travelogue and scientific journal was widely popular, and was reprinted many times with various titles, becoming known as The Voyage of the Beagle. This diary is where Darwin drew most of the ideas for his publications. Darwin attributes his first real training in natural history to his voyage on the Beagle.


HMSBeagle.jpg
In 1837 HMS Beagle set off on a survey of Australia, shown here in an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley.


HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803 (£572,000 in today's currency), was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom, and for that occasion is said to have been the first ship to sail completely under the old London Bridge. There was no immediate need for Beagle so she "lay in ordinary", moored afloat but without masts or rigging. She was then adapted as a survey barque and took part in three survey expeditions.

The second voyage of HMS Beagle is notable for carrying the recently graduated naturalist Charles Darwin around the world. While the survey work was carried out, Darwin travelled and researched geology, natural history and ethnology onshore. He gained fame by publishing his diary journal, best known as The Voyage of the Beagle, and his findings played a pivotal role in the formation of his scientific theories on evolution and natural selection.

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Scale: 1:24. Plan showing a part section for Alacrity (1818), Ariel (1820), Barracouta (1820), Beagle (1820), Brisk (1819), Bustard (1818), Cygnet (1819), Delight (1819), Eclipse (1819), Emulous (1819), Falcon (1820), Frolic (1820), Onyx (1822), Opossum (1821), 10-gun Brigs/Brig Sloops of the Cadmus/Cherokee/Rolla Class. Includes alterations in red for Onyx (1822) and Opossum (1821), building at Sheerness Dockyard.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84944.html#FhAwx2L16FLM4I20.99


Design and construction
The Cherokee class of 10-gun brig-sloops was designed by Sir Henry Peake in 1807, and eventually over 100 were constructed. The working drawings for HMS Beagle and HMS Barracouta were issued to the Woolwich Dockyard on 16 February 1817, and amended in coloured ink on 16 July 1817 with modifications to increase the height of the bulwarks (the sides of the ship extended above the upper deck) by an amount varying from 6 inches (150 mm) at the stem to 4 inches (100 mm) at the stern. Beagle's keel was laid in June 1818, construction cost £7,803, and the ship was launched on 11 May 1820. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review on the River Thames, celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_the_Beagle
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1901 – HMS Holland 1 (or HM submarine Torpedo Boat No 1) launched


Holland 1 (or HM submarine Torpedo Boat No 1) was the first submarine commissioned by the Royal Navy, the first in a six-boat batch of the Holland-class submarine. She was lost in 1913 while under tow to the scrapyard following decommissioning. Recovered in 1982, she was put on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport.

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History
In 1901 she was ordered from John Philip Holland and built at Barrow-in-Furness. The keel was laid down 4 February 1901. In order to keep the boat’s construction secret, she was assembled in a building labelled "Yacht Shed", and the parts that had to be fabricated in the general yard were marked for "pontoon no 1". She was launched on 2 October 1901 and dived for the first time (in an enclosed basin) on 20 March 1902. Sea trials began in April 1902.

In September 1902 she arrived at Portsmouth with the other completed Holland boat and along with HMS Hazard (their tender) made up the "First Submarine Flotilla", commanded by Captain Reginald Bacon.

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Holland no1 submarine, the first british submarine. Model by Vickers-Armstrong.

On 3 March 1903 Holland 1 suffered an explosion that caused four injuries.

On 24 October 1904, with the rest of the Holland fleet and three A-class boats, Holland 1 sailed from Portsmouth to attack a Russian fleet that had mistakenly sunk a number of British fishing vessels in the North Sea in the Dogger Bank incident. The boats were recalled before any attack could take place.

The submarine was decommissioned and sold in 1913 to Thos W Ward for £410.[6] By the time the submarine was sold she was considered so obsolete that she was sold with all fittings intact, and the only requirement put on the purchaser was that the torpedo tube be put out of action.

Loss

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Holland 1 in 1991

While being towed to the scrapyard Holland 1 encountered very severe weather and sank about a mile and a half off Eddystone lighthouse.[6] No one was on board the submarine at the time, and, since the submarine had been seen to be sinking earlier in the journey, the crew of the tug were ready to release the tow rope, preventing any damage to the tug.

Recovery
The wreck was located in 1981 by Plymouth historian Michael Pearn and in November 1982 she was raised. From 1983, after coating in anti-corrosion chemicals, she was displayed at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Work on restoring the submarine continued until September 1988. A talking figure was included to explain the details of the craft to visitors. However, by 1993 it was apparent that the treatment had proved inadequate. A fibreglass tank was built around her, and she was immersed in sodium carbonate solution from 1995. After four years the corrosive chloride ions had been removed, and she was able to be displayed again after restoration work.

Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, in 2001, on her centenary, a new purpose-built climate-controlled building was opened by Countess Mountbatten. In the same year the Royal Mail put a photo of the submarine on a 65 pence stamp. In 2011 the submarine was given an Engineering Heritage Awardby the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

The original bank of batteries, recovered with the wreckage, were provided for testing to the original manufacturer, Chloride Industrial Batteries Ltd based in Swinton, Greater Manchester. Following the initial clean, the lead batteries were recharged and found to be in good working order. Some of the original batteries still remain in the possession of Enersys (ex-CIBL) at the Newport plant, in South Wales.

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The Holland class were the first submarines built for the Royal Navy. They were built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. The first three were designed by John Philip Holland. The Hollands were built under licence from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company/Electric Boat Company during the years 1901 to 1903. The Admiralty of the Royal Navy hoped to keep the Holland class a secret and very few senior officers even knew of their existence. This led to the myth of the Admiralty not taking any interest in submarines. On the contrary, the Admiralty was well aware of the submarine's destructive potential. It therefore refrained from any submarine development program so as to avoid provoking similar programs on the part of foreign navies. Once those navies did begin serious submarine programs, the Admiralty had no choice but to begin its own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Holland_1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland-class_submarine
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1906 - The at this time most modern battleship HMS Dreadnought was laid down.


HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy battleship that revolutionised naval power. Her name and the type of the entire class of warships that was named after her stems from archaic English in which "dreadnought" means "a fearless person". Dreadnought's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that its name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of ships named after it. Likewise, the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as "pre-dreadnoughts". Admiral Sir John "Jacky" Fisher, First Sea Lordof the Board of Admiralty, is credited as the father of Dreadnought. Shortly after he assumed office, he ordered design studies for a battleship armed solely with 12-inch (305 mm) guns and a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). He convened a "Committee on Designs" to evaluate the alternative designs and to assist in the detailed design work.

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Dreadnought was the first battleship of her era to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a few large guns complemented by a heavy secondary armament of smaller guns. She was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines, making her the fastest battleship in the world at the time of her completion.[2] Her launch helped spark a naval arms race as navies around the world, particularly the German Imperial Navy, rushed to match it in the build-up to World War I.[3]

Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine SM U-29, becoming the only battleship confirmed to have sunk a submarine. Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as she was being refitted. Nor did Dreadnought participate in any of the other World War I naval battles. In May 1916 she was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel, not rejoining the Grand Fleet until 1918. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.

Background
Gunnery developments in the late 1890s and the early 1900s, led in the United Kingdom by Percy Scott and in the United States by William Sims, were already pushing expected battle ranges out to an unprecedented 6,000 yards (5,500 m), a distance great enough to force gunners to wait for the shells to arrive before applying corrections for the next salvo. A related problem was that the shell splashes from the more numerous smaller weapons tended to obscure the splashes from the bigger guns. Either the smaller-calibre guns would have to hold their fire to wait for the slower-firing heavies, losing the advantage of their faster rate of fire, or it would be uncertain whether a splash was due to a heavy or a light gun, making ranging and aiming unreliable. Another problem was that longer-range torpedoes were expected to soon be in service and these would discourage ships from closing to ranges where the smaller guns' faster rate of fire would become preeminent. Keeping the range open generally negated the threat from torpedoes and further reinforced the need for heavy guns of a uniform calibre.


Cuniberti's "ideal battleship"

In 1903, the Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti first articulated in print the concept of an all-big-gun battleship. When the Italian Navy did not pursue his ideas, Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane's Fighting Ships advocating his concept. He proposed an "ideal" future British battleship of 17,000 long tons (17,000 t), with a main battery of a dozen 12-inch guns in eight turrets, 12 inches of belt armour, and a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).


"Semi-dreadnought" Satsuma

The Royal Navy (RN), the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States Navy all recognised these issues before 1905. The RN modified the design of the Lord Nelson-class battleships to include a secondary armament of 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns that could fight at longer ranges than the 6-inch (152 mm) guns on older ships, but a proposal to arm them solely with 12-inch guns was rejected. The Japanese battleship Satsuma was laid down as an all-big-gun battleship, five months before Dreadnought, although gun shortages allowed her to be equipped with only four of the twelve 12-inch guns that had been planned. The Americans began design work on an all-big-gun battleship around the same time in 1904, but progress was leisurely and the two South Carolina-class battleships were not ordered until March 1906, five months after Dreadnought was laid down, and the month after it was launched.

The invention by Charles Algernon Parsons of the steam turbine in 1884 led to a significant increase in the speed of ships with his dramatic unauthorised demonstration of Turbinia with her speed of up to 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at Spithead in 1897. After further trials of two turbine-powered destroyers, HMS Viper and HMS Cobra, coupled with the positive experiences of several small passenger liners with turbines, Dreadnought was ordered with turbines.

The Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle of Tsushima were analysed by Fisher's Committee, with Captain William Pakenham's statement that "12-inch gunfire" by both sides demonstrated hitting power and accuracy, whilst 10-inch shells passed unnoticed. Admiral Fisher wanted his board to confirm, refine and implement his ideas of a warship that had both the speed of 21 knots (39 km/h) and 12-inch guns, pointing out that at the Battle of Tsushima, Admiral Togo had been able to cross the Russians' "T" due to speed. The unheard of long-range (13,000 metres (14,000 yd)) fire during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, in particular, although never experienced by any navy prior to the battle, seemed to confirm what the RN already believed.

Development of Dreadnought

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3-view drawing of HMS Dreadnought in 1911, with QF 12 pdr guns added

Admiral Fisher proposed several designs for battleships with a uniform armament in the early 1900s, and he gathered an unofficial group of advisors to assist him in deciding on the ideal characteristics in early 1904. After he was appointed First Sea Lord on 21 October 1904, he pushed through the Board of Admiralty a decision to arm the next battleship with 12 inch guns and that it would have a speed no less than 21 knots (39 km/h). In January 1905, he convened a "Committee on Designs", including many members of his informal group, to evaluate the various design proposals and to assist in the detailed design process. While nominally independent it served to deflect criticism of Fisher and the Board of Admiralty as it had no ability to consider options other than those already decided upon by the Admiralty. Fisher appointed all of the members of the committee and he was President of the Committee.

The committee decided on the layout of the main armament, rejecting any superfiring arrangements because of concerns about the effects of muzzle blast on the open sighting hoods on the turret roof below, and chose turbine propulsion over reciprocating engines to save 1,100 long tons (1,100 t) in total displacement on 18 January 1905. Before disbanding on 22 February, it decided on a number of other issues, including the number of shafts (up to six were considered), the size of the anti-torpedo boat armament,[17] and most importantly, to add longitudinal bulkheads to protect the magazines and shell rooms from underwater explosions. This was deemed necessary after the Russian battleship Tsesarevich was thought to have survived a Japanese torpedo hit during the Russo–Japanese War by virtue of her heavy internal bulkhead. To avoid increasing the displacement of the ship, the thickness of her waterline belt was reduced by 1 inch (25 mm).

The Committee completed its deliberations on 22 February 1905 and reported their findings in March of that year. It was decided due to the experimental nature of the design to delay placing orders for any other ships until the "Dreadnought" and her trials had been completed. Once the design had been finalised the hull form was designed and tested at the Admiralty's experimental ship tank at Gosport. Seven iterations were required before the final hull form was selected. Once the design was finalized a team of three assistant engineers and 13 draughtsmen produced detailed drawings.

To assist in speeding up the ship's construction, the internal hull structure was simplified as much as possible and an attempt was made to standardize on a limited number of standard plates, which varied only in their thickness.

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Hull longitudinal section CC – condenser compartment; ER – engine room; BR – boiler room; WTB – watertight bulkhead; WTF – watertight frame. 1 – after capstan; 2, 4 – torpedo head magazine; 3 – mess space; 5 – fore top; 6 – engine room vent; 7 – boiler room vent; 8 – signal tower; 9 – ; 10 – main top; 11 – admirals sea cabin; 12 – chart house; 13 – conning tower; 14 – officers' cabin; 15 – escape trunk; 16 – vent; 17 – capstan; 18 – trimming tank; 19 – capstan engine room; 20 – submerged torpedo room; 21 – 12 in shellroom; 22 – 12 in magazines; 23 – ash hoist; 24 – reserve feed-water tank; 25 – coal bunker; 26 – coal shute; 27 – electric lift; 28 – oil fuel tank; 29 – fresh water tank; 30 – submerged torpedo room; 31 – fresh water tank; 32 – stern torpedo tube.

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Cross-section amidships showing the armour layout

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Dreadnought two days after the keel was laid. Most of lower frames are in place plus a few of the beams which will support the armoured deck.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 October 1935 – Launch of French battleship Dunkerque


Dunkerque was the lead ship of the Dunkerque class of battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s. The class also included Strasbourg. The two ships were the first capital ships to be built by the French Navy after World War I; the planned Normandie and Lyon classes had been cancelled at the outbreak of war, and budgetary problems prevented the French from building new battleships in the decade after the war. Dunkerque was laid down in December 1932, was launched October 1935, and was completed in May 1937. She was armed with a main battery of eight 330mm/50 Modèle 1931 gunsarranged in two quadruple gun turrets and had a top speed of 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph).

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Dunkerque and Strasbourg formed the French Navy's 1ère Division de Ligne (1st Division of the Line) prior to the Second World War. The two ships searched for German commerce raiders in the early months of the war, and Dunkerque also participated in convoy escort duties. The ship was badly damaged during the British attack at Mers-el-Kébir after the Armistice that ended the first phase of France's participation in World War II, but she was refloated and partially repaired to return to Toulon for comprehensive repairs. Dunkerque was scuttled in November 1942 to prevent her capture by the Germans, and subsequently seized and partially scrapped by the Italians and later the Germans. Her wreck remained in Toulon until she was stricken in 1955, and scrapped three years later

Development

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Line drawing of Dunkerque
Main article: Dunkerque-class battleship

The French Navy's design staff spent the decade following the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty attempting to produce a satisfactory design to fill 70,000 tons as allowed by the treaty. Initially, the French sought a reply to the Italian Trento-class cruisers of 1925, but all proposals were rejected. A 17,500-ton cruiser, which could have handled the Trentos, was inadequate against the old Italian battleships, however, and the 37,000-ton battlecruiser concepts were prohibitively expensive and would jeopardize further naval limitation talks. These attempts were followed by an intermediate design for a 23,690-ton protected cruiser in 1929; it was armed with 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, armoured against 203 mm (8.0 in) guns, and had a speed of 29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph). Visually, it bore a profile strikingly similar to the final Dunkerque.

The German Deutschland-class cruisers became the new focus for French naval architects in 1929. The design had to respect the 1930 London Naval Treaty, which limited the French to two 23,333-ton ships until 1936. Drawing upon previous work, the French developed a 23,333-ton design armed with 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, armoured against the German cruisers' 280 mm (11 in) guns, and with a speed of 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph). As with the final Dunkerque, the main artillery was concentrated entirely forward. The design was rejected by the French parliament in July 1931 and sent back for revision. The final revision grew to 26,500 tons; the 305 mm guns were replaced by 330mm/50 Modèle 1931 guns, the armour was slightly improved, and the speed slightly decreased. Parliamentary approval was granted in early 1932, and Dunkerque was ordered on 26 October.

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Dunkerque in her February 1940 configuration


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Dunkerque
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkerque-class_battleship
 
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