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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4th of October

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1710 - Action of 4 October 1710 / Battle of Køge Bay
This indecisive Battle of Køge Bay took place on 4 October 1710, during the Great Northern War, in Køge Bay, just south of Copenhagen. Denmark had 26 ships of the line and 5 frigates with 1808 guns, and Sweden had 21 ships of the line and several frigates with 1512 guns. The Danish ship Dannebroge exploded and of the 550-man crew only 9 survived. The Swedish ships Tre Kronor and Prinsessan Ulrika Eleonora ran aground. Because of the weather the battle could not continue. However, the Swedish fleet managed to sink and capture a Danish convoy of transport ships that were supposed to embark a Russian invasion force in Danzig. The action in Køge Bugt checked those Russian invasion plans of Sweden.
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Danish ship Dannebroge

1744 - Loss of the HMS Victory (1737 - 100), Cptn. Samuel Faulkner. Admiral Sir John Balchen and 1,100 men lost.

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Peter Monamy was one of the first English artists to establish a native school of marine painting. His work is often alleged to "show an overwhelming influence of the Dutch style", but the authentic works created by him during his 45 year London career convincingly demonstrate that this influence was a great deal less than "overwhelming". In 1696 Monamy, aged 15, was bound apprentice for seven years to a former Master of the Painter-Stainer's Company, and was obviously trained and taught by him. It has repeatedly been asserted that he "may have" worked in van de Velde’s studio in Greenwich, but there is no evidence whatsoever of this supposed employment. Any such employment is exceedingly unlikely, and in fact virtually impossible. The van de Veldes ceased to maintain a studio in Greenwich soon after the 1689 Revolution of William III, and apparently moved their business to Covent Garden. At this time Monamy was 8-10 years old.
The Loss of the 'Victory', 4 October 1744, is a dramatic night scene in the native English taste.


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Scale: 1:34.3. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Victory' (1737), a 100-gun three-decker first-rate ship of the line. Built in 'bread and butter fashion' and finished in the Georgian style, the model is partially decked, fully equipped and rigged.

1770 – Launch of French Victoire, a 74 gun Bien-Aimé class Ship of the Line
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detail: Victoire at the Toulon naval review of 1777. She is incorrectly depicted as a three-decker; Victoire was actually a 74-gun, with two batteries.

1780 - 13 Royal Navy ships foundered in the great hurricane in the West Indies over 8 days - including HMS Thunderer (1760 - 74), HMS Phoenix (1759 - 44), HMS Barbadoes (1778 - 14)
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Model of a 74-gun ship, 3rd rate, cz. 1760. Thought to be either HMS Hercules from 1759 or HMS Thunderer from 1760.

1821 - Lt. Robert F. Stockton sails aboard USS Alligator from Boston to West Africa, to suppress the African slave trade and select and acquire territory to resettle former slaves in their native continent
USS_Alligator.jpg
Artist illustration of USS Alligator 1820-1822 taken from NOAA website - http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/projects/04alligator/media/alligator.htm
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5th of October

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1775 - Launch of HMS Stirling Castle, a 64-gun third rate Worcester-class ship of the line
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1778 – Launch of French Annibal, a 74-gun Annibal-class ship of the line, launched
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1780 - 13 Royal Navy ships foundered in the great hurricane in the West Indies over 8 days - including HMS Stirling Castle (1775 - 64), HMS Scarborough (1756 - 22) and HMS Victor (1779 - 10)

1804 - The Battle of Cape Santa Maria
(also known as the "Battle of Cape St Mary"; in Spanish Batalla del Cabo de Santa María) was a naval action of 5 October 1804 that took place off the southern Portuguese coast, in which a British squadron under the command of Commodore Graham Moore attacked a Spanish squadron commanded by Brigadier Don José de Bustamante y Guerra, in time of peace, without declaration of war between the UK and Spain.
Francis_Sartorius_-_Four_frigates_capturing_Spanish_treasure_ships,_5_October_1804.jpg

1850 - Launch of Ville de Paris, a 118 gun Ocean-class Ship of the Line
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The Ville de Paris among the escadre d'évolution, around 1864.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6th of October

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1774 – Launch of HMS Vigilant, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line
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1779 - The Action of 6 October 1779
was a minor but famous and furious naval engagement that took part in the early stages of the war between Britain and France in the American Revolutionary War between the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Quebec and the frigate Surveillante of the French Navy. The battle ended in a French victory when Quebec was destroyed by an explosion.
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1786 - Launch of HMS Bellerophon , a 74 gun Arrogant-class
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1986 - Soviet submarine K-219 sunk by explosion and fire caused by seawater leak in missile tube (some sources date it 3.rd October) - film: Hostile Waters
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7th of October

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1571 - Battle of Lepanto
was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 where a fleet of the Holy League, led by the Venetian Republic and the Spanish Empire, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto (the Venetian name of ancient Naupactus Ναύπακτος, Ottoman İnebahtı) when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily. The Holy League was a coalition of European Catholic maritime states which were arranged by Pope Pius V and led by John of Austria. The league was largely financed by Philip II of Spain, and the Venetian Republic was the main contributor of ships.
1920px-Battle_of_Lepanto_1571.jpg

1785 – Launch of Commerce de Marseille, a 74 gun Téméraire class of the French Navy.
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1795 - Battle of the Levant Convoy / Action of 7 October 1795
was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 7 October 1795. During the battle, a powerful French squadron surprised a valuable British convoy from the Levant off Cape St Vincent on the coast of Portugal. The convoy was weakly defended, and although the small escort squadron tried to drive the French back, they were outmatched. In the ensuing action one of the British ships of the line and almost the entire convoy was overrun and captured. The French commander, Commodore Joseph de Richery, then retired to the neutral Spanish port of Cádiz, where he came under blockade.
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1800 – French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun East Indiaman Kent
Combat_naval_-_l'abordage_du_Kent_de_Garneray_(1836)_musée_de_La_Roche-sur-Yon.jpg
Capture of Kent by Confiance. Painting by Ambroise Louis Garneray

1864 - The Bahia incident / USS Washusett captures Confederate raider CSS Florida in harbor of Bahia, Brazil.
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"Cutting out the Florida from Bahia, Brazil by the U.S.S. Wachusett." 19th Century phototype print by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia. It depicts the capture of CSS Florida by USS Wachusett at Bahia, Brazil, on 7 October 1864.

1865 - The Duncan Dunbar was a clipper constructed for Duncan Dunbar & Company in 1857. It was shipwrecked at the Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil on 7 October 1865 on the way to Sydney, Australia.
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1985 – Four men from the Palestine Liberation Front hijack the MS Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8th of October

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1746 - HMS Weazel (1745 - 16), Cdr. Hugh Palliser, off Beachy Head, in a short time captured four French privateers including Jeantie (6). Antoine Colloit, and Fortune (10), John Gilliere
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth with deck detail for Weazle (1745), a 16-gun Ship Sloop. The plan shows her as a two-masted sloop, to which she was possibly altered by 1762. She underwent two surveys in 1764 and 1768 before a Great Repair in April-May 1769 at Portsmouth.

1778 – Launch of HMS Alexander, a 74-gun Alfred-class third-rate
HMS Alexander
was a 74-gun third-rate of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Deptford Dockyard on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819. She was named after Alexander the Great.
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The launch of the 74-gun warship HMS 'Alexander' at Deptford Dockyard. The 'Alexander' can be seen on the stocks in the background. There are a number of barges and smaller vessels, full of spectators, watching her launch. In the foreground, several Royal Navy vessels are moored off the dockyard, including the 'Royal Caroline' on the far left. The 'Alexander' later served at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In the painting the festive celebrations are emphasized through the inclusion of flags and pennants and the representation of crowds of spectators on the quayside and in boats the water. With its low horizon the work recalls Dutch 17th-century marine painting. Like his father, John Cleveley the Younger depicted the Royal Dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham and in many works the son followed his father’s example in producing paintings commemorating launches. However, the artist abandoned his father’s stiff, documentary style in favour of a more open, atmospheric view. John Cleveley the Younger and his brother Robert, who also worked as an artist, treated a much wider range of subjects and addressed a wider audience through making pictures for reproduction in prints.

1778 – Launch of HMS Charon, a 44-gun Two-decker Roebuck-class Fifth-Rate
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1804 - gunboat HMS Speedy (1798 - 4) sank

1879 – War of the Pacific: The Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamo
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The Battle of Angamos (Spanish: Combate de Angamos) was a naval encounter of the War of the Pacific fought between the navies of Chile and Perú at Punta Angamos, on 8 October, 1879. The battle was the culminant point of a naval campaign that lasted about five months, as the Chilean Navy steamed with the sole mission of eliminating its Peruvian counterpart. In the struggle, two armored frigates, led by Commodore Galvarino Riveros and Navy Captain Juan José Latorre battered and later captured the Peruvian monitor Huáscar, under Rear Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9th of October

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1776 - HMS Roebuck (1774) was in action on the Hudson, with HMS Phoenix and HMS Tartar, where she destroyed two armed gallies Independence and Crane, and forced her way up the river, whilst engaging on either side, the two forts Washington and Lee
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1790 – Launch of HMS Leviathan, a 74-gun Courageux-class third-rate ship of the line
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1799 – Sinking of HMS Lutine with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
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Internal shot of Rostrum at Lloyd's and Lutine Bell

1803 - HMS Atalante (1793/1797 - 16), J. O. Masefield, drove three French vessels ashore at the mouth of the Pennerf
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1913 – The steamship SS Volturno catches fire (caused by a cigarette) in the mid-Atlantic and sank
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1918 - While escorting the British transport ship HMS Aquitania, USS Shaw's (DD 68) rudder jams just as she is completing the right leg of a zigzag, leaving her headed directly toward the transport. Aquitania then strikes Shaw, cutting off 90 feet of the destroyer's bow, mangling her bridge and setting her on fire. Shaw's crew brings her under control, though 12 lives are lost.
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10th of October

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1659 - Death of Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (Dutch: [ˈɑbəl ˈjɑnsoːn ˈtɑsmɑn]; 1603 – 10 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land(now Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.
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Routes taken by Tasman in the Australasian region, on his first and second voyages.

1683 - Harbour of Cadiz: A fire started in the forecastle of convoy ship Wapen von Hamburg I and rapidly spread throughout the vessel. The fire eventually reached the gunpowder depot and caused a terrible explosion that destroyed the ship. Admiral Berent Jakobsen Karpfanger, 42 of 170 crew members, and 22 of 50 soldiers lost their lives.
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1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000–30,000 in the Caribbean
The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Huracán San Calixto, the Great Hurricane of the Antilles, and the 1780 Disaster, is the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. Between 20,000 and 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles when the storm passed through them from October 10–16. Specifics on the hurricane's track and strength are unknown because the official Atlantic hurricane database goes back only to 1851.

The hurricane struck Barbados with winds possibly exceeding 320 km/h (200 mph) before moving past Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Sint Eustatius and causing thousands of deaths on those islands. Coming in the midst of the American Revolution, the storm caused heavy losses to British fleet contesting for control of the area, largely weakening British control over the Atlantic. The hurricane later passed near Puerto Rico and over the eastern portion of Hispaniola, causing heavy damage near the coastlines. It ultimately turned to the northeast and was last observed on October 20 southeast of Atlantic Canada.

The death toll from the Great Hurricane alone exceeds that of many entire decades of Atlantic hurricanes. Estimates are marginally higher than for Hurricane Mitch, the second-deadliest Atlantic storm, for which figures are likely more accurate. The hurricane was part of the disastrous 1780 Atlantic hurricane season, with two other deadly storms occurring in October.

1843 – Launch of HMS Worcester, a 52-gun 1,500 ton fourth rate frigate, belonging to the six-ship Southampton class in Deptford, 23 years after she was laid down
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1892 - The SS Bokhara, a P&O steamship sank in a typhoon off the coast of Sand Island in the Pescadores, Formosa. Of the 150 people who perished, eleven were members of the Hong Kong cricket team
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The SS Bokhara, which is moored in Great Britain during the 1880s. Picture from the Hong Kong Cricket Association

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Hong Kong and Shanghai's cricket teams pose for a photograph.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11th of October

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1746 - HMS Nottingham (1703 - 60), Cptn. Philip Saumarez, took French ship Mars (1740 - 64) off Cape Clear.
Samuel_Scott_-_Action_Between_Nottingham_And_Mars_1746.jpg

1753 – Launch of French Courageux 74-guns at Brest
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1776 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain a fleet of American boats is defeated by the Royal Navy, but delays the British advance until 1777
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1776 - gunboat USS Philadelphia sunk during Battle of Valcour Island
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1797 - The Battle of Camperdown
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1942 - The Battle of Cape Esperance AobaEsperance.jpg
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12th of October

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1492 – Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached the Indies.
Columbus_first_voyage.jpg

1765 – Launch of french Saint-Esprit ("Holy Ghost") was an 80-gun ship
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1792 – The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City
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1793 - Boats of HMS Captain (1787 - 74), Cptn. Reeve, and HMS Speedy (1782 - 14), Charles Cunningham, found French frigate Imperieuse (1787 - 40) at Porta Especia, 5 days after the Raid on Genoa. She scuttled herself but was raised and taken into the Royal Navy
HMS_Captain_capturing_the_San_Nicolas_and_the_San_Josef.jpg

1798 - The Battle of Tory Island
(sometimes called the Battle of Donegal, Battle of Lough Swilly or Warren's Action) was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of County Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.
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1813 – Launch of French Duquesne, a 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line
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2000 – The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13th of October

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1644 – A Swedish–Dutch fleet defeats the Danish fleet at Fehmarn and captures about 1,000 prisoners.
Sjöstrid-Sjöslaget_vid_Femernbält_1644_-_Sjöhistoriska_museet_-_O_08132.tif.jpg

1796 - HMS Terpsichore (32), Cptn. Richard Bowen, captured Spanish frigate Mahonesa (34), Cptn. Don Tomas Ayaldi, off Carthagena
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1798 - HMS Melampus and Résolue
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Detail from the painting by Bristol artist Chris Woodhouse of the 36-gun Bristol-built frigate HMS Melampus, commissioned and purchased in 1990 by Bristol City Museum
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14th of October

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1726 – Birth of Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, Scottish-English admiral and politician (d. 1813)
Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham PC (14 October 1726 – 17 June 1813[1]) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the Seven Years' War. Middleton was given command of a guardship at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary, at the start of the American War of Independence, and was subsequently appointed Comptroller of the Navy. He went on to be First Naval Lord and then First Lord of the Admiralty. Middleton also played a crucial role in the abolition of the slave trade.
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1780 – Launch of HMS Magnanime, Intrepid-class – converted 1794 razees
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1785 - Launch of HMS St George, a 98-gun Duke-class
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View of HMS St George after being on shore on the bar of Lisbon (PAH0745)

1811 - HMS Pomone (1805 - 38), Cptn. Robert Barrie, with Sir Hartford Jones on board, wrecked on the Needles.
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1881 - The Eyemouth disaster

1905 – Launch of SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie was a Hamburg-America Line passenger ship
Hamburg-America_steamer_Kronprinzessin_Cecilie_of_1905.png
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15th of October

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1781 – Launch of French Pégase 74 at Brest – Captured by the British in the Bay of Biscay in April 1782 and added to the RN under the same name
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1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks, killing its inventor
Conrad_Wise_Chapman_-_Submarine_Torpedo_Boat_H.L._Hunley,_Dec._6,_1863.jpg
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16th of October

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17th of October

usually you can read these words followed by the link to the events

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It is now already one year ago, that I was on holiday and visiting the International shipmodeling Convention in Rochefort, so I was not able during this time to make the daily events, so they are still missing.
So the Events from the 17th up to the 23rd October are missing. and in moment I have not so much free time to make them.
Sorry for this my friends...... I will try my best to post some events, but can not promise it.
Latest see you at the 24th October
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17th of October

That you have something to read I searched out these events:

1726 – Relaunch of HMS Romney (1708), a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard, and originally launched on 2 December 1708


1743 – Relaunch of HMS Northumberland, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and originally launched in 1705.


1747 - Squadron of 4 British privateer frigates, under Commodore George Walker, King George, Prince Frederick, Princess Amelia and Duke engaged Spanish Glorioso (70) near Cape St. Vincent. They were later reinforced by HMS Dartmouth (50), Cptn. John Hamilton, which caught fire and blew up, and HMS Russell (92) before Cptn. don Pedro Messia de la Cerda surrendered.

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


1769 – Launch of HMS Elizabeth, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 October 1769 at Portsmouth Dockyard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Elizabeth_(1769)

1769 – Launch of HMS Worcester, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 October 1769 at Portsmouth, and was the fourth ship to bear the name.


1781 – Death of Admiral of the Fleet Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, KB, PC (21 February 1705 – 17 October 1781),[1] was a Royal Navy officer. As captain of the third-rate HMS Berwick he took part in the Battle of Toulon in February 1744 during the War of the Austrian Succession. He also captured six ships of a French squadron in the Bay of Biscay in the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in October 1747.


1799 - HMS Ethalion (38), Cptn J. Young, captured Spanish frigate Thetis (36), Don Juan de Mendoza, from Vera Cruz with specie valued at 1,411,256 dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ethalion_(1797)


1807 - HMS Firefly schooner, Lt. Thomas Price, foundered in a hurricane off Curacao.

1809 - HMS Pelorus (18), Capt. Huskisson, and HMS Hazard (16), Hugh Cameron, were blockading Point-a-Petre when they observed a privateer schooner moored under the battery of St. Mary, Guadeloupe. Pelorus destroyed the battery and their boats boarded and blew up the schooner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pelorus_(1808)


1854 – French 118 gun Ville de Paris launched the bombardment of Sevastopol by signaling "France watches you". Her poop deck was soon struck by a shell and two round shots, killing two and wounding six men. By 7:00 PM, Ville de Paris had received 50 shots in her hull and one hundred in her rigging.


1863 - Sailors from the Union screw steam gunboat Tahoma and side-wheel steamer Adela board the blockade runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale at Old Tampa Bay, Fla. and destroy them. During the battle, five of the landing party are killed, 10 are wounded and five are taken prisoner. This mission also diverts the real attention from the shelling of Tampa, Fla.

1918 - German submarine U-155 torpedoes and sinks the freighter S.S. Lucia in the Atlantic. Despite being rigged with buoyancy boxes to render her virtually unsinkable, a torpedo penetrates the engine room, killing two men and sinking her the next day. USS Fairfax (DD 93) rescues her crew and transfers them to armored cruiser No. 5 USS Huntington.

1922 - The Vought VE-7SF, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Virgil C. Griffin, makes the Navys first carrier takeoff from USS Langley (CV 1), anchored in York River, Va.

1941 - Before the United States entry into World War II, German submarine U-568 torpedoes and damages USS Kearny (DD 432) near Iceland, killing 11 and injuring 22. The USS Kearny becomes the first US Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat.


1942 - USS Trigger (SS 237) sinks the Japanese freighter Holland Maru near the mouth of Bungo Strait off Kyushu, Japan. Lost in action with all hands later in the war, Trigger receives 11 battle stars for her World War II service and the Presidential Unit Citation for her fifth, sixth, and seventh war patrols.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18th of October

1565 – Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture a Portuguese trading carrack in the Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West.



1760 - HMS Lively (20), Cptn. Hon. Frederic Maitland, took Valeur (20) off Cuba.

HMS Lively
was a 20-gun post ship of the Royal Navy, launched in 1756. During the Seven Years' War she captured several vessels, most notably the French corvette Valeur in 1760. She then served during the American Revolutionary War, where she helped initiate the Battle of Bunker Hill. The French captured her in 1778, but the British recaptured her 1781. She was sold in 1784.


1760 - HMS Boreas (28), Cptn. Samuel Uvedale, takes La Sirene (32)

HMS Boreas
was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built in 1757, she was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak. Boreas saw service during the Seven Years' War and took part in two actions at sea. She assisted in the capture of the 36-gun French frigate Diane in April 1758, and her most famous engagement was the capture of the French frigate Sirène in October 1760. She was sold out of the service in 1770.


1775 - Capt. Henry Mowat RN, leading a four ship flotilla (HMS Canso, HMS Symmetry, HMS Spitfire, and HMS Halifax), commenced naval bombardment of Falmouth, Massachusetts (site of modern day Portland, Maine). The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).


1798 - HMS Anson (38), Cptn Durham, and HMS Kangaroo (16), Edward Brace, captured Loire (46).


1799 - HMS Triton (32), Cptn. John Gore, HMS Naiad (38) and HMS Alcemene (32), Cptn. H. Digy, captured Santa Brigida (36), Don Antonio Pillon, from Vera Cruz with specie valued at 1,400,000 dollars.


1799 - HMS Impregnable (98), Cptn. Jonathan Faulknor, wrecked after striking on Chichester Shoals of Portsmouth.

HMS Impregnable
was a Royal Navy 98-gun second rate. This ship of the line was launched on 15 April 1786 at Deptford Dockyard.[1] She was wrecked in 1799 off Spithead.


1806 - HMS Caroline (36), Cptn. Peter Rainier, captured Dutch frigate Maria-Riggersbergen (36), Captain Jager, off the coast of Java.

The Action of 18 October 1806 was a minor naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars, fought between the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Caroline and a Dutch squadron at the entrance to Batavia harbour on Java in the Dutch East Indies. During the battle the Dutch frigate Maria Riggersbergen was left unsupported by the remainder of the squadron and, isolated, was forced to surrender. Captain Peter Rainier, the British commander, was subsequently free to remove his prize from within sight of the Dutch port when the remainder of the Dutch squadron refused to engage Caroline and their crews deliberately grounded the ships to avoid capture. He also returned many prisoners taken previously in a captured brig.

The action, and that of with the earlier Action of 26 July 1806, demonstrated the weakness of the Dutch squadron in the East Indies and convinced Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew to lead an operation against Batavia to eliminate the remainder of the Dutch squadron in November 1806. This second raid was only partially successful, and was followed a year later by a raid on the harbour of Griessie, in which the last Dutch warships in the East were eliminated.

Capture_of_Maria_Riggersbergen.jpg
Capture of the Maria Riggersbergen, Octr. 18th 1806 - Thomas Whitcombe, 1817


1812 - USS Wasp (18), Master Commandant Jacob Jones, captures HMS Frolic (18), Cptn. Thomas Whinyates,off the coast of Virginia.

The sloop-of-war Wasp, commanded by Master Commandant Jacob Jones, captures HMS Frolic. After a severe engagement of 43 minutes, both vessels are dismasted. HMS Poictiers appears shortly thereafter and Wasp has to surrender as it can neither run nor hope to fight such an overwhelming opponent as the 74-gun ship-of-the-line. Wasp serves the British as HMS Peacock until it is lost off the Virginia Capes in 1813.


1851 – Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale.


1867 - The sloop-of-war Ossipee and the third-class screw steamer Resaca participate in formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to U.S. authority at Sitka and remain to enforce law and order in the new territory.

1940 – World War II: Italian submarine Durbo is scuttled by her crew near the island of Alboran after attack by destroyers HMS Firedrake and HMS Wrestler.



1944 - USS Bluegill (SS 242) and USS Raton (SS 270) attack a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea. Bluegill sinks the army cargo ships Arabia Maru and Chinsei Maru and freighter Hakushika Maru. Raton sinks the army cargo ships Taikai Maru and Shiranesan Maru.


1977 - USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) is commissioned at Norfolk, Va. The Ike, named after the nations 34th president, is the third nuclear-powered and second Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Ike is currently homeported in Norfolk.

 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19th of October

1596 – The Spanish ship San Felipe runs aground on the coast of Japan and its cargo is confiscated by local authorities

On 19 October 1596, the Spanish ship San Felipe was shipwrecked in Urado on the Japanese island of Shikoku en route from Manila to Acapulco. The local daimyō Chōsokabe Motochika seized the cargo of the richly laden Manila galleon, and the incident escalated all the way up to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ruling taikō of Japan. The pilot of the ship incautiously suggested to Japanese authorities that it was Spanish modus operandi to have missionaries infiltrate a country before an eventual military conquest, as had been done in the Americas. This led to the crucifixion of 26 Christians in Nagasaki, the first lethal persecution of Christians by the state in Japan. The executed were later known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan.


1781 - British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrenders his army of some 8,000 men to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown.

1793 – HMS Crescent vs French Reunion
(some sources mention the 19th, some the 20th)

The Action of 20 October 1793 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought off Cape Barfleur on the French coast of the English Channel. The early months of the war, which had begun in February, had seen a number of French frigates raiding British merchant shipping in the Channel, and HMS Crescent under Captain James Saumarez was deployed to watch the port of Cherbourg with the aim of disrupting the operations of the French frigates Réunion and Sémillante that were based in the harbour. On 20 October, Saumarez was waiting off Cape Barfleur for French movement when his lookout sighted Réunion and the cutter Espérance approaching from open water.

Saumarez immediately moved to engage the French ship and managed to isolate the frigate and subject it to a fierce barrage of fire for more than two hours. Captain François A. Dénian on Réunion responded, but aside from inflicting minor damage to Saumarez's rigging achieved little while his own vessel was heavily battered, suffering severe damage to rigging masts and hull and more than 80 and possibly as many as 120 casualties. British losses were confined to a single man wounded by an accident aboard Crescent. Eventually Dénian could not hold out any longer and was forced to surrender on the arrival of the 28-gun British frigate HMS Circe. Réunion was later repaired and commissioned into the Royal Navy, while Saumarez was knighted for his success.

1280px-HMS_Crescent,_capturing_the_French_frigate_Réunion_off_Cherbourg,_20th_October_1793.jpg
H.M.S. Crescent, under the command of Captain James Saumarez, capturing the French frigate Réunion off Cherbourg, 20 October 1793, att. John Christian Schetky


1810 - Start of campaign to capture Lle de France by HMS Illustrious (74), Cptn. William Robert Broughton, and consorts.
1280px-HMS_Illustrious_heading_out_of_Table_Bay_in_choppy_conditions_and_a_stiff_breeze,_by_Th...jpg
HMS Illustrious heading out of Table Bay (Thomas Whitcombe, cira 1811)


1811 - Cptn. George Ralph Collier, HMS Surveillante (36), and a party of marines, in conjunction with a party of guerillas under Pastor, attacked the battery of Mundaca, put the enemy to flight, blew up the fortifications, and carried off all the stores.


1811 - Boats of HMS Imperieuse (38), Cptn, Hon. Henry Duncan, and HMS Thames (32), Cptn. Charles Napier, took 10 polacres at Palinuro, Calabria.


1843 - Cptn. Robert Stockton in USS Princeton, the first screw propelled naval steamer, challenges British merchant ship Great Western to a race off New York, which Princeton won.

The first USS Princeton was a screw steam warship in the United States Navy. Commanded by Captain Robert F. Stockton, Princeton was launched on September 5, 1843.
On February 28, 1844, during a Potomac River pleasure cruise for dignitaries, one gun exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, and four other high-ranking federal officials. President John Tyler, who was aboard but below decks, was not injured. The ship's reputation in the Navy never recovered.

USS_Princeton_(1843).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(1843)

1864 - The steamer Mobile captures schooner Emily off San Luis Pass, Texas with a cargo of 150 bales of cotton.

1943 – The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it.


Sinfra was a cargo ship built in 1929 as Fernglen by Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Oslo, Norway, for a Norwegian shipping company. The ship was sold to Swedish owners in 1934 and to a French company in 1939, on the last occasion having her name changed to Sinfra.

Sinfra was confiscated by German authorities in 1942, and used by them in the Mediterranean. On 19 October 1943, Sinfra was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft north of Souda Bay, Crete. Around 2,000 people were killed in the sinking, the majority being Italian POWs.

MS_Fernglen_after_being_launched_at_Akers_Mekaniske_Verksted_(1929).jpg

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

1944 - USS Gilligan (DE 508) bombards Mili Atoll, Marshall.


1987 - U.S. Navy destroyers destroy two Iranian oil-drilling platforms during Operation Nimble Archer. This action was in response to the Iranian Silkworm Missile that hit MV Sea Isle City, which was under the protection of Operation Earnest Will.

2001 – SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 migrants, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.


 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
20th of October

1401 – Death of Klaus Störtebeker, German pirate


1720 – Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy.

The Capture of the sloop William refers to a small single ship action fought between Calico Jack's pirate ship and a British sloop-of-war from Port Royal, Jamaica. The battle was fought in Dry Harbor Bay, and ended with the capture of the famed pirate and his small crew of which several were hanged later on as a warning to other brigands.


1744 - HMS Bonetta (14), HMS Greenwich (54), Cptn. Edward Allen, HMS St. Albans (54), HMS Thunder bomb (8) and HMS Lark hulk (42) foundered off Jamaica during hurricane.


1778 - HMS Jupiter (50), Cptn. Francis Reynolds, and HMS Medea (28), Capt. James Montagu, engaged a French ship of the line Triton in the Bay of Biscay.

The Action of 20 October 1778 was an inconclusive engagement between French ship-of-the-line Triton and British ship-of-the-line Jupiter with a frigate Medea that took place off Cape Finisterre in the Bay of Biscay. Darkness separated the combatants before any decisive result was obtained.

Combat_du_20_octobre_1778.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jupiter_(1778)

1793 - HMS Crescent (36), Cptn. James Saumarez, engaged French frigate Reunion with a cutter, Esperance (14) in company. Reunion was taken but Esperance escaped into Cherbourg.

1280px-HMS_Crescent,_capturing_the_French_frigate_Réunion_off_Cherbourg,_20th_October_1793.jpg


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

1798 - HMS Fisgard (44) captured Immorlalite.

Capture_or_Immortalite_217052.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Résistance_(1796)

1799 - HMS Cerberus (32) engaged five Spanish frigates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1794)

1806 - HMS Athenienne (64), Cptn. Robert Raynsford, wrecked on the Esquerques, off Sicily.

HMS Athenienne was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was the former Maltese ship San Giovanni, which the French captured on the stocks in 1798 and launched and commissioned as Athénien. The Royal Navy captured her at or prior to the surrender of Valletta, on 4 September 1800, and took her into service as Athenienne. She was wrecked near Sicily, with great loss of life, in 1806.

1280px-Third_rate_ship-of-the-line_20100306-2.jpg


1808 - 21 Danish gunboats, under Cptn. Johan C. Krieger, attacks a British convoy in the southern part of the Sound. The convoy consisting of 137 ships is escorted by HMS Africa (64), Cptn. John Barrett, HMS Thunder bomb, James Caulfield, and 2 brigs. Due to lack of wind Africa could not manouvere and was severely damaged.

1813 - HMS Achates (16), Isaac Morrison, engaged Trave off Cape Finisterre.



1824 - U.S. Schooner Porpoise captures four pirate ships off Cuba.

1827 - Battle of Navarino. A combined Turkish and Egyptian armada, under Ibrahim Pasha, was destroyed by an allied British, French, and Russian naval force, under Edward Codrington

1280px-Navarino.jpg



1864 - A boat expedition under Acting Master George E. Hill, with the screw steam gunboat Stars and Stripes, ascends the Ochlockonee River in Western Florida and destroys an extensive Confederate fishery on Marshs Island, capturing a detachment of soldiers assigned to guard the works.

1910 – The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.


Olympic_sea_trials.jpg


1941 - USS Hornet (CV 8) is commissioned. During World War II, she participates in the Doolittle Raid on Japan, the Battle of Midway, and the Solomon Campaign. On Oct. 26, 1942, at the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, Hornet is severely damaged by the Japanese enemy and abandoned. Though U.S. destroyers attempt to scuttle her, Hornet remained afloat and was sunk by Japanese destroyers early the next morning.

1943 - Torpedo bombers (TBF Avengers) from Composite Squadron (VC) 13, then based on board the escort carrier USS Core (CVE 13), sink the German submarine U-378 north of the Azores.

1944 - The U.S. Navy lands four Sixth Army divisions ashore on Leyte. Japanese aerial counter-attacks damage escort carrier Sangamon and a few other ships, but do not hinder the landings. Later in the day, Gen. Douglas MacArthur gives his "I have returned" radio message to the Philippine people. If Leyte is lost, the rest of the


Philippines will soon follow, so the Japanese prepare to send five strong naval forces to drive off the American fleet and add more troops for the land fighting. In the following days, this response will lead to World War II's biggest and most complex sea fight, the multi-pronged Battle of Leyte Gulf.

1976 – The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die, and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.

 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
21st of October

1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as the Strait of Magellan.

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

1520 – João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".


1757 - Action off Cape Francois. HMS Augusta (60), Commodore. Arthur Forrest, HMS Edinburgh (64) and HMS Dreadnought (60), Cptn. Maurice Suckling, intercept, off Cape Francois, a French convoy bound for Europe with an escort, under de Kersaint, of Intrepide (74), Sceptre (74), Opineatre (64), L'Outarde (44), Greenwich (50), Savage (30) and Unicorn (30).

HMS_Edinburgh-IMG_7758.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Augusta_(1736)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_(1666)

1762 - George Rodney promoted Vice-Admiral.


1794 - HMS Artois (38), Cptn. Sir Edmund Nagle, captured Revolutionnaire (44), Henri-Alexandre Thèvenard, off Ushant, supported by HMS Arethusa (38), Cptn. Sir Edward Pellew, HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Sir William Sidney Smith, and HMS Galatea (32), Cptn. Richard Goodwin Keats, .

Revolutionnaire_PW5793.jpg
Hull of HMS Revolutionnaire


1797 - The frigate Constitution launches at Edmund Hartts Shipyard, Boston, Mass. The ship is now the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy.


1805 - Battle of Trafalgar/Death of Nelson. Nelson defeats combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve

The_Battle_of_Trafalgar_by_William_Clarkson_Stanfield.jpg

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

1805 – Death of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, English admiral (b. 1758), John Cooke, English captain (b. 1763) and George Duff, Scottish captain (b. 1764)

1280px-Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_027.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson,_1st_Viscount_Nelson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Duff

1806 - Boats of HMS Renommee (44), Cptn. Sir Thomas Livingstone, at Colon, Majorca.

Galathée-Dumoulin-IMG_5509.JPG
Galathée, sister-ship of Républicaine française


1807 - 16 Danish ships-of-the-line, 15 frigates and corvettes, 14 smaller vessels, together with 92 merchant ships, loaded with naval equipment, leaves Copenhagen, flying the British flag, following the capitulation to the British forces on 6 September.

1811 - HMS Grouper Brig (4), James Atkins, wrecked off Guadaloupe.



1862 - The Cairo class ironclad river gunboat USS Louisville, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. R.W. Meade III, escorts the steamer Meteor, whose embarked Army troops landed at Bledsoes Landing and Hamblins Landing, Ark. The towns are burned in reprisal for attacks by Confederate guerrillas on mail steamer Gladiator early in the morning of Oct. 19.

USS_Louisville_(drawing).jpg


1864 - The wooden side-wheel cruiser USS Fort Jackson captures steamer Wando at sea, east of Cape Romain, S.C., with cargo of cotton.

USS_Fort_Jackson_(1862).jpg


1910 – HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMS Niobe
was a ship of the Diadem class of protected cruisers in the Royal Navy. She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada as the second ship of the newly created Naval Service of Canada as HMCS Niobe. The Naval Service of Canada became the Royal Canadian Navy in August 1911. The ship was nearly lost when she went aground off Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia overnight 30–31 July 1911. Repairs were completed at the end of 1912 and the ship returned to service in late 1914. During the First World War, Niobe patrolled the approaches to the St. Lawrence River and then joined the Royal Navy's 4th Cruiser Squadron to patrol off New York City. The cruiser returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia on 17 July 1915 and never put to sea again. Niobe was paid off in September and served as a depot ship in Halifax. Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was sold for scrap and broken up in the 1920s.

HMCS_Niobe_LOC_08665.jpg


1942 - The British submarine HMS Seraph lands Navy Capt. Jerauld Wright and four Army officers including Maj. Gen. Mark Clark at Cherchel, French North Africa to meet with a French military delegation to assess French attitude towards future Allied landings (Operation Torch). Eventually, the French agreed to the mission.


1944 – World War II: The first kamikaze attack damages HMAS Australia as the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.

 
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