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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1813 – Launch of French Piet Hein, a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy


Piet Hein was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

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Piet Hein, was one of the ships built in the various shipyards captured by the First French Empire in Holland and Italy in a crash programme to replenish the ranks of the French Navy. She was built in Rotterdam under supervision of engineer Alexandre Notaire-Granville, following plans by Sané and using timber taken from the 80-gun Piet Hein, taken apart while still on keel.

Royal Italien was surrendered to Holland at the fall of Rotterdam in December 1813. She was renamed Admiraal Piet Hein, and eventually broken up in 1819.

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Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Piet Hein (1813), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Piet_Hein_(1813)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1813 – Launch of HMS Eridanus (ex-Liffey), Scamander class sailing frigate, a series of ten 36-gun ships, all built by contract with private shipbuilders to an 1812 design by Sir William Rule


The Scamander class sailing frigates were a series of ten 36-gun ships, all built by contract with private shipbuilders to an 1812 design by Sir William Rule, which served in the Royal Navy during the late Napoleonic War and War of 1812.

They were all built of "fir" (actually, pine), selected as a stop-gap measure because of the urgent need to build ships quickly, with the Navy Board supplying red pine timber to the contractors from dockyard stocks for the first seven ships. The last three were built of yellow pine. While quick to build, the material was not expected to last as long as oak-built ships, and indeed all were deleted by 1819, except the Tagus which lasted to 1822.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Ister (1813), Eridanus (1813), Scamander (1813), Orontes (1813), Tagus (1813), Tigris (1813), Hebrus (1813), Alpheus (1814), Euphrates (1813), and Granicus (1813), all 36-gun Fifth Rate 'fir-built' Frigates. These ships were built of red pine, except for Granicus, Alpheus, and Hebrus, which were of yellow pine. Signed by William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813] and Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822]


Ships in class
Red pine group. These seven ships were originally ordered under the names Liffey, Brilliant, Lively, Severn, Blonde, Forth and Greyhound, all being renamed on 11 December 1812 (except Liffey and Severn, which were renamed on 26 January 1813).
  • HMS Eridanus (ex-Liffey)
    • Builder: Mrs Mary Ross, Rochester
    • Ordered: 4 May 1812
    • Laid down: August 1812
    • Launched: 1 May 1813
    • Completed: 13 July 1813 at Chatham Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 29 January 1818
  • HMS Orontes (ex-Brilliant)
    • Builder: Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury
    • Ordered: 4 May 1812
    • Laid down: August 1812
    • Launched: 29 June 1813
    • Completed: 13 December 1813 at Chatham Dockyard
    • Fate: Broken up at Sheerness in April 1817
  • HMS Scamander (ex-Lively)
    • Builder: Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury
    • Ordered: 4 May 1812
    • Laid down: August 1812
    • Launched: 13 July 1813
    • Completed: 24 December 1813 at Chatham Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 22 July 1819
  • HMS Tagus (ex-Severn)
  • HMS Ister (ex-Blonde)
    • Builder: William Wallis, Leamouth
    • Ordered: 4 May 1812
    • Laid down: August 1812
    • Launched: 14 July 1813
    • Completed: 11 November 1813 at Woolwich Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 8 March 1819
  • HMS Tigris (ex-Forth)
    • Builder: John Pelham, Frindsbury, Kent
    • Ordered: 4 May 1812
    • Laid down: September 1812
    • Launched: 26 June 1813
    • Completed: 24 December 1813 at Chatham Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 11 June 1818
  • HMS Euphrates (ex-Greyhound)
    • Builder: John King, Upnor, Kent
    • Ordered: 12 October 1812
    • Laid down: January 1813
    • Launched: 8 November 1813
    • Completed: 24 September 1814 at Chatham Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 29 January 1818
Yellow pine group.
  • HMS Hebrus
    • Builder: John Barton, Limehouse
    • Ordered: 16 November 1812
    • Laid down: January 1813
    • Launched: 13 September 1813
    • Completed: 18 December 1813 at Deptford Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 3 April 1817
  • HMS Granicus
    • Builder: John Barton, Limehouse
    • Ordered: 17 November 1812
    • Laid down: January 1813
    • Launched: 25 October 1813
    • Completed: 31 January 1814 at Deptford Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 3 April 1817
  • HMS Alpheus
    • Builder: William Wallis, Leamouth
    • Ordered: 7 December 1812
    • Laid down: July 1813
    • Launched: 6 April 1814
    • Completed: 11 July 1814 at Woolwich Dockyard
    • Fate: Sold 10 September 1817
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Scale: 1:24. Plan showing the section illustrating the method of fitting the iron plate knees for attaching the upper and lower deck beams to the sides for Ister (1813), Eridanus (1813), Scamander (1813), Orontes (1813), Tagus (1813), Tigris (1813), Hebrus (1813), Alpheus (1814), Euphrates (1813), and Granicus (1813), all 36-gun Fifth Rate 'fir-built' Frigates. These ships were built of red pine, except for Granicus, Alpheus, and Hebrus, which were of yellow pine

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Ister (1813), Eridanus (1813), Scamander (1813), Orontes (1813), Tagus (1813), Tigris (1813), Hebrus (1813), Alpheus (1814), Euphrates (1813), and Granicus (1813), all 36-gun Fifth Rate 'fir-built' Frigates. These ships were built of red pine, except for Granicus, Alpheus, and Hebrus, which were of yellow pine


https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-346402;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1813 – Launch of HMS Anacreon, which had an extremely brief career. she was commissioned in early 1813 and was lost within a year


HMS Anacreon
had an extremely brief career. she was commissioned in early 1813 and was lost within a year.

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Career:
Commander John Davies supposedly commissioned her in May 1813, but she had apparently already been in service by then. On 9 April 1813 Eleanor Wilhelmina arrived at Yarmouth. Anacreon had detained Eleanor Wilhelmina as she was sailing from North Bergen. Davies then sailed Anacreon for Lisbon on 3 August.

On 1 February 1814 she recaptured the Spanish ship Nostra Senora del Carmen la Sirena. Late in January the French privateer Lion had captured three ships in all and plundered two, which she had permitted to go on to Lisbon. Anacreon had recaptured the third, Nostra Senora..., and then had set off in pursuit of the privateer.

Loss:
Anacreon foundered in the Channel on 28 February 1814 during a storm as she was returning from Lisbon. All aboard were lost

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with midship framing, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Anacreon (1813), a 16-gun (later 22-gun) Ship Sloop. The vessel was originally started by Thomas Sutton before being declared bankrupt in 1810 and the ship taken apart and moved to Plymouth Dockyard for completion. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813]


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

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

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

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

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

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His Majesty's ship Blossom off the Sandwich Islands


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Anacreon_(1813)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant-class_ship-sloop
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-291152;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1815 - HMS Penelope (36), Cdr. James Galloway, wrecked on rocks in the St. Lawrence.


HMS Penelope
was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1798 and wrecked in 1815

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Detail taken from 'The capture of the 'Guillaume Tell', 31 March 1800
The second of a pair of drawings (PAF5878–PAF5879) of which the first (PAF5878) shows the start of this action. This drawing shows the end, with the completely dismasted and surrendered 'Guillaume Tell' in the centre, under the guns of Berry's 'Foudroyant' to the right, and the 'Lion' far right. The frigate 'Penelope' is in the distance on the left. The 'Guillaume Tell' was one of only two major French ships that escaped destruction or capture at the Battle of the Nile, taking eventual refuge in French-held Malta. She was captured when she attempted to escape eighteen months later. Pocock's preliminary pencil sketch for this drawing is PAD8765. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower right. Purchased from Mrs K. E. Maunsell, 1953, and formerly in the Berry Collection. Exh: NMM Pocock exhib. (1975) no. 27.

Career
Under Sir Henry Blackwood, she took part in the battle of 30 March 1800 against the Guillaume Tell, off the coast of Valletta, Malta. The British squadron off Malta comprised the 80-gun Foudroyant, the elderly 74-gun Alexander and 64-gun Lion and the 36-gun Penelope. The squadron wa supported by the big Minorca.

The Guillaume Tell had put to sea in the evening of 30 March under the command of French Admiral Denis Decrès. She was sighted by crew aboard Penelope slightly before midnight, heading northeast. Blackwood ordered an immediate pursuit and sent word via Minorca to the rest of the fleet. A first broadside was fired at about 1am, but Guillaume Tell continued on her course without returning fire. By dawn, Penelope had again drawn within range of the larger French vessel, and Blackwood ordered a continued raking fire which brought down Guillaume Tell's main and mizzen topmasts.

Penelope's sister ships Lion and Foudroyant hove into view shortly afterward, and engaged Guillaume Tell at close range, disabling her rigging and causing damage to her hull. Both British ships were badly damaged by the time Guillaume Tell struck her colours, and it was Penelope that took the French ship in tow and led her as a prize to Syracuse. Penelope lost two killed and two wounded in the battle. Blackwood was later commended for his gallantry and perseverance in initially engaging the French ship despite her larger size and firepower.

Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brig Vincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on 6 April.

Because Penelope served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (2 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

From 1803, Penelope served in the English Channel under William Robert Broughton.

Penelope shared with Moselle and Boadicea in the proceeds of the Jonge Obyna, Smidt, master, on 13 June 1805.

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HMS Penelope is seen raking the Guillaume Tell as the two ships of the line close in

Fate

On 30 April 1815, Penelope, under James Galloway, ran aground near the Cap des Rosiers, British North America. She broke apart during the night, killing at least 40 of her crew. Many survivors subsequently froze to death. In all, 216 men drowned or froze to death. Sixty-six men and two women reached Douglastown two days later. The subsequent court-martial placed the master at the bottom of the list of seniority for failing to pay attention to the situation of the ship. Galloway and his First Lieutenant were reprimanded for the breakdown of discipline on board and on shore during the disaster; neither was employed again. One seaman received 500 lashes for insubordination, desertion, and being drunk. Some 48 men took the opportunity to desert.

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A painting detailing the capture of the ‘Guillaume Tell’. She is shown on the left of the painting, with her last mast, the mizzen, falling forward over the starboard side, her ensign from the peak trailing in the water. This differs from the written accounts which describe the main and mizzen going first at 6.30 a.m. and the foremast was the last to go. Masking the ‘Guillaume Tell’s’ bow with her stern and gunsmoke is the ‘Foudroyant’. She has also lost her mizzen mast and there are shot holes in her sails. On the left and slightly further off is the ‘Penelope’ facing into the stern of the ‘Guillaume Tell’ while on the right of the picture is the Lion with her mizzen topmast gone and some of her guns not run out as they had been dismounted. The sea is choppy. Following the defeat of the French fleet in Aboukir Bay in August 1798 the French garrison at Malta came under siege. An attempt in February by the French to run a small convoy into Valetta was thwarted by the British. One of the three French ships that had escaped from Aboukir Bay was the ‘Guillaume Tell’ which was by now lying in Valetta Harbour. In late March she attempted to run the gauntlet of the British blockade to try to reach Marseilles to alert the French to their plight. As soon as she headed for open water she was spotted by the frigate ‘Penelope’ who gave chase. She soon caught up with her and for over five hours harried the ‘Guillaume Tell’ and eventually brought down her main and mizzen topmasts and main yard. The British ship ‘Lion’ also joined in and further disabled the ‘Guillaume Tell’. The ‘Foudroyant’ also arrived and by day light the ‘Guillaume Tell’ had lost all her masts. She surrendered soon afterwards following a most gallant defence and was captured. The ‘Penelope’ which had engaged the ‘Guillaume Tell’ throughout the eight hour action had only one sailor killed and three wounded. This is a very late work by Luny painted in the last year he was working by which time he was severely incapacitated by arthritis, so that the brushwork is a little shaky in places, though still very vigorous and of good quality. It is signed and dated ‘T. Luny 1835’


Penelope class 36-gun fifth rates 1798-1800, designed by John Henslow.


 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1851 - Launch of clipper Syren, the longest lived of all the clipper ships


Syren was the longest lived of all the clipper ships, with a sailing life of 68 years 7 months. She sailed in the San Francisco trade, in the Far East, and transported whaling products from Hawaii and the Arctic to New Bedford.

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San Francisco trade and transport of whaling products

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Sailing card

Syren sailed in the San Francisco trade from Boston and New York City from 1851 to 1856, making five passages. She then made a voyage from Boston and Calcutta, and served in the Boston - Honolulu - New Bedford trade until 1861. She then made four more passages in the San Francisco trade.

In 1866, Syren returned to the Boston - Honolulu - New Bedford run, a route she sailed for ten more years. In 1877, Syren began to voyage to Alaska and the Arctic to transport whale oil and the catch of whalers; she also transported coal to the north, and a load of spars from Seattle to Bath, ME.

In All About Hawaii, written in 1920, there appears the following note about Syren:

Dec. 23, 1858, ship Syren, 1064 tons, Green master, 96 days from Boston via Rio Janeiro, with cargo for this market. Feb. 23, 1860, she is back with another eastern cargo, reporting a trip of 114 days. Was the crack ship of the Brewer line of Boston packets several years. In 1868 she made the run in 105 days, and in 1872 it was 109. She also figured in the San Francisco-China trade later, and was finally condemned at Rio, July, 1888.
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Fast voyage from San Francisco to Boston, 1861
In 1861, Syren made a fast voyage from San Francisco to Boston of 103 days, besting the Kingfisher by 17 days. On this voyage, Syren also bested four other clippers bound for New York: Northern Light and Belle of the Seas, both by three days, and Sierra Nevada and Mary Robinson, both by 4 days.

Far East voyages and guano trade
Other ports of call during Syren's long career included: in the Far East, Manila, Whampoa and Batavia; Baker Island, Liverpool, and London. The stop at Baker Island suggests that she was engaged in the guano trade.

Another fast voyage was an 1857 round trip between Boston and Calcutta, of 99 days to Calcutta and 97 days returning.

However, Syren was not known as a particularly fast ship on the East Coast to San Francisco run, as she seemed to run into more than her share of calms, light winds, and bad weather off Cape Horn. Her times typically ranged from 120 to 152 days.

Mishaps
Syren suffered various mishaps during her long career, but remained in service nonetheless.

On April 25, 1861, Syren was beating out of San Francisco, near the entrance to the Golden Gate, when she struck Mile Rock two times. Syren made it back into the harbor with four feet of water in her hold. She was nearly sinking by the time she was beached on the mud flats. Repairs at Mare Island Navy Yard cost $15,000.

Like many clippers, Syren lost rigging and topgallant masts off Cape Horn and in the South Atlantic, in 1853, 1856, 1858 and 1864.

An unknown vessel collided with Syren on a voyage from Boston to Honolulu on December 18, 1870, near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, but Syren did not sustain serious damage.



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1898 - Battle of Manila Bay
The American squadron, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, defeats the Spanish squadron under the command of Rear Adm. Montojo at Manila Bay, Philippines.



The Battle of Manila Bay (Filipino: Labanan sa Look ng Maynila Spanish: Batalla de Bahía de Manila), also known as the Battle of Cavite, took place on 1 May 1898, during the Spanish–American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Contraalmirante (Rear admiral) Patricio Montojo. The battle took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines, and was the first major engagement of the Spanish–American War. The battle was one of the most decisive naval battles in history and marked the end of the Spanish colonial period in Philippine history.

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Contemporary colored print, showing USS Olympia in the left foreground, leading the U.S. Asiatic Squadron against the Spanish fleet off Cavite. A vignette portrait of Rear Admiral George Dewey is featured in the lower left.

Prelude
Americans living on the West Coast of the United States feared a Spanish attack at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. Only a few U.S. Navy warships, led by the cruiser USS Olympia, stood between them and a powerful Spanish fleet.

Admiral Montojo, a career Spanish naval officer who had been dispatched rapidly to the Philippines, was equipped with a variety of obsolete vessels. Efforts to strengthen his position amounted to little. The strategy adopted by the Spanish bureaucracy suggested they could not win a war and saw resistance as little more than a face-saving exercise. Administration actions worked against the effort, sending explosives meant for naval mines to civilian construction companies while the Spanish fleet in Manila was seriously undermanned by inexperienced sailors who had not received any training for over a year. Reinforcements promised from Madrid resulted in only two poorly-armored scout cruisers being sent while at the same time the authorities transferred a squadron from the Manila fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera to reinforce the Caribbean. Admiral Montojo had originally wanted to confront the Americans at Subic Bay, northwest of Manila Bay, but abandoned that idea when he learned the planned mines and coastal defensives were lacking and the cruiser Castilla started to leak. Montojo compounded his difficulties by placing his ships outside the range of Spanish coastal artillery (which might have evened the odds) and choosing a relatively shallow anchorage. His intent seems to have been to spare Manila from bombardment and to allow any survivors of his fleet to swim to safety. The harbor was protected by six shore batteries and three forts whose fire during the battle proved to be ineffective. Only Fort San Antonio Abad had guns with enough range to reach the American fleet, but Dewey never came within their range during the battle.

The Spanish squadron consisted of seven ships: the cruisers Reina Cristina (flagship), Castilla, Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, and the gunboat Marques del Duero. The Spanish ships were of inferior quality to the American ships; the Castilla was unpowered and had to be towed by the transport ship Manila. On April 25, the squadron left Manila Bay for the port of Subic, intending to mount a defense there. The squadron was relying on a shore battery which was to be installed on Isla Grande. On April 28, before that installation could be completed, a cablegram from the Spanish Consul in Hong Kong arrived with the information that the American squadron had left Hong Kong bound for Subic for the purpose of destroying the Spanish squadron and intending to proceed from there to Manila. The Spanish Council of Commanders, with the exception of the Commander of Subic, felt that no defense of Subic was possible with the state of things, and that the squadron should transfer back to Manila, positioning in shallow water so that the ships could be run aground to save the lives of the crews as a final resort. The squadron departed Subic at 10:30 a.m. on 29 April. Manila, towing Castilla, was last to arrive in Manila Bay, at midnight.

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The Battle of Manila Bay, depicted in a lithograph by Butler, Thomas & Company, 1899

Battle
At 7 p.m. on 30 April, Montojo was informed that Dewey's ships had been seen in Subic Bay that afternoon. As Manila Bay was considered unnavigable at night by foreigners, Montojo expected an attack the following morning. However, Oscar F. Williams, the United States Consul in Manila, had provided Dewey with detailed information on the state of the Spanish defenses and the lack of preparedness of the Spanish fleet. Based in part upon this intelligence, Dewey—embarked aboard USS Olympia—led his squadron into Manila Bay at midnight on 30 April.

Passing the entrance, two Spanish mines exploded but were ineffective as they were well below the draft of any of the ships due to the depth of the water. Inside the bay, ships normally used the north channel between Corregidor Island and the northern coast, and this was the only channel mined. Dewey instead used the unmined south channel between El Fraile and Caballo Islands. The El Fraile battery fired a few rounds but the range was too great. The McCulloch, Nanshan and Zafiro were then detached from the line and took no further part in the fighting. At 5:15 a.m. on 1 May, the squadron was off Manila and the Cavite battery fired ranging shots. The shore batteries and Spanish fleet then opened fire but all the shells fell short as the fleet was still out of range. At 5:41 with the now famous phrase, "You may fire when ready, Gridley", the Olympia's captain was instructed to begin the destruction of the Spanish flotilla.

The U.S. squadron swung in front of the Spanish ships and forts in line ahead, firing their port guns. They then turned and passed back, firing their starboard guns. This process was repeated five times, each time closing the range from 5,000 yards to 2,000 yards. The Spanish forces had been alerted, and most were ready for action, but they were heavily outgunned. Eight Spanish ships, the land batteries, and the forts returned fire for two and a half hours although the range was too great for the guns on shore. Five other small Spanish ships were not engaged.

Montojo accepted that his cause was hopeless and ordered his ships to ram the enemy if possible. He then slipped the Cristina's cables and charged. Much of the American fleet's fire was then directed at her and she was shot to pieces. Of the crew of 400, more than 200, including Montojo, were casualties and only two men remained who were able to man her guns. The ship managed to return to shore and Montojo ordered it to be scuttled. The Castilla, which only had guns on the port side, had her forward cable shot away, causing her to swing about, presenting her weaponless starboard side. The captain then ordered her sunk and abandoned. The Ulloa was hit by a shell at the waterline that killed her captain and disabled half the crew. The Luzon had three guns out of action but was otherwise unharmed. The Duero lost an engine and had only one gun left able to fire.

At 7:45 a.m., after Captain Gridley messaged Dewey that only 15 rounds of 5" ammunition remained per gun, Dewey ordered an immediate withdrawal. To preserve morale, he informed the crews that the halt in the battle was to allow the crews to have breakfast.[16] According to an observer on the Olympia, "At least three of his (Spanish) ships had broken into flames but so had one of ours. These fires had all been put out without apparent injury to the ships. Generally speaking, nothing of great importance had occurred to show that we had seriously injured any Spanish vessel." Montojo took the opportunity to now move his remaining ships into Bacoor Bay where they were ordered to resist for as long as possible.

A captains' conference on the Olympia revealed little damage and no men killed. It was discovered that the original ammunition message had been garbled—instead of only 15 rounds of ammunition per gun remaining, the message had meant to say only 15 rounds of ammunition per gun had been expended. Reports arrived during the conference that sounds of exploding ammunition had been heard and fires sighted on the Cristina and Castilla. At 10:40 a.m. action was resumed but the Spanish offered little resistance, and Montojo issued orders for the remaining ships to be scuttled and the breechblocks of their guns taken ashore. The Olympia, Baltimore and Boston then fired on the Sangley Point battery putting it out of action and followed up by sinking the Ulloa. The Concord fired on the transport Mindanao, whose crew immediately abandoned ship. The Petrel fired on the government offices next to the arsenal and a white flag was raised over the building after which all firing ceased. The Spanish colors were struck at 12:40 p.m.

According to American sources, Dewey won the battle with seven men very slightly wounded, a total of nine injured, and only a single fatality among his crew: Francis B. Randall, Chief Engineer on the McCulloch, from a heart attack. On the other hand, the Spanish naval historian Agustín Ramón Rodríguez González suggests that Dewey suffered heavier losses, though still much lower than those of the Spanish squadron. Rodríguez notes that Spanish officials estimated the American casualties at 13 crewmen killed and more than 30 wounded based on reliable information collected by the Spanish consulate in Hong Kong.[6] According to Rodríguez, Dewey may have concealed the deaths and injuries by including the numbers among the 155 men who reportedly deserted during the campaign.[6]

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In this "patriotic" map of the China Seas, a large American flag is planted on the spot of the battle of Manila Bay, where on May 1st, Dewey had defeated the Spanish.

Subsequent action
A Spanish attempt to attack Dewey with the naval task force known as Camara's Flying Relief Column came to naught, and the naval war in the Philippines devolved into a series of torpedo boat hit-and-run attacks for the rest of the campaign. While the Spanish scored several hits, there were no American fatalities directly attributable to Spanish gunfire.

On 2 May, Dewey landed a force of Marines at Cavite. They completed the destruction of the Spanish fleet and batteries and established a guard for the protection of the Spanish hospitals. The resistance of the forts was weak. The Olympia turned a few guns on the Cavite arsenal, detonating its magazine, and ending the fire from the Spanish batteries.

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The wreck of Reina Cristina after the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898.

Aftermath
In recognition of George Dewey's leadership during the Battle of Manila Bay, a special medal known as the Dewey Medal was presented to the officers and sailors under Admiral Dewey's command. Dewey was later honored with promotion to the special rank of Admiral of the Navy; a rank that no one has held before or since in the United States Navy. Building on his popularity, Dewey briefly ran for president in 1900, but withdrew and endorsed William McKinley, the incumbent, who won. The same year Dewey was appointed President of the General Board of the United States Navy, where he would play a key role in the growth of the U.S. Navy until his death in January 1917.

Dewey Square in Boston is named after Commodore Dewey, as is Dewey Beach, Delaware. Union Square, San Francisco features a 97 ft (30 m) tall monument to Admiral George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila Bay.

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USS Olympia at the Independence Seaport Museum in 2007

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_Bay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cruiser_Velasco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cruiser_Don_Juan_de_Austria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cruiser_Don_Antonio_de_Ulloa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cruiser_Castilla
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1907 - Silverlip, a steam tanker built in 1902 by the W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Company of Walker for Sir Marcus Samuel owner and chairman of Shell Transport & Trading Company of London, burnt and sunk


Silverlip was a steam tanker built in 1902 by the W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Company of Walker for Sir Marcus Samuel owner and chairman of Shell Transport & Trading Company of London. The ship was designed and built to carry liquid cargo and spent her career carrying petroleum products from Borneo and Texas to United Kingdom and Europe.

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Design and Construction
The vessel was laid down at W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. shipyard in Walker and launched on 29 November 1902 (yard number 723). The ceremony was attended by a large number of dignitaries, including Lord Mayor of London, Sir Marcus Samuel, Sir Andrew Noble, chairman of W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., sheriffs of London and Newcastle as well as mayors of local communities, among others. The christening ceremony was performed by Lady Samuel.

The sea trials were held on March 19, during which the ship could easily maintain speed of 11.5 knots (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h) under coal with ship loaded. The steamship was designed to the broad specifications of the Shell Transport & Trading Co, allowing the vessel to carry general cargo, such as silk and tea, in addition to oil and petroleum products. This required development of a special cleaning procedure which was successfully accomplished. The ship was equipped with five separate pumps for discharge of liquid cargo, with two of them being able to unload between 200 and 250 tons of liquid per hour. In addition, a complete arrangement of cargo gear for quick handling of general cargo was installed.

As built, the ship was 470 feet 0 inches (143.26 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 55 feet 2 inches (16.81 m) abeam, a mean draft of 33 feet 1 inch (10.08 m). Silverlip was assessed at 7,492 GRT and 4,904 NRTand had deadweight of approximately 10,080. The vessel had a steel hull, and a single 579 nhp triple-expansion steam engine, with cylinders of 29 1⁄2-inch (75 cm), 48-inch (120 cm) and 78-inch (200 cm) diameter with a 54-inch (140 cm) stroke, that drove a single screw propeller, and moved the ship at up to 11.5 knots (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h). At the time of construction, the ship's engines were fitted for liquid fuel in addition to coal.

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Operational history
At the time of their entry into service, Silverlip was one of the largest vessels in the world. Not surprisingly, following her delivery the ship was laid up due to scarcity of cargo and overabundance of tonnage. Eventually, the ship was reactivated and on February 25, 1904 she proceeded from her mooring on River Tyne to Middlesbrough for loading. Silverlip departed Middlesbrough for her maiden voyage on March 10, stopped at London and left it on March 26 with general cargo for China and Japan. The vessel passed through the Suez Canal on April 10, and continued her journey calling at ports of Aden, Colombo, Moulmein and arrived at Singapore on May 5. Silverlip departed two days later arriving at Hong Kong on May 13, and Kobe on May 29. On her return trip the vessel stopped at Balikpapan and loaded approximately 9,000 tons of benzine from Borneo oilfields and local refinery, continued to Singapore and departed it to Europe on July 26. The steamer had to sail the long way, around the Cape of Good Hope, due to restrictions with regard to passage of tankers carrying oil and petroleum products in bulk through the Suez Canal, and arrived at Las Palmas on September 8 without calling at any other ports on her trip. On her way Silverlip struck on a rock and sustained damage to bottom and had to replace 8 bottom plates in dock when she arrived at Hamburg on September 21. After unloading she sailed to United Kingdom, where the ship loaded general cargo and left London on October 29 for her second trip to Far East.

Upon return from her second journey, Silverlip sailed from Rotterdam to Port Arthur on April 10, 1905 and arrived there on May 12. The vessel loaded 1,457,380 gallons (5,358 tons) of lamp oil and left for England on May 22, arriving at Liverpool on June 22 consigned to the General Petroleum Company, owned by Sir Marcus Samuel. After unloading her cargo into tanks, the steamer sailed back to Port Arthur on July 1 reaching it on July 21. There she loaded 3,580,851 gallons of refined kerosene, and 219,678 gallons of desulphurized liquid fuel for delivery to Dover and sailed out on August 2. The steamer continued carrying petroleum products from Port Arthur and occasionally Borneo, to the United Kingdom and Northern European ports for the remainder of 1905 and through January 1907, when restrictions on oil tankers travelling through the Suez Canal were loosened. On January 5, 1906 while on a passage from Port Arthur to Dover, she had to call at St. Michael's with her steering gear seriously damaged, decks swept and other damages. The steamer also had to jettison about 200 tons of cargo. The repairs were done in St. Michael's harbor and finished on January 11 at a cost of £3,651.

Sinking
Silverlip departed for her last journey on January 11, 1907 from Cardiff for Balikpapan. She called at Colombo and departed it on February 8, reaching her destination in early March. There she took in 2,576 tons of benzine into No. 2 and No. 3 holds. The vessel left Balikpapan on March 10 and continued to Singapore, where she loaded 5,841 tons of the same fuel into remaining holds. The ship was almost fully loaded with the exception of the 'tween decks. Silverlip left Singapore on March 25. She was under command of captain Nathaniel Hocken and had a crew of 53 men. On April 30, 1907, while off Cape Finisterre, she ran into a storm and the temperature dropped down to 45°F with a strong wind from the northwest. On May 1 she was about 240 miles northeast of Cape Finisterre, proceeding at full speed through the Bay of Biscay, when it was discovered that benzine in holds No.3 and No.4 had contracted and the captain ordered the chief engineer to press them with salt water. The screwcap on the No.4 hold expansion tank was taken off, and the gas cocks on the starboard side were also opened to get rid of vapors. The water was pumped down into the No.4 hold on the starboard side for some time and at approximately 13:50 the chief officer retired into his cabin. There were several crew members in the vicinity of No.3 and No.4 holds, among them two firemen on the 'tween deck under the bridge deck abreast of No.3 hold. Shortly after the chief officer left the deck, an explosion occurred in the neighborhood of the No.4 hold and the ship burst into flames amidships. The fire spread quickly with the flames rising into the air 70 to 100 feet. More explosions followed as benzine in the remaining holds ignited. The captain, who was in the aft part of the vessel, rushed through the flames and with assistance of some of the officers and crew managed to get the lifeboats out. The remaining crew in the forward part of the ship had to jump into the water and was picked up in the water by the lifeboats and they pulled away from the blazing wreck. Fortunately, another steamer, SS Westgate, happened to be in the vicinity, and rushed to help after noticing the blaze from about 9 miles away. Westgate picked up 48 survivors and took them to Plymouth. Five people died in the explosion and the resulting fire, including the chief engineer. An investigation conducted after the disaster put blame on one of the crew members, most likely one of the firemen, lightning a match and igniting the vapors emanating from the No.4 hold after it was open.



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1911 – Launch of HMS Conqueror, the third of four Orion-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s.


HMS Conqueror
was the third of four Orion-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. Aside from participating in the failed attempt to intercept the German ships that had bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in late 1914, the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

After the Grand Fleet was dissolved in early 1919, Conqueror was transferred back to the Home Fleet for a few months before she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet. The ship was sold for scrap in late 1922 and subsequently broken up.

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Design and description
The Orion-class ships were designed in response to the beginning of the Anglo-German naval arms race and were much larger than their predecessors of the Colossus-class battleship to accommodate larger, more powerful guns and heavier armour. In recognition of these improvements, the class was sometimes called "super-dreadnoughts". The ships had an overall length of 581 feet (177.1 m), a beam of 88 feet 6 inches (27.0 m) and a deep draught of 31 feet 3 inches (9.5 m). They displaced 21,922 long tons (22,274 t) at normal load and 25,596 long tons (26,007 t) at deep load as built; by 1918 Conqueror's deep displacement had increased to 28,430 long tons (28,890 t). Her crew numbered 752 officers and ratings.

The Orion class was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by eighteen Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) and were intended to give the battleships a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). During her sea trials on 7 June 1912, Conqueror reached a maximum speed of 22.1 knots (40.9 km/h; 25.4 mph) from 33,198 shp (24,756 kW). The ships carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of 6,730 nautical miles (12,460 km; 7,740 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Armament and armour
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Conqueror at sea in line abreast formation, May 1917

The Orion class was equipped with 10 breech-loading (BL) 13.5-inch (343 mm) Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, all on the centreline. The turrets were designated 'A', 'B', 'Q', 'X' and 'Y', from front to rear. Their secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mark VII guns. These guns were split evenly between the forward and aft superstructure, all in single mounts. Four 3-pounder (1.9 in (47 mm)) saluting guns were also carried. The ships were equipped with three 21-inch (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 20 torpedoes were provided.

The Orions were protected by a waterline 12-inch (305 mm) armoured belt that extended between the end barbettes. Their decks ranged in thickness between 1 inch (25 mm) and 4 inches with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The main battery turret faces were 11 inches (279 mm) thick, and the turrets were supported by 10-inch-thick (254 mm) barbettes.

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The 2nd BS sailing through the Solent, about 1914. From left to right, King George V, Thunderer, Monarch, and Conqueror.

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The four Orion-class battleships in line ahead formation, after 1915

Modifications
In 1914 the shelter-deck guns were enclosed in casemates. By October 1914, a pair of 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) guns had been added. A fire-control director was installed on a platform below the spotting topbefore May 1915. Additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. Around the same time, three 4-inch guns were removed from the aft superstructure. Two flying-off platforms were fitted aboard the ship during 1917–1918; these were mounted on 'B' and 'X' turret roofs and extended onto the gun barrels. A high-angle rangefinder was fitted in the forward superstructure by 1921.

Construction and career
Conqueror, named after a French fire ship, Conqueror, that had been captured in 1745, was the seventh ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was laid down by William Beardmore and Company at their shipyard in Dalmuir on 5 April 1910 and launched on 1 May 1911. She was commissioned with a partial crew on 23 November 1912, but was not completed until March 1913, after which the remainder of her crew arrived. Including her armament, her cost is variously quoted at £1,891,164 or £1,860,648. The last of the four Orions to be completed, Conqueror and her sister ships comprised the Second Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron (BS) of the Home Fleet



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Thunderer at anchor, shortly after completion in 1912


The Orion-class battleships were a group of four dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the early 1910s. The first 13.5-inch-gunned (343 mm) battleships built for the RN, they were much larger than the preceding British dreadnoughts and were sometimes termed "super-dreadnought"s. The sister ships spent most of their careers assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home and Grand Fleets, sometimes serving as flagships. Aside from participating in the failed attempt to intercept the German ships that had bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in late 1914, the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, their service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

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The Orions were deemed obsolete by the end of the war in 1918 and were reduced to reserve the following year. Orion and Conqueror were sold for scrap in 1922 while Monarch was hulked for use as a stationary training ship. In late 1923, she was converted into a target ship and was sunk in early 1925. Thunderer served the longest, acting as a training ship from 1921 until she, too, was sold for scrap in late 1926. While being towed to the scrapyard, the ship ran aground; Thunderer was refloated and subsequently broken up.

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Right elevations and plans for the Orion- and King George V-classbattleships

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Aft main-gun turrets of Orion, about 1911 while fitting out

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Orion'-class Dreadnought battleship HMS 'Conqueror' (1911). Constructed in the builder’s style, the model is decked, fully equipped and rigged. The name ‘Conqueror’ is on the port and starboard stern quarters. Built at Dalmuir by W. Beardmore and Co Ltd, ‘Conqueror’ measured 545 feet in length by 85 feet in the beam. Along with ‘Orion’, ‘Thunderer’ and ‘Monarch’, it was the first of the Royal Navy’s ‘super-dreadnoughts’. It was armed with ten 13.5-inch guns, sixteen 4-inch guns and three 21-inch torpedo tubes (the stern tube was later removed). The ‘Orion’ class saw a return to the 13.5-inch gun, last mounted in the ‘Royal Sovereign’ class of 1892. This larger calibre provided for more accurate shooting, greater hitting power and significantly reduced the wear and tear on the barrels that had been an unfortunate feature of the 12-inch guns. The ‘Orion’ class also brought a return to the principle that all main armament should be on the ship’s centre line. ‘Conqueror’ was commissioned in November 1912 for service in the 2nd Battle Squadron and in December 1914 was involved in a collision with the battleship ‘Monarch’ (1912), sustaining serious damage to its bows. It took part in the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, under Captain H. H. D. Tothill, but sustained neither damage nor casualties. It was decommissioned along with the rest of the vessels of its class under the terms of the Washington Treaty (1921–22), and sold to Upnor Ship Breaking Co. in December 1922

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion-class_battleship
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 May 1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.


On 17 April 1915, Lusitania left Liverpool on her 201st transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on 24 April. A group of German-Americans, hoping to avoid controversy if Lusitania was attacked by a U-boat, discussed their concerns with a representative of the German Embassy. The embassy decided to warn passengers before her next crossing not to sail aboard Lusitania. The Imperial German Embassy placed a warning advertisement in 50 American newspapers, including those in New York:

NOTICE!
TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY
Washington, D.C., 22 April 1915.
This warning was printed adjacent to an advertisement for Lusitania's return voyage. The warning led to agitation in the press and worried some of the ship's passengers and crew. Lusitania departed Pier 54 in New York, on 1 May 1915 at 12:20 p.m. A few hours after the vessel's departure, the Saturday evening edition of The Washington Times published two articles on its front page, both referring to those warnings.

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The official warning issued by the Imperial German Embassy about travelling on Lusitania


RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking presaged the United States declaration of war on Germany (1917).

Lusitania was a holder of the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing, and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship Mauretania, three months later. The Cunard Line launched Lusitania in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. She sank on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing.

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Lusitania arriving in port

German shipping lines were aggressive competitors for the custom of transatlantic passengers in the early 20th century. In the face of the competition, Cunard responded by trying to outdo them in speed, capacity, and luxury. Cunard used assistance from the British Admiralty to build Lusitania, on the understanding that the ship would be available as a light merchant cruiser in time of war. Lusitania had gun mounts for deck cannons, but no guns were ever installed.

Both Lusitania and Mauretania were fitted with revolutionary new turbine engines that enabled them to maintain a service speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). They were equipped with lifts, wireless telegraph and electric light, and provided 50% more passenger space than any other ship; the first class decks were noted for their sumptuous furnishings.

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Lusitania at the end of the first leg of her maiden voyage, New York City, September 1907. (The photo was taken with a panoramic camera.)

The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of the First World War. The UK declared the entire North Sea a war zone in the autumn of 1914, and mined the approaches; in the spring of 1915 all food imports for Germany were declared contraband. When RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain on 1 May 1915, German submarine warfare was intensifying in the Atlantic. Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom a war zone, and the German embassy in the United States had placed newspaper advertisements warning people of the dangers of sailing on Lusitania.

On the afternoon of 7 May, a German U-boat torpedoed Lusitania 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared war zone. A second, unexplained, internal explosion, probably that of munitions she was carrying, sent her to the seabed in 18 minutes, with the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.

The Germans justified treating Lusitania as a naval vessel because she was carrying hundreds of tons of war munitions, therefore making her a legitimate military target, and argued that British merchant ships had violated the Cruiser Rules from the very beginning of the war. The internationally recognized Cruiser Rules were obsolete by 1915 - with the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns, it had become more dangerous for submarines to surface and give warning. (Lusitania had been fitted with 6-inch gun mounts in 1913, although no guns were mounted at the time of her sinking.) RMS Lusitaniawas regularly transporting war munitions, she operated under the control of the Admiralty, she could be converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser to join the war, her identity had been disguised, and she flew no flags. She was a non-neutral vessel in a declared war zone, with orders to evade capture and ram challenging submarines.

However the ship was technically unarmed and was carrying thousands of civilian passengers, and so the British government accused the Germans of breaching the Cruiser Rules. The sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States because 128 American citizens were among the dead. The sinking helped shift public opinion in the United States against Germany and was one of the factors in the United States' declaration of warnearly two years later. After the First World War, successive British governments maintained that there were no munitions on board Lusitania, and the Germans were not justified in treating the ship as a naval vessel. In 1982, the head of the British Foreign Office's North America department finally admitted that there is a large amount of ammunition in the wreck, some of which is highly dangerous and poses a safety risk to salvage teams






 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 1 May


1674 – French Breton 56 guns (designed and built by Laurent Hubac, launched 8 February 1666 at Brest) - renamed Courtisan in June 1671; wrecked 1 May 1674 off India


1704 – French Saint Michel 58, later 60 guns (designed and built by Étienne Salicon, launched 14 December 1686 at Le Havre) – grounded and lost 1 May 1704.


1768 – Launch of french Atalante, (one-off 32-gun design of 1767 by Joseph Coulomb, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns, launched 1 May 1768 at Toulon) – captured by British Navy 1794, becoming HMS Espion.

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lines NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 543, states that 'Espion' was at Plymouth Dockyard between March and My 1795 being fitted and having defects rectified, and there again in November 1795. She was in Sheerness Dockyard between 1 December 1796 and 16 January 1797 having further defects made good. In 1798 she was fitted as a floating battery and in 1799 as a troopship.

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To the Rt. Honble. the Earl of Chesterfield, & the Rt. Honble Lord Walsingham. - Postmasters General, This Plate representing the Gallant Action between his Majesty's Packet Antelope, & the French Privateer L' Atalante... [2 Dec 1794] (PAF4678)

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1776 - William Bligh passed as Lieutenant.

Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The Mutiny on the Bounty occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789; after being set adrift in Bounty's launch by the mutineers, Bligh and his loyal men reached Timor, a journey of 3,618 nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,160 mi).

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Seventeen years after the Bounty mutiny, on 13 August 1806, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps. His actions directed against the trade resulted in the so-called Rum Rebellion, during which Bligh was placed under arrest on 26 January 1808 by the New South Wales Corps and deposed from his command, an act which the British Foreign Office later declared to be illegal. He died in Lambeth, London, on 7 December 1817.

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


1810 – Launch of french Nymphe, a Pallas-class



1811 - The American brig USS Spitfire is stopped by the British frigate HMS Guerriere (38) off Sandy Hook, N.Y., and the American seamen are taken aboard. On May 6, the frigate President, commanded by John Rodgers, was ordered to protect American shipping off Sandy Hook.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Guerriere_(1806)


1813 – Launch of HMS Creole, Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule.



1821 – Launch of French Amazone, (launched 1 May 1821 at Brest) – deleted 13 March 1841

Jeanne d'Arc class (58-gun type, 1819 design by Charles-Michel Simon, with 30 x 24-pounder and 2 x 18-pounder guns, and 26 x 36-pounder carronades):
Jeanne d'Arc, (launched 5 August 1820 at Brest) – deleted 26 October 1833.
Amazone, (launched 1 May 1821 at Brest) – deleted 13 March 1841.


1821 – Launch of french Armide, Pallas-class



1822 - 60 men from USS Alligator, USS Grampus, and the chartered ship Jane, capture four pirate schooners near Sugar Key, West Indies.


1828 - HMS Black Joke captures Presidenté


On 1 May 1828 Black Joke fought the large and well-armed pirate Presidenté. After two hours of action, and following the death of their captain and two others, as well as the wounding of a number more, the crew of the Presidenté sought a truce. (Black Joke sustained one killed and a number wounded.) The crew of Presidenté underwent an examination before being committed for trial on charges of piracy. Many of her crew appeared to be British or have anglicized names, and they were sent back to England for trial. The next day Black Joke retook the Portuguese vessel Hosse, which Presidenté had taken as a prize. Presidente was lost at sea on her way to Sierra Leone but Black Joke earned salvage money for Hosse

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HMS Black Joke firing on the Spanish Slaver El Almirante

The third HMS Black Joke was probably built in Baltimore in 1824, becoming the Brazilian slave ship Henriquetta. The Royal Navy captured her in September 1827 and purchased her into the service. The Navy re-named her Black Joke, after an English song of the same name, and assigned her to the West Africa Squadron (or Preventative Squadron). Her role was to chase down slave ships, and over her five-year career she freed many hundreds of slaves. The Navy deliberately burnt her in May 1832 because her timbers had rotted to the point that she was no longer fit for active service.

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HMS Black Joke and prizes (clockwise from top left) Providentia, Vengador, Presidenta, Marianna, El Almirante, and El Hassey



1898 - The gunboat Elcano was captured by US naval forces during the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898. She was officially turned over to the US Navy on 9 November 1898.

USS Elcano (PG-38)
was a gunboat that the United States Navy captured from the Spanish Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was officially commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1902. She served for many years in the Yangtze Patrol where she saw action against pirates and warlords. She served until decommissioning in 1928, when she was sunk for target practice.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Elcano_(PG-38)


1915 - HMS Recruit – On 1 May 1915 while patrolling with HMS Brazen, the destroyer was sunk by SM UB-6 30 nautical miles (56 km) south-west of the Galloper Light Vessel off the Thames Estuary.
She broke in two and sank with the loss of 39 men; 4 officers and 22 crew were rescued


HMS Recruit
was a Clydebank three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1806 for an 18-gun brig-sloop, sold in 1822.

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On 1 May 1915 Recruit was patrolling with sister ship Brazen in the southern North Sea, 30 miles south-west of the Galloper Lightvessel off the Thames Estuary, when she was struck by a single torpedo fired by the German submarine UB-6. Recruit broke in two and sank quickly with the loss of 39 men, 4 officers and 22 crewmen were rescued. The Royal Navy search for this submarine resulted in the Battle off Noordhinder Bank, in which two German torpedo boats were

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A Cody Man-lifting kite being towed by Recruit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Recruit_(1896)


1934 - Lt. Frank Akers makes a hooded landing in an OJ-2 at College Park, Maryland, in the first blind landing system intended for an aircraft carrier.

Frank Peak Akers
is an American naval rear admiral who was the first aviator to make an instrument landing aboard an aircraft carrier.

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Military career
Frank Akers graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1922 and was soon assigned to the USS Sumner, which operated in the Pacific Ocean. On 11 September 1925, he earned his naval "Wings of Gold" and became an aviator. He later earned a Master's degree in electronic communications from Harvard University in 1933. After graduation, he became a flight test officer at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California. While in this assignment on 30 July 1935, he participated in an unusually hazardous experiment and attempted to land about the nation's first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley. What made this hazardous was that he was fitted with a special hood preventing visual contact with the outside world. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for being the first to land a plane on a carrier deck without sight.

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Lieutenant Frank Akers (wearing flight helmet) shows Rear Admiral Ernest J. King (wearing civilian hat), the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, the cockpit of the OJ-2 in which he performed the Navy’s first demonstration of a blind landing system intended for use on board aircraft carriers. He made the landing "under the hood" at College Park, Md.

During World War II, he served as a navigator about the USS Hornet, and participated in the famed Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and in the Battle of Midway. Later in the war, while stationed in Washington as head of the Radio and Electrical Branch of the Bureau of Aeronautics, he received the Legion of Merit for his part in developing more efficient and simplified aircraft electronic systems, including radar bombing.

After the war, as the commanding officer of the USS Saratoga from 1945 to 1946, he amassed a new world's record of 642 carrier landings in a single day. He is also the only aviator ever to have been assigned as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare, from 1951 to 1954. On 11 January 1962, he received the Gray Eagle Award honoring him as the Naval Aviator who had been flying longer than any other on active duty, which he held until his retirement on 1 April 1963.

By Hill Goodspeed, Historian, National Naval Aviation Museum
On May 1, 1934, Lt. Frank Akers climbed into the rear seat of an OJ-2 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Anacostia in Washington D.C. and taxied out onto the runway. For naval aviators of the era, flights in open-cockpit aircraft like the OJ-2 made them one with the elements, from views of the sky and clouds to the slipstream whipping by their heads. However, on this day, Akers sealed himself off from the outside, pulling a hood over the cockpit for a short flight to College Park, Md.

In the darkened confines of the cockpit, Akers peered at instruments and other equipment that included an automatic direction finder, which would allow him to hone in on a radio beacon at College Park. Akers could trigger a switch that would convey this information to an instrument called a “cross-pointer.” As Aker later wrote, “The instrument was so connected that the intersection of the [instrument’s] two needles represented the aircraft and the small circle in the center of the instrument face represented the path. In following the instrument indications, the pilot endeavored to fly this intersection toward the circle.”

With standardized instrument flight training non-existent, Akers had prepared for the Navy’s first blind flight through time-honored trial and error, on one occasion settling a little too fast on a landing approach and passing through the top of a tree growing directly on the approach line to the runway.

With the equipment tested and safety procedures in place, Akers made the first successful demonstration on May 1. “I took off the blind, found the field at College Park by means of the visual direction finder, lined up on the localizer and glide path, and landed on the field.”


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OJ-2, (AN-31783), 14 October 1932. NHHC Photograph Collection, Visual-Aid Cards, Aviation.

Only when the airplane came to a complete stop did he open the hood. Additional flights carrying senior officers, among them Rear Adm. Ernest J. King, the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, followed.

So did a new challenge, landing blindly on a moving airfield, which Akers successfully accomplished on the flight deck of the carrier Langley (CV 1) steaming in the Pacific off San Diego on July 30 , 1935.

These flights were the foundation of the ability of today’s naval aviators to fly their aircraft day and night in the most extreme weather conditions, carrying out their missions around the world.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lieutenant_Frank_Akers_(USN).jpg
https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2015/05/01/navys-first-blind-flight/


1943 - USS Pogy (SS 266), in attack on a Japanese convoy, torpedoes and sinks the Japanese gunboat Keishin Maru off Iwaki, Japan.


1945 - Patrol bomber aircraft from VPB 11 and FAW-1 sink Japanese cargo vessel Kyugkoku Maru off Mokpo, Korea.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1654 - Action of 2 May 1654 was a sea battle which took place near Colombo, Ceylon, when a force of 11 Dutch ships defeated 3 Portuguese galleons, which ran aground and were burnt near Carmona, north of Cabo de Rama.


Action of 2 May 1654
was a sea battle which took place near Colombo, Ceylon, when a force of 11 Dutch ships defeated 3 Portuguese galleons, which ran aground and were burnt near Carmona, north of Cabo de Rama. On about 4 May Zijdeworm was burnt as a fireship near Karwar, and on 6 May the Portuguese galleon Nazareth was burnt near Hanovar. This removed a significant proportion of Portuguese ships in the Indian Ocean area.

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Ships involved
Netherlands

  • Avenhoorn 30-40
  • Sluys 30-40
  • Cabeljauw 30-40
  • Hulst 30-40
  • Saphier 30-40
  • Konijn 30-40
  • Gecroonde Leeuw 30-40 (same as Roode Leuw?)
  • Muyden 30-40
  • Weesp 38
  • Popkensburch 30-40
  • Zijdeworm 30-40
The first 7 ships dealt with Santo António de Mazagão and the rest with São João Pérola.

Portugal
  • Santo António de Mazagão 36 (António Sottomaior) - Aground and burnt
  • São João Pérola 38 (António de Abreu??) - Aground and burnt
  • Nazaré 42
Guns are also given as around 28-30 each.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_2_May_1654
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1707 - The Action of 2 May 1707, also known as Beachy Head, was a naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession in which a French squadron under Claude de Forbin intercepted a large British convoy escorted by three ships of the line, under Commodore Baron Wylde.


The Action of 2 May 1707, also known as Beachy Head, was a naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession in which a French squadron under Claude de Forbin intercepted a large British convoy escorted by three ships of the line, under Commodore Baron Wylde. The action began when three French ships, the Grifon, Blackoal and Dauphine, grappled HMS Hampton Court, killing her captain, George Clements, and taking her. Claude Forbin's 60-gun Mars next attacked HMS Grafton and, when joined by the French ships Blackoal and Fidèle, killed the Captain Edward Acton, and took her too. The convoy was scattered and the last British escort, HMS Royal Oak, badly hit and with 12 feet of water in her wells, managed to escape by running ashore near Dungeness, from where she was carried the next day into the Downs.

The French took 21 merchant ships, besides the two 70-gun ships of the line, and carried them all into Dunkirk.

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Attaque_d'une_Escadre_Angloise_dans_la_Manche.jpg
Action of 2 May 1707. National Maritime Museum


Action
On 1 May a large outward-bound convoy for the West Indies, under the protection of three ships of the line, sailed from the Downs and being six leagues to the westward of Beachy, they fell in with the French squadron from Dunkirk, commanded by Claude de Forbin. This squadron consisted of 7 sail of the line and 6 privateers. The action began when 3 French ships, Griffon, Blackoal and La Dauphine, grappled Hampton Court and killed Captain Clements. Commodore Wyld took five of his largest merchant ships into his line and boldly met the attack of the French ships. For two and a half hours a heavy fire was kept up on both sides; Hampton Court fought desperately and was obliged to surrender. La Dauphine next vigorously attacked Grafton and when joined by the French ships Blackoal and Fidele, captured her after a warm dispute of half an hour. Claude Forbin's 60-gun Mars attacked Commodore Wyld's Royal Oak. The ship having eleven feet water in her hold, managed to escape with great loss by running ashore, from where she was carried into the Downs.

Order of battle
France

  • Mars 60 – Chevalier de Forbin, Chef de division.
  • La Dauphine 56 – Comte de Roquefeuil.
  • Fidèle 56 – Baron d'Arey.
  • Blackoal 54 – de Tourouvre.
  • Salisbury 50 – Chevalier de Vezins.
  • Griffon 50 – Chevalier de Nangis.
  • Protée 50 – Comte d'Illiers.
6 Privateers.

Britain
55 Merchant ships.



HMS Hampton Court was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford Dockyard in 1678.
She underwent a rebuild in 1701 at Blackwall Yard, remaining a 70-gun third rate. Hampton Court was captured in the Action of 2 May 1707 by a French squadron off Beachy Head, and sold out one year later to Spain.
The ship met her demise as a flagship of the ill-fated 1715 Treasure Fleet that was wrecked by a hurricane on the Florida Treasure Coast.

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HMS Grafton was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1679.
Grafton underwent a rebuild at Rotherhithe in 1700, remaining as a 70-gun third rate. She was captured by the French during the Action of 2 May 1707.

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A finished and accurate drawing of the ‘Grafton’ viewed from before the port beam, and not apparently based on an offset. On the broadside the ship is shown carrying thirteen guns each on the gun deck and upper deck, three on the forecastle, six on the quarterdeck and two on the poop. A large correction has been made at the waterline which suggests the ship was drawn when she had no guns on board. As in some other finished drawings done at this time, there are no figures shown on board; it is possible that such drawings were done from models. This one is inscribed ‘d grafton’ and a drawing in the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam (no. 346) probably shows the ‘Grafton’ at her lunching, viewed from the starboard bow


HMS Royal Oak was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Jonas Shish at Deptford and launched in 1674. She was one of only three Royal Navy ships to be equipped with the Rupertinoenaval gun. Life aboard her when cruising in the Mediterranean in 1679 is described in the diary of Henry Teonge.

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She was rebuilt at Chatham Dockyard in 1690 as a 70-gun third rate.

On 24 August 1704, Royal Oak participated in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga, in the centre division of the combined English-Dutch fleet under Admiral George Rooke.

She was rebuilt a second time at Woolwich Dockyard, relaunching on 14 May 1713 as a 70-gun third rate built to the 1706 Establishment. She fought off Forbin's squadron during the Action of 2 May 1707, and was also present in the Battle at The Lizard.

Under the command of Captain Thomas Kempthorne, Royal Oak took part in the Battle of Cape Passaro on 11 August 1718 as part of Admiral Sir George Byng's fleet.

On 8 March 1737 she was ordered to be taken to pieces at Plymouth, and rebuilt as a 70-gun ship according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment. She was relaunched on 29 August 1741. Captain Philip Vincent took command and the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean with Rear Admiral Richard Lestock's squadron. Vincent was succeeded by Captain Edmund Willams, Captain Charles Long and finally Captain James Hodsall.

Royal Oak was converted to serve as a prison ship at Plymouth in 1756. The ship was the scene of an incident in January 1759 in which a French prisoner, Jean Manaux, told the warden that his fellow prisoners were forging passes. His fellow prisoners discovered this and, on 25 January, dragged him to a remote part of the ship, gave him approximately 60 strokes with a large iron thimble tied to a rope, then beat him to death after he struggled from his bonds. They dismembered his body in an attempt to dispose of it. At an inquest ashore the next day, one of the prisoners provided information on the murder, which resulted in the hanging of Charles Darras, Louis Bourdec, Fleurant Termineu, Pierre Pitroll and Pierre Lagnal on April 25 at Exeter.

Royal Oak was broken up in 1763

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On the left, a near starboard quarter view of the ‘Royal Oak’ at anchor. Her main topmasthead is not shown, but there is the tail of a pendant shown in the top left corner. Several other ships are in the background. It is inscribed ‘rooijal oock 1674’. This drawing is by the Younger, signed ‘W.V.VJ’ in pencil. The work is in pen, brown ink and grey wash over slight preliminary pencil work. Some of the wash may have been added by a later hand

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with deck level outline, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed for 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker

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j3153.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with some decoration detail, inboard profile, and basic longitudinal half-breadth for 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker, launched in August 1741 at Plymouth Dockyard. On thereverse is a plan showing the quarterdeck and forecastle, an elevation of the quarterdeck and forecastle rails with belfry, the lower deck with some steering detail, and fore and aft platforms for 'Royal Oak' (1741)

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 70-gun two-decker ship of the line, built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is partially decked, equipped, rigged and mounted on its original baseboard. The model has been identified as being the 'rebuilt’ 'Royal Oak’ of 1741, and the dimensions agree closely to the original plans held in the NMM collection. It had a gun deck length of 151 feet by 43 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1224 burden. Internal examination has also revealed that some structural alterations have been made to the model with the moving and filling of gunports in the stern, as well as changes to the stern layout. The name on the stern was probably added later as this practice was not introduced until the 1770’s. The rigging, which is largely contemporary, has had minor repairs carried out as well as some general restoration of the hull, which was undertaken by Jim Lees in the NMM workshop 1974-75. The 'Royal Oak’ had an active career with the fleet in the Mediterranean and was present at the blockade of Toulon in 1744, before it was finally ordered to be broken up in 1763



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_2_May_1707
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hampton_Court_(1678)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Grafton_(1679)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-316237;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=G
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(1674)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-344828;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-344837;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1774 – Launch of HMS Eagle, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Rotherhithe.


HMS Eagle
was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1774 at Rotherhithe.

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On 7 September 1776, the experimental American submarine Turtle, under the guidance of army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee, was alleged to have attacked HMS Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Liberty Island, but was unable to bore through the hull. When Lee attempted another spot in the hull, he lost the ship, and eventually abandoned the attempt.

British naval historian Richard Compton-Hall stated that the problems of achieving neutral buoyancy would have rendered the vertical propeller useless. The route the Turtle would have had to take to attack HMS Eagle was slightly across the tidal stream which would, in all probability, have resulted in Ezra Lee becoming exhausted having only 20 minutes of air. There is no record of the Royal Navy recording an attack. In the face of these and other problems Compton-Hall suggests that the Turtle got nowhere near HMS Eagle and the entire story was fabricated as disinformation and morale-boosting propaganda, and that if Ezra Lee did carry out an attack it was in a covered rowing boat rather than the Turtle.

Turtle_submarine_1776.jpg
A diagram of the American Turtle

Eagle
went on to take part in the Battle of Cuddalore in 1783.

Eagle was on harbour service from 1790, and was broken up in 1812.

j3243.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Eagle' (1774), later for 'Vigilant' (1774), and with alterations for 'America' (1777), 'Ruby' (1776), and 'Standard' (1782), all 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784]


sistership
HMS_Diadem_at_capture_of_Good_Hope-Thomas_Whitcombe.jpg
HMS Diadem at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope

The Intrepid-class ships of the line were a class of fifteen 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Williams. His design, approved on 18 December 1765, was slightly smaller than Sir Thomas Slade's contemporary Worcester class design of the same year, against which it was evaluated competitively. Following the prototype, four more ships were ordered in 1767–69, and a further ten between 1771 and 1779.

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Intrepid class (Williams)
  • Intrepid 64 (1770) – sold for breaking 1828.
  • Monmouth 64 (1772) – broken up 1818.
  • Defiance 64 (1772) – sank 1780.
  • Nonsuch 64 (1774) – broken up 1802.
  • Ruby 64 (1776) – broken up 1821.
  • Vigilant 64 (1774) – broken up 1816.
  • Eagle 64 (1774) – broken up 1812.
  • America 64 (1777) – broken up 1807.
  • Anson 64 (1781) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, wrecked 1807
  • Polyphemus 64 (1782) – broken up 1827.
  • Magnanime 64 (1780) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, broken up 1813.
  • Sampson 64 (1781) – sold for breaking 1832.
  • Repulse 64 (1780) – wrecked 1800.
  • Diadem 64 (1782) – broken up 1832.
  • Standard 64 (1782) – broken up 1816.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_(1774)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-308905;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1787 – Launch of Spanish Salvador del Mundo, a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa, one of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos.


Salvador del Mundo was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa, one of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos. Salvador del Mundo served during the French Revolutionary Wars until its capture at the Battle of Cape St Vincent by a Royal Navy fleet on 14 February 1797. Salvador del Mundo remained in British hands throughout the Napoleonic Wars, serving as a harbour ship, until it was sold and broken up in 1815.

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Construction
The Santa Ana class was built for the Spanish fleet in the 1780s and 1790s as heavy ships of the line, the equivalent of Royal Navy first rate ships. The other ships of the class were the Santa Ana, Mexicano, San Hermenegildo, Conde de Regla, Real Carlos, Reina María Luisa and Príncipe de Asturias. Three of the class, including Salvador del Mundo, were captured or destroyed during the French Revolutionary Wars.

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Salvador del Mundo receiving raking fire from HMSVictory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent

History

In 1797 Salvador del Mundo participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent against the Royal Navy on 14 February under Brigadier Antonio Yepes. During the battle Salvador del Mundo was dismasted and badly damaged before being captured by the British, with losses of 41 killed, including Yepes, and 124 wounded. William Prowse took command of the prize ship. Three other Spanish ships were captured during the battle.

Salvador de Mundo was taken into the Royal Navy under her own name and subsequently served throughout the remainder of the French Revolutionary Wars and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars on harbour duties. At the conclusion of the wars, when she was decommissioned and broken up.

j1854.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sternboard outline, sheer lines with some inboard and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Salvador del Mundo (captured 1797), a captured Spanish First Rate. The plan illustrate the ship as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard when a 112-gun First Rate, three-decker. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1802-1813]



Santa Ana class (also called los Meregildos)

Santa Ana 112 (launched 29 September 1784 at Ferrol) - Stricken 1812
Mejicano (San Hipólito) 112 (launched 20 January 1786 at Havana) - Stricken 8 October 1813 and sold 1815
Conde de Regla 112 (launched 4 November 1786 at Havana) - Strricken 14 July 1810 and BU 1811
Salvador del Mundo 112 (launched 2 May 1787 at Ferrol) - Captured by Britain at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797, retaining same name, BU 1815
Real Carlos 112 (launched 4 November 1787 at Havana) - Blew up in action, 12 July 1801
San Hermenegildo 112 (launched 20 January 1789 at Havana) - Blew up in action, 12 July 1801
Reina Luisa 112 (launched 12 September 1791 at Ferrol) - Renamed Fernando VII 1809, wrecked 9 December 1815
Príncipe de Asturias 112 (launched 28 January 1794 at Havana) - Stricken 1812, BU 1814


Navío_santa_ana_de_112_cañones.jpg
19th-century engraving of the Santa Ana.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_del_Mundo_(ship)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...0;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S;start=0
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1794 - Beginning of the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 - which will end in the Glorious First of June


The Atlantic campaign of May 1794 was a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet against the French Navy's Atlantic Fleet, with the aim of preventing the passage of a strategically important French grain convoy travelling from the United States to France. The campaign involved commerce raiding by detached forces and two minor engagements, eventually culminating in the full fleet action of the Glorious First of June 1794, at which both fleets were badly mauled and both Britain and France claimed victory. The French lost seven battleships; the British none, but the battle distracted the British fleet long enough for the French convoy to safely reach port.

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By the spring of 1794, the French Republic, under the rule of the National Convention, was at war with all its neighbours. With famine imminent, the French Committee of Public Safety looked to France's colonies and the United States to provide an infusion of grain; this was to be convoyed across the Atlantic during April, May and June, accompanied by a small escort squadron and supported by a second, larger squadron in the Bay of Biscay. However, political upheaval had severely reduced the French Navy's ability to fight coherently and supply shortages had devastated its morale, significantly weakening the fleet. Britain, by contrast, was at a high state of readiness with a well-organised command structure, but was suffering from a severe shortage of trained seamen with which to man its large navy. The French Atlantic Fleet, under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse, was tasked with keeping the British Channel Fleet occupied long enough for the convoy to reach France safely. The Channel Fleet, commanded by Lord Howe, knew of the convoy's passage, and dispatched squadrons to protect British commerce while pursuing Villaret himself with the main body of the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet. For over a week the two battlefleets manoeuvred around one another, Villaret drawing Howe deeper westwards into the Atlantic and away from the convoy. Two partial but inconclusive fleet actions on 28 and 29 May followed, during which Howe seized the weather gage from Villaret, granting him freedom to choose the time and place of his next attack.

The culminating action of the campaign took place over 400 nautical miles (740 km) into the Atlantic, and became known as the Glorious First of June. This final engagement saw Howe use the weather gage to attack Villaret directly while his opponent attempted to fight in a traditional line of battle formation. In the battle, the British fleet inflicted a heavy defeat on the French after a bitterly contested day of fighting. Forcing Villaret to retreat, Howe's force captured seven French battleships, one of which later sank, and inflicted 7,000 casualties on the enemy. Villaret however, claimed strategic success as his delaying tactics had bought enough time for the convoy to reach France safely. The battle was the first in a series of defeats the French Navy suffered during the early years of the war, which bred a defeatist attitude and an unwillingness among the French officer corps to engage the British at sea.

The_'Defence'_at_the_Battle_of_the_First_of_June,_1794.jpg
HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious 1st June 1794, Nicholas Pocock

Background
In the winter of 1793, war and internal disorder had combined with poor weather to leave France facing starvation following the collapse of the harvest. France's ongoing conflict with her neighbours precluded overland imports; the only nation willing and able to sell grain to the National Convention was the United States. Importing food from the Americas was a highly risky venture, as the British Royal Navy—at war with France since early 1793—patrolled much of the Atlantic passage. To provide effective protection for the vessels involved, a plan was agreed between France and the United States to collect the supplies over a period of months and transport them in a single convoy. A gathering point was arranged at Hampton Roads in the Chesapeake Bay.

A squadron commanded by Admiral Pierre Vanstabel was dispatched to Hampton Roads to provide escort. Vanstabel would bring the convoy to the Bay of Biscay, where a second squadron under Joseph-Marie Nielly would reinforce him for the rest of the journey. Together, these officers mustered six ships of the line and numerous smaller craft. The main French battlefleet of 25 ships under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse would cruise the Bay of Biscay in order to challenge the British Channel Fleet if it attempted to intercept the supplies. The convoy's passage was expected to take approximately two months, and it included 117 merchant ships carrying enough food to feed France for a year.

Lord Howe, admiral of the British Channel Fleet, was aware of the convoy's nature and destination long before it left the Chesapeake, and made preparations to block its passage. Sending several small squadrons to protect British commerce crossing the Bay of Biscay, Howe detailed Admiral George Montagu with six battleships to search for the convoy in the south of the Bay while Howe took the main body of the fleet, 26 ships of the line, to patrol near Brest.

May 1794
See also: Order of battle at the Glorious First of June
April 1794 was a month of fevered activity on both sides of the English Channel as Villaret and Howe made their final preparations for the coming campaign. The slow French convoy had departed American waters on 2 April, and British convoys destined for the Empirehad sailed from Portsmouth on 2 May. Howe used his whole force to provide them with protection as far as the Western Approaches, and on 5 May sent the frigates HMS Latona and HMS Phaeton close in to Brest to ascertain the status of the French—they reported that Villaret's battlefleet was still in harbour.

Commerce raiding
Out in the Atlantic, the detached squadrons of Nielly (French) and Montagu (British) were commerce raiding against enemy merchant shipping, but had thus far failed to find the main food convoy. Nielly encountered a British convoy from Newfoundland and took ten ships as prizes—including the convoy escort, the 32-gun frigate HMS Castor. Thomas Troubridge, captain of the Castor, would spend the entire campaign aboard Nielly's flagship Sans Pareil. Montagu also met with some success on 15 May, recapturing the merchant ships Nielly had taken, along with the French corvette Marie-Guiton and accurate intelligence on the direction and size of the French convoy which Montagu immediately passed to Howe. Resuming his patrol in the Mid-Atlantic, Nielly found the convoy from America a few days later, and transferred two of his ships to Vanstabel's escort to augment the convoy's defences. He then returned to the Eastern Atlantic to look for signs of British activity which might pose a threat to its passage. He also dispatched frigates to Villaret, carrying information about the convoy's location and speed.

While Nielly and Montagu searched out at sea, Howe took his fleet on a series of cruises back and forth across the Bay of Biscay in the hope of catching the convoy. Between 5 and 18 May he found nothing and so returned to Brest, where his scouting frigates reported that the French battlefleet had gone. Taking advantage of dense fog, Villaret had sailed the previous day, his ships passing within earshot of the British fleet. The French admiral was on the trail of Nielly's squadron; his intention was to meet both Nielly and the convoy and combine forces; with superior numbers he would then be able to escort the convoy to France in safety. Having eluded Howe and still some days from his planned rendezvous, Villaret gained an unexpected success when he ran across a Dutch convoy of 53 vessels. Its escorts, Alliance and Waakzaamheid, fled at the sight of the approaching French fleet, and Villaret was free to attack the convoy, capturing 20 merchantmen.

Howe's pursuit
Howe realised that the direction of Villaret's departure would take him directly across Admiral Montagu's planned route, and that, should Montagu meet Villaret, the British squadron would be destroyed. Setting all sail in pursuit, Howe followed Villaret into the Atlantic on 20 May. The next day Howe's ships recaptured ten of the lost Dutch merchantmen, but he was forced to burn them since crewing them with British sailors would weaken his own already understrength fleet. Prisoners from these ships gave Howe the information that the French fleet was only a short distance ahead, but that it had been joined by an additional ship from Nielly's squadron as well as several frigates. By now satisfied that Montagu was safely to the southwest, Howe pressed on hoped to bring Villaret to battle within the week. On 23 May however, the British fleet was driven southwards by strong winds and had to slowly work its way north to find the French track again. The detour did however enable him to recapture and destroy four more of Villaret's Dutch prizes.

On the morning of 25 May Howe's pursuit finally bore fruit, when his scouting frigates spotted a lone French ship of the line at 04:00. This ship sighted Howe's force at the same time, and immediately made off in the direction of the French fleet. The fleeing battleship left behind an American merchant ship she had been towing, which when taken reported that the French ship was Audacieux, of Nielly's squadron. Pursuing Audacieux after burning the American prize, the British fleet also overran and burnt two French corvettes, the 20-gun Républicaine and 16-gun Inconnue. Continuing his chase over the next three days, on 28 May Howe's lookouts spotted the French on the eastern horizon slightly to the south, indicating that the French held the weather gage

......... to be continued on 28th May -----


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_campaign_of_May_1794
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1795 – Launch of French Cassard, a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Dix-août in 1798, in honour of the events of 10 August 1792, and subsequently Brave in 1803.


Cassard was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Dix-août in 1798, in honour of the events of 10 August 1792, and subsequently Brave in 1803.

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Career
On 10 February 1801 Dix-août captured the 16-gun cutter HMS Sprightly, which she scuttled. On 27 March 1801, as Dix-août sailed with the fleet of Toulon, she collided with Formidable and had to return to harbour.

On 4 February 1803, her name was changed to Brave.

She was captured by HMS Donegal on 6 February 1806 at the Battle of San Domingo. She foundered shortly thereafter on 12 April (without loss of life) while en route to Britain

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A small scale model of The Thomson Collection of Ship Models on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Cassard_(1795)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1798 – Launch of HMS Renown, a 74-gun America-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


HMS Renown
was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was to have been named HMS Royal Oak, but the name was changed to Renown on 15 February 1796. She was launched at Deptford Wharf on 2 May 1798 and served in 1800-1801 as the flagship of Sir John Borlase Warren, initially in the English Channel.

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Service history
On 1 July 1800, Renown, Fisgard and Defence, with the hired armed cutter Lord Nelson in company, were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. The British destroyed the French ship Therese (of 20 guns), a lugger (12 guns), two schooners (6 guns each) and a cutter (6 guns), of unknown names. The cutting out party also burned some 15 merchant vessels loaded with corn and supplies for the French fleet at Brest. However, in this enterprise, 92 officers and men out of the entire party of 192 men, fell prisoners to the French when their boats became stranded. Lord Nelson had contributed no men to the attacking force and so had no casualties.

Next, Renown participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On 29 August, in Vigo Bay, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood assembled a cutting-out party from the vessels under his command consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London and Impetueux. The party went in and after a 15-minute fight captured the French privateer Guêpe, of Bordeaux and towed her out. She was of 300 tons burthen and had a flush deck. Pierced for 20 guns, she carried eighteen 9-pounders, and she and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medalwith clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

She then served at the abortive attack on Cadiz.

Armed en flute, she transferred to the Mediterranean in 1801, still as Warren's flagship. During this time Charles John Napier, the future admiral, was a midshipman in her. Because Renown served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

In 1803 she was at Malta and in 1805 was under repair at Plymouth. After a further spell in the Channel Fleet (1807-8), she transferred again to the Mediterranean.

Fate
Renown was laid up at Plymouth in 1811 and hulked in 1814. She was broken up in May 1835.

Renown in fiction
In the Horatio Hornblower novels of C. S. Forester, a ship of the line named the Renown (unrelated to the historical Renown of this period), is featured in the novel Lieutenant Hornblower. In the story, the ship's mad captain is injured after falling through a hatch, and the junior officers must take over on adventures in the West Indies. The mysterious circumstances of the Captain's fall become of great importance to the court martial panel later on in the story. In Hornblower (TV series) this story was related in the fifth and sixth episodes, Mutiny and Retribution.

j2911.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Northumberland' (1798) and 'Renown' (1798), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers based on the draught of the captured French Third Rate 'America' (captured 1794), later 'Impetueux'. Alterations to the quarterdeck and forcastle deck gun ports and channels were ordered in July 1797


sistership
pu8661.jpg
Technique includes pen and ink. This relates to PAD5815, but the high quaility suggests rather than being 'after' that it is a watercolour version by Whitcombe, possibly for making the print from the oil then in possession of Henry Hotham, captain of the 'Northumberland' (right). [PvdM 7/05]

The America-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates. They were built for the Royal Navy to the lines of the French Téméraire-class ship America, which had been captured in 1794 and renamed HMS Impetueux.

Ships
Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 2 February 1798
Fate: Broken up, 1850
Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 2 May 1798
Fate: Broken up, 1835

pw7994.jpg
Transferement de Bonaparte du Bellerophon on board du Northumberland le 8 Aout 1815 (PAF7994)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Renown_(1798)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America-class_ship_of_the_line
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1798 – Launch of French Ligurienne, a 16-gun sectional brig of the French Navy that was launched in 1798.


Ligurienne was a 16-gun sectional brig of the French Navy that was launched in 1798. The British captured her in 1800, but did not take her into service.

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Design
Garnier designed Ligurienne to plans by François-Frédéric Poncet, following the design specifications of General Napoleon Bonaparte. What Napoleon wanted was a ship whose hull could be split into eight sections, joined by screw bolts so that she could be dismantled, carried in 10 wagons over land, and then be re-assembled on reaching water again. This would permit the French to transfer the ship from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, there being no Suez Canal at the time. She had 16 gun-ports, and seven small ports for oars.

1280px-Brick_La_Ligurienne-Antoine_Roux-p37.jpg

Career
On 21 March 1800, HMS Peterel and HMS Mermaid captured Ligurienne while she was off Marseilles escorting a convoy from Cette to Toulon. Ligurienne was under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau François Auguste Pelabon.

Her consorts, the demi-chébecs Cerf and Lejoille, ran aground; Ligurienne resisted until 6pm before striking her colours. The French apparently were able later to refloat Cerf and Lejoille.

English account
Peterel, under the command of Francis Austen, the brother of author Jane Austen and future admiral of the fleet, was sailing near Marseille with the frigate Mermaid. On 21 March 1800, Peterel spotted a large convoy with three escorts: the brig-sloop Ligurienne, armed with fourteen brass 6-pounder guns and two brass 36-pounder howitzers, the corvette Cerf, of fourteen 6-pounder guns, and the xebec Lejoille, of six 6-pounder guns. Peterel captured a bark of 350 tons and a bombarde (ketch) of 150 tons, both carrying wheat and which their crews had abandoned, and sent them off with prize crews; later that afternoon the escorts caught up to Peterel and attacked. Mermaid was in sight but a great distance to leeward and so unable to assist. Single-handedly, Peterel drove Cerf and Lejoille on shore, and after a 90-minute battle captured Ligurienne, which lost Pelabon and one sailor killed and two sailors wounded out of her crew of 104 men; there were no British casualties.[4] Some British accounts declare that Cerf was a total loss but that the French were able to salvage Lejoille. The whole action took place under the guns of two shore batteries and so close to shore that Peterel grounded for a few minutes.

One month after the action, Austen received promotion post captain. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Peterel 21 March 1800" to the two surviving claimants from the action.

Fate
The British sent Ligurienne into Plymouth. Austen recommended, without success, that the Navy purchase Ligurienne, which was less than two years old




 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1801 – Launch of Elizabeth at Liverpool.
She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She wrecked, with great loss of life, in December 1810 early in the outward leg of a second voyage to India for the EIC.



Elizabeth was launched at Liverpool in 1801. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She wrecked, with great loss of life, in December 1810 early in the outward leg of a second voyage to India for the EIC.

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Career
Elizabeth appears in the 1801 volume of Lloyd's Register with S. Haws, master, Charnck, owner, and trade London—Cape of Good Hope.

The EIC chartered Elizabeth for a voyage to the Cape and China. Captain Stephen Hawes sailed from Liverpool on 12 May 1801. He acquired a letter of marque on 29 May 1801. Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on 77 June, reached the Cape on 28 October, and arrived at Whampoa Anchorage on 22 January 1801. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 25 March, reached Saint Helena on 11 July, and arrived at the Downs on 5 September.

On her return Elizabeth traded between London—and Amsterdam, presumably during the Peace of Amiens. Between 1804 and 1810, the data in Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping is stale dated or missing. It is highly likely that during this period Elizabeth was operating out of India. There are some mentions in passing that suggest as much.

In 1806 the Bombay merchant Framjee Cowajee sent Elizabeth (648 tons (bm)), to Beale & Magniac, in Hong Kong. The London Chronicle mentions "the melancholy particulars of the loss of the East India country ship Elizabeth".

Elizabeth reappears in the 1810 volume of Lloyd's Register with Hutton, master and owner, and trade London—India. In the Register of Shipping she appears with Hawes, master, changing to Hutton, Charnock, owner, changing to Capt. & Co., and trade London—India, changing to London—Cape of Good Hope.

Lloyd's Register for 1811 gives the name of Elizabeth's master and owner as Hutton, and her trade as London—India.

Loss
On 27 October 1811, Elizabeth sailed to join the East India fleet at Portsmouth. She was to sail to Bengal for the EIC. She had 382, or 400, or 402 persons aboard. Some 347 of these were lascars that the EIC was returning to India, they having arrived in England as crew on East Indiamen. She also had 30 European passengers (and eight black women servants).

Bad weather forced Elizabeth to put into Cork Harbour. Nine days later she set out again for Madras and Bengal, but continuous heavy gales had repeatedly drove her back up the Channel before managing to anchor on 27 December off South Foreland.

Unfortunately, under the strain of the wind and the constant exertion, the cables broke, causing Elizabeth to drift towards the French coast. She fired off numerous guns and flares, but those watching on the French shore were powerless to assist due to the powerful waves and wind which would have doomed any rescue attempt. Near Calais she lost her rudder on a rock, and sprang several leaks, leaving her totally at the whim of the sea, which dragged her further down the coastline.

Eventually Elizabeth wrecked on 27 December 1810 on the Breebank, in the North Sea, off Dunquerque, France. Her masts tumbled overboard, smashing the boats, leaving only three, one of which was swamped within moments of launching. Two other boats brought 22 survivors to shore, but there was no chance of them returning to take off more passengers as the sea had become even more formidable. During the ensuing storm, the ship broke into pieces that scattered all along the coastline, along with its entire remaining crew, who were killed. In all, there were only 22 survivors as the weather also prevented the French from sending assistance. Amongst the survivors were six Britons and 15 lascars, including two of the ship's crew.

The French took the survivors prisoner, but apparently more to provide housing than actual incarceration. Shortly thereafter, the French repatriated the survivors, requesting the English to release an equal number of French prisoners.

A cartel arrived at Dover on 30 January 1811 with the 22 survivors. The British sent the Elizabeth cartel from Chatham with 18 French prisoners but as she approached Calais the batteries there fired on her and she returned to Dover on 4 March




 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 May 1809 – Launch of HMS Ajax, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Blackwall Yard.


HMS Ajax
was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1809 at Blackwall Yard.

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HMS_AJAX_AT_KINGSTOWN.jpg
HMS Ajax (1809) was guardship at Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire until 1864 when she was broken up. The Royal St George Yacht Club is in the foreground.


Napoleonic Wars
On 11 September 1810, in a ship action off Elba in the Mediterranean, Charles Benyon, Lieutenant in 'Ajax', aged 22, was killed attempting to board a French vessel. 3rd son of Richard Benyon of Englefield House, Berks, where the Benyon family still live.

On 13 December 350 sailors and 250 marines from the 74-gun third rates Ajax, Cambrian and Kent attacked Palamós. (The sloops Sparrowhawk and Minstrel covered the landing.) The landing party destroyed six of eight merchant vessels with supplies for the French army at Barcelona, as well as their escorts, a national ketch of 14 guns and 60 men and two xebecs of three guns and thirty men each. The vessels were lying inside the mole under the protection of 250 French troops, a battery of two 24-pounders, and a 13" mortar in a battery on a commanding height. Although the attack was successful, the withdrawal was not. The British lost 33 men killed, 89 wounded, and 86 taken prisoner, plus one seaman who took the opportunity to desert.

On 31 March 1811, Ajax and HMS Unite encountered a French squadron comprising the frigates Adrienne and Amélie, and the armed transport French corvette Dromadaire. Ajax captured Dromadaire, while the frigates managed to escape to Portoferraio. Captain Otway of Ajax reported that Dromadaire was frigate-built and sailed remarkably well. Her cargo consisted of 15,000 shot and shells of various sizes and 90 tons of gunpowder.[4] Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte intended them as a present for Hammuda ibn Ali, the Bey of Tunis. Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, commander in chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, decided to buy her and her stores for the Royal Navy.

On 17 March 1814, Ajax captured the French 16-gun brig Alcyon near the Lizard. Alcyon was armed with sixteen 24-pounder carronades, and had a crew of 120 men. She was provisioned for a four-month cruise, but was only 24 hours out of Saint-Malo when Ajax captured her.

j3307.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Contemporary copy of a plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Conquestadore' (1810), 'Armada' (1810), 'Vigo' (1810), 'Cressey' (1810), 'La Hogue' (1811), 'Vindictive' (1813), 'Poictiers' (1809), 'Vengeur' (1810), 'Edinburgh' (1811), 'Dublin' (1812), 'Duncan' (1811), 'Indus' (1812), 'Rodney' (1809), 'Cornwall' (1812), 'Redoutable' (1815), 'Anson' (1812), 'Agincourt' (1817), 'Ajax' (1809), 'America' (1810), 'Barham' (1811), 'Benbow' (1813), 'Berwick' (1809), 'Blenheim' (1813), 'Clarence' (1812), 'Defence' (1815), 'Devonshire' (1812), 'Egmont' (1810), 'Hercules' (1815), 'Medway' (1812), 'Pembroke' (1812), 'Pitt' (1816), 'Russell' (1822), 'Scarborough' (1812), 'Stirling Castle' (1811), 'Wellington' (1816), 'Mulgrave' (1812), 'Gloucester' (1812), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan includes alterations for a rounded bow and circular stern


Post-war

Monument, in Dún Laoghaire, to Captain Boyd and five crew of the AJAX

Ajax was converted to a blockship with screw propulsion for coastal defence (also called 'steam-guard-ships') in 1846. The conversion process involved removing her copper, ballast and some of the bulkheads, and cutting her down in the shape of a blockship.

From 1846 until 1853 she was stationed as a guardship in Queenstown, now Cobh. She took part in the Crimean War 1853-1856. In 1854 she was involved in the Bombardment of Bomarsund, Finland. In 1858 she resumed guardship duties, this time in Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire, where she remained until 1864 when she was decommissioned and broken up.

Captain John McNeil Boyd R.N. was master of the Ajax while she was in Dún Laoghaire. On 8 February 1861 there was the worst storm in memory. 29 ships were lost between Wicklow Head and Howth Head, all close to Dún Laoghaire. Boyd organised rescues, but he and 5 of his crew were lost. Fifteen surviving members of the Ajax crew were decorated for bravery and most were promoted. There are many memorials to Capt. Boyd and his men.

Fate
She was broken up in 1864.

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Figurehead of 'H.M.S. Ajax', a 74-gun third rate built for the Navy by Perry's Yard, Blackwall, in 1809. She was converted to an auxiliary screw ship in 1846 and broken up in 1864. The polychrome-painted, bearded male figure is a half-length bust in classical armour and plumed helmet, above a fiddle (backward turning) scroll: the armour is similar to that of FHD0061, made at Plymouth nearly thirty years before, suggesting common forms of source



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