Naval/Maritime History 25th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1890 - USS Baltimore (Cruiser #3) departs New York Harbor to return the remains of inventor John Ericsson to his native Sweden. For the US Navy, Ericssons most notable designs are for USS Princeton and USS Monitor.


John Ericsson (born Johan) (July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor, active in England and the United States, and regarded as one of the most influential mechanical engineers ever. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the steam locomotive Novelty, which competed in the Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, won by George Stephenson's Rocket. In America he designed the US Navy's first screw-propelled steam-frigate USS Princeton, in partnership with Captain Robert Stockton, who unjustly blamed him for a fatal accident. A new partnership with Cornelius H. DeLamater of the DeLamater Iron Works in New York resulted in the first armoured ship with a rotating turret, the USS Monitor, which dramatically saved the US naval blockading squadron from destruction by an ironclad Confederate vessel, CSS Virginia, at Hampton Roads in March 1862.



Ship connected Designs
Propeller design
He then improved ship design with two screw-propellers moving in different directions (as opposed to earlier tests with this technology, which used a single screw). However, the Admiralty disapproved of the invention, which led to the fortunate contact with the encouraging American captain Robert Stockton who had Ericsson design a propeller steamer for him and invited him to bring his invention to the United States of America, as it would supposedly be more welcomed in that place. As a result, Ericsson moved to New York in 1839. Stockton's plan was for Ericsson to oversee the development of a new class of frigate with Stockton using his considerable political connections to grease the wheels. Finally, after the succession to the Presidency by John Tyler, funds were allocated for a new design. Unfortunately they only received funding for a 700-ton sloop instead of a frigate. The sloop eventually became USS Princeton, named after Stockton's hometown.

The ship took about three years to complete and was perhaps the most advanced warship of its time. In addition to twin screw propellers, it was originally designed to mount a 12-inch muzzle-loading gun on a revolving pedestal. The gun had also been designed by Ericsson and used hoop construction to pre-tension the breech, adding to its strength and allowing safe use of a larger charge. Other innovations on the ship design included a collapsible funnel and an improved recoil system.


USS Princeton (1843)

The relations between Ericsson and Stockton had grown tense over time and, approaching the completion of the ship, Stockton began working to force Ericsson out of the project. Stockton carefully avoided letting outsiders know that Ericsson was the primary inventor.[citation needed] Stockton attempted to claim as much credit for himself as possible, even designing a second 12 in (300 mm) gun to be mounted in Princeton. Unfortunately, not understanding the design of the first gun (originally named "The Orator", renamed "The Oregon" by Stockton), the second gun was fatally flawed.

When launched, Princeton was an enormous success. On October 20, 1843, she won a speed trial against the paddle steamer SS Great Western, until then considered the fastest steamer afloat. Unfortunately, during a firing demonstration of Stockton's gun, the breech ruptured, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, as well as six others. Stockton attempted to deflect the blame onto Ericsson,[citation needed] with moderate success, despite the fact Ericsson's gun was sound and it was Stockton's gun that had failed. Stockton also refused to pay Ericsson, and by using his political connections, Stockton blocked the Navy from paying him. These actions led to Ericsson's later deep resentment toward the U.S. Navy


Ships
On September 26, 1854, Ericsson presented Napoleon III of France with drawings of iron-clad armored battle ships with a dome-shaped gun tower, and even though the French emperor praised this particular plan of an invention, he did nothing to bring it to practical application. In 1851 he designed the Caloric ship Ericsson.

USS Monitor

Replica of USS Monitor
Main article: USS Monitor

Shortly after the American Civil War broke out in 1861, the Confederacy began constructing an ironclad ram upon the hull of USS Merrimack which had been partially burned and then sunk by Federal troops before it was captured by forces loyal to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nearly concurrently, the United States Congress had recommended in August 1861 that armored ships be built for the American Navy. Ericsson still had a dislike for the U.S. Navy, but he was nevertheless convinced by Lincoln's hard-working Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and Cornelius Scranton Bushnell to submit an ironclad ship design to them. Ericsson later presented drawings of USS Monitor, a novel design of armored ship which included a rotating turret housing a pair of large cannons. Despite controversy over the unique design, based on Swedish lumber rafts, the keel was eventually laid down and the ironclad was launched on March 6, 1862. The ship went from plans to launch in approximately 100 days, an amazing achievement.

On March 8, the former USS Merrimack, rechristened CSS Virginia, was wreaking havoc on the wooden Union Blockading Squadron in Virginia, sinking the USS Congress and USS Cumberland. The Monitor appeared the next day, initiating the first battle between ironclad warships on March 9, 1862, at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate between the two ironclad warships, neither of which appeared capable of sinking the other, but strategically saved the remaining Union fleet from defeat. After this, numerous monitors were built for the Union, including twin turret versions, and contributed greatly to the naval victory of the Union over the rebellious states. Despite their low draft and subsequent problems in navigating in high seas, many basic design elements of the Monitor class were copied in future warships by other designers and navies. The rotating turret in particular is considered one of the greatest technological advances in naval history, still found on warships today.

Later designs
Later Ericsson designed other naval vessels and weapons, including a type of torpedo and a destroyer, a torpedo boat that could fire a cannon from an underwater port. He also provided some technical support for John Philip Holland in his early submarine experiments. In the book Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition (1877, reprinted 1976) he presented his "sun engines", which collected solar heat for a hot air engine. One of these designs earned Ericsson additional income after being converted to work as a methane gas engine.

Death and ensuing controversy
Ericsson died on March 8, 1889, the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, in which his Monitor famously played a central role.


The White Squadron's Farewell Salute to the Body of John Ericsson, New York Bay, August 23, 1890


USS Essex / USS Natucket / USS Baltimore

His wish to be buried in his native land sparked a series of articles from New York Times alleging that, by selecting the third-rate USS Essex (1874) to transport his remains, the US Navy was not paying proper respect to Ericsson. The Navy responded and sent the remains on the USS Baltimore, escorted by other ships such as USS Nantucket. On August 23, 1890, the fleet departed with a twenty-one gun salute and the Swedish flag set at half mast. Around 100,000 people turned out for the funeral procession and departure ceremonies, including several veterans of the USS Monitor. Upon arrival in Stockholm, Sweden, the fleet was under presidential order to shoot a twenty-one gun salute to the Swedish flag, leave the remains, and immediately return to sea.

His final resting place is at Filipstad, in Värmland.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(1874)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Baltimore_(C-3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nantucket_(1862)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.


The Southern Cross Expedition, officially known as the British Antarctic Expedition 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The brainchild of the Norwegian-born, half-British explorer and schoolmaster Carsten Borchgrevink, it was the first expedition to over-winter on the Antarctic mainland, the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since James Clark Ross's expedition of 1839 to 1843, and the first to effect a landing on the Barrier's surface. It also pioneered the use of dogs and sledges in Antarctic travel.


Expedition ship SS Southern Cross in the Derwent, Tasmania, used at The British Antarctic Expedition 1898–1900. She was built in Norway in 1886 as whaling ship Pollux.

The expedition was privately financed by the British magazine publisher Sir George Newnes. Borchgrevink's party sailed in the ship Southern Cross, and spent the southern winter of 1899 at Cape Adare, the northwest extremity of the Ross Sea coastline. Here they carried out an extensive programme of scientific observations, although opportunities for inland exploration were severely restricted by the mountainous and glaciated terrain surrounding the base. In January 1900 the party left Cape Adare in Southern Cross to explore the Ross Sea, following the route taken by Ross sixty years earlier. They reached the Great Ice Barrier, where a team of three made the first sledgejourney on the Barrier surface, during which a new Farthest South record latitude was established at 78°50′S.


Theodolite work in the ice pack, with ship of the Southern Cross Expedition in the background

On its return to England the expedition was coolly received by London's geographical establishment which was resentful of the pre-emption of a role they envisaged for their own National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition. There were also questions about Borchgrevink's leadership qualities, and criticism of the limited amounts of scientific information which the expedition provided. Despite the groundbreaking achievements in Antarctic survival and travel, Borchgrevink was never accorded the heroic status of Scott or Shackleton, and his expedition was soon forgotten in the dramas which surrounded these and other Heroic Age explorers. Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole in 1911, acknowledged that Borchgrevink's expedition had removed the greatest obstacles to Antarctic travel, and had opened the way for all the expeditions that followed.


SS Southern Cross was a steam-powered sealing vessel that operated primarily in Norway and Newfoundland and Labrador.

She was lost at sea returning from the seal hunt on March 31, 1914, killing all 174 men aboard in the same storm that killed 78 crewmen from the SS Newfoundland, a collective tragedy that became known as the "1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster".

Background
The vessel was commissioned as the whaler Pollux at Arendal, Norway in 1886. Under the explorer Carstens Borchgrevink on December 19, 1898 Pollux made its first Antarctic expedition where it made marine history by breaking through the Great Ice barrier to the unexplored Ross Sea.

Pollux was sold to Baine Johnston and renamed Southern Cross[citation needed] upon transferring to Newfoundland in 1901. Southern Cross participated in every seal hunt from 1901–1914.


During the Southern Cross Expedition

1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster
The 1914 sealing fleet included both Southern Cross and SS Newfoundland (under Captain Westbury Kean). In addition to minor crew changes from 1913, the fateful decision to remove the wireless set and operator from Newfoundland was taken in order to cut costs.

The fleet left St. John's on March 13, 1914. Newfoundland lost 78 sealers from her crew when they were stranded on the ice for two nights. Just as the terrible news of the Newfoundland tragedy was reaching St. John's, Southern Cross fell out of normal communication. The people of Newfoundland remained hopeful that tragedy would not strike twice, as evidenced by the April 3 newspaper article below:

Nothing has been heard of the Southern Cross since she was reported off Cape Pine on Tuesday last, and the general opinion is that she was driven far off to sea. Various reports were afloat in the city last night, one in particular that she had passed Cape Race yesterday afternoon, but upon making enquiries this and the other reports were unfortunately found to be untrue. At 5:30 yesterday the Anglo [Anglo-American Telegraph Co.] got in touch with Cape Race and learned that she had not passed the Cape neither was she at Trepassey. A message from Captain Connors of the Portia said she was not St. Mary's Bay. A wireless message was sent by the government to the U.S. Patrol steamer Senaca, which is in the vicinity of Cape Race, asking her to search for the Cross. The S.S. Kyle will also leave tonight to make a diligent search for her and it is hoped that something will soon be heard from the overdue ship, as anxiety for her safety is increasing hourly. If she had been driven off to sea, which is the general opinion expressed by experienced seamen, it would take her some days to make land again. The ship is heavily laden and cannot steam at great speed.
— The Evening Telegram April 3, 1914​

Unlike the tragedy of Newfoundland's crew, the disappearance of Southern Cross remained largely unexplained as no crewmen or record of the voyage survived. While a marine court of inquiry determined that the ship sank in a blizzard on March 31, little evidence exists to verify this. Oral tradition suggests that rotten boards gave out in the heavy sea and allowed the cargo to shift and capsize the steamer. Though the wreck of Southern Cross accounted for the greater human loss of the two shipwrecks, some historians argue that the emotional impact of the Newfoundland disaster was more intensely felt because of the horrific stories survivors were able to recount.

These two disasters together constitute what is referred to as the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster. A total loss of 251 lives from a country with a population of approximately 250,000 devastated families and communities. In his autobiographical book, Rockwell Kent describes the impact of the loss on Brigus, where many of the sealers from Southern Cross had lived. "It will pretty well clear out this place," said one resident of the ship's loss. According to Kent "The dread of the loss of this steamer had passed almost to certainty and the mention of the house, the wife, the children, the hopes and ambitions of any of those on her became a tragedy."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_Expedition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Southern_Cross_(1886)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 23 August


1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.


The Dauphin Map of Canada, c. 1543, showing Cartier's discoveries

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

1741 – Birth of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, French admiral and explorer (d. 1788)

Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (French: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa də ɡalop kɔ̃t də lapeʁuːz]; variant spelling of his name comte "de La Pérouse"; 23 August 1741 – 1788?) was a French Naval officer and explorerwhose expedition vanished in Oceania.


Louis XVI giving Lapérouse his instructions on 29 June 1785, by Nicolas-André Monsiau (1817). (Château de Versailles)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-François_de_Galaup,_comte_de_Lapérouse

1755 – Launch of Blonde, a french 32 gun Blonde-class frigate at Le Havre

Blonde class, (32-gun design by Jean-Joseph Ginoux, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns).

HMS Blonde was a 32-gun fifth rate warship of the British Royal Navy captured from the French in 1760. The ship wrecked on Blonde Rock with American prisoners on board. An American privateer Captain Daniel Adams rescued the American prisoners and let the British go free. The Captain's decision created an international stir. Upon returning to Boston, the American privateer was banished for letting go the British crew and he and his family became Loyalist refugees in Nova Scotia.

Career
On 24 February 1760, during the Seven Years' War, a British squadron under Captain John Elliot in HMS Aeolus met a French squadron under Captain François Thurot in the Maréchal de Belle-Isle. In the subsequent Battle of Bishops Court, the British captured Maréchal de Belle-Isle (after Thurot was killed), Terpsichore, and Blonde. The Royal Navy took the latter two into service.

During the American Revolution, the Blonde was in the Battle off Liverpool, Nova Scotia (1778). In 1780 the Blonde captured the commander of the Resolution, for which his crew took revenge the following year in the Raid on Annapolis Royal (1781). Blonde was wrecked on Blonde Rock, Nova Scotia on the 21st January 1782. The 60 American prisoners on board HMS Blonde made their way to Seal Island, Nova Scotia. American privateer Noah Stoddard in the Scammell reluctantly allowed the British crew to go free and return to Halifax in HMS Observer, which was involved in the Naval battle off Halifax en route.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Blonde_(1760)
Blonde-class: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigrette_(1756)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_Rock,_Nova_Scotia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Stoddard

1794 - HMS Flora (36), Cptn. Sir John B. Warren, and HMS Arethusa (38), Cptn. Sir Edward Pellew, drove the French frigate Felicite (40), and the corvettes Espion (18) and Alerte (18) ashore near the Penmark Rocks.

HMS Flora (1780) was a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1780 and wrecked in 1809. Because Flora served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

1798 - Etrusco, Store-ship, (26) foundered in the West Indies

1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.
Bonaparte embarks on the frigate Muiron and abandons command to Kléber


French Campaign in Egypt, 1798–99

Bonaparte leaves Egypt
The land battle at Abukir was Bonaparte's last action in Egypt, partly restoring his reputation after the French naval defeat at the same place a year earlier. However, with the Egyptian campaign stagnating and political instability developing back home, a new phase in Bonaparte's career was beginning – he felt that he had nothing left to do in Egypt which was worthy of his ambition and that (as had been shown by the defeat at Acre) the forces he had left to him there were not sufficient for an expedition of any importance outside of Egypt. He also foresaw that the army was getting yet weaker from losses in battle and to disease and would soon have to surrender and be taken prisoner by its enemies, which would destroy all the prestige he had won by his many victories. Bonaparte thus spontaneously decided to return to France. During the prisoner exchange at Aboukir and notably via the Gazette de Francfort Sidney Smith had sent him, he was in communication with the British fleet, from which he had learned of events in France. As Bonaparte saw (and later mythologised) France was thrown back into retreat, its enemies had recaptured France's conquests, France was unhappy at its dictatorial government and was nostalgic for the glorious peace it had signed in the Treaty of Campo Formio – as Bonaparte saw it, this meant France needed him and would welcome him back.

He only shared the secret of his return with a small number of friends whose discretion and loyalty were well-known. He left Cairo in August 1799 on the pretext of a voyage in the Nile Delta without arousing suspicion, accompanied by the scholars Monge and Berthollet, the painter Denon, and generals Berthier, Murat, Lannes and Marmont. On 23 August 1799 a proclamation informed the army that Bonaparte had transferred his powers as commander in chief to General Kléber. This news was taken badly, with the soldiers angry with Bonaparte and the French government for leaving them behind, but this indignation soon ended, since the troops were confident in Kléber, who convinced them that Bonaparte had not left permanently but would soon be back with reinforcements from France. As night fell, the frigate Muiron silently moored by the shore, with three other ships escorting her. Some became worried when a British corvette was sighted at the moment of departure, but Bonaparte cried "Bah! We'll get there, luck has never abandoned us, we shall get there, despite the English."

Bonaparte's voyage to France
On their 41-day voyage back they did not meet a single enemy ship to stop them, with some sources suggesting that Bonaparte had purchased the British fleet's neutrality via a tacit agreement, though others hold this unlikely, since many would argue that he also had a pact with Nelson to leave him to board on the Egyptian coast unopposed with the fleet bearing his large army. It has been suggested that Sidney Smith and other British commanders in the Mediterranean helped Napoleon evade the British blockade, thinking that he might act as a Royalist element back in France, but there is no solid historical evidence in support of this conjecture.

On 1 October Napoleon's small flotilla entered port at Ajaccio, where contrary winds kept them until 8 October, when they set out for France. When the coast came in sight, ten British ships were sighted. Contre-amiral Ganteaume suggested changing course towards Corsica, but Bonaparte said "No, this manoeuvre would lead us to England, and I want to get to France.". This courageous act saved them and on 8 October 1799 (16 vendémiaire year VIII) the frigates anchored in the roads off Fréjus. As there were no sick men on board and the plague in Egypt had ended six months before their departure, Bonaparte and his entourage were allowed to land immediately without waiting in quarantine. At 6 pm he set off for Paris, accompanied by his chief of staff Berthier. He stopped off at Saint-Raphaël, where he built a pyramid commemorating the expedition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_campaign_in_Egypt_and_Syria

1806 - HMS Anson (1806 - 64) and HMS Arethusa (1781 - 38), Cptn. Charles Brisbane, captured the Spanish frigate Pomona (38) and destroyed 12 gunboats near Moro Castle, Havana.

The Action of 23 August 1806 was a minor naval battle of the Napoleonic wars, fought off the coast of Spanish Cuba near the port of Havana. The Spanish frigate Pomona was captured by the frigates HMS Ansonand HMS Arethusa under the commands of Captain Charles Lydiard and Charles Brisbane respectively. As well as the frigate being captured, a shore battery was silenced and a fleet of gunboats was defeated.


Capture of the Pomona by Anson & Arethusa off Havannah, 23 Aug 1806

Background
The Royal Navy dominated the West Indies region after the French defeat at San Domingo. The Spanish had been on the defensive due to the diminished French naval power and the subsequent blockade of Cádiz, which had been made possible by the battle of Trafalgar. Lydiard was appointed to command the 38-gun HMS Anson in 1805. Anson had originally been a 64-gun third rate, but had been razeed in 1794. He sailed Anson to the West Indies in early 1806 and in August was sailing in company with Captain Charles Brisbane's HMS Arethusa when on 23 August they came across the 38-gun Spanish frigate Pomona off Havana, guarded by a shore battery and twelve gunboats.

Action
The Pomona attempted to enter the harbour whereupon Lydiard and Brisbane bore up and engaged her. The gunboats came out to defend her, whereupon the two British frigates anchored between the shore battery and gunboats on one side, and the Pomona on the other. A hard fought action began, lasting for 35 minutes until the Pomona struck her colours. Three of the gunboats were blown up, six were sunk, and the remaining three were badly damaged. Some of the Spanish were rescued in all total of 317 were captured many of them wounded. The shore battery ceased fire after an explosion damaged it.

Aftermath
There were no casualties aboard Anson, but Arethusa lost two killed and 32 wounded, with Brisbane among the latter. The captured Pomona was subsequently taken into the Navy as HMS Cuba. Charles Brisbane would later take the Dutch island of Curaçao in January 1807, using Anson to achieve that goal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_23_August_1806

1808 – Launch of HMS Blake, a modified Courageux-class 74 gun ship of the line

HMS Blake was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 August 1808 at Deptford and named in honour of Admiral Robert Blake.
On 26 September 1812, Blake and Franchise provided naval support to a land attack, at night, on Tarragona by troops under the command of General Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas, Baron d'Eroles. The attack was successful, and resulted, inter alia, in the capture of several small vessels. The Spanish troops suffered three men killed and eight wounded; the British had no casualties whatsoever. Captain Edward Codrington, of Blake, wrote to Baron d'Eroles and to Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, that the officers and crew declined any prize money from the action, in favour of the Spanish troops, "in admiration of the valour and the discipline which they shewed upon the occasion."
From 1814 Blake served as a prison ship. In 1816 she was sold out of the navy.

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

1808 – Launch of Vistule at Dunkirk
– renamed Danaé in August 1814; deleted 1819. / Milanaise class, (40-gun design by Charles Segondat, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns).

1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing three-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War.

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

1862 - A boat crew from USS Essex, commanded by Capt. William D. Porter, is fired on by Confederate guerillas at Bayou Sara, La. In return, USS Essex shells the town.

1864 - R.Adm. David Farragut's squadron captures Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay winning control of Mobile Bay. The fort withstands naval bombardment for more than two weeks.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1217 – Battle of Sandwich and Death of Eustace the Monk, French pirate


The Battle of Sandwich, also called the Battle of Dover took place on 24 August 1217 as part of the First Barons' War. A Plantagenet English fleet commanded by Hubert de Burgh attacked a Capetian Frencharmada led by Eustace the Monk and Robert of Courtenay off Sandwich, Kent. The English captured the French flagship and most of the supply vessels, forcing the rest of the French fleet to return to Calais.


The Battle of Sandwich, showing the capture of the French flagship and the killing of Eustace the Monk

The French fleet was attempting to bring supplies to Prince Louis, later King Louis VIII of France, whose French forces held London at that time. The English vessels attacked from windward, seizing Eustace's ship, making Robert and the knights prisoner and killing the rest of the crew. Eustace, a notorious pirate, was executed after being taken prisoner. The battle convinced Prince Louis to abandon his effort to conquer England and the Treaty of Lambeth was signed a few weeks later.

Background
Eustace the Monk once belonged to a monastic order, but he broke his vows and became a pirate along with his brothers and friends. His early successes at this endeavor attracted many lawless men and his pirates became a menace to shipping in the English Channel.[2] The English opponents of Eustace credited the man with "diabolical ingenuity".

From 1205 to 1208, Eustace worked for King John I of England. With the English sovereign's blessing he seized the Channel Islands and was allowed to hold them for John, while using Winchelsea as his English base. In 1212, Eustace switched his allegiance to France and was chased out of England. The year 1215 saw his ships transporting war engines to the English barons who opposed John. When Prince Louis sailed for London, he traveled in Eustace's fleet. It was thanks to Eustace's help that Louis was able to quickly capture London and the Cinque Ports.

After his lieutenants were badly defeated at the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217, Prince Louis raised his siege of Dover Castle and retired to London. Signalling his willingness to negotiate an end to the struggle, he agreed to meet at Brentford with adherents of the boy-king Henry III of England. The victor of Lincoln, William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Louis came close to an agreement. However, in order to pardon the bishops who had gone over to Louis' cause, Pope Honorius III's acquiescence was required. Since this was not possible without a long journey to Rome, the negotiations broke down. Louis received the news that reinforcements and supplies would soon arrive from France. Encouraged, he resolved to fight on.

It should be noted that Louis had been invited to land with troops in England by the English barons in revolt against the tyranny of King John and this was not a war of nations but of factions.

Battle
On 24 August, in clear weather, the French fleet set out from Calais. Though the ships were equipped by Eustace the Monk, command of the knights and soldiers was held by Robert of Courtenay. The wife of Prince Louis, Blanche of Castile was also an important organizer of the relief effort. Opposing the French was Philip d'Aubigny, commander of the southeastern coast. The Earl of Pembroke had arrived at New Romney on 19 August and summoned the sailors of the Cinque Ports. The English mariners complained bitterly of bad treatment at the hands of King John, but Pembroke convinced them to fight with the promise of great spoils should they defeat the French.

Eustace's own vessel, the Great Ship of Bayonne led the French squadron. Robert de Courtenay held the top command while Eustace served as his deputy. Ralph de la Tourniele and William des Barres were third and fourth in command, respectively. All told, there were 36 knights on the flagship. The next three troopships were commanded by Mikius de Harnes, William V of Saint-Omer, and the Mayor of Boulogne. Altogether, the first four ships, including the flagship, contained between 100 and 125 knights. Men-at-arms manned the remaining six troopships. There were 70 smaller vessels which carried supplies. All eleven troopships were overloaded, particularly the flagship which carried a large trebuchet and horses destined for Prince Louis.


An 1873 illustration of the battle

The English ships were generally smaller than the French, except for a substantial cog provided by the Earl of Pembroke, who was persuaded to stay ashore.[12] As justiciar, Hubert de Burgh claimed leadership of the fleet, which included between 16 and 18 large ships and 20 smaller vessels. All told, there were no more than 40 English ships. King John's illegitimate son, Richard FitzRoy commanded one ship.

The English, who had recovered Sandwich from Louis' forces, determined to let the French armada pass by before attacking. When the French sailed past Sandwich, de Burgh's fleet issued from the port. The French fleet, which sailed in close order toward the Thames estuary, held the windward position at first. De Burgh's ship, which was in the lead, lunged at the French in a feint attack, but veered away when threatened. Against the advice of his admiral Eustace, the overconfident Robert of Courtenay ordered the French to attack. As the French shortened sail, the English ships gained the windward position and attacked. Meanwhile, de Burgh's flagship sailed independently to attack the French from the rear, eventually capturing two French vessels.


Coin of Robert of Courtenay

Aided by their upwind position, the English archers inflicted considerable damage on the enemy sailors and soldiers before the French bowmen were able to effectively reply. The English also opened pots of lime which blew in the faces of the French.[15] Early in the battle, the French flagship engaged Richard FitzRoy's ship. As more English ships came up, they joined the fight against the flagship, while the other French ships maintained their tight formation, but failed to assist their flagship.

Pembroke's cog and FitzRoy's ship grappled Eustace's flagship, one on each side. After a one-sided melee, Robert of Courtenay and the French knights were captured for ransom, while the French sailors and common soldiers were massacred. Eustace, dragged from his hiding place in the bilge, offered to pay 10,000 marks as ransom. Though his very high price was tempting, FitzRoy and the other English leaders considered Eustace a turncoat because of the pirate's employment by King John. Marked for execution by the enraged English, Eustace was tied down and a man named Stephen Crabbe struck off his head with one blow.



With their flagship taken, the French fleet headed back to Calais. Encouraged, the English attacked, using ramming, grappling, and rigging-cutting to disable the enemy vessels. The nine surviving troopships got away, but most of the smaller vessels fell prey to the English mariners. As few as 15 ships escaped from the rampaging English. The French troopships owed their deliverance to their train of supply vessels because the English turned aside to plunder the smaller craft. The French sailors were slaughtered or thrown into the Channel, except for two or three men on each captured vessel who were spared.

Result
A large part of the loot passed to the English sailors while some was used to set up the Hospital of Saint Batholomew at Sandwich. Historian Thomas B. Costain calls the English victory decisive. Before the battle Prince Louis was short of supplies. With the English in control of the Channel, Louis was totally cut off from his French logistic base. His allies among the English barons wanted a settlement and amnesty for themselves.

Peace was signed on 12 September at Kingston upon Thames. Prince Louis formally renounced his claims to the English crown in return for being allowed an unmolested departure from England. A few of Henry's supporters held out for unconditional surrender, but the Earl of Pembroke successfully argued for the more moderate terms. In return for Henry III's pardon, the barons who had joined Louis were made to pay the French prince 10,000 marks to expedite his withdrawal. Prince Louis left Dover before the end of the month.




Eustace the Monk (Old French: Eustache le Moine; c. 1170 – 24 August 1217), born Eustace Busket, was a mercenary and pirate, in the tradition of medieval outlaws. The birthplace of Eustace was not far from Boulogne. A 1243 document mentions a Guillaume le Moine, seigneur de Course, which indicates that the family lived in that vicinity.

Serving England
Eustace became a pirate in the English Channel and the Strait of Dover, both for his own purposes and as a mercenary of France and England. King John of England employed him intermittently from 1205 to 1212, against Philip II of France. The biography asserts that John gave him command of thirty ships at the start of this assignment. This employment involved Eustace and his brothers raiding the Normandy coast and establishing bases in the Channel Islands (he and his men held Castle Cornet in Guernsey for a considerable period). He took the island of Sark in 1205. When he raided English coastal villages, King John briefly outlawed him, but soon afterwards issued a pardon because he needed Eustace's services.


The island of Sark, which Eustace the Monk used as a base of operations for some time

Serving France
However, Eustace switched sides in 1212 (the biography puts it down to Eustace's enemy Renaud de Dammartin allying himself with John and poisoning John's mind against Eustace) and raided Folkestone when English troops seized his Channel Island bases. When civil war broke out in England in 1215, he supported the rebel barons and ferried Prince Louis of France across the Channel to help them in 1216.

In August 1217, whilst ferrying much-needed reinforcements to Louis, Eustace met an English fleet under Hubert de Burgh sailing out of Dover. In the ensuing Battle of Dover, Eustace wrought havoc among his former allies, until the English blinded the French with powdered lime. English troops boarded his ships and defeated his men in mêlée. Eustace, his flagship and some other ships managed to escape, but his ship was surrounded on 24 August 1217 in the Battle of Sandwich by Philip d'Aubigny's English fleet of Cinque Ports ships. Eustace was found hiding in the ship's bilges and offered huge sums for his life, which his captors refused, since he had made himself so hated by the English crews. Instead, they allowed him merely the choice between the ship's rail or the side of the trebuchet (carried as deck-cargo to England) as his execution site. (Matthew Paris includes the beheading but does not specify which he chose.) His brothers survived, and continued to hold his Channel Islands base.

Aftermath
In June 1217, during the negotiations for what would be known as the Treaty of Lambeth, the English demanded the return of the Channel Islands from Eustace's control, forcibly if necessary. However, he was executed while negotiations were still ongoing and thereafter the negotiations concerned his brothers, with the same demand. The treaty eventually compelled Louis not only to give up his claim to the English throne but also to eject Eustace's brothers from the Channel Islands


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sandwich_(1217)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustace_the_Monk

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1499 - spanish navigator Alonso de Ojeda leads the first Europeans arriving with three caravels in the gulf of Venezuela and Lake Maracaibo. He travelled with the pilot and cartographer Juan de la Cosa and the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.


Alonso de Ojeda (Torrejoncillo del Rey, Cuenca-1468 (some sources state 1466) ; Santo Domingo-1515) was a Spanish navigator, governor and conquistador. He travelled through Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Colombia, and Lake Maracaibo, and later for founding Santa Cruz (La Guairita).


Voyages undertaken by Alonso de Ojeda.

First voyage to Venezuela
On returning to Spain, Ojeda was commissioned by the Catholic Monarchs, without the permission of Columbus, to sail for America again, which he did on 18 May 1499 with three caravels. He travelled with the pilot and cartographer Juan de la Cosa and the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. This was the first of a series of what have become known as the "minor journeys" or "Andalusian journeys" that were made to the New World.


Alonso de Ojeda

On leaving Spain the flotilla sailed along the west coast of Africa to Cape Verde before taking the same route that Columbus had used a year before on his third voyage. After making landfall Vespucio decided to separate from the flotilla and he sailed south towards Brazil. The main flotilla arrived at the mouths of the rivers Essequibo and Orinoco in the Gulf of Paria. It also visited the peninsulas of Paria and Araya, the islands of Trinidad and Margarita and travelled along the continental coast, always in search of a passage towards India. The flotilla then sailed along the Paraguaná Peninsula and sighted the island of Curacao, which was named Giants Island as the indigenous people that were seen were thought to be giants. During the same journey, he constructed a ship and visited the islands of Aruba and the Las Aves archipelago.



During the voyage along the Paraguaná Peninsula the flotilla entered into a gulf (Gulf of Venezuela) where there were villages of the Wayuu people with palafito houses built over the water and supported on stilts made from tree trunks. These villages are said to have reminded Amerigo Vespucci of the city of Venice, (Italian: Venezia), and so the area was given the name Venezuela meaning Little Venice. (However, according to Martín Fernández de Enciso, who supported Ojeda's 1509 expedition, they found a local population calling themselves the Veneciuela, so "Venezuela" may derive from the local term.) The flotilla arrived at the entrance to Lake Maracaibo on 24 August 1499. The lake was originally named after Saint Bartholomew as this was his saints day. Ojeda also reached Cabo de la Vela, on the Guajira Peninsula, which he named Coquivacoa.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_de_Ojeda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1733 – HMS Warwick 60-gun Completed

HMS Warwick was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1719 Establishment at Plymouth by P. Lock. The keel was laid down on 1 April 1730, and the ship was launched on 25 October 1733, and completed on 24 August 1734.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Warwick (1733), a 1719 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker as built at Plymouth Dockyard.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81398.html#bOHOMsfORgxbKv1c.99

Service history
Warwick was commissioned under the command of Captain Edmund Brooke. She proved to be an inferior design; top-heavy and with a tendency to heel over in strong winds. In 1735 she was with the fleet of Admiral John Norris in the Tagus. In October 1736 she returned to England and was paid off.

She was recommissioned in June 1739 under the command of Captain John Toller, and served with Admiral Nicholas Haddock's fleet in the Mediterranean. Command had passed to Captain Temple West by 1743, under whom she was present at the Battle of Toulon on 11 February 1744.


Engraving of the Battle (1796) Naval museum of Madrid. / Map of the Battle

She was recommissioned in January 1746 under the command of Captain Robert Erskine. On 14 July 1747, Warwick was off the Azores in company with the 40-gun Lark, Captain John Crookshanks, when she encountered the Spanish 74 Glorioso, sailing from the Spanish Main with 3 million dollars in treasure. Warwick attacked but, left unsupported, was beaten to a standstill, and the Glorioso escaped. Crookshanks, who was the senior officer, was cashiered.


Combat of the Glorioso against HMS Dartmouth. Oil on canvas by Ángel Cortellini Sánchez, 1891.

In 1748, under the command of Captain Thomas Innes, Warwick was part of the squadron under Sir Charles Knowles in the Caribbean, and took part on the attacks on Fort Saint Louis de Sud and Santiago de Cuba in March and April, and in the Battle of Havana on 12 October 1748.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with some decoration detail, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Warwick (1733), a 1719 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Signed by Peirson Lock [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1726-1742]
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81397.html#gGm2fILuClyzHsal.99

Capture by France
She was recommissioned in March 1755 under the command of Captain Molyneux Shuldham and sailed for the Leeward Islands. On 21 December 1755 Warwick was detached by Commodore Thomas Frankland to cruise in the neighbourhood of Martinique. At daybreak on 11 March 1756, three French ships were sighted, and Warwick attempted to escape. The ships were the 74-gun Prudent, Captain d'Aubigny, and frigates Atalante and Zéphyr. In the heavy seas Warwick was unable to bring her lower deck guns into action, and also her crew had been depleted by illness, with less than 300 from her crew of 400 fit. Atalante (34), Captain Du Chaffault, came up on her quarter, and kept up a steady fire, cutting up her rigging. The Prudent then also drew in close and opened fire. Shuldham ordered his guns to fire on the larger ship, firing at Atalante with small-arms only. After half an hour, in a hopeless position, Warwick surrendered. Shuldham was held as a prisoner of war for two years. On his return to England he was court-martialled for the loss of his ship, but found to have "done his duty."

Recapture by Great Britain
At daybreak on 24 January 1761 Minerva, still under the command of Captain Hood, encountered a large two-decker ship about 90 nautical miles north-west of Cabo de Peñas in northern Spain. Minerva gave chase and finally caught her at 10.20 a.m. During a brisk engagement lasting no more than 40 minutes the enemy ship lost her main and fore top-mast, while soon after Minerva lost her bowsprit and fore-mast. Both ships were obliged to break off the action to clear the wreckage, but Minerva was ready to resume the fight first and closed with the enemy again at 4 p.m., forcing her to strike her colours after an hour. She proved to be the French ship Warwick (formerly HMS Warwick, captured in 1756), a 60-gun ship, but armed with only 34, under the command M. le Vegerde Belair. She had sailed from Rochfort on 20 January, bound for the Isle de France (now Mauritius) loaded with provisions, ammunition, and stores, and also transporting a detachment of 74 soldiers and six other passengers. Warwick had 14 killed and 32 wounded, while aboard Minerve 14 were killed, and 34 wounded, three of whom later died


Derek Gardner "Warwick and Minerva"

She proved unfit for further service and was broken up later that year.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warwick_(1733)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Toulon_(1744)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Minerva_(1759)
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/-Warwick-and-Minerva-/59D6CF8734FC1D18

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1774 – Launch of HMS Enterprise, a 28 gun Enterprise-class frigate


Remark at beginning:
A very detailed Ship History with all available drawings, History, Models and available kits you can find in our Ship History area of our forum SOS:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...74-1807-28-gun-frigate-enterprise-class.1990/


The fifth HMS Enterprise (sometimes spelled Enterprize), 28 guns, was the name ship of a class of twenty-seven sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy.


Painting of an fictional model of the HMS Enterprise

Construction
Enterprise was built at Deptford Royal Dockyard, England, launched in August 1774, and was commissioned in April 1775 under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Rich. During her construction she was also the subject of a pair of oil paintings by Joseph Marshall, simulating her ship model but actually drawn from her designs - these were completed in 1777 as part of a series of such paintings commissioned by George III of the United Kingdom. The pair showing Enterprise are now split between the National Maritime Museum and the Science Museum.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines and longitudinal half breadth as proposed and approved for building Siren [Syren] (1773) and Fox (1773), and later for building Enterprize (1773), and Surprize (1774), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates. The plan includes a table of the mast and yard dimensions. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83189.html#4mbBCqg5xBM6wk0i.99

Career
Enterprise served throughout the American Revolutionary War as cruiser and convoy escort. On 7 June 1780, Enterprise, under command of Captain Patrick Leslie (not to be confused with Patrick Leslie), was at anchor in the Bay of Gibraltar with other ships of the Royal Navy. At about 1:30am, Enterprise saw some vessels drifting toward the harbour. When they came within hailing distance, the seaman on watch called a challenge. The six drifting vessels were set afire by their crews, who made their escape in small boats, leaving the flaming hulks drifting toward the British ships. Captain Leslie fired a three-gun salvo to warn the other ships, cut his anchor lines to let Enterprise drift away from the hulks, and then opened fire on the hulks in an attempt to sink them. With the Spanish fleet waiting just outside the harbour for any British ships trying to escape, the British seamen took to small boats and, at great peril to their lives, boarded the flaming hulks to attach lines to pull them away from their own ships and burn themselves out.

After this action and continued service in the Mediterranean, she sailed under the command of Captain John Payne on 27 April 1782, for the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. In October 1782, now under the command of Captain William Carnegie, she captured the 22-gun American privateer Mohawk, which the Royal Navy took into service under her existing name, before selling her in 1783.

Fate
Enterprise was decommissioned in May 1784. From 1790 she was stationed in port in British home waters as a receiving ship, monitoring the arrival of foreign vessels. In 1791, during the war scare known as the Spanish Armament, she was hulked as a receiving ship for impressed men at the Tower of London. In 1806 she was taken to Deptford and broken up in 1807.

In April 1806, another Enterprise-class frigate, HMS Resource (built at Rotherhithe in 1777-78) joined her sister ship at the Tower as another receiving ship to accommodate men taken up by another press at the end of the Peace of Amiens and the outbreak of the Napoleonic War. Resource was re-named Enterprise; she was broken up in 1816.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Enterprise_(1774)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-310573;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1782 – Launch of Censeur a french 74-gun Pégase-class at Rochefort

Censeur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was briefly captured by the British, but was retaken after a few months and taken back into French service as Révolution. She served until 1799, when she was transferred to the Spanish Navy, but was found to be rotten and was broken up.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and name in a cartouche on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pegase (1782), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan shows the ship with the French layout of fittings, and the proposed alterations for fitting her as a British 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80525.html#ZdSjyWQz946gL07b.99

Construction and early service
Censeur was laid down at Rochefort in August 1781 to a design by Antoine Groignard. Launched on 24 August 1782, she had entered service by October that year. She was one of the ships captured during the occupation of Toulon in 1793, though she was left to fall into Republican hands intact in the withdrawal

Capture
Main article: Naval Battle of Genoa (1795)
On 3 March 1795 Censeur, under her captain Louis-Marie Coudé, formed part of a fleet of 15 ships of the line under the command of Rear-Admiral Pierre Martin, which sailed from Toulon bound for Corsica with 5,000 troops. The fleet was intercepted in the Gulf of Genoa on 13 March by a British force under the command of Vice-Admiral William Hotham, which promptly gave chase to the French. Martin attempted to flee, but in the confusion two of his 80-gun ships, Ça Ira and Victoire, collided, causing the Ça Ira to lose her fore and main topmasts. Several British ships, including the 64-gun HMS Agamemnon under Captain Horatio Nelson, came up to the straggling Ça Ira and opened fire, causing Martin to double back to protect her. A cautious Hotham called his ships back and reformed the line, and as night fell Martin disengaged and resumed his flight, with the Censeur towing the Ça Ira. At daybreak on 14 March the British resumed their attack on the still lagging Ça Ira and Censeur. Martin again attempted to come to their aid, but after some heavy fighting, withdrew with his transports, leaving both ships to be captured by the British. The two ships fought on until Censeur had lost her fore and main masts, and sustained combined casualties of 400 men.


Ça Ira fighting British ships at Genoa

British service and recapture
Main article: Action of 7 October 1795
She was placed under the temporary command of Commander Thomas Boys immediately after her capture, after which Captain Sir John Gore was placed in command. Censeur, jury-rigged and armed en flûte was then sent back to England with a convoy under Commodore Thomas Taylor. It consisted of 63 merchants of the Levant convoy, the 74-gun ships HMS Fortitude under Taylor, and HMS Bedford under Captain Augustus Montgomery, the 44-gun HMS Argo under Captain Richard Randall Burgess, the 32-gun frigates HMS Juno, Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk, HMS Lutine, Captain William Haggit, and the fireship HMS Tisiphone, Captain Joseph Turner. The convoy called at Gibraltar on 25 September, at which point thirty-two of the merchants left that night in company with Argoand Juno. The rest of the fleet sailed together, reaching Cape St Vincent by the early morning of 7 October. At this point a sizeable French squadron was sighted bearing up, consisting of six ships of the line and three frigates under Rear-Admiral Joseph de Richery. The British ships of the line formed a defensive line, but as they were doing so Censeur's jury-rigged foretopmast carried away, and only having been fitted with a frigate's mainmast, she was obliged to fall behind. Fortitude and Bedford hung back to support her, and resisted the French attack for an hour, during which Censeur's remaining top masts were shot away and she exhausted her supply of powder. Gore surrendered his ship, and the remaining British warships and one surviving merchant of the convoy made their escape.

Last years
She was re-added to French Navy as Révolution and served with them until 1799, when she was transferred by France to Spain in consequence of the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso. In exchange for Censeur the French received the Spanish 74-gun San Sebastian, which they renamed Alliance. Censeur was however found to be rotten, and was broken up.


The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.

The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.

Ships of the Pégase class

• Pégase

Launched: 5 October 1781
Fate: Captured by HMS Foudroyant in the Bay of Biscay on 21 April 1782 (with 80 men of her crew killed); renamed HMS Pegase; hulked 1794 at Plymouth, until broken up in 1815.


Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782

• Puissant

Launched: 13 March 1782
Fate: Surrendered to the British by her Royalist crew during the Siege of Toulon on 29 September 1793; removed to England at the evacuation of the city; became a hulk in Portsmouth 1796; broken up in 1816.

• Dictateur

Launched: 16 February 1782
Fate: Renamed Liberté on 29 September 1792. Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon on 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1808.

• Suffisant

Launched: 6 March 1782
Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.

• Alcide

Launched: 25 May 1782
Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own heated shots, and exploded.

• Censeur

Launched: 24 July 1782
Fate: Captured by the British at the Battle of Cape Noli 14 March 1795; retaken in the Action of 7 October 1795 by de Richery's squadron off Cape St Vincent; sold at Cadiz to Spain in June 1799 in exchange for the Spanish San Sebastián.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Censeur_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pégase-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1786 – Launch of HMS Elephant, a 74 gun Arrogant-class

HMS Elephant was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by George Parsons in Bursledon, Hampshire, and launched on 24 August 1786.




Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Elephant (1786), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built at Bursledon by Mr George Parsons. The date on this plan is wrong, and is likely to be 1786 or 1787, as it shows the ship after her fitting. However, ZAZ1070 may be a copy of this plan, although the date and place of draughting has been omitted. Reverse: Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck & forecastle, upper deck gun deck (lower deck), and orlop deck for Elephant (1786), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81038.html#aKQsjFDp0gOo0vl2.99



In late November 1790 the ship narrowly avoided destruction when lightning struck her whilst she was in Portsmouth harbour. The main topmast exploded but did not plunge through the quarterdeck as it was still held by the toprope.


HMS Monarch in the lead, with Elephant close behind forcing the Passage of the Sound, 30 March 1801, prior to the Battle of Copenhagen

In 1801 Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson chose Elephant as his flagship during the Battle of Copenhagen due to its suitability for the shallow waters there. It was on this ship that he is said to have put his telescope to his blind eye and claimed not to be able to see a signal ordering him to withdraw.


Scale: Graduated Bar Scale. Plan showing the iron ballast between the fore and after bulkheads, and a plan of the ground tier between the fore and after bulkheads illustrating the stores on Elephant (1786), a 74-gun, Third Rate, two-decker.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/533528.html#ppW7Vv1LwGsXStCq.99

In mid-1803, the squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun, consisting of Cumberland, Hercule, Bellerophon, Elephant, and Vanguard captured Poisson Volant and Superieure. The Royal Navy took both into service. The ship participated in the Blockade of Saint-Domingue in the same year. The British patrolled off Cap-François. On 24 July the squadron, made up of Bellerophon, Elephant, HMS Theseus, and HMS Vanguard, came across two French 74-gun ships, Duquesne and Duguay-Trouin, and the frigate Guerrière, attempting to escape from Cap-François. The squadron gave chase, and on 25 July overhauled and captured Duquesne after a few shots were fired, while Duguay-Trouin and Guerrière managed to evade their pursuers and escape to France. One man was killed aboard Bellerophon during the pursuit. Elephant remained blockading Cap-François until November, when the French commander of the garrison there, General Rochambeau, was forced to surrender.


A composite picture showing five of the ships in which Nelson served as a captain and flag officer from the start of the French Wars in 1793 to his death in 1805. The artist has depicted them drying sails in a calm at Spithead, Portsmouth, and despite the traditional title, two of them were not strictly flagships. The ship on the left in bow view is the 'Agamemnon', 64 guns. It was Nelson's favourite ship, which he commanded as a captain from 1793. Broadside on is the 'Vanguard', 74 guns, his flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 flying a white ensign and his blue flag as Rear-Admiral of the Blue at the mizzen. Stern on is the 'Elephant', 74 guns, his temporary flagship at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. She is flying the blue ensign from the stern and Nelson's flag as Vice-Admiral of the Blue at her foremast. In the centre distance is the 'Captain', 74 guns, in which Nelson flew a commodore's broad pendant at the Battle of St Vincent, 1797. Dominating the right foreground is the 'Victory', 100 guns, shown in her original state, with open stern galleries, and not as she was at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is shown at anchor flying the flag of Vice-Admiral of the White, Nelson's Trafalgar rank, and firing a salute to starboard as an admiral's barge is rowed alongside, amidst other small craft. The painting is one of a series of six paintings created for a two-volume 'Life of Nelson', begun shortly after Nelson's death in 1805 by Clarke and McArthur and published in 1809. They were engraved by James Fittler and reproduced in the biography with lengthy explanatory texts. The artist placed considerable importance on accuracy, referring to his annotated drawings and sketch plans in the production of his oil paintings. Pocock was born and brought up in Bristol, went to sea at the age of 17 and rose to command several merchant ships. Although he only took up painting as a profession in his early forties, he became extremely successful, receiving commissions from naval commanders anxious to have accurate portrayals of actions and ships. By the age of 80, Pocock had recorded nearly 40 years of maritime history, demonstrating a meticulous understanding of shipping and rigging with close attention to detail.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12588.html#yzREUSQKFiSJoVZl.99

To prevent Rochambeau escaping, launches from Bellerophon and Elephant went into the Caracol Passage where they cut out the French schooner Découverte on 22-23 November. The French formally surrendered on 30 November.

Elephant was reduced to a 58-gun fourth-rate in 1818, and broken up in 1830.


The Arrogant-class ships were designed as a development of Slade's previous Bellona class, sharing the same basic dimensions. During this period, the original armament was the same across all the ships of the common class, of which the Arrogant-class ships were members. Two ships were ordered on 13 December 1758 to this design (as the same time as the fourth and fifth units of the Bellona class), and a further ten ships were built to a slightly modified version of the Arrogant design from 1773 onwards.
Ships

• HMS Arrogant

Launched: 22 January 1761
Fate: Sold at Bombay to be broken up, 1810

• HMS Cornwall

Launched: 19 May 1761
Fate: Burnt or scuttled as unserviceable at St Lucia, 30 June 1780

• HMS Edgar

Launched: 30 June 1779
Fate: Broken up, 1835

• HMS Goliath

Launched: 19 October 1781
Fate: Broken up, 1815

• HMS Zealous

Launched: 25 June 1785
Fate: Broken up, 1816

• HMS Audacious

Launched: 23 July 1785
Fate: Broken up, 1815

• HMS Elephant

Launched: 24 August 1786
Fate: Broken up, 1830

• HMS Bellerophon

Launched: 6 October 1786
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1836

• HMS Saturn

Launched: 22 November 1786
Fate: Broken up, 1868

• HMS Vanguard

Launched: 6 March 1787
Fate: Broken up, 1821

• HMS Excellent

Launched: 27 November 1787
Fate: Broken up, 1835

• HMS Illustrious

Launched: 7 July 1789
Fate: Grounded in gale near Livorno (Leghorn) and burnt, 28 March 1795.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Elephant_(1786)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogant-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...0;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1789 - The First Battle of Svensksund

also known as the First Battle of Rochensalm from the Russian version of the Finnish: Ruotsinsalmi, was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, outside the present-day city of Kotka, on August 24, 1789, during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790).


Battle of Svensksund August 24, 1789 by Johan Tietrich Schoultz

Order of battle
The Swedish fleet at Svensksund consisted of one light, shallow draft, frigate, six turumas, one hemmema, three udemas, and one pojoma archipelago frigate, with twenty gun sloops, four mortar longboats, four cannon longboats and five galleys. The fleet had 5,000 men plus those aboard auxiliaries and transports. Swedish strength was dispersed defending the whole length of the coastline. The Swedish open sea fleet failed to defeat the Russian fleet at Öland and was unable to clear Russian ships from the Porkkala region.


Contemporary model of an early 18th-century Swedish galley from the collections of the Maritime Museum in Stockholm

The Russian coastal fleet consisted of a frigate, eight xebecs, five brigs, three bomb vessels, eighteen galleys, twenty-nine half-galleys, twelve gun sloops and three cutters with a total of 12000 men plus those aboard auxiliaries. The Russian coastal fleet was supported by a squadron of three frigates, seven xebecs, and two dozen smaller ships from the open sea fleet commanded by Ivan Balle.

First phase of the battle
The Swedish fleet prepared for Russian numerical superiority by creating blockades of scuttled ships in the narrow passages on 23 August. Failure to blockade all the narrow passages made this operation unsuccessful. Action between main elements of the Swedish archipelago fleet and the Russian squadron led by Balle started at 10:00 on 24 August and the artillery duel continued for six hours before the initial Russian attack from the south was beaten back with Russians losing three ships captured and several others badly damaged.


First battle of Svensksund

Second phase of the battle
The Russian coastal fleet had meanwhile approached from the east and was probing its way through the Swedish blockade under fire. Advantage shifted from the defenders to the attackers at 16:00 when the right wing of the Russian coastal fleet led by Giolio Litta penetrated the unblockaded narrow passage between Majasaari (Koiromsari) and Tiutine. The Russian attack forced Swedish ships guarding the blockade to withdraw allowing the Russians to clear remaining blockade obstacles.

Russians captured the turuma Sällan Värre which had run aground while defending the blockades and Enrique MacDonell's hemmema Oden which had come to its aid. The Swedish archipelago fleet withdrew into the safety of fortress at Svartholm when it became clear that Russians had beaten the blockade. Several other ships were lost during the withdrawal. The turuma Björn Järnsida, which had been Ehrensvärd's flagship at the start of the battle, ran aground and struck its colors after bravely fighting nearly to the last man. The frigate af Trolle, turuma Ragvald, and a gun sloop were also captured. Swedish auxiliaries and transport vessels trapped north of island of Kotka were burned to prevent their capture.


Contemporary model of the turuma Lodbrok (built in 1771) at the Maritime Museum in Stockholm. The turuma were the core of the archipelago fleet during the war of 1788-90 and were the largest vessels in the inshore squadrons.
and
Contemporary model of a mortar longboat from the collections of the Maritime Museum in Stockholm
and
Line drawing of the Brynhilda, one of the three pojamas built for the Swedish navy
and
Contemporary model of Brynhilda (built in 1776) at the Maritime Museum in Stockholm. The model is flying the blue three-tongued flag of the archipelago fleet from the stern.

Aftermath
Total Swedish losses were three turuma archipelago frigates, one hemmema archipelago frigate, one light frigate, one galley, one half-galley, one schooner, nine gun sloops and thirty transport and auxiliary vessels. Roughly 1500 Swedes were killed, wounded or captured during the battle. A field hospital was formed for another 500 sick Swedes unable to evacuate. Russian losses were one galley and one gun sloop blown up. Russians recaptured all ships from Balle's squadron captured by Swedes early in the battle. Their casualties were 383 men killed, 628 injured and 22 captured.

Russians gained a clear victory but failed to inflict decisive defeat on the Swedish archipelago fleet. A delayed attack by Karl Heinrich von Nassau-Siegen allowed Swedes to defeat Ivan Balle's squadron. Early defeat of Balle's squadron allowed most of the Swedish fleet to reach the safety of Svartholm fortress and regroup for later battles. Navigation of the shallow yet unobstructed narrow between Tiutine and Koiromsari by Giulio Litta's small galley force was the crucial factor in Russian success at Svensksund.

Several factors contributed to the Swedish defeat. A successful Russian blockade at Porkala prevented two archipelago frigates, roughly twenty galleys, and several gun sloops and yawls from reaching Svensksund in August 1789.[6] Ehrensvärd's preparations for defense were hampered by King Gustav III's opposition to his plan. Ehrensvärd's decision not to blockade the narrow between Tiutine and Koiromsari due to his belief that it was too shallow to navigate was a crucial error; and delayed construction of obstacles in the straits opening towards Frederikshamn made it possible for the Russians to clear them quickly. Inadequate sounding of the Swede's selected battleground caused several Swedish ships to run aground during the battle. The Swedes might have been victorious at Svensksund in 1789 had the king allowed Ehrensvärd to withdraw to Svartholm after defeating Balle's squadron as Ehrensvärd had planned. King Gustav III was aware his fleet was running low on ammunition when he gave the order to fight against the main force of the Russian coastal fleet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svensksund_(1789)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago_fleet#Vessels

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1798 - HMS Naiad (1797 - 38) and HMS Magnanime (1780 - 44) captured the French frigate Decade (1794/1798 - 36) off Cape Finisterre


HMS Decade was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Galathée-class frigate Décade, which the British had captured in 1798. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was sold out of the service in 1811.

French service and capture
Décade was built at Bordeaux between March 1794 and January 1795, having been launched on 10 October 1794. She had been previously named Macreuse. After a short career with the French Navy she was captured on 24 August 1798.


A naive drawing depicting the chase and capture of 'Le Decade' by the 'Naiad' on 24 August 1798, off Cape Finisterre (north-west Spain). The 'Naiad', 38 guns, was built by Hall & Co. at Limehouse on the Thames and launched in 1797. She was commissioned in 1798 under Captain William Pierrepont and was involved in action against the French until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, including being among the frigates at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. A cartouche of laurel leaves on the right hand side of the drawing describes the action: 'His Majesty’s Ship / NAIAD of 38 guns Capt. / Pierepont Engages & takes / LE. DECADE a french / Frigate of 44 guns off / Cape Finister [sic] Aug 24 / 1798' The French ship is shown in the foreground, with the 'Naiad' partially hidden, and clouds of smoke between the two. The crews appear to be on deck, flags are flying and both ships are in full sail. The whole scene is enlivened by various mythical beings and fish, including Neptune and his wife, Amphitrite, in red high heels and a large skirt, being pulled along in a chariot (flying the royal standard and a white ensign) by hippocamps; a sea nymph, or naiad, with a mirror (a naiad also appears on the badge of HMS 'Naiad'); Fame blowing her trumpet; Britannia ruling the waves, accompanied by a very small, anxious lion; and Hope, with her anchor. In 1799, still patrolling off Cape Finisterre, the 'Naiad' shared in the capture of the Spanish frigates 'Thetis' and 'Santa Brigida' - carrying £600,000 in Mexican treasure - with three other British frigates. Each captain became rich, reaping over £40,000 in prize money, and even seamen got £182 each from the treasure, excluding the value of the Spanish ships, which the Navy purchased. These were huge sums at the time. 'Naiad's' most glorious hour came when, under Captain Thomas Dundas, she served among the frigates at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is mentioned in Nelson’s private diary as sending the signal for enemy ships appearing and, after the battle, she towed the dismasted 'Belleisle' to Gibraltar for repair. She took part in many other actions during the war, and continued in service in the Mediterranean until 1826, when she was paid off. After this she stayed in use in South America, and was not broken up until 1898. She had survived longer than any other British-built ship at Trafalgar except for the 'Victory' (though the French-built 'Implacable', ex- 'Duguay-Trouin', also lasted to 1949). This is an excellent example of English naive art, depicting a real event with great inventiveness and immediacy. The artist, probably a witness to the engagement, has not only observed the two ships with great attention to detail, but also demonstrates an awareness of various classical and symbolic motifs which he uses to illustrate his story. Curiously, there are no other depictions of this action in the Museum's collection. One might expect such a work to have been based on an engraving, but it would appear to be ‘original’. The Museum purchased it in 2008, partly on the grounds that it previously had nothing like it in its collection. In great contrast, it has long had a pair of very fine pastel portraits, by John Russell RA, of Captain William Pierrepont of the 'Naiad' and his wife Maria, both dated 1801(PAJ2899, PAJ2906). [amended PvdM 5/09 and 12/10] Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/461210.html#KzwBh2uelim5PcPP.99

On 24 August, Naiad was chasing a French frigate, which Magnanime joined. After about three hours the two British ships had caught up with the French ship, which proceeded for the next hour to fire on them with her stern chasers. She then struck. The French ship was Décade, with a crew of 336 men under the command of Citoyen Villeneau. Décade was pierced for 44 guns, but she had landed ten in Cayenne, from where she had sailed. In all, Naiad had chased Décade for 36 hours. The British took Décade back to Plymouth. She was registered there in October and fitted out there between April and December 1799.


HMS Naiad towing HMS Belleisle towards Gibraltar, after the Belleisle had been damaged and dismasted at the Battle of Trafalgar two days previously.

British service
She was commissioned in June 1799 under Captain James Wallis, and sent to Jamaica in January the following year. She was paid off in October 1802. Decade was fitted out at Portsmouth between May and July 1803 and recommissioned again in June 1803 under Captain William Rutherfurd. Rutherfurd commanded Decade in the English Channel, before sailing to join the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1805. She took part in the pursuit of the French fleet to the West Indies during the Trafalgar Campaign, and in 1806 she came under the command of Captain John Stuart. Stuart was assigned to Sir Richard Strachan's squadron, and took part in the pursuit of Jean-Baptiste Willaumez's squadron during the Atlantic campaign of 1806. Decade was assigned to the serve in the Channel in 1807, and by 1808 was on the Irish station.

She was sold at Deptford on 21 February 1811.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Naiad_(1797)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Magnanime_(1780)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Decade_(1798)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1848 - Ocean Monarch was an emigration barque caught fire at sea and sank with the loss of 178 lives.

The barque was owned by the White Diamond Line and was registered in Boston, the port where she was built. The Ocean Monarch was launched from the East Boston shipyard of Donald McKay in July 1847.


Burning of the Ocean Monarch (1850), Samuel Walters

Burning of the Ocean Monarch
Ocean Monarch had left Liverpool on the morning of Thursday, 24 August 1848 carrying passengers to Boston in the United States of America. Helmed by a Captain Murdoch, the Ocean Monarch was towed from the port and entered the open sea around eight o'clock in the morning. Not far from harbour, between Abergele Bay and Great Orme's Head off Llandudno, at around noon, the Ocean Monarch was witnessed to put up its helm as if to return to port and then a flag of distress was raised. Within a short time flames were seen rising towards the rear of the vessel.

In an attempt to control the fire, which was now a blaze, Captain Murdoch attempted to turn the ship up wind, but in failing to do so, dropped both anchors. At this time it was apparent that the crew had lost control of the passengers who had begun fleeing the fire, rushing around deck in panic and even throwing themselves overboard. The captain ordered all moveable spars overboard to give those passengers in the water an aid in flotation.


Commander Thomas Littledale of the yacht Queen of the Ocean was first on the scene. Returning to Liverpool with a group of friends after the Beaumaris regatta, he managed to rescue 32 people from the burning ship, including Captain Murdoch. Other ships picked up another 188 persons; the ship and 178 passengers were lost when the ship sank at its anchors in 85 feet of water.
The painting shows the middle stage of the fire, with one mast down and red flames at the stern and amidships. Panicked people are crowded forward of the smoke and flames, overflowing out on the bowsprit and to the very tip of the jib-boom. Some survivors can be seen in the sea clinging to the wreckage of the mizzenmast. To the right is the yacht Queen of the Ocean and a sailboat.
This painting is believed to have been commissioned by Capt. Littledale to feature his heroic rescue. The Museum owns another Walters painting of the disaster that features another vessel in the foreground, and two other Walters paintings in different collections highlight still other vessels’ rescue of the passengers and crew.
The dramatic loss of the Ocean Monarch and so many of its passengers so close to shore so soon after departure, as well as its thrilling rescue, touched off an international wave of sympathy and a media storm on both sides of the Atlantic.

Two other vessels in the area, came immediately to the ships aid, they were the yacht Queen of the Ocean, captained by Mr. Thomas Littledale; and the Brazilian frigate Affonso, captained by J.M. Lisboa. On board the Affonso was Admiral John Pascoe Grenfell who was superintending the trial of the frigate,[2] he would later man a boat as part of the rescue. Later on two other vessels would join, what quickly became a sea rescue, they were an American packet New World and the railway steamer Prince of Wales. These rescuing vessels launched boats to aid the collection of the survivors. The Affonso managed to get close enough to the Ocean Monarch to fasten a rope to her allowing for rapid ferrying of passengers via boats.

By three o'clock the last ship at the scene, Queen of the Ocean turned and headed for Liverpool with their cargo of survivors.

On Friday, 25 August 1848 the Ocean Monarch went down at her anchored point to a depth of roughly 14 fathoms (25 m).

The Burning of the Ocean Monarch off the Great Orme is a series of three paintings by British artist Samuel Walters (1811-1882).


Destruction of the American Emigrant Ship Ocean Monarch on the 24th August 1848 After a Drawing by the Prince de Touville (PAH0603)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140550.html#qGQLx3yUxUxdAgu3.99

Cause of the fire
It was initially reported in the Liverpool Mercury that the fire came from a wooden ventilator, which a passenger had mistaken for a chimney. This was later refuted by Captain Murdoch, stating that the craft had iron ventilators, and he believed that smoking amongst the steerage passengers, from whom he had confiscated smoking pipes earlier, was the cause.

Frederick Jerome
Frederick Jerome a sailor working aboard the New World, born in Portsmouth, but then a resident of New York, showed personal bravery during the rescue. He dived into the sea, swam to the burning ship and lifted more than fifteen female passengers into a rescuing boat. On his return to New York he was awarded the freedom of the city by the Common Council of New York. He also received a £50 award from Queen Victoria and another £50 from the Prince de Joinville and the Duc d'Aumale, both aboard the Affonso.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Monarch_(barque)
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/collection/2005.0279.066.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1912 - The collier, USS Jupiter, is launched. The vessel is the first electrically-propelled Navy ship.

USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), and also the US Navy's first turbo-electric-powered ship. Conversion of another collier was planned but canceled when the Washington Naval Treaty required the cancellation of the partially built Lexington-class battlecruisers Lexington and Saratoga, freeing up their hulls for conversion to the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga. Langley was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American aviation pioneer. Following another conversion to a seaplane tender, Langley fought in World War II. On 27 February 1942, she was attacked by nine twin-engine Japanese bombers of the Japanese 21st and 23rd Naval Air Flotillas and so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled by her escorts.


Jupiter 16 October 1913, the collier, before conversion to Langley, the aircraft carrier.

Collier
President William H. Taft attended the ceremony when Jupiter's keel was laid down on 18 October 1911 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. She was launched on 14 August 1912 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas F. Ruhm; and commissioned on 7 April 1913 under Commander Joseph M. Reeves. Her sister ships were Cyclops, which disappeared without a trace in World War I, Proteus, and Nereus, which disappeared on the same route as Cyclops in World War II.


Jupiter immediately after her launching at Mare Island Navy Yard

After successfully passing her trials as the first turbo-electric-powered ship of the US Navy, Jupiter embarked a United States Marine Corps detachment at San Francisco, California, and reported to the Pacific Fleet at Mazatlán Mexico on 27 April 1914, bolstering US naval strength on the Mexican Pacific coast in the tense days of the Veracruz crisis. She remained on the Pacific coast until she departed for Philadelphia on 10 October. En route, the collier steamed through the Panama Canal on Columbus Day, the first vessel to transit it from west to east.

Prior to America's entry into World War I, she cruised the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico attached to the Atlantic Fleet Auxiliary Division. The ship arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on 6 April 1917, and, assigned to the Naval Overseas Transport Service, interrupted her coaling operations by two cargo voyages to France in June 1917 and November 1918. The first voyage transported a naval aviation detachment of 7 officers and 122 men to England. It was the first US aviation detachment to arrive in Europe and was commanded by Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting, who became Langley's first executive officer five years later. Jupiter was back in Norfolk on 23 January 1919 whence she sailed for Brest, Franceon 8 March for coaling duty in European waters to expedite the return of victorious veterans to the United States. Upon reaching Norfolk on 17 August, the ship was transferred to the West Coast. Her conversion to an aircraft carrier was authorized on 11 July 1919, and she sailed to Hampton Roads, Virginia on 12 December, where she decommissioned on 24 March 1920.

Aircraft carrier
Jupiter was converted into the first US aircraft carrier at the Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia, for the purpose of conducting experiments in the new idea of seaborne aviation. On 11 April 1920, she was renamed Langley in honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American astronomer, physicist, aeronautics pioneer and aircraft engineer, and she was given the hull number CV-1. She recommissioned on 20 March 1922 with Commander Kenneth Whiting in command.


Langley being converted from a collier to an aircraft carrier at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1921.

As the first American aircraft carrier, Langley was the scene of several seminal events in US naval aviation. On 17 October 1922, Lt. Virgil C. Griffin piloted the first plane—a Vought VE-7—launched from her decks.[6] Though this was not the first time an airplane had taken off from a ship, and though Langley was not the first ship with an installed flight deck, this one launching was of monumental importance to the modern US Navy.[4] The era of the aircraft carrier was born introducing into the navy what was to become the vanguard of its forces in the future. With Langley underway nine days later, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier made the first landing in an Aeromarine 39B. On 18 November, Commander Whiting was the first aviator to be catapulted from a carrier's deck.


The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1) underway in June 1927.

An unusual feature of Langley was provision for a carrier pigeon house on the stern between the 5” guns. Pigeons had been carried aboard seaplanes for message transport since World War I, and were to be carried on aircraft operated from Langley. The pigeons were trained at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard while Langley was undergoing conversion. As long as the pigeons were released a few at a time for exercise, they returned to the ship; but when the whole flock was released while Langley was anchored off Tangier Island, the pigeons flew south and roosted in the cranes of the Norfolk shipyard. The pigeons never went to sea again and the former pigeon house became the executive officer's quarters; but the early plans for conversion of Lexington and Saratoga included a compartment for pigeons.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Langley_(CV-1)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/02/0203.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 August 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk, with the loss of 7 officers and 113 crewmen. The US carrier USS Enterprise is heavily damaged.

Ryūjō (Japanese: 龍驤 "Prancing Dragon") was a light aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the early 1930s. Small and lightly built in an attempt to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, she proved to be top-heavy and only marginally stable and was back in the shipyard for modifications to address those issues within a year of completion. With her stability improved, Ryūjō returned to service and was employed in operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, she provided air support for operations in the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, where her aircraft participated in the Second Battle of the Java Sea. During the Indian Ocean raid in April 1942, the carrier attacked British merchant shipping with both her guns and her aircraft. Ryūjō next participated in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands in June. She was sunk by American carrier aircraft at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942.


Oblique view of Ryūjō at speed, September 1934


Bow view of Ryūjō, June 1933

Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The American landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi on 7 August caught the Japanese by surprise. The next day, Ryūjō was transferred to Carrier Division 1 and departed for Truk on 16 August together with the other two carriers of the division, Shōkaku and Zuikaku. Her air group consisted of 24 Zeros and nine B5N2s. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, ordered Truk to be bypassed and the fleet refueled at sea after an American carrier was spotted near the Solomon Islands on 21 August. At 01:45 on 24 August, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, commander of the Mobile Force, ordered Ryūjō and the heavy cruiser Tone, escorted by two destroyers, detached to move in advance of the troop convoy bound for Guadalcanal and to attack the Allied air base at Henderson Field if no carriers were spotted. This Detached Force was commanded by Rear Admiral Chūichi Hara in Tone.

Ryūjō launched two small airstrikes, totaling 6 B5Ns and 15 Zeros, beginning at 12:20 once the Diversionary Force was 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) north of Lunga Point. Four Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters from MarineFighter Squadron VMF-223 on combat air patrol (CAP) near Henderson Field spotted the incoming Japanese aircraft around 14:20 and alerted the defenders. Ten more Wildcats from VMF-223 and VMF-212 scrambled, as well as 2 United States Army Air Corps Bell P-400s from the 67th Fighter Squadron in response. Nine of the Zeros strafed the airfield while the B5Ns bombed it with 60-kilogram (130 lb) bombs to little effect. The Americans claimed to have shot down 19 aircraft, but only three Zeros and three B5Ns were lost, although another B5N was forced to crash-land. Only three Wildcats were shot down in turn.

Around 14:40, the Detached Force was spotted again by several search aircraft from the carrier USS Enterprise, although the Japanese ships did not immediately spot the Americans. They launched three Zeros as CAP at 14:55, shortly before two of the searching Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers near-missed Ryūjō 150 meters (490 ft) astern with four 500-pound (230 kg) bombs three minutes later. Two more Zeros reinforced the CAP shortly after 15:00, just in time to intercept two more searching Avengers, shooting down one. In the meantime, the carrier USS Saratoga had launched an airstrike against the Detached Force in the early afternoon that consisted of 31 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses and eight Avengers; the long range precluded fighter escort. They sighted the carrier shortly afterward and attacked. They hit Ryūjō three times with 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs and one torpedo; the torpedo hit flooded the starboard engine and boiler rooms. No aircraft from either Ryūjō or Saratoga were shot down in the attack.


The disabled Ryujo (top center) being bombed from high altitude by B-17 bombers on 24 August 1942. The destroyer Amatsukaze (lower left) is moving away from Ryujo at full speed and the destroyer Tokitsukaze (faintly visible, upper right) is backing away from the bow of Ryujo in order to evade the B-17s' falling bombs.

The bomb hits set the carrier on fire and she took on a list from the flooding caused by the torpedo hit. Ryūjō turned north at 14:08, but her list continued to increase although the fires were put out. The progressive flooding disabled her machinery and caused her to stop at 14:20. The order to abandon ship was given at 15:15 and the destroyer Amatsukaze moved alongside to rescue the crew. The ships were bombed several times by multiple B-17s without effect before Ryūjō capsized about 17:55 at coordinates 06°10′S 160°50′ECoordinates:

06°10′S 160°50′E with the loss of 7 officers and 113 crewmen.

Fourteen aircraft that she had dispatched on raids returned shortly after Ryūjō sank and circled over the force until they were forced to ditch. Seven pilots were rescued.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eastern_Solomons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Ryūjō
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 24 August

1572 – Death of Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (b. 1519)

Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon (French pronunciation: [ɡaspaʁ d(ə) kɔliɲi sɛɲœʁ d(ə) ʃɑtijɔ̃]; 16 February 1519 – 24 August 1572) was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion and a close friend and advisor to King Charles IX of France.



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

1787 – Birth of James Weddell, Belgian-English sailor, hunter, and explorer (d. 1834)

James Weddell (24 August 1787 in Ostend[1] – 9 September 1834) was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15′S (a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antarctic Circle) and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea.



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

1794 - HMS Impétueux (74), caught fire and blown up, in Portsmouth harbour.

Impétueux was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
She took part in the Glorious First of June in 1794. During the battle, HMS Marlborough became tangled with Impétueux. Badly damaged and on the verge of surrender, Impétueux received a brief reprieve when Mucius appeared through the smoke and collided with both ships. The three entangled ships continued exchanging fire, all suffering heavy casualties with Marlborough and Impétueux losing all three of their masts. This combat continued for several hours. Captain Berkeley of Marlborough had to retire below with serious wounds, and command fell to Lieutenant John Monkton, who signalled for help from the frigates in reserve. Robert Stopford responded in HMS Aquilon, which had the assignment of repeating signals, and towed Marlborough out of the line as Mucius freed herself and made for the regrouped French fleet to the north. Impétueux was in too damaged a state to move at all and sailors from HMS Russell soon seized her.
The Royal Navy intended to take into service as HMS Impetueux, but she was destroyed in an accidental fire at Portsmouth on 24 August 1794 and so was never commissioned. During the battle of The Glorious First of June, the Royal Navy had also captured her sister ship America, which it renamed HMS Impetueux in 1795.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Impétueux_(1787)

1800 - HMS Success (32), Cptn. Shuldham Peard, captured Diane.

1805 - HMS Phaeton (38) Cptn. George Cockburn, and HMS Harrier (18), Edward Ratsey, engaged Semillante and shore batteries in the St. Bernadino Strait between Luzon and Samar in the Philippines.

1807 - HMS Weazle (18), John Clavell, captured four vessels and destroyed three.

1811 - HMS Diane and HMS Semiramis cut out the French gun-brig Teaser in the mouth of the river Gironde, and brig le Pluvier taken, with eight vessels, at the same time, by the boats of the Diane and Semiramis.

1812 – Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz.

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

1814 - British invasion of Maryland and Washington, D.C.; Washington Navy Yard and ships burned to prevent capture by the British

The Americans had already burned much of the historic Washington Navy Yard, founded by Thomas Jefferson, to prevent capture of stores and ammunition, as well as the 44-gun frigate USS Columbia and the 22 gun USS Argus both new vessels nearing completion. The Navy Yard's Latrobe Gate, Quarters A, and Quarters B were the only buildings to escape destruction. Also spared were the Marine Barracks and Commandant's House, although several private properties were damaged or destroyed.


The Washington Navy Yard in 1862

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

1862 - During the Civil War, Capt. Raphael Semmes takes command of CSS Alabama at sea off the island of Terceira, Azores, beginning his career of raiding American commerce.

Raphael Semmes (/sɪmz/ SIMZ; September 27, 1809 – August 30, 1877) was an officer in the Confederate navy during the American Civil War. Prior to this, he had been a serving officer in the United States Navyfrom 1826 through 1860.
During the American Civil War, Semmes was captain of the cruiser CSS Alabama, the most successful commerce raider in maritime history, taking 65 prizes. Late in the war, he was promoted to rear admiral and also acted briefly as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. His appointment, or arrangement to act, as a temporary brigadier general from April 5, 1865 to April 26, 1865 was never submitted to or officially confirmed by the Confederate Senate


Captain Raphael Semmes standing by his ship's 110-pounder rifled cannon and his executive officer, 1st Lieutenant John McIntosh Kell, standing by the ship's wheel.

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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 August 1803 - HMS Seagull (16), Henry Burke, defeated East Indiaman Lord Nelson (late British) which was then boarded by boats of HMS Colossus (74)


Lord Nelson was an East Indiaman, launched in late 1799, sailing for the East India Company. She made five voyages, of which she completed four. On her second voyage the French privateer Bellone captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her within about two weeks. On her fifth voyage Lord Nelson foundered in 1808 with the loss of all aboard.

2nd voyage
Under Captain Robert Spottiswoode she left Britain on 14 March 1802 for the coast of India and the Bay of Bengal.


Bellone captures Lord Nelson, by Auguste Mayer

Capture
Lord Nelson was on her return voyage when on 14 August 1803 she encountered the French three-masted privateer Bellone off Cape Clear, Ireland. Bellone, of Saint Malo, had had some success privateering in the Indian Ocean towards the end of the French Revolutionary Wars. When the Napoleonic Wars commenced she took to the sea again under the command of her former captain, Jacques François Perroud. She was on her first cruise of the new wars when she encountered Lord Nelson. Bellone had 34 guns, including 24 long 8-pounder guns, and though she had more guns, her broadside was inferior to that on Lord Nelson. What made the difference was that Bellone had a crew of 260 men, versus the 102 men, exclusive of passengers, on Lord Nelson. However, Bellone also had on board some 56 prisoners from various captures.

An engagement of one and a half hours now ensued. Lord Nelson was able to fend off one attempt at boarding, but succumbed to the second. In the fight, Lord Nelson had lost five men killed and 31 wounded. Two of the dead were passengers. Perroud put on board a prize crew of 41 men under the command of Lieutenant Fougie and the two vessels sailed towards A Coruña. On 20 August they encountered a British frigate and the two vessels separated, with the frigate pursuing the captor rather than the captive. Then on 23 August, the British privateer Thomas and John, of fourteen 6-pounder guns, engaged Lord Nelson for two hours before breaking off the engagement. In the course of another day, a hired armed cutter of twelve 4-pounder guns shadowed Lord Nelson before sailing away.


Battle between Bellone and Lord Nelson

Recapture
Seagull, under the command of Captain Henry Burke, had escorted a convoy from Plymouth to Cork and on her way back encountered a Portuguese schooner that reported having met with a French privateer off Cape Clear. Burke immediately set out to find her. Instead, around 1pm on 26 August, he sighted a large vessel and immediately set out in pursuit. After a chase of five hours Burke was able to bring his quarry to action in an engagement that lasted throughout the night. At daylight, Lord Nelson having expended all her cartridges, Fougie later informed Burke that on Seagull's next approach Lord Nelson would have struck her colours. However, Burke had to pull back to repair extensive damage to Seagull's mast and rigging, and two shot holes between wind and water, i.e., just below her water line. While Seagull was undertaking her repairs Fougie’s crew were able to prepare new cartridges and might have resumed the engagement when Seagull approached again. However, in the interim a squadron under Sir Edward Pellew in Tonnant came into sight, with Colossus leading. Seagull signaled to the approaching vessels and as they came up, Fougie struck to Colossus. In the fight Seagull had had two men killed and eight men wounded, one of whom apparently died later. French casualties were unreported. Boats from Colossus boarded Lord Nelson where they found that five of her original crew had been serving the guns in the fight against Seagull. They protested that they were Americans (not renegade Englishmen, and so free agents), but the prize crew put them in chains pending subsequent further investigation in Britain. Pellew then gave Seagull the honour of escorting Lord Nelson back to Plymouth, where they arrived on 14 September and where Seagull could undergo much necessary repairs and refitting. The East India company, with the agreement of Lloyds Underwriters, agreed a salvage of one-sixth the value of Lord Nelson. Somewhat unfortunately for Seagull, she would have to share the salvage not only with Colossus, but also with the other three ships-of-the-line in Pellew’s squadron. The East India Company rewarded Spottiswoode with a valuable sword and a service of plate in recognition of his gallant defence of Lord Nelson. He apparently retired to become laird of Dunipace, having succeeded his brother William, but died on 30 September 1805.

In fiction
The whole episode of the capture and recapture of Lord Nelson provides the narrative of Chapter 5 of Patrick O'Brian's novel Post Captain in his Aubrey–Maturin series with the addition of his fictional characters Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin being among the passengers aboard Lord Nelson.

The other ships involved:
Bellone was a French privateer frigate that cruised under Jacques François Perroud and achieved fame with the capture of large East Indiaman Lord Nelson on 14 August 1803. HMS Powerful captured her during the Action of 9 July 1806. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Bellona. Later, the Navy renamed her HMS Blanche. She was broken up in 1814.

HMS Seagull (or Sea-Gull), was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1795. During the French Revolutionary Wars she shared in the capture of a number of small French and Dutch privateers. Then early in the Napoleonic Wars she participated in a notable single-ship action before she disappeared without a trace in 1805.




Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, lower deck with hold and platform for the oak-built Diligence (1795), Harpy (1796) and Hound (1796) and for the fir-built Seagull (1795), Curlew (1795), Chameleon[Cameleon] (1795), Racoon (1795) and Kangaroo (1795), all 16 (later 18) gun Brig Sloops. The plan includes alterations in green ink to the position of the masts on board Harpy (1796) as a result of a request to the Board from Captain John Bazeley (captain seniority: 11 November 1794) in January 1799. His report stated that she sailed much better.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84283.html#jsOH6FCA7f2DY611.99

HMS Colossus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Deptford Dockyard on 23 April 1803. She was designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large class 74s, and was the name ship of her class, the other being Warspite. As a large 74, she carried 24 pdrs on her upper gun deck, as opposed to the 18 pdrs found on the middling and common class 74s. She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, and was broken up in 1826


Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, longitudinal half-breadth for HM Ships Warspite (1807) and Colossus (1803), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Nelson_(East_Indiaman)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Seagull_(1795)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bellona_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Colossus_(1803)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 August 1819 – Launch of French Souverain, 118 gun Ocean-class type ship of the Line

Souverain was an Océan type 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was launched in 1819 and transformed into a steam ship in 1853.
Later Dauphin Royal class (continued) Later units of the 118-gun type, begun during the First Empire, were completed at various dates over the next few decades.


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


Decorative aft pannel of French ship of the line Souverain On display at Toulon naval museum. Access number 41 OA 164.

In 1853, she was refitted to receive a 2,400 shp (1,800 kW) steam engine.

From 1857, she was as a gunnery school in Toulon until she was replaced in this role by Couronne in 1885 and later as a barracks hulk. She was broken up in 1905.



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

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

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

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

These were the most powerful ships of the Napoleonic Wars and a total of ten served during that time. These ships, however, were quite expensive in terms of building materials, artillery and manpower and so were reserved for admirals as their fleet flagships.
Some of the ships spent 40 years on the stocks and were still in service in 1860, three of them having been equipped with auxiliary steam engines in the 1850s.

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

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

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

Ships of the second (modified) group
(listed under their names at time of launching, and in order of their launching dates) Although these constituted a second batch of the Océan class, built to the same dimensions, the design was modified and they had a heavier displacement, and were often referred to as the Austerlitz Class.

• Austerlitz: ordered on 19 December 1805 and laid down on 10 April 1806 at Toulon; launched 15 August 1808 and completed August 1809. Never commissioned after her refit of 1821-22, and broken up in 1837.
• Ville-de-Paris: ordered on 19 July 1806 and laid down in May 1808 at Rochefort as Marengo; renamed to Ville-de-Vienne in 1807, Comte-d'Artois on 8 July 1814, and Ville-de-Paris on 9 August 1830. Launched in 1850. Entered Service in July, 1851. Converted to a dual sail/steam ship in 1858, engine removed and converted to transport in 1870. Stricken in 1882; hulk used as floating barracks until scrapped in 1898.
• Wagram: ordered in early 1809 and laid down April 1809 as Monarque at Toulon; renamed Wagram on 15 February 1810; launched 1 July 1810 and completed March 1811. Scrapped in 1836.
• Impérial: ordered on 4 June 1810 and laid down on 2 July 1810 at Toulon; launched 1 December 1811 and completed in August 1812, renamed to Royal Louis on 9 April 1814, reverted to Impérial on 22 March 1815 and then again to Royal Louis on 15 July 1815, condemned 1825 at Toulon and scrapped.

Montebello, circa 1850

• Montebello: ordered in 1810 and laid down in October 1810 at Toulon, launched on 6 December 1812 and completed in August 1813. Transferred to the gunnery school in 1860 and to the navigation school in 1865. Stricken in 1867. Scrapped in 1889.
• Louis XIV: ordered in early 1811 and laid down as Tonnant in April 1811 at Rochefort; renamed to Louis XIV in 1828, launched on 28 February 1854. Entered service in 1854. Converted to a dual sail/steam ship in 1857. Transferred to the gunnery training school in 1861. Out of service 1873, stricken in 1880, scrapped in 1882.
• Sans Pareil: ordered on 15 March 1811 and laid down as Sans Pareil in April 1811 at Brest. Renamed Roi de Rome in early 1812, then Inflexible on 21 May 1812 and finally reverted to Sans Pareil on 21 December 1812. Cancelled and broken up on the ways in June 1816 without having been launched.
• Héros: ordered on 20 February 1912 and laid down in April 1912 at Toulon; launched on 15 August 1813 and completed in January 1814, but never commissioned. Scrapped in 1828.
• Friedland: ordered on 20 February 1812 and laid down at Cherbourg as Inflexible on 1 May 1812, renamed Duc de Bordeaux on 19 December 1820 and then Friedland on 9 August 1830. Launched on 4 April 1840. Entered service on 5 October 1840. Conversion to dual sail/steam ship started in 1857 but was abandoned and ship was laid up without engine in 1858. Stricken in 1864. hulk renamed Colosse in 1865 and scrapped in 1879.
• Souverain: ordered on 20 March 1813 and laid down at Toulon in April 1813, launched on 25 August 1819. Converted to sail/steam and entered service in 1857. Used as gunnery training vessel from 1860. Stricken in 1867. Hulk scrapped in 1905.
• Trocadéro: ordered on 20 March 1813 and laid down in September 1813 at Toulon as Formidable, renamed to Trocadéro in 1823, launched on 14 April 1824 and completed in October 1824 but never commissioned. Destroyed in an accidental fire on 4 March 1836.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Souverain_(1819)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Océan-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 August 1835 - Launch of HMS Vanguard

The sixth HMS Vanguard, of the British Royal Navy was a 78-gun (or 80-gun) second-rate ship of the line, launched on 25 August 1835 at Pembroke Yard.[1] She was the first of a new type of sailing battleship: a Symondite.


H.M.S. Vanguard in Malta Harbour 1837, with Medea and Barham

Construction
The Vanguard was designed by John Edye, Chief Clerk in the Surveyor's Office, to the directions of the Surveyor, Captain Sir William Symonds. The Vanguard was the first of a class of eleven. She was ordered from Pembroke Yard in June 1832; HMS Collingwood was ordered 'as a duplicate frame using the moulds of Vanguard, to test the efficacy of an American scheme whereby duplicate frames were stored for many years.' Vanguard was laid down in May 1833; she required 60 skilled men for 16 weeks to set up the frame. She was launched on schedule in August 1835. At the time she was the broadest ship ever built in England. 'Vanguard cost £56,983 to build, and a further £20,756 to fit for sea.' Her construction used 3,560 loads of timber and required 186 man-years.





Characteristics of Symondite warships
Warships designed to the ideas of Captain Sir William Symonds (1782–1856) are known as Symondite warships, although the adjective has no official use as terminology. His intention was to give the Royal Navy an advantage in speed (under certain weather conditions), allowing it to force action.

Symondite warships were very broad, and had a sharp 'V'-shaped hull-form. (Preceding designs had a 'U'-shaped hull form.)

• Their wide beam gave them very high stability, which allowed them to carry nearly twice the power of sail as vessels of the old type. Unfortunately the Surveyor's department was understaffed, with the result that their stability was over-done. Symondite warships rolled quickly, heavily and sometimes unevenly. This made them poor gun platforms. The rapid rolling also caused the rigging to wear out more quickly than on previous designs.
• Because Symondite warships got their stability from their great beam, they did not need to carry so much iron ballast as previous designs.
• Their 'V'-shaped hull with its steeply rising floors was inconvenient for carrying stores.
• They had higher and wider gun decks than preceding designs. This gave the gun crews more space to work in, improving efficiency. It also helped their sailing performance, because they were carrying fewer guns for their size.
• They had an excessively raked stern. In some ships, modifications to their sterns to remedy defects in the original design left "the stern timbers badly arranged, weakly supported and held together with iron straps." The Symondite stern "lacked the defensive strength of the true round stern. There was simply too much glass to offer any protection to the crews of the stern battery in action."

Symondite warships were very sensitive to how they were stowed. If trimmed carefully, they were fast in moderate winds, thought they did not do as well as preceding designs in head seas, or rough seas.

Compared with previous designs, Symondite warships required 19% more loads of wood and 30% more man-hours to build.

Some of the Symondite warships were converted to steam in the 1850s (though not Vanguard). Their 'V'-shaped hull made it difficult to add a steam engine and boilers and to store coal. The extra weight was low in the ship, exacerbating their excess stability, which made their rolling even worse than before. (In fairness, at the time they were designed, it was never anticipated that they would be converted to steam.)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vanguard_(1835)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-356950;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=V

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 August 1843 - Steam frigate USS Missouri arrives at Gibralter completing first Trans-Atlantic crossing by U.S. steam powered ship - and burned by accident


The first Missouri, a 10‑gun side‑wheel frigate, one of the first steam warships in the Navy, was begun at New York Navy Yard in 1840; launched 7 January 1841; and commissioned very early in 1842 Capt. John Newton in command.

Her engines were capable of 600 horse power, and she was said to have cost $600,000 to build.


The accidental Burning of the USS Missouri in Gibraltar - pub by Ackerman in 1843 pic by Duncan, Edward, 1803-1882 (artist) and TG Mends

Departing New York at the end of March 1842 on a trial run to Washington, D.C. with sister ship Mississippi, Missouri grounded opposite Port Tobacco, Maryland, 1 April, and did not arrive in Washington until the 13th. The warship made numerous trial runs out of the nation's capital during the spring and summer of 1842, demonstrating the advantages of steam propulsion in restricted waters to the Government, and then departed for a long cruise to the Gulf of Mexico. The frigate returned to Washington 25 April 1843 and then underwent overhaul in preparation for extended distant service.

On 6 August 1843 Missouri embarked the U.S Minister to China Caleb Cushing, bound for Alexandria, Egypt, on the first leg of his journey to negotiate the first commercial treaty with China. The same day the ship was visited by President John Tyler who came on board for a few hours' cruise in Hampton Roads, observing the crew working the ship and the powerful twin paddlewheels in action. The President disembarked at Old Point Comfort, and the frigate steamed from Norfolk, Virginia, via Fayal in the Azores, for Gibraltar on the first powered crossing of the Atlantic by an American steam warship.

Missouri arrived Gibraltar on 25 August and anchored in its harbor. On the night of the 26th, the engineer's yeoman accidentally broke a demijohn of turpentine in the storeroom which soon ignited. The flames spread so rapidly that the warship was abandoned, the crew barely escaping with their lives. Minister Cushing was able to rescue his official letter to the Daoguang Emperor of China, allowing him to later carry out his mission. In four hours, the steam frigate was reduced to a blackened and sinking hulk and finally at 03:20 in the morning of the 27th, the forward powder magazine blew up, destroying the still burning skeleton of the ship.

British ship of the line HMS Malabar assisted Missouri in fighting the fire and took aboard some 200 of her men. Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, the Governor of Gibraltar, threw open the gates of that base to Missouri survivors in an unprecedented act of courtesy which was recognized by a resolution of appreciation from Congress. The remnants of the once proud frigate, a hazard to navigation, were painstakingly removed by divers, piece by piece, from the shallow waters of the harbor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(1841)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 25 August


1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

Refractors were the earliest type of optical telescope. The first practical refracting telescopes appeared in the Netherlands about 1608, and were credited to three individuals, Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen, spectacle-makers in Middelburg, and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar. Galileo Galilei, happening to be in Venice in about the month of May 1609, heard of the invention and constructed a version of his own. Galileo then communicated the details of his invention to the public, and presented the instrument itself to the Doge Leonardo Donato, sitting in full council.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refracting_telescope#Galileo's_telescope

1688 – Death of Henry Morgan, Welsh admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (b. 1635)

Sir Henry Morgan (Welsh: Harri Morgan, c. 1635 – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, landowner and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wealthy as he did so. With the prize money from the raids he purchased three large sugar plantations on the island.

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

1776 – Birth of Thomas Bladen Capel, English admiral (d. 1853)

Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel GCB RN (25 August 1776 – 4 March 1853) was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy. He was also a great friend of Admiral Nelson and can be considered a full member of Nelson's "band of brothers".


A cartoon showing Nelson and his officers celebrating with the men aboard HMS Vanguard after the victory at the Battle of the Nile

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

1778 - Sartine (32) taken by HMS Seahorse (24) and HMS Coventry (28).

HMS Sartine was a French merchant vessel from Bordeaux. The French Navy pressed her into service on 3 August 1778 to assist in the defense of Pondichéry. The British captured her during the Siege of Pondicherry (1778), and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Sartine foundered in action off Calicut in November 1780.

On 10 August 1778, Sartine was part of a squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly, which consisted of the 64-gun ship of the line Brillant, the frigate Pourvoyeuse and three smaller ships, Sartine, Lawriston, and Brisson. The French encountered Admiral Edward Vernon's squadron, consisting of Rippon (Vernon's flagship), Coventry, Seahorse, Cormorant, and the East India Company's ship Valentine, early on the morning. An inconclusive action followed for about two hours in mid-afternoon. The French broke off the action and the British vessels were too damaged to be able to catch them up again. In the action the British suffered 11 men killed and 53 wounded.

Seahorse captured Sartine on 25 August 1778. Sartine had been patrolling off Pondichéry with Pourvoyeuse when they sighted two East Indiamen, which were sailing blithely along, unaware of the outbreak of war. The French vessels gave chase lazily. Sartine's captain, Count du Chaillar (or Blanquet du Chayla), first had to be roused from his bed ashore. The British merchant vessels escaped, but Sartine came too close to Vernon's squadron. Vernon sent Coventry and Seahorse to engage Sartine. Brisson sailed to support Sartine, but Valentine intercepted Brisson, which retreated. Sartine then surrendered after a short action. A French account remarks acidly that she surrendered to a frigate of her own size without a fight. All four Royal Navy vessels in Vernon's squadron shared in the prize money. (Vernon had already sent Valentine off with dispatches.) Tronjoly Chief and his deputy, Saint-Orens, captain of Pourvoyeuse have been criticized for not engaging Vernon and Rippon, despite orders from Guillaume-Léonard de Bellecombe, governor of Pondicherry, to do so.

The Royal Navy took Sartine into service as the fifth-rate frigate HMS Sartine. She was commissioned on 10 February 1779 under Captain Alexander M'Coy. After his death, Captain Robert Simonton took command in 1780.

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

1776 - HMS Otter (1767 – 14gun sloop) wrecked off Florida coast.



http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-336811;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=O

1795 - HMS Spider (16) captured a brig.

His Majesty's hired armed lugger Spider served the Royal Navy from 15 August 1795 to 4 April 1796. She was armed with eighteen 4-pounder guns and had a burthen of 172 51⁄94 tons (bm).She took part in one notable action before she was lost in a collision with the 74-gun Ramillies.

Spider's greatest moment occurred on 25 August. Spider sighted and engaged two French Navy brigs off the Texel until the squadron's larger vessels could come up. Once the French brigs had struck, Spider took possession of one of them.

One brig was Suffisante, of fourteen 8 and 6-pounder guns, and the other was Victorieuse, of fourteen 12-pounder guns. They were heading into the North Sea on a cruise.

French records show that Suffisante's captain was lieutenant de vaisseau Nosten, and state that her actual captors were the 74-gun third-rate Mars, the frigate Venus, and the lugger Speedy. Apparently, Suffisante exchanged fire with the 20-gun lugger Speedy, but the arrival on the scene of Mars and Venus rendered further resistance futile. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Suffisante.

Victorieuse's commander was lieutenant de vaisseau Salaun. The captors of Victorieuse were Duncan's flagship Venerable, Mars, and a frigate. Victorieuse too joined the Royal Navy, becoming HMS Victorieuse and serving until broken up in 1805. Courts martial acquitted both Nosten and Salaun of the loss of their vessels. On 28 August Duncan wrote he had promoted Oswald to Lieutenant and confirmed him in command of Spider. Duncan's squadron, including Spider, shared the prize money, which was ready for payment in April 1796. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the one surviving claimant from the action the Naval General Service Medal with clasp: "Spider 25 Augt 1795".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hired_armed_lugger_Spider#cite_note-9

1800 - British fleet of about 100 vessels and 15,000 men, including HMS Impetueux (74), Cpt. Sir Edward Pellew, landed some 10,000 troops on the beach of Doniños near Ferrol to take the Castle of San Felipe. They were successful but withdrew the next morning after a counter-attack.

1804 - HMS Immortalite (42), Cptn. Edward William Campbell Owen, and HMS Cruizer (18), John Hancock, engaged 146 armed vessels off Boulogne.
HMS Immortalité (1795), a 42-gun fifth rate, formerly the French frigate Immortalité, captured from France in 1798 and scrapped in 1806

1807 - Boats of HMS Clyde (38) cut out a sloop at Ypont.

1813 - 7 gunboats from Brunsbüttel and Glückstadt, under Lt. Johan Hedemann, engages 11 British gunboats on the Elbe.

1816 – Launch of French Duchesse de Berry, a French Pallas class 40 gun frigate

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

1820 – Launch of French Jean Bart, a Temeraire class 74 gun ship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Jean_Bart_(1820)

1828 – Launch of French Herminie, a 60 gun Surveilante-class frigate

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

1847 – Launch of Héliopolis at Rochefort – deleted 27 February 1780.

Héliopolis class (46-gun type, 1830 design by Jean-Baptiste Hubert, with 26 x 18-pounder guns, 16 x 30-pounder carronades and 4 x 30-pounder shell guns):

1864 - CSS Tallahassee, commanded by Cmdr. John Taylor Wood, returns to Wilmington, N.C. to refuel on coal. During her more than two week raid, CSS Tallahassee destroys 26 vessels and captures seven others.



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

1927 - USS Los Angeles (ZR 3) rises to a near-vertical position due to the sudden arrival of a cold air front that lifts the airships tail, causing it to rise before she can swing around the mast parallel to the new wind direction. Los Angeles only suffers minor damage but the affair demonstrates the risks involved with high mooring masts.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Los_Angeles_(ZR-3)

1927 - Der japanische Zerstörer Warabi sinkt nach einer Kollision mit dem Leichten Kreuzer Jintsū vor Bungo-Suido. 102 Besatzungsmitglieder sterben.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jintsū_(Schiff,_1925)

1927 – Christened MV Monte Cervantes, passanger liner, sunk two years later

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

1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.

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