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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 October 1905 – Launch of SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie was a Hamburg-America Line passenger ship


Kronprinzessin Cecilie was a Hamburg-America Line passenger ship launched on 14 October 1905 by Krupp Aktiengesellschaft Germaniawerft at Kiel, Germany. The ship was placed on the South American service and soon to be overshadowed by the Norddeutscher Lloyd four stack liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie launched on 1 December 1906 that, at 18,372 GRT, was over twice the 8,688 GRT tonnage of the Hamburg-America Line ship.

The ship, after leaving New York on 25 July 1914 sought refuge in the port of Falmouth, Cornwall, Britain not yet having declared war, from a French cruiser. The ship was given permission to leave on Britain's entry into the war, though British and French warships were waiting, refused, and as a result was condemned in a British court, requisitioned by the government and taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Princess in 1915.


The Hamburg-America Cruising Steamer Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1905)

Construction and design
Kronprinzessin Cecilie was built for the Hamburg-America Line by Krupp Aktiengesellschaft Germaniawerft, Kiel, under a June 1904 contract in which the keel was laid on 1 January 1905 and the ship was launched on 14 October 1905.

The ship was 143.25 metres (470 ft 0 in) long between perpendiculars, by 16.76 metres (55 ft 0 in) extreme beam.

Two quadruple expansion main engines, with cylinders of 60 centimetres (23.6 in), 127.5 centimetres (50.2 in), 187.5 centimetres (73.8 in) and 87.5 centimetres (34.4 in) with a stroke of 135.7 centimetres (53.4 in), each developed about 3,035 indicated horsepower (2,263 kW) at 79 revolutions. The engines were in a central engine room without separation bulkheads with common starting and work platforms between and drove two manganese bronze four-bladed propellers, turning outboard going ahead, with 5.41 metres (17.7 ft) diameter and 6.2 metres (20.3 ft) pitch. Steam was provided by three double ended, with three furnaces at each end, and one single ended boiler with three furnaces at the front end for a total of twenty-one furnaces. Electrical power at 102 volts for lights and some auxiliary equipment, including radio, was generated by three dynamos, two aft in the engine room and one above the waterline forward of the main deck engine hatch, each delivering 400 amperes.

Commercial service
On 20 February 1906 the ship steamed from Kiel to Hamburg where she was delivered to Hamburg-America on 24 February and left on her maiden voyage on 14 March for Veracruz and Tampico, Mexico. On the crossing the ship's average speed was 14.41 knots (16.58 mph; 26.69 km/h).

The ship having the same name as the larger Norddeutscher Lloyd ship resulted in occasional confusion as with reports of Kronprinzessin Cecilie being involved in transporting arms to Mexico for General Huerta and taking the Mexican delegation to the mediation conference even while the Norddeutscher Lloyd ship was arriving in New York with the New York Times noting: "the fact that there are two steamers named Kronprinzessin Cecilie has caused much confusion in the minds" of its readers.

The ship was reported to have aboard arms for General Huerta but did not land them at Veracruz and proceeded to Puerto, Mexico. The Mexican delegation of Emilio Rabasa, Augustin Rodriguez and Luis Eiguero departed Veracruz on 10 May 1914 aboard Kronprinzessin Cecilie for the mediation conference to be held at Niagara Falls, Ontario to resolve the dispute between Huerta and the United States.

Kronprinzessin Cecilie had been engaged in tourist service and transport of the Mexican delegation had departed New York on 25 July 1914. Under pursuit by a French cruiser she had put into Falmouth before Britain had declared war.[8] In late March 1916 Kronprinzessin Cecilie and SS Prinz Adalbert were condemned in a British Prize Court on the basis that the ships had been granted permission to leave, even though French and British warships were waiting, and that refusal to leave had removed the ships from Hague Convention protection.[8] At the close of the court proceedings the British government announced the ships had been requisitioned.

HMS Princess
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Princess.
Kronprinzessin Cecilie was taken into the Royal Navy and renamed to become HMS Princess in 1915 and converted to a dummy for the battleship HMS Ajax, with superstructure and guns made of wood. The work was done in Belfast by Harland and Wolff. Princess/Ajax patrolled around Loch Ewe until October 1915, when she was decommissioned and converted to a proper armed merchant cruiser, with eight 6-inch (152 mm) guns. She recommissioned on 6 May 1916 and went to East Africa, where she served until October 1917, before being paid off in Bombay.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kronprinzessin_Cecilie_(1905)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 October 1915 - The keel to first electrically-driven battleship USS New Mexico (BB 40) is laid.


USS New Mexico (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. She was the lead ship of a class of three battleships, and the first ship to be named for the state of New Mexico. Her keel was laid down on 14 October 1915 at the New York Navy Yard, she was launched on 23 April 1917, and was commissioned on 20 May 1918. She was the first ship with a turbo-electric transmission, which helped her reach a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Shortly after completing initial training, New Mexico escorted the ship that carried President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The interwar period was marked with repeated exercises with the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets, use as a trial ship for PID controllers, and a major modernization between March 1931 and January 1933.


USS New Mexico (BB-40) in 1921

The ship's first actions during World War II were neutrality patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. She returned to the Pacific after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and participated in shore bombardments during operations at Attu and Kiska, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Mariana and Palau islands, Leyte, Luzon, and Okinawa. These were interspersed with escort duties, patrols, and refits. The ship was attacked by kamikazes on several occasions. New Mexico was present in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945. Four days later, she sailed for the United States, and arrived in Boston on 17 October.

New Mexico was decommissioned in Boston on 19 July 1946, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 February 1947. The ship was sold for scrapping to the Lipsett Division of Luria Bros in November 1947, but attempts to bring the ship to Newark, New Jersey, for breaking up were met by resistance from city officials. City fireboats were sent to block the passage of the battleship and the Lipsett tugboats, while the United States Coast Guard declared intentions to guarantee safe passage. The Under Secretary of the Navy Department was sent to defuse what the media began to call the "Battle of Newark Bay", with the city agreeing to the breaking up of New Mexico and two other battleships before scrapping operations in Newark Bay ceased, and Lipsett under instructions to dismantle the ships in a set timeframe or suffer financial penalties. Scrapping commenced in November and was completed by July 1948.


USS New Mexico (BB-40), c. 1935, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Description
Main article: New Mexico-class battleship
New Mexico was 624 feet (190 m) long overall and had a beam of 97 ft 5 in (29.69 m) and a draft of 30 ft (9.1 m). She displaced 32,000 long tons (33,000 t) as designed and up to 33,000 long tons (34,000 t) at full combat load. Unlike the other members of her class, New Mexico was powered by four-shaft General Electric steam turbines fitted with turbo-electric transmission and nine oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 27,500 shaft horsepower (20,500 kW), generating a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew numbered 1,084 officers and enlisted men. As built, she was fitted with two lattice masts with spotting tops for the main gun battery. The main armored belt was 13.5 in (343 mm) thick, while the main armored deck was up to 3.5 in (89 mm) thick. The main battery gun turrets had 18 in (457 mm) thick faces on 13 in (330 mm) barbettes. The conning tower had 16 in (406 mm) thick sides.

The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm)/50 caliber guns in four, three-gun turrets on the centerline, placed in two superfiring pairs forward and aft of the superstructure. Unlike earlier American battleships with triple turrets, these mounts were true three-gun barrels, in that each barrel could elevate independently. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber guns mounted in individual casemates clustered in the superstructure amidships. Initially, the ship was fitted with twenty-two of the guns, but experiences in the North Sea during World War Idemonstrated that the additional guns, which were placed in the hull, would have been unusable in anything but calm seas. As a result, these guns were removed and the casemates were plated over to prevent flooding. The secondary battery was augmented with four 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns. In addition to her gun armament, New Mexico was also fitted with two 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes, mounted submerged in the hull, one on each broadside.


The New Mexico-class battleships of the United States Navy, all three of whose construction began in 1915, were improvements on the design introduced three years earlier with the Nevada class.

The twelve-gun main battery of the preceding Pennsylvania class was retained, but with longer 14-inch (356 mm)/50 caliber guns in improved triple turrets. Hull design was also upgraded with a 'clipper' bow for better seakeeping and a sleeker look. One ship, New Mexico, was fitted with turbo-electricpropulsion.

Though eight secondary battery guns were located in extremely wet bow and stern positions and were soon removed, the rest of the ships' 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber guns were mounted in the superstructure, a great improvement over earlier U.S. Navy battleships' arrangements.

Class history

Idaho shells Okinawa on 1 April 1945. She could easily be distinguished from her sister ships by her tower foremast and 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber Mk 30single gun turrets (visible between the barrels of the forward main turrets and starboard side of the ship, one of them facing forward); Idaho was the only battleship with this configuration.


The foredeck of an unidentified New Mexico-class battleship on 30 July 1944, showing her two forward triple 14-inch gun turrets.

Completed during and soon after World War I, the New Mexicos were active members of the Battle Fleet during the decades between the World Wars. All were rebuilt between 1931 and 1934, receiving entirely new superstructures, modern controls for their guns, new engines and improved protection against air and surface attack. Anti-torpedo bulges increased their width to 106 feet 3 inches (32.39 m) and displacement went up by a thousand tons or more.

The New Mexico class was part of the standard-type battleship concept of the U.S. Navy, a design concept which gave the Navy a homogeneous line of battle (it allowed planning maneuvers for the whole line of battle rather than detaching "fast" and "slow" wings). The standard-type battleship concept included long-range gunnery, moderate speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), a tight tactical radius of 700 yards (640 m) and improved damage control. The other standard-type battleships were the Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Colorado classes.

In order to counter the German threat, these ships—operating together as Battleship Division 3—were transferred from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 1941, leaving the U.S. Pacific Fleet inferior in battleship strength to the Japanese Navy. Sent back to the Pacific after the Pearl Harbor raiddevastated the Pacific Fleet's powerful battle line, they were active in the war with Japan until final victory was achieved in August 1945. They provided naval gunfire support for many of the amphibious invasions that marked the Pacific conflict, and Mississippi took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last time in history that battleships fought each other. New Mexico and Idaho were disposed of soon after the war ended, but Mississippi was converted to a training and weapons trials ship and served for another decade. The U.S. Navy's first generation of ship-launched guided missiles went to sea aboard this old former battleship.

Design history
Designated as Battleship 1916, the design history is marked by the incipient test firing of the 16-inch (406 mm)/45 caliber U.S. naval gun. The gun promised to deliver twice the energy of a 12-inch (305 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 gun and 1.5 times the energy of a 14-inch (356 mm)/45 caliber gun. The problem was that the 16-inch gun was not tested. If the gun failed then the design would have to wait for new 14-inch turrets to be fabricated.

The first design offered to the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) was no less than 10 16-inch guns and 8 torpedo tubes. The design also included upgrading the armor as well as extending it. A secondary battery of 6-inch (152 mm) guns was incorporated into the design. The General Board arguing that the increasing range of torpedoes required the increase of caliber. In August 1914 the 16-inch gun was successfully test fired silencing that question but that would happen after the design was in front of SecNav. The rise in displacement and the rise in the cost of the new design presented issues. The General Board pushed for the advancement with C&R wanting to repeat the Pennsylvania class. Both the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, and the House of Representatives rose up against the cost.

The General Board was convinced that the major sea powers would jump to 15-inch (381 mm) or 16-inch naval guns as a main armament and asked for designs based on the 16-inch gun. A series of designs was laid out with the last being a design with 8 16-inch guns on the 31,000 long tons (31,497 t) design of the earlier Pennsylvania design. No one reviewing the design was at all happy with it. Strangely enough, this would except in small details, become the blueprint of the Colorado-class battleships. On July 30, the Secretary of the Navy ordered that, except for the inclusion of individual slides for the main guns, clipper bows for improved seakeeping and, in New Mexico, an experimental turbo-electric propulsion system, the New Mexico class would be a reproduction of the preceding Pennsylvania class. A third ship, Idaho, was added with funding from the proceeds of the sale of the obsolescent pre-dreadnoughts Mississippi and Idaho to Greece.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Mexico_(BB-40)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico-class_battleship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 October 1939 – World War II: The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak within her harbour at Scapa Flow, Scotland.


HMS Royal Oak was one of five Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw combat at the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. The ship drew worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially court-martialled. Attempts to modernise Royal Oak throughout her 25-year career could not fix her fundamental lack of speed and by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suited to front-line duty.



On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47. Of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 833 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies, but the sinking had considerable effect on wartime morale. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero out of the U-boat commander, Günther Prien, who became the first German submarine officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Before the sinking of Royal Oak, the Royal Navy had considered the naval base at Scapa Flow impregnable to submarine attack, and U-47's raid demonstrated that the German Navy was capable of bringing the war to British home waters. The shock resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the Churchill Barriers around Scapa Flow.


Illustration of sistership HMS Revenge as she appeared in 1916

The wreck of Royal Oak, a designated war grave, lies almost upside down in 100 feet (30 m) of water with her hull 16 feet (4.9 m) beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony to mark the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck at any time under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Sinking
Scapa Flow
Main article: Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow made a near-ideal anchorage. Situated at the centre of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, the natural harbour, large enough to contain the entire Grand Fleet, was surrounded by a ring of islands separated by shallow channels subject to fast-racing tides. The threat from U-boats had long been realised, and a series of countermeasures were installed during the early years of the First World War. Blockships were sunk at critical points, and floating booms deployed to block the three widest channels, and operated by tugboats to allow the passage of friendly shipping. It was considered possible—but highly unlikely—that a daring U-boat commander could attempt to race through undetected before the boom was closed. Two submarines that had attempted infiltration during the First World War were ill-fated: on 23 November 1914 U-18 was rammed twice before running aground with the capture of her crew, and UB-116 was detected by hydrophone and destroyed with the loss of all hands on 28 October 1918.


Royal Oak returns the body of Queen Maud to Norway, about 24 November 1938

Scapa Flow provided the main anchorage for the British Grand Fleet throughout most of the First World War, but in the interwar period this passed to Rosyth, further south in the Firth of Forth. Scapa Flow was reactivated with the advent of the Second World War, becoming a base for the British Home Fleet. Its natural and artificial defences, while still strong, were recognised as in need of improvement, and in the early weeks of the war were in the process of being strengthened by the provision of additional blockships.

Special Operation P: the raid by U-47


Infiltration of Scapa Flow by U-47

Kriegsmarine Commander of Submarines (Befehlshaber der U-Boote) Karl Dönitz devised a plan to attack Scapa Flow by submarine within days of the outbreak of war. Its goal would be twofold: first, that displacing the Home Fleet from Scapa Flow would slacken the British North Sea blockade and grant Germany greater freedom to attack the Atlantic convoys; second, the blow would be a symbolic act of vengeance, striking at the same location where the German High Seas Fleet had surrendered and scuttled itself following Germany's defeat in the First World War. Dönitz hand-picked Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien for the task, scheduling the raid for the night of 13/14 October 1939, when the tides would be high and the night moonless.

Dönitz was aided by high-quality photographs from a reconnaissance overflight by Siegfried Knemeyer, (who received his first Iron Cross for the mission), and which revealed the weaknesses of the defences and an abundance of targets. He directed Prien to enter Scapa Flow from its east via Kirk Sound, passing to the north of Lamb Holm, a small low-lying island between Burray and Mainland. Prien initially mistook the more southerly Skerry Sound for the chosen route and his sudden realisation that U-47 was heading for the shallow blocked passage forced him to order a rapid turn to the northeast. On the surface, and illuminated by a bright display of the aurora borealis, the submarine threaded between the sunken blockships Seriano and Numidian, grounding itself temporarily on a cable strung from Seriano. It was briefly caught in the headlights of a taxi onshore, but the driver raised no alarm. On entering the harbour proper at 00:27 on 14 October, Prien entered a triumphant Wir sind in Scapa Flow!!! in the log and set a south-westerly course for several kilometres before reversing direction. To his surprise, the anchorage appeared to be almost empty; unknown to him, Forbes' order to disperse the fleet had removed some of the biggest targets. U-47 had been heading directly towards four warships, including the newly commissioned light cruiser Belfast, anchored off Flotta and Hoy 4 nautical miles (8 km, 5 mi) distant, but Prien gave no indication that he had seen them.

On the reverse course, a lookout on the bridge spotted Royal Oak lying approximately 4,400 yards (4,000 m) to the north, correctly identifying her as a battleship of the Revenge class. Mostly hidden behind her was a second ship, only the bow of which was visible to U-47. Prien mistook her to be a battlecruiser of the Renown class, German intelligence later labelling her Repulse. She was in fact the World War I seaplane tender Pegasus.

At 00:58 U-47 fired a salvo of three torpedoes from its bow tubes, a fourth lodging in its tube. Two failed to find a target, but a single torpedo struck the bow of Royal Oak at 01:04, shaking the ship and waking the crew. There was little visible damage; the starboard anchor chain was severed, clattering noisily down through its slips. Initially, it was suspected that there had been an explosion in the ship's forward inflammable store, used to store materials such as kerosene. Mindful of the unexplained explosion that had destroyed HMS Vanguard in Scapa Flow in 1917, an announcement was made over Royal Oak's tannoy system to check the magazine temperatures, but many sailors returned to their hammocks, unaware that the ship was under attack.

Prien turned his submarine and attempted another shot via his stern tube, but this too missed. Reloading his bow tubes, he doubled back and fired a salvo of three torpedoes, all at Royal Oak, This time he was successful: at 01:16 all three struck the battleship in quick succession amidships and detonated. The explosions blew a hole in the armoured deck, destroying the Stokers', Boys' and Marines' messes and causing a loss of electrical power. Cordite from a magazine ignited and the ensuing fireball passed rapidly through the ship's internal spaces. Royal Oak quickly listed some 15°, sufficient to push the open starboard-side portholes below the waterline. She soon rolled further onto her side to 45°, hanging there for several minutes before disappearing beneath the surface at 01:29, 13 minutes after Prien's second strike. 833 men died with the ship, including Rear-Admiral Henry Blagrove, commander of the Second Battle Squadron. Over one hundred of the dead were Boy Seamen, not yet 18 years old, the largest ever such loss in a single Royal Navy action. The admiral's wooden gig, moored alongside, was dragged down with Royal Oak.

Rescue efforts
The tender Daisy 2, skippered by John Gatt, had been tied up for the night to Royal Oak's port side. As the sinking battleship began to list to starboard, Gatt ordered Daisy 2 to be cut loose, his vessel becoming briefly caught on Royal Oak's rising anti-torpedo bulge and lifted from the sea before freeing herself.

Many of Royal Oak's crew who had managed to jump from the sinking ship were dressed in little more than their nightclothes and were unprepared for the chilling water. A thick layer of fuel oil coated the surface, filling men's lungs and stomachs and hampering their efforts to swim. Of those who attempted the half-mile (800 m) swim to the nearest shore, only a handful survived.

Royal Oak's port side pinnace was manoeuvred away from the sinking ship and paddled away using wooden boards as there had been insufficient time to raise steam. The boat became heavily overladen and capsized some 300 metres from Royal Oak, throwing those on deck into the water and trapping those below.

Gatt switched the lights of Daisy 2 on and he and his crew managed to pull 386 men from the water, including Royal Oak's commander, Captain William Benn. The rescue efforts continued for another two and a half hours until nearly 4:00 am, when Gatt abandoned the search for more survivors and took those he had to Pegasus. Aided by boats from Pegasus and the harbour, he was responsible for rescuing almost all the survivors, an act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the only military award made by the British in connection with the disaster.

Aftermath

Günther Prien in 1940

The British were initially confused as to the cause of the sinking, suspecting either an on-board explosion or aerial attack. Once it was realised that a submarine attack was the most likely explanation, steps were rapidly made to seal the anchorage, but U-47 had already escaped and was on its way back to Germany. The BBC released news of the sinking by late morning on 14 October, and its broadcasts were received by the German listening services and by U-47 itself. Divers sent down on the morning after the explosion discovered remnants of a German torpedo, confirming the means of attack. On 17 October First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill officially announced the loss of Royal Oak to the House of Commons, first conceding that the raid had been "a remarkable exploit of professional skill and daring", but then declaring that the loss would not materially affect the naval balance of power. An Admiralty Board of Enquiry convened between 18 and 24 October to establish the circumstances under which the anchorage had been penetrated. In the meantime, the Home Fleet was ordered to remain at safer ports until security issues at Scapa could be addressed. Churchill was obliged to respond to questions in the House as to why Royal Oak had had aboard so many Boys, most of whom lost their lives. He defended the Royal Navy tradition of sending boys aged 15 to 17 to sea, but the practice was generally discontinued shortly after the disaster, and under 18-year-olds served on active warships in only the most exceptional circumstances.


Headstones for some of the crew of Royal Oak; the majority remain on the sunken warship

The Nazi Propaganda Ministry was quick to capitalise on the successful raid, and radio broadcasts by the popular journalist Hans Fritzsche displayed the triumph felt throughout Germany. Prien and his crew reached Wilhelmshaven at 11:44 on 17 October and were immediately greeted as heroes, learning that Prien had been awarded the Iron Cross First Class, and each man of the crew the Iron Cross Second Class. Hitler sent his personal plane to bring the crew to Berlin, where he further invested Prien with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. This decoration, made for the first time to a German submarine officer, later became the customary decoration for successful U-Boat commanders. Dönitz was rewarded by promotion from Commodore to Rear-Admiral and was made Flag Officer of U-Boats.


Conning tower art of U-47. This image was later used as the emblem for the entire 7th U-boat Flotilla

Prien was nicknamed "The Bull of Scapa Flow" and his crew decorated U-47's conning tower with a snorting bull mascot, later adopted as the emblem of the 7th U-boat Flotilla. He found himself in demand for radio and newspaper interviews, and his 'autobiography' was published the following year, titled Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow. Ghost-written for him by a German journalist, in the post-war years some of its claims, and in particular those relating to the events of October 1939, were brought into question.


Churchill Barrier 1, now blocking Kirk Sound, Prien's entry into Scapa Flow

The British Admiralty's official report into the disaster condemned the defences at Scapa Flow, and censured Sir Wilfred French, Admiral Commanding Orkney and Shetland, for their unprepared state. French was placed on the retired list, despite having warned the previous summer of Scapa Flow's deficient anti-submarine defences, and volunteering to bring a small ship or submarine himself past the blockships to prove his point. On Churchill's orders, the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow were sealed with concrete causeways linking Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay to Mainland. Constructed largely by Italian prisoners of war, the Churchill Barriers, as they became known, were essentially complete by September 1944, and they were not opened officially until just after VE Day in May 1945. They now form part of the transport infrastructure of Orkney, carrying the A961 road between the islands.

In the years that followed, a rumour circulated that Prien had been guided into Scapa by one Alfred Wehring, a German agent living in Orkney in the guise of a Swiss watchmaker named Albert Oertel. Following the attack, 'Oertel' escaped with the submarine B-06 back to Germany. This account of events originated as an article by the journalist Curt Riess in the 16 May 1942 issue of the American magazine Saturday Evening Post and was later embellished by other authors, who added details of their own. Post-war searches through German and Orcadian archives have failed to find any evidence for the existence of Oertel, Wehring or a submarine named B-06, and the story is now held to be wholly fictitious. The Orkneys' chief librarian, in a 1983 letter on the matter to the historian Nigel West, offered his suggestion that the name Albert Oertel was likely a pun on the well-known Albert Hotel in Kirkwall.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(08)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-47_(1938)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Günther_Prien

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 October 1942 - civilian ferry SS Caribou was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-69 - 137 died


SS Caribou was a Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry that ran between Port aux Basques, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia between 1928 and 1942. During the Battle of the St. Lawrence the ferry was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-69 in October 1942, while traversing the Cabot Strait as part of her three weekly SPAB convoys. As a civilian vessel, she had women and children on board, and many of them were among the 137 who died. Her sinking, and large death toll, made it clear that the war had really arrived on Canada's and Newfoundland's home front, and is cited by many historians as the most significant sinking in Canadian-controlled waters during the Second World War.



Construction
Caribou was built in 1925 at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the Newfoundland Railway. Launched in 1925, she had a capacity of 3,000 horsepower(2,200 kW) and was able to reach a speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) when fully loaded. She also had steam-heat and electric lights in all of her cabins, which were considered to be a luxury at the time. Also, due to her ice-breaking design, Caribou also assisted during the seal hunt along the Newfoundland coast each spring.

Sinking


The German submarine U-69 was patrolling the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was a dark evening, and the heavy smoke from Caribou's coal-fired steam boilers silhouetted her against the nighttime horizon. At 3:51 a.m. Newfoundland Summer Time, on 14 October 1942, she was torpedoed approximately 37 km (20 nmi) southwest of Port aux Basques and sunk five minutes later. Grandmère spotted the submarine and tried to ram her, but, U-69 quickly submerged. Over the next two hours, the minesweeper dropped six depth charges, but did not damage the submarine, and U-69 crept away into the Atlantic undetected. Following procedure, Grandmère then went back for survivors. In the days after the sinking, the Canadian naval vessel was criticized in the Sydney Post-Record and The Globe and Mail – as well as other media outlets – for not immediately stopping and helping save survivors; but that was against operating procedures, and would have placed her in immediate danger of being sunk as well. After picking up survivors, Grandmère sailed for Sydney because it had better hospital facilities than Port aux Basques.

Caribou was carrying 46 crew members and 191 civilian and military passengers. The ship's longtime Captain, Benjamin Taverner, was commanding the vessel as she was struck, and perished along with his sons Stanley and Harold, who served as first and third officers respectively. Of the deceased, two were rescued at first, but they later died from exposure to the cold water. 137 people died that morning, and the passenger and crew totals were broken down as follows: of 118 military personnel, 57 died; of 73 civilians, 49 died; of the 46 crew members, 31 died. 34 bodies were found and brought to Port aux Basques by fishing schooners chartered by the Newfoundland Railway Company. To prevent rumours, the Royal Canadian Navy allowed the Sydney Post-Record and other media outlets to report the sinking, almost as soon as it happened, one of the few times that war censorship was temporarily lifted in this period. The sinking made front-page news in both The Toronto Daily Star and The Globe and Mail newspapers later that week.



Memorialized
In 1986, the CN Marine/Marine Atlantic ferry MV Caribou was named after SS Caribou. She plied the same route as the original ferry, travelling between North Sydney and Port aux Basques. On her maiden voyage, 12 May 1986, the ship stopped at the location where its predecessor sank. At approximately 5:30 a.m., survivor Mack Piercey, one of 13 survivors on board for the occasion, tossed a poppy-laden memorial wreath into the ocean and then the ship continued on to Port aux Basques to complete the voyage.

In 2014, as part of a special dedication service in the town of Port Hawkesbury's Veterans Memorial Park, SS Caribou's passengers and crew were honoured. Part of the dedication service included the unveiling of the anchor from the decommissioned MV Caribou as a new feature for the memorial.

Lieutenant-Commander Margaret Brooke was a Royal Canadian Navy Nursing Sister who survived the sinking of SS Caribou. She and a colleague, Sub-Lieutenant Agnes Wilkie, clung to ropes on an overturned lifeboat until hypothermia caused SLt Wilkie to lose consciousness. LCdr Brooke held onto the lifeboat with one hand and her unconscious friend with the other until daybreak when, despite her best efforts, a wave pulled SLt Wilkie away. For her selfless act, LCdr Brooke was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In 2015, the Government of Canada announced that the second of the Harry DeWolf-classoffshore patrol vessels building as part of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship project would be named HMCS Margaret Brooke.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Caribou
https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/caribou-sinking.php
https://thomasdobie.weebly.com/bridget-fitzpatrick.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 14 October


1761 - HMS Griffon (28) lost off Bermuda

HMS Griffon (1758) was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1758 and wrecked in 1761.


1773 – Just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, several of the British East India Company's tea ships are set ablaze at the old seaport of Annapolis, Maryland.

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


1780 – Launch of French Vestale at Toulon – captured by British Navy off Rochefort August 1799

Magicienne class, (32-gun design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns).

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 20 April 1780
Begun: May 1780
Launched: 14 October 1780
Completed: February 1781
Fate: captured by British Navy off Bordeaux on 19 August 1799.

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


1795 - HMS Melampus (1785 - 36) and HMS Latona (38) engaged batteries at Groix.

HMS Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes before the British sold her to the Dutch navy in 1815. With the Dutch she participated in a major action at Algiers, and then in a number of colonial punitive expeditions in the Dutch East Indies.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Melampus_(1785)


1795 - HMS Mermaid (1784 - 32), Cptn. Warre, captured Republicaine (18), Requiem Bay, Grenada

HMS Mermaid was a 32-gun Active-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1784 and broken up in 1815. During the French Revolutionary Wars she served in the West Indies, the Channel, and the Mediterranean. During the Napoleonic Wars she first served in the Americas, but from early 1811 on, she was armed en flute and served as a troopship until she was broken up.


Brutus captured by the Mermaid

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


1803 - HMS Racoon (16), Austin Bissell, captured gun-brig Petite Fille, Amelie (4) and Jeune Adele (6) near Cumberland Harbour in Cuba.

HMS Racoon (or Raccoon) was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.


HMS Racoon capturing French brig-corvette Lodi, circle of William John Huggins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Racoon_(1795)


1806 – Launch of HMS Cyane, Bantere-class post ship

HMS Cyane was a Royal Navy Banterer-class sixth-rate post ship of nominally 22 guns, built in 1806 at Topsham, near Exeter, England. She was ordered in January 1805 as HMS Columbine but renamed Cyane on 6 December of that year. Cyane had a distinguished career in British service that included the award in 1847 of a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal to any still surviving crew members of either of two actions. On 20 February 1815, she and HMS Levant engaged the USS Constitution; outgunned, both had to surrender. She then served as USS Cyane, including a stint on anti-slavery duties, until she was broken up in 1836.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cyane_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banterer-class_post_ship


1810 - HMS Briseis (10), George Bentham, captured French privateer Sans Souci (14) in North Sea.

HMS Briseis was a 10-gun Cherokee-class Royal Navy brig launched in 1808 at Upnor, on the River Medway.
James Clark Ross joined the Navy in April 1812 and served in this ship under the command of his uncle, John Ross.[1]
On 25 October 1810 Briseis and Snake were in company at the recapture of Ulrica Wilhelmina

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


1813 - Capture of battery and 16 vessels at Marinelo, east of Civita Vecchia, by HMS Furieuse (38), Capt. William Mounsey.


1862 - The Union iron screw gunboat Memphis, with acting commander Lt. P.G. Watmough, captures blockade running British steamer Ouachita at sea off Cape Roman, S.C. during the Civil War.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 October 1711 - HMS Edgar (1668 - 72) ), Cptn. George Paddon, blew up at Spithead after an accidental fire.


HMS Edgar was a 72-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Baylie of Bristol and launched in 1668. By 1685 she was carrying 74 guns.

In May 1689 Edgar saw action in the Nine Years' War under the command of Cloudesley Shovell, who later became Admiral of the Fleet and after injuries in the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 he would die. During this war, Edgar was present at the first fight of the Battle of Bantry Bay when a French fleet was landing troops against King William III.

In 1700 Edgar underwent a rebuild at Portsmouth Dockyard as a 70-gun ship. She was rebuilt for a second time by Burchett of Rotherhithe as a 70-gun ship to the 1706 Establishment, relaunching on 31 March 1709.

Edgar was destroyed by fire at Spithead, Hampshire in 1711. All on board perished.[citation needed] The wrecked was cleared in May 1844


32 pounder salvaged in 1844, 133 years after the sinking, now on display at the Tower of London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Edgar_(1668)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 October 1779 - HMS Charon (44), HMS Lowestoffe (32), HMS Pomona (28), HMS Porcupine (24) and other small craft surprised fortress of San Fernando de Omoa in Honduras which during 4 day campaign was taken with 2 Spanish treasure ships.


HMS Lowestoffe was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built during the latter part of the Seven Years' War, she went on to see action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War, and served often in the Caribbean. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her shortly after passing his lieutenant's examination.


Capture of La Minerve off Toulon, June 24th, 1795 by Thomas Whitcombe. In the foreground the damaged and dismasted Minerve duels with HMS Dido, while in the background Lowestoffe pursues a fleeing Artémise.

Originally commissioned near the end of the Seven Years' War, Lowestoffe patrolled in British waters until 1773, when it underwent repairs. She was recommissioned in 1777 and served throughout the American War of Independence, including at the Battle of San Fernando de Omoa. After the bulk of the fighting ended, she returned home to Portsmouth in 1782, and did not see battle for the next decade. She spent most of her later years in British and Mediterranean waters, winning particular glory for her part in an engagement with two French frigates in 1795. Her final duties were back in the familiar waters of the West Indies, where she was wrecked in 1801 while escorting a convoy in the Caicos Islands.

The action:
Lowestoffe became part of Captain John Luttrell's squadron and carried out operations in the Bay of Honduras in October and November 1779. On 17 October Lowestoffe, together with Pomona, Charon, and Porcupine participated in the successful British attack on the Fort of San Fernandino de Omoa. During the attack Lowestoffe exchanged fire with the fort. While she was doing this she ran aground. Her immobility made her an easy target for the fort's guns. Eventually boats were able to pull Lowestoffe off, but not before she had sustained extensive damage. She had contributed a landing party to the assault on the fort and in all lost three men killed and five wounded. As a result of the battle the British ships captured two Spanish prizes with a cargo of bullion worth in excess of $3,000,000. Lowestoffe and Pomona also shared in the prize money for the St. Domingo and her cargo, which included 124 serons (crates) of indigo.


HMS Charon (1778) was a 44-gun fifth rate launched in 1778 and destroyed at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

HMS Pomona was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The Pomona was first commissioned in September 1778 under the command of Captain William Waldegrave.

HMS Porcupine was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1777 and broken up in 1805. During her career she saw service in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lowestoffe_(1761)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pomona_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Porcupine_(1777)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 October 1781 – Launch of French Pégase 74 at Brest – Captured by the British in the Bay of Biscay in April 1782 and added to the RN under the same name


Pégase was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, launched in 1781.


Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782. Painting by Dominic Serres

She was captured by the Captain John Jervis on 21 April 1782, in HMS Foudroyant, Jervis was invested Knight of the Order of the Bath for the capture. Pégase was bought into the Navy and commissioned as the third rate HMS Pegase. She served as a prison ship in Portsmouth from 1799, and was broken up in 1815.


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#yS8gOFoZ4B46WtAI.99


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

• Pégase

Builder: Brest Dockyard
Ordered: June 1781
Begun: June 1781
Launched: 5 October 1781
Completed: February 1782
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.

• Puissant

Builder: Lorient Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: August 1781
Launched: 13 March 1782
Completed: June 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

Builder: Toulon Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 16 February 1782
Completed: August 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

Builder: Toulon Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 6 March 1782
Completed: August 1782
Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.

• Alcide

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 25 May 1782
Completed: January 1783
Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own heated shots, and exploded.

• Censeur

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: August 1781
Launched: 24 July 1782
Completed: October 1783
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_Pégase_(1781)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pégase-class_ship_of_the_line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Foudroyant_(1758)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 October 1795 – Launch of French corvette Mignonne (1795), Etna-class corvette


Mignonne was an 18-gun Etna-class corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1795. She served until 1803 when the British captured her. Though she served briefly, there is no record of her actually being commissioned into the Royal Navy; she grounded and was condemned in 1804.

French service and capture
Mignonne was built in Cherbourg from 1794 to 1797 and was launched on 15 October 1795. Between 3 and 16 September 1797, she served at Cherbourg under commander Jourdan.

Under Lieutenant Yset, she took part in the Caribbean campaign led by Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse in 1803. She was involved in the capture of Fort Graville on 6 February, and Camp de Louise on 8 February.

Main article: Action of 28 June 1803
On 28 June 1803, as she sailed with the frigate Poursuivante, she encountered a British convoy off San Domingo, part of the Blockade of Saint-Domingue. One of the escorts, HMS Goliath, was sailing inshore off Cape Nicholas Mole, to try to find two vessels seen earlier. She encountered Mignonne at 10:45, and after a few shots captured her at 11:45. In Captain James Brisbane's words, Mignonne was a "remarkable fast sailing Ship Corvette". She carried sixteen long 18-pounder guns, six of which she had landed. Her crew of only 80 men was under Commander Jean-Pierre Bargeau, and she was two days out of Aux-Cayes, sailing to France via the Cape.

British service
Mignonne was among a number of British prizes that arrived at Jamaica between 2 and 16 July.

The Royal Navy took her into service as the 18-gun ship sloop HMS Mignonne, but never commissioned her. Her captain was Commander Edward Hawker.

In June 1804 Mignonne ran ashore off Lucca, Jamaica. Desiree was towing her to Port Royal when on 9 July at 0100 hours a bolt of lightning struck Mignonne, killing three seamen, injuring five (or nine), and causing some damage to the ship. Hawker reported that the bolt shattered the topmast and split the mainmast to the keelson.

On 13 October Mignonne captured the French brig St. Antonio y les Animas, which was in ballast.

Fate
In December 1804 Mignonne was laid in the mud at Port Royal, Jamaica. She was then condemned


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Cormorant (captured 1796), a captured French Corvette, as taken off prior to being fitted as a 20 gun Sixth Rate Corvette. The plan has the ship under her original French name of Etna, which was changed on 27 December 1796. The plan also indicates the centre lines for masts of the captured Bonne Citoyenne (1796), fitted as a 20 gun Ship Sloop (later a Sixth Rate Corvette). Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84301.html#IRpcPs3KxOi5fbGz.99

The Etna class was a class of six 16 or 18-gun corvettes with a flat hull, designed by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and his pupil Charles-Henri Tellier. Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract - including André-François Normand, Courtois and Denise at Honfleur, and Fouache at Le Havre (2 ships), while the sixth vessel was built by Pierre Ozanne at Cherbourg Dockyard. The vessels were flush-decked and originally designed to carry a 12" mortar. However, as the British navy captured Etna within a year and a half of her launch at which time she was not carrying any mortar, it is possible that the design was modified quite early to delete the mortar.

The Royal Navy captured three of the six vessels in the class. Three members of the class (including two in Royal Navy service), were lost to wrecking or grounding. Only one of the corvettes served for over 20 years.



Etna Class (6 ships)

• Etna

Builder: André François and Joseph-Augustin Normand, Honfleur
Begun: June 1794
Launched: April 1795
Completed: May 1795
Fate: Captured by HMS Melampus on 13 November 1796. Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Aetna and later renamed HMS Cormorant. Wrecked off Egypt in May 1800.

• Cérès

Builder: Jean Fouache, Le Havre
Begun: May 1794
Launched: May 1795
Completed: July 1795
Fate: Wrecked on the shores of Norway on 17 February 1798Notes: Renamed from Courageuse in May 1795; may have been renamed in 1797 to '"Engant de la Patrie

• Vésuve

Builder: Denise, Honfleur
Begun: June 1794
Launched: 7 August 1795
Completed: October 1795
Fate: Broken up in Rochefort August/September 1830Notes: Fitted as a flûte between November 1802 and June 1803; refitted at Le Havre in February 1807 and reclassified as a 20-gun corvette; on 31 October 1815 her use as a headquarters hulk in place of Serpente was approved.

• Étonnante

Builder: Fouache & Reine, Honfleur
Begun: June 1796
Launched: 27 August 1795
Completed: November 1796
Fate: Hulked in Brest in 1806

• Mignonne

Builder: Cherbourg Dockyard; constructeurs: Pierre Ozanne and after March 1795 Jean-François Lafosse
Begun: 6 October 1794
Launched: 15 October 1795
Completed: April 1797
Fate: HMS Goliath captured Mignonne in June 1803 in the West Indies. Though the Royal Navy never commissioned her, she did serve briefly before she grounded in December 1804 and was condemned.

• Torche

Builder: Courtois, Honfleur
Begun: June 1794
Launched: April 1795
Completed: May 1795
Fate: Captured in August 1805 by HMS Goliath and incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS Torch. She was never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Mignonne_(1795)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna-class_corvette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_28_June_1803

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 October 1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks, killing its inventor.


H. L. Hunley, often referred to as Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her successful attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to base. The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of Hunley during her short career. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, South Carolina.


1864 painting of H. L. Hunley by Conrad Wise Chapman

Hunley, nearly 40 feet (12 m) long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. She was then shipped by rail on August 12, 1863, to Charleston. Hunley (then referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat", or the "porpoise") sank on August 29, 1863, during a test run, killing five members of her crew. She sank again on October 15, 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Hunley himself, who was aboard at the time, even though he was not a member of the Confederate military. Both times Hunley was raised and returned to service.

On February 17, 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1,240-displacement ton United States Navy screw sloop-of-war USS Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade-duty in Charleston's outer harbor. The Hunley did not survive the attack and also sank, taking with her all eight members of her third crew, and was lost.

Finally located in 1995, Hunley was raised in 2000 and is on display in North Charleston, South Carolina, at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River. Examination, in 2012, of recovered Hunley artifacts suggests that the submarine was as close as 20 feet (6 meters) to her target, Housatonic, when her deployed torpedo exploded, which caused the submarine's own loss.

Construction and testing
Construction of the Hunley began soon after the loss of the American Diver. At this stage, the Hunley was variously referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat", or the "porpoise". Legend held that the Hunley was made from a cast-off steam boiler — perhaps because a cutaway drawing by William Alexander, who had seen her, showed a short and stubby machine. In fact, the Hunley was designed and built for her role, and the sleek, modern-looking craft shown in R.G. Skerrett's 1902 drawing is an accurate representation. The Hunley was designed for a crew of eight, seven to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. Each end was equipped with ballast tanks that could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Extra ballast was added through the use of iron weights bolted to the underside of the hull. In the event the submarine needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency, the iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the vessel.


Inboard profile and plan drawings, after sketches by W.A. Alexander(1863)

The Hunley was equipped with two watertight hatches, one forward and one aft, atop two short conning towers equipped with small portholes and slender, triangular cutwaters. The hatches, bigger than original estimates, measure about 16.5 inches wide and nearly 21 long (42 by 53 centimeters), making entrance to and egress from the hull difficult. The height of the ship's hull was 4 feet 3 inches (1.30 m).

By July 1863, the Hunley was ready for a demonstration. Supervised by Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan, the Hunley successfully attacked a coal flatboat in Mobile Bay. Following this, the submarine was shipped by rail to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving on August 12, 1863.


Drawings of the H. L. Hunley from 1900.

However, the Confederate military seized the submarine from her private builders and owners shortly after arriving, turning her over to the Confederate Army. The Hunley would operate as a Confederate Army vessel from then on, although Horace Hunley and his partners would remain involved in her further testing and operation. While sometimes referred to as the CSS Hunley, she was never officially commissioned into service.

Confederate Navy Lieutenant John A. Payne of CSS Chicora volunteered to be Hunley's captain, and seven men from Chicora and CSS Palmetto State volunteered to operate her. On August 29, 1863, The Hunley's new crew was preparing to make a test dive, when Lieutenant Payne accidentally stepped on the lever controlling the sub's diving planes as she was running on the surface. This caused the Hunley to dive with one of her hatches still open. Payne and two others escaped, but the other five crewmen drowned.

The Confederate Army took control of the Hunley, with all orders coming directly from General P. G. T. Beauregard, with Lt. George E. Dixon placed in charge. On October 15, 1863, the Hunley failed to surface after a mock attack, killing all eight crewmen. Among these was Hunley himself, who had joined the crew for the exercise and possibly had taken over command from Dixon for the attack maneuver. The Confederate Navy once more salvaged the submarine and returned her to service.

Armament


Plans of CSS David

The Hunley was originally intended to attack by using a floating explosive charge with a contact fuse (a torpedo in 19th century terminology) which was towed at the end of a long rope. The Hunley was to approach an enemy ship on the surface, then dive under her, and surface again once beyond her. The torpedo would be drawn against the targeted ship and explode. This plan was discarded as dangerous because of the possibility of the tow line fouling the Hunley's screw or drifting into the submarine herself.

Instead, a spar torpedo -- a copper cylinder containing 135 pounds (61 kilograms) of black powder -- was attached to a 22-foot (6.7 m)-long wooden spar, as seen in illustrations made at this time. Mounted on the Hunley's bow, the spar was to be used when the submarine was 6 feet (1.8 m) or more below the surface. Previous spar torpedoes had been designed with a barbed point: the spar torpedo would be jammed in the target's side by ramming, and then detonated by a mechanical trigger attached to the submarine by a line, so that as she backed away from her target, the torpedo would set off. However, archaeologists working on Hunley discovered evidence, including a spool of copper wire and components of a battery, that it may actually have been electrically detonated. In the configuration used in the attack on the Housatonic, it appears the Hunley's torpedo had no barbs, and was designed to explode on contact as it was pushed against an enemy vessel at close range. After Horace Hunley's death, General Beauregard ordered that the submarine should no longer be used to attack underwater. An iron pipe was then attached to her bow, angled downwards so the explosive charge would be delivered sufficiently under water to make it effective. This was the same method developed for the earlier "David" surface attack craft used successfully against the USS New Ironsides. The Confederate Veteran of 1902 printed a reminiscence authored by an engineer stationed at Battery Marshall who, with another engineer, made adjustments to the iron pipe mechanism before the Hunley left on her last fatal mission on February 17, 1864. A drawing of the iron pipe spar, confirming her "David" type configuration, was published in early histories of submarine warfare.

Disappearance
After the attack, the H.L. Hunley failed to return to her base. At one point there appeared to be evidence that Hunley survived as long as one hour following the attack at about 8:45 p.m. The day after the attack, the commander of "Battery Marshall" reported that he had received "the signals" from the submarine indicating she was returning to her base. The report did not say what the signals were. A postwar correspondent wrote that "two blue lights" were the prearranged signals, and a lookout on the Housatonic reported he saw a "blue light" on the water after his ship sank. "Blue light" in 1864 referred to a pyrotechnic signal in long use by the U.S. Navy. It has been falsely represented in published works as a blue lantern; the lantern eventually found on the recovered H.L. Hunley had a clear, not a blue, lens. Pyrotechnic "blue light" could be seen easily over the four-mile (6.4 km) distance between Battery Marshall and the site of the Hunley's attack on the Housatonic.

After signaling, Dixon's plan would have been to take his submarine underwater to make a return to Sullivan's Island. Although at one point the finders of the Hunley suggested she was unintentionally rammed by USS Canandaigua when that warship was going to rescue the crew of Housatonic, no such damage was found when she was raised from the bottom of the harbor. Instead, all evidence and analysis eventually pointed to the instantaneous death of the Hunley's entire crew at the moment of the spar torpedo's contact with the hull of the Housatonic from the explosion's shock wave which destroyed their lungs and brain tissue in milliseconds. In October 2008, scientists reported they had found that the crew of Hunley had not set her pump to remove water from the crew's compartment, and this might indicate she was not being flooded. In January 2013, it was announced that conservator Paul Mardikian had found evidence of a copper sleeve at the end of the Hunley's spar. This indicated the torpedo had been attached directly to the spar, meaning the submarine may have been less than 20 feet from Housatonic when the torpedo exploded. The short distance involved has led some researchers to theorize that Hunley's crew was killed by the resulting blast, though their conclusion has been disputed by US Navy and Naval History and Heritage Command researchers. In 2018, researchers reported that the keel blocks, which would allow the sub to surface quickly in an emergency, had never been released.

Recovery of wreckage
Main article: Conservation-restoration of the H.L. Hunley
The Hunley's discovery was described by Dr. William Dudley, Director of Naval History at the Naval Historical Center as "probably the most important find of the century." The tiny sub and her contents have been valued at more than $40 million, making her discovery and subsequent donation one of the most important and valuable contributions made to South Carolina.


The H. L. Hunley, suspended from a crane during her recovery from off of Charleston Harbor, August 8, 2000


Removing the first section of the crew’s bench at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, January 28, 2005



H. L. Hunley in sodium hydroxide bath, July 2017

The Hunley discovery has been claimed by two different individuals. Underwater Archaeologist E. Lee Spence, president, Sea Research Society, reportedly discovered Hunley in 1970 and has a collection of evidence claiming to validate this, including a 1980 Civil Admiralty Case. The court took the position that the wreck was outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Marshals Office, and no determination of ownership was made.

On September 13, 1976, the National Park Service submitted Sea Research Society's (Spence's) location for H. L. Hunley for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Spence's location for the Hunley became a matter of public record when the H. L. Hunley's placement on that list was officially approved on December 29, 1978. Spence's book Treasures of the Confederate Coast, which had a chapter on his discovery of the Hunley and included a map complete with an "X" showing the wreck's location, was published in January 1995.

Diver Ralph Wilbanks located the wreck in April 1995 while leading a NUMA dive team led by novelist Clive Cussler, who announced the find as a new discovery and first claimed that the location was in about 18 feet (5.5 m) of water over a mile inshore of Housatonic, but later admitted to a reporter that that was false. The wreck was actually 100 yards away from and on the seaward side of the Housatonic in 27 feet (8.2 m) of water. The submarine was buried under several feet of silt, which had both concealed and protected the vessel for more than a hundred years. The divers exposed the forward hatch and the ventilator box (the air box for the attachment of her twin snorkels) in order to identify her. The submarine was resting on her starboard side, at about a 45-degree angle, and was covered in a 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 inch (0.64 to 1.91 cm) thick encrustation of rust bonded with sand and seashell particles. Archaeologists exposed part of the ship's port side and uncovered the bow dive plane. More probing revealed an approximate length of 37 feet (11 m), with all of the vessel preserved under the sediment.

On September 14, 1995, at the official request of Senator Glenn F. McConnell, Chairman, South Carolina Hunley Commission, E. Lee Spence, with South Carolina Attorney General Charles M. Condon signing, donated Hunley to the State of South Carolina. Shortly thereafter, NUMA disclosed to government officials Wilbank's location for the wreck which, when finally made public in October 2000, matched Spence's 1970s plot of the wreck's location well within standard mapping tolerances. Spence avows that he discovered Hunley in 1970, revisiting and mapping the site in 1971 and again in 1979, and that after he published the location in his 1995 book he expected NUMA to independently verify the wreck as the Hunley, not to claim that NUMA had discovered her. NUMA was actually part of a SCIAA expedition directed by Dr. Mark M. Newell and not Cussler) Dr. Newell swore under oath that he used Spence's maps to direct the joint SCIAA/NUMA expedition and credited Spence with the original discovery. Dr. Newell credits his expedition only with the official verification of the Hunley.

The in situ underwater archaeological investigation and excavation culminated with the raising of the Hunley on August 8, 2000. A large team of professionals from the Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch, National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and various other individuals investigated the vessel, measuring and documenting her prior to removal. Once the on-site investigation was complete, harnesses were slipped underneath the sub and attached to a truss designed by Oceaneering International. After the last harness had been secured, the crane from the recovery barge Karlissa B hoisted the submarine from the sea floor. She was raised from the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, just over 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) from Sullivan's Island outside the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Despite having used a sextant and hand-held compass, thirty years earlier, to plot the wreck's location, Dr. Spence's 52 meters accuracy turned out to be well within the length of the recovery barge, which was 64 meters long. On August 8, 2000, at 8:37 a.m., the sub broke the surface for the first time in more than 136 years, greeted by a cheering crowd on shore and in surrounding watercraft, including author Clive Cussler. Once safely on her transporting barge, the Hunley was shipped back to Charleston. The removal operation concluded when the submarine was secured inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, at the former Charleston Navy Yard in North Charleston, in a specially designed tank of fresh water to await conservation until she could eventually be exposed to air.

The Hunley may be viewed during tours at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina. A replica is on display at Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile, Alabama alongside the USS Alabama (BB-60) and the USS Drum (SS-228).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 15 October


1670 – Launch of French Rubis 72/76 at Toulon – renamed Florissant in June 1671; hulked 1696, broken up after 1700

Florissant Class, designed and built by Rodolphe Gédéon. These ships were originally named Joli and Rubis respectively, but were renamed on 24 June 1671.


1672 - HMS Kentish was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate wrecked

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Kent_(1652)


1724 – Spanish Conde de Tolosa (San José) 56/58 (purchased 1718 from France) - Wrecked


1733 – Spanish Rubí 60 (launched 31 July 1731 at Pasajes) - Wrecked


1784 – Spanish Dichoso 70/74 (launched 18 March 1756 at Ferrol) - Stricken


1795- HMS Melampus (36), Cptn. Sir Richard John Strachan, and HMS Latona (38), Cptn. the Honourable Arthur Kaye Legge, engaged French frigates Tortue (40) and Néréide (36) off Rochefort.

On 15 October, Melampus and Latona, and later Orion and Thalia, and later still Pomone and Concorde, chased two French frigates, the Tartu and Néréide, 50-gun frigate Forte and the brig-aviso (or corvette) Éveillé. The British ships had to give up on the frigates due to the closeness of the shore. However, Pomone and Thunderer, which had joined the chase, were able to take the Eveillé, of 18 guns, and 100 men. The French force had been out for 60 days and had captured 12 West Indiamen, two of which, Kent and Albion, the British had already recaptured. Pomone and her squadron had recaptured Kent on 9 October. Orion recaptured Albion. Warren's squadron returned to England in December with the remnants of the expedition to Quiberon Bay.

1795 - HMS Thunderer (74), Cptn. Albermarle Bertie, HMS Pomone (40), Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren and HMS Concorde (36), Cptn. Anthony Hunt, took French brig-corvette Eveillé (16) off Isle d'Yeu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thunderer_(1783)


1798 - Flight of Loire, 15–18 October 1798

Loire and Sémillante had escaped from the Battle of Tory Island into Black Sod Bay, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear passage back to France. However, late on 15 October, a British frigate squadron under James Newman-Newman rounded the southern headland of the bay, forcing the French ships to flee to the north. Pressing on sail in pursuit, Newman ordered HMS Révolutionaire to focus on Sémillante whilst he pursued Loire in HMS Mermaid, accompanied by the brig HMS Kangaroo under Commander Edward Brace. Loire and Sémillante separated to divide their pursuers; Mermaid and Kangaroo lost track of Loire in the early evening, and Sémillante evaded Révolutionaire after dark.

However, on the morning of 16 October Newman spotted Loire on the horizon and immediately ordered his ships in pursuit. Loire was faster than Mermaid in the high winds but was unable to outrun Kangaroo, which directly engaged the far larger frigate in a distant artillery duel. The difference in weight of shot between the combatants was greatly unbalanced, and Kangaroo eventually fell behind after suffering damage to her rigging. Loire too had been damaged, and by 06:45 the following morning Captain Segond realised he could not escape his pursuers and instead shortened sail, intending to engage Mermaid—by then the only pursuer still within reach.

Mermaid and Loire joined battle at 07:00, and the artillery exchange became close and furious after a boarding attempt by Loire was foiled by the helmsman of the British ship. Both ships took severe damage, Mermaid knocking away several of her opponent's spars, but suffering in turn from the musketry of the soldiers still aboard the Loire. At 09:15, the French vessel lost another spar, and Newman determined to rake his opponent. As he attempted to complete this manoeuvre, a shot from Loire brought down Mermaid's mizzenmast, making her unmanageable and disabling a number of her guns. Seeing an opportunity to escape, the battered Loire disengaged, making significant distance before Newman's crew could clear the wreckage of the mast. High winds further hampered Mermaid's repair efforts by tearing away several sails and spars and drowning the ship's carpenter when he was blown overboard. By the time Mermaid was ready for action once more, Loire had escaped.

Unfortunately for Captain Segond, when dawn broke on 18 October, HMS Anson was revealed only a short distance off, limping southwards after the damage its rigging and masts had suffered before the battle on 12 October. Although his ship was almost unmanageable, Captain Durham was not prepared to lose a second opportunity to engage, and slowly brought his vessel to bear on Loire, which was unable to escape. Accompanying Anson was Kangaroo, recovered from the damage of 16 October and ready for further action. At 10:30, Anson and Loire began firing on one another, neither able to effectively manoeuvre and both relying on firepower to overwhelm their opponent. Kangaroo closed on the unprotected stern of Loire, firing as she did so and repeatedly raking the immobile French ship. By 12:00 Loire had lost her mainmast and was leaking badly, forcing Segond to surrender. His ship was towed to port as the sixth prize of the campaign

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tory_Island#Flight_of_Loire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tory_Island#Flight_of_Loire


1818 – Launch of HMS Talavera was a 74-gun Repulse-class third rate ship of the line

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Talavera_(1818)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line


1860 – Launch of French Circé, 28, launched 15 October 1860 at Rochefort,

Sail frigate converted to steam on the stocks while building

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 October 1777 – Launch of french Iphigénie, a 32-gun Iphigénie-class frigate


Iphigénie was a 32-gun Iphigénie-class frigate of the French Navy, and the lead ship of her class. She was briefly in British hands after the Anglo-Spanish capture of Toulon in August 1793 but the French recaptured her December. The Spanish captured her in 1795 and her subsequent fate is unknown.

Career
On 10 July 1777 Iphigénie, Captain Kersaint de Coëtnempren was part of the French fleet, under Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers. The fleet was in a fog and when the fog lifted, the French realised that a British vessel was among them. The French cutter Curieuse, of 10 guns and under the command of Captain Trolong du Rumain, chased HMS Lively and ordered her to lie to, which order Biggs declined. However, Iphigénie came up and ordered Biggs to sail Lively to the French admiral. Biggs was still arguing when Iphigénie fired a broadside. The broadside killed 12 British sailors; thereupon, Biggs struck. The French took Lively into service.

Between June and July 1778, Iphigénie was at Brest, being coppered. In December, Iphigénie captured the 18-gun sloop HMS Ceres off Saint Lucia. One year later Iphigénie took part in the Battle of Grenada.

In January–February 1782, French captain Armand de Kersaint led a squadron in Iphigénie that included two more frigates, four brigs, and a large cutter to recapture Demerara and Essequibo. The naval opposition consisted of a British squadron of three sloops and two brig sloops under the command of Commander William Tarhoudin in HMS Oronoque. The French were sighted on 30 January and Tarhoudin moved his squadron downriver. However, the French landed troops and as these moved towards Demerara, the British forces facing them retreated, forcing Tarhoudin to pull back his vessels also. On 1 February the British asked for terms of capitulation, with the actual capitulation taking place on 3 February.

Between November 1783 and January 1784, Iphigénie underwent repair and refitting at Martinique.

In August 1793 the British captured her at Toulon. In September they added mortars to her armament. When they left Toulon she was in the harbour awaiting repairs. They set fire to her, or at least believed that they had. However, the French returned her to service. Between January 1794 and May she underwent refitting and repair.

Fate
On 14 February 1795, she was captured in the Gulf of Roses by a Spanish fleet under Admiral Juan de Lángara. The Spanish sailed her to Cartagena and brought into the Spanish Armada as Ifigenia.


Fight between Bellone and HMS Foudroyant at the Battle of Tory Island

The Iphigénie class was a group of nine 32-gun/12-pounder frigates of the French Navy, built during the late 1770s at Lorient (2 ships) and Saint Malo (7 ships). They were designed by Léon Guignace. The seven built at Saint Malo were initially numbered Nos. 1 – 7 respectively, and not given names until October 1777 (for Nos 1 – 4) and the start of 1778 (Nos. 5 – 7); all seven were captured by the British Navy between 1779 and the end of 1800. Of the two built at Lorient, the Spanish captured one, and a storm wrecked the other.

• Iphigénie

Builder: Gilles Cambry at Lorient Dockyard
Laid down: February 1777
Launched: 16 October 1777
Completed: March 1778
Fate: Captured by the Spanish in February 1795, becoming Spanish Ifigenia.

• Surveillante

Builder: Gilles Cambry at Lorient Dockyard
Laid down: August 1777
Launched: 26 March 1778
Completed: May 1778
Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Bantry Bay, January 1797

• Résolue (ex No.1)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: July 1777
Launched: 16 March 1778
Completed: April 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 14 October 1798, becoming HMS Resolue.

• Gentille (ex No.2)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: July 1777
Launched: 18 June 1778
Completed: August 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 11 April 1795, becoming HMS Gentille.

• Amazone (ex No.3)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: August 1777
Launched: 11 May 1778
Completed: July 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 29 July 1782, but retaken by a French squadron the following day; wrecked off the Penmarch Islands January 1797.

• Prudente (ex No.4)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: August 1777
Launched: late March 1778
Completed: July 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 2 June 1779, becoming HMS Prudente.

• Gloire (ex No.5)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: January 1778
Launched: 9 July 1778
Completed: October 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 10 April 1795, becoming HMS Gloire.

• Bellone (ex No.6)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: January 1778
Launched: 2 August 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Captured by the British 12 October 1798, becoming HMS Proserpine.

• Médée (ex No.7)

Builder: Saint Malo Dockyard
Laid down: January 1778
Launched: 23 September 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Captured by the British 5 August 1800, becoming HMS Medee.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Iphigénie_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphigénie-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 October 1807 - HMS Pert (16), Donald Campbell, wrecked off Santa Margarita.


HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.

French privateer
On 21 June 1804 Bonaparte encountered the 18-gun HMS Hippomenes off Antigua. Captain Kenneth Mackenzie (or M'Kenzie) of Hippomenes took advantage of her Dutch design had disguised her as a Guinea trader. Buonaparte, of Guadeloupe, was armed with 18 long 8-pounders and a crew of 146 men under the command of Captain Paimpéni. He sighted Hippomenes and sailed to take her. The two vessels exchanged fire until Buonaparte ran into Hippomenes. Mackenzie had his crew lash the privateer's bowsprit to the mainmast and jumped on board the privateer, followed by his officers and a few men, some 18 in all. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew, a particularly poor lot, refused to follow. In the fight on the privateer, the British lost five dead and eight wounded; only nine of the original 18 managed to escape back to Hippomenes (two officers and two men remained on board Buonaparte as prisoners). The boarding party barely got back in time before the lashings gave way and the vessels parted, at which time Bonaparte sailed away. On Hippomenes his wounds rendered Mackenzie himself senseless for a while. In the engagement prior to the boarding, Buonaparte had lost five dead and 15 wounded. She then returned to Pointe-à-Pitre roads.

Capture
Early in the morning of 11 November 1804, Cyane was off Marie-Galante when she encountered a French privateer brig. After a short chase and a running fight of half an hour, the brig surrendered. She had no casualties but Cyane had some men injured when a cartridge exploded on deck. The French brig was the Bonaparte, pierced for 22 guns but carrying 18. Captain George Cadogan of Cyane described Bonaparte as "a very fine Brig", but in a shattered state, having lost her foremast, bowsprit, and top-masts in an engagement with three English letters of marque three days earlier.

Royal Navy service
The Royal Navy commissioned Bonaparte as HMS Pert in June 1805 under the command of Commander James Pringle. On 16 August 1806 Pert captured the schooner Catalina, Quaremberg, master. Then on 17 September Pert captured the schooner General Eaton, Robinson, master. Next, Pert shared with Jason, Hart, and Maria in the capture on 4 October, of the schooner Rebecca, Cook, master.

On 16 February 1807 a French privateer of three guns and 70 men captured Britannia, Gibbs, master, which was sailing from London to Jamaica. The next day Pert recaptured Britannia and sent her into Barbados.

In May 1807 Commander Donald Campbell replaced Pringle.

Under Campbell's command, Pert captured four vessels in May-June:

• Brig Dorothea, Boyeson, master, 10 May
• Ship Juliana, Christensen master, 29 May
• Brig Betsey, Sounderson, master, 20 June
• Schooner Eagle, Tatein, master, 21 June

Prize money for these vessels was paid in December 1808. A second-class share was the share of a lieutenant; a fifth-class share was the share of a seaman.



Also in early June, on the 5th, Pert captured the schooner Caroline, Wood, master.

Then Pert and the privateer schooner Ambuscade, Captain Francis Criqui Frist, shared in the capture of the ship Commandant Von Scholten, Jelger Willems, master, on 25 June.

Pert, Maria, and Cleopatra shared in the capture of Jane, Collins, master, that same day.

Pert captured the schooner Johann, Benners, master, on 9 July.

On 2 August, Pert was in company with the sloop Maria when they captured the schooner Governor M'Kean.

Pert shared with Galatea in His Majesty's grant for the capture of the Danish brig Catharini, Hogens, master, on 13 October.

Latona, Circe, Galatea, Cerberus, Cygnet, Pert, and Hart, shared in His Majesty's grant for the Danish schooner Danske Patriot, Outerbridge, master, captured on 20 October. The vessels shared the grant for the capture as members of a squadron as on 16 October Pert was lost due to a storm.

Fate
On 14 October Pert was off the coast of what is now Venezuela when she sighted a ship that she then chased. Pert caught up with her quarry off Margarita Island and captured her. The quarry turned out to be the Spanish packet Alarma, 40 days out of Ferrol and bound for the Spanish Main and Havana. Before the British could board Alarma, she sent a boat to the island of Mucana with the dispatches that she was carrying. Campbell immediately too sent a boat to the island to try to retrieve them. Campbell put the crew of Alarma into boats and sent them to Cumana under a flag of truce. While he waited for his boats to return, Campbell anchored. Unfortunately, the weather worsened to a gale that on the morning of 16 October drove Pert on to the rocky shore of Margarita Island after her anchor cable parted. The gale pushed her onto her side, and the rocks bilged her, letting in water. The crew scrambled ashore as quickly as they could, but ten men drowned. The next morning the weather improved and Alarmarescued the survivors. Head money for the crew of Alarma, Infanzon, master, was paid in November 1810.

The gale that wrecked Pert may have been part of the hurricane among the Leeward Islands that on 16 October sank Maria with the loss of her entire crew.

Pert also shared with Galatea in His Majesty's grant for the capture of the Danish brig Amalia, Dills, master, captured on 17 October.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 16 October


1744 – Launch of French Mutine at Brest – taken to pieces at Martinique 1758. Galathée class (24-gun design of 1744 by Mathurin-Louis and Jean Geoffroy, with 24 x 6-pounder guns).


1798 - HMS Mermaid (32), Cptn. Newman, and HMS Kangaroo (16), Edward Brace, engaged Loire (46).

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


1799 - Boats of HMS Echo (16) cut out American built French letter of marque Buonaparte (12), Enseigne de Vaisseau Pierre Martin, from Lagnadille at the north-west of Puerto Rico.



1815 - Napoleon Buonaparte was landed on St. Helena where he remained under the watchful eye of the Royal Navy until his death on 6 May 1821.


1821 - The schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lawrence Kearny, engages four pirate schooners and one pirate sloop off Cape Antonio, Cuba who are in the act of robbing two American vessels and one British ship. The pirate leader, Capt. Charles Gibbs, escapes to shore but his ship and two others were burned. The remaining ships are sent to Charleston, S.C. as prizes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Squadron_(United_States)


1861 - The Union screw steamer South Carolina captures the schooner Edward Barnard, with a cargo of turpentine on board, at Southwest Pass, Mississippi River.



USS South Carolina (1860) was a steamer used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
She was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. Post-war she was converted into a cargo ship prior to being decommissioned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_South_Carolina_(1860)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 17 October

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 17 October

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 17 October

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Events on 18 October

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