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
24 March 1747 – Launch of French Intrépide 74 at Brest - burnt by accident in July 1781


The Intrépide was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was of three ships of the Monarque class, all launched in 1747, the others being the Monarque and the Sceptre.



Design
Designed by Blaise Ollivier and built by him until his death in October 1746, then completed by Luc Coulomb, her keel was laid down at Brest on 14 November 1745 towards the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and she was launched on 24 March 1747. The fifth ship of this type to be built by the French Navy, she was designed to the norms set for ships of the line by French shipbuilders in the 1740s to try to match the cost, armament and manouvrability of their British counterparts, since the Royal Navy had had a greater number of ships than the French since the end of the wars of Louis XIV.[3] Without being standardized, dozens of French 74s were based on these norms right up until the start of the 19th century, slowly evolving to match new shipbuilding technologies and the wishes of naval tacticians and strategists.

Her 74 guns comprised 28 x 36-pounders on the lower deck, 30 x 18-pounders on the upper deck, 10 x 8-pounders on the quarterdeck and 6 x 8-pounders on the forecastle.


A French 74-gun ship of the same type as the Intrépide, drawn by Nicolas Ozanne.

Service
War of the Austrian Succession
The Intrépide fought at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre on 25 October 1747, forming part of Henri-François des Herbiers's division, which also included the admiral's flagship the 80-gun Tonnant, the 74-gun Monarque and Terrible, four 56-to-68 gun ships and a 26-gun frigate. They were charged with escorting a convoy of over 250 merchantmen to the Antilles and faced Edward Hawkeand his 14-ship squadron.

The engagement lasted nearly seven hours and saw six French ships captured. Heading the French line and captained by the experienced commander de Vaudreuil, the Intrépide was little damaged, since she was the last ship attacked by the British squadron. She escaped her pursuers and saved the Tonnant, allowing her to disengage. The following dawn the Intrépide managed to take the Tonnant in tow. Their success was not only down to their commanders but also the fact that they were new powerful ships, easier to handle and with more modern armament than older ships in the British and French fleets. They arrived in Brest on 9 November 1747 whilst the convoy safely reached the Antilles.

She was used as the test-bed for an inclining experiment (the first such ever recorded) which was performed in May 1748 by François-Guillaume Clairain-Deslauriers.


The English painter Samuel Scott (1702–1772) specialised in marine painting and views of London. A strong influence of the art of Willem van de Velde the Younger can be detected particularly in his early work. This composition of the large-scale oil painting of Lord Anson's victory off Cape Finisterre, 3 May 1747, bears strong resemblance to Willem van de Velde’s ‘Battle of Texel, 1687’ (BHC0315). In the War of the Austrian Succession, Cape Finisterre was the scene of a naval battle between a British fleet of 14 ships of the line commanded by Sir George Anson, who had recently been promoted to Vice-Admiral of the Blue, and two French squadrons that had not yet parted company to proceed to their separate destinations. One was making for North America for the recovery of Cape Breton Island, the other, together with a convoy, was intended to operate against the British settlements on the Coromandel Coast of India. Viewed on eye level the spectator beholds the action unfolding in the middle distance across the open water. The victorious vessel, Anson’s flagship the ‘Prince George’, can be seen just off stern in the centre of the composition, her sails brightly lit from the right, firing her guns. On either side, set back along the horizon, other ships of the English and the French fleet are engaged in the battle.


Battle of Cape Finisterre (October 1747). "Battle of the ship Intrepid against several British ships"

Seven Years' War
In 1756 the Intrépide was put under the command of Guy François de Kersaint and made the flagship of a fleet charged with capturing all British ships operating off the coast of Guinea. This proved a success and the Intrépide moved to the Antilles, where she was attacked near Caicos on 21 October 1757 by three British ships in the battle of Cap-Français. This lasted several hours and the Intrépide was almost completely dismasted, whilst her captain was wounded twice, though she managed to force the British ships to retreat.

In 1759 she joined a twenty-one ship invasion fleet under maréchal de Conflans. She took part in the battle of Les Cardinaux on 20 November that year under the command of Charles Le Mercerel de Chasteloger, joining the Soleil-Royal in her attack on the British flagship HMS Royal George. On the day after the French defeat the Intrépide and seven other ships left the combat area to take refuge at Rochefort.

The Intrépide subsequently underwent a rebuilding at Brest from 1758 to April 1759, carried out by Léon-Michel Guignace.

American Revolutionary War
From January 1776 to March 1778 the Intrépide was commanded by François Joseph Paul de Grasse. She took part in the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778 under the command of Louis-André de Beaussier de Châteauvert in the blue squadron, which formed the French fleet's rearguard and was commanded by Louis-Philippe d'Orléans. In 1780 she joined de Guichen's fleet sent to fight in the Antilles. On 17 April 1780, under the command of Louis Guillaume de Parscau du Plessix, she fought in the battle of Martinique, again in the rearguard. She was finally lost on 22 July 1781 off Cape Français, when a barrel of local rum caught fire and the ship was burned and sunk.

sistership Monarque

Stern Views of the Terrible and Monarque, French Ships of War (PAD0249)

Monarque Class. Three ships built at Brest to a design by Blaise Ollivier, 1745. Following his death in October 1746, the three ships were completed by Luc Coulomb.

Monarque 74 (launched March 1747 at Brest) – captured by the British in the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in October 1747
Intrépide 74 (launched 24 March 1747 at Brest) - burnt by accident in July 1781
Sceptre 74 (launched 21 June 1747 at Brest) - hulked at Brest in January 1779

French ship Intrépide (1747) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1693 - Birth - and
24 March 1776 - Death of John Harrison, English clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer


John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.


P. L. Tassaert's half-tone print of Thomas King's original 1767 portrait of John Harrison, located at the Science and Society Picture Library, London

Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £3.09 million in 2019) under the 1714 Longitude Act.

In 1730, Harrison presented his first design, and worked over many years on improved designs, making several advances in time-keeping technology, finally turning to what were called sea watches. Harrison gained support from the Longitude Board in building and testing his designs. Toward the end of his life, he received recognition and a reward from Parliament. Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.



Longitude problem

Longitude lines on the globe

Longitude fixes the location of a place on Earth east or west of a north-south line called the prime meridian. It is given as an angular measurement that ranges from 0° at the prime meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. Knowledge of a ship's east-west position was essential when approaching land. After a long voyage, cumulative errors in dead reckoning frequently led to shipwrecks and a great loss of life. Avoiding such disasters became vital in Harrison's lifetime, in an era when trade and navigation were increasing dramatically around the world.

Many ideas were proposed for how to determine longitude during a sea voyage. Earlier methods attempted to compare local time with the known time at a reference place, such as Greenwich or Paris, based on a simple theory that had been first proposed by Gemma Frisius. The methods relied on astronomical observations that were themselves reliant on the predictable nature of the motions of different heavenly bodies. Such methods were problematic because of the difficulty in accurately estimating the time at the reference place.

Harrison set out to solve the problem directly, by producing a reliable clock that could keep the time of the reference place. His difficulty was in producing a clock that was not affected by variations in temperature, pressure or humidity, remained accurate over long time intervals, resisted corrosion in salt air, and was able to function on board a constantly-moving ship. Many scientists, including Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens, doubted that such a clock could ever be built and favoured other methods for reckoning longitude, such as the method of lunar distances. Huygens ran trials using both a pendulum and a spiral balance spring clock as methods of determining longitude, with both types producing inconsistent results. Newton observed that "a good watch may serve to keep a reckoning at sea for some days and to know the time of a celestial observation; and for this end a good Jewel may suffice till a better sort of watch can be found out. But when longitude at sea is lost, it cannot be found again by any watch".

The first three marine timekeepers
In the 1720s, the English clockmaker Henry Sully invented a marine clock that was designed to determine longitude: this was in the form of a clock with a large balance wheel that was vertically mounted on friction rollers and impulsed by a frictional rest Debaufre type escapement. Very unconventionally, the balance oscillations were controlled by a weight at the end of a pivoted horizontal lever attached to the balance by a cord. This solution avoided temperature error due to thermal expansion, a problem which affects steel balance springs. Sully's clock only kept accurate time in calm weather, because the balance oscillations were affected by the pitching and rolling of the ship. However his clocks were amongst the first serious attempts to find longitude in this way. Harrison's machines, though much larger, are of similar layout: H3 has a vertically mounted balance wheel and is linked to another wheel of the same size, an arrangement that eliminates problems arising from the ship's motion.

In 1716, Sully presented his first Montre de la Mer to the French Académie des Sciences and in 1726 he published Une Horloge inventée et executée par M. Sulli.


Grasshopper escapement


Harrison's first sea clock (H1)

In 1730, Harrison designed a marine clock to compete for the Longitude Prize and travelled to London, seeking financial assistance. He presented his ideas to Edmond Halley, the Astronomer Royal, who in turn referred him to George Graham, the country's foremost clockmaker. Graham must have been impressed by Harrison's ideas, for he loaned him money to build a model of his "Sea clock". As the clock was an attempt to make a seagoing version of his wooden pendulum clocks, which performed exceptionally well, he used wooden wheels, roller pinions and a version of the 'grasshopper' escapement. Instead of a pendulum, he used two dumbbell balances, linked together.

It took Harrison five years to build his first sea clock (or H1). He demonstrated it to members of the Royal Society who spoke on his behalf to the Board of Longitude. The clock was the first proposal that the Board considered to be worthy of a sea trial. In 1736, Harrison sailed to Lisbon on HMS Centurion under the command of Captain George Proctor and returned on HMS Orford after Proctor died at Lisbon on 4 October 1736. The clock lost time on the outward voyage. However, it performed well on the return trip: both the captain and the sailing master of the Orford praised the design. The master noted that his own calculations had placed the ship sixty miles east of its true landfall which had been correctly predicted by Harrison using H1.

This was not the transatlantic voyage demanded by the Board of Longitude, but the Board was impressed enough to grant Harrison £500 for further development. Harrison had moved to London by 1737 and went on to develop H2, a more compact and rugged version. In 1741, after three years of building and two of on-land testing, H2 was ready, but by then Britain was at war with Spain in the War of Austrian Succession and the mechanism was deemed too important to risk falling into Spanish hands. In any event, Harrison suddenly abandoned all work on this second machine when he discovered a serious design flaw in the concept of the bar balances. He had not recognized that the period of oscillation of the bar balances could be affected by the yawing action of the ship (when the ship turned such as 'coming about' while tacking). It was this that led him to adopt circular balances in the Third Sea Clock (H3).

The Board granted him another £500, and while waiting for the war to end, he proceeded to work on H3.

Harrison spent seventeen years working on this third 'sea clock', but despite every effort it did not perform exactly as he would have wished. The problem was that, because Harrison did not fully understand the physics behind the springs used to control the balance wheels, the timing of the wheels was not isochronous, a characteristic that affected its accuracy. The engineering world was not to fully understand the properties of springs for such applications for another two centuries. Despite this, it had proved a very valuable experiment as much was learned from its construction. Certainly in this machine Harrison left the world two enduring legacies – the bimetallic strip and the caged roller bearing.

The "Jefferys" watch
He had already in the early 1750s designed a precision watch for his own use, which was made for him by the watchmaker John Jefferys c. 1752–1753. This watch incorporated a novel frictional rest escapement and was not only the first to have a compensation for temperature variations but also contained the first miniature 'going fusee' of Harrison's design which enabled the watch to continue running whilst being wound. These features led to the very successful performance of the "Jefferys" watch, which Harrison incorporated into the design of two new timekeepers which he proposed to build. These were in the form of a large watch and another of a smaller size but of similar pattern. However, only the larger No. 1 (or "H4" as it is sometimes called) watch appears ever to have been finished. (See the reference to "H6" below) Aided by some of London's finest workmen, he proceeded to design and make the world's first successful marine timekeeper that allowed a navigator to accurately assess his ship's position in longitude. Importantly, Harrison showed everyone that it could be done by using a watch to calculate longitude. This was to be Harrison's masterpiece – an instrument of beauty, resembling an oversized pocket watch from the period. It is engraved with Harrison's signature, marked Number 1 and dated AD 1759.

H4

Harrison's "sea watch" No.1 (H4), with winding crank


The clockwork in Harrison's H4 watch

Harrison's first "sea watch" (now known as H4) is housed in silver pair cases some 5.2 inches (13 cm) in diameter. The clock's movement is highly complex for that period, resembling a larger version of the then-current conventional movement. It has a novel type of 'vertical' escapement, which is often incorrectly associated with the 'verge' escapement, which it superficially resembles. However, the action of the frictional rest escapement enables the balance to have a large arc. In comparison, the verge's escapement has a recoil with a limited balance arc and is sensitive to variations in driving torque.

The D shaped pallets of Harrison's escapement are both made of diamond, a considerable feat of manufacture at the time. For technical reasons the balance was made much larger than in a conventional watch of the period, and the vibrations controlled by a flat spiral steel spring. The movement also has centre seconds motion with a sweep seconds hand. The Third Wheel is equipped with internal teeth and has an elaborate bridge similar to the pierced and engraved bridge for the period. It runs at 5 beats (ticks) per second, and is equipped with a tiny remontoire. A balance-brake stops the watch half an hour before it is completely run down, in order that the remontoire does not run down also. Temperature compensation is in the form of a 'compensation curb' (or 'Thermometer Kirb' as Harrison called it). This takes the form of a bimetallic strip mounted on the regulating slide, and carrying the curb pins at the free end. During its initial testing, Harrison dispensed with this regulation using the slide, but left its indicating dial or figure piece in place.

This first watch took six years to construct, following which the Board of Longitude determined to trial it on a voyage from Portsmouth to Kingston, Jamaica. For this purpose it was placed aboard the 50-gun HMS Deptford, which set sail from Portsmouth on 18 November 1761. Harrison, by then 68 years old, sent it on this transatlantic trial in the care of his son, William. The watch was tested before departure by Robertson, Master of the Academy at Portsmouth, who reported that on 6 November 1761 at noon it was 3 seconds slow, having lost 24 seconds in 9 days on mean solar time. The daily rate of the watch was therefore fixed as losing 24/9 seconds per day.

When Deptford reached its destination, after correction for the initial error of 3 seconds and accumulated loss of 3 minutes 36.5 seconds at the daily rate over the 81 days and 5 hours of the voyage, the watch was found to be 5 seconds slow compared to the known longitude of Kingston, corresponding to an error in longitude of 1.25 minutes, or approximately one nautical mile. Harrison returned aboard the 14-gun HMS Merlin, reaching England on 26 March 1762 to report the successful outcome of the experiment. Harrison senior thereupon waited for the £20,000 prize, but the Board were persuaded that the accuracy could have been just luck and demanded another trial. The board were also not convinced that a timekeeper which took six years to construct met the test of practicality required by the Longitude Act. The Harrisons were outraged and demanded their prize, a matter that eventually worked its way to Parliament, which offered £5,000 for the design. The Harrisons refused but were eventually obliged to make another trip to Bridgetown on the island of Barbados to settle the matter.

At the time of this second trial, another method for measuring longitude was ready for testing: the Method of Lunar Distances. The moon moves fast enough, some thirteen degrees a day, to easily measure the movement from day to day. By comparing the angle between the moon and the sun for the day one left for Britain, the "proper position" (how it would appear in Greenwich, England, at that specific time) of the moon could be calculated. By comparing this with the angle of the moon over the horizon, the longitude could be calculated.

During Harrison's second trial of his 'sea watch' (H4) the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne was asked to accompany HMS Tartar and test the Lunar Distances system. Once again the watch proved extremely accurate, keeping time to within 39 seconds, corresponding to an error in the longitude of Bridgetown of less than 10 miles (16 km). Maskelyne's measures were also fairly good, at 30 miles (48 km), but required considerable work and calculation in order to use. At a meeting of the Board in 1765 the results were presented, but they again attributed the accuracy of the measurements to luck. Once again the matter reached Parliament, which offered £10,000 in advance and the other half once he turned over the design to other watchmakers to duplicate. In the meantime Harrison's watch would have to be turned over to the Astronomer Royal for long-term on-land testing.


Harrison's Chronometer H5, (Collection of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers), in the Science Museum, London

Harrison began working on his second 'sea watch' (H5) while testing was conducted on the first, which Harrison felt was being held hostage by the Board. After three years he had had enough; Harrison felt "extremely ill used by the gentlemen who I might have expected better treatment from" and decided to enlist the aid of King George III. He obtained an audience with the King, who was extremely annoyed with the Board. King George tested the watch No.2 (H5) himself at the palace and after ten weeks of daily observations between May and July in 1772, found it to be accurate to within one third of one second per day. King George then advised Harrison to petition Parliament for the full prize after threatening to appear in person to dress them down. Finally in 1773, when he was 80 years old, Harrison received a monetary award in the amount of £8,750 from Parliament for his achievements, but he never received the official award (which was never awarded to anyone). He was to survive for just three more years.

In total, Harrison received £23,065 for his work on chronometers. He received £4,315 in increments from the Board of Longitude for his work, £10,000 as an interim payment for H4 in 1765 and £8,750 from Parliament in 1773. This gave him a reasonable income for most of his life (equivalent to roughly £45,000 per year in 2007, though all his costs, such as materials and subcontracting work to other horologists, had to come out of this). He became the equivalent of a multi-millionaire (in today's terms) in the final decade of his life.


Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook used K1, a copy of H4, on his second and third voyages, having used the lunar distance method on his first voyage. K1 was made by Larcum Kendall, who had been apprenticed to John Jefferys. Cook's log is full of praise for the watch and the charts of the southern Pacific Ocean he made with its use were remarkably accurate. K2 was loaned to Lieutenant William Bligh, commander of HMS Bounty but it was retained by Fletcher Christian following the infamous mutiny. It was not recovered from Pitcairn Island until 1808 when it was given to Captain Folger, and then passed through several hands before reaching the National Maritime Museum in London.

Initially, the cost of these chronometers was quite high (roughly 30% of a ship's cost). However, over time, the costs dropped to between £25 and £100 (half a year's to two years' salary for a skilled worker) in the early 19th century. Many historians point to relatively low production volumes over time as evidence that the chronometers were not widely used. However, Landes points out that the chronometers lasted for decades and did not need to be replaced frequently – indeed the number of makers of marine chronometers reduced over time due to the ease in supplying the demand even as the merchant marine expanded. Also, many merchant mariners would make do with a deck chronometer at half the price. These were not as accurate as the boxed marine chronometer but were adequate for many. While the Lunar Distances method would complement and rival the marine chronometer initially, the chronometer would overtake it in the 19th century.

The more accurate Harrison timekeeping device led to the much-needed precise calculation of longitude, making the device a fundamental key to the modern age. Following Harrison, the marine timekeeper was reinvented yet again by John Arnold who while basing his design on Harrison's most important principles, at the same time simplified it enough for him to produce equally accurate but far less costly marine chronometers in quantity from around 1783. Nonetheless, for many years even towards the end of the 18th century, chronometers were expensive rarities, as their adoption and use proceeded slowly due to the high expense of precision manufacturing. The expiry of Arnold's patents at the end of the 1790s enabled many other watchmakers including Thomas Earnshaw to produce chronometers in greater quantities at less cost even than those of Arnold. By the early 19th century, navigation at sea without one was considered unwise to unthinkable. Using a chronometer to aid navigation simply saved lives and ships—the insurance industry, self-interest, and common sense did the rest in making the device a universal tool of maritime trade.


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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1796 – Launch of HMS York, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy


HMS York was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 March 1796. She served briefly in the West Indies where she captured numerous small vessels. She was wrecked in 1804.



Origins
She had originally been laid down at Barnard's Deptford yard as an East Indiaman named Royal Admiral. The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars resulted in a shortage of warships, which led the Navy Board to purchase five ships being built or serviced in commercial dockyards along the River Thames and to complete them as warships.
Alongside Royal Admiral, the Navy acquired the merchantmen Belmont, Princess Royal, Earl Talbot and Pigot;
they became HMS Monmouth, HMS Ardent, HMS Agincourt, and HMS Lancaster respectively.
As a 64-gun ship, York was a small third rate; this combined with her unusual build resulting from her conversion from a mercantile craft to a warship to make her a slightly ungainly and awkward ship.

Career
Captain John Ferrier commissioned York in April 1796. He then sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 4 January 1797.

She spent much of her early career in the Caribbean Sea.

On 8 February 1798, she captured the small American schooner Fancy near St Thomas. York had to fire 15 shots before the schooner hove to, and when the boarding party from York arrived, they found 12 French passengers aboard, who were in the act of throwing five bags of money overboard. York brought Fancy into Môle-Saint-Nicolas where she was condemned as a prize. Apparently she had also been carrying 25,000 dollars of gold hidden on board but that most of it had been smuggled ashore.

In June–July 1799, York captured Santa Dorval, a Spanish packet boat, of four guns, 22 men, and 86 tons (bm). She was sailing from Vera Cruz to Havanna, and under the command of Lieutenant Don Joseph Bonefacio of the Spanish navy. Carnatic, Alarm, Thunderer, and Volage were in company with York.

Then in June 1799 York captured several merchant vessels:

• Spanish schooner Jesus Maria, sailing from Jamaica to Porto Rico with a false pass, carrying provisions and sundries;
• Schooner Christopher, under American colours, sailing from Arrcoa bound Baltimore with a cargo of coffee and tobacco (Dutch property);
• Brig James, under American colours, sailing from Cape Francois to Philadelphia with a cargo of coffee and sugar (French property);
• Brigs Harriot and Ann, under American colours, sailing from Cape Francois to Charleston with a cargo of coffee and sugar (French property);
• Schooner Eliza, under American colours, sailing from Jeremie to Saint Augustine with a cargo of coffee and sugar.

In July, York and Maidstone captured or detained:

• Brig Ariel, under American colours, sailing from Jeremie to Baltimore, with a cargo of 146,000 pounds of coffee;
• Schooner Lydia, under American colours, sailing from Tauxillo (probably Trujillo, Honduras), to Havana with sugar and indigo;
• Brig Romulus (detained), under American colours, sailing from Havanna to Charlestown, with 662 boxes of sugar;
• Ship Flora, with Spanish and American papers, from Carthagena, Spanish Main, and bound to New York and Cadiz, with a cargo of cotton and fustick, and 81,000 dollars in gold (secreted);
• Schooner Fair American, under American colours, sailing from Barracoa to Baltimore, with 183,000 pounds of coffee and 10,000 pounds of sugar.

In late 1800, York captured Cronberg, Molder, master, which had been sailing from St Croix and Havana to London. York brought Cronberg into Jamaica.

In 1801 York sailed back to Britain as escort to a convoy of 155 merchant vessels, all of which reached their destination safely. For his service the West Indian merchants thanked Ferrier and presented him with a piece of plate.

York then served under Admiral Nelson in his unsuccessful attacks on Boulogne.

Main article: Raids on Boulogne
On the night of 15 August the boats of the Third Division, under Captain Isaac Cotgrave, assembled on York's deck. They attacked but had to withdraw between 3 and 4am on the morning of 16 August. In the attack, the British lost five officers and men killed, and 31 wounded. Three of the dead and 16 of the wounded were from York.

York was paid off and placed into ordinary in June 1802 at Woolwich. Between October 1802 and August 1803 she underwent repair and refitting at Deptford. Captain Henry Mitford recommissioned her in June 1803.

Fate
She departed Woolwich on 26 December 1803 for a routine patrol in the North Sea. She went missing and was presumed to have foundered with the loss of all hands. It appears that she struck Bell Rock (56°26.052′N 2°23.236′WCoordinates:

56°26.052′N 2°23.236′W) in the North Sea off Arbroath, and that this was the impetus for the building of the Bell Rock lighthouse three years later. Wreckage was found at Cruden Bay and St Coombs, both in Buchan, Aberdeenshire.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile with one waterline, and basic longitudinal half-breadth for converting York (purchased 1795), an East India Company ship, to a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan still refers to the ship under her East India Company name of Royal Admiral. The body plan and half-breadth are in faint pencil.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the midship section illustrating the proposed risers and approved alterations for fitting Lancaster (1796) and Monmouth (1796), East India Company ships as 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The two ships were converted on the stocks at Randall's yard. Note that the plan refers to the two ships under their original names of Pigot and Belmont. A copy was sent to Messrs Barnard & Co for the conversion of the East India Company ship York (1796) to a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, with inboard alterations for York (purchased 1795), an East India Company ship being converted while building to 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan still refers to the ship under her East India Company name of Royal Admiral. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].

HMS York (1796) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1800 - Launch of French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, the later HMS Implacable, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


HMS Implacable was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800.


The Russian ship Vsevolod burning, after the action with the Implacable and Centaur, destroyed in the presence of the Russian Fleet near Rogerwick bay on 26 August 1808.

She survived the Battle of Trafalgar only for the British to capture her at the subsequent Battle of Cape Ortegal. In British service she participated in the capture of the Imperial Russian Navy 74-gun ship of the line Vsevolod (Russian: Всеволод) in the Baltic in 1808 during the Anglo-Russian War. Later, Implacable became a training ship. Eventually, she became the second oldest ship in the Royal Navy after HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. When the Royal Navy finally scuttled Implacable in 1949, she flew both the French and British flags side-by-side as she sank.





French career


The stern gallery of HMS Implacable, formerly the Duguay-Trouin, on display at the National Maritime Museum.

Originally named Duguay-Trouin after René Trouin, Sieur du Gué. Construction, to a plan by Rolland but updated to a plan by Sané, began in 1794 but was interrupted in 1795. She was finally laid down in 1797, and launched at Rochefort in 1800.

On 22 November 1802, under Captain Claude Touffet, she departed Toulon as part of a squadron commanded by Commodore Quérangal, also comprising the frigate Guerriere and the flagship Duquesne, a sister Téméraire-class vessel armed en flûte. Bound for Santo Domingo, the squadron found itself blockaded in Cap Français during the Blockade of Saint-Domingue by HMS Elephant, Bellerophon, Theseus and Vanguard. After a successful sortie in the dark, the squadron split up. Guerrière and Duguay-Trouin managed to escape but Vanguard, with Tartar, captured Duquesne.

Under Capitaine de Vaisseau Lhermite she participated in an action at Cap Français.

On 21 October 1805, Duguay-Trouin took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, where she was part of the vanguard of the French fleet under Contre-amiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, and was one of four French ships that escaped capture that day.

Capture


Figurehead of HMS Implacable in Neptune Court of the National Maritime Museum

On 3 November 1805, British Captain Sir Richard Strachan, with Caesar, Hero, Courageux, Namur and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the Franco-Spanish fleet. In the battle, the captain of Duguay-Trouin, Claude Touffet, was killed, her masts were shot away, and she was eventually captured.

British service in the Napoleonic Wars
The Royal Navy commissioned her as a third rate under the name HMS Implacable. Implacable served with the Royal Navy for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Implacable' (1805), a captured French Third Rate, as fitted at Plymouth Dockyard as a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard,1802-1813; later Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831].

Anglo-Russian War
In early 1808 Russia initiated the Finnish War in response to Sweden's refusal to bow to Russian pressure to join the anti-British alliance. Russia captured Finland and made it a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire. The British decided to take counter-measures and in May sent a fleet, including Centaur, under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez to the Baltic. Thus in March 1808 Implacable was in the Baltic, under the command of Captain Thomas Byam Martin.

On 9 July, the Russian fleet, under Admiral Peter Khanykov, came out from Kronstadt. The Swedes massed a fleet under Swedish Admiral Cederstrom, consisting of 11 line-of-battle ships and 5 frigates at Örö and Jungfrusund to oppose them. On 16 August, Saumarez then sent Centaur and Implacable to join the Swedish fleet. They chased two Russian frigates on 19 July and joined the Swedes the following day.

On 22 August, the Russian fleet, which consisted of nine ships of the line, five large frigates and six smaller ones, moved from Hanko and appeared off the Örö roads the next day. The Swedish ships from Jungfrusund had joined Rear-Admiral Nauckhoff and by the evening of 24 August the combined Anglo-Swedish force had made its preparations. Early the next day they sailed from Örö to meet the Russians.

The Anglo-Swedish force discovered the Russians off Hango Udd but the Russians retreated as the Allied ships followed them. Centaur and Implacable exhibited superior sailing and slowly outdistanced their Swedish allies. At 5am on 26 August Implacable caught up with a Russian straggler, the 74-gun Vsevolod (also Sewolod), under Captain Rudnew (or Roodneff).

Implacable and Vsevolod exchanged fire for about 20 minutes before Vsevolod ceased firing. Vsevolod hauled down her colours, but Hood recalled Implacable because the Russian fleet was approaching. During the fight Implacable lost six dead and 26 wounded; Vsevolod lost some 48 dead and 80 wounded.

The Russian frigate Poluks then towed Vsevolod towards Rager Vik (Ragerswik or Rogerswick), but when Centaur started to chase them the frigate dropped her tow. The Russians sent out boats to bring her in, in which endeavor they almost succeeded. They did succeed in putting 100 men aboard her as reinforcements and to replace her casualties.

However, just outside the port, Centaur was able to collide with Vsevolod. A party of seamen from Centaur then lashed her mizzen to the Russian bowsprit before Centaur opened fire. Vsevolod dropped her anchor and with both ships stuck in place, both sides attempted to board the other vessel. In the meantime, Implacable had come up and added her fire to the melee. After a battle of about half an hour, the Russian vessel struck again.

Implacable hauled Centaur off. Their prize was so firmly aground that after taking out the prisoners and wounded men, Sir Samuel Hood, in Centaur, ordered Vsevolod to be burnt. The British removed their prisoners and then set fire to Vsevolod, which blew up some hours later. Centaur had lost three killed and 27 wounded. Vsevolod lost another 124 men killed and wounded in the battle with Centaur; 56 Russians escaped by swimming ashore. In all, Vsevolod had lost 303 killed, wounded and missing.

The action with Vsevolod was the largest engagement during the Anglo-Russian War. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Implacable 26 Augt. 1808" and "Centaur 26 Augt. 1808" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Vice-Admiral Saumerez with his entire squadron joined the Anglo-Swedish squadron the next day. They then blockaded Khanykov's squadron for some months. After the British and the Swedes abandoned the blockade, the Russian fleet was able to return to Kronstadt.

Return to the Baltic
By the summer of 1809 Martin and Implacable were back in the Baltic, and Admiral Saumarez sent her and Melpomene to sail east of Nargen Island. At the beginning of July 1809 she and Melpomene sailed into the Gulf of Narva, some 110 miles east of Tallinn. There they captured nine vessels laden with timber, spars and cordage, which were the property of the Russian Emperor. Implacable, Melpomene and Prometheus deployed their boats to search all the creeks and inlets around the gulf, which yielded them three more cargo vessels. More importantly, the British discovered that a convoy was sheltering under Percola Point with an escort of eight gunboats. Each Russian gun-boat mounted both a 32 and a 24-pounder gun, and had a crew of 46 men. The British decided to send in a cutting out party to seize the convoy, and its protectors. In Martin's word, the intent was "to impress these Strangers with that Sense of Respect and Fear, which His Majesty's other Enemies are accustomed to show to the British Flag".

At 9pm on 7 July, Implacable, Melpomene, Prometheus and Bellerophon assembled 17 boats, all under the command of Lieutenant Joseph Hawkey of Implacable. The Russians expected the British attack and positioned their vessels between two rocks off Hango Head (Hangöudde). This meant that the British would have to come straight towards the gunboats' cannon rather than flanking them. The British came straight in, enduring the fire without firing back, until they reached the Russians, at which point they boarded the gunboats.

Of the eight gunboats, the British captured six, among them gun boats Nos. 5, 10, 13, and 15. They sank one gunboat and one escaped. The British also captured all twelve of the ships and vessels the gunboats had been protecting, as well as a large armed ship, which they burnt. These were laden with powder and provisions for the Russian army. British losses were heavy. Grapeshot killed Hawkey while he was boarding his second gunboat. Including Hawkey, Implacable lost six men killed and 17 wounded. In all, the British lost 17 men killed and 37 wounded. The Russians lost at least 65 men killed, and 127 taken prisoner, of whom 51 were wounded. For this action, the Admiralty issued the clasp "7 July Boat Service 1809" to the Naval General Service Medal.

France and Spain
In January 1810, Captain George Cockburn took command of Implacable. She then sailed to Quiberon Bay with a small squadron that also included Disdainful, a brig and the schooner Nonpareil, all escorting the Baron de Kolli. His mission was to arrange the escape of Ferdinand VII of Spain, whom the French had imprisoned at the Chateau of Valençay. The mission failed when Ferdinand refused to have anything to do with the British, and Kolli was arrested. Implacable then returned to Spithead.

On 17 July Rear Admiral Sir Richard Keats arrived on Implacable to take charge of the British support of the Spanish in the Siege of Cádiz. Marshal Victor's French army had completely blockaded the Isla de León by land and were further fortifying the coast with works that supplemented the existing defences. Eleven or twelve British and Spanish line-of-battle ships anchored as close to shore as they could without grounding. The allied troops defending Leon consisted of 16,500 Spaniards, 4,000 British and Germans, and 1,400 Portuguese.

In August the Allies attacked the French at Moguer, a town in the province of Huelva. Cockburn, sailing in the brig-sloop Jasper, directed the naval portion of the attack. General Lacey's Spanish troops and horses landed from the transports on 23 August about 22 miles south of the town. They then marched along the beach with 11 flat boats under Lieutenant Westphal of Implacable moving with them. The boats then ferried the troops across a large branch of the river, enabling the troops to reach Moguer next morning. The Spanish took the French somewhat by surprise and drove them out of the town. The French, numbering perhaps 1100 men, rallied and counter-attacked several times, but without success. The Spaniards followed them, but most of the French were cavalry and were able to withdraw towards Seville. Spanish casualties were slight.

Milford arrived in Cadiz on 2 September and Rear Admiral Keats moved to her. On 6 September Implacable sailed from Cadiz to Havana as escort to two Spanish 3-deckers. From there she sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico, to pick up specie. She returned to Cadiz on 18 February 1811 with 2,000,000 dollars on board. Implacable then participated in the defense of the Isla de Leon. In August Captain I. R. Watson took command. By 1813 Implacable was back in Plymouth.

Post war
From August to November 1840 Implacable participated in the bombardment and capture of Acre, and operations on the coast of Syria. The Ottoman government awarded medals to the officers and men employed during the campaign. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Syria" to the officers and men who had participated in the campaign and who claimed the medal.

From the Eastern Mediterranean Implacable sailed to Malta and then spent about a year in the Mediterranean, though she made one trip to Plymouth. She visited Syracuse, Corfu, Gibraltar and Tunis. By 15 February 1842, she was in Devonport, condemned as unfit for sea service. She was to be docked to extend her life.

Post active service

The old Implacable, by Charles Dixon.

From 1844 she was out of commission at Devonport. A conversion to a training ship permitted her to return to service in June 1855 in the Hamoaze. Initially she was under the command of Captain Arthur Lowe. In January 1865, under Commander Edward Hay, she became a training ship for boys. Commander Henry Carr took command in October 1877, with Commander Thomas Sturges Jackson following him in 1880.

In 1908 King Edward VII intervened to save the ship. In 1912 she was handed over to philanthropist Geoffrey Wheatley Cobb (died 1931) for preservation, and for use as a boys' training ship. There were several appeals to help preserve Implacable over the years, especially in the 1920s. Funds were raised and she underwent several restorations, which continued in the 1930s. In conjunction with HMS Trincomalee, she served as an accommodation ship, a training ship, a holiday ship and a coal hulk, and the two ships were renamed Foudroyant in 1943. H. V. Morton saw her at Devonport Dockyard during one of the restorations and was told she had been "lying for years in Falmouth, and we are giving her a wash and brush up before sending her back as a training ship".


View of Implacable during World War II flying the first part of the historic "England expects..." signal on Trafalgar Day in 1943

Fate
Unlike the unfortunate Wellesley, Implacable survived the Second World War. Still, the Admiralty scuttled her by an explosive charge on 2 December 1949. A fireboat towed her to a spot east of the Isle of Wight and she sank into Saint Catherine's Deep, about five miles from Ventnor. Implacable was by then the second-oldest ship of the Navy after Victory, and there were heavy protests against her disposal. However, given the postwar austerity the British decided against the cost of her restoration, which was estimated at £150,000 with another £50,000 for re-rigging. In 1947 they had offered her to the French, who too declined to spend the money to turn her into a museum. Still, her figurehead and stern galleries were saved and are on display in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, while her capstan is on display at the maritime museum at Rochefort. Her Captain's Cabin doors are in the collection of HM Frigate Unicorn, Dundee. Public reaction to the "criminal action against the maritime history of Britain" forced the government to support the preservation of Cutty Sark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Implacable_(1805)

Téméraire-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1806 - HMS Reindeer (18), John Fyffe, engaged Voltigeur (16), Jacques Saint-Cricq, and Phaeton (16), Louis-Henri Freycinet-Saulce.


On 24 March 1806, off Puerto Rico, Reindeer encountered two French brigs, Phaéton and Voltigeur, each of sixteen 6-pounder guns. The vessels exchanged fire for some four hours. Reindeer succeeded in damaging the French brigs before they escaped; Reindeer too had some damage but no casualties. Two days later Pique captured the two French brigs. Phaéton, under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Saulces de Freycinet, was sailing to the Antilles when she was captured near Santo Domingo. The Admiralty took Phaeton into British service as Mignonne and Voltigeur as Pelican.


HMS Reindeer (also Rein Deer) was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir,[2] which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of the USS Wasp during the War of 1812.



Caribbean
In September 1804 Commander John Fyffe commissioned Reindeer and on 21 November sailed for the Jamaica station, of which Rear-Admiral Dacres was the C-in-C. On 7 March 1805 she and Hunter captured the Spanish privateer schooner Santa Rosalía Golondrina after a chase of over five hours. During the chase the Spaniard threw her three guns − one 8-pounder and two 4-pounders - overboard. She was under the command of Francisco de Naras and had a crew of 57 men. The privateer had left Caliodam in Cuba the previous day for a fourteen-day cruise but had taken no prizes. Fyffe sent her in to Port Royal with Hunter.

Then, on 13 September Reindeer captured the French privateer Renommée, of two 6-pounder guns. Reindeer's crew had had to labour at the sweeps for some six hours under a hot sun before they were able to reach their quarry. Renommée had a crew of 40 men and was most recently out of Baracoa. On this cruise she had taken no prizes.

Early in March 1805, Reindeer and Magicienne sent two boats each, under the command of Lieutenant John Kelly Tudor of Reindeer, to cut out a 4-gun schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico.

On 24 March 1806, off Puerto Rico, Reindeer encountered two French brigs, Phaéton and Voltigeur, each of sixteen 6-pounder guns. The vessels exchanged fire for some four hours. Reindeer succeeded in damaging the French brigs before they escaped; Reindeer too had some damage but no casualties. Two days later Pique captured the two French brigs. Phaéton, under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Saulces de Freycinet, was sailing to the Antilles when she was captured near Santo Domingo.[8] The Admiralty took Phaeton into British service as Mignonne and Voltigeur as Pelican.

Then on 21 April, off Cape St. Nicholas in San Domingo, Reindeer captured the French privateer schooner Creole. She was pierced for 14 guns but only mounted six, not including swivel guns. She had a crew of 59 and had put another 16 men on prizes. Creole had a reputation for being the fastest vessel in those waters; Fyffe believed that he would not have caught her if Creole'scaptain had not been so confident that he could outrun Reindeer that he tried to cut in front of her bow to gain the wind. Reindeer also destroyed another small privateer of two guns. The crew, however, escaped.

In January 1807 Reindeer shared, with Latona, Fisgard and Morne Fortunee in the proceeds of a number of captures. On 18 January they captured the Santa Cecilia. Two days later they captured the schooner Mary. Then on 4 February they captured the Friends. Later that February Commander Peter John Douglas replaced Fyffe in command of Reindeer.

On 13 October as Reindeer was chasing a suspicious schooner when Bacchante came up and cut the quarry off, which then struck. The vessel turned out to be the Amor de la Patria, under Captain Josse de Tournecy. She was armed with three guns and had a crew of 63 men. She was five days out of St. Jago (Santiago de Cuba) but had not taken any prizes.

On 21 December, after a 10-hour chase, Reindeer captured the French schooner privateer Experiment, under Captain Antoine Corocco, off Tiberon in the extreme south-west of Haiti. She was armed with two guns and carrying 40 men and had made no captures in the three weeks since she had left Baracoa in Cuba. Then on 25 January 1808, off Point Picolet in San Domingo, Reindeer chased and captured the French privateer schooner Lyonnaise, under Captain Jean Tessier. Lyonnaise was pierced for 12 guns but only mounted five; she had a crew of 85 men and was eight days out of Baracoa. Two days later, Douglas, learning of a privateer rendezvous, managed to run one of them ashore where her crew abandoned her. Reindeer brought the 3-gun vessel off the shore without much trouble. Douglas then sailed for Port Royal with her. As he had 90 prisoners on board and 30 men away in prizes Douglas apparently feared an uprising.

On 10 November 1808, Reindeer, Franchise, Aurora, Daedalus, and Pert met by chance. The captains got together and decided to capture the town and port of Samana in order to assist the Spanish patriots that had established a blockade of San Domingo. The town was also the last port of refuge for privateers to the windward of San Domingo and the enemy were in the act of erecting batteries for its protection. The British entered the following day and took possession of the harbour. Captain Charles Dashwood of Franchise handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations.

During the following week the British captured two French 5-gun privateer schooners. One was the Guerrière, Louis Telin, master, with a crew of 110 men; the other was the Exchange with a crew of 104. The British also took three merchant vessels, the schooner Diana and a brig, both laden with fish, and the sloop Brutus, laden with coffee.

On the morning of 16 November Reindeer and Pert re-captured the English ship Jeannet, R. Bradshaw, master, of 10 guns and 185 tons (bm). She had been bound from London to Havana with bale goods and was running for Samana harbour with a prize crew after being taken by a privateer. The two British sloops also captured another prize, the 350 ton (bm) Spanish ship St. Erasmo, A. Gerona, master, sailing from Malaga to Havana with wine and bale goods.

In 1809 Reindeer was in the North Sea. On 8 March she captured the French naval 1-gun schooner-aviso Mouche №13. Mouche №13 was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Detcheverry and was carrying dispatches from Brest to San Domingo when Reindeer captured her west of the Azores. Then on 4 November Reindeer sailed for Jamaica again under Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew.


Woodblock of the action between the USS Wasp and HMS Reindeer

Channel
In 1811 Reindeer came under the command of Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall. In August she was in Plymouth, where Commander Daniel Ross took command. His successor, in 1813, was Commander William Manners.

During 1813 Reindeer captured several vessels, including some privateers. On 2 February Reindeer and Iris captured the Baltimore letter of marque schooner Cashier, which was armed with two 12-pounder guns and four 12-pounder carronades, and under the command of Captain George Wilson. The capture followed a chase during which the American vessel lost one man killed and several wounded out of her crew of 40.

Then on 19 March Reindeer captured the French brig Pandour. Next, on 6 April, Reindeer was in company with Helicon when they captured the American private schooner of war Shadow. On 15 July Reindeer was in company with Whiting when Whiting recaptured Friends. On 22 November, Reindeer captured the French 14-gun privateer lugger Spéculation. She was five days out of St Malo but had taken nothing.[26] Lastly, Reindeer shared in the prize money arising from her sister ship Derwent's recapture of Racehorse on 13 December.

Main article: Sinking of HMS Reindeer


U.S. Marines aboard USS Wasp engage the HMS Reindeer from the 1945 painting by American artist, Staff Sgt. John F. Clymer, on display at the U.S. National Museum of the Marine Corps

On 28 June 1814 Reindeer encountered the American sloop Wasp, under the command of Johnston Blakely about 500 miles west of Ushant. In the resulting action Reindeer suffered 25 killed, including her commander, and 42 men wounded, out of a total of 98 men and 20 boys, and she was forced to surrender. Key factors in the fight were that Wasp's crew greatly outnumbered Reindeer's, and Wasp's broadside was much heavier than Reindeer's. At the time of the battle, Reindeer had 24-pounder carronades instead of her original 32-pounder carronades because of her age and weakness.

Fate
The following day, on 29 June 1814, Blakely decided Reindeer was too badly damaged and set fire to her.

Cruizer class

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Cruiser (1797), and later for Ferret (1806), Scorpion (1803), Swallow (1805), Musquito (1804), Scout (1804) and Despatch (1804), all 18 gun Brig Sloops. The plan also shows the mast alterations (to ship-rigged) for Snake (1797) and Victor (1798), both 18 gun Ship Sloops.


The French brig Phaeton was a Palinure-class brig launched in 1804. The British captured her in 1806 and renamed her HMS Mignonne. In 1807 they renamed her HMS Musette. She was sold in 1814.






Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pelican (captured 1806), a captured French Brig, as taken off. The dotted red lines illustrate her as fitted as an 18-gun Brig Sloop at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan was received in the Navy Office by William Rule on 14 August 1807.

The French brig Voltigeur was a Palinure-class brig launched in 1804. The British captured her in 1806 and renamed her HMS Pelican. She was sold in 1812.



Capture
In late 1805, the sister-ships Phaeton and Voltigeur, both armed with 16 guns and having crews of 120 men and 115 men, were under the command of Lieutenants de vaisseau Louis-Henri Saulces de Freycinet and Jacques Saint-Cricq. They cruised the coasts of Schleswig-Holstein before they set sail for Santo Domingo. On 24 March, a little south-east of Puerto Rico, they encountered Reindeer and exchanged fire for about four hours before nightfall ended the encounter. During that engagement the French vessels had suffered damage and possibly casualties. They then sailed towards Curacoa. )

Two days later, on 27 March 1806, Pique, under the command of Captain Charles B.H. Ross, was sailing from Santo Domingo to Curacoa when she encountered two French navy brigs. At 1pm, Pique began firing at long range, and by 2pm had caught up with them. After an intensive cannonade that lasted some 20 minutes, Pique was able to send a boarding party aboard one of the two French vessels. A terrible struggle ensued before the French vessel struck. The French crew had concealed themselves under sails and in the wreckage, emerging once the boarding party arrived and subjecting it to a devastating fusillade that killed or wounded most of the boarding party. Ross then sent over more men, before returning to the chase of the second brig.[4] After the exchange of several more broadsides, the second French vessel struck. The two French brigs were Phaeton and Voltigeur.

Pique had one man wounded during the chase, and nine men killed and 13 wounded during the boarding of Phaeton. Ross estimated that the French vessels had lost half their crews dead and wounded. Later reports suggested that although French casualties on Phaeton had been heavy, those on Voltigeur were slight.

The British took Phaeton into service as Mignonne, and Voltigeur as Pelican. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Pique 26 March 1806" to all surviving claimants from the action.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the upper deck and lower deck with platforms for Pelican (captured 1806), a captured French Brig, as taken off. The dotted black lines illustrate her as fitted as an 18-gun Brig Sloop at Portsmouth Dockyard.

HMS Reindeer (1804) - Wikipedia

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French brig Phaeton (1804) - Wikipedia

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French brig Voltigeur (1804) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1807 – Launch of HMS Doris, a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served between 1808 and 1829


HMS Doris was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served between 1808 and 1829.



Construction
Salsette was the first vessel the Bombay Dockyard built for the Royal Navy. As such, there were apparently many defects in her construction, which led the Navy to demand that the dockyard stick more closely to the design plans in the future.

sistership Shannon

No.3 Shannon on shore near Cape Barfleur Dec 17 1803 (PAD8897)

Career
Doris was built for the Royal Navy in the East India Company Dockyard in Bombay in 1807. She was launched as Salsette, and was renamed locally as Pitt later that year. However, because the Royal Navy already had an HMS Pitt in service, the Admiralty renamed her again as HMS Doris.

HMS Doris initially saw service in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea. Doris and Psyche captured in the China Sea an American ship named Rebecca. They brought her into Bombay where the new Vice admiralty court condemned her. Her cargo of 4,000 bags of Batavian sugar and 13,710 pieces of sapan-wood were auctioned on 7 March 1810. Then on 10 March Rebecca, of 600 tons burthen, teak-built at Pegu, too was auctioned off.

Towards the end of 1810 Doris was involved in the Mauritius campaign.

In 1811 she participated in the invasion of Java.

On 18 March 1814 Doris captured the American merchant ship Hunter off Macau.

On 8 May chased an American schooner from New York through the estuary and into Pearl River. The American succeeded in reaching Whampoa where she anchored. Doris than sent her boats with 70 men into the river and captured the American ship. Only one British seaman was killed but several of the Americans died. The boarding party from Doris cut the schooner’s cables to sail her out from Chinese jurisdiction but the ship went aground. The boarding party then abandoned her.

Doris finally brought Hunter into Bombay on 12 August for the recently-established Vice admiralty court to condemn.

Doris apparently returned to Canton because around mid-September her boats recaptured Arabella, which the Portuguese had moved just outside Macanese waters. The American letter of marque ship Rambler had captured Arabella as Arabella was sailing from Bengal to Sumatra. Rambler brought Arabella with her as Rambler sailed onto Canton, but sent her into Macao when the Americans realized that Doris was at Canton. Doris's retaking of Arabella sparked a small incident between the British East India Company and the local authorities, who eventually accepted that Arabella was a lawful prize to Doris.

Captain O'Brien, of Doris found he could not sell his prize, Arabella, on the China coast. When he received orders to proceed to Malacca after his replacement had arrived he wanted to take Arabella with him to try to sell her in Malaya. However, the night before they were to leave a severe gale caused Arabella to break her cables. She then broke up on nearby rocks.

Post-war
Doris place in ordinary in 1815. She was recommissioned in 1821 and served two tours of duty on the South America station during the Chilean and Brazilian wars of independence and the Brazil-Argentine war 1826-8.

Fate
By the late 1820s, decayed timbers in her bow made her unfit for further service, and she was sold at Valparaiso in April 1829.

Captains
During her 21 years in the Royal Navy she had eight captains. One of them was Barrington Reynolds, who commanded her for a short period in 1812, between his commands of Sir Francis Drake and Bucephalus. Another was Thomas Graham, who died en route to Chile in 1822, with his wife, the travel writer Maria Graham, on board.

• Perseverance class 36-gun fifth rates 1803-11 (a revival of the class of 1781-83 - see above)
  • HMS Tribune 1803 - cut down to a 24-gun corvette in 1833, lost near Tarragona on 28 November 1839.
  • HMS Shannon 1803 - run ashore near La Hogue and burnt to avoid capture on 10 December 1803.
  • HMS Meleager 1806 - wrecked on Bare Bush Key east of Jamaica on 30 July 1808.
  • HMS Iphigenia 1806 - presented to the Marine Society as training ship in 1833, broken up 1851.
  • HMS Orlando 1811 - hulked as hospital ship at Trincomalee in 1819, sold 1824.
  • HMS Lowestoffe - cancelled 1805
• teak-built Perseverance class - same as above but built from teak wood in Bombay dockyard.
  • HMS Salsette 1805 - hulked as lazaretto at Pembroke in 1831, receiving ship at Woolwich in 1835, broken up 1874.
  • HMS Doris 1807 - sold at Valparaiso 1829.

sistership






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Doris_(1808)
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1811 - The Action of 24 March 1811 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought as part of the Royal Navy blockade of the French English Channel ports.
HMS Berwick (74), Cptn. James Macnamara, HMS Amelia (38), Cptn. Frederick Paul Irby, HMS Goshawk (16), James Lilburne, HMS Hawk and HMS Niobe (38), Cptn. J. W. Loring, destroyed Amazone (40) off Cape Barfleur in a 2 day engagement.


The Action of 24 March 1811 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought as part of the Royal Navy blockade of the French English Channel ports. By 1811, Royal Navy control of the French coast was so entrenched that French ships were unable to travel safely even in French territorial waters. In late 1810, French frigates Elisa and Amazone sailed from Le Havre to join with a larger squadron at Cherbourg, but were intercepted by a British frigate squadron and forced to shelter at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. There they came under sustained attack and Elisa was destroyed, Amazone successfully slipping back to Le Havre under cover of darkness. To prevent Amazone from escaping once more, the British blockade squadron was reinforced.

On the evening of 23 March 1811, Amazone left Le Havre once more, sailing west towards Cherbourg through the night. Escaping the ships watching Le Havre, Amazone was sighted at dawn on 24 March weathering Cape Barfleur by ship of the line HMS Berwick, which pursued the French frigate into a bay 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of the Phare de Gatteville lighthouse. There Berwick, reinforced by a squadron of smaller ships, attacked Amazone but was unable to approach through the rocks and shoals of the coast. Plans were made overnight to attack the frigate with ship's boats, but on the following day the French Captain Bernard-Louis Rosseau set his ship on fire to prevent its capture.



Action
By the autumn of 1810 the Napoleonic Wars had lasted for seven years and the French Navy, over the course of the conflict, had been successively driven from the Atlantic until every French port was watched by a Royal Navy close blockade, ready to attack any French ship which emerged from harbour. In 1809, the main French fleet at Brest had attempted to break out into open water, only to be driven back and defeated at the Battle of Basque Roads. Much of the French effort at sea subsequently fell on commerce raiders, including privateers and frigate squadrons, often operating from smaller harbours such as those on the Northern coast of France in the English Channel. The two principal raiding ports were Cherbourg and Le Havre in Normandy, each of which maintained squadrons. In 1810, Cherbourg's anchorage held two ships of the line and a large, newly built frigate Iphigénie, while the frigates Elisa and Amazone were stationed at Le Havre.

Both ports were watched closely by a blockade squadron detached from the Channel Fleet, including ships of the line off Cherbourg and two frigates, HMS Diana and HMS Niobe, off Le Havre. On 12 November 1810 Elisa and Amazone attempted to break out of Le Havre and join with the squadron at Cherbourg, slipping past the blockade in the darkness. Spotted in the early hours of 13 November, the frigates managed to anchor at the well-defended harbour of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, where on 15 November they were attacked by the combined blockade forces from Cherbourg and Le Havre. Although the attack was beaten back, Elisa was too badly damaged to continue the mission and on 27 November Amazone successfully returned to Le Havre without encountering the British forces. Elisa was subsequently driven onshore and destroyed by the British squadron.

Amazone's journey


HMS Amelia, John Christian Schetky, 1852, Norwich Castle

Amazone, commanded by Captain Bernard-Louis Rosseau, attempted to sail to Cherbourg again on 23 March 1811. On this occasion Rosseau successfully evaded the blockade of Le Havre and by dawn on 24 March was weathering the point of Cape Barfleur.[4] As the frigate passed the Phare de Gatteville lighthouse, only a few miles from her destination, she was spotted by a British ship of the line recently sailed from the British fleet anchorage at St Helens, the 74-gun HMS Berwick under Captain James Macnamara, then sailing approximately 12 nautical miles (22 km) offshore. Macnamara took Berwick in pursuit, seeking to cut off Rosseau's advance, and the French captain managed to evade Berwick by taking shelter in a small bay 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of the lighthouse.

Navigation through the rocks of the bay had been difficult, and as she entered the bay Amazone's rudder had been torn away, rendering the ship unmanoeuverable. With Amazone trapped, Macnamara called up the rest of the Cherbourg squadron, the frigate HMS Amelia under Captain Frederick Paul Irby and the brig-sloops HMS Goshawk under Commander James Lilburn and HMS Hawk under Commander Henry Bourchier. This force was required to remain a substantial distance offshore as the rocky coastline posed a considerable danger to the British ships. Macnamara's plan was to wait for high tide and then bring the squadron closer inshore to bombard the French frigate into surrender.[4]As they waited, the squadron was joined by Niobe from the Le Havre under Captain John Wentworth Loring. At 16:00 the tides were optimal for the attack and Niobe, Amelia and Berwick sailed into the bay. However, Rosseau had situated Amazone in a strong position, protected from close attack by rocks and shoals and in consequence the British ships could only fire as they wore around, resulting in scattered and inaccurate fire. As they advanced, the British ships came under fire from Amazone, which killed one sailor on Berwick and killed one and wounded another on Amelia, while the British fire had no effect on the French ship. At 18:00, Macnamara withdrew his ships from the bay, all three vessels having suffered considerable damage to their rigging and sails from Amazone's shot.

Aftermath
Macnamara considered plans to use ship's boats to attack Amazone directly, but resolved to attempt to enter the bay again on the morning of 25 March. As dawn broke however it became apparent that Rosseau had abandoned his damaged ship with his crew, setting the frigate on fire as he departed. By the end of the day Amazone had been burnt to the waterline and destroyed. Macnamara's squadron returned to their blockade duties off Cherbourg. The remaining frigate in the region, Iphigénie, did eventually succeed in breaking out of Cherbourg, but was intercepted and captured in the Atlantic during a raiding mission in January 1814.


sistership Gloire

lines & profile This is the Gloire (captured 1806), a captured French 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate.

Amazone was a 40-gun Gloire-class frigate of the French Navy, built after plans designed by Sané revised by Forfait.

Gloire class, (40-gun design of 1802 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns).

• Gloire, (launched 20 July 1803 at Basse-Indre) – captured by the British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Gloire.
• Président, (launched 4 June 1804 at Basse-Indre) – captured by the British Navy 1806, becoming HMS President.
• Topaze, (launched 1 March 1805 at Basse-Indre) – captured by the British Navy 1809, becoming HMS Alcmene.
• Vénus, (launched 5 April 1806 at Le Havre) – captured by the British Navy 1810, becoming HMS Nereide.
• Junon, (launched 16 August 1806 at Le Havre) – captured by the British Navy 1809, becoming HMS Junon.
• Calypso, (launched 9 January 1807 at Lorient) – severely damaged 1809, sold 1813 or 1814.
• Amazone, (launched 20 July 1807 at Le Havre) – burnt by the British Navy 1811.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_24_March_1811

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1860 – Launch of HMS Frederick William, an 86-gun screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


HMS Frederick William was an 86-gun screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


As HMS Worcester

She was initially ordered from Portsmouth Dockyard on 12 September 1833 as a 110-gun Queen-class ship of the line, under the name HMS Royal Sovereign. The order was suspended on 7 May 1834, but was later renewed, this time under the name HMS Royal Frederick, a change in name which took place on 12 April 1839. She was laid down on 1 July 1841, but work commenced slowly, and on 29 June 1848 she was re-ordered to a modification of the Queen-class design, still powered by sails alone. The order for the still unfinished ship was again modified on 28 February 1857, when it was ordered that she be completed as an 86-gun screw battleship. Conversion work began on 28 May 1859, and the ship was renamed HMS Frederick William on 28 January 1860, shortly before her launch on 24 March that year. She was completed in June 1860.



From 1 July to 31 December 1864, she served as a Coast Guard Service Home Station, at Portland, replacing HMS Colossus. On 19 October 1876 she was renamed as Worcester, to take on a new role as a training ship at Greenhithe for the Thames Nautical Training College. She fulfilled this role until her sale in July 1948. She foundered in the River Thames on 30 August 1948. She was razed in May 1953 and was broken up.





Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Queen (1839), a 110-gun First Rate, three-decker. The plan Algiers (cancelled 1840), and initially for the original designs of Windsor Castle (1858) when first ordered as Victoria, and Frederick William (1860), when first ordered as Royal Frederick (previously named Royal Sovereign until April 1839).

HMS Frederick William - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1874 – Launch of HMS Vesuvius, an experimental torpedo-armed warship of the British Royal Navy.


HMS Vesuvius was an experimental torpedo-armed warship of the British Royal Navy. Built by Pembroke Dockyard in 1873–1874, she was the first purpose-designed torpedo vessel built for the Royal Navy. Vesuvius was intended for night attacks against enemy harbours, and was armed with a single tube for Whitehead torpedoes in her bow. She was used for experimental and training purposes, and was not disposed of until 1923.



Design
From 1864, the English engineer Robert Whitehead, based at Fiume in the Austrian empire (now Rijeka in Croatia), began work on a self-propelled, or "locomotive" torpedo which would run underwater, powered by compressed air. By 1868, Whitehead had solved the problem of depth control, and was offering his torpedo to the navies of the world. After trials from the sloop Oberon in September–October 1868, the Admiralty purchased a license to build Whitehead's torpedo, with production beginning at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, London in 1872.

On 12 February 1872, the Admiralty placed an order for its first ship purpose designed for torpedo attack, HMS Vesuvius. The new warship was intended for night attacks against enemy harbours, with the likely opponent being France.



Vesuvius was 90 feet 0 inches (27.43 m) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 22 feet 0 inches (6.71 m) and a draught of 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m). Displacement was 382 long tons (388 t) normal. Freeboard was low to make the ship more difficult to spot. The ship was powered by compound steam engines rated at 382 indicated horsepower (285 kW) which drove two propeller shafts, giving a speed of 9.7 knots (11.2 mph; 18.0 km/h). The ship's engines were designed to minimise noise to aid in making stealthy attacks, while her boilers were fuelled by coke to minimise the production of smoke, which was designed to be vented underwater to further reduce the ship's conspicuousness.

The ship was fitted with a single submerged torpedo tube in her bow capable of launching 16-inch torpedoes. The torpedo tube was 19 feet (5.8 m) long and 2 feet (0.6 m) in diameter, with the torpedo running on rollers within the tube. A total of ten torpedoes were carried, each about 14 feet (4.3 m) long and carrying a warhead of 67 pounds (30 kg) of guncotton. No guns were carried. The ship had a crew of 15.

Vesuvius was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard on 16 March 1873 and launched on 24 March 1874. She was towed to Portsmouth Dockyard for fitting out, and was a tall funnel added to aid raising of steam. She was completed on 11 September 1874 at a cost of £17,897.

Service
Vesuvius was not seriously evaluated against her design role of night torpedo attacks and was too slow and had too short a range to accompany the fleet. She was relegated to experimental and training roles, attached to HMS Vernon, the Royal Navy's torpedo training school. In 1886–1887, Vesuvius took part in a series of trials to test anti-torpedo nets, firing torpedoes against the old ironclad Resistance. The conclusion of the tests were that anti-torpedo nets were an effective protection against torpedoes.

Vesuvius remained attached to HMS Vernon at Portsmouth during the First World War, and was finally sold for scrap on 14 September 1923 to the shipbreakers Cashmore, she foundered under tow to Cashmore's yard at Newport.

HMS Vesuvius (1874) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

SHONAS WRECKS

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1878 –The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
HMS Eurydice – On 24 March 1878, the training ship Eurydice was caught in a heavy snow storm off the Isle of Wight, capsized, and sank. Two of the ship's 378 crew and trainees survived; most of those who were not carried down with the ship died of exposure in the freezing waters.


HMS Eurydice was a 26-gun Royal Navy corvette which was the victim of one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters when she sank in 1878.



Origins of Eurydice
Designed by Admiral the Hon. George Elliot, the second Eurydice was a very fast 26-gun frigate designed with a very shallow draught to operate in shallow waters. She originally saw service on the North American and West Indies station between 1843 and 1846 under the command of her first captain, George Augustus Elliot (the eldest son of her designer). In July 1845, she was driven ashore near the Moro, Havana, Cuba. Her guns were taken off to lighten her before she was refloated. Under Captain Talavera Vernon Anson, her second commission between 1846 and 1850 was spent on the South African ("Cape of Good Hope") station. Her third commission, under Captain Erasmus Ommanney (between 1854 and 1855) and then Captain John Walter Tarleton (1855 to 1857) saw her first sent briefly to the White Sea during the Crimean War and then to the North American and West Indies station again. The Eurydice saw no further seagoing service in the next twenty years; she was converted into a stationary training ship in 1861. In 1877, she was refitted at Portsmouth and by John White at Cowes for seagoing service as a training ship.



Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of HMS Eurydice (1843), a 24 gun sixth rate sloop. Plaque inscribed "Built at Portsmouth. Capsized and sank off the Isle of Wight in 1878, when serving as a training ship Dimensions: - Gun deck 141ft 2in Beam 38ft 10in".



Loss of Eurydice
After being recommissioned under the command of Captain Marcus Augustus Stanley Hare, Eurydice sailed from Portsmouth on a three-month tour of the West Indies and Bermuda on 13 November 1877. On 6 March 1878, she began her return voyage from Bermuda for Portsmouth. After a very fast passage across the Atlantic,[4] on 24 March 1878, Eurydice was caught in a heavy snow storm off the Isle of Wight, capsized and sank. Only two of the ship's 319 crew and trainees survived, most of those who were not carried down with the ship died of exposure in the freezing waters. Captain Hare, a devout Christian, after giving the order to every man to save himself, clasped his hands in prayer and went down with his ship.[4] One of the witnesses to the disaster was a young Winston Churchill, who was living at Ventnor with his family at the time. The wreck was refloated later that same year but had been so badly damaged during her submersion that she was then subsequently broken up. Her ship's bell is preserved in St. Paul's Church, Gatten, Shanklin. There is a memorial in the churchyard at Christ Church, The Broadway, Sandown. The ship's anchor is set into a memorial at Clayhall Cemetery, Gosport. Two of her crew, DAVID BENNETT AB and ALFRED BARNES OS are buried in Rottingdean St Margaret's churchyard when bodies were washed ashore nearby. There are four in the grave, but only two of the men could be identified.


HMS Eurydice. This fine Frigate used as a Training ship for young seamen of the Royal Navy, is approaching Spithead, on Sunday, March 24th 1878.... was suddenly upset by a violent blast of wind...., and sank with 328 men, only two men being saved alive - Benjamin Cuddeford, A B, of Plymouth, and Sydney Fletcher, First Class Boy of Bristol (PAF8100)

Prelude to a second disaster


HMS Atalanta. 1880

An inquiry found that the vessel had sunk through stress of weather and that her officers and crew were blameless for her loss. There was some adverse comment on the suitability of Eurydice as a training ship because of her extreme design, which was known to lack stability. However, she was immediately replaced by another 26-gun frigate of identical tonnage but slightly less radical hull-lines, HMS Juno. Juno was renamed HMS Atalanta and made two successful voyages between England and the West Indies before disappearing at sea in 1880 with the loss of 281 lives; the ship is believed to have been lost in a storm. Later British seagoing training ships were smaller purpose-built brigs.


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

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1898 - Launch of USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, and also of her sistership USS Kentucky (BB 6)


USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, was a United States Navy ship, named after the sloop-of-war Kearsarge. Her keel was laid down by the Newport Shipbuilding Company of Virginia, on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Rear Admiral Herbert Winslow, and commissioned on 20 February 1900.

Between 1903 and 1907 Kearsarge served in the North Atlantic Fleet, and from 1907 to 1909 she sailed as part of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 she was decommissioned for modernization, which was finished in 1911. In 1915 she served in the Atlantic, and between 1916 and 1919 she served as a training ship. She was converted into a crane ship in 1920, renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, and sold for scrap in 1955. She was the only United States Navy battleship to not be named after a state.


Kearsarge in 1899


USS Kearsarge – the lead ship of the class

Design
Main article: Kearsarge-class battleship
The Kearsarge-class battleships were designed to be used for coastal defense. They had a displacement of 11,540 short tons (10,470 t), an overall length of 375 feet 4 inches (114.40 m), a beam of 72 feet 3 inches (22.02 m) and a draft of 23 feet 6 inches (7.16 m). The two 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines and five Scotch boilers, connected to two propeller shafts, produced a total of 11,674 indicated horsepower (8,705 kW), and gave a maximum speed of 16.816 knots (19.352 mph; 31.143 km/h). Kearsarge was manned by 40 officers and 514 enlisted men, a total of 554 crew.


Kearsarge's double turret on 8 April 1900

Kearsarge had two double turrets, with two 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns and two 8 in (203 mm)/40 caliber guns each, stacked in two levels. The guns and turret armor were designed by the Bureau of Ordnance, while the turret itself was designed by the Bureau of Construction and Repair. This caused the guns to be mounted far back in the turret, making the ports very large. Admiral William Sims claimed that as a result, a shell fired into the port could reach the magazines below, disabling the guns. In addition to these guns, Kearsarge carried fourteen 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns, twenty 6-pounder (57 mm or 2.2 in) guns, eight 1-pounder (37 mm or 1.5 in) guns, four .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns, and four 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. Kearsarge had a very low freeboard, which resulted in her guns becoming unusable in bad weather.

The ship's waterline armor belt was 5–16.5 inches (130–420 mm) thick and the main gun turrets were protected by 15–17 inches (380–430 mm) of armor, while the secondary turrets had 6–11 inches (150–280 mm) of armor. The barbettes were 12.5–15 inches (320–380 mm) thick, while the conning tower had 10 inches (250 mm) of armor. The armor was made of harveyized steel.

Kearsarge carried 16 smaller boats. A 40-foot (12 m) steam cutter, with a capacity of 60 men, together with a 33-foot (10 m) steam cutter, were used for general carrying from and to port, and could tow the other boats if needed. Two 33-foot launches, each capable of carrying 64 men, were the "working boats". There were ten 30-foot (9.1 m) boats: four cutters, each with a capacity of 45 men, the Admiral's barge, two whaleboats (which served as lifeboats), and the Captain's gig. Four smaller boats completed Kearsarge's small fleet: two 20-foot (6.1 m) dinghies and two 18-foot (5.5 m) catamarans.

Construction


Kearsarge on the day of her launching, 24 March 1898. The masts of Kentucky are visible in the background.

Kearsarge was authorized on 2 March 1895, the contract for her construction was awarded on 2 January 1896, and the keel of the vessel was laid down on 30 June 1896 by Newport Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Virginia. The total cost was US$5,043,591.68. She was named soon after the American Civil War sloop-of-war Kearsarge, and was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named by act of Congress. She was the only US battleship not named after a state. She was christened on 24 March 1898 (the same day as her sister ship, Kentucky) by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Captain Herbert Winslow, daughter-in-law of Captain John Ancrum Winslow, the commander of the original Kearsarge. She was commissioned on 20 February 1900, under the command of Captain William M. Folger.


Kearsarge as Crane Ship No. 1



The Kearsarge-class battleships were two pre-dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. They were designed to be used for coastal defense. Both of the ships, USS Kearsarge and USS Kentucky, were authorized in 1895 and commissioned in 1900. Neither ship participated in a major battle, although they participated in the Great White Fleet, the oldest ships on the cruise.[4] Kentucky was decommissioned in 1920 and sold for scrap in 1923. Kearsarge was also decommissioned in 1920, although it was then converted into a crane ship, and served in that capacity until scrapping in 1955.





USS Kentucky (BB-6)
Main article: USS Kentucky (BB-6)


USS Kentucky, circa 1905–08


Kentucky at Sydney, as part of the Great White Fleet, late August 1908. Kentucky shows the white hull after which the fleet was named.

Kentucky was launched on 24 March 1898, and commissioned on 15 May 1900. In 1900, she left for China due to the Boxer Rebellion, staying there until 1904. In 1905, she joined the North Atlantic Squadron. During the 1906 Cuban Insurrection, she carried Marines to Cuba, embarking them from Provincetown, and landing them at Havana, Cuba.

In 1907, Kentucky participated in the Great White Fleet, as part of the Fourth Division of the Second Squadron. The fleet left from Hampton Roads on 16 December 1907, circled South America, passed through San Francisco, and arrived at Hawaii. From there, they sailed to New Zealand and Australia, visited the Philippine Islands, Japan, China, and Ceylon before transiting the Suez Canal. The fleet split at Port Said, with Kentucky visiting Tripoli and Algiers, before reforming with the fleet at Gibraltar. She returned to Hampton Roads on 22 February.

From 1909–11, Kentucky was modernized at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. From 1912–15, she served in the reserve, and was recommissioned at Philadelphia on 23 June 1915. Following the United States occupation of Veracruz, she sailed to Mexico, remaining at Veracruz until 1916. She arrived at New York, remaining there until the United States entered World War I. During the war, she trained several thousand men along the Atlantic coast.

In late 1918, Kentucky was overhauled at the Boston Navy Yard. She then left for exercises in Guantanamo Bay, Norfolk, and along the New England coast, and later trained United States Naval Academy midshipmen. Kentucky was decommissioned on 29 March 1920, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 27 May 1922, and she was sold for scrap to Dravo Corporation on 24 March 1923.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kentucky_(BB-6)

USS Kearsarge (BB-5) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kearsarge-class battleship - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1916 - the French passenger ferry Sussex was sailing from Folkestone to Dieppe when she was torpedoed by SM UB-29.
She was severely damaged with her entire bow forward of her bridge blown off. Some of her lifeboats were launched, but at least two capsized and many passengers were drowned. Of 53 crew and 325 passengers at least 50 were killed, but a figure of between 80 and 100 is also suggested. Sussex remained afloat and was eventually towed stern-first into Boulogne harbour.


Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry, built in 1896 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). After the LBSCR came to a co-operation agreement with the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, she transferred to their fleet under a French flag. Sussex became the focus of an international incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-Boat in 1916. After the war she was repaired and sold to Greece in 1919, being renamed Aghia Sophia. Following a fire in 1921, the ship was scrapped.


Sussex at Boulogne after being torpedoed in March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack.

Description
Built in 1896 by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton for the LBSCR, she was a direct replacement for the 1893 built TSS Seaford, which sank in 1895 after a collision with another LBSCR ferry, the TSS Lyon.

TSS Sussex was 275 feet 0 inches (83.82 m) long, with a beam of 34 feet 1 inch (10.39 m). She had a GRT of 1,565 and a NRT of 328. She was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, of 308 nhp, supplemented by a steam turbine. This power unit could propel her at 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h).[2] She was launched on 30 April 1896.

History
Sussex served on the Newhaven - Dieppe route,[2] making her maiden voyage on 31 July 1896.

In March 1912 she came to the assistance of the stricken P&O liner Oceana, which had been in collision with the 2850-ton German-registered 4 masted steel-barque Pisagua and subsequently sank with the loss of 9 lives. Replaced by the Paris on the Newhaven - Dieppe route in 1913, she was moved to Brighton to offer long day trip excursions, in competition with the White Funnel fleet paddle steamers of Bristol-based P and A Campbell. However, this proved unlucrative, and she was laid up from the end of that season. She was then sold in 1914 to the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, remaining under the management of the LBSCR.

World War I
During the First World War, shipping from Newhaven was diverted to operate from Folkestone in order to free Newhaven for supplying British troops on the Western Front.

On 24 March 1916, Sussex was on a voyage from Folkestone to Dieppe when she was torpedoed by SM UB-29. The ship was severely damaged, with the entire bow forward of the bridge blown off. Some of the lifeboats were launched, but at least two of them capsized and many passengers were drowned. Of the 53 crew and 325 passengers, at least 50 were killed, although a figure of between 80 and 100 is also suggested. Sussex remained afloat and was eventually towed stern-first into Boulogneharbour.

The dead included the celebrated Spanish composer Enrique Granados, his wife Amparo,[8] a Persian prince, Bahram Mirza Sardar Mass'oud, and Irish tennis player Manliffe Goodbody. Several Americans were injured, including Wilder Penfield, then a medical student at Oxford University and later an eminent neurosurgeon. His left leg was shattered by the blast, and Penfield required months of treatment and rehabilitation afterward.

Although no US citizens were killed, the incident enraged public opinion in the United States, and caused a heated diplomatic exchange between the US and German governments. In May 1916, Germany issued a declaration, the so-called Sussex pledge, which effectively represented the suspension of the "intensified" U-boat campaign.

Between 1 and 3 January 1917, HMS Duchess of Montrose, HMS Myrmidon, HMS Nepaulin, HMS Redcar, HMT Security assisted in the salvage of Sussex after she struck a mine near the West Dyck shoal on her way to Dunkirk, each ship receiving a portion of the salvage money. Sussex remained in France, and was used by the Marine Nationale at Le Havre.

Post-World War I
Sussex was repaired in France post-war, and in 1920 was sold to D Demetriades, Piraeus, being renamed Aghia Sophia. She was scrapped in 1921 following damage sustained in a fire.


SS Sussex in the English channel


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

SM UB-29 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1925 – Launch of SS Admiral Nakhimov (Russian: Адмирал Нахимов), originally named SS Berlin, a passenger liner of the German Weimar Republic later converted to a hospital ship, then a Soviet passenger ship.


SS Admiral Nakhimov (Russian: Адмирал Нахимов), launched in March 1925 and originally named SS Berlin, was a passenger liner of the German Weimar Republic later converted to a hospital ship, then a Soviet passenger ship. On 31 August 1986, Admiral Nakhimov collided with the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Tsemes Bay, near the port of Novorossiysk, Russian SFSR, and quickly sank. In total, 423 of the 1,234 people on board died.


SS Admiral Nakhimov sailing under her original name, Berlin, in 1925.



History
Career: 1925–1945
Berlin was built by Bremer Vulkan at Vegesack, Germany (Yard 614) and was completed in March 1925. She was launched on 25 March 1925, and commissioned on 17 September 1925. The ship was 572 feet (174 m) long, had four decks and a volume of 15,286 GRT. She originally operated the Bremen – Southampton – Cherbourg – New York City run for the North German Lloyd Line.

The ship's main route was between Bremerhaven, Southampton and New York, which she began on 26 September 1925 and operated until May 1939 when she was laid up in Bremerhaven for refitting. On 12 November 1928, Berlin rescued the passengers and crew of the liner Vestris,[1] which sank off the coast of Virginia en route from New York City to Barbados. An estimated 113 people died in the sinking.

Berlin was chartered by the Nazis in 1939 as a Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude, KdF) workers' cruising ship and was used as a hospital ship later on in World War II.

World War II


SS Berlin at Langelinie, between 1940-42

Berlin was one of eight German ships commissioned as hospital ships (Lazarettschiffe) during World War II. Most, if not all, of these ships also served in other capacities during the war after being decommissioned as hospital ships, mainly as accommodation or transport ships for military personnel. All German hospital ships were given alphabetic identifiers, Berlin's being 'A'. On 16 July 1939, Berlin began her conversion to hospital ship and entered service with the Kriegsmarine as Lazarettschiff A, Sanitätsamt Ost on 23 August 1939. The ship had berthing for 400 patients, with a crew of 165. Initially serving in Norwegian waters, she was identified as "Field Post Number 07520". By January 1945, Berlin was assigned to Operation Hannibal, the transport of refugees and soldiers from the Eastern Baltic. On 31 January 1945, while forming up in convoy to head east, Berlin struck a mine off Swinemünde, and was put in tow for Kiel. She then hit another mine and was beached (23.53 hr, at position 54°02.6 N/14°19 E, in shallow waters). There was one fatality. All usable equipment was salvaged by 5 February 1945, and the ship was abandoned.

Soviet service
She was refloated and salvaged by the Soviets in 1949 and renamed Admiral Nakhimov after Admiral Pavel Nakhimov, a 19th-century Russian naval commander who played a prominent role in the Crimean War. After her conversion, her size was increased to 17,053 GRT. She entered passenger service for the Black Sea Steamship Company in 1957. In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the ship was used to transport soldiers to Cuba.

During the peak summer travel season, Admiral Nakhimov operated cruises on the Black Sea between Odessa and Batumi, a six-day round trip. She carried an average of 1,000 people per voyage. She was the flagship of the Black Sea passenger fleet for several years until more modern liners entered service.

Sinking


Admiral Nakhimov docked in Novorossiysk, August 31, 1986. She would sink later that day.

At 10:00 p.m. Moscow Time on 31 August 1986, Admiral Nakhimov sailed from Novorossiysk en route to Sochi, its next stop. There were 888 passengers and 346 crew members aboard. Most of the passengers were Ukrainian, with others from Russia, Moldova, the Baltic republics and Central Asia. The captain of the ship was Vadim Markov.

Just minutes into the voyage, the ship's pilot noticed that the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev was on a collision course with Admiral Nakhimov. Pyotr Vasev was a Japanese-built, 18,604-ton freighter recently acquired by the Soviet Union, and was carrying a cargo of oats and barley from Canada. The pilot radioed a warning to Pyotr Vasev, and the freighter responded, "Don't worry. We will pass clear of each other. We will take care of everything."

Despite the message, Captain Viktor Tkachenko of Pyotr Vasev did nothing to slow his ship or change course. Convinced that the freighter would pass without incident, Captain Markov of Admiral Nakhimov retired to his cabin, leaving his second mate Alexander Chudnovsky in charge. From 11:00 p.m., Chudnovsky radioed Pyotr Vasev several times, asking about her course and her further actions. Chudnovsky changed the ship's course 10 degrees portside. At 11:10 p.m., Chundovsky cried on VHF to the freighter, "Immediately reverse full astern!" When it was clear that the freighter was headed directly for the ship, Pyotr Vasyov's engines were thrown in reverse. Admiral Nakhimov turned hard to port, but it was too late.

At 11:12 p.m., Admiral Nakhimov was struck by Pyotr Vasev 8 miles (13 km) from the port at Novorossiysk and 2 miles (3.2 km) from shore, at 44°36′15″N 37°52′35″E[citation needed]While many passengers had gone to bed by this time, some were on deck listening and dancing to music. They could only watch helplessly as the freighter rammed into the starboardside of the ship at a speed of about 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph). Admiral Nakhimov continued forward with the freighter's bow in its side, ripping a 900 square feet (84 m2) hole in the hull between the engine and boiler rooms.

Admiral Nakhimov immediately took on a list on her starboard side, and her lights went out upon impact. After a few seconds, the emergency diesel generator powered on, but the lights went out again two minutes later, plunging the sinking ship into darkness. People below decks found themselves lost in the dark and rapidly canting hallways.

There was no time to launch the lifeboats. Hundreds of people dived into the oily water, clinging to lifejackets, barrels and pieces of debris.

Admiral Nakhimov sank in only seven minutes. Rescue ships began arriving just 10 minutes after the ship went down. Pyotr Vasev was not badly damaged, and assisted in the rescue effort. Sixty-four rescue ships and 20 helicopters rushed to the scene, and 836 people were pulled from the water. Some people were so slick with fuel oil that they could not keep hold of the hands of their rescuers. Sailors had to jump into the water to save people.

Admiral Nakhimov lacked proper ventilation, which was the reason all 90 windows in the cabins were open during the accident. The bulkheads that would have prevented the ship from sinking were removed during the conversion.[citation needed]

Passengers and crew had little time to escape, and 423 of the 1,234 on board perished. Sixty-four of those killed were crew members and 359 were passengers.

The event was not reported in the news for forty eight hours. The survivors were only allowed to send telegrams saying "Alive and well in Novorossiysk."

The wreck of Admiral Nakhimov lies on its starboard side in 150 feet (46 m) of water in Tsemes Bay off Novorossiysk.

Pyotr Vasev was renamed and sailed under other flags until 2012.

Investigation
The Soviet government formed a commission of inquiry to investigate the disaster. It determined that both Captain Markov of Admiral Nakhimov and Captain Tkachenko of Pyotr Vasevhad violated navigational safety rules. Despite repeated orders to let Admiral Nakhimov pass, Tkachenko refused to slow his ship and only reported the accident 40 minutes after it occurred. Captain Markov was absent from the bridge. The inquiry took place in 1987 in Odessa. Both Captains Markov and Tkachenko were found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Both were released in 1992.

SS Admiral Nakhimov - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1927 – Nanking Incident:
Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.


The Nanking Incident (Chinese: 南京事件; pinyin: Nánjīng Shìjiàn; Wade–Giles: Nan2-ching1 Shih4-chien4) occurred in March 1927 during the capture of Nanjing (then Nanking) by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) in their Northern Expedition. Foreign warships bombarded the city to defend foreign residents against rioting and looting. Several ships were involved in the engagement, including vessels of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. Marines and sailors were also landed for rescue operations. Both Nationalist and Communist soldiers within the NRA participated in the rioting and looting of foreign-owned property in Nanjing.



Context
Nanking in 1927 was a treaty port located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River, a large waterway that separates northern and southern China. Because the foreign interests in China were largely American and European, squadrons of foreign naval vessels were stationed along the Yangtze to protect their citizens doing business at the treaty ports. The British Royal Navyoperated the China Station under Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt and the United States Navy the Yangtze Patrol; both lasted for around 80 years until World War II.


The American destroyer USS Noa.

Incident
On 23 March 1927, with the rapidly approaching National Revolutionary Army (NRA) about to reach Nanjing, Beiyang warlord Zhang Zongchanggave orders for his defeated troops to withdraw from the city. Some of his soldiers who were unable to retreat in time deserted and began to loot foreign properties and attacked two foreigners who were in their way.


The British cruiser HMS Vindictive

In the early morning of 24 March, the NRA began to enter Nanjing without any resistance from Zhang Zongchang's army. Afterwards they entered the British, American and Japanese consulates to search for suspected enemies hiding inside, but left peacefully after none were found. But immediately afterwards, uniformed soldiers and local Chinese residents started large-scale rioting against foreign interests, burning houses and attacking the British, American and Japanese consulates, and killing the American vice president of Nanking University, Dr. John Elias Williams, while almost assassinating the Japanese consul. The 6th Army of the NRA, with its large contingent of communist soldiers, systematically looted the homes and businesses of the foreign residents, and one American, two Britons, one French citizen, an Italian, and a Japanese were killed by Chinese soldiers. Chinese snipers also targeted the American consul and marines who were guarding him, which forced them to flee into "Socony Hill" where American citizens were sheltering. During this mayhem, one Chinese soldier declared, "we don't want money, anyway, we want to kill."

In response, the British navy immediately sent the heavy cruiser HMS Vindictive, the light cruisers HMS Carlisle and Emerald, the minesweeperHMS Petersfield, and the destroyers HMS Witherington, Wolsey, Wishart, Gnat, Veteran, Caradoc, Verity and Wild Swan toward Nanjing. The gunboat HMS Aphis arrived toward the end of the engagement, and Cricket was also involved in the naval operations at the time. Five American destroyers were also sent to engage the NRA; including USS Noa under Roy C. Smith, William B. Preston, John D. Ford, bury and Simpson.

At 3:38 pm, the NRA soldiers and Chinese rioters were driven off by high explosive rounds and machine gun fire from Emerald, Wolsey, Noa, Preston and Carlotto, and other warships may have participated in the bombardment as well. After the bombardment, foreign civilians hiding on Sacony Hill were rescued by sailors from Noa and Preston. The two American vessels fired 67 shells by this point and thousands of rifle and machine gun rounds.

By the end of March 24, Nanking was burning and littered with bomb craters and casualties from the battle. Early the next morning, just before dawn, USS William B. Preston was lifting anchor to escort SS Kungwo out of the area. She was filled with evacuees and needed protection, but just as the two ships were starting to leave, sniper fire from the riverbanks hit Preston. The Americans returned fire with their Lewis gun and silenced the attackers after a few moments.

Three hours later, as the two vessels steamed down the river, Preston was attacked again. This time, the two ships were in between Silver Island and Fort Hsing-Shan. Rifle fire was first heard, and Preston′s crew were preparing their machine gun when 3-inch (76 mm) guns at the fort suddenly engaged them. Several shots missed the ships, but one eventually hit Preston′s fire control platform, causing no casualties. A 4-inch (100 mm) gun was then aimed at the fort, and after a few rounds the Chinese guns were silenced.

After turning Kungwo over to the British, William B. Preston returned to Nanking and later joined HMS Cricket and SS Wen-chow, 52 mi (84 km) south of Chinkiang. Snipers once again harassed the ships, but machine gun fire from Cricket quickly forced the Chinese to retreat. Later on the Japanese sent the gunboats Hodero, Katata, Momo and Shinoki. The Italianssent the gunboat Ermanno Carlotto and the French sent aviso La Marne for the evacuation of their citizens in Nanjing.[1][2]

By March 26, NRA commander Cheng Qian restored order in Nanjing and successfully restrained soldiers from further hostile actions against foreign forces, while requesting the Red Cross to mediate a cease fire with foreign naval vessels. On March 27, with 70 more refugees aboard, Preston left Nanking and headed downriver. Lieutenant Commander G. B. Ashe later recalled that the Chinese had emplaced a field-piece at a river bend outside of Nanking so he ordered general quarters well in advance of the battery, but when the ship went around the bend the Chinese did not fire. By the end of that day all hostilities ended. About 40 people were killed in total. At least one British sailor was killed, and there was only one American casualty, fireman Ray D. Plumley. American forces involved in the Nanking Incident received the Yangtze Service Medal. Three U.S. Navy signalmen who maintained consular communications from the building's roof while under continuous fire were also awarded the Navy Cross.

Aftermath
Afterwards, the Nationalist Government issued a statement blaming the deserters from Zhang Zongchang's army for starting the attacks on the foreign consulates, and also accused the Communist soldiers within the NRA of committing atrocities which were wrongly assigned to the Kuomintang.

National Revolutionary Army commander in chief Chiang Kai-shek suspected that the Communist Party of China and Soviet advisors in the Wuhan Nationalist Government used anti-imperialists and anti-foreign sentiments to instigate the Nanjing incident, and conspired to strengthen the communists and damage the right-wing faction of the Kuomintang. Therefore, the Nanjing incident led to his determination to violently purge the communists from the Kuomintang in Shanghai on 12 April 1927, formally ending their cooperation during the Northern Expedition and officially commencing the Chinese Civil War.

In 1928, Huang Fu, foreign minister of the newly formed Nationalist government in Nanjing, reached agreements with the United States and Great Britain to settle the damages caused by the Nanjing Incident, and the Kuomintang agreed to apologize and pay significant compensation to both countries without disclosing the exact sum to save face for the Chinese. Although the Kuomintang suffered financial loss as a result of this settlement, the Nationalist government did receive international recognition and established formal diplomatic relationship with two of the world's great powers for the first time after the Northern Expedition.

Nanking incident of 1927 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 March 1989 - Alaska, Prince William Sound: 210,000 ton oil tanker "Exxon Valdez" ran onto a reef

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) west of Tatitlek, Alaska, at 12:04 am. local time and spilled 10.8 million US gallons (260,000 bbl) (or 37,000 metric tonnes) of crude oil over the next few days. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters. The Valdez spill is the second largest in US waters, after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in terms of volume released. Prince William Sound's remote location, accessible only by helicopter, plane, or boat, made government and industry response efforts difficult and severely taxed existing response plans. The region is a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals and seabirds. The oil, originally extracted at the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, eventually impacted 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of coastline, of which 200 miles (320 km) were heavily or moderately oiled with an obvious impact.


Three days after Exxon Valdez ran aground

Spill
The ship was carrying 53.1 million US gallons (1,260,000 bbl; 201,000 m3) of oil, of which about 10.8 million US gallons (260,000 bbl; 41,000 m3) were spilled into the Prince William Sound.


During the first few days of the spill, heavy sheens of oil covered large areas of the surface of Prince William Sound.
Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the incident:


Beginning three days after the vessel grounded, a storm pushed large quantities of fresh oil on to the rocky shores of many of the beaches in the Knight Island chain.[12] In this photograph, pooled black oil is shown stranded in the rocks

• Exxon Shipping Company failed to supervise the master and provide a rested and sufficient crew for Exxon Valdez. The NTSB found this was widespread throughout the industry, prompting a safety recommendation to Exxon and to the industry.
• The third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel, possibly due to fatigue or excessive workload.
• Exxon Shipping Company failed to properly maintain the Raytheon Collision Avoidance System (RAYCAS) radar, which, if functional, would have indicated to the third mate an impending collision with the Bligh Reef by detecting the "radar reflector", placed on the next rock inland from Bligh Reef for the purpose of keeping ships on course. This cause was brought forward by Greg Palast and is not present in the official accident report.

Captain Joseph Hazelwood, who was widely reported to have been drinking heavily that night, was not at the controls when the ship struck the reef. Exxon blamed Captain Hazelwood for the grounding of the tanker, but Hazelwood accused the corporation of making him a scapegoat. As the senior officer in command of the ship, he was accused of being intoxicated and thereby contributing to the disaster, but he was cleared of this charge at his 1990 trial after witnesses testified that he was sober around the time of the accident. In light of the other findings, investigative reporter Greg Palast stated in 2008, "Forget the drunken skipper fable. As to Captain Joe Hazelwood, he was below decks, sleeping off his bender. At the helm, the third mate never would have collided with Bligh Reef had he looked at his RAYCAS radar. But the radar was not turned on. In fact, the tanker's radar was left broken and disabled for more than a year before the disaster, and Exxon management knew it. It was just too expensive to fix and operate."

Other factors, according to an MIT course entitled "Software System Safety" by Professor Nancy G. Leveson, included:

1. Ships were not informed that the previous practice of the Coast Guard tracking ships out to Bligh Reef had ceased.
2. The oil industry promised, but never installed, state-of-the-art iceberg monitoring equipment.
3. Exxon Valdez was sailing outside the normal sea lane to avoid small icebergs thought to be in the area.
4. The 1989 tanker crew was half the size of the 1977 crew, worked 12- to 14-hour shifts, plus overtime. The crew was rushing to leave Valdez with a load of oil.
5. Coast Guard vessel inspections in Valdez were not performed, and the number of staff was reduced.
6. Lack of available equipment and personnel hampered the spill cleanup.

This disaster resulted in International Maritime Organization introducing comprehensive marine pollution prevention rules (MARPOL) through various conventions. The rules were ratified by member countries and, under International Ship Management rules, the ships are being operated with a common objective of "safer ships and cleaner oceans".

In 2009, Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood offered a "heartfelt apology" to the people of Alaska, suggesting he had been wrongly blamed for the disaster: "The true story is out there for anybody who wants to look at the facts, but that's not the sexy story and that's not the easy story," he said. Hazelwood said he felt Alaskans always gave him a fair shake

Exxon Valdez oil spill - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

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


1801 HMS Fulminante Cutter (10), Lt. Robert Corbett, drifted on Shore at La Cruelle, coast of Egypt.

HMS Fulminante was a cutter belonging to the French Navy that the British captured in 1798, the French recaptured in 1800, and the British re-recaptured three months later. She was wrecked early in 1801.

HMS Fulminante (1798) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1804 HMS Wolverine (16), Henry Gordon, while escorting a convoy to Newfoundland, engaged and sunk by two French privateers, one Blonde (36) and another (20).

HMS Wolverine (or Wolverene, or Woolverene), was a Royal Navy 14-gun brig-sloop, formerly the civilian collier Rattler that the Admiralty purchased in 1798 and converted into a brig sloop, but armed experimentally. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and participated in one action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. A French privateer captured and sank Wolverine on 21 March 1804 whilst she was on convoy duty.

HMS Wolverine (1798) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1808 HMS Muros (22), Cptn. Archibald Duff, wrecked at the entrance of the Harbour of Bahia Honda, Cuba.

The frigate was wrecked at Havana, Cuba whilst attacking a battery. Her crew were rescued


1808 - Napoleonic Wars: The privateer Resolution was captured and burnt by Hermione and Hortense (both French Navy)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hermione_(1804)

French frigate Hortense (1803) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1864 – Launch of Bronenosets (Russian: Броненосец) was a Uragan-class monitor built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the mid-1860s.

Bronenosets (Russian: Броненосец) was a Uragan-class monitor built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the mid-1860s. The design was based on the American Passaic-class monitor, but was modified to suit Russian engines, guns and construction techniques. The ship was only active when the Gulf of Finland was not frozen, but very little is known about her service. She was stricken in 1900 from the Navy List, converted into a coal barge in 1903 and renamed Barzha No. 324. The ship was lost in a storm sometime during World War I.


Bronenosets, probably in the 1870s

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


1878 - 24 March – the barque Marco Primogenito ( Austria-Hungary) carrying coal and unspecified cargo from Greenock to Alexandria went ashore in Hell Bay, on the Camel estuary. The Stepper Point signal station was inoperative due to the bad weather and, without instructions the barque was on the wrong, St Minver, side of the estuary. The hull went to matchwood within twenty minutes and an inspection of the hull found it was poorly constructed and held together with only spike nails.


1891 – Launch of Hashidate (橋立) was the third (and final vessel) in the Matsushima class of protected cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Hashidate (橋立) was the third (and final vessel) in the Matsushima class of protected cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was the only one of the class constructed in Japan. Like sister ships, (Matsushima and Itsukushima) her name comes from one of the traditional Three Views of Japan, in this case, the Ama-no-hashidate in northern Kyoto prefecture on the Sea of Japan.

Japanese cruiser Hashidate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1903 - Adm. George Dewey is commissioned Admiral of the Navy, the only person to hold this rank. Upon his death Jan. 16, 1917, Congress deactivates the rank.


1911 - Sechelt – The ferry sank on 24 March 1911 in Strait of Juan de Fuca under mysterious circumstances, killing 37 people.

The steamship Sechelt operated from 1893 to 1911 on Lake Washington, Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. For most of her career, she was called Hattie Hansen. She became well known following her unexplained sinking with no survivors near Race Rocks Lighthouse in 1911.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sechelt_(steamboat)


1919 - The battleship USS Idaho (BB 42) is commissioned. Idaho serves with the Pacific fleet, participating in gunfire support of the Aleutian, Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa Campaigns, and is in Tokyo Bay Sept. 2, 1945 when Japan formally surrenders.

USS Idaho (BB-42), a New Mexico-class battleship, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 43rd state. She was the third of three ships of her class. Built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, she was launched in June 1917 and commissioned in March 1919. She was armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, and was protected by heavy armor plate, with her main belt armor being 13.5 inches (343 mm) thick.

Idaho spent most of the 1920s and 1930s in the Pacific Fleet, where she conducted routine training exercises. Like her sister ships, she was modernized in the early 1930s. In mid-1941, before the United States entered World War II, Idaho and her sisters were sent to join the Neutrality Patrols that protected American shipping during the Battle of the Atlantic. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Idaho and her sisters were sent to the Pacific, where she supported amphibious operations in the Pacific. She shelled Japanese forces during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Philippines campaigns and the invasions of Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Idaho was among the ships present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945. With the war over, the ship was decommissioned in July 1946. She was sold to ship breakers in November 1947 and subsequently dismantled.

USS Idaho (BB-42) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1928 – Launch of Haguro (羽黒) was a Myōkō-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy,

Haguro (羽黒) was a Myōkō-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, named after Mount Haguro in Yamagata Prefecture. Commissioned in 1929, Haguro saw significant service during World War II, participating in nine naval engagements. She was sunk in 1945 during a fight with Royal Navy destroyers, one of the last major Japanese warships to be sunk in open waters during World War II.



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


1936 – Launch of French Georges Leygues was a French light cruiser of the La Galissonnière class.

Georges Leygues was a French light cruiser of the La Galissonnière class. During World War II, she served with both Vichy Franceand Allies. She was named for the prominent 19th and 20th-century French politician Georges Leygues.

French cruiser Georges Leygues - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1943 - the Italian destroyer Lanzerotto Malocello, carrying German troops to Tunis, sank after hitting a mine. 199 of Malocello's 237-241 crew were killed, together with 321 of the 359 German soldiers aboard.


1943 - the Italian destroyer Ascari, in a troop transport mission to Tunis, struck three mines and sank while rescuing survivors of another sunken destroyer, Lanzerotto Malocello. 194 of Ascari's 247 crew were killed, together with 280 of the 286 German soldiers aboard.


1944 - USS Bowfin (SS 287) attacks a Japanese convoy, sinking both a transport and army cargo ship.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 March 1708 - Launch of HMS Ruby, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment,


HMS Ruby was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment, and launched on 25 March 1708.



She achieved an unwelcome notoriety in March 1741 when her captain, Samuel Goodere, was convicted of murder at Bristol and subsequently hanged; he had enticed his elder brother, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet, on board, and had caused him to be strangled in the purser's cabin.

Ruby was renamed HMS Mermaid in 1744, and was sold out of the service in 1748.

Scale: 1:48. A block design model of the ‘Ruby’ (1725), a 50-gun, small two-decker. The model was believed to be of the ‘Ruby’, which was launched as a 50-gunner in 1708, but reclassified as a fifth-rate 44-gunner, the ‘Mermaid’ in 1744. There are, however, serious difficulties in attributing the name ‘Ruby’ to this model. That ship was smaller than that represented by the model. The dimensions are roughly those of 50-gun ships on the Establishment of 1719 (see SLR0415) and the wales suggest much the same date. It is possible there was a proposal to rebuild the ‘Ruby’ about 1725 that was not carried out. The ‘Ruby’ served mainly in home waters, in the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea, with one tour off the African coast in winter 1742–43.

The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In contrast, the 1706 Establishment was intended to be permanent.

Origins
Dimensions for ships had been established for the "Thirty Ships" building program of 1677, and while these dimensions saw use until 1695, this was merely because of the success of the 1677 ships and the lack of perceived need to change them. Dimensions were then laid down for the 1691 "Twenty-seven Ships" program to build seventeen eighty-gun and ten sixty-gun double-decked ships of the line, though the dimensions were abandoned before the program was complete, with the final four eighty-gun ships being constructed with three gun-decks.

The origins of the formalized 1706 Establishment can be traced to February 1705, when Prince George of Denmark, the Lord High Admiral at the time, ordered the Navy Board to determine a set of dimensions for second-rate ships. Though the second-rate ships appear to have been the central focus of the Establishment, the Board was also directed to consider dimensions for ships of the third- (80 and 70 guns), fourth- (60 and 50 guns), and fifth-rate ships (40 and 30 guns). Because of their rarity and power, first rates were not addressed by the Establishment and were given individual designs, whilst smaller vessels had a low enough cost to allow experimentation. The Navy Board used existing ships considered to be the best in their respective classes as the bases for these dimensions.

Implementation
The Navy Board produced sets of dimensions for ships from forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety guns (they decided against doing so for thirty-gun ships). After a last-minute adjustment created by Admiral George Churchill, the dimensions were sent out to the dockyards together with an order that they were to be strictly adhered to, and that they should apply to rebuilds as well as new ships. The implementation of the Establishment - the first of many - began an era of notorious conservatism in naval administration. Though there would be no significant technological changes until the following century, the naval architecture of the 1706 Establishment slowly became more antiquated for the early eighteenth century.

50-gun fourth-rates



Eleven new 50-gun ships were built to the 1706 Establishment (all as replacements for fourth-rates lost during the war years from 1703 onwards) - the Salisbury launched in 1707, the Falmouth, Ruby, Chester and Romney in 1708, the Pembroke in 1710, the Bristol, Gloucester and Ormonde in 1711, the Advice in 1712 and the Strafford in 1715. Another existing eight ships were rebuilt to the same specification - the Dragon in 1707, the Warwick and Bonaventure in 1711, the Assistance in 1713, the Worcester in 1714, and the Rochester, Panther and Dartmouth in 1716.

These vessels were initially armed as 54-gun ships to the 1703 Establishment of Guns (see table to right). Under the 1716 Establishment of Guns, they were re-classed as 50-gun ships with the following armament:

• • Lower deck: 22 18-lb
  • Upper deck: 22 9-lb
  • Quarter deck: 4 6-lb
  • Forecastle: 2 6-lb

HMS Ruby (1708) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1706 Establishment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 March 1708 - Launch of HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin according to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard,


HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin according to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard, and launched on 25 March 1708.

Resolution was wrecked in 1711.









Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull block model of a 70-gun (circa 1706) two-decker third-rate ship of the line. It is mounted on its original baseboard sitting on two keel blocks bow and stern and two brass rods amidships. The model is painted, with the main and upper wales, the bulwarks screens all picked out in black. The planking along the side at the level of the gun decks is yellow ochre, which is then punctuated by the dark reddish brown of the gunports. As is typical of this style of model, the decoration is virtually two-dimensional with minor detail in the stern and quarter galleries. The name ‘Ramillies’ appears on the stern, but that name was borne from 1706–60 by 90-gun three-deckers. Although later ships called ‘Ramillies’ were 74-gun two-deckers, they were of very different dimensions to those indicated by the model, which corresponds exactly with the Establishments of 1706 for 70-gun ships.


The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In contrast, the 1706 Establishment was intended to be permanent.[

70-gun third-rates



Following the loss of four 70-gun ships in a single night during the Great Storm on 27 November 1703, four replacements were ordered from the Royal Dockyards just three weeks later - the Northumberland, Resolution and Stirling Castle being launched in 1705 and the Nassau in 1707. Another four were ordered in 1705-1706, again from the Dockyards - the Elizabeth and Restoration launched in 1706, while another Resolution and Captain were launched in 1708. Subsequently, two more ships were newbuilt (the Grafton and Hampton Court, both launched in 1709) and three rebuilt from existing third-rates (the Edgar and Yarmouth in 1709, and Orford in 1713) by contract; and another five were rebuilt in the Dockyards - the Royal Oak, Expedition, Suffolk, Monmouth and Revenge.

The ships were initially armed with 70 guns as per the 1703 Establishment of Guns, as shown in the table at right. Under the 1716 Establishment, a thirteenth pair of 24-lb was added on the lower deck, while the demi-culverins (9-lb) on the upper deck were upgraded to 12-lb. An extra pair of 6-lb was added to the quarter deck, while the 3-lb were removed from the roundhouse to retain the total at 70 guns.










Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a 70-gun two-decker (circa 1717), built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. The workmanship in this model is of the highest quality for the early 18th century. A variety of woods were used such as pear, apple and box, as well as bone, ivory, oyster shell and rolled brass, which was used for the intricate fretwork around the stern galleries. This model may have been made as an aid for discussion in the changes between the Establishments of 1706 and 1719. The dimensions of 151 feet along the gun deck with a beam of 41 feet fit the 1719 Establishment. However, the open stern walk extending around the quarter galleries and certain details of the rigging are from the earlier period. The navy experimented with the 60-80 gun ships during the early 18th century trying to find the optimum balance between number of guns and decks. It was not until the mid-18th century that the 74-gun two-decker was chosen as the best format. It was to become the most numerous of the ships of the line and would prove its worth in the major battles during the Napoleonic Wars. Apart from a small part of the stem and keel, which had suffered worm damage, this model is largely intact including the rigging, which in itself is very rare.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard outline, sheer lines with quarter gallery detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Revenge (1718), a 1706 Establishment 70-gun, Third Rate, two-decker. This ship was a rebuild of the Swiftsure (1698), as proposed (and approved) by John Hayward, Master Shipwright at Woolwich Dockyard.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_(1708)

1706 Establishment - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 March 1745 – Birth of John Barry (naval officer), American naval officer and father of the American navy (d. 1803)


John Barry (March 25, 1745 – September 13, 1803) was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary Warand later in the United States Navy. He came to be widely credited as "The Father of the American Navy" (and shares that moniker with John Paul Jones and John Adams) and was appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775. He was the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.

After the war, he became the first commissioned U.S. naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.



Early life and education
Barry was born on March 25, 1745, in Tacumshane, County Wexford, Ireland. When Barry's family was evicted from their home by their British landlord, they moved to Rosslare on the coast, where his uncle worked a fishing skiff. As a young man, Barry determined upon a life as a seaman, and he started out as a ship's cabin boy.



Career
Barry received his first captain's commission in the Continental Navy on March 14, 1776, signed by John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress. Barry was a religious man and began each day at sea with a reading from the Bible. He had great regard for his crew and their well being and always made sure they were properly provisioned while at sea.

During his naval career Barry commanded United States Ships Delaware, Lexington, Raleigh, and Alliance.

Command of Delaware
In 1777 Barry commanded the ship USS Delaware, a brig sailing under a letter of marque capturing British vessels in the Delaware River.

Command of Raleigh
In 1778 Barry assumed command of USS Raleigh, capturing three prizes before being run aground in action on September 27, 1778. Her crew scuttled her, but she was raised by the British, who refloated her for further use in the Royal Navy.

Command of Lexington
Captain Barry was given command of USS Lexington, of 14 guns, on December 7, 1775. It was the first commission issued by the Continental Congress. The Lexington sailed March 31, 1776. On April 7, 1776, off the Capes of Virginia, he fell in with the Edward, tender to the British man-of-war HMS Liverpool, and after a desperate fight of one hour and twenty minutes captured her and brought her into Philadelphia.

On June 28, Pennsylvania's brig Nancy arrived in the area with 386 barrels of powder in her hold and ran aground while attempting to elude British blockader Kingfisher. Barry ordered the precious powder rowed ashore during the night leaving only 100 barrels in Nancy at dawn. A delayed action fuse was left inside the brig, which exploded the powder just as a boatload of British seamen boarded Nancy. This engagement became known as the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet.

Barry continued in command of Lexington until October 18, 1776, and captured several private armed vessels during that time.

Barry authored a signal book published in 1780 to improve communications at sea among vessels traveling in formation.

Command of Alliance
He was seriously wounded on May 29, 1781, while in command of Alliance during her capture of HMS Atalanta and Trepassey.

He and his crew of the USS Alliance fought and won the final naval battle of the American Revolution 140 miles (230 km) south of Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1783.

Barry was successful in suppressing three mutinies during his career as an officer in the Continental Navy.

John Barry was once offered 100,000 British pounds and command of any frigate in the entire British Navy if he would desert the American Navy. Outraged at the offer, Captain Barry responded that not all the money in the British treasury or command of its entire fleet could tempt him to desert his adopted country.

Commodore commission


Barry receiving commodore commission from Washington

On February 22, 1797, he was issued Commission Number 1 by President George Washington, backdated to June 4, 1794. His title was thereafter "commodore." He is recognized as not only the first American commissioned naval officer but also as its first flag officer.

Command of United States
Appointed senior captain upon the establishment of the U.S. Navy, he commanded the frigate United States in the Quasi-War with France. This ship transported commissioners William Richardson Davie and Oliver Ellsworth to France to negotiate a new Franco-American alliance.

Barry's last day of active duty was March 6, 1801, when he brought USS United States into port, but he remained head of the Navy until his death on September 13, 1803, from asthma. Barry died childless.

Later life and death
Barry died at Strawberry Hill, in present-day Philadelphia on September 13, 1803, and was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. [16] The executors of his estate were his wife Sarah, his nephew Patrick Hayes and his friend John Leamy

John Barry (naval officer) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25 March 1766 – Launch of french Boudeuse, a 26-gun, 12-pounder-armed sailing frigates named La Boudeuse on 6 June 1765.


Boudeuse was a 26-gun, 12-pounder-armed sailing frigates named La Boudeuse on 6 June 1765. She is most famous for being the exploration ship of Louis Antoine de Bougainville between 1766 and 1769. She also served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars, during which she captured two enemy vessels. She was broken up for firewood at Malta in early 1800.



Career
First French circumnavigation
Boudeuse, under Antoine de Bougainville, departed from Nantes on 15 November 1766 for the first French circumnavigation of the globe, along with the Étoile. On board was the botanist Philibert Commerçon and his valet, later unmasked by the ship's surgeon as Jeanne Baré, Commerçon's mistress; she would become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

The expedition saw islands of the Tuamotu group on the 22 March. On 2 April they saw the peak of Mehetia and famously visited the island of Otaheite shortly after. de Bougainville narrowly missed becoming their discoverer, unaware of a previous visit, and claim, by Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin less than a year previously. Bougainville claimed the island for France and named it New Cythera.

They left Tahiti and sailed westward to southern Samoa and the New Hebrides, then on sighting Espiritu Santo turned west still looking for the "Southern Continent". On June 4 he almost ran into heavy breakers and had to change course to the north and east. He had almost found the Great Barrier Reef. He sailed through what is now known as the Solomon Islands that, due of the hostility of the people there, he avoided. Bougainville named them Bougainville Island for himself. The expedition was attacked by people from New Ireland so they made for the Moluccas. At Batavia they received news of Wallis and Carteret who had preceded Bougainville.

On 16 March 1769 the expedition completed its circumnavigation and arrived at Saint-Malo, with the loss of only seven out of upwards of 200 men, an extremely low level of loss, and a credit to Bougainville's enlightened management of the expedition.

In 1775-76 Boudeuse underwent refitting at Brest.



American Revolutionary War
Boudeuse later took part in the American War of Independence under Commandante Grenier. On 13 January 1779, she captured the 16-gun sloop HMS Weazel off Sint Eustatius. The French took Weazel to the Antilles where they disarmed her by taking all her guns for Admiral d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781.

On 28 February, Boudeuse took Saint Martin island. On 6 July 1779, she participated in the Battle of Grenada as a member of the rear guard.

French Revolutionary Wars
During the French Revolutionary Wars, in the Action of 8 June 1794, Boudeuse captured from the Sardinian Navy the 36-gun former French frigate Alceste. The British had captured Alceste in Toulon harbour in August 1793 and then handed her over to the Sardinians.

Last journey
On 28 January 1799, Boudeuse, under the command of Lieutenant Calaman, sailed from Toulon to Malta. Boudeuse was loaded with essential supplies for the beleaguered French garrison in Malta which at the time was under a blockade. The French garrison under the command of General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois had withdrawn to the fortified cities found around the Grand Harbour basin following an armed insurrection by the Maltese back in September 1798. Portuguese and Royal Navy ships were assisting the Maltese rebellion by imposing a sea blockade on French shipping, thus cutting off French supplies. Under the cover of inclement weather, Boudeuse managed to run the blockade and on 4 February 1799 she entered the French-controlled Grand Harbour and moored under the Lower Barracca. In July 1800, the French authorities broke up Boudeuse for firewood because supplies of firewood for bakeries had run out.



Boudeuse class (34-gun design by Jean-Hyacinthe Raffeau, with 28 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns).

Boudeuse, (launched 25 March 1766 at Indret) – deleted 1800.
Indiscrète, (launched 13 March 1767 at Indret) – deleted 1785.
Sensible, (launched 15 March 1767 at Indret) – deleted 1789.

French frigate Boudeuse (1766) - Wikipedia

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