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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 March 1989 – Launch of Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru), a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name


Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru) is a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name. She is 110.09 m (361.2 ft) overall, with a beam of 13.80 m (45.3 ft) and a depth of 10.70 m (35.1 ft). She is assessed as 2,556 GT. Propulsion is by two 4-cylinder diesel engines and a total of 2,760 m2 (29,700 sq ft) of sails. The engines have a total power of 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) and can propel the ship at a maximum of 14.1 kn (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph), with a normal service maximum of 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph). Kaiwo Maru has a range of 9,800 nmi (18,100 km; 11,300 mi). The four masts are the fore mast, main mast, mizzen mast and jigger mast. The main mast is 43.50 m (142.7 ft). Her complement is 199




History
Her keel was laid by Sumitomo Heavy Industries on July 8, 1988 at the Uraga shipyard, near Yokohama, Japan. She was launched on March 7, 1989. Kaiwo Maru was commissioned on September 12, 1989. She is a four masted barque, over 110 meters in length, with a complement of 199. She is a sister ship of Nippon Maru.

On 20 Oct. 2004, Kaiwo Maru was nearly lost in Typhoon Tokage, while sheltering outside the port of Fushiki in the Bay of Toyama, Japan. She dragged her anchor and grounded on a breakwater, receiving severe damage. Her crew of 167, mostly young cadets, was evacuated. Helicopters responded, but were unable to drop lines. So rescuers fixed ropes to the breakwater and crewmembers climbed along them. Thirty were injured, including some with broken bones. Her captain later accepted responsibility. A month later she was lifted by a floating crane and returned to Uraga shipyard. The ship sailed again in January 2006 after major repairs.

Kaiwo Maru is a regular participant in international tall ship gatherings such as Operation Sail and is a multiple winner of the Boston Teapot Trophy. In 2010, Kaiwo Maru visited San Francisco, California to commemorate the 1860 voyage of the Kanrin Maru, the first Japanese ship to officially visit the United States. About 90 percent of the journey was made under sail, and they brought one passenger, a retired businessman who is descended from one of the original Kanrin Maru crew members.

In March 2011, Kaiwo Maru was on a voyage from Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii when an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. She was subsequently diverted to Ōkuma, Fukushima where she served as accommodation for workers tackling the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.


Line art of the Kaiwo Maru

Kaiwo Maru (1989) - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 7 March


1748 - British under Cotes defeat Spanish


1749 – Launch of HMS Woolwich was a 44-gun fourth rate ship of the Royal Navy

HMS Woolwich was a 44-gun fourth rate ship of the Royal Navy. She was built by Moody Janverin and John Darley at Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, England and launched 7 March 1749. She took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in January 1759.
She was sold on 30 December 1762.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Woolwich_(1749)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1762 HMS Milford (28), Cptn. Robert Mann (Killed in Action), took privateer La Gloire (16) in the Bay of Biscay

HMS Milford was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at Milford by Richard Chitty and launched in 1759. She was sold for breaking at Woolwich on 17 May 1785

HMS Milford (1759) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1765 Launch of Artésien (“Artesian”), a 64-gun ship of the line

Artésien (“Artesian”) was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Artois.
Artésien was built in 1765 as a part of a series of twelve ships of the line began by Choiseul to compensate for the losses endured by the French Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War. She was paid by the province of Artois and Flander, and named in its honour, according to the practice of the time.
Artésien took part in the American revolutionary war under Suffren, departing in 1781. Off Cape Verde, Artésien detected an English squadron, resulting in the Battle of Porto Praya.
Artésien was decommissioned in 1785 and used as a shear hulk.
A fine 1/28th scale model was used to instruct Louis XVI in naval studies. The model is now on display at the Musée de la Marine.


Model on display at the Musée de la Marine



Artésien class of five ships to design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier.
Artésien 64 (launched 7 March 1765 at Brest)
Roland 64 (launched 14 February 1771 at Brest)
Alexandre 64 (launched 28 February 1771 at Brest) – captured 1782
Protée 64 (launched 10 November 1772 at Brest) – captured by the British in February 1780 and added to the RN as HMS Prothee, BU 1815
Éveillé 64 (launched 10 December 1772 at Brest)

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


A very good monographie by Jacques FICHANT is available from ancre:

L'ARTESIEN 64-GUN SHIP 1764 - Ancre

The model of the Artésien, a model righteously considered as one of the major pieces in the Paris Marine Museum collection. 180 pages booklet. 35 plates at 1:48 scale and the 5 plates at 1:72 NEW 20/04/2023 : IN ENGLISH.

ancre.fr

1787 – Launch of Nottingham was launched in 1787 as an East Indiaman.

Nottingham was launched in 1787 as an East Indiaman. She made only eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) in the 23 years before she was sold for breaking up.

Nottingham (1787 EIC ship) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1804 Boats of HMS Inconstant (36), Cptn. Edward Sterling Dickson, cut out a ship at Goree.

HMS Inconstant was a 36-gun Perseverance class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a successful career serving in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing three French warships during the French Revolutionary naval campaigns, the Curieux, the Unité, and the former British ship HMS Speedy


HMS Inconstant (left) fighting Ça Ira

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

Gorée - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1808 - A french privateer captures the slave ship Robert

Robert was built in Brazil in 1797 (probably under another name) and first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1805. She made two slave trading voyages but a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action in 1808 on her second voyage.

Robert (1805 ship) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1810 – Launch of HDMS Lolland (or Laaland) was launched in March 1810.

HDMS Lolland (or Laaland) was launched in March 1810. She served in at least four major engagements during the Gunboat War before she was transferred to the Norwegian navy after the Treaty of Kiel brought about the separation of Norway from Denmark in 1814. Lolland continued to serve with the Norwegian Navy until sold in 1847.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMS_Lolland_(1810)


1810 – Launch of Hebe, built in Hull in 1810, made two notable voyages, one voyage as an extra ship (i.e., under charter) for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. In between, an American privateer captured Hebe, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. Hebe was wrecked in 1833.

Hebe (1810 ship) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1814 American privateer Mars destroyed at Sandy Hook


1848 – Launch of HMS Jumna was a Helena-class brig of the Royal Navy, built at the Bombay Dockyard

HMS Jumna was a Helena-class brig of the Royal Navy, built at the Bombay Dockyard, initially intended to be named HMS Zebra and launched on 7 March 1848 as Jumna. She was paid off and sold 25 June 1862.

HMS Jumna (1848) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1849 – Launch of HMS Magicienne was a 16-gun, steam-powered paddle frigate of the Royal Navy built at Pembroke Dockyard

HMS Magicienne was a 16-gun, steam-powered paddle frigate of the Royal Navy built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 7 March 1849.


HMS Magicienne in the Bay of Naples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Magicienne_(1849)


1855 – Launch of HMS Grinder was a wooden 3-gun Dapper-class gunboat

HMS Grinder was a wooden 3-gun Dapper-class gunboat, launched on 7 March 1855. Although she served for nine years, her most active period was in her first year when she served in the Crimean War

HMS Grinder (1855) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1863 – Launch of The second USS Metacomet was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

The second USS Metacomet was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was named for Metacomet, a war chief of the WampanoagIndians.
Metacomet was launched on 7 March 1863 by Thomas Stack, Brooklyn, New York, and commissioned at New York on 4 January 1864 under the captaincy of Commander James E. Jouett.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Metacomet_(1863)


1898 – Launch of HSwMS Thor was an Oden-class coastal defence ship of the Royal Swedish Navy

HSwMS Thor was an Oden-class coastal defence ship of the Royal Swedish Navy.
Thor had her keel laid down on 26 October 1896 at Bergsunds Yard in Stockholm. She was launched on 7 March 1898, and completed on 7 August 1899. Thor displaced 3,300 tons, had a LPP of 84.4 metres (277 ft), a length of 84.8 metres (278 ft) and a beam of 14.6 metres (48 ft). Her two triple-expansion steam engines could propel her at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). She was struck from service in 1937

HSwMS Thor (1898) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1900 – The German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore.



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


1939 - Castillo de Olite – On 7 March 1939, near Cartagena Harbor while approaching the docks, she was hit by three 381mm rounds from a coastal battery and sank shortly afterwards broken in two. Of the 2,112 men on board, 1,476 died, 342 were wounded and 294 were taken prisoner after being rescued by local fishermen and the lighthouse keeper.



The Castillo de Olite was a merchant steamship, which was sunk by the coastal defense batteries of Cartagena in the last days of the Spanish Civil War, while transporting 2,112 Spanish Nationalist troops

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


1942 - USS Grenadier (SS 210) torpedoes Japanese Asahisan Maru south of Shioya Saki, causing damage to the transport ship.

USS Grenadier (SS-210) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1980: Der Öltanker Tanio bricht in einem Sturm vor der Küste der Bretagne in zwei Teile auseinander. Der entstehende Ölteppich erreicht zwei Tage danach die Küste, wo die Verschmutzung durch Schweröl erst später bekämpft werden kann.

The Tanio oil spill occurred March 7, 1980 when the Tanio, an oil tanker of Madagascan origin traveling from Wilhelmshaven to Civitavecchia split in two 60 km off the coast of Brittany, France in rough weather, spilling about 13,500 tons of cargo oil into the English Channel and killing 8 sailors.[1] The stern section of the boat was towed to Le Havre by a British cargo ship despite the strong wind. The bow, however, sunk, leaking 5,000 tons of oil. After the spill, strong winds moved the oil toward the Breton coast.

Tanio oil spill - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Tanio – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

1986 – Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Preserver_(ARS-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster


2004 - Samson – On 7 March 2004 the ferry was caught in Cyclone Gafilo off the Madagascan coast when it sank. Two of the 113 aboard survived

Samson (Schiff, 1967) – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1726 – Birth of Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, English admiral and politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1799)


Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, KG (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a British naval officer. After serving throughout the War of the Austrian Succession, he gained a reputation for his role in amphibious operations against the French coast as part of Britain's policy of naval descents during the Seven Years' War. He also took part, as a naval captain, in the decisive British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.



In North America, Howe is best known for his service during the American Revolutionary War, when he acted as a naval commander and a peace commissioner with the American rebels; he also conducted a successful relief during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in the later stages of the War.

Howe later commanded the victorious British fleet during the Glorious First of June in June 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1745 – Launch of HMS Yarmouth, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard.


HMS Yarmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard. She was previously ordered to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals for modifications to the 1719 Establishment, but the Admiralty had very quickly concluded that these were too small, and as an experiment in 1742 authorised an addition of 6ft to the planned length, and the Yarmouth was re-ordered to the enlarged design in June 1742. She was built at Deptford, where the Admiralty felt they could best observe the effectiveness of the added size, and launched on 8 March 1745.

Commissioned in February 1745 under Captain Roger Martin. In 1747 under Captain Piercy Brett she was one of George Anson's squadron at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. In 1781, Yarmouth was reduced in armament to become a 60-gun ship. She remained in this role until 1811, when she was broken up




Destroying USS Randolph
On 7 March 1778 Yarmouth was attacked by the American frigate Randolph with half the guns and likely less than a quarter the firepower. The frigate managed to cause some minor damage to two of Yarmouth's topmasts and a portion of her bowsprit, then attempted to rake (fire through the length of) the ship; Randolph was firing 3 broadsides to Yarmouth's one, however the 12 lb shot would have struggled to penetrate Yarmouth's hull, while Yarmouth's 18 and 32-pounder guns would have been able to penetrate any part of her comparatively lightly armored opponent. Randolph exploded during the engagement, likely due to a shot penetrating her magazine, killing all but four of her crew. Part of her wreckage landed on Yarmouth's decks, including Randolph's ensign. Yarmouth had to repair two damaged topmasts but suffered no significant damage and no fatalities or serious injuries.

I like this model very much, so I show it once more, although already shown short time ago




Scale: 1:60. A full hull model of the Yarmouth, a 70-gun, two-decker ship of the line (1745), built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. The standing rigging is original.


1741 proposals and revisions
The true state of British ship design became apparent with the start of the War of Jenkins' Ear. The capture of the Spanish 70-gun ship Princessa in April 1740 by three British 70-gun ships (HMS Kent, HMS Lennox and HMS Orford) took six hours of fighting despite one of Princessa's topmasts being missing. Her greater size (much closer to that of a British 90-gun ship than a 70) gave her stability that the British ships lacked, and her build quality allowed her to withstand the pounding from the three British ships for a long time. By way of response to the now apparent individual inferiority of British ships over their opponents, a previously abandoned update to the gun establishment was called upon to increase the firepower of the ships. With heavier guns came the need for larger ships to carry them, and so Sir Jacob made a new set of proposals for increased dimensions—slightly less conservative this time around. Additionally, the new gun establishment made some changes to the types of ships that would be on the navy list in future. The 70-gun ships would become 64-gunners, albeit with heavier guns as compensation, and the 60-gun ships were to become 58-gun ships, again with heavier guns. No first rates were built to the dimensions of the 1741 proposals, but one ship of 74 guns and two of 66 were constructed.

An additional side effect of the war was the collapse of the system of rebuilding. Until the outbreak of the war, it had been the practice to rebuild ships periodically, to maintain the size of the fleet without alarming parliament with requests for new ships. In reality, many of these rebuilds amounted to just that, with little or no timber from the original ship surviving into her rebuilt form. In some cases, ships would be dismantled years before they actually underwent the rebuilding process, but remained on the active list for the entire time. Rebuilding a ship was a lengthy process, more time consuming and more expensive than building a completely new one. The pressures of the war meant that for drydocks to be taken up for long periods of time whilst a ship was surveyed to determine what timber was reusable in the new ship, and what could find a use elsewhere in the dockyard, disassembled and then rebuilt was counter-productive. Ships intended to be sent to the West Indies for service in the war required the use of drydocks to have their hulls appropriately sheathed to combat such problems as shipworm, and other uses of the drydocks for servicing the fleet meant that rebuilds were given a low priority. It was at this time that the British practise of converting old ships to hulks for expanded storage space in harbours began, as instead of wasting effort and dockyard space on breaking up an old vessel that was still perfectly capable of floating, they were converted to serve the dockyards in this new capacity. Few rebuilds were started after 1739, and none at all were begun after 1742, although any that had been started were allowed to complete.

HMS Yarmouth (1745) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1719 Establishment - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1757 – Launch of HMS Rose, a 20-gun Seaford-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy, built in Hull,


HMS Rose was a 20-gun (Seaford-class) sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy, built in Hull, England in 1757. Her activities in suppressing smuggling in the colony of Rhode Island provoked the formation of what became the Continental Navy, precursor of the modern United States Navy. She was based at the North American station in the West Indies and then used in the American Revolutionary War. She was scuttled in the harbor of Savannah, Georgia in 1779. A replica was built in 1970, then modified to match HMS Surprise, and used in two films, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.


The Phoenix and the Rose engaged by the enemy's fire ships and galleys on Aug. 16, 1776. Engraving by Dominic Serres after a sketch by Sir James Wallace



Activities in North America
HMS Rose was built in Hull, England in 1757, as a 20 gun sixth-rate post ship for the British Royal Navy. In the Seven Years' War, Rose was in service in the Channel and in the Caribbean. She was briefly considered for service as Captain James Cook's vessel on his first exploration of the Pacific, but was rejected as unable to stow the quantity of provisions required for the planned circumnavigation of the globe. Instead she was sent to the North American station, en route to which she encountered Cook's ultimate choice of vessel, HMS Endeavour on 12 September 1768 when the two ships anchored alongside each other at Funchal in the Madeira Islands.

In 1774, Rose, under the command of Sir James Wallace, was sent to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island to put an end to the smuggling that had made Newport the fourth wealthiest city in America. Since Rose was much larger than any American vessel of the time and Wallace was an effective commander, smuggling soon came almost to a standstill. This severely affected the economy of Newport. Rhode Island's merchants petitioned their colonial legislature to create a navy to deal with Wallace. They backed up their petitions with money by fitting out a merchant vessel for naval service. This vessel was commissioned as the sloop-of-war Providence, which became the first naval command of John Paul Jones. Rhode Island declared its independence from Britain on 4 May 1776, two full months before the rest of the colonies. The petitioning of the Continental Congress to form a naval force to rid Narragansett Bay of Rose was the impetus for the creation of the Continental Navy.

In July 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Rose played a large part in the British invasion of New York state, firing on fortifications and making forays far up the Hudson River along with HMS Phoenix. Wallace was knighted for his actions in helping to drive George Washington and his troops from the city of New York. She also patrolled the rest of the northeast coast of America, pressing sailors from merchant vessels and seeking out provisions for the British garrison at Boston.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines and longitudinal half-breadth for Rose (1757) and Glasgow (1757), both 20-gun Sixth Rate Sloops.

Scuttled in Savannah, Georgia
Rose finally met her end in 1779 in Savannah, Georgia. The British, who were occupying the city, scuttled Rose in a narrow part of the channel, effectively blocking it. Consequently, the French fleet was unable to assist the American assault and Savannah remained in British hands until the war's end. After the war Rose was destroyed to clear the channel. Only a few artifacts have been recovered by dredging over the years.

HMS Rose replica

Replica HMS Rose off Massachusetts in 1971, the hull painted as her namesake




Replica HMS Rose figurehead in 2000

In 1970 a replica of HMS Rose was built in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. She was also named HMS Rose and initially intended as a "dockside attraction," used for display and later sail training. In 1991 the ship gained the United States Coast Guard certification as a sail training vessel. She took part in many maritime events, among them in the huge Tall Ship Race "Columbus 500" in 1992. until 2001 when she was purchased by Fox Studios, sailed to Southern California and altered to resemble HMS Surprise for the Peter Weir movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on the books by Patrick O'Brian. Renamed, Surprise, the vessel is now a part of the Maritime Museum of San Diego as a dockside attraction.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck, forecastle, upper deck and lower deck for Rose (1757), a 20-gun Sixth Rate Sloop. The hatches behind the after main bitts were altered by the Surveyor and copies sent to the builders. Reverse: Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the fore & aft platforms for Rose (1757).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rose_(1757)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1795 - Action of 8 March 1795


The Action of 8 March 1795 was a minor naval engagement in the Mediterranean theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars. The action was part of series of battles fought in the spring of 1795 between British and French fleets for control of the Ligurian Sea and thus the blockade of the French naval base of Toulon. The engagement was the first significant action of the year and was fought principally between the damaged British 74-gun ship of the line HMS Berwick and the French 32-gun frigate Alceste, with the later assistance of the frigate Vestale and the 74-gun Duquesne, distantly supported by the rest of the French Mediterranean Fleet.

The action took place against the backdrop of a wider campaign, in which much of the French fleet had been badly damaged in 1793 during the Siege of Toulon. Freshly repaired, the French had sailed on a mission to intimidate the neutral city of Genoa and possibly invade British-held Corsica. The British fleet had until recently been anchored for the winter in San Fiorenzo Bay off Northern Corsica, but Vice-Admiral William Hotham sailed for Leghorn for refit in late February and left behind Berwick, which had been badly damaged in an accident over the winter. Equipped with the rigging of a frigate and mounting only 64-guns, Captain Adam Littlejohn was under orders to follow the fleet when practical, but in doing so in early March he ran straight into Contre-amiral Pierre Martin's French fleet. Two French ships of the line and three frigates sailed to intercept Berwick, and the frigate Alcestearrived first; most of the action took place between the disabled British ship and the French frigate.

Littlejohn was killed after an hour's combat, and the inability of the British ship to manoeuvre, the arrival of a second frigate, and the looming presence of the larger French detachment in pursuit convinced the surviving British officers that resistance was futile. Berwick was surrendered and taken first to Gourjean Bay and later to Toulon. The ship served with the French Navy for ten years, before being recaptured at the Battle of Trafalgar. Martin's fleet was intercepted by Hotham's a few days later in the Gulf of Genoa, and at the ensuing battle two French ships were lost.




Background
The Mediterranean campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars began in earnest in August 1793, seven months after war was declared, with the arrival of a powerful British fleet under Vice-Admiral Lord Hood. Hood was immediately able to take advantage of the political chaos of the Reign of Terror then underway in the new French Republic and force the French naval base of Toulon to declare for the Royalist cause and permit Hood to occupy the city and seize almost the entire French fleet at anchor in the harbour. Republican forces besieged the city and after four months it was recaptured, Hood burning the French fleet as he left. Despite Hood's orders however only half the fleet was lost, many ships surviving in a damaged state; the French began an extensive programme of repairs.

As the French salvaged their fleet, Hood ordered an invasion of Corsica in February 1794. French garrisons on the island were eliminated one by one in a series of sieges, and by August the island and its important anchorage at San Fiorenzo Bay, were under British control. The repaired French fleet, under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre Martin, sailed from Toulon in June 1794 on a limited cruise, and was almost caught by Hood; Martin's ships were forced to shelter under gun batteries in Gourjean Bay until Hood departed. The French fleet sheltered in Toulon over the winter.

In San Fiorenzo Bay, the British fleet had an eventful winter; Hood was recalled to Britain, leaving his deputy Vice-Admiral William Hotham in command, and there was a mutiny aboard the 98-gun HMS Windsor Castle. Hotham was a cautious and elderly officer, who had ordered limited refits of his ships during their time in the Bay. On 15 January a gale swept the bay, causing a heavy cross-swell rocking the anchored fleet. One ship however, the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Berwick had had its rigging removed for the refit, leaving the masts unsupported and as a result destabalising the entire ship. Rocking dangerously, Berwick lost all three lower masts overboard. The masts could not be replaced in San Fiorenzo, and Hotham convened an immediate court-martial which found that Captain William Smith, the first lieutenant and the ship's master had not taken the proper precautions to secure the masts. All three were pronounced guilty of negligence and dismissed from the ship. Smith was replaced with Captain Adam Littlejohn, who was instructed to raise frigate jury masts, the only ones available, on Berwick.

Hotham then sailed to Leghorn, leaving Littlejohn behind with instructions for Berwick to follow when repairs were complete. Littlejohn raised the jury masts, but was forced to dismount a number of guns to improve stability. Delayed by contrary winds, Berwick, with an improvised sail rig, was only able to follow Hotham on 7 March, steering north out of San Fiorenzo Bay. Four days earlier, upon learning of Hotham's absence, Martin had sailed once more with the French fleet. His force comprised fifteen ships of the line, including one of 120-guns, two of 80-guns and the remainder of 74-guns, supported by seven frigates and five smaller warships. On board his flagship was a Représentant en mission from the National Convention, Étienne-François Letourneur, sent to provide political oversight for the operation.

Martin's mission has never been adequately determined: The report of the Committee of Public Safety to the National Convention states that the fleet was at sea to secure shipping lines in the Mediterranean, although a possible amphibious landing in Corsica is mentioned in Letourneur's correspondence and indicated by the numbers of troopships assembling in Toulon. However these forces did not leave Toulon harbour, and historian Adolphe Thiers has suggested that the objective may have been a demonstration of force against Rome, following the lynching of French ambassador Nicolas Bassville there two years earlier.

Chase of Berwick
Regardless of their purpose, the French fleet, delayed by the same winds which had held back Littlejohn, arrived off Northern Corsica in the early morning of 8 March. Martin had sent frigates to scout his advance, and it was one of these that spied the disabled Berwick limping northwards along the coast at 07:00. Littlejohn's lookouts sighted the French fleet, noting that they were flying the colours of the Spanish Navy, a British ally. Littlejohn was not deceived however and when his flag signals went unanswered he turned away in an effort to escape.

The damage to Berwick's rigging was too severe to make any speed, and within four hours the leading French ships were within range. Martin had detached the ships of the line Duquesne and Censeur to give chase, supported by the frigates Alceste and Minerve; the frigate Vestale also joined the chase without orders.[10] This force had rapidly overhauled Berwick, and at 11:00 the lead ship Alceste, under Lieutenant Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille, was the first to open fire from close range as Minerve, Vestale and then the ships of the line all rapidly approached.

For an hour Littlejohn tried to keep ahead of his pursuers in the hope of meeting Hotham sailing westwards from Leghorn, as return fire from Berwick caused significant damage to Alceste; Lejoille was badly wounded in the arm and leg, and Alceste disabled, the foremast brought down by British shot. Just as the frigate started to fall back however a bar shotfrom Alceste skimmed Berwick's deck and struck Littlejohn in the head, instantly decapitating him. The surviving officers, seeing their captain fall and the rest of the French pursuit squadron closing on their crippled ship, held a brief council where the decision was taken to surrender rather than be destroyed. As Vestale arrive and opened fire, Lieutenant Nesbit Palmer, the senior surviving officer, struck the colours. Shortly thereafter, and unaware of the British surrender, Duquesne pulled alongside and opened fire, although without causing serious damage.

Aftermath
Apart from Littlejohn Berwick had suffered minimal casualties, only four men wounded. This had been attributed to a French desire not to damage the ship too severely and thus only targeting the jury rigging during most of the engagement. In addition to Lejoille, seven were wounded on Alceste and there were no losses on any of the other French ships present. The crew were removed from Berwick and shared amongst the other ships of the pursuit squadron, forbidden to take any baggage with them except the clothes they wore; British historian William James says that they were "shamefully treated". The officers were later exchanged and honourably acquitted at the subsequent court-martial into the loss of the ship. James and later historian William Laird Clowes both blame Hotham for the loss of the ship through his impatience in sailing for Leghorn and abandoning an obviously vulnerable and disabled member of his fleet.

Berwick was taken to Gourjean Bay by Alceste, where the ships refitted in preparation for the journey to Toulon. They were joined on 12 March by the ship of the line Mercure, damaged in a storm, while the rest of Martin's fleet sailed across the Gulf of Genoa. The following day Hotham's fleet discovered the French and gave chase, overhauling the French rearguard in a running battle and capturing ships of the line Ça Ira and Censeur. Hotham declined to press the attack further and Martin retreated to Îles d'Hyères, later joined by Berwick and Mercure. The damaged ships of the fleet, including Berwick and Alceste, were sent to Toulon for repairs, where the ship of the line was commissioned into the French Navy under the same name.

Lejoille was rewarded with command of Berwick, but his wounds were too serious for an immediate return to service and he was initially hospitalised on the flagship Sans-Culottes, and later convalesced in Genoa for eight months, during which time he was promoted to commodore. He went on to fight at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, and subsequently captured HMS Leander at the Action of 18 August 1798. Lejoille was killed in action not long after by fire from Neapolitan shore batteries at Brindisi. As a French ship Berwick was later present at the Action of 7 October 1795 off Cape St Vincent when Censeur was recaptured by the French, and served for ten years until being recaptured at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and subsequently wrecked on the Spanish coast.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_8_March_1795

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1795 - Action of 8 March 1795 - captured HMS Berwick


HMS Berwick was a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade. She fought the French at the Battle of Ushant (1778) and the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781). The French captured her in the Action of 8 March 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars and she served with them with some success then and at the start of the Napoleonic Wars until the British recaptured her at the Battle of Trafalgar. Berwicksank shortly thereafter in a storm.



Royal Navy service
As one of the newest ships of the line, she was commissioned in December 1777. On the entry of France into the American War of Independence in 1778 Berwick joined the Channel Fleet. In July, she took part in the Battle of Ushant under the command of Captain the Hon. Keith Stewart. She served with the Channel Fleet throughout 1779.

In 1780 she was sent out to the West Indies as part of a squadron under Commodore Walshingham that was sent out to reinforce the fleet under Sir George Rodney. But Walshingham's ships arrived too late for the battles of that year and she was then sent to Jamaica. The lieutenant on this trip was John Hunter who later became an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales.

While Berwick was on the Jamaica station, she received serious damage from the October 1780 West Indies hurricane, which completely dismasted her and drove her out to sea. The damage forced her to return across the Atlantic to England for repairs.

After repairs, the Berwick sailed to the North Sea where Captain Stewart became commander in chief of the station. The North Sea was becoming an increasingly important convoy route because French and Spanish squadrons cruising in the Western Approaches to the Channel had made that route unsafe for British convoys.

In 1781 Berwick was under the command of Captain John Ferguson. On 17 April she, with Belle Poule, captured the privateer Callonne, under the command of Luke Ryan. Calonne was only two years old, a fast sailer, and well equipped for a voyage of three months and a crew of 200 men. She was armed with twenty-two 9-pounder guns, six 4-pounder guns and six 12-pounder carronades.

When the British Admiralty received news that the Dutch, who had joined the war at the beginning of 1781, were fitting out a squadron for service in the North Sea, it reinforced the Berwick with a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, who had hoisted his flag in Fortitude. Berwick also received two 68-pounder carronades for her poop deck.

On 15 August, while escorting a convoy of 700 merchantmen from Leith to the Baltic, Parker's squadron of seven ships of the line met a Dutch squadron under Rear-Admiral Johan Zoutman, also consisting of seven ships of the line, and also encumbered with a convoy. In the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank, Berwick suffered a total of 16 killed and 58 wounded.

After the war, Berwick was paid off in 1783 and laid up in ordinary.

She was commissioned again on 1 January 1793 under Captain Sir John Collins. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars he sailed her out for the Mediterranean on 22 May to join the fleet under Admiral Lord Hood. Under Hood, Berwick participated in Toulon operations late in the year.

Collins died in March 1794. His successors were, in short order, Captains William Shield, George Campbell, George Henry Towry, and lastly, William Smith.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard decoration and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Berwick (1775), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan was later approved for Bombay Castle (1782), Powerful (1783), and Defiance (1783) of the same class. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784], and Edward Hunt [1778-1784].

Capture
Main article: Action of 8 March 1795
In early 1795 Berwick had been refitting in San Fiorenzo Bay, Corsica, when her lower masts, stripped of rigging, rolled over the side and were lost. A hasty court martial dismissed Smith, the First Lieutenant, and the Master from the ship. After fitting a jury rig, Berwick, under Captain Adam Littlejohn, sailed to join the British fleet at Leghorn, but ran into the French fleet. The ensuing engagement on the morning of 8 March resulted in the French capturing Berwick.

At 11 am, close off Cap Corse, the French frigate Alceste passed to leeward and opened fire within musket-shot on Berwick's lee bow. Minerve and Vestale soon took their stations on Berwick's quarter. By noon, her rigging was cut to pieces and every sail was in ribbons. During the battle four sailors were wounded and a bar-shot decapitated Littlejohn; he was the only man killed. Command then devolved upon Lieutenant Nesbit Palmer, who consulted with the other officers. Palmer decided that Berwick was unable to escape in her disabled state and that all further resistance was useless; he then ordered that Berwick strike her colours.

The French towed her back to Toulon and subsequently commissioned her into the French Navy as Berwick, under Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille.

French Navy service
In September 1795, she sailed from Toulon for Newfoundland as part of a squadron of six ships of the line under Rear-Admiral de Richery. In October, Richery's squadron fell in with the British Smyrna convoy, taking 30 out of 31 ships, and retaking the 74-gun Censeur. The squadron then put into Cádiz, where it remained refitting for the remainder of the year.

On 4 August 1796, Richery finally set sail from Cádiz for North America with his seven ships of the line. His squadron was escorted out into the Atlantic by the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Lángara, with 20 ships of the line. In September, Richery destroyed the British Newfoundland fishing fleet.

In November, Berwick returned to Rochefort with four of the other ships from Richery's squadron, before sailing on to Brest.

By 1803, Berwick was back in the Mediterranean at Toulon.

Napoleonic Wars
In March 1805, Berwick sailed for the West Indies as part of a fleet of 11 French ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Villeneuve. Off Cádiz, the fleet was joined by the 74-gun ship Aigle, and six Spanish ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Gravina. When the fleet reached the West Indies, Villeneuve sent Commodore Cosmao-Kerjulien with the Pluton and the Berwick to attack the British position on Diamond Rock, which surrendered on 2 June.

When Villeneuve heard that Nelson had followed him to the West Indies, he sailed for Europe. Sir Robert Calder, with 15 ships of the line, intercepted the French off Cape Finisterre. After a violent artillery exchange, the fleets separated in the fog. Exhausted after six months at sea, the French anchored in Ferrol before sailing to Cádiz to rest and refit. With his command under question and wanting to meet the British fleet to gain a decisive victory, Villeneuve left Cádiz to meet the British fleet near Cape Trafalgar.

Fate
On 21 October 1805, Berwick fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, where Achille re-captured her. Berwick sank near Sanlúcar in the tempest the following day after her French prisoners cut her cables. Although Donegal was nearby and quickly sent boats, many of the c.200 persons aboard Berwick lost their lives.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the internal and external profile of works illustrating the knees, beams and external planking from the main wales and above for Berwick (1775), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. It is unknown when this plan was drawn. Berwick (1775) was refitted at Plymouth Dockyard in 1781, and refitted at Sheerness Dockyard after the battle of Dogger Bank in August 1781. She underwent a small to middling repair at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1786-87, before being captured by the French in March 1795.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile profile (and approved) for 'Elizabeth' (1769), and with alterations for 'Resolutio'n (1770), 'Cumberland' (1774), 'Berwick' (1775), 'Bombay Castle' (1782), 'Defiance' (1783), 'Powerful' (1783), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan was further altered in 1784 for 'Swiftsure' (1787) of the same class.


The Elizabeth-class ships of the line were a class of eight 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.





Capture of HMS Swiftsure by Indivisible and Dix-Août

HMS Berwick (1775) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1806 - Boats of HMS Egyptienne (40), Cptn. Charles Paget, cut out French privateer frigate Alcide from the harbour of Muros. Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns.


Égyptienne was a French frigate launched at Toulon in 1799. Her first service was in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which the British captured her at Alexandria. She famously carried the Rosetta Stone to Woolwich, and then the Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as the 40-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne. She served in a number of single-ship actions before being reduced to harbour service in 1807, and was sold for breaking in 1817.



Design and construction
Égyptienne was part of the two-ship Forte-class of frigates designed by François Caro. She had possibly been ordered on 15 June 1798 as a 74-gun ship-of-the-line of about 1,700 French tons, or 1900 English tons (the evidence is ambiguous). She was begun at Toulon on 26 September 1798 but while building she was modified into a heavy frigate based on the Forte. She was launched 17 July 1799, put into service in November 1799 and armed at Toulon on 23 September 1800. The foremost maindeck port was found too curved in the bow to admit a gun, so Égyptienne received only 48 cannon instead of 50.


Portrait of Égyptienne by Jean-Jacques Baugean

French service
In 1801 Napoleon required reinforcements in Egypt so the frigates Égyptienne and Justice, each carrying troops and munitions, left Toulon. On 3 February the vessels anchored in the old or western port of Alexandria.

The British discovered Causse, Égyptienne, Justice, Régénérée and two ex-Venetian frigates in the harbour of Alexandria at the capitulation on 2 September 1801 after the fall of Alexandria. The British and their Turkish allies agreed to a division of the spoils; the British received Egyptienne, Régénérée and Léoben (ex-Venetian Medusa) (26) while Captain Pacha (sic) received Causse (ex-Venetian Vulcano) (64), Justice (46), Mantoue (ex-Venetian Cerere) (26), and some Turkish corvettes that were in the harbour. Admiral Lord Keith commander of the naval forces, gave the value of Égyptienne for prize money purposes at £23,665 0s 0d.

The British took Égyptienne into service on 27 September and Captain Thomas Stephenson sailed her to Britain; on this voyage she carried Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who was bringing the Rosetta Stone to England. As Égyptienne was coming into the Downs she collided with the East Indiaman Marquise Wellsley. She finally arrived at Woolwich on 13 February 1802.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Egyptienne (captured 1801), a captured French Frigate, as taken off after fitting for a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate. This plan was received by William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813] on 7 January 1807.

British service
The Admiralty added her to the Royal Navy as HMS Egyptienne and she was fitted out at Woolwich between October and December 1802, at a cost of £12,625. During this period she was under the command of Captain Charles Ogle.

She commissioned under Captain Charles Fleeming (or Elphinstone or Fleming) in April 1803 and initially sailed in the English Channel and off the coast of France.[1] Here, on 27 July, she captured the 16-gun French brig-sloop Epervier in the Atlantic Ocean. Epervier had a crew of 90 men and was carrying dispatches from Guadaloupe to Lorient. The Royal Navy took Épervier into service under her existing name.

On 30 August Egyptienne captured the privateer Chiffonette. Chiffonette was armed with 16 guns and a crew of 80 men. She was 26 days out of Bordeaux and had captured a brig from Jersey that Endymion had already recaptured. Chiffonette was in the process of attacking another British brig when Egyptienne approached, an attack that Chiffonette then abandoned. Fleming remarked in his report that she was an extremely fast vessel that had several times eluded British frigates, including Egyptienne herself on one occasion.

Then she sailed to St Helena escorting a convoy of ships. During this time Charles John Napier was a midshipman aboard Egyptienne. (In later years, feeling that Fleeming had treated him badly, Napier challenged Fleeming to a duel; their seconds effected a reconciliation, so eviting the duel.) On 13 February 1805 Egyptienne captured the Dichoso, which was under the command of F. Caselins.

Egyptienne was present at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, but did not participate in the engagement. While reconnoitering in advance of the fleet she captured a Danish merchant brig. After the battle she took the disabled Spanish 74-gun Firme in tow. After the battle, Admiral Robert Calder requested a court-martial to review his decision not to pursue the enemy fleet after the engagement. Fleming was one of the witnesses. The court martial ruled that Calder's failure to pursue was an error of judgment, not a manifestation of cowardice, and severely reprimanded him.

On 2 October Egyptienne captured the French brig-sloop Actéon, under Capitaine de frégate Depoge, off Rochefort. She was armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 126 men. Actéon had on board a colonel and some recruits, as well as arms and clothing for a regiment in the West Indies. The navy took Actéon into service as Acteon.


HMS Egyptienne in pursuit of a Spanish schooner in 1806

In November Egyptienne captured several ships: the Paulina, the French lugger Edouard, the Maria Antoinette, under the command of J. Heget, and the French sloop Esperance. Paulina, which Egyptienne captured on 20 November, was a 12-gun Spanish letter of marque, under the command of Don Antonio Acibal. The chase took nine hours, during which the Paulina threw eight of her guns overboard. She was out of Pasaia, Spain on her way to cruise the West Indies.

On 24 December off Rochefort, Egyptienne, under Lieutenant Handfield, his promotion still not confirmed, and Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland's HMS Loire captured the 40-gun Libre, Capitaine de Frégate Deschorches commanding. Libre was armed with twenty-four 18-pounders, six 36-pounder carronades and ten 9-pounder guns. In the fight, which lasted half an hour, the French lost 20 men killed and wounded out of a crew of 280 men. Loire had no casualties but Egyptienne had 8 wounded, one mortally. Libre was badly damaged and had lost her masts so Loire took her in tow and reached Plymouth with her on 4 January 1806. Libre had sailed from Flushing on 14 November in company with a French 48-gun frigate but the two vessels had parted in a gale on 9 November off the coast of Scotland.

Captain Charles Paget replaced Elphinstone in December. Egyptienne's boats cut out the privateer Alcide from Muros on 8 March 1806 and under incessant but ineffective fire from two shore batteries. The boats were under the command of Phillips Crosby Handfield, her First Lieutenant, who stayed with Egyptienne as a volunteer as his promotion to Commander had not been confirmed. Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns. She was only two years old and when she had last gone to sea had had a complement of 240 men.

Fate
Egyptienne was paid off at Plymouth and put into ordinary on 5 May 1807. Soon after she was fitted out and served as a receiving ship at Plymouth. She was in ordinary from 1812 to 1815. On 30 April 1817 she was finally sold to John Small Sedger for £2,810 for breaking up.


See also more about this vessel and sistership Forte and other at

French frigate Égyptienne (1799) - later fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne (1801 - 1817) - Forte class

This is what wikipedia tells us about the ship: Égyptienne was a French frigate launched at Toulon in 1799. Her first service was in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which the British captured her at Alexandria. She famously carried the Rosetta Stone to Woolwich, and then the Admiralty...

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1808 - HMS San Fiorenzo (38), Cptn. George Nicholas Hardinge (Killed in Action), captured Piemontaise (50), Cptn. Epron, in the Gulf of Mannar


The Piémontaise was a 40-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. She served as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean until her capture in March 1808. She then served with the British Royal Navy in the East Indies until she was broken up in Britain in 1813.


HMS St Fiorenzo and Piémontaise.

French service
Piémontaise was built by Enterprise Étheart at Saint Malo to a design by François Pastel.

On 18 December 1805 she sailed from Brest for Île de France. There she served as a commerce raider under captain Jacques Epron. On 21 June 1806, she captured the East Indiaman Warren Hastings. On 6 September, she captured the 14-gun East India Company brig Grappler, the three-masted country ship Atomany, and the East Indiaman Fame.

Between September and October 1807, Piémontaise captured Caroline, Eggleton or Eggleson, master, Sarah, Henderson, master, Maria, James, master, Udny, Walteas or Wallis, master, Danneberg or Danesburgh or Castel Dansborg, Winter, master, Highland Chief, Mahapice or Makepiece, master, Eliza, Sparkes, master, and Calcutta. Calcutta was a "native ship". Captain James, of Maria, died aboard Piémontaise on 29 September.

In early March 1808, Piémontaise captured three more merchantmen off Southern India.

Capture
On 6 March 1808, she encountered HMS St Fiorenzo. The two ships battled for three days until Piémontaise, out of ammunition and having suffered heavy casualties, had to strike her colours on 8 March. The evening before she struck, Lieutenant de vaisseau Charles Moreau, who had been severely wounded, threw himself into the sea. Captain Hardinge, of St Fiorenzo, was killed in the fighting on the last day. Over the three days the British suffered 13 dead and 25 wounded. The French suffered some 48 dead and 112 wounded.

Lieutenant William Dawson took command and brought both vessels back to Colombo, even though Piémontaise's three masts fell over her side early in the morning of 9 March. Piémontaise had on board British army officers and captains and officers from prizes that she had taken. These men helped organize the lascars to jury-rig masts and bring Piémontaise into port. St Fiorenzo had too few men, too many casualties, and too many prisoners to guard to provide much assistance. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 8 March 1808" to any surviving claimants from the action.

British service
The British brought Piémontaise into service as HMS Piedmontaise, commissioning her under Captain Charles Foote. From May to August 1810, she took part in an expedition to the Banda Islands, along with Caroline and Barracouta. The expedition also included Mandarin.

Foote died in September and Commander Henry D. Dawson replaced him, only to die shortly thereafter. Piedmontaise's next captain was T. Epworth, who was replaced in turn by Captain Henry Edgell.

Fate
Piémontaise was taken out of commission at Woolwich on 12 August 1812. She was broken up in January 1813.


Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She operated in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary Wars. Her crew scuttled her at Saint-Florent to avoid capture when the British invaded Corsica in 1794, but the British managed to raise her and recommissioned her in the Royal Navy as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS St Fiorenzo (also San Fiorenzo).

She went on to serve under a number of the most distinguished naval commanders of her age, in theatres ranging from the English Channel to the East Indies. During this time she was active against enemy privateers, and on several occasions she engaged ships larger than herself, being rewarded with victory on each occasion. She captured the 40-gun Résistance and the 22-gun Constancein 1797, the 36-gun Psyché in 1805, and the 40-gun Piémontaise in 1808. (These actions would earn the crew members involved clasps to the Naval General Service Medal.) After she became too old for frigate duties, the Admiralty had her converted for successively less active roles. She initially became a troopship and then a receiving ship. Finally she was broken up in 1837 after a long period as a lazarette.

French frigate Piémontaise - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1841 – Launch of French Andromaque, a Surveillante class sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy


The Surveillante class was a type of sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed in 1823 by Mathurin-François Boucher.



One of the main innovations with respect to previous design was the disappearance of the gangways, which provided a flush deck capable of harbouring a complete second battery. With the standardisation on the 30-pounder calibre for all naval ordnance that occurred in the 1820s, this design allowed for a frigate throwing a 900-pound broadside, thrice the firepower of the 40-gun Pallas class that constituted the majority of the frigate forces during the Empire, and comparable to that of a 74-gun.

By far the best-known ship of the class is Belle Poule, which achieved fame when she transported the ashes of Napoléon back to France in the so-called Retour des cendres; for this occasion, she was painted all black, a colour scheme that she retained later in her career, but which is uncharacteristic of the ships of this type.


Belle Poule model


Surveillante class, (60-gun first rate type, 1823 design by Mathurin-François Boucher, with 30 x 30-pounder guns, 28 x 30-pounder carronades and 2 x 18-pounder guns – later units had altered 60-gun armament):

Surveillante, (launched 29 September 1825 at Lorient) – deleted 22 August 1844.
Belle Gabrielle, (launched 28 June 1828 at Cherbourg) – renamed Indépendante 9 August 1830, deleted 24 October 1860.
Melpomène, (launched 28 July 1828 at Cherbourg) – deleted 20 March 1845.
Herminie, (launched 25 August 1828 at Lorient) – wrecked off Bermuda 3 December 1838.
Belle Poule, (launched 26 March 1834 at Cherbourg) – deleted 19 March 1861.
Sémillante, (launched 6 February 1841 at Lorient) – wrecked 16 February 1855 off Bonifacio.
Andromaque, (launched 8 March 1841 at Lorient) – deleted 17 August 1869.
Forte, (launched 16 September 1841 at Cherbourg) – deleted 23 October 1883.
Pallas, (launched 15 August 1860 at Lorient as a steam frigate) – deleted 23 October 1883.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1861 - The Battle of Hampton Roads - Day 1 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and USS Congress

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (or Virginia) or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.

The major significance of the battle is that it was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, i.e., USS Monitor and CSS Virginia. The Confederate fleet consisted of the ironclad ram Virginia (built from the remnants of the under-construction steam frigate USS Merrimack, newest warship for the United States Navy / Union Navy) and several supporting vessels. On the first day of battle, they were opposed by several conventional, wooden-hulled ships of the Union Navy. On that day, Virginia was able to destroy two ships of the federal flotilla, USS Congress and USS Cumberland, and was about to attack a third, USS Minnesota, which had run aground. However, the action was halted by darkness and falling tide, so Virginia retired to take care of her few wounded—which included her captain, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan—and repair her minimal battle damage.

Determined to complete the destruction of Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. During the night, however, the ironclad Monitor had arrived and had taken a position to defend Minnesota. When Virginia approached, Monitor intercepted her. The two ironclads fought for about three hours, with neither being able to inflict significant damage on the other. The duel ended indecisively, Virginia returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and strengthening, and Monitor to her station defending Minnesota. The ships did not fight again, and the blockade remained in place.

The battle received worldwide attention, and it had immediate effects on navies around the world. The preeminent naval powers, Great Britain and France, halted further construction of wooden-hulled ships, and others followed suit. Although Britain and France had been engaged in an iron-clad arms race since the 1830s[6][better source needed], The Battle of Hampton Roads signalled a new age of naval warfare had arrived for the whole world. A new type of warship, monitor, was produced based on the principle of the original. The use of a small number of very heavy guns, mounted so that they could fire in all directions, was first demonstrated by Monitor but soon became standard in warships of all types. Shipbuilders also incorporated rams into the designs of warship hulls for the rest of the century.



The following forces and commanders fought at the Battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 8–9, 1862.

Union
US Army (stationed at Fort Monroe)

• 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Dept of Virginia - Brig. Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield
  • 20th Indiana Infantry Regiment - Colonel William Brown
  • 7th New York Volunteer Infantry - Colonel George W. Von Schack
  • 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Colonel Charles M. Loeser

US Navy

• North Atlantic Blocking Squadron - Captain (Flag Officer) Louis M. Goldsborough
  • • Senior officer present: Captain John Marston
  • Ironclad monitor:
    • Monitor - Lieutenant John L. Worden
  • 50-gun screw frigates:
    • Minnesota - Captain Gershom J. Van Brunt
    • Roanoke - Captain John Marston
  • 44-gun sailing frigates:
    • St. Lawrence - Captain Hugh Y. Purviance
    • Congress - Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith
  • 24-gun sailing sloop-of-war:
    • Cumberland - Lieutenant George U. Morris (acting)
  • auxiliary gunboats:
    • Mystic
    • Zouave - Acting Master Henry Reaney
    • Dragon - Acting Master William Watson
  • miscellaneous support craft
    • Whitehall (tug) - Acting Master William J. Baulsir
    • Young America (tug)
    • Cambridge (tug) - Commander William A. Parker

Confederate
CS Navy

• Office of Orders and Details (responsible for naval defenses of Norfolk) - Captain (Flag Officer) Franklin Buchanan
  • Ironclad:
    • Virginia - Captain Franklin Buchanan, Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones
  • Tender gunboats
    • Raleigh - Lieutenant Joseph W. Alexander
    • Beaufort - Lieutenant William H. Parker
• James River Squadron - Commander John R. Tucker
  • Gunboats
    • Patrick Henry - Commander John R. Tucker
    • Jamestown - Lieutenant Joseph N. Barney
    • Teaser - Lieutenant William A. Webb

Chromolithograph depicting the Battle of Hampton Roads.

Battle
Command
The Confederate chain of command was anomalous. Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones had directed much of the conversion of Merrimack to Virginia, and he was disappointed when he was not named her captain.[36] Jones was retained aboard Virginia, but only as her executive officer. Ordinarily, the ship would have been led by a captain of the Confederate States Navy, to be determined by the rigid seniority system that was in place. Secretary Mallory wanted the aggressive Franklin Buchanan, but at least two other captains had greater seniority and had applied for the post. Mallory evaded the issue by appointing Buchanan, head of the Office of Orders and Detail, flag officer in charge of the defenses of Norfolk and the James River. As such, he could control the movements of Virginia. Technically, therefore, the ship went into the battle without a captain.

On the Union side, command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron was held by Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough. He had devised a plan for his frigates to engage Virginia, hoping to trap her in their crossfire.[38] In the event, his plan broke down completely when four of the ships ran aground (one of them intentionally) in the confined waters of the roadstead. On the day of battle, Goldsborough was absent with the ships cooperating with the Burnside Expedition in North Carolina. In his absence, leadership fell to his second in command, Captain John Marston of USS Roanoke. As Roanoke was one of the ships that ran aground, Marston was unable to materially influence the battle, and his participation is often disregarded. Most accounts emphasize the contribution of the captain of Monitor, John L. Worden, to the neglect of others.


Sinking of Cumberland by the ironclad Virginia

March 8: Virginia wreaks havoc on wooden Union warships
The battle began when the large and unwieldy CSS Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads on the morning of March 8, 1862. Captain Buchanan intended to attack as soon as possible. Virginia was accompanied from her moorings on the Elizabeth River by Raleigh and Beaufort, and was joined at Hampton Roads by the James River Squadron, Patrick Henry, Jamestown, and Teaser. When they were passing the Union batteries at Newport , Patrick Henry was temporarily disabled by a shot in her boiler that killed four of her crew. After repairs, she returned and rejoined the others.

At this time, the Union Navy had five warships in the roadstead, in addition to several support vessels. The sloop-of-war Cumberland and frigate Congress were anchored in the channel near Newport . The sail frigate St. Lawrence and the steam frigates Roanoke and Minnesota were near Fort Monroe, along with the storeship Brandywine. The latter three got under way as soon as they saw Virginia approaching, but all soon ran aground. St. Lawrence and Roanoke took no further important part in the battle.

Virginia headed directly for the Union squadron. The battle opened when Union tug Zouave fired on the advancing enemy, and Beaufort replied. This preliminary skirmishing had no effect. Virginia did not open fire until she was within easy range of Cumberland. Return fire from Cumberland and Congress bounced off the iron plates without penetrating, although later some of Cumberland's gunfire lightly damaged Virginia.

Virginia rammed Cumberland below the waterline and she sank rapidly, "gallantly fighting her guns as long as they were above water," according to Buchanan. She took 121 seamen down with her; those wounded brought the casualty total to nearly 150.

Ramming Cumberland nearly resulted in the sinking of Virginia as well. Virginia's bow ram got stuck in the enemy ship's hull, and as Cumberland listed and began to go down, she almost pulled Virginia under with her. At the time the vessels were locked, one of Cumberland's anchors was hanging directly above the foredeck of Virginia. Had it come loose, the two ships might have gone down together. Virginia broke free, however, her ram breaking off as she backed away.


Virginia drives Congress away from her anchorage

Buchanan next turned Virginia on Congress. Seeing what had happened to Cumberland, Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, captain of Congress, ordered his ship grounded in shallow water. By this time, the James River Squadron, commanded by John Randolph Tucker, had arrived and joined Virginia in the attack on Congress. After an hour of unequal combat, the badly damaged Congress surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of Congress were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on Virginia. In retaliation, Buchanan ordered Congress fired upon with hot shot, cannonballs heated red-hot. Congress caught fire and burned throughout the rest of the day. Near midnight, the flames reached her magazine and she exploded and sank, stern first. Personnel losses included 110 killed or missing and presumed drowned. Another 26 were wounded, of whom ten died within days.

Although she had not suffered anything like the damage she had inflicted, Virginia was not completely unscathed. Shots from Cumberland, Congress, and Union troops ashore had riddled her smokestack, reducing her already low speed. Two of her guns were disabled and several armor plates had been loosened. Two of her crew were killed, and more were wounded. One of the wounded was Captain Buchanan, whose left thigh was pierced by a rifle shot.

Meanwhile, the James River Squadron had turned its attention to Minnesota, which had left Fort Monroe to join in the battle and had run aground. After Virginia had dealt with the surrender of Congress, she joined the James River Squadron despite her damage. Because of her deep draft and the falling tide, however, Virginia was unable to get close enough to be effective, and darkness prevented the rest of the squadron from aiming their guns to any effect. The attack was therefore suspended. Virginia left with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the task. She retreated into the safety of Confederate-controlled waters off Sewell's Point for the night, but had killed 400 enemy sailors and had lost two. The Union had lost two ships and three were aground.

The United States Navy's greatest defeat until World War II caused panic in Washington. As Lincoln's Cabinet met to discuss the disaster, the frightened Secretary of War Edwin Stanton told the others that Virginia might attack East coast cities, and even shell the White House before the meeting ended. Welles assured his colleagues that they were safe as the ship could not traverse the Potomac River. He added that the Union also had an ironclad, and that it was heading to meet Virginia.



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

USS Congress (1841) - Wikipedia

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USS Cumberland (1842) - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 March 1861 - The Battle of Hampton Roads - Day 1 - The ships lost on first day


The first USS Cumberland was a 50-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia.



Cumberland began in the pages of a Congressional Act. Congress passed in 1816 "An act for the gradual increase of the Navy of the United States." The act called for the U.S. to build several ships-of-the-line and several new frigates, of which Cumberland was to be one. Money issues, however, prevented Cumberland from being finished in a timely manner. It was not until Secretary of the Navy Abel Parker Upshur came to office that the ship was finished. A war scare with Britain led Upshur to order the completion of several wooden sailing ships and for the construction of new steam powered ships.



Designed by famed American designer William Doughty, Cumberland was one a series of frigates in a class called the Raritan-class. The design borrowed heavily from older American frigate designs such as Constitution and Chesapeake. Specifically, Doughty liked the idea of giving a frigate more guns than European designs called for. As a result, he called for Cumberland and her sister ships to have a fully armed spar deck, along with guns on the gun deck. The result was a heavily armed, 50-gun warship.



Drawing of hull plan of USS Cumberland as a frigate


Drawing of USS Cumberland after being razeed


USS Cumberland at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, 1859


American Civil War
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Cumberland was at the Gosport Navy Yard, with orders to monitor the situation in Norfolk and Portsmouth. After the attack on Fort Sumter, the ship's company was ordered to gather up or destroy U.S. Government property. This included several crates of small arms and possibly (not yet confirmed) gold from the U.S. Customs House in Norfolk. The company was also ordered to spike all 3,000 guns at the Navy Yard within just a few hours. This latter task was impossible, given that only 100 sailors were assigned to the task. Sailors from the Yard and the barracks ship Pennsylvania boarded Cumberland as a part of the evacuation.

She was towed out of the yard by the steam sloop Pawnee, escaping destruction when other ships there were scuttled and burned by Union forces on 20 April 1861 to prevent their capture. She sailed back to Boston for repairs. The aft 10-inch Dahlgren was removed and replaced with what many officers referred to as a 70-pounder rifle. This gun did not exist in the Navy's inventory at the time. It was possibly a 5.3 in (130 mm), 60 pdr (27 kg) Parrott rifle.

She sailed back to Hampton Roads and took up station as a blockader, serving in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron until 8 March 1862. The sloop-of-war engaged Confederate forces in several minor actions in Hampton Roads and captured many small ships in the harbor. Additionally, Cumberland was a part of the expedition that captured the forts at Cape Hatteras.

Cumberland was rammed and sunk in an engagement with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) at Newport , Virginia on 8 March 1862. The engagement known as the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads between the two ships is considered to be a turning point in the history of world naval affairs as it showed the advantage of steam-powered, armored ships over sail-powered wooden hulled ships. It should be noted that because of Cumberland, Virginia lost two of her guns, her ram, and suffered some internal damage. Congress later recognized[citation needed] that Cumberland did more damage to Virginia than the U.S. Navy's ironclad Monitor, which did battle with Virginiathe next day.

One of the men who died aboard Cumberland was Navy chaplain John L. Lenhart, a Methodist minister. He was the first Navy chaplain to lose his life in battle.

The battle with Virginia was commemorated in a poem On Board the Cumberland that was illustrated by F. O. C. Darley.

Salvage
Cumberland became an archaeological site the moment she sank to a watery grave, in that the federal government almost immediately solicited work from salvage companies to secure valuable items from the shipwreck.

In his memoir, When the Yankees Came, Virginia resident George Benjamin West described some post-war work on Cumberland:

After the war ... I have very often been on the boats that worked on the Cumberland, first by a German named West and then by a company of Detroit, Michigan, which purchased her from West and which brought down a great many of the [Great] Lakes divers to try to secure the $40,000 in gold said to be in an iron chest in the paymaster's stateroom. ...
... His [the German diver West's] plan, as told to me, was to start under the stern, which lay down the river, and blow a hole in her and work towards the paymaster's stateroom. He did the diving himself and did not attempt to get any wreckage save the pieces he blew out of the side and brought up on deck, and the copper bolts cut out. The difficulty he had was the foiling-in of mud and sand, and having to grope in the utter darkness. It was very dangerous, and several times he was brought up unconscious.

Cumberland wreck. Image taken by a joint U.S. Navy/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition.

Occasional salvage of the shipwrecks continued into the early 20th century. In 1909, part of Cumberland's anchor chain was recovered and sent to the museum of the Confederacy in Richmond (Newport Daily Press, 12 November 1909).

In 1981, the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) contracted with Underwater Archaeological Joint Ventures (UAJV), a private firm based in Yorktown, VA. UAJV team members consulted local watermen (whose oyster dredges had picked up artifacts for years) to help locate the ships. This information and a remote sensing survey, led archaeologists to two significant wrecks. The recovery of numerous artifacts confirmed that these shipwrecks were most likely Cumberland and CSS Florida. Artifacts recovered included fasteners, fittings, apothecary vessels, a ship's bell (from Cumberland), cannon fuses and other ordnance items. The artifacts proved the NUMA/UAJV team had indeed found Cumberland and Florida. Most of the artifacts from this NUMA/UAJV excavation are on exhibit at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Norfolk, VA (Newport Daily Press, 8 March 1987).

Cumberland today
Cumberland is currently a ship wreck under the protection of several Federal laws including the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2005, the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, and the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution (which gives the U.S. Government exclusive rights to its own property). Federal courts have upheld these laws and the U.S. Government's exclusive rights to its own ships.

Since her sinking, the ship has been the subject of many expeditions. Some of these expeditions have been in violation of Federal law and artifacts were seized by Federal agents. Many artifacts from these expeditions (both legal and illegal) are at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.

Wreck is facing west to east, with the bow of the vessel slightly above the floor of Hampton Roads.



USS Congress (1841)—the fourth United States Navy ship to carry that name—was a sailing frigate, like her predecessor, USS Congress (1799).



Congress served in the Mediterranean, South Atlantic Ocean, and in the Pacific Ocean. She continued to operate as an American warship until the American Civil War, when she was sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia in battle of Newport , Virginia.



American Civil War service
Main article: Battle of Hampton Roads


Lt Joseph B. Smith


Congress's magazine explodes

On September 9, 1861, she was ordered to duty under command of Capt. Louis M. Goldsborough in the Atlantic Blockading Squadron, later to serve under commanding officer W. Smith, and executive officer Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith.

Congress was anchored off Newport , Virginia, as part of the Union blockade of that port on March 8, 1862, when she fell under attack by the Confederate ironclad, CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) and five other small ships. Serving aboard Congress at this time was McKean Buchanan, brother of the commanding officer of the Virginia, Franklin Buchanan. After exchanging broadsides with Virginia, Congress slipped her moorings and ran aground in shallow water.

The ironclad and her consorts attacked from a distance and inflicted great damage on the ship, killing 120, including the commanding officer, Joseph B. Smith. Ablaze in several places and unable to bring guns to bear on the enemy, Congress was forced to strike her colors and raise a white flag. Heavy shore batteries prevented Virginia from taking possession. Instead she fired several rounds of hot shot (red-hot cannonballs) and incendiary causing Congress to burn to the water's edge, and her magazine to explode. Lt. Smith, having been in command at the time, died in the action. Eventually, during the battle, Congress sank by the stern.

Hulk raised and sold
In September 1865, Congress was raised and taken to the Norfolk Navy Yard where she was later sold. She later was stripped for the valuable wood and metal near her mast. The sails later were used to make a flag in memory of the ship.

USS Cumberland (1842) - Wikipedia

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USS Congress (1841) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 8 March


1668 - March 8 and 9 - Venetians defeat Turks near Pelagia, Greece (details)


1748 British squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Knowles reduced Fort Saint Louis de Sud in the French colony of Haiti.

On taking up his new post Sir Charles Knowles raised his flag aboard HMS Canterbury, but soon shifted it to HMS Cornwall. He had initially intended to take his squadron and attack Santiago de Cuba, but contrary winds led to him deciding instead to attack Fort Saint Louis de Sud. He arrived on 8 March 1748, and after subjecting the fort to a heavy bombardment forced its surrender. Knowles was promoted to rear-admiral of the red on 12 May 1748. He returned to Santiago de Cuba on 5 April and carried out another attack, but was unable to capture the port, and duly returned to Jamaica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Knowles,_1st_Baronet

HMS Cornwall (1692) - Wikipedia

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1792 – Launch of Sutil, a brig-rigged schooner (Spanish goleta) built in 1791 by the Spanish Navy at San Blas, New Spain.

Sutil was a brig-rigged schooner (Spanish goleta) built in 1791 by the Spanish Navy at San Blas, New Spain. It was nearly identical to Mexicana, also built at San Blas in 1791. Both vessels were built for exploring the newly discovered Strait of Georgia, carried out in 1792 under Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, on Sutil, and Cayetano Valdés y Flores, on Mexicana. During this voyage the two Spanish vessels encountered the two British vessels under George Vancouver, HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham, which were also engaged in exploring the Strait of Georgia. The two expeditions cooperated in surveying the complex channels between the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Strait, in the process proving the insularity of Vancouver Island. After this first voyage Sutil continued to serve the San Blas Naval Department, making various voyages to Alta California and the Pacific Northwest coast.

Sutil (ship) - Wikipedia

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1794 HMS Convert (32), ex French Fifth Rate frigate 'L'Inconstante' (1790), wrecked on a reef at the Grand Caymanes, West Indies.

French Fifth Rate frigate 'L'Inconstante' (1790)

French Fifth Rate frigate 'L'Inconstante' (1790). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

British Fifth Rate frigate 'Convert' (1793)

British Fifth Rate frigate 'Convert' (1793). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

1796 HMS Orpheus (32) engaged Banda batteries: Banda Isles taken.

HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate Amazon-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.



Warship; Frigate; Amazon class; Fifth rate; 32 guns (Full hull model) (SLR0315)
Scale 1:32. Built at this slightly larger and unusual scale, the model is a fine example of the Georgian style of modelling, with a fully planked hull and partially planked decks. The hull is constructed 'bread-and-butter’ fashion, of wooden planks glued together horizontally and then shaped externally to fit templates taken from the building plans. The wooden core is then gouged out internally to produce a shell of about an inch thick, over which the planking, deck beams and decoration are applied. The model has been made to a high standard of workmanship and includes some fittings not always shown, such as the compass binnacle just forward of the wheel, shot racks between the guns, the hammock-netting stanchions and swivel guns on the ship's side.

HMS Orpheus (1780) - Wikipedia

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1822 - Crew from the schooner USS Enterprise capture and burn seven small pirate vessels off Cape Antonio, Cuba.

The third US ship to be named Enterprise was a schooner, built by Henry Spencer at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1799. Her first commander thought that she was too lightly built and that her quarters, in particular, should be bulletproofed. Enterprise was overhauled and rebuilt several times, effectively changing from a twelve-gun schooner to a fourteen-gun topsail schooner and eventually to a brig. Enterprise saw action in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean again, capturing numerous prizes. She wrecked in July 1823.

USS Enterprise (1799) - Wikipedia

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1854 Commodore Matthew Perry opens treaty negotiations with Japan

Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a Commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War (1846–48). He played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.



Perry was interested in the education of naval officers, and assisted in the development of an apprentice system that helped establish the curriculum at the United States Naval Academy. With the advent of the steam engine, he became a leading advocate of modernizing the U.S. Navy and came to be considered "The Father of the Steam Navy" in the United States.

Matthew C. Perry - Wikipedia

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1871 – Launch of HMS Glatton, a breastwork monitor which served in the Victorian Royal Navy

HMS Glatton (1871) - Wikipedia

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1875 – Launch off HMS Dreadnought was an ironclad turret ship built for the Royal Navy

HMS Dreadnought was an ironclad turret ship built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. Construction was halted less than a year after it began and she was redesigned to improve her stability and buoyancy. Upon completion in 1879, the ship was placed in reserve until she was commissioned in 1884 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. Upon her return 10 years later, she became a coast guard ship in Ireland for two years. The ship then became a depot ship in 1897 before she was reclassified as a second-class battleship in 1900. Dreadnought participated in the annual fleet manoeuvres for the next two years before she became a training ship in 1902. The ship was taken out of service three years later and sold for scrap in 1908.

HMS Dreadnought (1875) - Wikipedia

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1889 – Death of John Ericsson, Swedish-American engineer, designed the USS Monitor (b. 1803)

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

John Ericsson - Wikipedia

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1943 - PBY-5 Catalinas from VP-53 sink German submarine U 156 east-northeast of Trinidad.


1943 - Dutch freighter SS 's Jacob was sunk off Papua New Guinea by Japanese air attack.

SS 's Jacob Dutch freighter built by Maatschappij Fijenoord, Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1907, of 2,839 GRT and operated by Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) in the Dutch East Indies trade. The ship, after seeking refuge in Australia during the Japanese invasion of the islands, became part of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet. 's Jacobwas sunk off Papua New Guinea on 8 March 1943 during World War II by Japanese air attack.

SS 's Jacob - Wikipedia

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1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes the first African-American ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps and serves at the Naval Dispensary at Boston, Mass.


1945 - Navy patrol bombers hit a Japanese convoy, sinking cargo vessel No. 21 Yusen Maru in Formosa Strait.


1968 - Soviet submarine K-129 (1960) sank.

It was one of four mysterious submarine disappearances in 1968; the others being the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, the French submarine Minerve and the U.S. submarine USS Scorpion. The Soviet Navy deployed a huge flotilla of ships to search for her but never found her wreck.



The United States attempted to recover the boat in 1974 in a secret Cold War-era effort named Project Azorian. The vessel's position 4.9 kilometres (16,000 ft) below the surface was the greatest depth from which an attempt had been made to raise a ship. The cover story used was that the salvage vessel was engaged in commercial manganese nodule mining. Only part of the submarine was recovered.

Soviet submarine K-129 (1960) - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1746 – Launch of french Conquérant, a Citoyen class 74-gun ships of the line all built at Brest Naval Dockyard


The Conquérant was originally launched in 1746 on a design by François Coulomb the Younger. She was taken out of service in March 1764 & rebuilt at Brest as a Citoyen class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.





She took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she was armed with only 18- and 12-pounders, and crewed by a mere 400 men, under captain Dalbarade. Second ship in the vanguard of her line, Conquérant sustained fire from the passing British ships sailing to attack the centre of the French fleet. She was particularly targeted by HMS Audacious and Goliath, who reduced her to a hulk before 19:00. Immobilised, hopelessly overgunned and undermanned, her captain mortally wounded, Conquérant struck her colours and was seized by a boarding party from Audacious.

She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy under the same name.


Le Conquérant fait partie des navires capturés par les Anglais à la bataille d'Aboukir en 1798.

The Citoyen class consisted of four 74-gun ships of the line all built at Brest Naval Dockyard to a design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier. The first ship (Citoyen, originally to have been named Cimeterre) was newly built there from 1761 to 1764, and the other three were rebuilt to her design from earlier ships.

• Citoyen

Built at: Brest
Keel laid: July 1761
Launched: 27 August 1764
Completed: December 1764
Fate: decommissioned in 1783 and taken to pieces in 1792

• Conquérant

Originally built at: Toulon
Ordered: 5 March 1743
Launched: 9 March 1746
Rebuilt: from January 1765 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched 29 November 1765 and completed in December 1765
Fate: Condemned in May 1796 but put back into service in March 1798, captured by the British on 2 August 1798 at the Battle of the Nile, broken up in Plymouth in January 1803

• Palmier

Originally built at: Brest
Keel laid: November 1750
Launched: 21 July 1752
Rebuilt: from 23 May 1766 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched in December 1766 and completed in the same month
Fate: Rebuilt again at Brest in 1776. Abandoned and foundered off Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean on 24 October 1782

• Actif

Originally built at: Brest (as a 64-gun ship)
Keel laid: 1750
Launched: 15 December 1752
Rebuilt at: from April 1767 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched on 5 October 1767 and completed in April 1768
Fate: Rebuilt again at Brest in 1774. Condemned in August 1783, sold 1784





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Conquérant_(1747)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citoyen-class_ship_of_the_line

French Third Rate ship of the line 'Le Conquérant' (1746)

French Third Rate ship of the line 'Le Conquérant' (1746). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1765 – Launch of HMS Invincible, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford.


HMS Invincible was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1765 at Deptford. Invincible was built during a period of peace to replace ships worn out in the recently concluded Seven Years' War. The ship went on to serve in the American War of Independence, fighting at the battles of Cape St Vincent in 1780, and under the command of Captain Charles Saxton, the Battles of the Chesapeake in 1781 and St Kitts in 1782.



She survived the cull of the Navy during the next period of peace, and was present, under the command of Thomas Pakenham, at the Glorious First of June in 1794, where she was badly damaged and lost fourteen men, and, under the command of William Cayley, the Invasion of Trinidad (1797), which resulted in the transfer of Trinidad from the Spanish


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines with stern quarter decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Monarch' (1765), and later applying to 'Ramilies' (1763), 'Invincible' (1765), 'Robust' (1764), 'Magnificent' (1766), and 'Marlborough' (1767), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by Thomas Slade [Surveyor of the Navy, 1755-1771].

Captains
Source: http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=331 Retrieved 27 February 2017

• November 1776: Hyde Parker
• February 1778: Anthony Parrey
• 1779: John Laforey
• July 1779: Samuel Pitchford Cornish
• April 1780: George Falconer
• February 1781: Richard Bickerton
• May 1781: Charles Saxton
• May 1793: Thomas Pakenham
• December 1795: William Cayley
• February 1801: John Rennie

Shipwreck


HMS Invincible (1765)

On 16 March 1801, she was lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Norfolk, England. She had been sailing from Yarmouth under the flag of Rear-Admiral Thomas Totty in an effort to reach the fleet of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker in the Sound preparing for the upcoming attack on the Danish fleet, with approximately 650 people on board. As the ship passed the Norfolk coast, she was caught in heavy wind and stuck on the Hammond Knoll Rock off Happisburgh, where she was pinned for some hours in the afternoon before breaking free but immediately being grounded on a sandbank, where the effect of wind and waves tore down the masts and began to break up the ship. She remained in that position for all of the following day, but late in the evening drifted off the sandbank and sank in deep water.

The admiral and 195 sailors escaped the wreck, either in one of the ship's boats or were picked up by a passing collier and fishing boat, but over 400 of their shipmates drowned in the disaster, most of them once the ship began to sink in deeper water.

The compulsory court martial investigating the incident, held on Ruby in Sheerness, absolved the admiral and the captain (posthumously) of culpability in the disaster, posthumously blaming the harbour pilot and the ship's master, both of whom had been engaged to steer the ship through the reefs and shoals of the dangerous region, and should have known the location of Hammond Knoll, especially since it was daytime and in sight of land.

The remains of many of her crew were located by chance in a mass grave in Happisburgh churchyard during the digging of a new drainage channel. A memorial stone was erected in 1998 to their memory by the Ship's Company of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, and by the Happisburgh parochial church council.


Loss of HMS Ramillies, September 1782: before the storm breaks

The Ramillies-class ships of the line were a class of nine 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

Design
The draught for the Ramillies class was very similar to that of the Bellona class and subsequent Arrogant class, with the only real differences to be found in the shape of the underwater hull. There were two distinct sub-groups; four ships were built in the Royal Dockyards to the original design, approved on 25 April 1760 – although the name-ship Ramillies had originally been ordered as a Bellona-class unit. Slade subsequently amended his design for the ships which were to be built by commercial contractors – this modified design, with slightly amended dimensions, being approved on 13 January 1761.

Ships
First group
Dockyard-built ships:

• HMS Ramillies

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 1 December 1759
Laid down: 25 August 1760
Launched: 25 April 1763
Completed: November 1763
Fate: Abandoned and burned off Newfoundland, 21 September 1782.

• HMS Monarch

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 22 November 1760
Laid down: 2 June 1761
Launched: 20 July 1765
Completed: 24 September 1765
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, March 1813

• HMS Magnificent

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 16 December 1761
Laid down: 15 April 1762
Launched: 20 September 1767
Completed: September 1778
Fate: Wrecked off Brest, 25 March 1804.

• HMS Marlborough

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 4 December 1762
Laid down: 3 June 1763
Launched: 26 August 1767
Completed: 1 December 1767
Fate: Wrecked off Belle Île, 4 November 1800

Second (modified) group
Contract-built ships:


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

• HMS Terrible

Builder: John Barnard, Harwich
Ordered: 1 January 1761
Laid down: February 1761
Launched: 4 September 1762
Completed: 18 December 1762
Fate: Burned following the Battle of Chesapeake, 11 September 1781

• HMS Russell

Builder: Thomas West, Deptford
Ordered: 1 January 1761
Laid down: June 1761
Launched: 10 November 1764
Completed: 6 January 1765 at Woolwich Dockyard
Fate: Sold out of the service in the East Indies, 1811

• HMS Invincible

Builder: John and William Wells, Deptford
Ordered: 12 October 1761
Laid down: December 1761
Launched: 9 March 1765
Completed: February 1777 at Chatham Dockyard.
Fate: Wrecked off Yarmouth, 16 March 1801

• HMS Robust

Builder: John Barnard, Harwich
Ordered: 16 December 1761
Laid down: February 1762
Launched: 25 October 1764
Completed: 10 December 1764
Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth, January 1817

• HMS Prince of Wales

Builder: Henry Bird and Roger Fisher, Milford Haven
Ordered: 16 December 1762
Laid down: March 1762
Launched: 4 June 1765
Completed: 22 December 1770 at Plymouth Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Plymouth, August 1783


Loss of HMS 'Ramillies', September 1782: taking to the boats (Painting) (BHC2217)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Invincible_(1765)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramillies-class_ship_of_the_line

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1778 - HMS Ariadne (20), Cptn. Pringle, and HMS Ceres (18), Cptn. Dacres, took American frigate USS Alfred (20) off the Bahamas. Her consort USS Raleigh escaped.


On 9 March 1778, near Barbados, Ariadne and Ceres encountered two vessels belonging to the Continental Navy, Raleigh and Alfred. When the American ships attempted to flee, Alfred fell behind her faster consort. Shortly after noon the British men-of-war caught up with Alfred and forced her to surrender after a half an hour's battle. Her captors described Alfred as being of 300 tons and 180 men, and under the command of Elisha Hinsman


HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some midship section framing, longitudinal half-breadth for Ceres (1777), an 18-gun Ship Sloop. The plan states that she was based on the sheer of the captured French Pomona (captured 1761). Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].

HMS Ceres
Ceres was the only ship-sloop of her design. The British Admiralty ordered her in 1774 with the requirement that her design follow that of HMS Pomona, the 18-gun French sloop-of-war Cheveret, which the Royal Navy had captured on 30 January 1761 and that had disappeared, presumed foundered, during a hurricane in 1776.

Commander Samuel Warren commissioned Ceres in March 1777. In September, Commander James Dacres replaced Warren. Dacres sailed to the West Indies, arriving in December.

On 9 March 1778, near Barbados, Ariadne and Ceres encountered two vessels belonging to the Continental Navy, Raleigh and Alfred. When the American ships attempted to flee, Alfred fell behind her faster consort. Shortly after noon the British men-of-war caught up with Alfred and forced her to surrender after a half an hour's battle. Her captors described Alfred as being of 300 tons and 180 men, and under the command of Elisha Hinsman.

On 18 October 1778, Ceres captured the French privateer Tigre.

A little over a month later, on 17 December 1778, the French captured Ceres off St Lucia. Ceres was escorting a convoy of transport at the time, and Dacres acted to decoy the French 50-gun ship of the line Sagittaire and frigate Iphigénie away from the convoy, which Dacres sent on to Saint Lucia. After a chase of 48 hours, Dacres was forced to strike to Iphigénie as Sagittaire was only three miles astern and closing.

The British fleet under Admiral Barrington that had captured St Lucia, captured the American privateer Bunker Hill on 22 December 1778. Barrington decided to take her into service as HMS Surprize as she was a fast sailer and he had just been informed that the French had captured Ceres. Barrington also arranged an exchange of prisoners with the French, the crew of Bunker Hill for the crew of Ceres. Dacres subsequently returned to England.

Cérès
The French Navy coppered Cérès after they captured her. She came to be known as Petite Cérès to distinguish her from the French 32-gun frigate Cérès launched in 1779 (and broken up in 1797).

In 1779 Cérès was under the Marquis de Traversay. Under his command she seized numerous British transports. In October, Ceres participated in the attempt by French and Continental Army to retake Savannah. Despite the assistance of a French naval squadron commanded by Comte d'Estaing, the effort was a spectacular failure,

In 1780 Cérès was part of the fleet under Admiral the comte de Guichen. She participated in the battle of Martinique on 17 April, and in two subsequent fleet engagements on 15 and 19 May.

In September, Cérès arrived at Cadiz as a member of a squadron under Guichen that escorted 95 merchant vessels back from the West Indies. On 7 November, Admiral the Comte d'Estaing sortied from Cadiz with the Franco-Spanish fleet there. Cérès, under the command of Traversay, was in the Van Division. The fleet soon returned to port, not having accomplished anything.

Main article: Battle of the Mona Passage
Rodney's fleet recaptured Cérès in the Mona Passage in April 1782. The actual captor was Champion, under the command of Captain Alexander Hood. Champion was part of a squadron under Alexander Hood's brother, Sir Samuel Hood, which Rodney detached in the wake of the battle of the Saintes.

Cérès departed Guadeloupe on 15 April 1782.) On 19 April the British sighted five small French warships and gave chase to them, capturing four. Cérès was under the command of Baron de Peroy, who became friends with his captor, Alexander Hood. After the war Alexander Hood visited Peroy in France.

Because the Royal Navy had a new HMS Ceres, a 32-gun Fifth Rate launched in 1781, the Royal Navy renamed their capture HMS Raven.

HMS Raven
Between June and September 1782, Raven was at Plymouth, undergoing fitting. This included coppering.

In July 1782, Commander William Domett commissioned Raven. On 9 September Commander John Wells replaced Domett. At some point Wells sailed Raven to the West Indies.

On 5 January 1783, Raven was in company with the 74-gun Hercules off Montserrat when they sighted a strange sail. Raven sailed to investigate, but the strange vessel turned out to be a British merchantman, as did another. By this time Raven was well out of sight of Hercules.

That evening and the next day there was no wind. At about 10a.m. on the morning of 7 January, Raven sighted two frigates sailing towards her from the direction of Guadeloupe. Raven initially sailed towards them until she realized that they were not British frigates.

An all-day chase ensued until about 9p.m. when one of the frigates got within pistol-shot and fired a broadside that shot away Raven's main topgallant-mast. The chase continued until about 10:30 p.m. when one of the frigates was again in range, with the other coming up rapidly. At this point Raven, which was under the command of Commander John Wells, struck. The French Navy took Raven into service under the name Cérès. Wells and his crew remained prisoners of war until the end of the war a few months later.

Cérès
The French Navy returned Raven to her earlier name, Cérès.

Fate
The French Navy sold Cérès at Brest in 1791.


HMS Ariadne (1776) was a 20-gun post ship launched in 1776. She faced USS Alfred in 1778 and forced Alfred's surrender. Ariadne was rebuilt in 1792 to carry 24 guns, and was sold in 1814.


USS Raleigh was one of thirteen ships that the Continental Congress authorized for the Continental Navy in 1775. Following her capture in 1778, she served in the Royal Navy as HBMS Raleigh.


Model of Raleigh in the U.S. Navy Museum


Alfred was the merchant vessel Black Prince, named for Edward, the Black Prince, and launched in 1774. The Continental Navy of what would become the United States acquired her in 1775, renamed her USS Alfred after 9th century English monarch Alfred the Great, and commissioned her as a warship. She participated in two major actions, the battle of Nassau, and the action of 6 April 1776. The Royal Navy captured her in 1778, took her into service as HMS Alfred, and sold her in 1782. She then became the merchantman Alfred, and sailed between London and Jamaica.


Alfred flying the Grand Union Flag

HMS Ceres (1777) - Wikipedia

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USS Raleigh (1776) - Wikipedia

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USS Alfred - Wikipedia

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Ceres (1777) - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1784 – Launch of HMS Director, a 64-gun St. Albans class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Gravesend.


HMS Director was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1784 at Gravesend. She was laid down speculatively in November 1779, and ordered by the Navy the following year.



In 1797 Director was under the command of Captain William Bligh. In early 1797 he surveyed the Humber, preparing a map of the stretch from Spurn to the west of Sunk Island. In May, the crew mutinied during the Nore mutiny. The mutiny was not triggered by any specific actions by Bligh. On 12 October she took part in the Battle of Camperdown, where she captured the Dutch commander, Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter, and his flagship, Vrijheid.

Director was decommissioned in July 1800 and broken up at Chatham in January 1801.


Panoramic watercolour of ‘Director’ at far left, port broadside; coastal headland of Ram Head (Rame Head, southeast Cornwall), at right; three-masted vessel in far right distance, port bow view; the headland prominently features Saint Michael’s chapel (centre left) and Rame Church (centre right). Mounted with PAH0742, PAH0744.


H.M.S. Director 1784, at St Helenawith a view of Jamestown


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building 'Director' (1784), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Note that the name in the Admiralty stamp has been altered from 'Dictator' (1783). The dimensions for the two ships were very similar, which has lead to confusion over the identity of the which ship the plan relates to. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784] and Edward Hunt [Surveyor of the Navy, 1778-1784].

The St Albans-class ships of the line were a class of three 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

Design
Slade based the St Albans draught on that of his earlier 74-gun Bellona-class.

Ships

• HMS St Albans

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard, London
Ordered: 13 January 1761
Launched: 12 September 1764
Fate: Broken up, 1814

• HMS Augusta

Builder: Wells and Stanton, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 13 January 1761
Launched: 24 October 1763
Fate: Burned, 1777

• HMS Director

Builder: Clevely, Gravesend
Ordered: 2 August 1780
Launched: 9 March 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1801


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for 'Director' (1784), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker, building at Gravesend by Mr Cleverly.



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

St Albans-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1796 Boats of HMS Barfleur (98), HMS Egmont (74), HMS Bombay Castle (74) with two other 74s, brought out the captured British frigate Nemesis (28), French ship-corvette Sardine (18) and brig-corvette Postillon from the neutral port of Tunis.


On 9 March 1796, Nemesis was anchored in the neutral harbour of Tunis, together with Sardine, under the command of Enseigne de vaisseu Icard (acting), and Postillon. The British sent a squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave to recapture Nemesis. Boats from Egmont, Barfleur and Bombay Castle attacked the French ships and captured all three. The squadron also included Zealous, Tartar, and the cutter Fox. The British took the three men who had defected from Nemesis to Sardine and hanged them.

Admiral Jervis sent Nemesis, Sardine, and Postillon to Ajaccio. (Lloyd's List reported that Barfleur escorted Nemesis and Sardine to San Fiorenzo. He had Postillon repaired and painted before selling her to Sir Gilbert Elliot the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, for onward transfer to the Dey of the Regency of Algiers. Nemesis returned to British service, and Sardine was brought into the Royal Navy.


Model of HMS Egmont, 74-gun ship, 3rd rate, launched 1768.

Sardine was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1771. The Royal Navy captured her at the Siege of Toulon but the French retook her when the Anglo-Spanish force retreated. The Royal Navy captured her again in 1796. She then served as HMS Sardine until the Royal Navy sold her in 1806.



French career
Sardine was built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried 16.

She served in the Mediterranean during the Ancien Régime. In 1792 she was under the command of Lieutenant de vaiseau the chevalier de Bellon de Sainte-Marguerite and served as an escort in the Levant. She was at Smyrna in March, and then cruised the Aegean Sea. Next, she escorted a convoy from Smyrna to Cape Matapan, and then protected French trade between Tripoli (Syria)and Alexandria. Lastly, she escorted a convoy from Cyprus to Marseilles in October.

In August 1793 an Anglo-Spanish force captured Toulon and Royalist forces turned over to them the French naval vessels in the port. When the Anglo-Spanish force had to leave in December, they took with them the best vessels and tried to burn the remainder. Although some reports have the Anglo-Spanish forces capturing her and then leaving her behind, she does not appear on an English list of vessels captured, burnt, or otherwise disposed off.

On 9 December 1795, Sardine was part of Gantaume's squadron. She, the frigate Sensible, and the corvette Rossignol captured the 28-gun HMS Nemesis, which had grounded and after refloating had anchored out of range of the fort in the neutral port of Smyrna. The French warships entered the harbour in disregard of its neutrality and called on Nemesis to surrender, which she did when the French refused to honour the port's neutrality and fired on Nemesis. Three men from Nemesis, a sailor and two Royal Marines, defected to the French and joined Sardine.

After the capture in British service
Sardine was brought into British service as the sloop-of-war HMS Sardine and commissioned under Commander W. Wilkinson. By July Jervis had appointed Commander Edward Killwick, of Saturn to command her. In July 1796, Admiral Lord Nelson took Sardine with him to blockade Leghorn but remarked:

The Sardine cannot move in light airs, she is so very foul; and to say the truth, she has not the men to manage her, although I am sure that Captain Killwick does all in his power.

On 15 September 1796 Sardine captured the Spanish brig St. Juan Baptise. On 20 September Sardine attempted to enter the port at Genoa but was driven away by gunfire. Sardinewas part of a squadron under Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, in Excellent, and also containing the cutter Resolution, at Bastia before the British evacuated it in October.

In early 1797 Dido and Sardine escorted a convoy of 13 merchantmen from Elba to Gibraltar. In March Commander A. Kempe took command of Sardine. Then Commander Edward Killwick replaced Kempe in May. Sardine was formally named and registered on 27 June 1798.

In May 1798 Killwick was appointed to command the Southwark Sea Fencibles. Sardine then essentially disappears from view. As Nelson had already remarked that she was foul, it is highly likely that Killwick had sailed her to Britain where she was paid off, registered, and ignored.

Fate
From 1805, she was at Portsmouth in ordinary. She was offered for sale in September 1806, and was sold later that year and broken up.


HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.



British service
Nemesis was first commissioned in January 1780 under the command of Captain Richard Rodney Bligh. Nemesis was in company with Viper on 3 January 1781 when they captured the Dutch vessel Catherine. Then she captured the French privateer Allianceon 5 June. She was paid off from wartime service in 1784. Lastly, Nemesis was among the vessels sharing in the proceeds of the capture on 30 March 1783 of the Dutch ship Arendt op Zee. She was paid off in May 1784 after wartime service.

Between December 1787 and November 1789 Nemesis was at Deptford undergoing a major repair. Batson, Limehouse, fitted her for sea between May and September 1790. Captain Alexander Ball commissioned her in may , but then paid her off in 1792.

French Revolutionary Wars


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile plan for the Enterprize Class 1770: Enterprize (1774), Siren (1773), Fox (1773), Surprize (1774), Acteon (1775), Medea (1778), Serpine (1777), Andromeda (1777), Aurora (1777), Sibyl (1779), Brilliant (1779), Pomona (1778), Crescent (1779), Nemesis (1780), Resource (1778), Mercury (1779), Cyclops (1779), Vestal (1779), Laurel (1779), Pegasus (1779), and with modifications, written in green ink, for Hussar (1784), Rose (1783), Dido (1784), Thisbe (1783), Alligator (1787), Circe (1783), Lapwing (1785), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates building at various Royal and private yards. The reverse of the plan shows a section through the deck for the after Bitts as they appear face on, from upper deck to keel.


Captain J. Woodey commissioned her in October 1792. He sailed for the Mediterranean on 26 April 1793. By September, Nemesis was under the command of Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk.

On 28 and 29 August 1793, a Spanish-British force captured Toulon in the opening act of what would become the siege of Toulon. They would hold it until December when they would evacuate. Nemesis was among the vessels sharing in the prize money for the capture.

Captain Samuel Hood Linzee replaced Beauclerk in March 1794. Nemesis was among the many vessels and troops sharing in the proceeds of the capture of Calvi, Corsica, on 10 August 1794.

Capture and recapture
On 9 December 1795, part of Gantaume's squadron, consisting of the frigate Sensible, and the corvettes Sardine and Rossignol, captured Nemesis, which had grounded and after refloating had anchored out of range of the fort in the neutral port of Smyrna.

According to British accounts, the French warships entered the harbour in disregard of its neutrality and called on Nemesis to surrender, which she did when the French refused to honour the port's neutrality and fired on her. French accounts, on the other hand, state that a British officer was invited on Sensible to acknowledge that Nemesis was outside the protected neutral zone, before Sensiblewas called on to surrender, to which her captain agreed after a token shot would be fired. Three men from Nemesis, a sailor and two Royal Marines, defected to the French and joined Sardine.

On 9 March 1796, Nemesis was anchored in the neutral harbour of Tunis, together with Sardine and Postillon. The British sent a squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave to recapture Nemesis. The ships of the line Egmont, Barfleur, Bombay Castle, and Zealous, along with the frigate HMS Tartar and the cutter Fox, anchored in the bay. Ensign Chautard, of Némésis, was invited aboard Barfleur and informed that diplomatic relations between Tunis and England had been broken, that England would soon declare war on Tunis, and that he would therefore to renounce the neutrality of the harbour. The British then threatened to sink the French ships if they did not strike their colours. Resistance being futile in the face of these overwhelming odds, the French surrendered and boats from the ships of the line took possession of the ships.

The British took the three men who had defected from Nemesis to Sardine and hanged them. The other crew members of the three ships were released ashore. The fourth French vessel, Gerfaut, refused to surrender, preferring to scuttle, and she thrice repelled assaults from the British boats before beaching herself. In the automatic court-martial for the loss of the ships, Ensign Chautard was acquitted due to the disproportion of forces.

Admiral Jervis sent Nemesis, Sardine, and Postillon to Ajaccio. He had Postillon repaired and painted before selling her to Sir Gilbert Elliot the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, for onward transfer to the Dey of the Regency of Algiers. Nemesis returned to British service, and Sardine was brought into the Royal Navy.


A portrait of a model of the 'Enterprise', 28 guns, starboard-quarter view. It has been depicted fixed to a table base, with a label on the side that reads 'Enterprise 28 Guns 200 Men'. The finely detailed painting was part of a commission of twelve perspective paintings, each of a different class, ordered by King George III. Each was accompanied by a memorandum describing the improvements in design that had been introduced since 1745. The work of producing these perspectives from the original Navy Board plans of the ships was divided between several draughtsmen, Joseph Williams and J Binmer, while Joseph Marshall painted all the pictures. Their task was completed in August 1775. The model of the 'Enterprise' has been placed in a corner of a room, implied by the decorated wall behind featuring classical figures, and a wall frieze. The painting is signed and dated 'J Marshall pt. 1777'.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Sardine_(1771)

HMS Nemesis (1780) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1796 - French brig Lacedemonienne (1793), captured by the British near Barbados, renamed HMS Lacedemonian (or Lacedaemonian),


HMS Lacedemonian (or Lacedaemonian) was the French brig Lacedemonienne, launched in 1793, that the British captured in 1796 near Barbados. She was at the capture of Saint Lucia in May of the next year, but the French re-captured her a year after that.



Capture
Pique and Charon captured Lacedemonian on 9 March 1796 to the windward of Barbados. She was described as a privateer brig of 14 guns and 90 men. The British took her into service and commissioned her in May under the command of the newly promoted Commander George Sayer.

Service
She was part of the expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh C. Christian at the capture of the island of Saint Lucia in May 1796. Commander Thomas Boys replaced Sayer and he sailed Lacedemonian to Martinique. Boys received promotion to post-captain on 3 July 1796. His replacement was Commander Thomas Harvey. In October Lacedemonian was in company with Berbice sailing between Martinique and Dominica when they separated during a dark, wet night on 26 October. Berbice wrecked on Scotsman's Head, Dominica.

Shortly thereafter Harvey transferred to Pelican. Commander Matthew Wrench took command on 27 March 1797.

Fate
Lacedemonian was under Wrench's command when the French captured her on 6 April 1797. She was patrolling near Point Salines, Grenada, when she encountered a sloop. Lacedemonian gave chase for much of the day, when towards late afternoon another sloop appeared and started to chase Lacedomonian, while firing some random shots from long range. Lacedemonium gave up her chase and turned her attention towards her pursuer. Eventually, the newcomer caught up and Wrench stopped, with his crew at quarters. The newcomer did not display a flag but replied to queries in English. Lacedemonian's crew relaxed, so when the newcomer sent over a boat with armed men, and ran into Lacedemonian, they were taken by surprise. Wrench tried to organize resistance but the attackers knocked him down and took over the brig. The subsequent court martial ordered a severe reprimand for Wrench for having allowed himself to be caught unprepared.

HMS Lacedemonian (1796) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 March 1797 - HMS San Fiorenzo (38), Cptn. Sir H. Burrard Neale, and HMS Nymphe (36) captured French frigate Resistance (40) and corvette Constance (22) off Brest.


Capture of Résistance and Constance


San Fiorenzo (far left) and Nymphe (second from right) capture Résistance and Constance, 9 March 1797. Oil painting by Nicholas Pocock.

On 9 March 1797 St Fiorenzo was sailing in company with Captain John Cooke's Nymphe, when they sighted two sails heading for Brest. These turned out to be the French frigate Résistance and the corvette Constance, returning from the short-lived, quixotic and unsuccessful French raid on Fishguard in Wales, where they had landed troops. Cooke and Neale chased after them, and engaged them for half an hour, after which both French ships surrendered.

There were no casualties or damage on either of the British ships. Resistance had ten men killed and nine wounded; Constance had eight men killed and six wounded.

Resistance had 48 guns, with 18-pounders on her main deck, and a crew of 345 men. Constance had twenty-four 9-pounder guns, and a crew of 181 men. The Royal Navy took both into service. Résistance became HMS Fisgard, while Constance retained her name. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 8 March 1797" to surviving claimants from the action.



Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She operated in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary Wars. Her crew scuttled her at Saint-Florent to avoid capture when the British invaded Corsica in 1794, but the British managed to raise her and recommissioned her in the Royal Navy as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS St Fiorenzo (also San Fiorenzo).



She went on to serve under a number of the most distinguished naval commanders of her age, in theatres ranging from the English Channel to the East Indies. During this time she was active against enemy privateers, and on several occasions she engaged ships larger than herself, being rewarded with victory on each occasion. She captured the 40-gun Résistance and the 22-gun Constance in 1797, the 36-gun Psyché in 1805, and the 40-gun Piémontaise in 1808. (These actions would earn the crew members involved clasps to the Naval General Service Medal.) After she became too old for frigate duties, the Admiralty had her converted for successively less active roles. She initially became a troopship and then a receiving ship. Finally she was broken up in 1837 after a long period as a lazarette.


St Fiorenzo escapes the mutiny


HMS Nymphe was a fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, formerly the French La Nymphe. HMS Flora, under the command of Captain William Peere Williams, captured Nymphe off Ushant on 10 August 1780. Indiscriminately referred to as Nymph, Nymphe, La Nymph or La Nymphe in contemporary sources, she served during the American, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. On 19 May 1793, while under the command of Captain Edward Pellew, she captured the frigate Cléopâtre, the first French warship captured in a single-ship action of the war. After a long period of service in which she took part in several notable actions and made many captures, Nymphe was wrecked off the coast of Scotland on 18 December 1810.


Résistance was a Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. She was captured by HMS St Fiorenzo in 1797 and taken into British service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.



French career
The French Navy ordered her on 8 March 1793 as Fidélité, but she was renamed Résistance while still on the stocks. In 1797 she served as a troop ship, ferrying the Légion Noire to Cardigan Bay during the Battle of Fishguard. On 9 March 1797, HMS St Fiorenzo and Nymphe, captured her, along with Constance.

British career
The Royal Navy took Résistance into service as the first HMS Fisgard, naming her after the town of Fishguard because of her role in the battle. On 20 October 1798 she captured Immortalité.

Between 20 July 1800 and 2 August, Captain T.B. Martin and Fisgard captured four vessels:

• St. John Baptiste, a Spanish lugger, that she burnt:
• Gironde a French privateer of 16 guns and 141 men. Gironde had been a particularly successful and active vessel. She had on board 53 English prisoners, the masters and crews of four vessels that she had captured;
• Alerte, a French privateer of 14 guns and 84 men. She was only six days out of Bordeaux and had been sent out to intercept the homeward bound West India convoy; and
• Joseph, an English South Seas whaler that had been a prize to the French privateer Minerve.

Fisgard may also have recaptured four of Gironde's prizes:

• Swan sloop, Andrew Miller, Master, from Oporto and carrying wine;
• Countess of Lauderdale, Thomas Bennett, master, from Deraerary, carrying sugar and cotton;
• Active brig,Benjamin Tucker, master, from Bermuda, carrying sugar and cotton; and
• Young William, Charles Bacon, master, returning from the South Sea's with a cargo of (whale) oil. Young William was certainly recaptured and sent into Cork.

On 15 May 1801 Fisgard, and the hired armed cutters Hirondelle and Earl Spencer, recaptured the brig Victory from the French. Then on 7 July Fisgard was at Plymouth when the gun-vessel HMS Augustus ran aground under the Royal Citadel, Plymouth. Fisgard sent her boats to assist and the crew and some of the stores were saved, but the vessel herself was a wreck.

On 17 November 1805 Fisgard collided with Ceres off Madeira, severely damaging her. Ceres was declared a total loss on her arrival at Barbadoes from London.

Fate
The Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Royal Navy offered "Fisgard, of 38 guns and 1182 tons", lying at Portsmouth, for sale on 11 August 1814. The buyer had to post a bond of £3,000, with two guarantors, that the buyers would break up the vessel within a year of purchase.





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

HMS Nymphe (1780) - Wikipedia

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HMS St Fiorenzo (1794) - Wikipedia

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