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

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 March 1938 – Launch of HMS Belfast, a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy.


HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum.


HMS Belfast at her London berth, painted in Admiralty pattern Disruptive Camouflage

Construction of Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the capital city of Northern Ireland and one of ten Town-class cruisers, began in December 1936. She was launched on St Patrick's Day 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939, Belfast struck a German mine and, in spite of fears that she would be scrapped, spent more than two years undergoing extensive repairs. Belfast returned to action in November 1942 with improved firepower, radar equipment, and armour. Belfast saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during 1943 and in December 1943 played an important role in the Battle of North Cape, assisting in the destruction of the German warship Scharnhorst. In June 1944, Belfast took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings. In June 1945, Belfast was redeployed to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet, arriving shortly before the end of the Second World War. Belfast saw further combat action in 1950–52 during the Korean War and underwent an extensive modernisation between 1956 and 1959. A number of further overseas commissions followed before Belfast entered reserve in 1963.

In 1967, efforts were initiated to avert Belfast's expected scrapping and to preserve her as a museum ship. A joint committee of the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum, and the Ministry of Defence was established and then reported in June 1968 that preservation was practical. In 1971, the government decided against preservation, prompting the formation of the private HMS Belfast Trust to campaign for her preservation. The efforts of the Trust were successful, and the government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London, she was moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in the Pool of London. Opened to the public in October 1971, Belfast became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978. A popular tourist attraction, Belfast receives over a quarter of a million visitors per year.[8] As a branch of a national museum and part of the National Historic Fleet, Belfast is supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, admissions income, and the museum's commercial activities.


Design


Shells in a rack in the underwater magazine serving the "A" turret of Belfast.

Belfast is a cruiser of the third Town class. The Town class had originated in 1933 as the Admiralty's response to the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mogami-class cruiser, an 11,200-ton cruiser mounting fifteen 6-inch (152 mm) guns with a top speed exceeding 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The Admiralty's requirement called for a 9,000-ton cruiser, sufficiently armoured to withstand a direct hit from an 8-inch (203 mm) shell, capable of 32 knots (59 km/h) and mounting twelve 6-inch guns. Seaplanes carried aboard would enable shipping lanes to be patrolled over a wide area, and the class was also to be capable of its own anti-aircraft defence. Under the Director of Naval Construction the new design evolved during 1933. The lead ship of the new class, the 9,100-ton HMS Southampton, and her sister HMS Newcastle, were ordered under the 1933 estimates. Three more cruisers were built to this design, with a further three ships built to a slightly larger 9,400-ton design in 1935–36. By 1935, however, the Admiralty was keen to improve the firepower of these cruisers to match the firepower of the Japanese Mogami and American Brooklyn-class cruisers; both were armed with fifteen 6-inch guns. The Admiralty rejected a design featuring five triple turrets as impractical, while an alternative design fitting four quadruple turrets was rejected as an effective quadruple turret could not be developed. In May 1936 the Admiralty decided to fit triple turrets, whose improved design would permit an increase in deck armour. This modified design became the 10,000-ton Edinburgh subclass, named after Belfast's sister ship HMS Edinburgh. Belfast was ordered from Harland and Wolff on 21 September 1936, and her keel laid on 10 December 1936. Her expected cost was £2,141,514; of which the guns cost £75,000 and the aircraft (two Supermarine Walruses) £66,500. She was launched on Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March 1938, by Anne Chamberlain, the wife of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The launch was filmed by Pathe . From March to August 1939, Belfast was fitted out and underwent sea trials.


Diagram of one of Belfast's boilers.

When completed, Belfast had an overall length of 613 feet 6 inches (187.0 m), a beam of 63 feet 4 inches (19.3 m) and a draught of 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m). Her standard displacement during her sea trials was 10,420 long tons (10,590 t).[4] She was propelled by four three-drum oil-fired Admiralty water-tube boilers, turning Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts. She was capable of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) and carried 2,400 long tons (2,400 t) of fuel oil. This gave her a maximum range of 8,664 nautical miles (16,046 km; 9,970 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).

Belfast's main armament comprised twelve Mk XXIII 6-inch guns in four triple turrets. With a rate of fire of up to eight rounds per gun per minute, her main battery was capable of a total maximum rate of fire of 96 rounds per minute. Her secondary armament comprised twelve 4-inch guns in six twin mounts. Her initial close-range anti-aircraft armament was sixteen 2-pounder "pom-pom" guns in two eight-barrel mountings, and two quadruple Vickers .50 machine guns. She also mounted six Mk IV 21-inch torpedo tubes in two triple mounts, and fifteen Mk VII depth charges.

Belfast was protected by a 4.5-inch (114 mm) main armour belt, with deck armour of 3 inches (76 mm) over her magazines, and 2 inches (51 mm) over her machinery spaces. Her six-inch turrets were protected by up to 4 inches (102 mm) of armour.


One of Belfast's Supermarine Walrus aircraft, photographed in an Icelandic fjord, 1942–1943.

Belfast's aviation capability was provided by two catapult-launched Supermarine Walrus amphibious biplanes. These could be launched from a D1H catapult mounted aft of the forward superstructure, and recovered from the water by two cranes mounted on either side of the forward funnel. The aircraft, operated by the Fleet Air Arm's HMS Belfast Flight of 700 Naval Air Squadron, were stowed in two hangars in the forward superstructure.



HMS Belfast at her London berth, painted in Admiralty pattern Disruptive Camouflage


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast_(C35)

Town-class cruiser (1936) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 March 1943 – Launch of SS Timothy Bloodworth, a standard Liberty ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II.
Her total construction time from keel laying to delivery was 77 days.


SS Timothy Bloodworth was a standard Liberty ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The vessel was built by Delta Shipbuilding Company of New Orleans in 1943. She was named in honor of Timothy Bloodworth, an American teacher who made muskets and bayonets during the American Revolutionary War, then went on to become a statesman in North Carolina.

The ship was laid down in February 1943, launched in March, and delivered in April. Powered by a triple expansion steam engine manufactured by the Hamilton Engine Company, she was capable of a speed of 11 knots. She served in many transatlantic convoys supporting the buildup for and supply of the Allied invasion of Western Europe. On 24 December 1944, SS Timothy Bloodworth became the first ship to be damaged by a German V-2 rocket. Postwar, her periods of active service alternated with time in reserve, until she was sold for scrap in 1963.


Timothy Bloodworth was a standard liberty ship, similar to SS John W. Brown, seen here.

Design and construction
Liberty ships were a type of cargo ship with a uniform design intended to be quickly built for wartime needs during World War II. In general, Liberty ships were named after famous Americans, and Timothy Bloodworth was named for Timothy Bloodworth, a teacher and statesman from North Carolina. The ship was the 44th of 188 Liberty ships built by Delta Shipbuilding Company of New Orleans. Timothy Bloodworth (USMC hull number 1033) was laid down on 2 February 1943 on way number 8. She was launched on 17 March after spending 41 days on the ways. Timothy Bloodworth was completed on 22 April, after 36 days fitting out on the water. Her total construction time from keel laying to delivery was 77 days.

Timothy Bloodworth was 7,191 gross register tons (GRT) and was 441 feet 7 inches (134.59 m) long (length overall) and 56 feet 9 inches (17.30 m) abeam. She was electrically welded, and had a deadweight tonnage of 10,865 DWT. Like all Liberty ships, she had a single triple-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller. Timothy Bloodworth's engine was built by the Hamilton Engine Co. of Hamilton, Ohio, and propelled the freighter at speeds of up to 11 knots (20 km/h). Her boilers were oil-fired.


In her career, SS Timothy Bloodworth sailed in several transatlantic convoys, like this typical one seen in 1942.

SS Timothy Bloodworth - Wikipedia

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Liberty ship - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 March 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.


The 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, or the Palomares incident, occurred on 17 January 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard.


The B28RI nuclear bomb, recovered from 2,850 feet (870 m) of water, on the deck of the USS Petrel.

Of the four Mk28-type hydrogen bombs the B-52G carried, three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. The non-nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a 0.77-square-mile (2 km2) area by plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a 2 1⁄2-month-long search.


Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. The rack hanging at the bow holds sample containers.

Alvin (DSV-2) is a manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group[2] in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Named to honor the prime mover and creative inspiration for the vehicle, Allyn Vine, Alvin was commissioned on 5 June 1964. The submersible is launched from the deep submergence support vessel RV Atlantis (AGOR-25), which is also owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by WHOI. The submersible has made more than 4,400 dives, carrying two scientists and a pilot, to observe the lifeforms that must cope with super-pressures and move about in total darkness, as well as exploring the wreck of Titanic. Research conducted by Alvin has been featured in nearly 2,000 scientific papers.

Design


Emergency separation


General layout

Alvin was designed as a replacement for bathyscaphes and other less maneuverable oceanographic vehicles. Its more nimble design was made possible in part by the development of syntactic foam, which is buoyant and yet strong enough to serve as a structural material at great depths.

The vessel weighs 17 tons. It allows for two scientists and one pilot to dive for up to nine hours at 4,500 meters (14,800 ft). The submersible features two robotic arms and can be fitted with mission-specific sampling and experimental gear. The plug hatch of the vessel is 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in) in diameter and somewhat thicker than the 2-inch (51 mm) thick titanium sphere pressure hull; it is held in place by the pressure of the water above it.

In an emergency, if Alvin were stuck underwater with occupants inside, the outer body, or cladding, of the submersible could be released and discarded using controls inside the hull. The titanium sphere would then rise to the surface uncontrolled.

Harold E. Froehlich was one of the principal designers of Alvin.

History
Early career
Alvin, first of its ship class of deep submergence vehicle (DSV), was built to dive to 2,440 meters (8,010 ft). Each of the Alvin-class DSVs have different depth capabilities. However Alvin is the only one seconded to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with the others staying with the United States Navy.

Alvin's first deep sea tests took place off Andros Island, the Bahamas, where it made a successful 12-hour, unmanned tethered 7,500-foot (2,300 m) test dive. On 20 July 1965 Alvin made its first 6,000-foot (1,800 m) manned dive for the Navy to obtain certification. On 17 March 1966, Alvin was used to locate a submerged 1.45-megaton hydrogen bomb lost in a United States Air Force midair accident over Palomares, Spain. The bomb, found resting nearly 910 m (2,990 ft) deep, was raised intact on 7 April. On 6 July 1967, the Alvin was attacked by a swordfish during dive 202. The swordfish became trapped in the Alvin's skin, and the Alvin was forced to make an emergency surface. The attack took place at 2,000 feet (610 m) below the surface. The fish was recovered at the surface and cooked for dinner. During Dive 209, on 24 September 1968 Alvin found an F6F Hellcat, #42782, 125 miles southeast of Nantucket.[4] The aircraft had ditched 30 September 1944 during carrier qualifications; the pilot survived.


The DSV Alvin on the fantail (stern) of the R/V Atlantis following a dive. On the right side of the photograph the A-frame crane can be seen that lowers Alvin into the water and on the left, Alvin's hangar.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Palomares_B-52_crash

DSV Alvin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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


1638 – Launch of french Dauphin 24 guns (launched 17 March 1638 at Le Havre) - condemned May 1661


1694 – Launch of HMS Sunderland was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Southampton

HMS Sunderland was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Southampton on 17 March 1694.
Sunderland was hulked in 1715, and sunk as part of the foundation of a breakwater in 1737.

HMS Sunderland (1694) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1698 – Launch of HMS Winchester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard Wells at Greenland North Dockyard, Rotherhithe

HMS Winchester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard Wells at Greenland North Dockyard, Rotherhithe and launched on 17 March 1698.
She was rebuilt to the 1706 Establishment at Plymouth Dockyard, and was relaunched on 10 October 1717. Winchester was hulked in 1744, and served in this role until 1781, when she was broken up.
She was captained from 1712 to 1714 by Sir Tancred Robinson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Winchester_(1698)


1723 – Launch of French Phénix 74 (launched 17 March 1723 at Toulon) - taken to pieces in 1751.

Duc d'Orléans Class. Four ships built at Toulon to a design by René Levasseur, 1719.
Duc d'Orléans 74 (launched 13 August 1722 at Toulon) - hulked 1748 and taken to pieces in 1766.
Phénix 74 (launched 17 March 1723 at Toulon) - taken to pieces in 1751.
Espérance 74 (launched 8 August 1723 at Toulon) - captured and burnt by the British 11 November 1755.
Ferme 74 (launched 11 November 1723 at Toulon) - converted to careening hulk 1755.


1752 – Launch of spanish Asia 64 (launched 17 March 1752 at Ferrol) - Scuttled 11 June 1762

San Fernando class
San Fernando 64 (launched 1751 at Ferrol) - Wrecked 3 January 1769
Castilla 64 (launched 1751 at Ferrol) - wrecked 1771
Asia 64 (launched 17 March 1752 at Ferrol) - Scuttled 11 June 1762


1794 – Launch of HMS Diamond, a Artois-class frigate

The Artois class were a series of nine frigates built to a 1793 design by Sir John Henslow, which served in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Seven of these ships were built by contract with commercial builders, while the remaining pair (Tamar and Clyde) were dockyard-built - the latter built using "fir" (pitch pine) instead of the normal oak.
They were armed with a main battery of 28 eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate. Besides this battery, they also carried two 9-pounders together with twelve 32-pounder carronades on the quarter deck, and another two 9-pounders together with two 32-pounder carronades on the forecastle.



Scale: 1:48. A design block model of the ‘Artois’, a 38-gun frigate, built by Wells of Rotherhithe in 1794. The model is scenic, and is represented on a slipway, with complete with its launching flags. It carries a plaque inscribed ‘Artois tons 996 Guns 38 Built 1794. On a launch. This model represents the mode of launching ships in HM Dockyards at the present time, and was accepted subsequent to 1795’. ‘Artois’ captured several French ships before being wrecked near La Rochelle in 1797. The model was displayed in the naval museum in Somerset House, open to the public in 1838.


Lines (ZAZ2383)

Artois-class frigate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1795 – Launch of French Formidable, an 80-gun Tonnant class ship of the line of the French Navy,

Formidable was an 80-gun Tonnant class ship of the line of the French Navy, laid down in August 1794 and given the name Formidable, on 5 October, but renamed Figuieres on 4 December 1794, although the name was restored to Formidable on 31 May 1795 after she was launched at Toulon on 17 March 1795. She participated in the Battle of Algeciras, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and several other actions before the British captured her at the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November 1805. The British took her into service as HMS Brave. She was sold to be broken up in April 1816.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Tonnant (captured 1798), a captured French 80-gun ship, as fitted as an 80-gun, Third Rate, two-decker. The plan illustrates her British configuration after a refit at Plymouth Dockyard between January and March 1806. The plan was sent to the Navy Office in October 1810. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipright, Plymouth Dockyard 1802-1813].

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

Tonnant-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1796 HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Sir Sidney Smith, HMS Liberty (14), Lt. George M'Kinley, and HMS Aristocrat (12), Lt. Abraham Gossett, took and destroyed enemy vessls at Port Spergni.

HMS Diamond (1794), a fifth-rate launched at Deptford in 1794 and broken up in 1812
HMS Liberty (1779) was a cutter purchased in 1779, later re-rigged as a brig, and sold in Barbados in 1816.


1798: Die Niederländische Ostindien-Kompanie, eines der größten Handelsunternehmen seiner Zeit, wird nach 196-jährigem Bestehen aufgelöst.

Niederländische Ostindien-Kompanie – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

1804 HMS Penguin (16), G. Morris, drove aground French privateer schooner Renommee, Citizen Renaud, on the bar at Senegal. She was set on fire and destroyed by the ships boats on the 24th.

The Dutch brig Komeet was launched in 1789 at Amsterdam. HMS Unicorn captured her on the Irish station in 1795. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Comeet; it renamed her HMS Penguin in 1798. It sold her in 1808.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline and some decoration, the sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Penguin (captured 1795), a captured Dutch brig. The plan illustrates her as fitted in her British configuration as a 16-gun Brig Sloop although she retains her Dutch name of Comeet on the plan. The plan includes a table of the mast and yard dimensions. Signed by Edward Tippett [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_brig_Komeet_(1789)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1806 Boats of HMS Pique (14), Charles Bayne Hodgson Ross, captured Spanish armed schooner Santa Clara off Ocoa Bay


1807 British disembarkation at Alexandria.

The Alexandria expedition of 1807 or Fraser expedition (Arabic:حملة فريزر) was an operation by the Royal Navy and the British Army during the Anglo-Turkish War (1807–1809) of the Napoleonic Wars to capture Alexandria in Egypt with the purpose of securing a base of operations against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of a larger strategyagainst the Ottoman-French alliance of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III.[1] It resulted in the occupation of Alexandria from 18 March to 25 September 1807.[2] The people of Alexandria, being disaffected towards Muhammad Ali, opened the gates of the city to the British forces, allowing for one of the easiest conquests of a city by the British forces during the Napoleonic Wars. However, due to lack of supplies, and inconclusive operations against the Egyptian forces, the Expedition was forced to embark the transports again, and leave Alexandria, not having reached any specific goals towards influencing the Ottoman Empire's improving relations with France.

Alexandria expedition of 1807 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1863 – Launch of USS Shamrock (1863)

USS Shamrock (1863) was a large (974 ton) seaworthy steamer with powerful guns, acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
During the war, she participated in the operation of placing a spar torpedo into the dreaded CSS Albemarle, allowing Shamrock to sail on with the Union fleet to attack and capture Plymouth, North Carolina. After the war, she served in the Caribbean and voyaged to Europe prior to final decommissioning.

USS Shamrock - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1865 – Launch of HSwMS John Ericsson was the lead ship of the John Ericsson-class monitors built for the Royal Swedish Navy

HSwMS John Ericsson was the lead ship of the John Ericsson-class monitors built for the Royal Swedish Navy in the mid-1860s. She was designed under the supervision of the Swedish-born inventor, John Ericsson, and built in Sweden. John Ericsson made one foreign visit to Russia in 1867, but remained in Swedish or Norwegian waters (at the time, Sweden and Norway were united in personal union) for the rest of her career. The ship was reconstructed between 1892 and 1895, but generally remained in reserve. She was mobilized during World War I and sold in 1919 for conversion to a barge.



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


1866 – Launch of SS (RMS) Tynwald (II), No. 45474, was an iron paddle-steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company,

SS (RMS) Tynwald (II), No. 45474, was an iron paddle-steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the second vessel in the Company to bear the name.
She was the third of three sisters to come from the Greenock yards of Caird & Co., her two older siblings being Snaefell and Douglas.


Tynwald (left) & Douglas (right) pictured in Douglas Bay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Tynwald_(1866)


1898 - John Hollands submarine, Holland IV, performs the first successful diving and surfacing tests off Staten Island, N.Y.

John Philip Holland - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1918 - Tripoli – The Italian passenger steamship was torpedoed and sunk on 17 March 1918 off Sardinia by UB-49. She sank slowly, but 268 out of the 457 people aboard were killed. Other sources report 288 killed and 189 survivors, or more than 300 victims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_UB-49


1944 - USS Block Island (CVE 21) torpedo bomber aircraft from Composite Squadron (VC 6), along with USS Corry (DD 463) and USS Bronstein (DE 189), sink German submarine U 801 west of Cape Verdes.


1945 - USS Sealion (SS 315) sinks Bangkok-bound Thai oiler Samui off Trengganu coast, while USS Spot (SS 413) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks army cargo vessel Nanking Maru off Yushiyama Island and damages cargo Ikomasan Maru, beached off Matsu Island.


1959 - USS Skate (SSN-578) becomes the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, traveling 3,000 miles in and under Arctic ice for more than a month.


2006 - On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy exercised his authority to strike Iowa and Wisconsin from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museums;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wisconsin_(BB-64)

USS Iowa (BB-61) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1748 - The Action of 18 March 1748
was a naval engagement during the War of Jenkins' Ear in which a fleet of six Royal Naval vessels captured a number of merchantman in a successful engagement against a Spanish convoy escorted by nine ships of the line and frigates.


The Action of 18 March 1748 was a naval engagement during the War of Jenkins' Ear in which a fleet of six Royal Naval vessels captured a number of merchantman in a successful engagement against a Spanish convoy escorted by nine ships of the line and frigates.



Battle
Six British warships were patrolling off Cape St Vincent under the command of Captain Thomas Cotes.
They ranged in size from the 70-gun HMS Edinburgh, under Cotes's command,
through the 60-gun Eagle, Windsor, and Princess Louisa,
to the 24-gun Inverness and the frigate Gax.
Lookouts sighted a Spanish convoy, and Cotes pursued it. The British caught up with the tail end of the convoy and an action ensued.

The escorting Spanish ships of the line were
Soberbio (74), Leon (74), Oriente (70), Colorado (70), Brillante (64), Pastora (64), Rosario (60), Xavier (54) and Galga (54).
Three register ships, from Cadiz to Vera Cruz, and two others for Carthagena, were intercepted and captured out of a Spanish fleet of 17 merchantmen, under a convoy of nine ships of the line. The rest of the convoy managed to escape under cover of darkness with their escorting ships.


Model of HMS Edinburgh of 1721 in the Thomson Collection of Ship Models on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario

HMS Warspite was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1666 at Blackwall Yard. This second Warspite was one of the five ships designed to carry more provisions and lower deck guns higher above the water than French and Dutch equivalents. In 1665 the Second Anglo-Dutch War had begun and on 25 July 1666 Warspite was one of 23 new English warships helping to beat a Dutch fleet off North Foreland, Kent. She won again distinction on Christmas Day 1666 as senior officer's ship out of five sent to protect an important convoy of naval stores from the Baltic. Warspite next took part in the first action of the Third Anglo-Dutch War on 28 May 1672 off Southwold Bay, Suffolk. This desperate 14-hour battle, generally known as Solebay, was a drawn fight; but Warspite successfully fended off a pair of Dutch fire ships exactly as she had done off North Foreland. By 1685, she was mounting only 68 guns.



On 15 September 1689 Warspite was recommissioned shortly after the outbreak of the War of the English Succession. She took part in a battle lost against a larger French fleet off Beachy Head, Sussex, on 30 June 1690. And landed men in Ireland to help at the Siege of Cork. In 1702 Warspite was rebuilt at Rotherhithe on the Thames and emerged as a 66-gun ship of 952 tons. In July 1704 she was present at Sir George Rooke's capture of Gibraltar, and suffered 60 casualties in the Battle of Malaga (24 August) which defeated the French attempt to recover the fortress. She continued to serve in the Mediterranean until 1709, when she joined the Channel Fleet. In August 1712, Warspite was paid off at Woolwich. On 30 June 1721 she was rebuilt for a second time at Chatham, relaunching as a 70-gun ship to the 1719 Establishment and renamed HMS Edinburgh. On 14 May 1741 orders were issued for Edinburgh to be taken to pieces for her third and final rebuild, this time at Chatham Dockyard according to the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment as a 64-gun ship. She was relaunched on 31 May 1744.

In 1771 Edinburgh was broken up.







Scale: 1:48. A block design model of the ‘Edinburgh’ (1721), a 70-gun, two-decker ship of the line. The name ‘Edinburgh’ appears on starboard broadside. The model has the dimensions of the Establishment of 1719 (approximately 151 feet by 41½ feet). The ‘Edinburgh’ would have weighed 1128 tons burden and carried 480 men. It was armed with 26 24-pound guns on its gun deck, twenty-six 12-pounders and four 6-pounders on its upper deck, and 14 more 6-pounders on its quarterdeck. The ‘Edinburgh’ was launched from Chatham in 1721 as one of 13 ships of this Establishment. It acted first as a guardship before serving in the Baltic in 1726 and 1727. In 1733 it was prepared for the Mediterranean, returned to home waters in 1735, and went back to the Mediterranean in 1738. It was broken up in 1742.

Action of 18 March 1748 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

HMS Warspite (1666) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1757 - HMS Greenwich (50), Cptn. Robert Rodham, taken by French Squadron of 8 large vessels off Cape Cabron.


HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession, and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, during which she was captured by the French and taken into their service under the same name. She was wrecked shortly afterwards.

Built at Lepe, Greenwich was one of a number of 50-gun ships designed to the dimensions laid down in the 1745 Establishment. She had only three British commanders during her career with the Royal Navy. Her first, John Montagu, commanded her during the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, after which she was surveyed and probably laid up. She was returned to active service under William Holburne with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, though he was soon succeeded by Robert Roddam. Roddam took her out to the Caribbean, where in 1757 he fell in with a French squadron under Joseph de Bauffremont. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Roddam fought his ship for 12 hours before surrendering her.

Taken into French service, Greenwich formed part of a squadron under Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, which was attacked by a much smaller force of three British ships at the Battle of Cap-Français. The two sides inflicted heavy damage on each other before breaking off, with Greenwich having been left considerably leaky. She underwent some repairs before escorting a convoy to France. The escorting force was caught in a gale in January 1758, and three ships were driven aground and wrecked, Greenwich among them.




Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Anson (1747), a 1745 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Reverse: Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile, and basic longitudinal half-breadth proposed for Greenwich (1748), a 1745 Establishment 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. This side has been signed by Jacob E. Acworth [Surveyor of the Navy, 1716-1749] and dated 1 November 1745.

Construction and commissioning
Greenwich was ordered from Moody Janvrin on 3 October 1745, and was laid down at his yard at Lepe on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire in November that year. She was built to the draught specified in the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 19 March 1747. She was a development of designs from before the start of the War of the Austrian Succession, and her dimensions approached those of earlier 60-gun ships, though the 50-gun ships of the 1745 establishment sat deeper in the water. Despite this they had an improved freeboard, with a height of 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) amidships from the waterline to the lower gunports, and had increased headroom below decks. 50-gun ships like Greenwich were armed with twenty-two 24-pounder guns on the lower deck, twenty-two 12-pounders on the upper deck, and four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck. In addition they carried two 6-pounders on the forecastle as bow chasers.



As completed Greenwich was 1,053 15/94 bm and measured 144 ft 6.5 in (44.1 m) long overall, and 116 ft 1.5 in (35.4 m) on her keel, with a beam of 41 ft 3.5 in (12.6 m) and a hold depth of 17 ft 7 in (5.4 m). She had been named on 9 March 1747, ten days before being launched, and was completed by 26 March 1748, probably at Portsmouth. Her total cost to build came to £19,582.15s.2d, a sum that probably included the cost of fitting her out. She was commissioned in 1748 under Captain John Montagu.

British career
Commissioned too late to see any significant service in the War of the Austrian Succession, Greenwich was surveyed on 28 January 1749, and was probably laid up for the next few years. She was recommissioned in March 1755, shortly after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, under Captain William Holburne, though he was soon succeeded by Captain Robert Roddam.[2]Roddam received orders to sail to the Caribbean and departed for Jamaica on 23 January 1757.

Capture

Captain Robert Roddam, Greenwich's third and final British commander

Roddam cruised for a while off Cape Cabron, San Domingo, but on 18 March 1757 mysterious sails were sighted, which were at first assumed to be a small fleet of merchant ships being conveyed by two frigates. This was in fact a squadron of French warships under Joseph de Bauffremont, consisting of the 84-gun Tonnant, the 74-gun ships Diadème and Desauncene, the 64-gun ships Éveillé and Inflexible, the frigates Sauvage and Brune, and a 20-gun storeship. The French were to windward, and Bauffremont, unsure of Greenwich's identity, sent one of his frigates to examine her. Realising that with the wind in the Frenchman's favour, he could not escape, Roddam attempted to lure the frigate towards him, hoping to capture her before the rest of the fleet could intervene, and then send her immediately to Rear-Admiral George Townshend, the commander at Jamaica, with news of the French movements.


Joseph de Bauffremont, whose squadron captured Greenwich off San Domingo

The frigate soon determined that Greenwich was a two-decked warship, and sailed back to the protection of the squadron, which then came up and attacked, with action commencing at 9 a.m. when Diadème opened fire. For the next twelve hours Greenwich was constantly engaged with one or other of the French ships. Roddam assembled his men in an attempt to board the 64-gun Éveillé, but several of her consorts bore up and opened fire, damaging Greenwich's rigging and leaving her unmanageable. After consulting with his officers, Roddam expressed his desire to fight on, but eventually agreed to surrender Greenwich, as further resistance would only cause further casualties among his men.

The colours were then struck to Éveillé, but Roddam refused her commander's demands that he come aboard his ship, instead insisting the French send a boat for him. Roddam threatened to rehoist the colours and defend the ship until she sank if this was not done, and eventually a French officer was sent across in a boat. The French took possession of Greenwich, ransacking her, then taking Roddam and his men to Hispaniola where they were imprisoned.






Scale: 1:48. A contemporary carvel built, plank on frame Navy Board full hull model of a 50-gun, small two-decker (circa 1747). The model is decked. Accompanying notes indicate that the model was formerly called ‘Raisonnable’, a 60-gun ship. There is no planking on the lower half of the hull, revealing the frames. Dr R. C. Anderson of the NMM repaired the model in 1944. Taken from the model, the vessel measured 144 feet along the gun deck by 41 feet in the beam and had a depth of hold of 17 feet. The workmanship suggests that it may represent a contract-built ship – it is not up to the standard of the usual Navy Board dockyard models – and in fact the draught for four such ships, launched 1747–48 (the ‘Assistance’, ‘Greenwich’, ‘Severn’ and ‘Tavistock’) corresponds closely with the model. By the middle of the 18th century the 50-gun ship had become something of an anachronism: not powerful enough to take its place in the line nor handy enough to out-manoeuvre the frigates that it out-gunned.

French career and loss
Greenwich was taken into the French Navy under the same name, and appears to have been quickly pressed into service, as, under the command of a Captain Foucault she was part of a squadron under Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint which engaged a British squadron at the Battle of Cap-Français on 21 October 1757. The British force, under Commodore Arthur Forrest, had been sent from Jamaica by Rear-Admiral Thomas Cotes to intercept a homeward-bound French convoy. Forrest's force consisted of two 60-gun ships; HMS Augusta, flying Forrest's broad pennant, and HMS Dreadnought, under Captain Maurice Suckling, and the 64-gun HMS Edinburgh, under Captain William Langdon. The recently reinforced French squadron, consisting of Greenwich, the 70-gun Intrépide under Kersaint, the 70-gun Sceptre under Captain Clavel, the 64-gun Opiniatre under Captain Mollieu, the 44-gun frigate Outarde and the 32-gun frigates Sauvage and Licorne came out to meet them.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the British engaged the French squadron at 3.20 pm, with the fighting lasting for the next two and a half hours, until Kersaint signalled one of his frigates to tow his damaged flagship, Intrépide, out of the line. In doing so the French line fell into confusion, with Intrépide, Superbe and Greenwich falling aboard each other, and were heavily cannonaded by Augusta and Edinburgh until they were able to untangle themselves. The other French ships gradually broke away from the action and moved off. The British did not pursue, and the two sides returned to their respective ports. The French casualties in the action were estimated at between 500 and 600 killed and wounded, with Greenwich having been reduced to a very leaky condition.

After repairing some of the battle damage Kersaint sailed for France with the convoy, but became caught in a storm in January 1758 as he neared the French coast. Opiniatre, Greenwich and Outarde attempted to anchor, but were driven ashore in the gale and were wrecked.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1776 – Launch of HMS Vulture, a 14 to 16-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched for the Royal Navy


HMS Vulture was a 14 to 16-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched for the Royal Navy on 18 March 1776. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, before the Navy sold her in 1802. Vulture is perhaps best known for being the warship to which Benedict Arnold fled on the Hudson River in 1780 after unsuccessfully trying to betray the Continental Army's fortress at West Point, New York to the British.



Career
Vulture was commissioned in April 1776. She then sailed for North America on 9 September.

On 5 May 1779, Vulture and Hope shared in the proceeds of the capture of General Gates. She was a Massachusetts privateer brig or schooner of eight guns and 40 men, under the command of Captain William Carleton. Hope took Genreral Gates into Halifax where she was condemned and sold.

On 29 May 1779, Vulture was part of Admiral George Collier's small flotilla that sailed up the Hudson River and captured Stony Point, two months later the site of the American victory in the Battle of Stony Point. After dark, Collier sent Vulture and the galley Cornwallis further up the river past Fort Lafayette to prevent the Americans from escaping by water, in which task they were successful.

Vulture shared with Iris, Galatea, and Delight in the proceeds from the capture on 21 April 1780 of the American privateer General Reed. Vulture' captain at the time was Andrew Sutherland. General Reed was a Philadelphia brig armed with 16 guns, with a crew of 120 men under the command of Samuel Davidson.

On 21 April 1782, Narcissus, Vulture, and Savage captured the Virginia privateer brig Grand Turk, of 12 guns and 75 men. Vulture was under the command of Lieutenant John Laugharne.

After her service on the North American Station, Vulture was paid off at Portsmouth in November 1783. At that time she received copper sheathing, but was laid up.

In May 1790, Lieutenant Timothy Bird commissioned Vulture as a storeship. Lieutenant Samuel Short recommissioned her as slop ship in April 1791, but she was not fitted for that role until December 1792. Lieutenant William Crosbe recommissioned her that month. In 1799 Lieutenant Jeffrey Gawen replaced Crosbe.

Disposal
The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Vulture, 304 Tons, laying at Portsmouth" for sale on 11 August 1802.[6] She sold in August.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck, forecastle, inboard profile and upper deck for Atalanta (1775), a 14-gun Ship Sloop. The plan was reused later in 1774 for fitting the Cygnet (1776). It was copied in 1775 for Hound (1776), Vulture (1776), Spy (1776) and Hornet (1776), and finally copied again in 1779 for Alligator (1780) of the same class.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck, forecastle, inboard profile and upper deck for Atalanta (1775), a 14-gun Ship Sloop. The plan was reused later in 1774 for fitting the Cygnet (1776). It was copied in 1775 for Hound (1776), Vulture (1776), Spy (1776) and Hornet (1776), and finally copied again in 1779 for Alligator (1780) of the same class.


Frame (ZAZ4691)


The Swan class were built as a 14-gun class of ship sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 guns were added soon after completion.

Design
The class was designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, John Williams, and two vessels to this design (Swan and Kingfisher) were ordered in January 1766. Twenty-three more were ordered to the same design between 1773 and 1779; they formed the 'standard' ship sloop design of the British Navy during the American Revolutionary War, during which eleven of them were lost. Surviving vessels went on to serve during the French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War.

The design provided for 16 gunports (8 per side, excluding the bridle-ports) but one pair was initially left unoccupied, and the ships were always rated at 14 guns. However an eighth pair of guns was added from 1780 onwards to utilise the vacant ports, without any change in the nominal rating.

The Swan class sloops were unusually attractive for the type of vessel. Not only did they have sleek hull lines but they also carried an unusual amount of decoration for their size. They were built just before the Admiralty issued orders that all vessels (especially lesser rates and unrated vessels) should have minimal decoration and carvings to save on costs, due to the seemingly ever-continuing war with France and other nations.


Painting by Joseph Marshall (1773–5) of Kingfisher hull model

Construction
Following the initial 1766 order for two ships, a second pair was ordered in 1773 (Cygnet and Atalanta) and a further five in 1775 (Pegasus in April, Fly in August, and Swift, Dispatch and Fortune in October); all these were built in the Royal Dockyards. Another five were contracted in November 1775 to be built by commercial shipbuilders (Hound, Hornet, Vulture, Spy and Cormorant), and a further pair during 1776 (Zebra and Cameleon). Another two were ordered from the Royal Dockyards in January 1777 (Fairy and Nymph) and a final seven from commercial constructors over the following 30 months (Savage, Fury, Delight and Thorn during 1777, Bonetta and Shark during 1778, and Alligator in 1779).

Ships

HMS Vulture (1776) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1781 - the sloop USS Saratoga was lost with all hands during a gale off the Bahamas.


USS Saratoga was a sloop in the Continental Navy. She was the first ship to honor the historic Battle of Saratoga. Having disappeared in 1781, her fate remains a mystery.

Saratoga was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Warton and Humphries. She was begun in December 1779 and launched on 10 April 1780. She weighed 150 tons, was 68’ long with a beam of 25'4" and a depth of hold of 12'. Her complement was 86 with an armament of sixteen 9-pounders and two 4-pounders.




This drawing by J. M. Caiella is based on conjecture as to the first Saratoga's appearance; no depiction exists in any form. This is based on the 25-ship British Swan class of 1766-80 that was well known to American shipbuilders. The Saratoga of "trim lines," was an austere warship and thus was most likely not fitted with quarter badges and had a painted rather than coppered hull.

First cruise
Diplomatic escort
Commanded by Captain John Young, Saratoga departed Philadelphia on 13 August 1780 escorting the packet, Mercury, which was sailing for Europe carrying Henry Laurens. The former President of the Continental Congress was planning to seek money on the European continent to finance the American government.

Two days later, the Saratoga passed frigates Trumbull and Deane in the upper Delaware Bay. Captain Young and Henry Laurens communicated with the frigates and they were to join Saratoga in a cruise as a squadron. The frigates, continued on up the Delaware River to replenish at Philadelphia.

After waiting in vain for the frigates to return, the Saratoga and Mercury passed through the Delaware Capes out to sea by themselves. Because of inadequate ballast, the Saratoga was unstable under a heavy spread of canvas and was forced to proceed much more slowly than the Mercury. Thus, the Mercury was forced to heave to each night to allow the Saratoga to catch up. This schedule continued until 23 August, when Henry Laurens released the Saratoga from her escorting duty with the suggestion that she "...make a short cruise and then return to Philadelphia..." Afterwards, the unescorted Mercury was captured by the British off Newfoundland and Laurens was imprisoned in England.

Hunting off Delaware
For more than a fortnight, Captain Young operated east of the shipping lanes while he trained his crew in operating their ship and fighting her guns. On the afternoon of 9 September, a lookout spotted a sail to the northwest. By then, Young had managed to get Saratoga into fighting shape.

He headed his ship toward the unknown sail and set out in pursuit. By twilight, he was close enough to see that his quarry was a brig flying British colors. Some two hours later, Saratoga had closed within hailing distance and learned that the chase was the Royal Navy's brig, HMS Keppel, and not about to surrender. Saratoga opened fire with a broadside and was quickly answered by the Keppel, opening an inconclusive, three-hour battle. During the action, due to gale force seas, coinciding with her insufficient ballast, the Saratoga's guns were unable to inflict any serious damage to the Keppel. After Captain Young’s repeated efforts to close to boarding distance of the Keppel and the British brig evading those efforts, and midnight approaching, Young ordered the helmsman to end the chase and head for home.

Capture of the Sarah
Three days later, as Saratoga approached Cape Henlopen, she came upon the Sarah, a British ship bound for New York laden with rum from the West Indies. The merchantman surrendered without resisting, and the two ships proceeded into the Delaware. They anchored off Chester, Pennsylvania, the following afternoon where the Sarah was promptly condemned and sold, along with her cargo, which brought the continental treasury funds desperately needed to refit the frigate, Confederacy, for sea.

Second cruise
The Saratoga spent three days at Chester, where she replenished her stores and took on additional iron for ballast before heading back down the Delaware toward the open sea and another cruise. She cleared the Delaware Capes on 18 September and sailed northward along the New Jersey coast. A week later, off the Jersey highlands, she came upon the Elizabeth, which had been taken in Chesapeake Bay several weeks before by British privateer, Restoration. The Saratogacaptured the 60-ton American brig, and Captain Young sent the brig to Philadelphia under a prize crew.

Saratoga remained in the vicinity of the Jersey highlands without encountering any further ships. Toward the end of the month, she turned south. The Saratoga cruised parallel to the coast. Captain Young constantly exercised her crew at her guns and in her rigging to sharpen their fighting capability. The crew had an opportunity to prove their seamanship when on 10 October they safely brought their ship through a storm with but superficial damage. This same storm decimated the British squadron which Admiral Rodney had sent out of New York to patrol the American coast.

Capture of the Charming Molly
That night, she turned north again. At dawn the next day, she spotted two sails far off her port bow. The Saratoga was due east of Cape Henry when she began the chase. As she closed the distance between herself and her quarry, Captain Young ordered his helmsman to head for the open water between the enemy ships which proved to be the large, 22-gun letter of marquee ship, Charming Molly, and a small schooner, the Two Brothers. When the Saratoga was between the two English vessels, Captain Young ordered the Charming Molly to surrender, but she refused to do so. After the Saratoga had fired a broadside into the Charming Molly, a boarding party, led by Lt. Joshua Barney, leapt to the merchantman's deck and opened a fierce hand-to-hand fight which soon compelled the British captain to lower his colors.

An American prize crew under Lieutenant Barney promptly took the place of Charming Molly's British skipper, officers, and tars. Captain Young then set out after the fleeing sloop the Two Brothers which, when overtaken, surrendered without resistance. The second prize, Two Brothers, promptly headed for the Delaware for libeling in Admiralty court in Philadelphia.

Further prizes
From the prisoners captured on the Charming Molly, Captain Young learned that she and the Two Brothers had been part of a small merchant fleet which had sailed from Jamaica and had been scattered by the recent storm. As soon as his crew had finished temporary repairs to Charming Molly's battle-damaged hull, the Saratoga began to search for the remaining merchant fleet, a ship and two brigs. About mid-day on 11 October, a lookout saw three sails slowly rise above the horizon dead ahead, and another chase began. As the Saratoga approached the strangers, Captain Young ordered his helmsman to head between the ships. As she passed between the enemy vessels, she fired both broadsides, her port guns fired at the Elizabeth, and her starboard muzzles belched fire and iron at the brig Nancy. The enemy's shots passed above the Saratoga, causing only minor damage to her rigging while the first American salvo knocked the Nancy out of action and did substantial damage to the Elizabeth, which surrendered after taking another volley. Meanwhile, the other brig raced away; and Captain Young, being busy with his two new prizes, allowed her to escape free of pursuit.

The Saratoga''s crew labored repairing the battered hulls of the prizes before sending them toward the Delaware Capes. About midnight, the Saratoga herself got underway northward. At dawn, near Cape Henlopen, a blue jacket sailor aloft reported seeing two unknown sails, one dead ahead and the other several miles off her port quarter. The first was later identified as American brig, Providence which was at that time a British prize heading for New York. The second ship was the 74-gun British ship-of-the-line, Alcide. Despite the proximity of the British man-of-war, Captain Young set out after the Providence and recaptured her after about an hour's chase. Captain Young quickly put a prize crew on board the Providence and then the Saratoga got underway for the Delaware. The Saratoga was anchored off Chester, Pennsylvania, at dawn on 14 October.

Cruise to the Caribbean
On 15 December, after being refitted at Philadelphia, the Saratoga got underway for Hispaniola to pick up a load of French military supplies which were awaiting transportation to America. New officers and men had come on board to replace those who had left the ship to man her prizes. A number of merchantmen awaited her just inside the capes hoping to be escorted to a safe offing. On the morning of 20 October, favorable weather enabled the Saratoga to put to sea escorting her 12 charges. The next afternoon, after one of the merchantmen signaled that an unknown sail had appeared, Saratoga set out to investigate. Within two hours, after seeing the British ensign flying from her mast, the Saratoga had reached within firing range and sent a warning 4-pounder shot across the stranger's bow. Instead of surrendering, the British privateer, Resolution, maneuvered to attack. The ships fired at the same instant, Resolution's gunners fired high and only did superficial damage to the Saratoga. The Saratoga's broadside damaged the Resolution's hull and superstructure and forced her to surrender.

Captain Young embarked the Resolution's crew in Saratoga as prisoners; and placed an American crew on the prize. The two ships then headed toward Cape Henlopen which they reached on New Year's Day, 1781. Captain Young turned his prisoners over to the Continental agent at Lewes, Delaware, and headed the Saratoga back toward the Caribbean the same day.

On the morning of 9 January 1781, off the coast of then England's loyal province of East Florida, the Saratoga captured a 20-gun letter of marquee the Tonyn in a fierce battle. The Tonyn had recently sailed from St. Augustine laden with turpentine, indigo, hides, and deerskins intended for Liverpool England.

Captain Young spent a day repairing the Tonyn and the Saratoga's rigging, then the two ships got underway on the morning of 11 January for Hispaniola. On the 16th, Saratoga captured, without resistance, an armed brig, the Douglas, which was carrying wine from Madeira to Charleston, South Carolina, that important Southern port which had fallen into British hands. Captain Young sent this prize to Philadelphia.

Escort duty and loss
On 27 January, the Saratoga and the Tonyn reached Cap-Français where Captain Young turned the Tonyn over to the French Admiralty court and arranged to have Saratoga docked to have her hull scraped and coated with pitch while awaiting the arrival of military cargo and French frigates to assist in convoying a fleet of Allied merchantmen. The governor of the French colony of Saint Dominique suggested that the Saratoga join her sister Continental frigates, the Deane and the Confederacy, an American privateer, the Fair American, and a French naval brig, Cat, in a cruise through the Windward Passage to Jamaica. The little fleet departed Cap-Français on 20 February and returned eight days later with a British ship the Diamond, which they had captured as she approached Jamaica laden with plunder taken by the British during Admiral Rodney's conquest of the Dutch Island, St. Eustatius.

By mid-March, all was ready. The French warships were on hand; the Continental warships were loaded, and 29 heavily laden merchant ships were in the harbor awaiting escorts. The convoy left from Cap-Français on the 15th, the ides of March. Three days later on 18 March, a lookout high over the Saratoga's deck reported two sails far off to westward, the Saratoga left the convoy in pursuit of the strangers. About mid-afternoon, she caught up with one of the fleeing ships which surrendered without a fight. Captain Young placed an American crew on board the prize and got underway after the second ship. Midshipman Penfield, commander of the prize crew, later reported that as he was supervising his men's efforts to follow the Saratoga, the wind suddenly rose to fearful velocity and almost capsized his ship. When he had managed to get the snow-rigged merchantman back under control, he looked up and was horrified to learn that the Saratogahad vanished. After numerous successful victories and prizes, Saratoga disappeared, lost at sea. The Saratoga's fate remains a mystery.




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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1786 – Launch of French Modeste, a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Magicienne class


HMS Modeste was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been a ship of the French Navy under the name Modeste. Launched in France in 1786, she served during the first actions of the French Revolutionary Wars until being captured while in harbour at Genoa, in circumstances disputed by the French and British, and which created a diplomatic incident. Taken into British service she spent the rest of the French Revolutionary and most of the Napoleonic Wars under the white ensign. She served with distinction in the East Indies, capturing several privateers and enemy vessels, including the French corvette Iéna. She also saw service in a variety of roles, as a troopship, a receiving ship, and a floating battery, until finally being broken up in 1814, as the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close.







Engraving by Nicolas Ozanne showing the capture of Modeste in the harbour of Genoa

French service and capture
Modeste was a Magicienne-class frigate built at Toulon between February 1785 and January 1787, having been launched there on 18 March 1786. In September 1793 she entered the neutral port of Genoa, where according to British reports, her captain was seized by the French Republican agent in the port, who suspected the frigate as having come from the Royalist-held Toulon on some secret mission. The British had been dissatisfied with the actions of the neutral Genoa, in allowing the Modeste and two French tartanes to 'insult' and 'molest' the frigate Aigle while she was also in Genoa. Furthermore the French were alleged to have seized a ship travelling under an assurance of safe passage from Lord Hood. The British envoy in Genoa, Francis Drake, was instructed to seek reparations from the Genoese, and to put a stop to the shipment of grain to the French Republicans.

Main article: Raid on Genoa
Drake was unsuccessful, so Hood sent Rear-Admiral John Gell to Genoa with orders to capture Modeste, the two tartanes and any other French ships. Drake was to secure assurances from the Genoese that they would comply with Hood's wishes, or failing that, Gell was to blockade the port. Gell was also to travel to Leghorn and capture the French frigate Impérieuse, and instruct the British envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Lord Hervey, to demand the expulsion of the French Jacobins. To back up these demands Gell had a squadron consisting of HMS St George, the 74-gun ships HMS Bedford, HMS Captain and the French Scipion, and the smaller vessels HMS Mermaid, HMS Tartar, HMS ALerte, HMS Speedy, HMS Eclair, HMS Conflagration, and HMS Vulcan.

The squadron entered Genoa on 17 October and Bedford ranged alongside Modeste. Accounts then differ as to what happened next. A later French account stated that the British ship had moored alongside, and her master had civilly requested the French ship remove a boat that was hampering the British manoeuvres. The French readily agreed, but half an hour later the British captain asked the French to hoist the white flag, saying that he did not know what the tricolour was. Offended, the French refused, whereupon the British suddenly attacked the unprepared French, and captured the frigate. One British account states that Bedford came alongside and after warning the French not to resist, captured her after a short struggle, while another stated that while the fort was saluting the arrival of Rear-Admiral Gell, the French on Modeste came up on deck and behaved with such insolent gestures and language that the British attacked them. The British reported that two Frenchmen had been killed during the fighting on the tartanes, while French sources alternately reported five dead, thirty wounded, or between 30 and 40 killed. The attack outraged the Genoese, who were being threatened both by Drake and by representatives of the French republic, and created a diplomatic incident. The Genoes finally bowed to French pressure and ordered the expulsion of all foreigners, with the exception of the French. The Genoese broke all diplomatic ties; in response Gell's squadron began to blockade Genoa, capturing neutral merchants bound for the city.




Scale: 1:48. A block model of the ‘Modeste (1786), a French 32-gun frigate. The number ‘11’ is marked on the port-broadside and the base. The model is of the style used for the naval museum in Somerset House in the 1830s. It is also painted in the later style (circa 1815) with black and white stripes and black gunports. The ‘Modeste’ was built in France and captured by HMS ‘Bedford’ in 1793. It was not put into active service until 1801, but took part in several actions in the Far East between 1806 and 1812. It was laid up ‘in ordinary’ at Woolwich and broken up in 1814.

British career
Modeste was taken into service with the Royal Navy, retaining her original name, and was commissioned in November 1793 under Captain Thomas Byam Martin. After some service in the Mediterranean Martin sailed her back to Britain, arriving in Portsmouth on 4 December 1794. Modeste was then laid up, until being converted to a receiving ship in 1798, and was then fitted out between August and October 1799 to sail to the Thames. On arriving at Deptford in November she was fitted out as a troopship, a process that lasted until June 1800. She was commissioned in June that year under Commander Martin Hinton as a 24-gun troopship.

She spent some time in the Mediterranean under Hinton in 1801. Because Modeste served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

Soon she was back in Britain, being fitted out at Woolwich between September and October 1803 for service with Trinity House. The Navy next used her as a floating battery in 1804.

Modeste then underwent a middling repair at Woolwich between April and November 1806 and was recommissioned in October that year under Captain George Elliot.[2] Elliot departed Britain on 15 February 1807, bound for China and the East Indies.

On 30 July Modeste arrived at Diamond Harbour, carrying Lord Minto who was coming to Calcutta to assume the position of Governor-General of India.

On 8 October 1808 Modeste chased down and captured the 18-gun French corvette Iéna while in the Bay of Bengal. Iéna, under the command of Captain Maurice, was bound for the Persian Gulf with despatches, and had captured several ships. When Modeste captured Iena she was carrying 25,000 dollars she had taken from a vessel named Swallow, and had also captured an Arab vessel named Frederick, which Elliot retook. Iéna had mistaken Modeste for another merchant vessel and had tried to close on her. On discovering her mistake she had tried to escape, but had been caught after a nine-hour chase and an exchange of fire that left four or five Frenchmen dead or wounded, and one man killed and one wounded on Modeste.

Modeste sailed on to Macao, arriving in November. Her arrival helped induce the Chinese government at Canton to bring to an end an affair that had begun with a fracas between local Chinese and seamen from the East Indiaman Neptune in March. Modeste also detained a brig under Portuguese colours as the brig sailed out of the Typa, Macao's outer harbour. Elliot had information that the brig was actually Spanish. It was not yet settled whether the seizure of the brig would be adjudicated in China or at Bombay.

On 28 January 1808 Modeste was back at Calcutta. had been received of the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Denmark. Elliot sent his boats, together with those of Terpsichore and Dasher up the Hooghly River to Seramporeto seize the Danish merchant vessels there. One of the captured vessels was Maria, which in November 1808 a prize court awarded to Modeste.

On 15 July 1809 boats from Modeste and HMS Barracouta cut out the 8-gun Tuijneelar in the Sunda Straits. Elliot then took part in the operations to capture Java between August and September 1811. Elliot left Modeste in 1812, and was succeeded by Captain James Crawford, who on 6 February 1813 captured the 14-gun privateer Furet off Sicily.

Fate
Modeste was finally placed in ordinary at Woolwich in 1813. After a year in ordinary, she was broken up at Deptford in June 1814.



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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1794 – Launch of HMS Apollo, the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.


HMS Apollo, the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars, but her career ended after just four years in service when she was wrecked on the Haak sands off the Dutch coast.



Construction
Apollo was ordered on 28 March 1793 and was laid down that month at the yards of John Perry & Hanket, at Blackwall. She was launched on 18 March 1794 and was completed at Woolwich Dockyard on 23 September 1794. She cost £13,577 to build; this rising to a total of £20,779 when the cost of fitting her for service was included.

Career
Apollo was launched in March 1794 and commissioned in August under her first commander, Captain John Manley. Her career began inauspiciously, when Manley accidentally ran her aground on sandbanks in the mouth of the Wash in late 1794. On Manley's orders the ship was lightened by the disposal over the side of her stores and several of her guns, after which she floated free of the sand. Her rudder had broken in the process, and after some difficulty she was sailed to Great Yarmouth for repairs.

In June 1796, she and Doris captured the French corvette Légère, of twenty-two 9-pounder guns and 168 men. Légère had left Brest on 4 June in company with three frigates. During her cruise she had captured six prizes. However, on 23 June she encountered the two British frigates at 48°30′N 8°28′W. After a 10-hour chase the British frigates finally caught up with her; a few shots were exchanged and then Légère struck. The Navy took into her service as HMS Legere.

Then in December, Apollo and Polyphemus were off the Irish coast when they captured the 14-gun French privateer schooner Deux Amis, of 100 tons bm and 80 men. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.

In 1798 Captain Peter Halkett was appointed to the command of Apollo. Apollo shared with Cruizer, Lutine, and the hired armed cutter Rose om the proceeds from the capture on 13 May of the Houismon, Welfart, and Ouldst Kendt.


The Apollo frigate going before the wind

Fate
An accident at sea in late 1798 forced Apollo back to port in Great Yarmouth and left her with a depleted crew. A capstan pawl, or crossbar, had broken while the crew were raising the anchor, and the weight of the anchor and chain caused the remaining pawls to turn sharply as the anchor ran back out. Around thirty men were injured after being struck by the pawls.[8] Halkett gave orders for a prompt return to port, where the injured men were discharged from Apollo's service and entrusted to local medical care. The ship then put back to sea on 5 January, without replacing the injured crew.

Halkett's orders were to take Apollo to a point off the coast of Holland, and there to seek out Dutch vessels for capture. One such vessel was sighted on 6 January, and Apollo was turned to give chase. The pursuit was hampered by thick fog, and at 7am on the following morning Apollo ran aground on the Haak Sandbank adjacent to Texel. Halkett ordered that the ship's stores and guns be thrown overboard in order to lighten her and float her free, but despite these efforts she remained stuck fast in the sands.

In the late afternoon, a Prussian galliot was sighted and hailed by Apollo's crew. After some negotiation, the Prussian captain agreed to jettison the bulk of his cargo of wines and take 250 of Apollo's crew back to England. The remaining crew members went aboard Apollo's cutter with plans to make their own way to port. By 9pm all crew members had left the British ship, which was then abandoned to the tides. The Prussian ship reached Yarmouth on 11 January, followed three days later by the cutter.

A Royal Navy court martial was established to examine the reasons for the loss of the ship. Apollo's pilot, John Bruce was found to have shown "great want of skill" in the execution of his duties, and he was dismissed forthwith from naval service. No findings were made against Captain Halkett, who returned to the Navy at his previous rank and was granted command of a newly completed 36-gun frigate, also named Apollo.





Scale: approximately 1:32. According to the writing on the side of the hull, this model was made from part of the mainmast of the French flagship ‘L’Orient’ which blew up at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. The model is rather crudely made and its hull is not quite in the right proportions, being too deep, so it is probably sailor-made. The rigging appears to be contemporary. Marmaduke Stalkaart, who also wrote a textbook on naval architecture, built the ‘Seahorse’ (1794) at Rotherhithe on the Thames. It was one of the ‘Artois/Apollo’ class, of which several models exist. The ‘Seahorse’ was not actually present at the Battle of the Nile, but joined Nelson’s fleet soon afterwards.




Scale: 1:48. A model of one of the nine ships of the 'Artois/Apollo' class of 38-gun frigates designed by Sir John Henslow and built between 1793 and 1795. Seven were built conventionally in private shipyards and two more were constructed experimentally in fir in the Royal Dockyards at Chatham and Woolwich. Four of the conventional ships were wrecked between 1797 and 1799, and the fir-built ships deteriorated rapidly. The model shows the hull of the ship fully planked and set on a launching cradle, though without the rails on which it will run, as is common on models of this period. The stern decoration and figurehead are carefully carved and some features such as decorations and the steering wheel are made in bone. The figurehead is of Diana the huntress, which identifies the ship. Two other models of this ship are in the Museum collection.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Apollo_(1794)

Artois-class frigate - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1799 – HMS Telegraph (16), Lt. James Andrew Worth, captured French privateer brig Hirondelle (16) off the Isle of Bas


HM hired brig Telegraph was built in 1798 and served on contract to the Royal Navy from 10 November. During the French Revolutionary Wars she took several prizes and was the victor in one notable ship action before she was lost at sea with all hands in 1801.



Telegraph vs Hirondelle
At daylight on 18 March 1799, Telegraph, under Lieutenant James Andrew Worth, was some leagues northwest of the Île de Batz when she encountered the French privateer Hirondelle. Hirondelle was armed with sixteen mixed 8-pounder and 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 72, to Telegraph's 60 men. Hirondelle was three days out of St Malo and had taken two prizes, an American schooner and an English sloop. The need for two prize crews had reduced her crew from the 89 men with which she had started.

Hirondelle tacked to meet Telegraph and the two vessels started an exchange of fire at 0730 hours. Each tried to board the other, but finally, at 1100 hours, Hirondelle struck. She had suffered five men killed and 14 wounded and was totally dismasted and unmanageable. Telegraph had five men wounded. For his part in the action, Worth received promotion to the rank of Commander.

Seagull shared in the prize money, suggesting that she was in sight. Havick too claimed a share of the head-money, perhaps on the grounds of being in sight, a claim that Telegraph's officers and crew contested. The matter was not settled until 1818.

In 1847 the Admiralty issued the clasp "Telegraph 18 March 1799" to the Naval General Service Medal for the action with Hirondelle. However, none of Telegraph's crew came forward to claim their medal, presumably in great part because most had been lost when she foundered in 1801.

Prize taking
Lieutenant Caesar Corsellis replaced Worth as captain of Telegraph. On 5 May she captured the galiot Vrouw Martha. One month later she joined the Mediterranean fleet off the Gulf of Fréjus with news of the French fleet. In November she captured the galiot Beuns von Koningsberg. On 28 November Telegraph brought into Falmouth the De Boers, Captain Skimming. She had been sailing from Bilbao to Altona with a cargo of cotton.

Telegraph, which had been with coasting convoys, arrived in Plymouth from Torbay on 1 January 1800. On 2 January there was a report that a French privateer had taken a brig in Whitsand Bay and then landed a boat at Looe Island that had taken a cow and some corn from a poor man living there. A telegraph message dispatched Telegraph in pursuit. There is no further information, suggesting that Telegraph was unsuccessful.

On 17 April Telegraph was in company with the sloop Spitfire when Spitfire captured the French privateer Heureux Societe. Heureux Societe, of Pleinpoint, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 64 men. She had been out three days and had not made any captures. During the chase Telegraph exchanged a broadside with Heureux Societe but then fell behind, leaving the capture to Spitfire.

On 22 May Telegraph came into Plymouth. A gale a few days earlier had put Telegraph on her beam ends for several minutes with water up to the combing of her hatchways. It was only when the fore top-mast and the bowsprit went that she righted.

A worse storm on 9 November wrecked many vessels along the coast. Telegraph survived because her crew cut away her main-mast. She had been in St Aubin's Bay in Jersey together with a number of vessels that also survived. Another vessel in the Bay that was less fortunate was Havick, which sank, though fortunately with no loss of life.

In mid-November or so, the hired brig Flora drifted ashore in Plymouth and was wrecked. Telegraph and Sylph came to Flora's assistance and rescued her crew. Flora was subsequently refitted for duty.

By December 1800, Telegraph's commander was Lieutenant John Mundall. Mundall's commission as lieutenant, however, dated from 10 January 1801. Under his command she captured the galliot Jussrow Bielke in December 1800. On 5 January 1801 she captured the Dutch ship Cornelia.

Telegraph returned from a cruise on 23 January after stopping six vessels. She sent two Swedish and one Danish vessel into Dartmouth, the latter with a valuable cargo of tobacco from Baltimore bound for Stockholm. The Dane arrived on 4 January. The General Wraigh arrived at Portsmouth on 26 January and the Catherine Margaretta, which had been sailing from Seville to Altona, arrived on 4 February. On 3 February, the Vrow Jenetta, of Altona, came into Plymouth. When Telegraph had captured her she had been sailing from St. Bartolomew's to Hamburgh with a cargo of sugar and coffee. In all, on the one cruise Telegraph had captured six vessels.

Loss
Telegraph parted from the Mediterranean fleet off Cape Ortegal in a gale on 14 February 1801. She was never heard of thereafter and was declared lost, presumably having foundered in the gale. Mundall may have been temporary or acting captain because at the time of the sinking Telegraph's captain was again Lieutenant Caesar Corsellis.

HM hired brig Telegraph (1798) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1799 - a flotilla of seven gun-vessels were captured by Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS Tigre at Acre.
The gun-vessels were carrying siege artillery and other siege supplies to reinforce Napoleon's troops besieging Acre


HMS Dangereuse was a tartane named Duguay-Trouin that the French Navy requisioned in May 1794 to serve as an aviso. The Navy renamed her Dangereuse either in May 1795 or on 2 March 1796. She was one of a flotilla of seven gun-vessels that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS Tigre took at Acre on 18 March 1799,[3] all of which the British took into service. At capture Dangereuse carried six guns and had a crew of 23 men. Smith put her under the command of Lieutenant Robert William Tyte (acting).

The gun-vessels were carrying siege artillery and other siege supplies to reinforce Napoleon's troops besieging Acre. Smith immediately put the guns and supplies to use to help the denizens of the city resist the French, and the gun-vessels to harass them.

Main article: Siege of Acre (1799)
Smith anchored Tigre and Theseus, one on each side of the town, so their broadsides could assist the defence. The gun-vessels were of shallower draft and so could come in closer. Together, they helped repel repeated French assaults.[4] The French attacked some 40 times between 19 March and 10 May before Napoleon finally gave up. On 21 May he destroyed his siege train and retreated back to Egypt, having lost 2,200 men dead, 1,000 to the plague.

After Napoleon's failure at Acre, Smith sailed with his squadron on 12 June. He proceeded first to Beruta road, and then to Larnica road, Cyprus, in order to refit his little squadron. He and Tigre then departed for Constantinople;[6] the gun-vessels remained in the theatre.

Dangereuse next served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801 where, together with the gunboat Janissary and the cutter Cruelle, she protected the left flank during the landing of troops in Aboukir Bay.

Dangereuse was sold later that same year. In 1850 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" to claimants from the crews of the vessels that had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, including Dangereuse.


HMS Negresse was a tartane that the French Navy requisitioned at Marseilles in March 1798 and used as an aviso in the Egyptian campaign. The Royal Navy captured her in 1799 and took her into service. She participated in the defense at the siege of Acre later that year and in 1801 at the landing of British troops at Aboukir Bay. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.

French service
On 17 August 1798 Negresse was one of seven avisos in port at Alexandria.

British service
Negresse was one of a flotilla of seven vessels that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS Tigre took at Acre on 18 March 1799, all of which the British took into service. At capture Negresse carried six guns and had a crew of 53 men. The Navy appointed Lieutenant Richard to command her.

The flotilla of gun-vessels was carrying siege artillery and other siege supplies to reinforce Napoleon's troops besieging Acre. Smith immediately put the guns and supplies to use to help the denizens of the city resist the French, and the gun-vessels to harass them.

Main article: Siege of Acre (1799)
Smith anchored Tigre and HMS Theseus, one on each side of the town, so their broadsides could assist the defence. The gun-vessels were of shallower draft and so could come in closer. Together, they helped repel repeated French assaults. The French attacked multiple times between 19 March and 10 May before Napoleon finally gave up. On 21 May he destroyed his siege train and retreated back to Egypt, having lost 2,200 men dead, 1,000 of them to the plague.

After Napoleon's failure at Acre, Negresse sailed to Jaffa. There her seamen rescued seven French soldiers in hospital for the plague from massacre by the Turks. The invalids came abroad Negresse; on her they received medical care and four survived.

Next, Negresse served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801 where, together with the schooner Malta and the cutter Entreprenante, she protected the left flank during the landing of troops in Aboukir Bay.

Fate
Negresse was sold in 1802. In 1850 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" to claimants from the crews of the vessels that had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, including Negresse.


Tigre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

French service
Her first captain was Pierre Jean Van Stabel. When Van Stabel was promoted, she became the flagship of his 6-ship squadron. She notably fought in 1793 to rescue the Sémillante, along with the Jean Bart.

Under Jacques Bedout, she took part in the Battle of Groix where she was captured by the British. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Tigre.


Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Tigre (1793), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

British service
Under the Royal Navy she assisted in the defence of Acre during Bonaparte's siege.

On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.

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

After the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, Tigre continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November, Thunderer detained the Ragusan ship Nemesis, which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Tigre shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

Between 30 October and 1 November 1809 Admiral Benjamin Hallowell's squadron was at the Bay of Rosas. On 30 October, boats from Tigre joined with boats from Tuscan, Cumberland, Volontaire, Apollo, Topaz, Philomel, and Scout in a cutting out attack after a squadron off the south of France chased an enemy convoy into the Bay of Rosas. The convoy had lost its escorting ships of the line, Robuste and Lion, near Frontignan, where the squadron under Rear Admiral George Martin, of Collingwood's fleet, had burnt them, but were nevertheless heavily protected by an armed storeship of 18 guns, two bombards and a xebec. Some of the British boats took heavy casualties in the clash, but Tuscan had only one officer slightly wounded, and one seaman dangerously wounded. By the following morning the British had accounted for all eleven vessels in the bay, burning those they did not bring out. In January 1813 prize money was awarded to the British vessels that took part in the action for the capture of the ships of war Gromlireand Normande, and of the transports Dragon and Indien. A court declared Invincible a joint captor. Head money was also paid for the Grondire and Normande and for the destruction of Lemproye and Victoire. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 Nov. Boat Service 1809" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Fate
She was eventually broken up in June 1817.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Tigre' (1795), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard prior to being fitted as 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Later alterations sent to Portsmouth on 24 August 1797. Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].



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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1807 - HMS Pike, a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20, captured by French privateer Marat.


HMS Pike was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1804. She captured one 10-gun enemy vessel before being herself captured, and recaptured.



Service
Pike was commissioned in Jamaica in June 1804 under Lieutenant John Nichols. Lieutenant Duncan Macdonald replaced him in October. In 1806 Lieutenant C. Spence took command, and then Lieutenant John Otley replaced him in August.

On 25 August Rear-Admiral Dacres formed a small squadron under the command of Captain George Le Geyt of the 18-gun Stork. The other three vessels in the squadron were the 14-gun Superieure, the 10 or 12-gun schooner Flying Fish, and Pike. Dacres ordered Le Geyt to bring out or destroy privateers based at Batabano in Cuba.

On 30 August the squadron approached the Isle of Pines. There they sighted a Spanish schooner at anchor. Le Geyt reinforced Pike with a lieutenant and eight seamen and sent her to engage the Spanish vessel. After a short chase and two broadsides from Pike's 12-pounder carronades, the Spaniard surrendered. She turned out to be a guarda costa of 10 guns, with a crew of 45 men. Pike took possession of her and took her back to the squadron.

Le Geyt then discovered that Stork drew too much water to permit her to enter the Gulf of Batabanó. He therefore transferred to the other three vessels his boats and men and sent in the cutting-out expedition under the command of Commander Edward Rushworth of Superieure.

The landing party consisted of 63 officers and men, none of whom were from Pike. Ten men from Flying Fish remained to guard the party's boats. The party landed on 2 September and crossed some two miles of marshy ground to storm a fort at Batabano. On their way they had to break through an ambush of enemy soldiers and militia. In the process they killed two and wounded one badly. At the fort they captured six 18-pounder long guns, which they spiked. The party then proceeded to take possession of the vessels in the bay. There is some disagreement as to how many vessels they captured and took as prizes, with the total rising as high as 12. According to Rushworth's letter (an after action report), the prizes included a felucca, pierced for 14 guns but only mounting one 18-pounder, a schooner pierced for 12 guns, a French 4-gun privateer, and three Spanish privateers of one gun each. The party also burnt at least six smaller coasting vessels after having removed their cargoes. Total British casualties amounted to one man badly wounded.

On 2 September Flying Fish, Stork, Superieure, and Pike destroyed two privateers, names unknown, on the Jamaica station. One was a felucca of five guns.

Between 1 January 1806 and 1 January 1807, Pike, in company with Shark, Superieure and Flying Fish captured a French felucca of one gun. Whether or not it was one of the above vessels is unclear.


Scale: 1:48. A plan showing body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth of 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner, as taken off in October 1805 and modified on her refit. This plan was used for the subsequent Cuckoo class of gun schooners (1805) consisting of 'Magpie' (1806), 'Jackdaw' (1806), 'Cuckoo' (1806), 'Wagtail' (1806), 'Woodcock' (1806), 'Wigeon' (1806), 'Sealark' (1806), 'Rook' (1806), 'Landrail' (1806), 'Pigeon' (1806), 'Crane' (1806), 'Quail' (1806).

Capture and recapture
On 10 March 1807, Pike, still under Otley's command, was sailing from Jamaica to Curaçao when she encountered a French schooner that fired on her but then sheered off. The next day another schooner approached, fired on Pike, and then drew off to join the first schooner. Pike endeavored to escape, but by 17 March the larger of the two French vessels commenced to gain. At daybreak on 18 March the larger French schooner caught up with Pike off Altavella (the eastern point of the island of Santo Domingo). In the 45-minute engagement that followed, Pike lost one man killed and five wounded out of her crew of about 20. Some of her crew, who were new, left their stations during the engagement and had to be driven back to their stations. With his rigging in pieces, damage to his gaff and masts and yards, and the second French schooner approaching, Otley struck Pike's colours. The French privateer that captured Pike was either Impérial, or the French 16-gun privateer Marat, or Murat

The court martial board ruled that Otley could have better managed the encounter and warned him to be more circumspect in the future. It did recognize that his crew was raw.

In September 1808 the Cruizer-class brig-sloop Moselle, under Commander Alexander Gordon, recaptured Pike. She was commissioned in Jamaica under the command of Lieutenant Joel Orchard. (Orchard had been captured in 1805 by the Spanish after his ship Barracouta, Pike's sister ship, was wrecked.) On 6 July 1809 Pike was one of the vessels that made up the blockade of the city of Santo Domingo and she was present at its surrender.

Fate
Although one source reports that Pike foundered in August 1809, Hepper, the most complete source of information on Royal Navy losses for the period, has no mention of this.


Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the list of scantling with a midship section for 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner. Also has a letter attached to the plan dated 27 December 1805 from Portsmouth Dockyard. The letter to the Navy Board relates to how the schooner was secured. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1803-1823], Henry Canham [Assistant to Master Shipwright, 1801-1813], and John Haynes [Assistant to Master Shipwright, 1801-1804?].


Scale: 1:48. A plan showing upper deck, and hold and platforms for 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner, as fitted at Portsmouth in October 1805. This plan was used for the subsequent Cuckoo class of gun schooners (1805), consisting of 'Magpie' (1806), 'Jackdaw' (1806), 'Cuckoo' (1806), 'Wagtail' (1806), 'Woodcock' (1806), 'Wigeon' (1806), 'Sealark' (1806), 'Rook' (1806), 'Landrail' (1806), 'Pigeon' (1806), 'Crane' (1806), 'Quail' (1806). Initialled by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Portsmouth, 1803-1823].

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1851 – Launch of HMS Sans Pareil, a 70-gun screw propelled ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


HMS Sans Pareil was a 70-gun screw propelled ship of the line of the Royal Navy.



Planning and construction
Sans Pareil was initially designed as an 80-gun second rate, to the lines of the earlier HMS Sans Pareil, a French prize captured in 1794. She was ordered on 27 February 1843 and laid down on 1 September 1845 at Devonport Dockyard. The rapid development of naval technology during this period led to fears that she would be obsolete before she could be launched, and work was suspended on 2 October 1848. A new design was drawn up utilising steam power, which was approved on 18 May 1849, and the conversion was duly carried out. She was eventually launched on 18 March 1851, having cost a total of £126,432 to build, with the machinery costing another £30,888. The conversion had lengthened her by 7 ft (2.1 m), while the extra weight of the machinery necessitated a reduction in the number of guns, from 80 to 70.



Career
Sans Pareil was commissioned at Plymouth on 12 November 1852, under the command of Sydney Dacres. She was initially at Lisbon, but by 1853 was serving with the Channel Fleet. The outbreak of the Crimean War led to her being reassigned to the Black Sea, and on 22 November 1854 Sans Pareil came under the command of Acting Captain Leopold Heath. He commanded her until February 1855, when Captain Woodford John Williams took over. In September 1855 Sans Pareil was used to transport mortars to the Baltic. Captain Astley Cooper Key took over on 9 January 1856, and was placed in charge of a division of gunboats. After the end of the war Sans Pareil was used to return troops from the Crimea, and by March 1857, had been sent to the Far East. Key and the Sans Pareil were present in China during the Second Opium War, with Key commanding the naval brigade at the capture of Canton on 28 December 1857. Key was invalided back to Britain in April, and was replaced by Captain Julian Foulston Slight. He was in turn replaced by Captain Rochfort Maguire, who remained in command until her return to Plymouth at the end of 1859.

Sans Pareil was recommissioned on 5 June 1862 under the command of Captain Arthur Parry Eardley-Wilmot, replacing HMS Nileas the Queenstown guardship. In November 1861 she was used to transport troops to Mexico, along with HMS Donegal and HMS Conqueror. Her final captain was George Le Geyt Bowyear, and Sans Pareil spent 1863 conveying marines to China, and returning invalids home.

Sans Pareil was reduced to 66 guns in 1866 and was sold to C. Marshall in March 1867. She was broken up at Plymouth.


Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of HMS Sans Pareil (1851), an 81 gun two-decker steam ship of the line. Plaque inscribed "213 Sans Pareil 70 guns -1851. Built at Plymouth, originally designed as a Sailing Ship. Sold in 1867. Dimensions Length 200ft Beam 52ft 3in Speed 7 knots".



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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1893 – Launch of French Amiral Charner, an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s, the name ship of her class.


Amiral Charner was an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s, the name ship of her class. She spent most of her career in the Mediterranean, although she was sent to China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900–01. The ship was assigned to the International Squadron off the island of Crete during 1897-1898 revolt there and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 to protect French interests and citizens. Amiral Charner spent most of the first decade of the 20th century as a training ship or in reserve. The ship was recommissioned when World War I began in 1914 and escorted convoys for several months before she was assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean to blockade the Ottoman-controlled coast. During this time, she helped to rescue several thousand Armenians from Syria during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Amiral Charner was sunk in early 1916 by a German submarine, with only a single survivor rescued.


Amiral Charner at anchor, about 1895


Design and description


Line drawing from Brassey's Naval Annual 1902

The Amiral Charner-class ships were designed to be smaller and cheaper than the preceding armored cruiser design, the Dupuy de Lôme. Like the older ship, they were intended to fill the commerce-raiding strategy of the Jeune École.

The ship measured 106.12 meters (348 ft 2 in) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 14.04 meters (46 ft 1 in). Amiral Charner had a forward draft of 5.55 meters (18 ft 3 in) and drew 6.06 meters (19 ft 11 in) aft. She displaced 4,748 metric tons (4,673 long tons) at normal load and 4,990 metric tons (4,910 long tons) at deep load.

The Amiral Charner class had two triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft. Steam for the engines was provided by 16 Belleville boilers and they were rated at a total of 8,300 metric horsepower (6,100 kW) using forced draught. Amiral Charner had a designed speed of 19 knots(35 km/h; 22 mph), but during sea trials on 18 July 1895 the engines produced 8,956 metric horsepower (6,587 kW), but only gave a maximum speed of 18.4 knots (34.1 km/h; 21.2 mph). The ship carried up to 535 metric tons (527 long tons; 590 short tons) of coal and could steam for 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The ships of the Amiral Charner class had a main armament that consisted of two Canon de 194 mm Modèle 1887 guns that were mounted in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised six Canon de 138.6 mm Modèle 1887 guns, each in single gun turrets on each broadside. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried four 65 mm (2.6 in) guns, four 47-millimeter (1.9 in) and eight 37-millimeter (1.5 in) five-barreled revolving Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in) pivoting torpedo tubes; two mounted on each broadside above water.

The side of the Amiral Charner class was generally protected by 92 millimeters (3.6 in) of steel armor, from 1.3 meters (4 ft 3 in) below the waterline to 2.5 meters (8 ft 2 in) above it. The bottom 20 centimeters (7.9 in) tapered in thickness and the armor at the ends of the ships thinned to 60 millimeters (2.4 in). The curved protective deck of mild steel had a thickness of 40 millimeters (1.6 in) along its centerline that increased to 50 millimeters (2.0 in) at its outer edges. Protecting the boiler rooms, engine rooms, and magazines below it was a thin splinter deck. A watertight internal cofferdam, filled with cellulose, ran the length of the ship from the protective deck to a height of 1.2 meters (4 ft) above the waterline. Below the protective deck the ship was divided by 13 watertight transverse bulkheads with five more above it. The ship's conning tower and turrets were protected by 92 millimeters of armor.

sistership

Bruix in coastal waters, before 1914

Construction and career
Amiral Charner, named after Admiral Léonard Charner, was laid down at the Arsenal de Rochefort with the name of Charner on 15 June 1889. She was launched on 18 March 1893 and renamed Amiral Charner on 25 March 1895 before she was commissioned on 26 August. The ship was initially assigned to the 2nd Light Division of the Mediterranean Squadronbefore she was briefly detached for service in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On 6 January 1896, Amiral Charner became the flagship of the Higher Naval War College (École supérieure de guerre de la marine), commanding her sister ship Latouche-Tréville and the protected cruiser Suchet. The mission of the school was to prepare officers for command at sea and for service on staffs. Ten months later, she was reassigned back to the active fleet on 20 October. The ship was sent to Crete on 10 February 1897 as part of the French contingent of the International Squadron deployed there during the Greco-Turkish War to protect Western interests and citizens and remained with the squadron until November 1898. Amiral Charner was reassigned to the college on 1 January 1899 together with the protected cruisers Friant and Davout. She was detached to the Northern Squadron (Escadre du Nord), based at Brest, for the first half of the year before returning to Toulon in late June. Three months later, the ship returned to Brest and was temporarily placed in reserve.

In January 1900 she was ordered to Rochefort for repairs to her steam-piping in preparation for her upcoming deployment to the Far East. Amiral Charner departed Brest on 26 June and arrived in Saigon, French Indochina, on 1 August. She supported Allied forces during the later stages of the Boxer Rebellion in mid-1901 before returning to Toulon on 8 November. After a brief refit, the ship was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division on 24 January 1902. During the annual naval maneuvers in July–August 1902, Amiral Charner simulated defending against a force breaking into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, attacked the fortifications at Bizerte, French North Africa, and blockaded hostile ports. She was placed in reserve in Toulon on 15 January 1903 and later assigned to the gunnery school there until the middle of 1910. Amiral Charner became the guardship at Souda Bay, Crete on 13 May until relieved by her sister Bruix in July 1912 and was then refitted before being placed in reserve at Bizerta, Tunisia.

When World War I began in August 1914, she was recommissioned and assigned to escort convoys between Morocco and France together with Latouche-Tréville and Bruix. In November she was assigned to the 3rd Division of the 3rd Squadron based at Port Said, Egypt where she bombarded Ottoman positions on the Syrian coast several times. Amiral Charner ran aground under enemy fire off Dedeagatch, Bulgaria on 3 March 1915 and had to be pulled off by the small Italian cargo liner SS Bosnia. Together with the predreadnought battleship Jauréguiberry and the protected cruiser Destrées, she was assigned to blockade the coast between Tripoli, Lebanon and El Arish, Egypt in late August. On 11–12 September, the ship participated in the rescue of 3,000 Armenians north of the Orontes River Delta from pursuing Ottoman troops. The ship supported the occupation of the island of Kastelorizo on 28 December, along with the armored cruiser Jeanne d'Arc.

Sailing from Ruad Island, Syria to Port Said, Egypt, Amiral Charner was torpedoed by the German submarine U-21 on the morning of 8 February 1916. She sank in only two minutes with the loss of nearly the entire crew. Some 427 men were lost, with only a single survivor rescued five days later.


A postcard of Bruix in drydock at Brest, before 1914

The Amiral Charner class was a group of four armoured cruisers built for the French Navy during the 1890s. They were designed to be smaller and cheaper than the preceding design while also serving as commerce raiders in times of war. Three of the ships were assigned to the International Squadron off the island of Crete during the 1897-1898 uprising there and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 to protect French interests and citizens. With several exceptions the sister ships spent most of the first decade of the 20th century serving as training ships or in reserve. Bruix aided survivors of the devastating eruption of Mount Pelée on the island of Martinique in 1902. Chanzy was transferred to French Indochina in 1906 and ran aground off the Chinese coast in mid-1907. She proved impossible to refloat and was destroyed in place.

The three survivors escorted troop convoys from French North Africa to France for several months after the beginning of World War I in August 1914. Unlike her sisters, Bruix was transferred to the Atlantic to support Allied operations against the German colony of Kamerun in September 1914 while Amiral Charner and Latouche-Tréville were assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean. where they blockaded the Ottoman-controlled coast, and supported Allied operations. Amiral Charner was sunk in early 1916 by a German submarine. Latouche-Tréville became a training ship in late 1917 and was decommissioned in 1919. Bruix was decommissioned in Greece at the beginning of 1918 and recommissioned after the end of the war in November for service in the Black Sea against the Bolsheviks. She returned home in 1919 and was sold for scrap in 1921. Latouche-Tréville followed her to the breakers five years later.





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

Amiral Charner-class cruiser - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1897 – Launch of HNoMS Tordenskjold, known locally as Panserskipet Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian coastal defence ship.


HNoMS Tordenskjold, known locally as Panserskipet Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian coastal defence ship. She, her sister ship, Harald Haarfagre, and the slightly newer Eidsvold class were built as a part of the general rearmament in the time leading up to the events in 1905. Tordenskjold remained an important vessel in the Royal Norwegian Navy until she was considered unfit for war in the mid-1930s.



Description


Models of the coastal defence ship Tordenskiold and Eidsvold. Tordenskjold in the front.

Built at Elswick[2] and nearly identical to her sister ship Harald Haarfagre, Tordenskjold was named after Peter Wessel Tordenskjold, an eminent Norwegian naval hero in the service of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. Built as a typical pre-dreadnought battleship on a small scale, she carried guns of a wide range of calibers: two 8.2-inch guns in barbettes, six 4.7-inch, six 3-inch, and six smaller quick-firing guns. The ship could manage a speed of over seventeen knots. Protected by belt armor of seven inches thickness, the ship also featured gun barbettes with nearly eight inches of steel armor and an armored deck.


Plans of panserskipet Tordenskjold. Note heavy guns in turrets fore and aft, and secondary armament in central battery.


Plan view of Tordenskjold-class coastal battleship. Note heavy guns in turrets on either end, secondary armament in central battery.

Service history and fate
A vital part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Tordenskjold performed ordinary duties until 1918, when she was turned into a cadet ship. She performed well in this role, carrying out eighteen training cruises until considered "unfit for war" in the mid-1930s. After the German invasion of Norway, she was seized by the Germans and rebuilt as a floating flakbattery with 10.5 cm AA guns and renamed Nymphe. In May, 1945 she was damaged by British aircraft at Svolvaer and beached. She was refloated later in the year. After the war Tordenskjold was used briefly as a floating barracks before she was sold for scrapping in 1948.


In German service as a flakship in 1940, renamed Nymphe.

It was intended to augment the Norwegian coastal defence ship fleet with the two ships of the Bjørgvin-class, ordered in 1912, but after these were confiscated by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I the Tordenskjold class and the slightly newer, two ship Eidsvoldclass were forced to soldier on long after they were obsolete.

Today
Today the name KNM Tordenskjold is used on the Norwegian Naval Training Establishment (NORNAVTRAINEST) at Haakonsvern, Bergen.

HNoMS Tordenskjold - Wikipedia

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Tordenskjold-class coastal defence ship - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1915 – Launch of HMS Malaya, a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class battleship ordered in 1913 and commissioned in 1916.


HMS Malaya was a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class battleship ordered in 1913 and commissioned in 1916. Shortly after commissioning she fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet. Other than that battle, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during the First World War mostly consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.



Design and description
The Queen Elizabeth-class ships were designed to form a fast squadron for the fleet that was intended to operate against the leading ships of the opposing battleline. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship.

Malaya had a length overall of 643 feet 9 inches (196.2 m), a beam of 90 feet 7 inches (27.6 m) and a deep draught of 33 feet (10.1 m). She had a normal displacement of 32,590 long tons (33,110 t) and displaced 33,260 long tons (33,794 t) at deep load. She was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. The turbines were rated at 75,000 shp (56,000 kW) and intended to reach a maximum speed of 24 knots (44.4 km/h; 27.6 mph). Malaya had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km; 5,754 mi) at a cruising speed of 12 knots (22.2 km/h; 13.8 mph). Her crew numbered 1,217 officers and ratings in 1919.


15-inch guns of 'A' and 'B' turrets trained to starboard, 6-inch guns in casemates below, c. 1920

The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns in four twin gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. Twelve of the fourteen BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XII guns were mounted in casemates along the broadside of the vessel amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the forecastle deck near the aft funnel and were protected by gun shields. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt Mk I guns. The ships were fitted with four submerged 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside.

Malaya was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinders. One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the spotting top above the tripod foremast. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in April 1917.

The waterline belt of the Queen Elizabeth class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 inches (330 mm) thick over the ships' vitals. The gun turrets were protected by 11 to 13 inches (279 to 330 mm) of KC armour and were supported by barbettes7–10 inches (178–254 mm) thick. The ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76 mm) in thickness. The main conning tower was protected by 13 inches of armour. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines.

Construction and career
First World War
Malaya was built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction. She served in Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. She took part in the Battle of Jutland, on 31 May 1916, where she was hit eight times and took major damage and heavy crew casualties. A total of 65 men died, in the battle or later of their injuries. Among the wounded was Able Seaman Willie Vicarage, notable as one of the first men to receive facial reconstruction using plastic surgery and the first to receive radical reconstruction via the "tubed pedicule" technique pioneered by Sir Harold Gillies. Uniquely among the ships at the battle, HMS Malaya flew the red-white-black-yellow ensign of the Federated Malay States.

Between the wars
On 17 November 1922 Malaya carried the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, from Istanbul into exile on Malta (and later San Remo). In August–September 1938 she served in the port of Haifa during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine.

Unlike her sisters Queen Elizabeth, Warspite and Valiant, Malaya did not undergo a comprehensive reconstruction between the wars. She did receive a Le Cheminant deck watch from the Royal Observatory on 5 April 1933.

Second World War
Malaya served in the Mediterranean in 1940, escorting convoys and operating against the Italian fleet. She shelled Genoa in February 1941 as part of Operation Grog but due to a crew error, fired a 15-inch armour-piercing shell into the south-east corner of the Cathedral nave. The fuse failed to detonate.


Armour-piercing shell – with cap (left) fired on 9 February 1941 into the naveof Genoa cathedral

On 7 March 1941, while escorting convoy SL 67, Malaya encountered the German capital ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. By her presence she forced them to withdraw rather than risk damage in an attack.

Later that month Malaya was escorting convoy SL 68. On the evening of 20 March 1941, about 250 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands, Malaya was hit by a torpedo from U-106. Damaged on the port side, and with a 7 degree list due to flooding, Malaya was forced to leave the convoy and make for port, escorted by the corvette Crocus. She reached Trinidad safely on 29 March. After temporary repairs were made, she continued to the New York Navy Yard, where she was docked for four months.

On 9 July, under the command of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger, the battleship left New York on trials and steamed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to provide protection for an urgent fast convoy. No ships were lost, and Malaya arrived in Rosyth on 28 July. Thereafter she escorted convoys from the United Kingdom to Malta and Cape Town until summer 1943.

Malaya was placed in reserve at the end of 1943. During this time her entire secondary 6-inch armament was offloaded and her anti-aircraft armament was enhanced. Between 15 and 17 May 1944, Malaya was used in Loch Striven as a target ship for inert bouncing bomb prototypes, one of which punched a hole in the ship's side. She was reactivated just before the Normandy landings to act as a reserve bombardment battleship.

Fate
Malaya was finally withdrawn from all service at the end of 1944 and became an accommodation ship for a torpedo school. Sold on 20 February 1948 to Metal Industries, she arrived at Faslane on 12 April 1948 for scrapping. The ship's bell can be seen in the East India Club, London.

HMS Malaya - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Roll of Honour - Ships - HMS Malaya

This site is dedicated to those men and women who fell fighting for their country. Recorded here are various war memorials within a variety of counties including main sections for Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Norfolk. There...

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1915 – World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.


Battle of 18 March
The event that decided the battle took place on the night of 18 March when the Ottoman minelayer Nusret laid a line of mines in front of the Kephez minefield, across the head of Eren Köy Bay, a wide bay along the Asian shore just inside the entrance to the straits. The Ottomans had noticed the British ships turned to starboard into the bay when withdrawing. The new row of 20 mines ran parallel to the shore, were moored at fifteen m (49.2 ft) and spaced about 100 yd (91 m) apart. The clear water meant that the mines could have been seen through the water by reconnaissance aircraft. The British plan for 18 March was to silence the defences guarding the first five minefields, which would be cleared overnight by the minesweepers. The next day the remaining defences around the Narrows would be defeated and the last five minefields would be cleared. The operation went ahead with the British and French ignorant of the recent additions to the Ottoman minefields. The battleships were arranged in three lines, two British and one French, with supporting ships on the flanks and two ships in reserve.

Battle lines of 18 March
Grey background: Severely damaged, Red background: Sunk



The first British line opened fire from Eren Köy Bay around 11:00. Shortly after noon, de Robeck ordered the French line to pass through and close on the Narrows forts. The Ottoman fire began to take its toll with Gaulois, Suffren, Agamemnon and Inflexible suffering hits. While the naval fire had not destroyed the Ottoman batteries, it had succeeded in temporarily reducing their fire. By 13:25, the Ottoman defences were mostly silent so de Robeck decided to withdraw the French line and bring forward the second British line as well as Swiftsure and Majestic.

The Allied forces had failed to properly reconnoitre the area and sweep it for mines. Aerial reconnaissance by aircraft from the seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal had discovered a number of mines on 16 and 17 March but failed to spot the line of mines laid by Nusret in Eren Köy Bay. On the day of the attack civilian trawlers sweeping for mines in front of line "A" discovered and destroyed three mines in an area thought to be clear, before the trawlers withdrew under fire. This information was not passed on to de Robeck. At 13:54, Bouvet—having made a turn to starboard into Eren Köy Bay—struck a mine, capsized and sank within a couple of minutes, killing 639 crewmen, only 48 survivors being rescued. At first it appeared that the ship had been hit in a magazine and de Robeck thought that the ship had struck a floating mine or been torpedoed.


HMS Irresistible abandoned and sinking.

The British pressed on with the attack. Around 16:00, Inflexible began to withdraw and struck a mine near where Bouvet had sunk killing thirty crewmen and flooding the ship with 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of water. The battlecruiser remained afloat and eventually beached on the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) and temporarily repaired with a coffer dam. Irresistible was the next to be mined and as it began to drift, the crew were taken off. De Robeck told Ocean to take Irresistible under tow but the water was deemed too shallow to make an approach. At 18:05, Ocean struck a mine which jammed the steering gear leaving the ship adrift. The abandoned battleships were still floating when the British withdrew but when a destroyer commanded by Commodore Roger Keyes returned to tow or sink the vessels, they could not be found despite a 4-hour search.

In 1934, Keyes wrote that

The fear of their fire was actually the deciding factor of the fortunes of the day. For five hours the [destroyer] Wear and picket boats had experienced, quite unperturbed and without any loss, a far more intense fire from them than the sweepers encountered... the latter could not be induced to face it, and sweep ahead of the ships in 'B' line.... I had the almost indelible impression that we were in the presence of a beaten foe. I thought he was beaten at 2 pm. I knew he was beaten at 4 pm — and at midnight I knew with still greater clarity that he was absolutely beaten; and it only remained for us to organise a proper sweeping force and devise some means of dealing with drifting mines to reap the fruits of our efforts.
— Keyes

For 118 casualties, the Ottomans sank three battleships, damaged another and inflicted seven hundred casualties on the British-French fleet. There were calls amongst the British, particularly from Churchill, to press on with the naval attack and De Robeck advised on 20 March that he was reorganising his minesweepers. Churchill responded that he was sending four replacement ships; with the exception of Inflexible, the ships were expendable. It is not correct that the ammunition of the guns was low: they could have repulsed two more attacks. The crews of the sunken battleships replaced the civilians on the trawler minesweepers and were much more willing to keep sweeping under fire. The US Ambassador to Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, reported that Constantinople expected to be attacked and that the Ottomans felt they could only hold out for a few hours if the attack had resumed on 19 March. Further, he thought that Turkey itself might well disintegrate as a state once the capital fell.

The main minefields at the narrows, over ten layers deep, were still intact and protected by the smaller shore guns that had not seen any action on 18 March. These and other defences further in the strait had not exhausted their ammunition and resources yet. It was not a given that one more push by the fleet would have resulted in passage to Marmara Sea. Churchill had anticipated losses and considered them a necessary tactical price. In June 1915, he discussed the campaign with the war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, who had returned to London to deliver uncensored reports. Ashmead-Bartlett was incensed at the loss of ships and lives but Churchill responded that the ships were expendable. To place the losses into perspective, the Navy had ordered six hundred new ships during the period Admiral Fisher was First Sea Lord, approximately corresponding with the length of the Dardanelles campaign.


Sir Roger Keyes, Vice-Admiral De Robeck, Sir Ian Hamilton, General Braithwaite.

De Robeck wrote on 18 March,

After losing so many ships I shall obviously find myself superseded tomorrow morning.

The fleet lost more ships than the Royal Navy had suffered since the Battle of Trafalgar; on 23 March, de Robeck telegraphed to the Admiralty that land forces were needed. He later told the Dardanelles Commission investigating the campaign, that his main reason for changing his mind, was concern for what might happen in the event of success, that the fleet might find itself at Constantinople or on the Marmara sea fighting an enemy which did not simply surrender as the plan assumed, without any troops to secure captured territory. With the failure of the naval assault, the idea that land forces could advance around the backs of the Dardanelles forts and capture Constantinople gained support as an alternative and on 25 April, the Gallipoli Campaign commenced.


HMS Irresistible—the fourth British Royal Navy ship of the name—was a Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship. The Formidable-class ships were developments of earlier British battleships, featuring the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns—albeit more powerful 40-calibre versions—and top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) of the preceding Canopus class, while adopting heavier armour protection. The ship was laid down in April 1898, was launched in December that year, and was completed in October 1901. Commissioned in 1902, she initially served with the Mediterranean Fleet until April 1908, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. Now outclassed with the emergence of the dreadnought class of ships, she entered service with the Home Fleet in 1911 following a refit. In 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron.


HMS Irresistible in 1914

Following the outbreak of World War I, Irresistible, along with the squadron, was assigned to the Channel Fleet. After operations with the Dover Patrol, during which she bombarded German forces in northern France, she was assigned to the Dardanelles Campaign in February 1915. She took part in numerous unsuccessful attacks on the Ottoman forts guarding the Dardanelles in February and March. These operations included several raids by landing parties to destroy Ottoman coastal artillery batteries. On 18 March 1915, she struck a naval mine that caused extensive flooding and disabled her engines. Without power, she began to drift into the range of Turkish guns, which laid down a withering fire. Attempts to tow her failed, so her surviving crew was evacuated and Irresistible was abandoned and eventually sank. Her crew suffered around 150 killed in the sinking.


The fourth HMS Ocean was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Ocean and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Ocean was laid down in December 1897, launched in July 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in February 1900.



She entered service with the Mediterranean Fleet until January 1901, when she was transferred to the China Station. Ocean was recalled from China in 1905 for service with the Channel Fleet after a period spent in reserve. From 1908 to early 1910, she was again assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was assigned to the Home Fleet in 1910, and saw little activity until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. At the start of the conflict, she was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron and was stationed in Ireland to support a cruiser squadron, but in October she was transferred to the East Indies Station to protect troopship convoys from India.

In late 1914, Ocean participated in an attack on Basra before being transferred to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal. In February 1915, she was reassigned to the Dardanelles Campaign, and she took part in several attacks on the Ottoman fortifications defending the Dardanelles. On 18 March, she attempted to retrieve the battleship Irresistible after the latter had been badly damaged by a mine in Erenköy Bay, but had to abandon her salvage efforts due to heavy Turkish gunfire. She instead evacuated the surviving crew of Irresistible but struck a mine while making for the open sea. Badly damaged, her crew and the survivors of Irresistible were taken off by destroyers and Ocean left to sink in Morto Bay.


Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Carnot, and Masséna, which were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. Bouvet was the last vessel of the group to be built, and her design was based on that of Charles Martel. Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12.0 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph), which made her one of the fastest battleships in the world at the time. Bouvet proved to be the most successful design of the five, and she was used as the basis for the subsequent Charlemagne class. She nevertheless suffered from design flaws that reduced her stability and contributed to her loss in 1915.



Bouvet spent the majority of her peacetime career in the Mediterranean Squadron conducting routine training exercises. This period was relatively uneventful, though she was involved in a collision with the battleship Gaulois in 1903 that saw both ships' captains relieved of command. In 1906, she assisted in the response to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Bouvet was withdrawn from front-line service in 1907 and thereafter used as part of the training fleet. The ship was the only vessel of her group of five half-sisters still in service at the outbreak of World War I in July 1914.

A significant portion of the French Army was stationed in French North Africa, so at the start of the war, Bouvet and much of the rest of the fleet was tasked with escorting troop convoys across to southern France. With this work done by late August, Bouvet and several other battleships were used to patrol for contraband shipments in the central Mediterranean. From November to late December, she was stationed as a guard ship at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The ship thereafter joined the naval operations off the Dardanelles, where she participated in a series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the straits. These culminated in a major assault on 18 March 1915; during the attack, she was hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 710. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines that day, and the disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favor of an amphibious assault on Gallipoli.


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

Gallipoli campaign - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Irresistible_(1898)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Inflexible_(1908)

HMS Ocean (1898) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

French battleship Bouvet - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1918 - Launch of SS Faith, the first concrete ship


The SS Faith was the first concrete ship built in the United States. It was constructed by the San Francisco Shipbuilding Company in 1918 owned by William Leslie Comyn. It cost $750,000.


The Faith shortly after launch

The construction
Work began September 1, 1917; concrete pouring began October 31, 1917 and ended February 26, 1918. The Steam Ship (SS) Faith launched on March 14, 1918, from Redwood City, California. The ship was designed by Alan Macdonald and Victor Poss. It pulled up to 5000 tons, being the largest concrete ship of its time. The cost of the hull itself was estimated at US$450,000, and the early estimate before completion was that it would total US$890,000 overall.

Dimensions

• 102,56 x 13,56 x 6,86 metres 336.5 x 44.5 x 22.5 feet
• 6125 tons
• 2 triple expansion steam machines
• 1760 Horsepower
• 10 knots

History
"[...] said William Leslie Comyn [...] he likewise pointed out the lack of steel-making plants and shipyards on the West Coast. His solution: build ships of concrete. [...] He was convinced that a 5,000-ton concrete freighter could be operated at a profit and on 3 September 1917 he solicited contractual support from USSB to build "five reinforced concrete steamers" [...] On speculation, then, his firm began to build the Faith at Redwood City, California"

The first journeys were to Honolulu, Balboa, Callao, Valparaíso and New York. In 1919, the San Francisco Shipbuilding company was sold to French American SS lines, and in 1921, the SS Faith ended as a breakwater in Cuba.



Very interesting photos of the Construction Site:

SS Faith construction images, the first US concrete ship

photocollection.alonsorobisco.es

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Faith

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1945 - The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of the Second World War fought on 18 March 1945, in the Gulf of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea.


The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of the Second World War fought on 18 March 1945, in the Gulf of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea. A Kriegsmarine flotilla of two torpedo boats and one destroyer was conducting an offensive mine laying operation when it was intercepted by a British Royal Navy force. The British destroyers HMS Lookout and Meteor sank two of the German ships and severely damaged the third; it was the last German naval surface action of the war.


HMS Meteor, an M-class destroyer armed with six 4.7 inch guns

Background
At the Malta Conference (30 January – 3 February 1945), it was decided to transfer air force and army units from Italy to the Western Front in France and Belgium in Operation Goldflake. In February and March 1945, the I Canadian Corps was moved from Italy to the French port of Marseilles. Escorts for the troopships were provided by Flank Force (Admiral Robert Jaujard) British, French and US ships, with air cover from the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force (MACAF).

Prelude
On the night of 17 March 1945, the last three operational ships of the German 10th Flotilla (Korvettenkapitän Franz Burkart) conducted an offensive mine-laying operation north-east of Corsica. After sailing from Genoa, torpedo boats TA24 (ex-Italian Arturo) and TA29 (ex-Italian Eridano) laid 56 mines south of Gorgona Island, while the destroyer TA32 (ex-Yugoslavian Dubrovnik,later Italian Premuda) placed 76 mines north of Cap Corse. The flotilla rendezvoused for the return to Genoa and was about 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) north of Cape Corse, when they were detected by an Allied shore radar at Livorno. Four Allied destroyers of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla were patrolling in the area; the French L'Adroit-class destroyer Basque and the Bourrasque-class destroyerTempête; the British L and M-class destroyers HMS Lookout and Meteor.

In the early hours of 18 March, all but Meteor received the radar report from Livorno. Captain André Léon Jean Marie Morazzani, the senior officer aboard Tempête, ordered the British ships to intercept the intruders, while he led the older and slower French destroyers south-east, in case the Germans doubled back to intercept a convoy near Cape Corse. Lookout's commander, Derick Hetherington, coordinated with Meteor via Talk Between Ships (TBS) and the British ships went on separate courses north-east at full speed. By the time Morazzani was sure that the German ships were no threat to the convoy, he was too far away to join the action.

Action
Lookout established radar contact with the Germans at 03:00 on 18 March, sailing at 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) just west of north. Lookout approached at high speed from ahead and opened fire at about 5,000 yd (2 nmi; 3 mi; 5 km). Minutes later she swung around, moving parallel to the Germans and launched torpedoes. The Germans were surprised and Lookout's radar-directed guns quickly scored hits on TA24 and TA29. TA29 dropped out of formation while the other two ships retreated north. Lookout let them go to concentrate on the crippled TA29 and circled it, firing continuously with its six 4.7-inch guns from as close as 2,000 yd (1 nmi; 1 mi; 2 km). TA29 fought back, her gunners almost hitting Lookout several times. One burst of 20 mm shells hit some smoke floats and started a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

Lookout continued to fire at TA29 until just after 04:00; after more than 40 hits, TA29 caught fire and sank. She lost only 20 men despite Lookout's intense and accurate salvos. Meteor altered course to intercept the other German ships and about the time that Lookout engaged TA29, Meteor made radar contact at 12,300 yd (6 nmi; 7 mi; 11 km) with the two German ships retreating north. Meteor opened fire at 8,000 yd (4 nmi; 5 mi; 7 km) and hit TA24 almost immediately. Seeing the hit in the dark, she launched a salvo of torpedoes a few minutes later, one of which struck TA24. Meteor's commander, Richard Pankhurst, saw a "geyser of flame and metal" and TA24 sank just after 04:00, losing 30 men in 13 minutes.

Aftermath
This was the German Kriegsmarine's last surface action of the war. The British destroyers ended any possibility of German deep water offensive operations in the Ligurian Sea, let alone anywhere else in the Mediterranean. The engagement was also the last surface naval action the British fought in the western theatre and the last substantial surface action fought on the Mediterranean Sea. TA32 was damaged but managed to escape; she was scuttled by her crew in Genoa on 25 April 1945. The British destroyers rescued 244 survivors, including Franz Burkart, in rafts and boats from TA24 and TA29 and took them prisoner. In 2011, Spencer Tucker wrote that "the British destroyers achieved decisive results against a German unit... and their victory effectively ended the Kriegsmarine's ability to undertake deep water offensive operations".



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