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

[Uwek]

8 August 1940 - Launch of japanese battleship Yamato

Yamato (大和) was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a warship.

Named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, Yamato was designed to counter the numerically superior battleship fleet of the United States, Japan's main rival in the Pacific. She was laid down in 1937 and formally commissioned a week after the Pearl Harbor attack in late 1941. Throughout 1942, she served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Musashi took over as the Combined Fleet flagship in early 1943, and Yamato spent the rest of the year, and much of 1944, moving between the major Japanese naval bases of Truk and Kure in response to American threats. Although present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, she played no part in the battle.



The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy surface targets was in October 1944, when she was sent to engage American forces invading the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the verge of success, the Japanese force turned back, believing they were engaging an entire US carrier fleet rather than a light escort carrier group that was all which stood between the battleship and vulnerable troop transports.

During 1944, the balance of naval power in the Pacific decisively turned against Japan, and by early 1945, its fleet was much depleted and badly hobbled by critical fuel shortages in the home islands. In a desperate attempt to slow the Allied advance, Yamato was dispatched on a one-way mission to Okinawa in April 1945, with orders to beach herself and fight until destroyed protecting the island. The task force was spotted south of Kyushu by US submarines and aircraft, and on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers with the loss of most of her crew.

Design and construction
During the 1930s the Japanese government adopted an ultranationalist militancy with a view to greatly expand the Japanese Empire. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1934, renouncing its treaty obligations. After withdrawing from the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited the size and power of capital ships, the Imperial Japanese Navy began their design of the new Yamato class of heavy battleships. Their planners recognized Japan would be unable to compete with the output of U.S. naval shipyards should war break out, so the 70,000 ton vessels of the Yamato class were designed to be capable of engaging multiple enemy battleships at the same time.




Protection schematics of the class at the rear turret. Here is another cut amidships.

The keel of Yamato, the lead ship of the class, was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal, Hiroshima, on 4 November 1937, in a dockyard that had to be adapted to accommodate her enormous hull. The dock was deepened by one meter, and gantry cranes capable of lifting up to 350 tonnes were installed. Extreme secrecy was maintained throughout construction, a canopy even being erected over part of the drydock to screen the ship from view. Yamato was launched on 8 August 1940, with Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Miyazato Shutoku in command. A great effort was made in Japan to ensure that the ships were built in extreme secrecy to prevent American intelligence officials from learning of their existence and specifications


Yamato near the end of her fitting out, 20 September 1941

Armament


Yamato's main battery consisted of nine 46 cm (18.1 in) 45 Caliber Type 94 naval guns—the largest caliber of naval artillery ever fitted to a warship, although the shells were not as heavy as those fired by the British 18-inch naval guns of World War I. Each gun was 21.13 metres (69.3 ft) long, weighed 147.3 metric tons (162.4 short tons), and was capable of firing high-explosive or armor-piercing shells 42 kilometres (26 mi).[15]Her secondary battery comprised twelve 155-millimetre (6.1 in) guns mounted in four triple turrets (one forward, one aft, two midships), and twelve 127-millimetre (5.0 in) guns in six twin mounts (three on each side amidships). These turrets had been taken off the Mogami-class cruisers when those vessels were converted to a main armament of 20.3-centimetre (8.0 in) guns. In addition, Yamato carried twenty-four 25-millimetre (0.98 in) anti-aircraft guns, primarily mounted amidships. When refitted in 1944 and 1945 for naval engagements in the South Pacific, the secondary battery configuration was changed to six 155 mm guns and twenty-four 127 mm guns, and the number of 25 mm anti-aircraft guns was increased to 162


The Yamato during sea trials off Japan near Bungo Strait, 20 October 1941.

Cultural significance
From the time of their construction, Yamato and her sister Musashi carried significant weight in Japanese culture. The battleships represented the epitome of Imperial Japanese naval engineering, and because of their size, speed, and power, visibly embodied Japan's determination and readiness to defend its interests against the Western Powers and the United States in particular. Shigeru Fukudome, chief of the Operations Section of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, described the ships as "symbols of naval power that provided to officers and men alike a profound sense of confidence in their navy." Yamato's symbolic might was such that some Japanese citizens held the belief that their country could never fall as long as the ship was able to fight.

Decades after the war, Yamato was memorialised in various forms by the Japanese. Historically, the word "Yamato" was used as a poetic name for Japan; thus, her name became a metaphor for the end of the Japanese empire.In April 1968, a memorial tower was erected on Cape Inutabu in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture to commemorate the lives lost in Operation Ten-Go. In October 1974, Leiji Matsumoto created a new television series, Space Battleship Yamato, about rebuilding the battleship as a starship and its interstellar quest to save Earth. The series was a huge success, spawning five feature films and two more TV series; as post-war Japanese tried to redefine the purpose of their lives, Yamato became a symbol of heroism and of their desire to regain a sense of masculinity after their country's defeat in the war. Brought to the United States as Star Blazers, the animated series proved popular and established a foundation for anime in the North American entertainment market.The motif in Space Battleship Yamato was repeated in Silent Service, a popular manga and anime that explores issues of nuclear weapons and the Japan-US relationship. It tells the story of a nuclear-powered super submarine whose crew mutinies and renames the vessel Yamato, in allusion to the World War II battleship and the ideals she symbolises.

In 2005, the Yamato Museum was opened near the site of the former Kure shipyards. Although intended to educate on the maritime history of post Meiji-era Japan, the museum gives special attention to its namesake; the battleship is a common theme among several of its exhibits, which includes a section dedicated to Matsumoto's animated series. The centrepiece of the museum, occupying a large section of the ground floor, is a 26.3-metre (86 ft) long model of Yamato (1:10 scale).


The very large model at the YamatoMuseum, with museum visitors (2006)

Later that year, Toei released a 143-minute movie, Yamato, based on a book by Jun Henmi, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II; Tamiya released special editions of scale models of the battleship in conjunction with the film's release. Based on a book of the same name, the film is a tale about the sailors aboard the doomed battleship and the concepts of honour and duty. The film was shown on more than 290 screens across the country and was a commercial success, taking in a record 5.11 billion yen at the domestic box office.

The web-page of the museum:
http://visithiroshima.net/things_to_do/attractions/museums/yamato_museum.html




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato-class_battleship

 

[Uwek]

8-9 August 1942 - The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island

and, in Japanese sources, as the First Battle of the Solomon Sea (第一次ソロモン海戦 Dai-ichi-ji Soromon Kaisen), and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks,[4][5] was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle took place on August 8–9, 1942 and was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, and the first of several naval battles in the straits later named Ironbottom Sound, near the island of Guadalcanal.


The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39) photographed from a Japanese cruiser during the Battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal, 9 August 1942. Quincy, seen here burning and illuminated by Japanese searchlights, was sunk in this action. The flames at the far left of the picture are probably from the USS Vincennes (CA-44), also on fire from gunfire and torpedo damage.

The Imperial Japanese Navy, in response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands, mobilized a task force of seven cruisers and one destroyer under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. The task forces sailed from Japanese bases in New Britain and New Ireland down New Georgia Sound (also known as "the Slot"), with the intention of interrupting the Allied landings by attacking the supporting amphibious fleet and its screening force. The Allied screen consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers under British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley VC, but only five cruisers and seven destroyers were involved in the battle. In a night action, Mikawa thoroughly surprised and routed the Allied force, sinking one Australian and three American cruisers, while suffering only light damage in return. The battle has often been cited as the worst defeat in a fair fight in the history of the United States Navy.


Chart of the disposition of ships the night of August 8.

After the initial engagement, Mikawa, fearing Allied carrier strikes against his fleet upon daybreak, decided to withdraw under cover of night rather than attempt to locate and destroy the Allied invasion transports. The Japanese attacks prompted the remaining Allied warships and the amphibious force to withdraw earlier than planned (prior to the unloading of all supplies), temporarily ceding control of the seas around Guadalcanal to the Japanese. This early withdrawal of the fleet left the Allied ground forces (primarily United States Marines), which had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby islands only two days before, in a precarious situation, with limited supplies, equipment, and food to hold their beachhead.

Mikawa's decision to withdraw under cover of night rather than attempt to destroy the Allied invasion transports was primarily founded on the high risk of Allied carrier strikes against his fleet upon daybreak. In reality, the Allied carrier fleet, similarly fearing Japanese attack, had already withdrawn beyond operational range. This missed opportunity to cripple (rather than interrupt) the supply of Allied forces on Guadalcanal contributed to Japan's inability to later recapture the island. At this early critical stage of the campaign, it allowed the Allied forces to entrench and fortify themselves in sufficient strength to successfully defend the area around Henderson Field until additional Allied reinforcements arrived later in the year.


U.S. destroyers Blue and Patterson evacuate the crew from the burning Canberra

The battle was the first of five costly, large scale sea and air-sea actions fought in support of the ground battles on Guadalcanal itself, as the Japanese sought to counter the American offensive in the Pacific. These sea battles took place every few days, with increasing delays on each side to regroup and refit, until the November 30, 1942 Battle of Tassafaronga (sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the Battle of Lunga Point (ルンガ沖夜戦)) —after which the Japanese, eschewing the costly losses, attempted resupplying by submarine and barges. The final naval battle, the Battle of Rennell Island (Japanese: レンネル島沖海戦), took place months later on January 29–30, 1943, by which time the Japanese were preparing to evacuate their remaining land forces and withdraw.


HMAS Canberra sunk 9 August 1942. While still afloat, and in no apparent danger of sinking, damage control and repair options were being evaluated. It was determined that Canberra's engines could not be repaired by the 0630 deadline, and she was to be scuttled, instead of being towed over to Tulagi harbor for emergency repairs. She was torpedoed by the destroyer USS Ellet at 08:00, after 263 5-inch shells and four other torpedoes fired by USS Selfridge failed to do the job, and sank at 9°12′29″S 159°54′46″ECoordinates:

9°12′29″S 159°54′46″E. She was one of the first ships to be sunk in what was eventually named "Ironbottom Sound". Three US cruisers were also destroyed during the battle, and a US destroyer was damaged.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Canberra_(D33)

 

[Uwek]

8 August 2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised

to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence.

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



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



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


USS Housatonic

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





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

 

[Uwek]

Other Events on 8 August


1585 – John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Davis_(English_explorer)

1723 – Launch of French 74 gun ship Esperance of the Duc d´Orleans Class at Toulon) - captured and burnt by the British 11 November 1755

1761 - Launch of French 50 gun Sagittaire at Toulon, designed and built by Jean-Marie-Blaise Coulomb) – sold for commerce around 1790.

1775 - Battle of Gloucester

The Battle of Gloucester was a skirmish fought early in the American Revolutionary War at Gloucester, Massachusetts on August 8 or 9, 1775. Royal Navy Captain John Linzee, commanding the sloop-of-war HMS Falcon, spotted two schooners that were returning from the West Indies. After capturing one schooner, Linzee chased the second one into Gloucester Harbor, where it was grounded. The townspeople called out their militia, captured British seamen sent to seize the grounded schooner, and recovered the captured ship as well.

The skirmish was one of a series of actions that prompted a retaliatory expedition by Royal Navy Captain Henry Mowat in October 1775. The major event of his cruise, the Burning of Falmouth, was cited by the Second Continental Congress when it established the Continental Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gloucester_(1775)

1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.


Joseph Whidbey, a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–1795, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer

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



1809 - HMS Lark (1794 – 16 gun sloop of the Cormorant class) Robert Nicholas, upset in a gale and foundered off Cape Causada, San Domingo

Unfortunately, on 8 August 1809 (Remark Uwe: date in wikipedia is wrong!), Lark foundered in a gale off Cape Causada (Point Palenqua), San Domingo. She was at anchor when the gale struck. She set sail at daybreak to get out to sea but while she was shortening sail a squall struck that turned her on her side. At that point a heavy sea struck her and she filled rapidly with water. She sank within 15 minutes, taking most of her crew with her. Some of her crew survived by hanging on to floating wreckage. However, by evening, when the Cruizer-class brig-sloop Moselle arrived, Commander Nicholas and all but three men of her crew of 120 were dead. Moselle then rescued the three survivors. Nicholas had just been promoted to post-captain with orders to command Garland.


HMS Blossom of the same class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lark_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant-class_ship-sloop

1808 – Launch of French 40 gun Clorinde, Pallas class, at Paimboeuf) – captured by British Navy 1814, becoming HMS Aurora.


Battle between the frigates Clorinde and HMS Eurotas

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

1811 - French settlement of Batavia capitulated to the British under Sir Samuel Auchrmity and Rear-Admiral Stopford


Batavia in 1840, showing the growth of the city to the south of old Batavia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia,_Dutch_East_Indies

1812 – Launch of HMS Maginienne, Apollo-class frigate


The frigate HMS Apollo (same class) sinks on 2 April 1804.

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

1813 - Schooners USS Hamilton and USS Scourge founder in storm on Lake Ontario

1860 - Screw frigate USS San Jacinto, commanded by Capt. William M. Armstrong, captures the American slaver Storm King with 619 slaves on board, off the Congo River. A prize crew from the steam frigate sailed the captured slaver to Monrovia and turned 616 freed Negroes over to the United States agent there before proceeding to Norfolk with the prize.


The USS San Jacinto (right) stops the British packet steamer RMS Trent. When the San Jacinto removed two Confederate diplomats from the Trent, it touched off the Trent Affair, the closest that Great Britain came to joining the American Civil War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Jacinto_(1850)

1861 - During the Civil War, the frigate USS Santee commanded by Capt. Eagle captured the schooner C.P. Knapp in the Gulf of Mexico.

1861 – Launch of French Semiramis, a 60 gun Dryade class screw frigate at Rochefort as a steam frigate – deleted 3 May 1877.


Frigate Didon from same class

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

1863 - During the Civil War, the screw steam gunboat, USS Sagamore, commanded by Lt. Cmdr. English, seizes British sloop, HMS Clara Louisa, off Indian River, Fla. Later the same day, Lt. Cmdr. English captures British schooners, HMS Southern Rights and HMS Shot, and Confederate schooner, CSS Ann, off Gilberts Bar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sagamore_(1861)

1895 - SS Catterthun was a nineteenth-century cargo and passenger ship. It sank with considerable loss of life on the east coast of Australia in 1895. Parts of the gold-cargo is still missing.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Catterthun
https://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=82

1915 - SS or RMS The Ramsey sunk after fight with German auxiliary minelayer SMS Meteor,


The Ramsey.

Ramsey was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1912 to 1914. She had been built in 1895 as Duke of Lancaster for the joint service to Belfast of the London and North Western Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway companies. The steamer was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 as the armed boarding vessel HMS Ramsey and sunk the following year.


Hilfskreuzer METEOR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_The_Ramsey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Meteor_(1903)

1924 - USS Shenandoah (ZR 1) secures herself to the mooring mast on USS Patoka (AO 9), making the first use of the mooring mast erected on shipboard to facilitate airship operations with the fleet.


Shenandoah moored to the oiler Patoka

USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. It was constructed during 1922–23 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September 1923. It developed the U.S. Navy's experience with rigid airships, and made the first crossing of North America by airship. On the 57th flight,[2] Shenandoah was destroyed in a squall line over Ohio in September 1925

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shenandoah_(ZR-1)

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1778 - First Engagement between British squadron under Lord Howe and French squadron under Comte d'Estaing off Rhode Island


Lord Howe and the Comte d'Estaing off Rhode Island, 9th August 1778


Background
At the beginning of the American War of Independence, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists. He had known Benjamin Franklin since late 1774 and was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to attempt a reconciliation.


Admiral of the Fleet Howe 1726-99 1st Earl Howe by John Singleton Copley

Blockade
Howe was ordered to institute a naval blockade of the American coastline, but this proved to be ineffective. Howe claimed to have too few ships to successfully accomplish this, particularly as a number had to be detached to support operations by the British Army. As a result, large amounts of covert French supplies and munitions were smuggled to America. It has been suggested that Howe's limited blockade at this point was driven by his sympathy with and desire for conciliation with the Americans. By 1778 the blockade was looking more promising, with many merchant ships being taken. Howe complained to London that while his ships were able to successfully guard the southern colonies, the blockade of the northern colonies was still ineffective.

New York and Philadelphia
The arrival of British troops in New York in 1776
The strategy of the British in North America was to deploy a combination of operations aimed at capturing major cities and a blockade of the coast. The British took Long Island in August 1776 and captured New York City in September 1776 in combined operations involving the army and the navy during the New York and New Jersey campaign. In 1777 Howe provided support to his brother's operation to capture Philadelphia, ferrying General Howe's army to a landing point from which they successfully marched and took the city. Howe spent much of the remainder of the year concentrating on capturing Forts Mifflin and Mercer which controlled entry to the Delaware River without which ships could not reach Philadelphia. of the capture of a separate British army under General John Burgoyne threw British plans into disarray. Howe spent the winter in Newport, Rhode Island.


The arrival of British troops in New York in 1776

The alliance was formally negotiated by Benjamin Franklin and the 1778 Treaty of Alliance was signed on February 6, 1778 after the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga, under the designation of "Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce".[6] The treaty gave open support from the French Army, Navy and Treasury, and spelled that the United States was obligated to guarantee "from the present time and forever, against all other powers (...) the present Possessions of the Crown of France in America", in exchange for a promise not to increase French possessions anymore in America.


Portrait of Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing (24 November 1729 – 28 April 1794) by Jean-Pierre Franque

In Summer 1778 a French squadron commanded by the Comte d'Estaing was sent to America. Howe's fleet was delayed departing New York by contrary winds, and he arrived off Point Judith on 9 August. Since d'Estaing's fleet outnumbered Howe's, the French admiral, fearful that Howe would be further reinforced and eventually gain a numerical advantage, reboarded the French troops, and sailed out to do battle with Howe on 10 August. As the two fleets prepared to battle and manoeuvred for position, the weather deteriorated, and a major storm broke out. Raging for two days, the storm scattered both fleets, severely damaging the French flagship. As the two fleets sought to regroup, individual ships encountered enemy ships, and there were several minor naval skirmishes; two French ships (including d'Estaing's flagship), already suffering storm damage, were badly mauled in these encounters. The French fleet regrouped off Delaware, and returned to Newport on 20 August, while the British fleet regrouped at New York.


Le Destin molestant les Anglois, contemporary caricature showing d'Estaing presenting a palm frond to America


British commerce as a milk cow. Images include: America as an Indian; British lion sleeping; British people in despair; France as a man with a bowl of milk; Holland as a milkman; Howe brothers (Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe) sleeping in Philadelphia; Howe's ship, Eagle, aground; City of Philadelphia; Spain as a man with a bowl of milk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Howe,_1st_Earl_Howe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Henri_Hector_d'Estaing

 

[Uwek]

9.8 or 28.8. 1781 - HMS Iris, ex USS Hancock (1777 – 28 guns) took USS Trumbull (1776 – 30 guns)
Remark Uwe 1: In most web-pages is written, that HMS Isis (50 guns) took the Trumbull, but this is a typewriting error
Remark 2: Some sources mention this at the 8.th, some 9th, and others on 28.8.1781


On 8 August 1781, Trumbull — the last remaining frigate of the original 13 authorized by Congress in 1775 — eventually departed from the Delaware capes in company with a 24-gun privateer and a 14-gun letter-of-marque. Under their protection was a 28-ship merchant convoy. On 28 August 1781, lookouts on the American ships spotted three sails to the eastward; two tacking to give chase to the convoy.

At nightfall, a rain squall struck with terrific force and carried away Trumbull's fore-topmast and her main topgallant mast. Forced to run before the wind, the frigate separated from the convoy and their escorts, and soon found herself engaged with the frigate Iris (the former Continental frigate Hancock), and the 18-gun ship General Monk (the former Continental privateer General Washington). Even with the "utmost exertion," the wrecked masts and sails could not be cleared away. Knowing he could not run, Nicholson decided to fight.


"USS TRUMBULL Captured by HMS IRIS and HMS GENERAL MONK"
On the night of 8 August 1781, HMS Iris, under CAPT. George Dawson, accompanied by HMS General Monk under CDR. Josias Rogers, brought under CAPT> Nicholson, under fire for one hour and 35 minutes, forcing Trumbull to strike her colors.
Description: Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport , Virginia, artist, Warren / US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 56474

Trapped, Trumbull beat to quarters, but three-quarters of the crew failed to respond, and instead fled below. Undaunted, Nicholson bravely gathered the remainder. For one hour and 35 minutes, Trumbull and Iris remained engaged; General Monk soon closed and entered the contest as well. "Seeing no prospect of escaping in this unequal contest," Nicholson later wrote, "I struck...". Eleven Americans were wounded and five killed during the engagement before Trumbull surrendered. Iris reported that she had lost one man killed and six wounded, while Trumbull had two men killed and 10 wounded.

Trumbull, by this point almost a wreck, was taken under tow by the victorious Iris to New York. However, because of her severe damage, the British did not take the frigate into the Royal Navy; and details of her subsequent career are lost or unknown.


The Ships:

The second Trumbull was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sailing frigate and was one of the first of 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress on 13 of December 1775. They were superior in design and construction to the same class of European vessels in their day. Its keel was laid down in March or April 1776 at Chatham, Connecticut, by John Cotton and was launched on 5 September 1776.




The second Hancock was one of the first 13 frigates of the Continental Navy. A resolution of the Continental Congress of British North America 13 December 1775 authorized her construction; she was named for John Hancock. In her career she served under the American, British and French flags.







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hancock_(1776)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Trumbull_(1776)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86638.htm

 

[Uwek]

1803 – Robert Fulton operated the first steamboat on the Seine

On August 9, 1803, about six o'clock, Robert Fulton began to move a boat of his own, powered by a fire pump. Parti de Chaillot, the machine went up the Seine to the speed of a pedestrian in a hurry, then down, made several maneuvers and embarked several members of the Institute, which Volney, Prony, and Carnot Bossut, which could verify the success of the experiment. Fulton tests came after a long series of attempts to apply steam to the inland waterways: Germany Denis Papin (1707), and of Auxiron Joffroy in France (1774), Ramsey (1786) and Fitch (1790 ) in America, and Lord Dundas Symmington (1788-1801) in England. Fulton is a self-taught and creativity is rooted, as often in those days, in the practice of industrial design.


Bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1803.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1765 into a poor family, he made his name as a painter of miniatures, and in 1786, emigrate to Britain where he became a designer of machines.

In 1796 he came to Paris to offer an Executive model submarine supposed to ensure his country and its allies freedom of the seas. Successful trials were held in 1800-1801, unable to convince the political authorities. Thanks to the support of Robert Livingston, U.S. charge d'affaires in Paris, that Fulton was able to complete his studies on steam propulsion. In early 1803, the hull of the prototype broke under the weight of machinery. He then built on the Isle of Swans, a boat 74 feet long and 8 wide. The cylinder of the steam engine, vertical, double acting, was built by the brothers Perier, the low pressure boiler, model Barlow, and mechanics came out of workshops Etienne Calla and two paddle wheels turned ten blades at 15 revolutions / minute.



To ensure balance, machinery was ingeniously distributed over the entire length of the boat. The project was presented to the First Consul Costaz by Louis, his old friend from Egypt. Bonaparte, who had no patience with men in projects, and with Fulton in particular, refused.

On August 9, 1803, this steamboat was cast loose in front of an immense crowd of spectators. The steamboat moved slowly, making only between three and four miles an hour against the current, the speed through the water was about 4.5 miles; but this was, all things considered, a great success.


Location and plaque of the Fulton experiment of 9 August 1803.

The experiment attracted little attention, notwithstanding the fact that its success had been witnessed by the committee of the National Academy and by officers on Napolean Bonaparte's staff. The boat remained a long time on the Seine, near the palace. The water-tube boiler of this vessel is still preserved at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris, where it is known as Barlow's boiler


Bonaparte was not there like shown in these contemporary paintings showing

“You wish to sail a ship up stream by lighting a fire under its decks, I have no time for such nonsense.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)


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

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1835 - Launch of Russian ship of the line Lefort 84 guns


Lefort (Russian "Лефорт", also spelled "Leffort") was a ship of the line of the Imperial Russian Navy.

Lefort was a ship of the line of the Imperatritsa Aleksandra (Empress Alexandra) class, rated at 84 guns but actually armed with 94 guns. Her keel was laid in 1833 at Saint Petersburg and she was launched 9 August 1835 in the presence of Nicholas I. She was named after Admiral Franz Lefort, chief of the Russian Navy from 1695-1696. She was the last classic wooden battleship of the Russian Imperial Fleet, Empress Alexandra-class.



Upon commissioning she joined the Russian Baltic Fleet. During the Crimean War in 1854 she aided in the defence of Kronstadt against a Franco-British fleet but did not see combat.



On the morning of 22 September 1857, the Lefort was in the Gulf of Finland en route from Reval (present day Tallinn, Estonia) to Kronstadt along with the ships Imperatritsa Aleksandra, Vladimir, and Pamiat Asova, under the command of Rear-Admiral I. Nordman. The ship had on board 756 crew and officers, 53 women, and 17 children (families of the crew). The squadron was caught in a sudden squall and the Lefort heeled over once, righted herself, then heeled over again and sank between the islands of Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuters, five and a half nautical miles north-northeast of Bolshoy Tyuters, with the loss of all 826 people on board. The foreign press however reported that one sailor had been saved by holding on to a beam and floating to Gogland. In all the storm on the night wrecked about 30 ships on the Russian Baltic coast.



A board of inquiry investigating the disaster recognized as the most probable cause of the accident the weakening of the ship ties caused by the fact that in 1856 the ship twice been used as transport for the carriage of heavy loads on the gun decks. It also alleged that the ship's hull had not been caulked adequately and the cargo load was too small, and incorrectly arranged. In addition, it was speculated that the gun ports had been left open to provide fresh air for the passengers; this may have contributed to the sinking of the ship as water could have poured in through the open ports when the ship first heeled over.





The wreck of Lefort was found between the islands of Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuters on 4 May 2013.
Extremely well intact still after these years - open the web-page
http://uwex.org/en/projects/lefort/
and scroll down to the different videos of the diving team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ship_of_the_line_Lefort
http://uwex.org/en/projects/lefort/

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1862 – Launch of USS Lackawanna, a screw sloop-of-war in the Union Navy

The first USS Lackawanna was a screw sloop-of-war in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Lackawanna was launched by the New York Navy Yard on 9 August 1862; sponsored by Ms. Imogen Page Cooper; and commissioned on 8 January 1863, Captain John B. Marchand in command. She was named after the Lackawanna River in Pennsylvania.


USS Lackawanna at anchor, probably taken on her 1880 cruise to South American ports.
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 91774. Courtesy Capt. Wells L. Field, USN (RET), from collection of Dr. Louis Duncan.

Civil War
The new screw sloop-of-war departed New York on 20 January, to join the Union blockade of the southern coast. She reported to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Pensacola, Florida early in February and, for the remainder of the war, served along the gulf coast of the Confederacy, principally off Mobile Bay. Lackawanna took her first prize — Neptune — on 14 June after a long chase in which the 200 long tons (200 t) Glasgowship had jettisoned her cargo trying to escape. The Union sloop-of-war scored again the next day, capturing steamer Planter as the Mobile blockade runner attempted a dash to Havana, Cuba laden with cotton and resin.

Following duty along the Texas coast near Galveston in March–April 1864, Lackawanna returned to the blockade of Mobile early in May to prevent the escape of Confederate ram Tennessee. During the summer she served in the blockade while preparing for Admiral David Farragut's conquest of Mobile Bay.


USS Lackawanna crew, 1880.
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # UA06.02.01. Captain Wells L. Field Collection.

On 9 July, with Monongahela, Galena, and Sebago, she braved the guns of Fort Morgan to shell steamer Virgin, a large blockade runner aground at the entrance of Mobile Bay. The Union guns forced a southern river steamer to abandon efforts to assist Virgin, but the next day the Confederates refloated the blockade runner who reached safety in Mobile Bay. Closing this strategic southern port was an important part of the Union strategy to isolate and subdue the South.

At dawn on the morning of 5 August, Farragut's ships crossed the bar and entered the bay. A Confederate squadron, led by ironclad ram Tennessee and a field of deadly mines awaited to block their advance. Farragut's lead monitor Tecumseh struck a mine and went down in seconds. The Confederate flagship Tennessee vainly tried to ram Brooklyn and the action became general, raging for more than an hour. At one point in the struggle, Lackawanna rammed Tennessee at full speed, causing the Confederate ram to list, and later she collided with Hartford while attempting to ram Tennessee again, shortly before the ironclad struck. This daring operation closed the last major gulf port to the South.


USS Lackawanna crew at quarters for inspection, circa September 1880 to September 1881.
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 51189. Courtesy of Rear Admiral A.P. Niblack, 1933.

Twelve of Lackawanna's sailors received the Medal of Honor for their actions during this battle

Following the Union victory in Mobile Bay, Lackawanna continued to operate in the gulf, enforcing the blockade until after the end of the Civil War. She departed Key West on 24 June 1865, reached New York on the 28th, and decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 20 July.

Post-war
Pacific, 1866–1885
Recommissioned on 7 May 1866, Commander William Reynolds in command, Lackawanna sailed for the South Atlantic on 4 August, transited the Straits of Magellan on 9 November, and arrived Honolulu, Hawaii on 9 February 1867. She operated in the Pacific, primarily in the Hawaiian Islands and along the coast of California and Mexico until she arrived at Mare Island for decommissioning on 10 February 1871.

Recommissioning on 8 May 1872, the steam sloop sailed for the Orient on 22 June and served in the Far East until returning to San Francisco on 23 April 1875. In October 1880, in the midst of the War of the Pacific, Lackawanna sailed for the South Pacific to host a conference of diplomacy proposed by the U.S. to end the war, such conference took place at the port of Arica. Officials from the countries involved in the war – Peru, Chile, and Bolivia – did not reach an immediate agreement and U.S. efforts failed. For two brief periods, Lackawanna continued to operate in ordinary in the Pacific during the next 12 years. On 16 March 1883 at Honolulu, Captain of the Hold Louis Williams jumped overboard and rescued a fellow sailor from drowning, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. A year later, at Callao, Peru, on 13 June 1884, Williams again rescued a man from drowning, along with Ordinary Seaman Isaac L. Fasseur. Both Williams and Fasseur were awarded a Medal of Honor for this act, making Williams one of the few two-time recipients of the award. Lackawanna finally decommissioned at Mare Island on 7 April 1885 and was sold there to W. T. Garratt & Company on 30 July 1887.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lackawanna_(1862)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86367.htm

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1910 - With sailing of the polarship Fram leaving the norwegian Kristiania, Roald Amundsen is starting his (at this time) confidential expedition to the South-pole

Departure
In the months before departure, funds for the expedition became harder to acquire. Because of limited public interest, newspaper deals were cancelled and parliament refused a request for a further 25,000 kroner. Amundsen mortgaged his house to keep the expedition afloat; heavily in debt, he was now wholly dependent on the expedition's success to avoid personal financial ruin.


Fram under sail

After a month's trial cruise in the northern Atlantic, Fram sailed to Kristiansand in late July 1910 to take the dogs on board and to make final preparations for departure. While at Kristiansand, Amundsen received an offer of help from Peter "Don Pedro" Christophersen, a Norwegian expatriate whose brother was Norway's Minister in Buenos Aires. Christophersen would provide fuel and other provisions to Fram at either Montevideo or Buenos Aires, an offer which Amundsen gratefully accepted. Just before Fram sailed on 9 August, Amundsen revealed the expedition's true destination to the two junior officers, Prestrud and Gjertsen. On the four-week voyage to Funchal in Madeira, a mood of uncertainty developed among the crew, who could not make sense of some of the preparations and whose questions were met with evasive answers from their officers. This, says Amundsen's biographer Roland Huntford, was "enough to generate suspicion and low spirits".

Fram reached Funchal on 6 September. Three days later Amundsen informed the crew of the revised plan. He told them he intended to make "a detour" to the South Pole on the way to the North Pole, which was still his ultimate destination, but would have to wait for a while. After Amundsen outlined his new proposals, each man was asked whether he was willing to go on, and all responded positively. Amundsen wrote a lengthy letter of explanation to Nansen, stressing how the North Pole claims of Cook and Peary had dealt a "death blow" to his original plans. He felt he had been forced into this action by necessity, asked for forgiveness and expressed the hope that his achievements would ultimately atone for any offence.


Map showing Amundsen's route to the pole, Oct–Dec 1911. The depots marked at 80, 81 and 82° were laid in the first season, Feb–March 1911. Shackleton's 1908–09 route, as followed by Scott, is to the right.

Before leaving Funchal on 9 September Amundsen sent a cable to Scott, to inform him of the change of plan. Scott's ship Terra Nova had left Cardiff amid much publicity on 15 June, and was due to arrive in Australia early in October. It was to Melbourne that Amundsen sent his telegram, containing the bare information that he was proceeding southwards. No indication was given of the Norwegian's plans or his destination in Antarctica; Scott wrote to the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) secretary, John Scott Keltie: "We shall know in due course I suppose". of Amundsen's revised plans reached Norway early in October and provoked a generally hostile response. Although Nansen gave his blessing and warm approval, Amundsen's actions were with few exceptions condemned by press and public, and funding dried up almost completely. Reactions in Britain were predictably adverse; an initial disbelief expressed by Keltie soon turned to anger and scorn. "I have sent full details of Amundsen's underhand conduct to Scott ... If I was Scott I would not let them land", wrote Sir Clements Markham, the influential former RGS president. Unaware of the world's reactions, Fram sailed south for four months. The first icebergs were sighted on New Year's Day 1911; the Barrier itself came into view on 11 January, and on 14 January Fram was in the Bay of Whales.


Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting (l–r) at "Polheim", the tent erected at the South Pole on 16 December 1911. The top flag is the Flag of Norway; the bottom is marked "Fram". Photograph by Olav Bjaaland.

The whole info about the expedition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen's_South_Pole_expedition


The ship Fram

Fram ("Forward") is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. It was designed and built by the Scottish-Norwegian shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the plan was to freeze Fram into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole.

Fram is said to have sailed farther north (85°57'N) and farther south (78°41'S) than any other wooden ship. Fram is preserved at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.



Construction
Nansen's ambition was to explore the Arctic farther north than anyone else. To do that, he would have to deal with a problem that many sailing on the polar ocean had encountered before him: the freezing ice could crush a ship. Nansen's idea was to build a ship that could survive the pressure, not by pure strength, but because it would be of a shape designed to let the ice push the ship up, so it would "float" on top of the ice.


Engineering drawings

Fram is a three-masted schooner with a total length of 39 meters and width of 11 meters. The ship is both unusually wide and unusually shallow in order to better withstand the forces of pressing ice.

Nansen commissioned the shipwright Colin Archer from Larvik to construct a vessel with these characteristics. Fram was built with an outer layer of greenheart wood to withstand the ice and with almost no keel to handle the shallow waters Nansen expected to encounter. The rudder and propeller were designed to be retracted. The ship was also carefully insulated to allow the crew to live on board for up to five years. The ship also included a windmill, which ran a generator to provide electric power for lighting by electric arc lamps.

Changes for the 3rd Fram expedition
The Fram had been out of use for some years before Amundsen received permission to use her for his expedition in 1910. This time she was overhauled at the naval shipyard at Horten.

Some outer planking and upper deck planks needed to be renewed, the rig was partly replaced and a new deckhouse was built stretching from between the upper deck and the poop deck to the mizzen mast. A new steering wheel was placed on the deckhouse roof, with the old one kept in reserve.

The old steam engine was replaced with a modern Swedish diesel engine of 180 hp, a first for polar exploration vessels.

Saving the Fram
On the return from Antarctica in 1912 the Fram was sailed to Buenos Aires, arriving 25 May. Roald Amundsen was now to return to the original plan of seeking a more northerly drift across the Arctic Ocean than the First Fram Expedition had managed, and the idea was to sail around South America and north to the Bering Strait. There was much for Amundsen to arrange beforehand, and in October 1913 the Fram was sailed further north, to Colón at the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. The famous polar ship had been given the honour of sailing first through the canal, but having waited there until 1 December this plan was abandoned and the Fram was ordered to sail south round Cape Horn and north to San Francisco. Arriving once more at Buenos Aires captain Nilsen received the message to return home to Norway instead. Horten was reached on 16 July 1914.

Because of the First World War there was no chance of arranging a new polar expedition and the Fram was left lying at Horten. The long months in tropical waters had left her worm eaten and in generally poor condition. Amundsen therefore had a new polar ship built, the Maud.

Luckily the feeling grew generally in Norway that such a ship should not be left to vandals and the weather. Several committees worked to get her preserved, without success. Then Otto Sverdrup, who was deeply concerned about the fate of his old ship, became chairman of the Fram Committee in 1925 and took it on himself to save her.

Fram was towed – almost as a wreck – to Framnæs Shipyard in Sandefjord in 1929 and, with the support of the ship owner and whaling magnate Lars Christensen and supervision by Sverdrup, she was restored. It was decided to return her to her state during Sverdrup’s 2nd Fram expedition since, in the opinion of experts, she had then “been at her best”.



In May 1930 the Fram was towed to Trondheim to be shown at an exhibition there and in September-October she was towed back to Oslo, visiting a number of coastal towns on the way. Otto Sverdrup died on 26 November and Lars Christensen continued the work to preserve the Fram. She was towed back to Horten and then Sarpsborg, where she lay until 1934 covered with a corrugated tin roof.

Sverdrup had meant that the Fram should be taken ashore and that a house should be built to include even the masts. In a royal resolution of 19 June 1931 the ownership to the Fram was given to the Committee for the Preservation of the Polar Ship Fram, and the engine was returned from the Technical College in Trondheim. In March 1935 the foundations of the 1500 m² Fram House were laid at Bygdøy in Oslo.

The Fram arrived in Oslo on its last voyage 6 May 1935, towed by the towboat Høvdingen and with Oscar Wisting in charge on board. It took over two months to get the ship on land, with a small electric motor pulling her at a speed of 1 cm/minute. She was in place on 10 July and the house could be built around. It was almost finished by the end of the year.

Sailors and other fans from all over the world sent money to complete the rescue – a total of NOK 252 000 (8.5 million NOK today). The building was finished in spring 1936 at a cost of 240 000 NOK. The copper roofing cost an additional 20 000. On 20 May 1936 the Fram House was opened with the King, Crown Prince and other dignitaries present, together with participants from all three Fram expeditions: Sigurd Scott-Hansen from the 1st, Gunnar Isachsen and Adolf Lindstrøm from the 2nd (Lindstrøm also from the 3rd) and Oscar Wisting from the 3rd.



Conclusion
Three times the skill of the designer and shipwrights, combined with first-class navigation and outstanding seamanship, brought the Fram safely home from hazardous voyages in uncharted waters, from unmapped areas.

Today, this proud little ship is on display for all to admire in the museum at Bygdøy in Oslo that bears her name. Welcome aboard!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram_Museum

Very good verbal explanation about the construction of the Fram:
https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica fact file/History/antarctic_ships/fram.htm

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1914 - U-15 became the first U-boat loss to an enemy warship after it was rammed by British light cruiser HMS Birmingham.


SM U-15 was one of the three Type U 13 gasoline-powered U-boats produced by the German Empire for the Imperial German Navy. On 9 August 1914, U-15 became the first U-boat loss to an enemy warship after it was rammed by British light cruiser HMS Birmingham.



Constructed by Kaiserliche Werft Danzig, U-15 was ordered on 23 February 1909 and was commissioned three years later on 7 July 1912. The boat left port for its first patrol on 1 August 1914, but on 9 August, U-15was forced to lie stopped on the surface off the coast of Fair Isle, in Shetland, Scotland, after its engines had failed.

While stranded on the surface, the British warship HMS Birmingham spotted the boat through a thick fog and could hear hammering from inside the boat as the crew tried to repair the damaged engines. The Birmingham's Captain Arthur Duff ordered his crew to fire on the U-boat, but missed. As U-15 attempted to dive to avoid the attack, Duff ordered for his ship to ram the submarine at full speed, cutting it in half and killing all 23 members of its crew.




HMS Birmingham was lead ship of the Birmingham group of three ships of the Town-class of light cruisers built by the Royal Navy. Her sister ships were Lowestoft and Nottingham. The three ships were virtually identical to the third group of Town-class ships, but with an additional 6 in (150 mm) gun worked in on the forecastle.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-15_(Germany)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town-Klasse_(1910)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Birmingham_(1913)

 

[Uwek]

9 August 1942 - A Japanese force runs through the Allied forces guarding Savo Sound, sinking three American heavy cruisers,

USS Quincy (CA 39), USS Vincennes (CA 44), and USS Astoria (CA 34), along with other damaged Allied vessels. As a result of the loss, the sound gains the nickname, Iron Bottom Sound.



USS Astoria on 8 August 1942.


The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39) underway on 1 May 1940, as seen from a Utility Squadron 1 (VU-1) aircraft. Note the identification markings on her turret tops: longitudinal stripes on the forward turrets and a circle on the after one.


USS Vincennes, passing through the Panama Canalon 6 January 1938, while en route to join the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific


HMAS Canberra at Kings Wharf, Wellington, ca 1930s Reference number: 1/2-100605 Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Astoria_(CA-34)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Quincy_(CA-39)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Vincennes_(CA-44)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Canberra_(D33)

 

[Uwek]

Other Events on 9 August


1799 - HMS Speedy (14) and boats captured Spanish armed vessel.

1810 - HMS Caroline (36), Cptn. Christopher Cole, HMS Piedmontaise (38), Cptn. Charles Foote, and HMS Barracouta (18), Cdr.Richard Kenah, took Banda Neira.

1839 – Launch of 46 gun french frigate Africaine, (launched 9 August 1839 at Saint-Servan) – deleted 7 March 1867.
Of Héliopolis class (46-gun type, 1830 design by Jean-Baptiste Hubert, with 26 x 18-pounder guns, 16 x 30-pounder carronades and 4 x 30-pounder shell guns)

1842 - The Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed. In the treaty, the United States and Great Britain agree to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster–Ashburton_Treaty

1867 - One officer and 46 Marines and Seamen from the steamer, USS Wachusett, land at Shanghai, China, to assist in fighting a fire.

1942 - Operation Pedestal (3-15 August)

Operation Pedestal (Italian: Battaglia di Mezzo Agosto, "Battle of mid-August"), known in Malta as the Santa Marija Convoy (Maltese: Il-Konvoj ta' Santa Marija), was a British operation to carry supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was a base from which British ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys to the Axis forces in Libya and Egypt, during the North African Campaign (1940–1943). From 1940 to 1942, the Axis conducted the Siege of Malta, with air and naval forces. Despite many losses, enough supplies were delivered by the British for the population and military forces on Malta to resist, although it ceased to be an offensive base for much of 1942. The most crucial supply item in Operation Pedestal was fuel, carried by SS Ohio, an American tanker with a British crew. The convoy sailed from Britain on 3 August 1942 and passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on the night of 9/10 August.



The Axis attempt to prevent the fifty ships of the convoy reaching Malta, using bombers, German E-boats, Italian MAS and MS boats, minefields and submarine ambushes, was the last Axis Mediterranean victory. While a costly tactical defeat for the Allies, it was also one of the greatest British strategic victories of the war. More than 500 Merchant and Royal Navy sailors and airmen were killed and only five of the 14 merchant ships reached Grand Harbour. The arrival of Ohio justified the decision to hazard so many warships; its cargo of aviation fuel revitalised the Maltese air offensive against Axis shipping. Submarines returned to Malta and Supermarine Spitfires flown from the aircraft carrier HMS Furious enabled a maximum effort to be made against Axis ships. Italian convoys had to detour further away from the island, lengthening the journey and increasing the time during which air and naval attacks could be mounted. The Siege of Malta was broken by the Allied re-conquest of Egypt and Libya after the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November) and by Operation Torch (8–16 November) in the western Mediterranean, which enabled land-based aircraft to escort merchant ships to the island.

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

1945 – “oldtimer” Japanese cruiser Tokiwa sunk by air attack, launched in 1898



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

1974 - The VLCC Metula was a supertanker that was involved in an oil spill in Tierra del Fuego, Chile

The ship was a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), with a length of 1,067 feet, draft of 62 feet and a deadweight ton capacity of 206,000. It was the first VLCC supertanker to be involved in a major oil spill.



The Metula was sailing from Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia with a load of over 196,000 tons of light Arabian crude oil destined for delivery to the Chilean National Oil Company (ENAP) at Quintero, Chile.

On the evening of August 9, 1974, the tanker was passing through the First Narrows area, which is over three and half kilometers wide, of the Strait of Magellan, during severe tidal and current conditions. The Metula cut a corner too sharp, hitting a 40-foot shoal and grounding itself. The difficulty of navigating a ship of such size, with minimum navigation aids, contributed to the accident.



On the second day after the grounding, the Metula swung to starboard, holing and flooding its engine room compartments. The U.S. Coast Guard, at the request of the Chilean government played a role in removing the cargo from the ship.

The tanker released about 47,000 tonnes of Arabian light crude oil and between 3,000 and 4,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. The rough sea conditions resulted in the formation of a water-in-oil emulsion, which then landed on the shores of Tierra del Fuego.

The Metula was refloated on September 25, 1974, and was towed to Isla Grande, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to be scrapped.

No cleanup operation was executed due to the remoteness of the area; on many shorelines, the oil formed hard asphalt pavements. One marsh received thick deposits of mousse, which were still visible two decades after the disaster. By 1998, most of the oil deposits had broken up, though asphalt pavement remained in a relatively sheltered area, making it among the longest-term contamination recorded for an oil spill.

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

2008 - Battle off the coast of Abkhazia

The Battle off the coast of Abkhazia was a naval engagement between warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Georgian patrol boats during the Russo-Georgian War.


Small guided missile ship project 12341 Mirazh in Sevastopol.

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

 

[Uwek]

10 August 1512 - – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu,
during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent

The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu took place on 10 August 1512 during the War of the League of Cambrai, near Brest, France, between an English fleet of 25 ships commanded by Sir Edward Howard and a Franco-Breton fleet of 22 ships commanded by René de Clermont. It is possibly the first battle between ships using cannon through ports, although this played a minor role in the fighting. This was one of only two full-fledged naval battles fought by King Henry VIII's Tudor navy. During the battle, each navy's largest and most powerful ship—Regent and Marie-la-Cordelière (or simply Cordelière)—was destroyed by a large explosion aboard the latter.


The simultaneous destruction of the Cordelière and the Regent depicted by Pierre-Julien Gilbert

Background
Although the War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League (among several alternative names) was largely an Italian war, nearly every significant power in Western Europe participated at one point or another, including France, England, and Brittany. The latter was independent of France at the time, although the two were closely allied.

When war with France broke out in April 1512, England's Edward Howard was appointed Admiral of a fleet sent by King Henry VIII to control the sea between Brest and the Thames estuary. Howard seized vessels of various nationalities on the pretext that they were carrying French cargoes. At the beginning of June, he escorted to Brittany an army which Henry sent to France under the command of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset with the hope of recovering Guyenne. Howard then raided Le Conquet and Crozon on the Breton coast. During June and July, Howard effectively controlled the English Channel and is said to have captured more than 60 vessels. By August, a French-Breton fleet had assembled at Brest; Howard moved to attack them

Battle
Well informed about the Franco-Breton manoeuvres, the English surprised them at anchor. Unprepared and confronted by a superior fleet, all the French and Breton ships cut their anchor cables and spread their sails. By accident, about 300 guests, including some women, were visiting the Breton flagship Marie la Cordelière when it was attacked. In the hurry, Hervé de Portzmoguer, the captain of the ship, could not disembark them and the crew was thus reinforced by those "involuntary" combatants who, however, fought bravely.


The Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll. The distinct carrack profile with high "castles" fore and aft can clearly be seen. Although the number of guns and gun ports is not entirely accurate, the picture is overall an accurate illustration of the ship.


Illustration of the carrack Peter Pomegranate, also known as the Peter.

The two main ships (Marie la Cordelière and Petite Louise) faced the enemy to cover the retreat of the rest of the fleet to the port of Brest. Under English fire, Marie la Cordelière— with 1,000 Tons, one of the largest in her time—sailed towards the Regent, with 600 Tons the largest and most powerful ship in the English navy. The Sovereign and the Mary James rushed to rescue the Regent and surrounded the Cordelière, while the superior fire of the Mary Rose badly damaged the Petite Louise which was forced to retreat. The Cordelière remained alone among the English fleet, with the exception of the small Nef-de-Dieppe which harassed the English ships. The Cordelière's cannons dismasted both Sovereign and Mary James which became ungovernable and drifted in the Iroise Sea.

Hervé de Portzmoguer, also known as "Primauguet", the Breton captain of the Cordelière ordered the assault of the Regent. Grappling hooks were thrown and the two ships were tied together. The seamen of the Marie-la-Cordelière rushed on the Regent's deck which was constantly being reinforced by English ships transferring their crews on the Regent. The little Nef-de-Dieppe manoeuvered skillfully to bombard these new assailants. The deck of the Regent was covered by blood when, suddenly, the Cordelière exploded. The flames spread to the Regent and both ships sank. The crews of both ships were almost entirely annihilated. Only 20 wounded Breton sailors out of 1,250 were saved from the Cordelière and 60 out of 460 English from the Regent. Howard was devastated by the death of Thomas Knyvet, commander of the Regent, and vowed "that he will never see the King in the face till he hath revenged the death of the noble and valiant knight, Sir Thomas Knyvet."

Over the next two days, with the French fleet in Brest, the English fleet captured or destroyed thirty-two French vessels and recovered the valuable French anchors before returning to England. As a result of the engagement Sir Edward Howard was made Lord High Admiral by Henry VIII.


The French warship Cordelière and the English warship Regent ablaze at the battle of St. Mathieu on August 10 1512. Illustration for an epic poem in Latin written by the court poet Germain de Brie.
"The Cordelière in the foreground of the picture and to windward of the Regent has one sloping and two vertical masts with round tops above which are topmasts carrying topsails. The sails are furled but the mainsail and the foresail are loose and are beginning to burn. The sides of the castles are fitted with a pavesade of shields some bearing the ermine of Brittany some white with a black cross. The streamers flying from the masts are of the same colours. The rigging of the Cordelière is correctly shown: we see distinctly the shrouds the lifts and the stays the artist has not forgotten to haul the bowline of the mainsail the upper part of the ports is round and the tops are stored with quarrels. The Regent is almost entirely hidden by the Cordelière however we can distinguish two of her three masts the mainsail and the mizen the foremast ought to be seen. Castles and tops are pavesaded with shields white with a red cross the streamers are similar. A few men are in the shrouds the French mariners wear red jackets and blue or black breeches.

Order of Battle / Ships involved
England (Edward Howard)
(List is probable not certain)

• Regent (Thomas Knyvet) - Burnt
• Sovereign (Charles Brandon) - Dismasted
• Jenett
• Barbara
• Mary Barking
• Mary Rose (Thomas Wyndham)
• Peter Pomegranate
• John Hopton
• Mary John
• Anne of Greenwich
• Mary George
• Dragon
• Lion
• George of Falmouth
• Peter of Fowey
• Nicholas of Hampton
• Martinet
• Christopher Davy
• Sabyn
• Nicholas Reede
• Margaret of Topsham (James Knyvet)
• Mary James (Anthony Ughtred) - Dismasted
• Magdalene (J. Brigandyne)
• Henry of Hampton
• Catherine Pomegranate (Henry Gyldeford)

France & Brittany (René de Clermont)

• Nef de Rouen
• Nef d'Orléans
• Nef de Dieppe
• Nef de Bordeaux
• Petite Louise - Damaged
• Nef de Morlaix (Marie la Cordelière) (Hervé de Porzmoguer aka Primauguet) - Burnt
• Nef de Brest
• Nef de Rochelle
• Nef de Bordeaux
• Saint Sauveur
• 12 others

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint-Mathieu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Regent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Howard_(admiral)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pomegranate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Knyvett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hervé_de_Portzmoguer

 

[Uwek]

10 August 1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage

Summary
The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). It was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannon cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable and top-heavy with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze.




Construction
In the early 1620s, work at the Stockholm navy yard was led by a pair of Dutch-born entrepreneurs, Antonius Monier and master shipwright Henrik Hybertsson, who was usually referred to as 'Master Henrik'. When a new contract for operation of the navy yard was negotiated in the winter of 1624–1625, Monier withdrew and Master Henrik took on a young merchant from Amsterdam, Arendt de Groote, as partner. On 16 January 1625, Henrik and Arendt signed a contract to build four ships, two larger with a keel length of 128 feet (38 m) and two smaller, with dimensions to match the earlier ship Gustavus.



Master Henrik and Arendt de Groote began buying the raw materials needed for the first ships in 1625, purchasing timber from individual estates in Sweden as well as buying rough-sawn planking in Riga, Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad), and Amsterdam. As they prepared to begin the first of the new ships in the autumn of 1625, Henrik corresponded with the king through the Vice Admiral Fleming about which ship to build first. The loss of ten ships in the Bay of Riga led the king to propose building two ships of a new, medium size as a quick compromise, and he sent a specification for this, a ship which would be 120 feet (35.6 m) long on the keel. Henrik declined, since he had already cut the timber for a large and a small ship. He laid the keel for a larger ship in late February or early March 1626. Master Henrik never saw Vasa completed; he fell ill in late 1625, and by the summer of 1626 he had handed over supervision of the work in the yard to another Dutch shipwright, Henrik 'Hein' Jacobsson. He died in the spring of 1627, probably about the same time as the ship was launched.

After launching, work continued on finishing the upper deck, the sterncastle, the beakhead and the rigging. Sweden had still not developed a sizeable sailcloth industry, and material had to be ordered from abroad. In the contract for the maintenance of rigging, French sailcloth was specified, but the cloth for the sails of Vasa most likely came from Holland. The sails were made mostly of hemp and partly of flax. The rigging was made entirely of hemp imported from Latvia through Riga. The king visited the shipyard in January 1628 and made what was probably his only visit aboard the ship.


A model showing a cross section of Vasa's hull, illustrating the shallow holdand two gun decks

In the summer of 1628, the captain responsible for supervising construction of the ship, Söfring Hansson, arranged for the ship's stability to be demonstrated for the Vice Admiral responsible for procurement, Klas Fleming, who had recently arrived in Stockholm from Prussia. Thirty men ran back and forth across the upper deck to start the ship rolling, but the admiral stopped the test after they had made only three trips, as he feared the ship would capsize. According to testimony by the ship's master, Göran Mattson, Fleming remarked that he wished the king were at home. Gustavus Adolphus had been sending a steady stream of letters insisting that the ship put to sea as soon as possible.

There has been much speculation about whether Vasa was lengthened during construction and whether an additional gun deck was added late during the build. Little evidence suggests that Vasa was substantially modified after the keel was laid. Ships contemporary to Vasa that were elongated were cut in half and new timbers spliced between the existing sections, making the addition readily identifiable, but no such addition can be identified in the hull, nor is there any evidence for any late additions of a second gundeck. The king ordered 72 24-pound cannons for the ship on 5 August 1626, and this was too many to fit on a single gun deck. Since the king's order was issued less than five months after construction started, it would have come early enough for the second deck to be included in the design. The French Galion du Guise, the ship used as a model for Vasa, according to Arendt de Groote, also had two gun decks. Laser measurements of Vasa's structure conducted in 2007–2011 confirmed that no major changes were implemented during construction, but that the centre of gravity was too high.

Vasa was an early example of a warship with two full gun decks, and was built when the theoretical principles of shipbuilding were still poorly understood. There is no evidence that Henrik Hybertsson had ever built a ship like it before, and two gundecks is a much more complicated compromise in seaworthiness and firepower than a single gundeck.

Armament
Vasa was built during a time of transition in naval tactics, from an era when boarding was still one of the primary ways of fighting enemy ships to an era of the strictly organised ship-of-the-line and a focus on victory through superior gunnery. Vasa was armed with powerful guns and built with a high stern, which would act as a firing platform in boarding actions for some of the 300 soldiers she was supposed to carry, but the high-sided hull and narrow upper deck were not optimised for boarding. She was neither the largest ship ever built, nor the one carrying the greatest number of guns. What made her arguably the most powerful warship of the time was the combined weight of shot that could be fired from the cannon of one side: 588 pounds (267 kg), excluding stormstycken, guns used for firing anti-personnel ammunition instead of solid shot. This was the largest concentration of artillery in a single warship in the Baltic at the time, perhaps in all of northern Europe, and it was not until the 1630s that a ship with more firepower was built.




Ornamentation



As was the custom with warships at the time, Vasa was decorated with sculptures intended to glorify the authority, wisdom and martial prowess of the monarch and also to deride, taunt and intimidate the enemy. The sculptures made up a considerable part of the effort and cost of building the ship. The symbolism used in decorating the ship was mostly based on the Renaissance idealization of Roman and Greek antiquity, which had been imported from Italy through German and Dutch artists. Imagery borrowed from Mediterranean antiquity dominates the motifs, but also include figures from the Old Testament and even a few from ancient Egypt. Many of the figures are in Dutch grotesque style, depicting fantastic and frightening creatures, including mermaids, wild men, sea monsters and tritons. The decoration inside the ship is much sparser and is largely confined to the steerage and the great cabin, at the after end of the upper gundeck.

Residues of paint have been found on many sculptures and on other parts of the ship. The entire ornamentation was once painted in vivid colors. The sides of the beakhead (the protruding structure below the bowsprit), the bulwarks (the protective railing around the weather deck), the roofs of the quarter galleries, and the background of the transom (the flat surface at the stern of the ship) were all painted red, while the sculptures were decorated in bright colors, and the dazzling effect of these was in some places emphasised with gold leaf. Previously, it was believed that the background color had been blue and that all sculptures had been almost entirely gilded, and this is reflected in many paintings of Vasa from the 1970s to the early 1990s, such as the lively and dramatic drawings of Björn Landström or the painting by Francis Smitheman. In the late 1990s, this view was revised and the colors are properly reflected in more recent reproductions of the ship's decoration by maritime painter Tim Thompson and the 1:10 scale model in the museum. Vasa is an example not so much of the heavily gilded sculptures of early Baroque art but rather 'the last gasps of the medieval sculpture tradition' with its fondness for gaudy colors, in a style that today would be considered extravagant or even vulgar.



The sculptures are carved out of oak, pine or linden, and many of the larger pieces, like the huge 3-metre (10 ft) long figurehead lion, consist of several parts carved individually and fitted together with bolts. Close to 500 sculptures, most of which are concentrated on the high stern and its galleries and on the beakhead, are found on the ship.

Maiden voyage


Central Stockholm and the movements of Vasa from Skeppsgården ('navy yard') to the anchoring place near the old royal castle where it was fitted and armed in the spring of 1628, and finally the location where it foundered and sank.

On 10 August 1628, Captain Söfring Hansson ordered Vasa to depart on her maiden voyage to the naval station at Älvsnabben. The day was calm, and the only wind was a light breeze from the southwest. The ship was warped(hauled by anchor) along the eastern waterfront of the city to the southern side of the harbor, where four sails were set, and the ship made way to the east. The gun ports were open, and the guns were out to fire a salute as the ship left Stockholm.[15]

As Vasa passed under the lee of the bluffs to the south (what is now Södermalm), a gust of wind filled her sails, and she heeled suddenly to port. The sheets were cast off, and the ship slowly righted herself as the gust passed. At Tegelviken, where there is a gap in the bluffs, an even stronger gust again forced the ship onto its port side, this time pushing the open lower gunports under the surface, allowing water to rush in onto the lower gundeck. The water building up on the deck quickly exceeded the ship's minimal ability to right itself, and water continued to pour in until it ran down into the hold; the ship quickly sank to a depth of 32 m (105 ft) only 120 m (390 ft) from shore. Survivors clung to debris or the upper masts, which were still above the surface, to save themselves, and many nearby boats rushed to their aid, but despite these efforts and the short distance to land, 30 people perished with the ship, according to reports. Vasa sank in full view of a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly ordinary Stockholmers who had come to see the great ship set sail. The crowd included foreign ambassadors, in effect spies of Gustavus Adolphus' allies and enemies, who also witnessed the catastrophe.

Causes of sinking


Former Vasa Museum Director Klas Helmerson (left) explaining aspects of the sinking of the ship to then US Defense Secretary William Cohen(centre) and Swedish Defense Minister Björn von Sydow (right).

Vasa sank because it had very little initial stability, which can be thought of as resistance to heeling over under the force of wind or waves acting on the hull. The reason for this is that the distribution of mass in the hull structure and the ballast, guns, provisions, and other objects loaded on board puts too much weight too high in the ship. The centre of gravity is too high, and so it takes very little force to make the ship heel over, and there is not enough righting moment, force trying to make the ship return to an upright position. The reason that the ship has such a high centre of gravity is not due to the guns. These weighed little over 60 tonnes, or about 5% of the total displacement of the loaded ship. This is relatively low weight and should be bearable in a ship this size. The problem is in the hull construction itself. The part of the hull above the waterline is too high and too heavily built in relation to the amount of hull in the water. The headroom in the decks is higher than necessary for crewmen who were, on average, only 1.67 metres (5 feet 5½ inches) tall, and thus the weight of the decks and the guns they carry is higher above the waterline than needed. In addition, the deck beams and their supporting timbers are over-dimensioned and too closely spaced for the loads they carry, so they contribute too much weight to the already tall and heavy upper works.

The use of different measuring systems on either side of the vessel caused its mass to be distributed asymmetrically, heavier to port. During construction both Swedish feet and Amsterdam feet were in use by different teams. Archaeologists have found four rulers used by the workmen who built the ship. Two were calibrated in Swedish feet, which had 12 inches, while the other two measured Amsterdam feet, which had 11 inches.

Although the mathematical tools for calculating or predicting stability were still more than a century in the future, and 17th-century scientific ideas about how ships behaved in water were deeply flawed, the people associated with building and sailing ships for the Swedish navy were very much aware of the forces at work and their relationships to each other. In the last part of the inquest held after the sinking, a group of master shipwrights and senior naval officers were asked for their opinions about why the ship sank. Their discussion and conclusions show very clearly that they knew what had happened, and their verdict was summed up very clearly by one of the captains, who said that the ship did not have enough 'belly' to carry the heavy upperworks.

Ship design was not yet a science, but was an empirical process based on experience rather than calculation. Balancing the military need for firepower against the maritime need for seaworthiness resulted in some compromises that would not pass modern standards for stability. A ship with two gundecks was an even more demanding proposition, as the lower tier of gunports had to be uncomfortably close to the water, and there was an unavoidably large amount of weight being carried above the waterline. One of the solutions which became common was graduated armament, in which the guns of the upper decks were progressively lighter. Such an armament, with 24-pounders on the lower gundeck and 12-pounders on the upper gundeck, was considered for Vasa in 1627, but eventually the armament plan reverted to the king's original desire of 24-pounders on both decks. Vasa's sister ship, Äpplet, had her upper gundeck 24-pounders changed for 12-pounders early in her career, probably in attempt to improve her stability.

Vasa might not have sunk on 10 August 1628, if the ship had been sailed with the gunports closed. Ships with multiple tiers of gunports normally had to sail with the lowest tier closed, since the pressure of wind in the sails would usually push the hull over until the lower gunport sills were under water. For this reason, the gunport lids are made with a double lip which is designed to seal well enough to keep out most of the water. Captain Söfring Hansson had ordered the lower gundeck ports closed once the ship began to take on water, but by then it was too late. If he had done it before he sailed, Vasa might not have sunk on that day.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

 

[Uwek]

10 August 1666 – Holmes´ Bonfire (09.08.-10.08.)


'Holmes's Bonfire' of 10/20 August 1666 was a successful British attack on Dutch shipping that came in the aftermath of their victory in the battle of St. James's Day on 25/26 July. In the aftermath of that battle the British fleet was cruising off the Dutch coast, while Dutch shipping attempted to shelter in the shallow coastal waters. A particularly large group of ships – perhaps as many as 200 fully loaded merchant ships – took shelter between the islands of Vlieland and Ter Schelling, protected by two men-of-war.



As the British sailed north along the coast a renegade Dutch captain, Laurens Heemskerk, told the British about these ships. A council of war decided to send Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Holmes, with five fireships, and either five or nine (sources differ) smaller men-of-war and a number of ketches and smaller boats.

Holmes's squadron left the main fleet on 8 August. After making sure that the Dutch ships were indeed present he moved his fleet into Ter Schelling Road and prepared to attack.


Sir Frescheville Holles and Sir Robert Holmes, painted by Peter Lely

On 10 August Holmes began by attacking the two Dutch warships. The larger was destroyed by the fireship Richard, while the second ran aground while attempting to avoid a second fireship, and was later burnt. The British then turned their attentions to the merchant ships, most of which had been abandoned by their crews. At least one hundred and forty, and perhaps as many as one hundred and seventy, Dutch merchant ships were destroyed in this attack, which for a long time was referred to as 'Sir Robert Holmes, his Bonfire'.

On the following day Holmes landed on Ter Schelling, destroyed a number of storehouses and burnt the town of West Terschelling (a move that partly inspired the Dutch raid into the Medway in the following year). He then returned to the main fleet, having inflicted a crippling blow on the Dutch merchant fleet.


Raid of Admiral Robert Holmes on Vlie 1666

This was the highpoint of British success. A lack of money meant that the fleet soon had to leave the Dutch coast. In the following month the Great Fire of London (2-5 September 1666) broke out, and Charles II's tax revenue collapsed. The British fleet was laid up in the Medway, where in the following summer the Dutch trapped it, winning a significant victory that finally convinced Charles to make peace.

Ship Name / Guns / Commander / Notes
Tiger (38) / 40 / John Wetwang (d.1684) / Fleet Flagship
Assurance (40) / 38 / John Narborough (1640-1688)
Bredah (40) / 46 / Thomas Page (d.1674), Joseph Sanders (d.1666)
Dragon (38) / 40 / Thomas Room Coyle (d.1689)
Sweepstakes (36) / 36 / Francis Sanders
Advice (34) / 40 / Charles O'Bryan (d.1669)
Fountain (34) / 34 / Thomas Legat (d.1672)
Garland (22) / 22 / Charles Haward
Bryar (22) / 12 / Joseph Paine
Pembroke (22) / 22 / Richard Goodlad
Lizard (16) / 6 / Joseph Harris
Fox (14) / 6 / John Elliot / Fireship (Expended)
Fanfan (4) / 4 / William Garris (d.1667)
Richard (4) / 4 / Henry Browne
Samuel (4) / 4 / William Seale (d.1666/67)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes's_Bonfire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Holmes_(Royal_Navy_officer)

 

[Uwek]

10 August 1756 – Launch of French Glorieux, 74 guns, later HMS Glorieux or HMS Glorious

Glorieux 74 (launched 10 August 1756 at Rochefort, designed by François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers) – captured by the British in the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782, sank in a storm in September 1782


Plate IV. A View of the Sea on the Morning after the Storm, with the distressed situation of the Centaur, Ville de Paris and the Glorieux as seen from the Lady Juliana, the Ville de Paris passing to Windward under close reef'd Topsails



French service
On 30 August 1781, she was with the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse. According to French sources, the British sloop Loyalist and the frigate Guadeloupe were on picket duty in the Chesapeake when they encountered the French fleet. Guadeloupe escaped up the York River to York Town, where she would later be scuttled. The English court martial records report that Loyalist was returning to the British fleet off the Jersey coast when she encountered the main French fleet. The French frigate Aigrette, with the 74-gun Glorieux in sight, was able to overtake Loyalist. The French took her into service as Loyaliste in September, but then gave her to the Americans in November 1781.


Plusieurs vaisseaux français capturés lors de la bataille des Saintes. Le Glorieux en fait partie.

The British captured Glorieux at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782 despite the best efforts of Denis Decrès, and commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Glorieux or HMS Glorious the following day. She was rated as a third rate.

Fate
She sailed with the fleet for England on 25 July 1782 but was lost later that year in a hurricane storm off Newfoundland on 16–17 September, along with the other captured French prize ships Ville de Paris, Hector and Caton. Glorieux was lost with all hands, including her captain, Thomas Cadogan, son of Charles Cadogan, 3rd Baron Cadogan. This disaster to the fleet of Admiral Graves also saw the loss of HMS Ramillies, HMS Centaur, the storeships Dutton and British Queen, and other merchantmen from a convoy of 94 ships, with a total of over 3,500 men lost.


Model:
There is a Heller kit in scale 1:150 available

Here a link to a german building log of this kit
http://www.wettringer-modellbauforum.de/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=60465&pageNo=1


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glorieux
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorieux_(1756)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1782_Central_Atlantic_hurricane

 

[Uwek]

1759 – Launch of HMS Valiant , 74 guns, Valiant class


HMS Valiant was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, modelled on the captured French ship Invincible and launched on 10 August 1759 at Chatham Dockyard. Her construction, launch and fitting-out are the theme of the 'Wooden Walls' visitor experience at Chatham Historic Dockyard.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for a proposed 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, based on the design for 'Triumph' (1764). The plan is annoted in detail with the proposed alterations in construction, which continues on the reverse of the plan. It seems that no vessel was built to this proposal.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81043.html#GPlFGA8z6dtfb9HT.99



She served under Augustus Keppel during the Seven Years' War, and under George Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes. Valiant also served under Admiral Prince William in 1789. In 1799 she was placed on harbour service, and was eventually broken up in 1826.






Valiant class - Design
The draught for the two Valiant-class ships was a copy of the lines of the captured French ship Invincible, which had been captured during the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. They were slightly longer than other British74s of the time, and carried a significantly heavier armament (thirty 24-pounders on their upper gun decks as opposed to the twenty-eight 18-pounders found on the upper gun decks of all other British 74s at the time). The second of the two ships was launched in 1764, and there would not be another 'large' type 74 until the Mars-class, the first of which was launched in 1794.

Ships

• HMS Valiant

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 21 May 1757
Launched: 10 August 1759
Fate: Broken up, 1826

• HMS Triumph

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 21 May 1757
Launched: 3 March 1764
Fate: Broken up, 1850


Sketch of His Majesty's Ship Triumph of 74 Guns 1808; watercolour


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Valiant_(1759)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valiant-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-356802;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=V
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Triumph_(1764)

 

[Uwek]

10 August 1799 – Launch of Sir Godfrey Webster, West Indiaman and Convict Ship

Sir Godfrey Webster (henceforth Sir Godfrey) was launched in 1799. She was a West Indiaman until 1812 when she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she returned to trading with the West Indies. However, she then performed two voyages transporting convicts, the first to Van Diemen's Land, and the second to New South Wales. She ran into difficulties on her way home from Singapore after the second voyage and was condemned at Mauritius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Godfrey_Webster_(1799_ship)
https://www.jenwilletts.com/convict_ship_sir_godfrey_webster.htm
https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/sir-godfrey-webster

 

[Uwek]

Other events on 10 August


1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.

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

1688 - Conquérant 84 guns (designed and built by Blaise Pangalo) launched at Toulon – rebuilt 1707. This vessel was originally classed as a Second Rank ship of 74 guns, but was raised to the First Rank in 1687.

1763 – Launch of French Terpsichore, (one-off 30-gun design of 1762 by Antoine Groignard, with 30 x 12-pounder guns, launched 10 August 1763 at Indret) – deleted 1783.

1778 – Launch of HMS Resource, 28 gun Enterprise class frigate

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

1780 - HMS Flora (36), Cptn. William Pere Williams, took La Nymphe, (36) Chevalier de Romain (Killed in Action), off Ushant.

1797 - HMS Arethusa (38), Cptn. Thomas Wolley, captured French corvette Gaite (20) in the Atlantic.

1800 - HMS Janus (1778 – 44 gun Roebuck-class) wrecked off Trinidad.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Janus_(1778)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-321743;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=J

1801 - Boats of HMS Atalante (16), Anselm John Griffiths, captured the armed lugger L'Eveilie (2) in Quiberon Bay.

1805 - HMS Phoenix (1783 - 36), Cptn. Thomas Baker, captured Didon (sloop of war 44) off Cape Finisterre.

Thomas Baker took command of Phoenix on 28 April 1803. He was assigned to the Channel Fleet under Admiral William Cornwallis, and on 10 August 1805 he came across the 40-gun French frigate Didon off Cape Finisterre.

Prior to the sighting Phoenix had intercepted an American merchant, en route from Bordeaux to the United States. The American master had been invited onto Phoenix, sold the British some of his cargo of wine, and had toured Phoenix before being allowed to continue on his way. Phoenix had at this time been altered to resemble from a distance a large sloop-of-war. Didon, which was carrying despatches instructing Rear-Admiral Allemand's five ships of the line to unite with the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, intercepted the American merchant and from him received news that a 20-gun British ship was at sea and might be foolish enough to attack Didon.



Didon's commander, Captain Milius, decided to await the arrival of the British ship, and take her as a prize. On 10 August 1805, the two vessels met off Cape Finisterre.

Phoenix was able to approach and engage Didon before the French realised that she was a larger frigate than they had anticipated. The action lasted several hours, with Baker on one occasion having his hat shot off his head. Finally the French surrendered at 43°16′N 12°14′W.[33] Phoenix had 12 killed and 28 wounded; the French sustained losses of 27 killed and 44 wounded.



By intercepting the ship carrying the despatches for Allemand, Baker had unwittingly played a role in bringing about the battle of Trafalgar, but he was to play an even greater role a few days later, possibly even staving off an invasion of England. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General service Medal with clasp "Phoenix 10 Augt. 1805" to all surviving claimants from the action.

The battle-scarred HMS Phoenix and Didon shortly after their engagement on 10 August 1805, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe

While sailing to Gibraltar with his prize in tow, Baker fell in with the 74-gun HMS Dragon on 14 August. The following day the combined fleet under Villeneuve, heading for Brest and then on to Boulogne to escort the French invasion forces across the Channel sighted the three British ships. Villeneuve mistook the British ships for scouts from the Channel Fleet and fled south to avoid an action. A furious Napoleon raged 'What a Navy! What an admiral! All those sacrifices for nought!' Villeneuve's failure to press north was a decisive point of the Trafalgar Campaign as far as the invasion of England went, for abandoning all hope of fulfilling his plans to secure control of the Channel Napoleon gathered the Armée d'Angleterre, now renamed the Grande Armée, and headed east to attack the Austrians in the Ulm Campaign. The British ships altered their course and made for Plymouth, where they arrived on 3 September, having prevented an attempt by their French prisoners to capture the Phoenix and retake the Didon

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

1805 – Launch of HMS Resistance, Lively class 38 gun frigate



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

1809 - 8 Danish gunboats, under Lt. Cdr. Søren A. Bille, defeat the British brig HMS Allart (captured from Danish in 1807) off Frederiksværk.

On 10 August 1809, Allart, still under Commander James Tillard, chased the Dano-Norwegian warships Lougen and Seagull into Fredriksvern, only to find herself the quarry of 15 Danish gunboats, arrayed in three divisions. After a three-hour chase the gunboats closed with Allart and an engagement began. After an engagement that lasted two hours, Alaart struck, having had her rigging shot away and having lost one man killed and three wounded. The officer in command of the gunboat flotilla was Captain Søren Adolph Bille.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMS_Allart_(1807)

1812 - The frigate USS Constitution captures and burns the brig HMS Lady Warren, off Cape Race, off Labrador, Canada.

1837 – Wrecked Gloire, Artemise class 52 gun ship (launched 1837 at Rochefort) – wrecked 10 August 1847 off Korea.



The Gloire was a 52-gun frigate of the French Navy. She took part in the Battle of Veracruz soon after her commissioning.
Goire was decommissioned in Brest in 1843, but reactivated in 1847 under Captain Lapierre for operations in the Sea of China. She took part in the Bombardment of Tourane.
On 18 August, she ran aground on an island off the Western coast of Korea, along with Victorieuse. Two boats made it to Shanghai to request assistance, and the marooned crew was picked up by HMS Daedalus, Espiegle and Childers on 12 September 1842.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Gloire_(1837)

1904 – The Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets (Russo-Japanese War) takes place.

The Battle of the Yellow Sea (Japanese: 黄海海戦 Kōkai kaisen; Russian: Бой в Жёлтом море) was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August.[1] The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from Vladivostok, forcing them to return to port. Four days later, the Battle off Ulsan similarly ended the Vladivostok group's sortie, forcing both fleets to remain at anchor.


Mikasa


Retvizan

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

1942 - Off Kavieng, New Ireland, USS S-44 (SS 155) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese cruiser, Kako, as she retires from the Battle of Savo Island.. Also aircraft carrier Kaiyo was sunk



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Kako
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Kaiyō

2011 - The first chinese aircraft carrier is starting his maiden voyage

Liaoning (16; Chinese: 辽宁舰; pinyin: Liáoníng Jiàn) is a Chinese a Type 001 aircraft carrier. The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, she is classified as a training ship, intended to allow the Navy to experiment, train and gain familiarity with aircraft carrier operations.



Originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft cruiser Riga, she was launched on 4 December 1988 and renamed Varyag in 1990. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, construction was halted and the ship was put up for sale by Ukraine. The stripped hulk was purchased in 1998 and towed to the Dalian naval shipyard in northeast China.

The ship was rebuilt and commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as Liaoning on 25 September 2012. Its Chinese ship class designation is Type 001. In November 2016, the political commissar of Liaoning, Commodore Li Dongyou, stated that Liaoning was combat ready.

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