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

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 May 1915 - The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the Russian pre-dreadnought squadron and the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim in the Black Sea


The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the Russian pre-dreadnought squadron and the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selimin the Black Sea. After a brief exchange of fire the Ottomans withdrew.



Background
On May 9, 1915, a Russian squadron attacked Ottoman shipping between Kozlu and Eregli, sinking four steamers and many sailing ships. The battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim, under Captain Richard Ackermann, immediately put to sea in order to intercept the Russians. Early on the morning of May 10, a bombardment force detached from the Russian squadron in order to attack the Bosphorus forts. This consisted of the obsolete pre-dreadnoughts Tri Sviatitelia and Panteleimon, the seaplane carriers Almaz and Imperator Alexander I, as well as a screen of destroyers and minesweepers.

The Ottoman torpedo boat Numune-i Hamiyet, acting as a guard ship at the mouth of the Bosphorus, sighted the bombardment force and radioed a warning to Yavuz. Captain Ackermann promptly set his ship on a course to intercept at 26 knots (48 km/h). The torpedo boat proceeded to engage the minesweepers but was forced to withdraw under heavy fire from the battleships. The protected cruiser Pamiat Merkuria then spotted Yavuz and reported it to the fleet, giving the bombardment force time to break off before it was sighted.

Cruising 25 miles (40 km) off of the Bosphorus at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) was Russian Admiral Andrei Eberhardt's covering force, consisting of the newer pre-dreadnoughts Evstafi (the flagship), Ioann Zlatoust, and Rostislav. Ackermann was unaware of this, and ran right into the squadron.

Battle
At 07:53 hours, Eberhardt's force met Yavuz sailing along a parallel course. Ackermann believed this to be the bombardment detail, though he was confused as to why he was facing three battleships instead of two. He soon realized his mistake when Tri Sviatitelia and Panteleimon joined the Russian battle line. The Ottoman battlecruiser fired 160 11-inch (279 mm) shells in the ensuing engagement, but scored no hits and caused no damage. One near miss on Evstafi sent a cascade of water over the flying bridge, drenching Admiral Eberhardt and his staff. In return, the Russians landed one heavy caliber shell on Yavuz's forecastle, and another on her forward armoured belt. Outnumbered and outgunned, Captain Ackermann ordered his ship to disengage at 08:12. The Russians pursued the battlecruiser to the north before it doubled back and returned to Ottoman waters.

Aftermath
Though the Ottomans had been forced to retreat, the damaged they suffered was minimal and they disrupted the Russians' planned bombardment in the Bosphorus. The action also made the Russians more wary about dividing their pre-dreadnought squadron.


SMS Goeben was the second of two Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben. Along with her sister ship, Goeben was similar to the previous German battlecruiser design, Von der Tann, but larger, with increased armor protection and two more main guns in an additional turret. Goeben and Moltke were significantly larger and better armored than the comparable British Indefatigable class.


Goeben steaming at full speed

Several months after her commissioning in 1912, Goeben, with the light cruiser Breslau, formed the German Mediterranean Division and patrolled there during the Balkan Wars. After the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914, Goeben and Breslau bombarded French positions in North Africa and then evaded British naval forces in the Mediterranean and reached Constantinople. The two ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire on 16 August 1914, and Goeben became the flagship of the Ottoman Navy as Yavuz Sultan Selim, usually shortened to Yavuz. By bombarding Russian facilities in the Black Sea, she brought Turkey into World War I on the German side. The ship operated primarily against Russian forces in the Black Sea during the war, including several inconclusive engagements with Russian battleships. She made a sortie into the Aegean in January 1918 that resulted in the Battle of Imbros, where Yavuz sank a pair of British monitors but was herself badly damaged by mines.

In 1936 she was officially renamed TCG Yavuz ("Ship of the Turkish Republic Yavuz"); she carried the remains of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from Istanbul to İzmit in 1938. Yavuz remained the flagship of the Turkish Navy until she was decommissioned in 1950. She was scrapped in 1973, after the West German government declined an invitation to buy her back from Turkey. She was the last surviving ship built by the Imperial German Navy, and the longest-serving dreadnought-type ship in any navy.

Action of 10 May 1915 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 10 May


1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.

Amerigo Vespucci - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.

Christopher Columbus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.

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


1720 – Spanish San Luis 60 (launched 26 June 1717 at Orio) - Wrecked 10 May 1720

San Pedro Class 60 gun
San Pedro 60 (launched 26 March 1716 at Pasajes) - Wrecked 31 December 1718
Santa Isabel 60 (launched 7 September 1716 at Pasajes) - Captured by Britain at the Battle of Cape Passaro 11 August 1718, BU c. 1731
San Juan Bautista 60 (launched 1 January 1717 at Pasajes) - Wrecked 26 December 1719
San Luis 60 (launched 26 June 1717 at Orio) - Wrecked 10 May 1720
San Fernando 60 (launched 26 June 1717 at Orio) - Scuttled 14 November 1719
San Felipe 60 (launched 26 July 1717 at Orio)


1743 – Launch of HMS Ferret was a 14-gun two-masted sloop of the Royal Navy, built on speculation by Henry Bird at Deptford Wet Dock on the Thames River, England in the same way as the preceding Saltash had been two years earlier.

HMS Ferret was a 14-gun two-masted sloop of the Royal Navy, built on speculation by Henry Bird at Deptford Wet Dock on the Thames River, England in the same way as the preceding Saltash had been two years earlier. She was purchased while building by the Navy Board on 6 April 1743.

The new sloop was launched on 10 May, and was commissioned in the same month under Commander John Moore, and served initially until 1748. In early 1749 she was modified, with her quarterdeck extended by several feet and her main mast shortened. In May 1749 she sailed for Jamaica, and remained in the West Indies until 1754. She was re-rigged as a ship sloop (by the addition of a mizzen mast) and recommissioned in April 1755 under Commander Arthur Upton; she was lost, presumed to have foundered in a hurricane off Nova Scotia on 24 September 1757.

HMS Ferret (1743) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1749 – Launch of French Orphée 64 (launched 10 May 1749 at Toulon) – captured by the British in February 1758

Content class. Designed by Joseph Véronique-Charles Chapelle, built by him, and François Chapelle respectively.
Content 64 (launched 11 February 1747 at Toulon) - condemned January 1770 and hulked, burnt by the British 1793.
Orphée 64 (launched 10 May 1749 at Toulon) – captured by the British in February 1758


1755 – Birth of Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gray_(sea_captain)


1775 - American forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen cross Lake Champlain and capture the British fort at Ticonderoga, New York. The US Navy has honored this action by naming five ships after the battle.


1800 USS Constitution, Cptn. Silas Talbot captured French privateer Sandwich (6) from the harbor at Port Plate, Hispaniola.

USS Constitution - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1862 Confederates destroy Norfolk and Pensacola Navy Yards.

The Norfolk Navy Yard is burned before being evacuated by Confederate forces in a general withdrawal up the peninsula to defend Richmond. Also on this date, Pensacola is re-occupied by Union Army and Navy forces. Confederate forces destroyed the Navy Yard the day before.

USS Plymouth (1844) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1866 - The sidewheel steamer Paquete de Maule of the Chilean Navy was captured by Spanish frigates. She was burned and destroyed by the Spanish on 10 May 1866.

Paquete de Maule (also spelled Paquette de Maule and Paquete del Maule) was a small merchant sidewheel steamer built in the United States in 1861 for operation along the Chilean coast. Converted into a gunboat for service during the Chincha Islands War, she was captured by Spain and scuttled shortly thereafter.

Paquete de Maule - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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


1869 – The end of The Naval Battle of Hakodate (函館湾海戦 Hakodatewan Kaisen) was fought from 4 to 10 May 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy. It was one of the last stages of Battle of Hakodate during the Boshin War, and occurred near Hakodate in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō.

Naval Battle of Hakodate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1880 – Launch of russian Pamiat' Merkuria (Russian: Память Меркурия) was an unarmored cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy.

Pamiat' Merkuria (Russian: Память Меркурия) was an unarmored cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was initially named Yaroslavl (Russian: Ярославль), but was renamed on 9 April 1883.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Pamiat_Merkuria_(1880)


1895 – Launch of ARA Buenos Aires was a protected cruiser of the Argentine Navy. It was built by the British shipyard of Armstrong Mitchell and Co, being launched in 1895 and completing in 1896

ARA Buenos Aires[a] was a protected cruiser of the Argentine Navy. It was built by the British shipyard of Armstrong Mitchell and Co, being launched in 1895 and completing in 1896. Buenos Aires continued in use until 1932.

ARA Buenos Aires (1895) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1910 – Launch of HMS Hercules was the second and last of the two Colossus-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy at the end of the first decade of the 20th century.

HMS Hercules was the second and last of the two Colossus-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy at the end of the first decade of the 20th century. She spent her whole career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets, often serving as a flagship. Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. The ship was deemed obsolete after the war and was reduced to reserve. Hercules was sold for scrap in 1921 and broken up the following year.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hercules_(1910)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus-class_battleship_(1910)


1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.

The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, a distance of 1,300 kilometres (800 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, it aimed to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, which was stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever completed.

In October 1915, pack ice in the Weddell Sea had sunk Endurance, leaving Shackleton and his companions adrift on a precarious ice surface. Throughout the duration of their survival, the group drifted northward until April 1916, when the floe on which they had encamped broke up. They then made their way in the ship's lifeboats to Elephant Island, where Shackleton decided that the most effective means of obtaining rescue would be to sail one of the lifeboats to South Georgia.


Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island, 24 April 1916

Of the three lifeboats, the James Caird was deemed the strongest and most likely to survive the journey. Shackleton had named it after Sir James Key Caird, a Dundee philanthropist whose sponsorship had helped finance the expedition. Before its voyage, the ship's carpenter, Harry McNish, strengthened and adapted the boat to withstand the mighty seas of the Southern Ocean.

Surviving a series of dangers, including a near capsizing, the boat reached the southern coast of South Georgia after a voyage that lasted 16 days. Shackleton and two companions then crossed the island's mountainous interior to reach a whaling station on the northern side. Here he organised the relief of the Elephant Island party, and the return of his men home without loss of life. After the First World War, in 1919, the James Caird was moved from South Georgia to England. It has been on regular display at Shackleton's old school, Dulwich College, since 1922.


The James Caird, preserved at Dulwich College in south London

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

Ernest Shackleton - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1921 - Sovnarkom – on 10 May 1921 crashed into Novosibirsk railway bridge and sank in the Ob river, resulting in the death of at least 225 (according to other estimates, 400).


1944 - USS Cod (SS 224) attacks a large Japanese convoy and destroyer off the west coast of Luzon. USS Silversides (SS 236) attacks a Japanese convoy about 120 miles south-southwest of Guam.


1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

Operation Sandblast - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

USS Triton (SSRN-586) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1972 - Operation Custom Tailor was an American cruiser and destroyer strike force that conducted a daring raid on Haiphong, North Vietnam, in May 1972.

Operation Custom Tailor was an American cruiser and destroyer strike force that conducted a daring raid on Haiphong, North Vietnam, in May 1972. It was a history-making strike that involved the most formidable cruiser/destroyer fleet in the Western Pacific since World War II. During the strike, military targets within four miles of Haiphong were hit and enemy opposition was heavy.


USS Hanson firing on the North Vietnamese coast, 1972

Operation Custom Tailor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1560 - The Battle of Djerba (Turkish: Cerbe) took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia.


The Battle of Djerba (Turkish: Cerbe) took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia. The Ottomans under Piyale Pasha's command overwhelmed a large joint Christian Alliance fleet, composed chiefly of Spanish, Papal, Genoese, Maltese and Neapolitan forces. The allies lost 27 galleys and some smaller vessels as well as the fortified island of Djerba. This victory marked perhaps the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea.

Until about 1573 the Mediterranean headed the list of Spanish priorities under Philip II of Spain (1556–98); under his leadership the Habsburg galley fleet increased to about 100 ships, and more in wartime. Spain sent a major fleet against the Turks in 1560, aiming for the island of Djerba off the coast west of Tripoli. The Ottoman fleet won a resounding victory, killing more than 10,000 men and sinking many vessels. However, typically of the aftermath of Mediterranean battles, they did not follow up the victory. Spain was able to rebuild its fleet in the next two years and prepared a new offensive in 1563-64 with nearly 100 ships. Despite the Ottomans being victorious in the battle, they were unable to attack the Venetian center of gravity.




Historic map of Djerba by Piri Reis

Background
Since losing against Barbarossa Hayreddin's Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Preveza in 1538 and the disastrous expedition of Emperor Charles V against Barbarossa in Algiers in 1541, the major European sea powers in the Mediterranean, Spain and Venice, felt more and more threatened by the Ottomans and their corsair allies. Indeed, by 1558 Piyale Pasha had captured the Balearic Islands and together with Turgut Reis raided the Mediterranean coasts of Spain. King Philip II of Spain appealed to Pope Paul IV and his allies in Europe to organize an expedition to retake Tripoli from Turgut Reis, who had captured the city from the Maltese Knights in August 1551 and had subsequently been made Bey (Governor) of Tripoli by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

Forces
The historian William H. Prescott wrote that the sources describing the Djerba campaign were so contradictory it was impossible to reconcile them. Most historians believe that the fleet assembled by the allied Christian powers in 1560 consisted of between 50 and 60 galleys and between 40 and 60 smaller craft. For example, Giacomo Bosio, the official historian of the Knights of St John writes that there were 54 galleys.[7] Fernand Braudel also gives 54 warships plus 36 supply vessels. One of the most detailed accounts is by Carmel Testa who evidently has access to the archives of the Knights of St. John. He lists precisely 54 galleys, 7 brigs, 17 frigates, 2 galleons, 28 merchant vessels and 12 small ships. These were supplied by a coalition that consisted of Genoa, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Papal States, and the Knights of S. John. Matthew Carr gives the number of 200 ships for the Christian Alliance.[2] The joint fleet was assembled at Messina under the command of Giovanni Andrea Doria, nephew of the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria. It first sailed to Malta, where bad weather forced it to remain for two months. During this time some 2,000 men were lost to sickness.

On 10 February 1560, the fleet set sail for Tripoli. The precise numbers of soldiers aboard are not known. Braudel gives 10,000-12,000; Testa 14,000; older figures in excess of 20,000 are clearly exaggerations considering the number of men a sixteenth-century galley could carry.

Although the expedition landed not far from Tripoli, the lack of water, sickness and a freak storm caused the commanders to abandon their original objective, and on 7 March they returned to the island of Djerba, which they quickly overran. The Viceroy of Sicily, Juan de la Cerda, 4th Duke of Medinaceli, ordered a fort to be built on the island, and construction was begun. By that time an Ottoman fleet of about 86 galleys and galliots under the command of the Ottoman admiral Piyale Pasha was already underway from Istanbul. Piyale's fleet arrived at Djerba on 11 May 1560, much to the surprise of the Christian forces.

The battle
The battle was over in a matter of hours, with about half the Christian galleys captured or sunk. Anderson gives the total number of Christian casualties as 18,000 but Guilmartin more conservatively puts the losses at about 9,000 of which about two-thirds would have been oarsmen.

The surviving soldiers took refuge in the fort they had completed just days earlier, which was soon attacked by the combined forces of Piyale Pasha and Turgut Reis (who had joined Piyale Pasha on the third day), but not before Giovanni Andrea Doria managed to escape in a small vessel. After a siege of three months, the garrison surrendered and, according to Bosio, Piyale carried about 5,000 prisoners back to Istanbul, including the Spanish commander, D. Alvaro de Sande, who had taken command of the Christian forces after Doria had fled. The accounts of the final days of the besieged garrison are irreconcilable. Ogier de Busbecq, the Austrian Habsburg ambassador to Constantinople, recounts in his famous Turkish Letters that, recognizing the futility of armed resistance, de Sande had tried to escape in a small boat, but was quickly captured. In other accounts, for instance Braudel's, he led a sortie on 29 July and was in that way captured. Through Busbecq's efforts, de Sande was ransomed and released several years later and fought against the Turks at the Siege of Malta in 1565.

Aftermath
The victory in the Battle of Djerba represented the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the Mediterranean, which had been growing since the victory at the Battle of Preveza 22 years earlier.

Of particular importance were the crippling losses of the Spanish fleet in experienced personnel: 600 skilled mariners (oficiales) and 2,400 arquebusier marines were lost, men who could not be quickly replaced.

After Djerba the Maltese channel lay open and it was inevitable that the Ottomans soon turned on the new base of the Knights of St John in Malta in 1565 (the Knights having previously been expelled fromRhodes in 1522), but did not succeed in taking it.


The Pyramid of Skulls (Borj el Jamajem) in Houmt Souk

The victorious Ottomans erected a pyramid of skulls of the defeated Spanish defenders, which stood until the late nineteenth century. A small monument now stands in its place at Borj Ghazi Mustafa, Homt Souk.

Battle of Djerba - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1678 - several french ship lost in West indies


London Gazette 1 Aug. 1678 - Paris Aug 6 - From Rochelle as well from Brest, we have an account of the misfortune happened to the squadron of the Count d'Estree in the West Indies, of ?? men of war, and 5 other vessels were lost near certain Isles, called the Isles of Birds about 10 leagues from Curassow, having by the violence of the current being driven upon the rocks that are there, which is attributed to the ignorance of the Pilots. The Names of the French vessels that were lost in the West Indies;

The Terrible 64 Guns The Count d'Estree;
The Thunderer 64 Guns Monsieur de Grancy;
The Warrior Monsieur de Nemon;
The Prince 54 Guns Monsieur de St. Aubin;
The Berbon 54 Guns Monsieur de Rosmadecq;
The DEfender 54 Guns Monsieur d'Amblimont;
The Hurcules 54 Guns Monsieur de Flacourt.

Aug 9 - The advice of the lost of our ships is most certain.


Charente 66 guns (designed and built by Jean Laure, launched in February 1669 at Rochefort) – renamed Belliqueux in June 1671, then Courtisan in June 1678 (although latter change never took effect); wrecked in the Caribbean on 11 May 1678.

Hercule 52 guns (designed and built by Laurent Hubac, launched October 1673 at Brest) – wrecked on 11 May 1678 in the Caribbean.

Défenseur 54, 3rd Rang (ex-Dutch East India Company Beschermer, captured 10 December 1677) – Wrecked 11 May 1678 on Îles Aves

French Second Rate ship of the line 'Le Terrible' (1670)

French Second Rate ship of the line 'Le Terrible' (1670). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1689 - The Battle of Bantry Bay was a naval engagement fought on 11 May 1689, a week before the declaration of the Nine Years' War.


The Battle of Bantry Bay was a naval engagement fought on 11 May 1689, a week before the declaration of the Nine Years' War. The English fleet was commanded by Admiral Arthur Herbert, created Earl of Torrington after the Battle; the French fleet by François Louis de Rousselet, Marquis de Châteaurenault. Apart from the inshore operations at La Rochelle in 1627–28, the Battle of Bantry Bay was the first time English and French navies had met in fleet action since 1545.


Battle of Bantry Bay by Adriaen van Diest.

The battle near the southern Irish coast was somewhat inconclusive but the French, endeavouring to supply King James II in his attempt to re-establish his throne, had managed to unload their supplies for James's Irish campaign. But although the French failed to follow up their tactical success with strategic gain, Châteaurenault had inflicted considerable damage on the English fleet.



Background
Following the 'Glorious Revolution' in 1688, James II of England lost his throne to William, Prince of Orange. The new William III reigned jointly with his wife Mary. James fled to France and was given succour by his co-religionist, Louis XIV, but was determined to regain his throne. In this endeavour Louis was willing to support James, primarily for two reasons: firstly, he fervently believed[citation needed] in the Stuart king’s God-ordained right to the English throne; secondly, and primarily, the war in Ireland would divert William's energy and forces away from the Spanish Netherlands, a theatre which would later become the main focus for both William's and Louis's efforts during the conflict.

While in France, James built up an army to support his Lord Deputy in Ireland, the Earl of Tyrconnell. James had already sent financial help, but it was not until March 1689 that he was ready to sail in person to lead the campaign. After landing in Kinsale with 100 French officers and about 2,500 mixed troops, James, together with Tyrconnell – whom he now made a duke – travelled to Dublin. James hoped to quickly establish control over Ireland before pressing on to Scotland or England, but this was impossible while Protestant strongholds in northern Ireland remained outside his control. The campaign, therefore, urgently required supplies and equipment from France, but English Parliamentarians, acutely worried of the situation developing in Ireland, were determined to use the Royal Navy and frustrate James’s designs.

Battle

Battle of Bantry Bay, 11 May 1689.

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the English main fleet, Arthur Herbert, did not go to sea until the beginning of April, leaving behind a number of ships which had mutinied for overdue pay. Herbert's fleet of 19 ships sailed on 4 April; it was off Cork by 12 April, seeking to intercept enemy vessels. The French fleet, consisting of 24 third- and fourth-rate vessels, two frigates, a number of fireships, and transports carrying weapons and supplies for James’s campaign, left the port of Brest on 6 May.

As the French approached southern Ireland Herbert's squadron had made offloading supplies at Kinsale impossible, thus forcing Châteaurenault to anchor his fleet in Bantry Bay, joining up with a further three French frigates there. The following morning on 11 May, as the French were landing 1,500 men with money, arms and ammunition, Admiral Herbert’s fleet came into view. The French weighed anchor, and a running battle ensued in the confined waters of the bay. Initially the two fleets opposed each other in parallel lines but Châteaurenault, enjoying the weather gage, drove Herbert from the bay into the open sea. The ensuing battle – which in total lasted four hours – was somewhat inconclusive, but the French had protected the transports which managed to unload. When the French broke off the action late in the afternoon in order to return to the anchorage, Herbert's ships were too damaged to follow, and he had suffered many casualties.

Ships involved

The French squadron comprised: François 48, Capt. Pannetier Vermandois 60, Capt. de Machault Duc 50, Capt. Colbert-Saint-Mars Fendant 52, Capt. de Réals Saint Michel 56, Chef d'escadre Jean Gabaret Fort 56, Capt. le chevalier de Rosmadec Léger 40, Capt. le chevalier de Forbis Précieux 52, Capt de Salanpart Capable 48, Capt. de Bellefontaine Arrogant 58, Capt de la Harteloire Diamant 54, Capt. le chevalier de Coëtlogon Ardent 66, Capt. Desnos Champmeslin (flagship of Lieutenant-général Louis François de Rousselet, comte de Châteaurenault) Furieux 60, Capt. Desnos Faucon 40, Capt le chevalier d'Hervault Modéré 50, Capt. le marquis de Saint-Hermine Entreprenant 56, Capt. de Beaujeu Courageux 56, Chef d'escadre Job Forant Neptune 46, Capt. de Pallière Arc en Ciel 44, Capt. de Perrinet Excellent 60, Capt. de Lavigerie Sage 52, Capt. de Vaudricourt Oiseau 40, Capt. Duquesne Guition Emporté 42, Capt. Roussel Apollon 56, Capt. Montortier There were also 5 frigates and 10 fireships.

The English squadron comprised: Defiance 64, Capt. John Ashby Portsmouth 46, Capt. George St Loe Plymouth 60, Capt. Richard Carter Ruby 48, Capt. Frederick Froud Diamond 48, Capt. Benjamin Walters Advice 48, Capt. John Granville Mary 62, Capt. Matthew Aylmer Saint Albans 50, Capt. John Layton Edgar 64, Capt. Clowdisley Shovell Elizabeth 70, Capt. David Mitchell (flagship of Admiral Arthur Herbert) Pendennis 70, Capt. George Churchill Portland 50, Capt. George Aylmer Deptford 54, Capt. George Rooke Woolwich 54, Capt. Ralph Sanderson Dartmouth 36, Capt. Thomas Ley Greenwich 54. Capt. Christopher Billop Cambridge 70, Capt. John Clements Antelope 48, Capt. Henry Wickham York 60, Capt. Ralph Delavall There were also 2 bomb vessels (Firedrake and Salamander) and a fireship (previously HMY Saudadoes -re-commissioned as HMS Soldado) commanded by John Graydon (c.1666–1726).

Aftermath
The fleets withdrew: Château-Renault returned to Brest on 18 May, seizing on the way seven Dutch merchant vessels bound from the West Indies. Herbert sailed for the Scilly Isles, before reaching Spithead, via Plymouth, on 22 May. For both the French and English however, the battle was equally unsatisfactory. Although the damage sustained to Herbert’s ships was enough to lay his squadron up for two months in Portsmouth (during which time the Irish waters were completely uncovered), Châteaurenault failed to press his advantage – much to the dismay of his junior flag-officers, Job Forant and Jean Gabaret. King William was also unsatisfied with the outcome; nevertheless, he created Herbert Earl of Torrington, mainly in recognition of his work the previous year during the 'Glorious Revolution'. Moreover, the King knighted two of Herbert’s captains, John Ashby who had led the van, and Cloudesley Shovell, and ordered a gratuity of ten shillings a head for the seamen. James, meanwhile, had begun the Siege of Derry, the capture of which would open communications with Jacobite forces in Scotland; three French frigates under Captain Duquesne were assigned to support him. In response, the Scottish parliament commissioned two small cruisers, the Pelican and the Janet to oppose the French squadron, but, on 20 July, they were both taken by Duquesne in the North Channel.

The Allies now began to build up their naval strength in the Channel; the fleet would soon comprise 34 English and 20 Dutch ships of the line, with four frigates and 17 fireships. After rendezvousing with victuallers, the Anglo-Dutch squadrons patrolled south of Kinsale to prevent further French supplies reaching Ireland. However, when the French Brest fleet – now joined by Tourville’s squadron of 20 rated vessels and four frigates – set sail on 15 August, it cruised in the Bay of Biscay, posing no threat to England or English communications with Ireland. The French, therefore, were unable to prevent Admiral Rooke relieving the siege of Londonderry on 10 August, or, forestall Marshal Schomberg's army from England landing near Carrickfergus on 23 August. With Schomberg's reinforcements, the Williamite army opposing James in Ireland now amounted to some 40,000 troops



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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1762 – Launch of HMS Boston, a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy


HMS Boston was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1762. She served during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, and was broken up in 1811.



On 16 April 1797, Boston was 18 leagues NNE of Cape Finisterre when after a six-hour chase she captured the French privateer Enfant de la Patrie, of 16 guns and 130 men. Enfant de la Patrie was eight days out of Bordeaux but had not taken anything. The captain of the privateer was drunk, and so decided to resist, firing his guns, small arms, and running his vessel into Boston. His rashness resulted in five of his crew being killed, ten wounded, and he himself drowning.




Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a ‘Richmond’-class 32-gun frigate (circa 1757), built in the Georgian style. The model is decked. Taken from the model, the vessel measured 129 feet along the gun deck by 34 feet in the beam, displacing 660 tons burden. It was armed with twenty-six 12-pounders on the upper deck, four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 6-pounders on the forecastle. This type of vessel, an early ‘true frigate’, is similar to SLR0496. Although not identified with a particular ship, the dimensions represented are very close to those of the ‘Tweed’ (1759), but that ship probably had a round bow. A noticeable feature is the new style of figurehead. The familiar lion, which had been the standard form of bow decoration for smaller warships since about 1600, began to disappear after about 1750. It was commonly replaced by a human figure in classical dress. Frigates were fifth- or sixth-rate ships and so not expected to lie in the line of battle. With the advantage of superior sailing qualities over the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet for such tasks as lookout or, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral’s signals. They also cruised independently in search of privateers


Lines & Profile (ZAZ2939)


The Richmond-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by the Navy's Surveyor, William Bately, and were his equivalent of the Southampton-class frigates designed by Bately's co-Surveyor, Thomas Slade. They were faster ships than the Southamptons, and were weatherly craft, remaining dry even in high seas. Three ships were ordered to this design between 1756 and 1757, while a second batch of three ships was ordered between 1761 and 1762 to a slightly modified design.



Ships in class
First batch

• Richmond
  • Ordered: 12 March 1756
  • Built by: John Buxton, Deptford.
  • Keel laid: April 1756
  • Launched: 12 November 1757
  • Completed: 7 December 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Sardinia to avoid capture on 19 May 1793.
• Juno
  • Ordered: 1 June 1756
  • Built by: William Alexander, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: June 1756
  • Launched: 29 September 1757
  • Completed: 6 November 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Rhode Island to avoid capture on 5 August 1778.
• Thames
  • Ordered: 11 January 1757
  • Built by: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard.
  • Keel laid: February 1757
  • Launched: 10 April 1758
  • Completed: 29 May 1758 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Woolwich Dockyard in September 1803.

Second (modified) batch

• Lark
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Elias Bird, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 5 May 1761
  • Launched: 10 May 1762
  • Completed: 9 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Rhode Island to avoid capture on 5 August 1778.
• Boston
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Robert Inwood, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 5 May 1761
  • Launched: 11 May 1762
  • Completed: 16 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Plymouth Dockyard in May 1811.
• Jason
  • Ordered: 30 January 1762
  • Built by: Robert Batson, Limehouse.
  • Keel laid: 1 April 1762
  • Launched: 13 June 1763
  • Completed: 19 September 1765 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold at Chatham Dockyard on 10 February 1785.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Boston_(1762)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-class_frigate
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-297234;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Richmond_(1757

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1765 – Launch of French Flamand, a 56-gun Bordelois-class ship of the line of the French Navy.


The Flamand was a 56-gun Bordelois-class ship of the line of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Flanders, and built by engineer Léon Guignace on a design by Antoine Groignard.

She took part in Suffren's campaign during the American Revolutionary War.



Career
Completed too late to serve in the Seven Years' War, Flamand was offered to the Ottoman Navy, along with her sister-ship Ferme; however the Ottoman were disappointed by the 100 000 piastres they had to pay for the first ship, and declined to purchase a second one.

Activated for the American Revolutionary War, Flamand was appointed to Suffren's squadron in the Indian Ocean. She took part in the Battle of Sadrasunder Captain de Cuverville, as well as in the Battle of Negapatam, where she engaged the much stronger HMS Hero.

Flamand took part in the Battle of Cuddalore the next year; after her commanding officer, Captain Périer de Salvert, was killed, her first officer, Trublet de Villejégu, assumed command.


lines & profile NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 522, states that 'Artois' was docked at Chatham Dockyard on 28 November 1780. She was undocked on 9 January 1781 and sailed on 21 March having been fitted. Subsequently, Artois was sold on 2 February 1786 for £650


'The Artois capturing two Dutch privateers, 3 December 1781' The names of the two captured Dutch privateers were 'Mars' and 'Hercules'; both were subsequently acquired by the RN and commissioned as brig-sloops 'Orestes' and 'Pylades' (see Rif Winfield, 'British Warships of the Age of Sail', p. 328)


The Bordelois Class was a class of 56-gun ships of the line, designed by Antoine Groignard. This was a unique type, designed to provide a battlefleet armament (with 36-pounder guns in the principal battery) on a hull able to operate in the shallow waters around Dunkirk. The ships were funded by don des vaisseaux donations and rushed into production for the Seven Years' War, but were completed too late to take part in the conflict. The Flamand would later have a distinguished career during the War of American Independence.



Ships in class

• Bordelois

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
Ordered: 3 November 1761
Laid down: August 1762
Laid down: July 1762
Launched: 26 April 1763
Completed: July 1763
Fate: Cut down into a frigate in 1779 and renamed Artois; captured by the Royal Navy on 1 July 1780, recommissioned as HMS Artois, then sold February 1786 to break up.

• Ferme

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
Ordered: 3 November 1761
Laid down: August 1762
Launched: 10 October 1763
Completed: December 1763
Fate: Sold to the Ottoman Navy in August 1774

• Utile

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
Ordered: 3 November 1761
Laid down: August 1762
Laid down: May 1763
Launched: 14 August 1764
Completed: December 1764
Fate: Condemned in December 1771 at Rochefort and hulked there by 1773.

• Flamand

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
Ordered: 3 November 1761
Laid down: August 1762
Laid down: October 1763
Launched: 11 May 1765
Completed: July 1765
Fate: Condemned 1785-86 at Rochefort and struck.

French ship Flamand - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordelois-class_ship_of_the_line
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-292952;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1820 – Launch of HMS Beagle, a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class.


HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803 (£613,000 in today's currency), was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom, and for that occasion is said to have been the first ship to sail completely under the old London Bridge. There was no immediate need for Beagle so she "lay in ordinary", moored afloat but without masts or rigging. She was then adapted as a survey barque and took part in three survey expeditions.


HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan at Monte Sarmiento, reproduction of R. T. Pritchett's frontispiece from the 1890 illustrated edition of The Voyage of the Beagle.

The second voyage of HMS Beagle is notable for carrying the recently graduated naturalist Charles Darwin around the world. While the survey work was carried out, Darwin travelled and researched geology, natural history and ethnology onshore. He gained fame by publishing his diary journal, best known as The Voyage of the Beagle, and his findings played a pivotal role in the formation of his scientific theories on evolution and natural selection.



Design and construction
The Cherokee class of 10-gun brig-sloops was designed by Sir Henry Peake in 1807, and eventually over 100 were constructed. The working drawings for HMS Beagle and HMS Barracouta were issued to the Woolwich Dockyard on 16 February 1817, and amended in coloured ink on 16 July 1817 with modifications to increase the height of the bulwarks (the sides of the ship extended above the upper deck) by an amount varying from 6 inches (150 mm) at the stem to 4 inches (100 mm) at the stern. Beagle's keel was laid in June 1818, construction cost £7,803, and the ship was launched on 11 May 1820. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review on the River Thames, celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom.


Longitudinal section of HMS Beagleas of 1832



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

Cherokee-class brig-sloop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1833 - Lady of the Lake – was an Aberdeen-built brig that sank off the coast of Newfoundland after striking ice on 11 May 1833 with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.


Lady of the Lake was an Aberdeen-built brig that sank off the coast of Newfoundland in May 1833, with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.
Only fifteen passengers and crew survived

Sinking
The vessel had departed from Belfast on 8 April 1833, bound for Quebec. At 8:00 a.m. on 11 May 1833, Lady of the Lake was struck by ice on the starboard bow and began to sink, about 250 miles east of Cape St. Francis, Newfoundland. One of the lifeboats capsized shortly after lowering, with the loss of an estimated 80 individuals. Lady of the Lake continued to sink with about 30 passengers clinging to the maintop mast. The survivors spent 75 hours in an open boat before being rescued by the ship Amazon.

Sources differ as to the final death toll, with estimates ranging from 170[6] to 265






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake_(brig)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1854 - HMS Tiger was a steam frigate of the British Royal Navy launched in 1849, which was lost in 1854 after grounding near Odessa during the Crimean War.


HMS Tiger was a steam frigate of the British Royal Navy launched in 1849, which was lost in 1854 after grounding near Odessa during the Crimean War.



Ship history
The 1,221 ton ship, designed by John Edye, was built at Chatham Dockyard, and launched on 1 December 1849. Powered by a 400-horsepower steam engine which drove side-paddlewheels, she was originally rated as a 10-gun sloop, but was re-rated as 2nd class frigate in 1852, and carried 16 guns.




Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the paddle frigate HMS ‘Tiger’ (1849), complete with stump masts, twin funnels and a number of deck fittings, the whole of which is mounted on its original wooden baseboard. An interesting feature of this model is that it has a pair of lifeboats stowed upturned on top of the paddle boxes. For a short time only, the lightweight boats were kept in this position for ease of launching and to relieve space on the already crowded deck. Designed by Mr J. Edye, Assistant Surveyor to the Navy, the ‘Tiger’ was launched at Chatham in 1849 and cost nearly £65,000. Measuring 205 feet along the gun deck by 36 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1221 burthen, it was fitted with side lever engines of 400 horsepower producing a speed of 9 knots. During the Crimean War, the ‘Tiger’ was on patrol off Odessa and ran aground in thick fog, the crew struggling to get it off again before the weather cleared. When the fog lifted the Russians batteries opened fire at close range and Captain H. W. Giffard had no alternative but to surrender, which he did immediately after setting fire to his ship. The Russians later completed the destruction by gunfire and the action cost the lives of Captain Giffard and four of his crew

Bombardment of Odessa
In April 1854, during the Crimean War, following the firing on by the Russians of a boat from HMS Furious under a flag of truce, an Anglo-French squadron was sent to mount a punitive expedition against the naval port of Odessa. Tiger was one of eight steam paddle-wheel frigates that took part in the attack on 22 April, also accompanied by several other ships, and ship's boats armed with 24-pounder rockets. During the attack a magazine on the Imperial Mole exploded causing great damage, and about 24 Russian ships and the dockyard storehouses were set on fire, before the Allied squadron withdrew.

Loss of Tiger

HMS Tiger (right) aground

On 11 May 1854, Tiger, the screw sloop Niger, and paddle-wheel sloop Vesuvius were detached to cruise off Odessa. Tiger became separated from her consorts in thick fog. At around 6 a.m on the 12th she grounded on the shore about five miles south-west of Odessa. She fired guns to attract the attention of the other ships, without result. She then launched her boats and streamed her anchors in an attempt to re-float herself, and also jettisoned all but one of her guns to lighten the ship. Around 9 a.m. a battery of Russian field artillery opened fire from the cliffs above the ship. Within ten minutes Tiger was on fire in two places, and the Captain and several others had been severely wounded. In this hopeless position, Tiger was compelled to surrender, but not before her crew attempted to burn her. The crew were taken as prisoners to Odessa, and with the appearance of the Niger and Vesuvius a few hours later the Russians, fearing that Tiger might be recovered, opened fire upon her, and succeeded in blowing her up.[4] Some sources suggested that the Tiger was later salved by the Russians and commissioned by them under the name Tigr; but this is untrue and due to a misreading of Russian naval records; in fact the frigate's engines were salvaged and installed in the Russian royal yacht Tigr.

Captain Giffard lost his left leg, and later developed gangrene, from which he died on 1 June. He was buried at Odessa with full military honours on 2 June. A midshipman, two seamen, and a boy also died from their wounds, while three other wounded men recovered.

The Tiger gun

A 1918 postcard showing soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Army resting by the gun from Tiger.

A month after her sinking the Russians raised several guns from Tiger. Two were taken to a nearby battery; one exploded during testing. In 1904, to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombardment, the remaining gun was mounted on a pedestal on Nikolaev Boulevard. In 2004 further restoration work was carried out and the gun was fired on 19 August. It is now located outside Odessa City Hall

HMS Tiger (1849) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Tiger_(1849

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1898 - The Second Battle of Cárdenas was a secondary naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought on 11 May 1898 in the port of Cárdenas, Cuba, between an American squadron of 5 ships under Captain Chapman C. Todd and 3 small Spanish vessels under Mariano Mateu.


The Second Battle of Cárdenas was a secondary naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought on 11 May 1898 in the port of Cárdenas, Cuba, between an American squadron of 5 ships under Captain Chapman C. Todd and 3 small Spanish vessels under Mariano Mateu. The battle resulted in an unusually costly American reverse that dissuaded the U.S. Navy from undertaking further attacks on the port.


USRC Hudson, led by Frank Hamilton Newcomb, moves to assist a disabled USS Winslow during the Second Battle of Cárdenas.



Background
In May 1898, a small squadron of the United States Navy, consisting of the torpedo boats USS Foote and USS Winslow, the gunboats USS Wilmington and USS Machias, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Hudson, was operating off the northern coast of Cuba. On May 11, 1898, this fleet entered the Bay of Cárdenas to destroy the three small Spanish gunboats reportedly moored in the harbor. Having swept the area for mines, Captain Todd ordered the Winslow to approach the shore and investigate a steamer moored alongside the wharf to determine whether the vessel was an enemy warship.

The Spanish squadron based on Cárdenas consisted of three ships: Ligera, Alerta and Antonio López, under the command of Teniente de Navío Mariano Mateu. The 42-ton Ligera, which had driven off Foote two weeks earlier in a fortuitous encounter off the harbour's mouth, was under Lieutenant Antonio Pérez Rendón, while Alerta, of the same tonnage, was under Lieutenant Pasquín. Both gunboats mounted a cannon of 42 mm and a Maxim of 37 mm. Antonio López was a small tug armed with a Nordenfelt gun, and under the command of Lieutenant Domingo Montes Reguefeiros. The Spanish Line had transferred the Antonio Lopez to the navy some years before.

Battle

USS Winslow's conning tower, damaged from Spanish gunfire during the battle

By 13:35, Winslow reached a point approximately 1,500 yards from her quarry when a white puff of smoke from Antonio López's bow gun signaled the beginning of an artillery duel which lasted one hour and 20 minutes. Winslow responded with her 1-pounders. The Spanish concentrated their efforts on Winslow, and she soon received several direct hits. The first shot to score on the torpedo boat destroyed both her steam and manual steering gear. Her crew tried to rig an auxiliary steering system, but she swung broadside to the enemy and a shot pierced her hull near the engine room and knocked the port main engine out of commission. She maneuvered with her remaining engine to evade enemy fire and maintained a steady return fire with her 1-pounders. Wilmington and Hudson brought their guns to bear on the Spanish ship and shore, and the combined fire of the three American warships put the Spanish tugboat out of action while several waterfront buildings caught fire.

All but disabled, Winslow requested Hudson to tow her out of action. The revenue cutter approached the stricken torpedo boat and rigged a tow line between the two ships. As Hudson began to tow Winslow out to sea, one of the last Spanish shells to strike the torpedo boat hit her near the starboard gun and killed Ensign Worth Bagley who had been helping to direct the warship's maneuvers by carrying instructions from the deck to the base of the engine room ladder. Ensign Bagley became known as the first U.S. naval officer killed in the Spanish–American War, killed along with four other sailors, John Barberes, John Daniels, George B. Meek and E.B. Tunnell.

Aftermath
Badly damaged, Winslow was towed clear of the action. Her commanding officer and several others in her crew were wounded. Lieutenant John Bernadou saw that the dead and wounded were transferred to Hudson, and he then left the ship after turning command over to Chief Gunner's Mate George P. Brady, who — along with Chief Gunner's Mate Hans Johnsen and Chief Machinist T. C. Cooney — later received the Medal of Honor.

Because at the time members of the Revenue Cutter Service were not eligible for the Navy Medal of Honor, Congress approved a special medal struck for them. Frank Newcomb, the commanding officer of Hudson, received the medal in gold, his officers received it in silver, and the enlisted crewmen in bronze. On the Spanish side, Teniente de Navío Montes, commander of the Antonio López, received the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand.

The Spanish gunboat squadron, made of seven steam launches, remained unscathed until the end of the war, when all the units were sold by the Spanish government.



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1900 – Launch of Aurora (Russian: Авро́ра, tr. Avrora, IPA: [ɐˈvrorə]) is a 1900 Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in Saint Petersburg.


Aurora (Russian: Авро́ра, tr. Avrora, IPA: [ɐˈvrorə]) is a 1900 Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in Saint Petersburg. Aurora was one of three Pallada-class cruisers, built in Saint Petersburg for service in the Pacific. All three ships of this class served during the Russo-Japanese War. Aurora survived the Battle of Tsushima and was interned under US protection in the Philippines, and eventually returned to the Baltic Fleet.



The second ship, Pallada, was sunk by the Japanese at Port Arthur in 1904. The third ship, Diana, was interned in Saigon after the Battle of the Yellow Sea. One of the first incidents of the October Revolution in Russiatook place on the cruiser Aurora, which reportedly fired the first shot, signalling the beginning of the attack on the Winter Palace.


Russo-Japanese War


Aurora in 1903

Soon after completion, on October 10, 1903, Aurora departed Kronstadt as part of Admiral Virenius's "reinforcing squadron" for Port Arthur. While in the Red Sea, still enroute to Port Arthur, the squadron was recalled back to the Baltic Sea, under protest by Admiral Makarov, who specifically requested Admiral Virenius to continue his mission to Port Arthur. Only the 7 destroyers of the reinforcing squadron were allowed to continue to the Far East.

After her detachment from the reinforcing squadron and her arrival back to home port she underwent new refitting. After refitting, Aurora was ordered back to Port Arthur as part of the Russian Baltic Fleet Aurora sailed as part of Admiral Oskar Enkvist's Cruiser Squadron whose flagship would be the Protected Cruiser Oleg, an element of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's Baltic Fleet. On the way to the Far East, Aurora received 5 hits, sustaining light damage from confused friendly fire, which killed the ship's chaplain and a sailor, in the Dogger Bank incident.

On 27 and 28 May 1905 Aurora took part in the Battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron. During the battle her captain, Captain 1st rank Eugene R. Yegoryev, and 14 crewmen were killed. The executive officer, Captain of 2nd rank Arkadiy Konstantinovich Nebolsine, took command although wounded. After that Aurora, covering other much slower Russian vessels, became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Enkvist, and with two other Russian cruisers broke through to neutral Manila, where she was interned by United States authorities from 6 June 1905 until the end of the war.

In 1906 Aurora returned to the Baltic and became a cadet training ship. From 1906 until 1912 the cruiser visited a number of other countries; in November 1911 she was in Bangkok as part of the celebrations in honour of the coronation of the new King of Siam.

October Revolution mutiny

The cruiser Aurora is pictured on the Order of the October Revolution

During World War I Aurora operated in the Baltic Sea performing patrols and shore bombardment tasks. In 1915, her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm (6 in) guns. At the end of 1916, she was moved to Petrograd (the renamed Saint Petersburg) for a major repair. The city was brimming with revolutionary ferment and part of her crew joined the 1917 February Revolution.

The ship's commanding officer, Captain Mikhail Nikolsky, was killed when he tried to suppress the revolt. A revolutionary committee was created on the ship, with Aleksandr Belyshev elected as captain. Most of the crew joined the Bolsheviks, who were preparing for a Communist revolution.

At 9.40pm on 25 October 1917 (Old Style; 7 November New Style) a blank shot from her forecastle gun signaled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace, which was to be the beginning of the October Revolution. In summer 1918, she was relocated to Kronstadt and placed into reserve.

Second World War

Aurora in 2004.

In 1922 Aurora returned to service as a training ship. Assigned to the Baltic Fleet, from 1923, she repeatedly visited the Baltic Sea countries, including Norway in 1924, 1925, 1928 and 1930, Germany in 1929 and Sweden in 1925 and 1928. On 2 November 1927, Aurora was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for her revolutionary merits.

During the Second World War, the guns were taken from the ship and used in the land defence of Leningrad. The ship herself was docked in Oranienbaum port, and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 September 1941 she was damaged and sunk in the harbour.

In 1944 despite the vessel's state, Aurora became the first campus and training vessel of the Nakhimov Naval School.

After extensive repairs from 1945 to 1947, Aurora was permanently anchored on the Neva in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again) as a monument to the Great October Socialist Revolution. In 1957 she became a museum-ship. On 22 February 1968 she was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, whose badge portrays Aurora herself.

To the present

Port side view of the cruiser in 2008.


Aurora and Krasin in Kronstadt.

As a museum ship, the cruiser Aurora became one of the many tourist attractions of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and continued to be a symbol of the October Socialist Revolution and a prominent attribute of Russian history. In addition to the museum space, a part of the ship continued to house a naval crew whose duties included caring for the ship, providing security and participating in government and military ceremonies. The crew was considered to be on active duty and was subject to military training and laws.


The Aurora Ensign (Soviet era).

Having long served as a museum ship, from 1984 to 1987 the cruiser was once again placed in her construction yard, the Admiralty Shipyard, for capital restoration. During the overhaul, due to deterioration, the ship's hull below the waterline was replaced with a new welded hull according to the original drawings. The cut off lower hull section was towed into the Gulf of Finland, to the unfinished base at Ruchi, and sunk near the shore. The restoration revealed that some of the ship parts, including the armour plates, were originally made in Britain.

Aurora is the oldest commissioned ship of the Russian Navy, still flying the naval ensign under which she was commissioned, but now under the care of the Central Naval Museum. She is still manned by an active service crew commanded by a Captain of the 1st Rank.

In January 2013 Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu announced plans to recommission Aurora and make her the flagship of the Russian Navy due to her historical and cultural importance. On 21 September 2014 the ship was towed to the Admiralty Shipyard in Kronstadt to be overhauled, to return in 2016. On 16 July 2016 she returned to her home harbour in Saint Petersburg.


Aurora at Kronstadt September 2015.

In fiction
The Aurora is mentioned in Max Brook's book World War Z as being part of a large flotilla of ships encountered by Chinese submariners. "We saw the Aurora, the actual World War 1-era heavy cruiser whose mutiny had sparked the Bolshevik Revolution".

The Aurora (Avrova) is mentioned in Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October as the ship Marko Ramius' friend and childhood mentor, Sasha, served aboard at the time of the Russian Revolution.

The Aurora is mentioned in 4A Games' 2019 video game Metro Exodus as the inspiration for the name of the train used by the Spartan Rangers to escape Moscow and journey across post-apocalyptic Russia


The Pallada-class cruisers (often known in Russia as "Diana-type protected cruisers", Russian: Бронепалубные крейсера типа «Диана») were a group of three protected cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy(IRN) in the late 1890s. One ship of the class, Aurora, is still crewed by the Russian Navy, and maintained as a museum ship.

Ships in class
Soon after her commissioning at the end of 1901 Pallada and Diana were sent to Port Arthur for use in the Russian Pacific Squadron. All three ships of the Pallada class were used in combat during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, but without significant success. Pallada was blockaded within the confines of Port Arthur and was sunk at anchor. Diana broke out of the blockade in an attempt to reach home, but was interned in Saigon. Aurora sailed with the Second Pacific Squadron, which was annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima; Aurora escaped, but was interned at Manila.

After the war, Pallada was raised by the Japanese and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Japanese cruiser Tsugaru. In World War I, Diana and Aurora served with the Russian Baltic Fleet. Auroras ubsequently achieved fame for firing the shot which is considered the start of the Russian October Revolution.

Russian cruiser Aurora - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallada-class_cruiser

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1918 - SS Sant Anna – This troopship, traveling from Marseille over Bizerte to Salonica, with 2,025 soldiers on board was torpedoed on 11 May 1918 by German submarine SM UC-54. There were 605 casualties.


SS Sant′ Anna was a Transatlantic ocean liner converted into a troopship in 1915, torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea on 11 May 1918 with 605 casualties.



Sant′ Anna was built as an ocean liner for service between France and New York City. The ship was operational between 1912 and 1915, when she was requisitioned by the French Army and refitted as troopship for use in World War I. On 19 September 1915 a fire broke out on board, which was thought to be an act of German sabotage. On 12 April 1916 Sant′ Anna made her first trip to the Salonika Front with 1,027 Serbian Armysoldiers and 129 horses on board.

On 11 May 1918 she was again steaming in the Mediterrean Sea on a voyage from Bizerte for Thessaloniki under the escort of two British sloops, HMS Cyclamen and HMS Verhana, with 2,025 soldiers on board (574 Senegalese, 429 Kabyle, 194 Annamite, nine Greek, and the rest French). She was torpedoed at 3:15 AM by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM UC-54, commanded by Heinrich XXXVII Prinz Reuß zu Köstritz, and sank at 3:58 AM off the coast of French Tunisia, some 26 nautical miles east of Cape Bon, killing 605 of the soldiers. The survivors were rescued by the two British sloops, the French Navy destroyer Catapulte, a British gunboat, the French sloop Saint Jean, and the vessels Auguste Leblond and Marguerite Marie.

SS Sant Anna - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1918 - SS Verona – On 11 May 1918 the troop ship was off Capo Peloro in Sicily and heading for Libya, when UC-52 torpedoed and sank her. She sank quickly, killing 880 of about 3,000 troops aboard.


SS Verona was an Italian passenger steamer, built in 1908 by Workman, Clark and Company in Belfast, and operated by the Navigazione Generale Italiana, of Genoa. SS Ancona was her sister ship.



On 11 May 1918, the ship left Messina for Tripoli with on board some 3,000 soldiers, most of them deserters which were sent to a detention camp in the Italian colony of Libya.

She was torpedoed by German submarine UC-52, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hellmuth von Doemming off Cape Peloro at 37°04′N 16°19′ECoordinates:

37°04′N 16°19′E. The ship sank within 25 minutes, but many soldiers were saved because land was relatively close and several ships came to their rescue. Still around 880 lives were lost.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Verona_(1908)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 May 1960 - Launch of SS France, a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line) ocean liner, constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, and put into service in February 1962.


SS France was a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line) ocean liner, constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, and put into service in February 1962. At the time of her construction in 1960, the 316 m (1,037 ft) vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built, a record that remained unchallenged until the construction of the 345 m (1,132 ft) RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004.


SS France docked in Hong Kong, 1974

France was later purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 1979, renamed SS Norway and underwent significant modifications that better suited her for cruising duties. She was renamed SS Blue Lady and sold to be scrapped in 2006, and scrapping was completed in late 2008.


Characteristics
France was the French Line flagship from 1961 to 1974, combining regular five days/nights transatlantic crossings with occasional winter cruises, as well as two world circumnavigations. During her last years, to save fuel costs, crossings took six days/nights.

As Norway she was the flagship of the Norwegian Cruise Line from 1980 to approximately 2001.

Some, like ship historian John Maxtone-Graham, believe that France was purposely built to serve as both a liner and a cruise ship, stating: "Once again, the company had cruise conversion in mind... for cruises, all baffle doors segregating staircases from taboo decks were opened to permit free circulation throughout the vessel." However, others, such as ship historian William Miller, have asserted that France was the "last purposely designed year-round transatlantic supership."


Norway at Velsen, the Netherlands

History
Concept and construction
France was constructed to replace the line's other ageing ships like SS Ile de France and SS Liberté, which were outdated by the 1950s.[citation needed] Without these vessels the French Line had no ability to compete against their rivals,[citation needed] most notably the Cunard Line, which also had plans for constructing a new modern liner. It was rumoured that this ship would be a 75,000-ton replacement for their ships RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. (This ship would eventually be the 68,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2.) Further, the United States Lines had put into service in 1952 SS United States, which had broken all speed records on her maiden voyage, with an average speed of 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h; 40.96 mph).

At first, the idea of two 35,000-ton running mates was considered to replace Ile de France and Liberté. Charles de Gaulle (the future President of France) opined that it would be better for French national pride, then flagging due to the then ongoing Algerian War of Independence, to construct one grand ocean liner, in the tradition of SS Normandie, as an ocean-going showcase for France. The idea of such a publicly funded liner was controversial, leading to raucous debates in the French parliament. The dealing lasted three and a half years, and though the letter commissioning the construction was finally signed by the Chairman of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Jean Marie, on 25 July 1956, debate about the form, cost and construction schedule for France lasted a further year.


Norway leaving Lloyd shipyards in Bremerhaven after conversion.

Beyond the luxuries, the French Line had to also face the realities that transatlantic passenger trade was forecast to decline due to increased air travel. Also, costs to operate ships were increasing, mostly due to prices of crude oil.[citation needed] Thus, the new ship would be larger than Ile, but smaller and cheaper to operate than Normandie. She would also only be a two-class liner, which would, like the recently built SS Rotterdam, be able to be converted from a segregated, class restricted crossing mode to a unified, classless cruising mode, thereby allowing the ship to be more versatile in its operations. Despite these requirements, she was still to be the longest ship ever built, as well as one of the fastest, meaning not only an advanced propulsion system, but also a hull design which would withstand the rigours of the North Atlantic at high speed.

Hull G19 was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, in Saint-Nazaire, France, her keel being laid down on 7 September 1957. She was built in a pioneering manner: rather than constructing a skeleton which was then covered in steel hull plating, large parts of the ship were prefabricated in other cities (such as Orléans, Le Havre and Lyon). The hull was fully welded, leading to weight savings, and two sets of stabilisers were fitted.

She was blessed by the Bishop of Nantes, Monseigneur Villepelet, and launched on 11 May 1960, at 4:15 pm, by Madame Yvonne de Gaulle, wife of the President, and was then named France, in honour both of the country, and of the two previous CGT ships to bear the name. By 4:22 pm France was afloat and under command of tugs.[5] President De Gaulle was also in attendance at the launch, and gave a patriotic speech, announcing that France had been given a new Normandie, they were able to compete now with Cunard's Queens, and the Blue Riband was within their reach. In reality, however, the 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) speed of United States would prove impossible to beat.

After the launch, the propellers were installed (the entire process taking over three weeks), the distinctive funnels affixed to the upper decks, the superstructure completed, life boats placed in their davits, and the interiors fitted out. France then undertook her sea trials on 19 November 1961, and averaged an unexpected 35.21 knots (65.21 km/h; 40.52 mph). With the French Line satisfied, the ship was handed over, and undertook a trial cruise to the Canary Islands with a full complement of passengers and crew. During this short trip she met, at sea, Liberté which was on her way to the shipbreakers.



Blue Lady at Alang, India, awaiting scrapping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_France_(1961)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 11 May


1744 – Launch of French Vigilant 64 (launched 11 May 1744 at Brest) - captured by the British near Louisbourg on 19 May 1745, added to the RN as HMS Vigilant, sold 1759

Saint Michel class. Designed by Jean-Marie Hélie.
Saint Michel 64 (launched January 1741 at Brest) - condemned 1786.
Vigilant 64 (launched 11 May 1744 at Brest) - captured by the British near Louisbourg on 19 May 1745, added to the RN as HMS Vigilant, sold 1759


1778 - Launch of French Amazone, a Iphigénie class was a group of nine 32-gun/12-pounder frigates of the French Navy,

Iphigénie class, (32-gun design by Léon-Michel Guignace, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns; Up to 6 x 36-pounder obusiers were later added).
Iphigénie, (launched 16 October 1777 at Lorient) – captured by Spanish Navy 1795.
Surveillante, (launched 26 March 1778 at Lorient) – wrecked 1797.
Résolue, (launched 16 March 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1798.
Gentille, (launched 18 June 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1795.
Amazone, (launched 11 May 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1782 but retaken next day; wrecked 1797.
Prudente, (launched late March 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1779.
Gloire, (launched 9 July 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1795.
Bellone, (launched 2 August 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1798.
Médée, (launched 23 September 1778 at St Malo) – captured by British East Indiamen 1800.

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


1780 - USS Ranger was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy in active service in 1777–1780, captured at Charleston
and USS Queen of France ex "la Brune" Sunk to avoid capture at Charleston

USS Ranger was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy in active service in 1777–1780, the first to bear her name. Built in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, she is famed for the one-ship guerilla campaign waged by her caption, Captain John Paul Jones, against the British during the American Revolution. In six months spent primarily in British waters she captured five prizes, staged a single failed attack on the English mainland at Whitehaven, and sent the Royal Navy seeking to run her down in the Irish Sea.


USS Ranger receiving the salute of the French fleet at Quiberon Bay, France, 14 February 1778.

Jones was detached in Brest, France to take charge of Bonhomme Richard, turning over command of Ranger to his first officer, Lieutenant Thomas Simpson. Under Simpson Ranger went on to capture twenty-four more prizes abroad the Atlantic and along the U.S. coast during 1778 and 1779.
Sent to the South in late 1779 to aid the U.S. garrison at Charleston, South Carolina, during the British siege, she continued her predatory ways until ultimately forced to take station on the Cooper River, and was captured on May 11, 1780 with the fall of the city.
She was brought into the Royal Navy as HMS Halifax. Decommissioned in 1781 in Portsmouth, England, she was sold that year as a merchant ship.


USS Queen of France was a frigate in the Continental Navy. She was named for Marie Antoinette.
Queen of France was an old ship purchased in France in 1777 by American commissioners, Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, and fitted out as a 28-gun frigate. She was in Boston Harbor by December 1778.
In a squadron commanded by Captain John Burroughs Hopkins, Queen of France, commanded by Captain Joseph Olney, departed Boston, Massachusetts 13 March 1779. She cruised along the Atlantic coast as far south as Charleston, South Carolina to destroy small armed vessels operating out of New York to prey upon American shipping. Near dawn 6 April, some 16 miles east of Cape Henry, Virginia, they sighted schooner Hibernia, a 10-gun privateer, and took her after a short chase. At about the same time the next morning, the American warships saw a fleet of 9 sails and pursued them until catching their quarry that afternoon. Ship Jason, mounting 20 guns and carrying 150 men, headed the list of seven prizes that day, including also ship Meriah — carrying 10 six pounders and richly laden with provisions and cavalry equipment — brigs Patriot, Prince Ferdinand, John, and Batchelor, and finally schooner Chance. Hopkins ordered his ships home with their prizes, and Queen of France reached Boston with Maria, Hibernia, and three brigs on the 20th.
While Queen of France was in Boston, Captain John Rathbun relieved Capt. Olney in command of the frigate. She sailed 18 June with Providence and Ranger. She fell in with the British Jamaica Fleet of some 150 ships near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland about the middle of July. In the dense fog, the American warships pretended to be British frigates of the convoy’s escort and, sending boarding parties across by boats, quietly took possession of eleven prizes before slipping away at night. Three of the prizes were later recaptured, but the eight which reached Boston with the squadron late in August were sold for over a million dollars.
Queen of France departed Boston with frigates Providence and Boston, and sloop Ranger, on 23 November and cruised east of Bermuda. They took 12-gun privateer Dolphin on 5 December before arriving Charleston, on the 23rd.
Queen of France was sunk at Charleston to avoid falling into British hands when that city surrendered 11 May 1780.
As of 2012, no other ship has been named Queen of France.

USS Ranger (1777) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

USS Queen of France - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1811 – Recapture of HMS Alban, one of twelve Adonis-class schooners of the Royal Navy, from danish Navy

HMS Alban was one of twelve Adonis-class schooners of the Royal Navy and was launched in 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars. During the Gunboat War she took part in two engagements with Danish gunboats, during the second of which the Danes captured her. The British recaptured her seven months later, but she was wrecked in 1812.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with half stern board ourtline, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for the Lady Hammond (fl.1804), a single-masted Bermudan Sloop, and for building the Adonis Class consisting of Adonis (1806); Alban (1806); Alphea (1806); Bacchus (1806); Barbara (1806), later a two-masted Schooner; Cassandra (1806); Claudia (1806), Laura (1806); Olympia (1806); Sylvia (1806); Vesta (1806); Zenobia (1806), all 10-gun Cutters


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Laura (1806), a 10-gun single-masted Cutter as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard in 1806. Signed Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, later Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831]. Note that the pencil names are of the other ships in the class, and the annotation has been added at a later date

HMS Alban (1806) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-294512;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B


1812 – Launch of HMS Anson was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 11 May 1812 at Hull.

HMS Anson was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 11 May 1812 at Hull.
She was placed on harbour service in 1839, carried 499 male convicts to Hobart in 1844, served the next seven years there as a probation ship for female convicts, and was finally broken up there in 1851.


Scale: 1:48. Contemporary copy of a plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Conquestadore' (1810), 'Armada' (1810), 'Vigo' (1810), 'Cressey' (1810), 'La Hogue' (1811), 'Vindictive' (1813), 'Poictiers' (1809), 'Vengeur' (1810), 'Edinburgh' (1811), 'Dublin' (1812), 'Duncan' (1811), 'Indus' (1812), 'Rodney' (1809), 'Cornwall' (1812), 'Redoutable' (1815), 'Anson' (1812), 'Agincourt' (1817), 'Ajax' (1809), 'America' (1810), 'Barham' (1811), 'Benbow' (1813), 'Berwick' (1809), 'Blenheim' (1813), 'Clarence' (1812), 'Defence' (1815), 'Devonshire' (1812), 'Egmont' (1810), 'Hercules' (1815), 'Medway' (1812), 'Pembroke' (1812), 'Pitt' (1816), 'Russell' (1822), 'Scarborough' (1812), 'Stirling Castle' (1811), 'Wellington' (1816), 'Mulgrave' (1812), 'Gloucester' (1812), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan includes alterations for a rounded bow and circular stern

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Anson_(1812)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vengeur-class_ship_of_the_line
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-291828;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A


1862 – American Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River.

CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship built by the Confederate States Navy during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and engines of the scuttled steam frigate USS Merrimack. Virginia was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads, opposing the Union's USS Monitor in March 1862. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads.



Destruction of CSS Virginia

Destruction of the rebel vessel Merrimac off Craney Island, May 11, 1862, by Currier and Ives

On May 10, 1862, advancing Union troops occupied Norfolk. Since Virginia was now a steam-powered heavy battery and no longer an ocean-going cruiser, her pilots judged her not seaworthy enough to enter the Atlantic, even if she were able to pass the Union blockade. Virginia was also unable to retreat further up the James River due to her deep 22-foot (6.7 m) draft (fully loaded). In an attempt to reduce it, supplies and coal were dumped overboard, even though this exposed the ironclad's unarmored lower hull; this was still not enough to make a difference. Without a home port and no place to go, Virginia's new captain, flag officer Josiah Tattnall, reluctantly ordered her destruction in order to keep the ironclad from being captured. This task fell to Lieutenant Jones, the last man to leave Virginia after her cannon had been safely removed and carried to the Confederate Marine Corps base and fortifications at Drewry's Bluff. Early on the morning of May 11, 1862, off Craney Island, fire and powder trails reached the ironclad's magazine and she was destroyed by a great explosion. What remained of the ship settled to the bottom of the harbor; however, Virginia's thirteen-star Stars and Bars battle ensign was saved from destruction and today resides in the collection of the Chicago History Museum, minus three of its original stars. Only a few remnants of Virginia have been recovered for preservation in museums; reports from the era indicate that her wreck was heavily salvaged following the war.

Monitor was lost on December 31 of the same year, when the vessel was swamped by high waves in a violent storm while under tow by the tug USS Rhode Island off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Sixteen of her 62-member crew were either lost overboard or went down with the ironclad, while many others were saved by lifeboats sent from Rhode Island. Subsequently, in August 1973, the wreckage was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) southeast of Cape Hatteras. Her upside-down turret was raised from beneath her deep, capsized wreck years later with the remains of two of her crew still aboard; they were later buried with full military honors on March 8, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

CSS Virginia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1917 - SS Medjerda – This troopship, traveling from Oran to Port Vendres, with 575 soldiers on board was torpedoed on 11 May 1917 by German submarine SM U-34. There were 344 casualties.

SS MEDJERDA was a British Cargo Steamer of 4,380 tons built in 1924 for F C. La Tunisienne Steamship Co LTD. On the 18th March 1941 when on route from Pepel 07 Mar 1941 for Middlesbrough via Freetown 13 Mar 1941 carrying a cargo of 6,450 tons of iron ore, she was torpedoed by U-105. She broke in two pieces and as she was heavily loaded (6.450 tons of iron ore!), she took only 30 seconds to sink. The master, 2 gunners and 51 crew were lost.




1929 – Launch of USS Northampton (CL/CA-26) was the lead Northampton-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy.

USS Northampton (CL/CA-26) was the lead Northampton-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1930, originally classified a light cruiser because of her thin armor but later reclassified a heavy cruiser because of her 8-inch guns. During World War II she served in the Pacific and was sunk by Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. She was named after the city of Northampton, Massachusetts, the home of former President Calvin Coolidge


USS Northampton (CA-26), starboard beam underway, 23 August 1935.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Northampton_(CA-26)

Northampton-class cruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1955 - Shiun Maru – 11 May 1955. Collided in dense fog her with sister ship Uko Maru in the Seto Inland Sea and sank with the loss of 166 passengers and two crew members.

The Shiun Maru disaster (紫雲丸事故 Shiun Maru Jiko) was a ship collision in Japan on 11 May 1955, during a school field trip, killing 168 people.

The Shiun Maru ferry sank in the Seto Inland Sea after colliding with another Japanese National Railways (JNR) ferry, the Uko Maru, in thick fog. A lack of radar onboard contributed to the accident. The victims included 100 students from elementary and junior high schools in Shimane, Hiroshima, Ehime and Kochi prefectures who were on school trips. The sinking of the Shiun Maru motivated the Japanese government to plan the Great Seto Bridge project, the longest two-tiered bridge system in the world.

Shiun Maru disaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1972 - STV Royston Grange – The British cargo liner was destroyed by fire after a collision with the petroleum tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. There were no survivors from the 72 aboard.

The STV Royston Grange was a British cargo liner which was destroyed by fire after a collision in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. She had been built in 1959 and was owned by the Houlder Line.



Disaster
The 7,113 ton Royston Grange, carrying 61 crew, 12 passengers (including six women and a five-year-old child), and an Argentinian harbour pilot, was bound from Buenos Aires to London with a cargo of chilled and frozen beef and butter. As she traversed the Punta Indio Channel, 35 miles from Montevideo, Uruguay, in dense fog at 5.40 a.m. she collided with the Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee, carrying 20,000 tons of crude oil. The Tien Chee immediately burst into flames and a series of explosions rapidly carried the flames to the Royston Grange, which burned particularly hot due to the cargo of butter and the oil escaping from the Tien Chee. Most of the crew and passengers were asleep. Although the Royston Grange did not sink, every person on board was killed in the fire, most of them probably by carbon monoxide fumes emanating from the refrigeration tanks, which burst in the collision.

The Tien Chee subsequently ran aground, blocking all traffic in and out of the port of Buenos Aires. Eight of her 40 crew, who were mostly Chinese, also died, but the remainder along with the Argentinian pilot managed to abandon ship and were picked up by cutters of the Argentine Naval Prefecture.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STV_Royston_Grange
https://www.asket.co.uk/single-post...-Chee-Collision-May-11th-1972-maritimehistory
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1201461/title/royston-grange/cat/523

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1649 - The naval Battle of Focchies took place on 12 May 1649, during the Cretan War, off Focchies near Smyrna in western Turkey.
A Venetian fleet of 19 ships, under Giacomo Riva, defeated an Ottoman fleet of 11 ships, 10 galleasses (mahons) and 72 galleys.


The naval Battle of Focchies took place on 12 May 1649, during the Cretan War, off Focchies near Smyrna in western Turkey. A Venetian fleet of 19 ships, under Giacomo Riva, defeated an Ottoman fleet of 11 ships, 10 galleasses (mahons) and 72 galleys.

Battle of the combined Venetian and Malta fleets against the Turks, with the Madonna della Vigna on the left. (Abraham straten, 1656

Prelude
A Venetian fleet had been blockading the Dardanelles Straits since about April 1648. On 19 November, most of the fleet withdrew, leaving 13 sailing ships, under Riva. In Spring 1649 he was joined by Bertucci Civrano with seven more, making 19 as he had lost one.

Early in May, the Ottoman fleet appeared from Istanbul. Only two of Riva's ships attacked them, and the Turks made it out of the Strait and headed south. Riva followed and caught them at the port of Focchies, on the mainland. Many of the Venetian ships were hired Dutch or English vessels, and Riva had to promise to compensate their captains for any damage.

Battle
When it became apparent that the Venetians were going to attack, the 10 galleasses covered the entrance to the port, with the galleys further in. One Ottoman sailing ship was captured by Mercante Diletto and Jupiter, one galleass by James (Captain George Scot), which was so damaged it sank ten days later, and one galley was brought off by her own slaves. Nine sailing ships, three galleasses and two galleys were burnt before the wind changed, preventing the fire from spreading to other Ottoman ships and causing the Venetians to withdraw as the burning ships were blown toward them. Three Venetian ships didn't fight: Esperienza which kept out to sea, and Francese and San Bartolamio (Captain Alardi), which were abandoned by their crews. San Bartolamio was recovered by Tre Re but Francese ran ashore and was burnt by the Turks.

The Venetians suffered 105 casualties. The Turks lost nine ships, three galleasses and two galleys burnt, while one of each type was captured.

Order of battle
Venice (Giacomo Riva)
Many were hired English or Dutch vessels

Rotta Fortuna (flag)
Croce Dorata
Tre Re
Mercante Diletto (English Merchant's Delight?)
Principessa (flag 2?)
James (English?/Scottish?) - sank 22 May
San Felippe
Carita (Dutch Lieffde)
Esperienza
Giudizio di Salomon (Dutch Salomons Gerecht)
Madonna della Vigna (Dutch)
Jupiter (Dutch)
Profeta Samuel
Amburgense
Sacrificio d'Abram (Dutch Abrahams Offerand)
Fregata Contarini
Orca Negro
San Bartolamio (French?)
Francese (French?) - abandoned, aground and burnt

Ottoman Empire
11 sailing ships - nine burnt, one captured
10 galleasses - three burnt, one captured
72 galleys - two burnt, one captured

Battle of Focchies - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://fineartamerica.com/featured...-focchies-in-1649-pieter-nolpe-quint-lox.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1704 – Launch of HMS Mary, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard


HMS Mary was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 12 May 1704.





In 1724, Mary fought in battle against the Spanish Catalán.

Orders were issued on 15 December 1736 for Mary to be taken to pieces and rebuilt according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Portsmouth, from where she was relaunched on 5 October 1742, and renamed HMS Princess Mary.

Princess Mary served until 1766, when she was sold out of the navy.


Oleo sobre lienzo expuesto en el Museo Naval de Madrid, en el que se representa el combate del navío de línea "Catalán" contra el HMS Mary


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Princess Mary (1742), a 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Signed by Joseph Allin [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1726-1742]


Scale: 1:48. A block design model of the ‘Princess Mary’ (1742), a 60-gun, two-decker, third rate ship of the line. The name ‘Princess Mary’ appears on the starboard broadside and ‘Princess Mary built at Portsmouth 1737’ is on the stern. Commissioned under the 1733 Establishment, the ‘Princess Mary’ was both larger (at 144 feet by 40 feet) and heavier (at 1060 tons burden) than the 60-gun ships of the 1719 Establishment. The gun arrangement remained at twenty-four 24-pound guns on the gun deck, twenty-six 9-pounders on the upper deck, eight 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 6-pounders on the forecastle. Four hundred men would have served on a ship of this type. The ‘Princess Mary’ was launched in October 1742 to 1733 Establishment specifications, shortly before the ‘60s’ were increased in size and re-classed as ‘fourth rates’ by the 1741 Establishment. Its first service was in the Channel in 1743, and it was in Balchen’s fleet in 1744. It spent nine years in Indian waters from 1746, and then was redeployed to the Jamaica station from 1755–58. The ‘Princess Mary’ was sold in 1766. The ‘Augusta’ (SLR0448) and the ‘Worcester’ (SLR0444) were ships of the same class



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Mary_(1704)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1796 - The Action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy
HMS Phoenix (36), Cptn. Lawrence Halstead, captured Argo (36) in the North Sea


The Action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the previous day from the British North Sea fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, which was cruising off the Batavian fleet anchorage at the Texel, while the Batavian squadron was returning to the Netherlands from the Norwegian coast where it had been sheltering since suffering defeat at the Action of 22 August 1795 the previous year. As the Batavian squadron neared the Batavian coast, the British squadron under Captain Lawrence Halstead attacked.

In his frigate HMS Phoenix, Halstead was able to cut the Batavian frigate Argo off from the shore and bring it to battle, forcing it to surrender in just 20 minutes as other British ships closed with the combat. The remainder of the Batavian squadron had dispersed eastwards away from the frigates and Duncan's fleet, pursued by the frigate HMS Pegasus and brig-sloop HMS Sylph. After a lengthy chase, Phoenix caught the cutter Duke of York, Sylph seized the brig Mercury, while Pegasus succeeded in driving the other brigs, Echo and Gier ashore, where both were believed wrecked. Duncan's blockade of the Texel was instrumental in British control of the North Sea, and a year later it would achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Camperdown.



Background
In February 1793, the French Republic declared war on the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, drawing both into the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars. Less than two years later, in the winter of 1794–1795, the Dutch Republic was overrun by the French Army, French cavalry charging the Dutch Navy across the ice that blocked its winter anchorages, capturing it intact. The French reorganised the country into a client state named the Batavian Republic, and ordered the Dutch Navy to operate in the North Sea against British maritime trade routes. The British government did not immediately declare war on the Batavian Republic, but did take steps to seize Dutch shipping in British ports and established a new fleet to combat Batavian operations in the North Sea. The North Sea Fleet, as it was known, was composed mainly of older and smaller vessels not considered suitable for service in the Channel Fleet, and command of this force was given to the 66–year old Admiral Adam Duncan.

In August 1795, the Batavian Navy sent a frigate squadron to operate against the British trade routes with Scandinavia, which carried large quantities of British naval stores to supply the British fleets. These trade routes passed from the Baltic Sea through the Kattegat and Skaggerak channels and across the North Sea, and the Batavian squadron consequently cruised at the mouth of the Kattegat off the southern coast of neutral Danish controlled Norway. To counteract this Batavian operation, Duncan sent a squadron of British frigates from the North Sea Fleet under the command of Captain James Alms with orders to intercept and destroy the Batavian ships. On 22 August, Alms's force discovered the Batavian squadron close to the Norwegian harbour of Eigerøya. Alms closed with the Batavian force in an attempt to cut it off from land, but was only able to intercept the Batavian frigate Alliante with his ship HMS Stag, compelling the Batavian vessel to surrender in a short engagement. Although the remainder of his squadron exchanged fire with the Batavian ships, damaging the frigate Argo, Alms' force was unable to prevent their escape into Eigerøya.

For the rest of the year, Argo operated from the Norwegian coast, unable to make and significant cruises due to the attention of British warships operating in the region. By May 1796, Duncan's fleet was now actively cruising against the Batavian Navy, commanding a blockade force of nine ships of the line and numerous smaller vessels at sea off the Texel, the principal Batavian fleet anchorage. Duncan also ensured that the blockade of the Batavian vessels in Norwegian ports was maintained, with the 28–gun frigate HMS Pegasus under Captain Ross Donnelly and the brig-sloop HMS Sylph under Commander John Chambers White sent to patrol the waters off Lindesnes. In early May, the Batavian authorities ordered Argo to return to the fleet at the Texel, and the frigate sailed from the Norwegian port of Flekkerøy on 11 May with three Batavian brigs: Echo of 18–guns, Mercury of 16–guns and Gier of 14–guns.

The departure of the Batavian squadron was noticed by Donnelly's small blockade force, which shadowed the Batavian ships as they passed southwards down the coast of Jutland, losing sight of them at 22:00 on 11 May. Donnelly correctly guessed the Batavian force's destination, and ordered Sylph to separate, the two vessels following different courses, instructing White to proceed to Duncan's blockade fleet and meet Donnelly there if he was unable to rediscover the Batavian squadron en route.[6] Pegasus and Sylph encountered one another shortly before 05:00 on 12 May close to Duncan's fleet south of the Texel but without having located the Batavian squadron. Argo and her consorts had sailed close to the Danish and German coasts during the night, seizing in passing a British cutter named Duke of York, travelling from Yarmouth to Hamburg. At dawn on 12 May the Batavian ships were off the Batavian coast sailing southwest towards the Texel anchorage.

Battle
On hearing Donnelly's report, Duncan immediately despatched a small squadron to the mouth of the Texel to wait for the arrival of the Batavian squadron. Command of this squadron was given to Captain Lawrence Halstead in the 36–gun frigate HMS Phoenix, accompanied by Pegasus, Sylph and the 50–gun fourth rate HMS Leopard. The squadron detached at 05:00 and almost immediately the Batavian squadron was sighted to the southeast, heading for the entrance to the Texel, tacking against the northwest wind. Halstead's force was not unified, with Pegasus and Sylph far ahead of Phoenix and Leopard, and the British commander decided to deliberately detach his forces, the faster Pegasus and Sylph pursuing the brigs under Donnelly's command and Halstead's rear force attacking the frigate Argo. Duncan's main fleet, some distance behind Halstead, also sighted the Batavian squadron and joined the chase.

The Batavian captain, finding such a large force bearing down on him, ordered the brigs and cutter to separate from the frigate, turning with the wind in an effort to escape with Donnelly close behind. He also turned Argo away from the pursuing Phoenix, but was unable to decide whether to fight or flee and as a result changed course a number of times. This inevitably slowed his ship, and at 08:15 Phoenix was able to come alongside with the advantage of the weather gage. Halstead fired a shot across the Batavian ship's bow as a warning to surrender to such overwhelming odds, but the Batavian captain refused and opened fire on the British frigate. Although Argo made strenuous efforts to escape during the exchange of fire, Halstead's ship was both more accurate and effective, mounting 36 18-pounder cannon and 8 32-pounder carronades to the Batavian frigate's 12-pounder main battery supplemented with a number of cannon of lower calibres. In just 20 minutes, Phoenix had torn much of Argo's rigging, sails and masts and inflicted heavy casualties of eight killed and 28 wounded. With his ship damaged, Duncan's fleet in sight and Leopard not far behind Phoenix, the Batavian captain surrendered at 08:35, allowing Halstead to take possession of his vessel.

Phoenix was joined soon after the surrender of Argo by the 74–gun ship of the line HMS Powerful under Captain William O'Bryen Drury and together the ships took possession of the frigate while the chase of the remainder of the Batavian squadron continued. At 10:00 two of the brigs turned towards the Batavian coastline to seek shelter and two of the leading British ships, Pegasus and the 50–gun HMS Leander under Captain Maurice Delgarno, turned in chase. Donnelly sought to interpose his ships between the brigs and the coast, but found that this would have slowed his vessels so much that the Batavian brigs would have an opportunity to escape. He therefore maintained pursuit and watched the Batavian ships, Gier and Echo driven ashore at the Batavian village of Bosch. Sailing as close to the shore line as safely possible, Delgarno detached cutters to investigate the state of the grounded ships, determining that one had been damaged beyond repair while the other, having initially grounded, had been driven over the shoal into deeper water on the far side. In his report on the action, Duncan considered that a storm which swept the area on the day following the action probably drove the brig back onto the shoal and destroyed it.

The last survivors of the Batavian squadron were harried along the coast by the faster forces in the British fleet with Sylph overhauling the 16-gun Mercury, forcing it to surrender just before 11:00. The Batavian captain had thrown 14 cannon overboard in an effort to lighten his ship and allow it to escape British pursuit, but without success. Later in the day, Halstead's Phoenix was able to seize the Batavian prize Duke of York, completing the destruction of the entire Batavian squadron.

Aftermath
Halstead brought his prizes back to Britain, where both Argo and Mercury were purchased for service by the Royal Navy as HMS Janus and HMS Hermes respectively as both of the Batavian names were already in use by the Royal Navy. British losses in the engagement were one man killed and three wounded, all suffered on Phoenix during the engagement with Argo. Apart from the losses in that exchange, no other casualties, either British or Batavian were reported. The action was the only significant engagement fought off the Batavian coast during 1796 as Duncan's force kept the main Batavian fleet contained within its anchorage in the Texel. In October 1797 however the main Batavian fleet was able to break out and sail on a raiding cruise towards the English coast. Duncan intercepted the fleet on its return to the Texel and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Batavians on 11 October at the Battle of Camperdown.


HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.


HMS Phoenix in chase of Didon

Duncan took his fleet to intercept the Dutch squadron, sending a squadron the included Phoenix, the 50-gun Leopard, Pegasus, and Sylph, and under the overall command of Halsted, northward of the Texel. The British intercepted the Dutch at 5am on 12 May. Phoenix and Leopard chased Argo, while Pegasus and Sylph made after the brigs. Leopard eventually fell some way behind, and consequently it was Phoenix alone that engaged Argo in the Action of 12 May 1796 at 8am.

After twenty minutes of fighting Halsted forced Argo to strike her colours. Phoenix carried eight 32-pounder carronades in lieu of her lighter guns in the upper works as well as her main battery of twenty-six 18-pounders, and a crew of 271 men and boys. The only damage she sustained was in her rigging and sails, and her only loss was one man killed and three wounded. Argo was armed with 26 long 12-pounders, six long 6-pounders, and four brass 24-pounder carronades, with a crew of 237 men and boys, and thus was substantially outgunned. She lost six men killed and 28 wounded. The third rate Powerful then came up to assist Phoenix in dealing with the prisoners.

Phoenix also captured a cutter, which turned out to be the packet ship Duke of York, which Argo had captured the day before. Duke of York had been sailing from Yarmouth to Hamburg.

Meanwhile Pegasus and Sylph forced two of the brigs aground at Bosch, about 10 leagues east of the Texel; these were the Echo, of 18 guns and the De Grier of 14 guns. One floated off but then grounded and was last seen sending out distress signals.

Pegasus and Sylph then captured the third brig, the 16-gun Mercury. The Royal Navy took both Argo and Mercury into service, Argo became Janus while Mercury became Hermes.


Scale: 1:16. Plan showing a plan view, and side and front elevations of Dodgson's Double Headed pump, as fitted to Janus (1796), a captured Dutch Frigate, fitted as a 32 gun, Fifth Rate Frigate,

Action of 12 May 1796 - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1797 - Mutiny at Nore begins


The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. They were the first outbreaks of a significant increase in maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World. Despite their temporal proximity, the mutinies differed in character: while the Spithead mutiny was essentially a strike action, articulating economic grievances, the Nore mutiny was more radical, articulating political ideals as well.


The Delegates in Council, or beggars on horseback, a contemporaneous caricature.

The mutinies were extremely concerning for Britain, because at the time the country was at war with Revolutionary France, and the Navy was the most significant component of the war effort. There were also concerns among the government that the mutinies might be part of wider attempts at revolutionary sedition instigated by societies such as the London Corresponding Society and the United Irishmen.

The Nore


Richard Parker about to be hanged for mutiny (image from The Newgate Calendar)

Inspired by the example of their comrades at Spithead, the sailors at the Nore (an anchorage in the Thames Estuary) also mutinied, on 12 May 1797, when the crew of Sandwich seized control of the ship. Several other ships in the same location followed this example, though others slipped away and continued to slip away during the mutiny, despite gunfire from the ships that remained (which attempted to use force to hold the mutiny together). The mutineers had been unable to organise easily because the ships were scattered along the Nore (and were not all part of a unified fleet, as at Spithead), but quickly elected delegates for each ship.

Richard Parker was elected "President of the Delegates of the Fleet". According to him, he was nominated and elected without his knowledge. Parker was a former master's mate who was dis-rated and court-martialed in December 1793 and re-enlisted in the Navy as a seaman in early 1797, where he came to serve aboard the brig-sloop Hound. Demands were formulated and on 20 May 1797, a list of eight demands was presented to Admiral Charles Buckner, which mainly involved pardons, increased pay and modification of the Articles of War, eventually expanding to a demand that the King dissolve Parliament and make immediate peace with France. These demands infuriated the Admiralty, which offered nothing except a pardon (and the concessions already made at Spithead) in return for an immediate return to duty.

Captain Sir Erasmus Gower commissioned HMS Neptune (98 guns) in the upper Thames and put together a flotilla of fifty loyal ships to prevent the mutineers moving on the city of London. It was largely fear of this blockade moving down river which made the mutineers reconsider their actions and begin to waver.

The mutineers expanded their initial grievances and blockaded London, preventing merchant vessels from entering the port, and the principals made plans to sail their ships to France, alienating the regular English sailors and losing more and more ships as the mutiny progressed. On 5 June Parker issued an order that merchant ships be allowed to pass the blockade, and only Royal Navy victualling (i.e., supply) ships be detained; the ostensible reason provided in the order was that "the release of the merchant vessels would create a favourable impression on shore", although this decision may actually have been perhaps more due to the complexities involved in such a wide undertaking as interdicting all the merchant traffic on the busy Thames. After the successful resolution of the Spithead mutiny, the government and the Admiralty were not inclined to make further concessions, particularly as they felt some leaders of the Nore mutiny had political aims beyond improving pay and living conditions.

The mutineers were denied food and water, and when Parker hoisted the signal for the ships to sail to France,[contradictory] all of the remaining ships refused to follow.

Meanwhile, Captain Charles Cunningham of HMS Clyde, which was there for a refit, persuaded his crew to return to duty and slipped off to Sheerness. This was seen as a signal to others to do likewise, and eventually, most ships slipped their anchors and deserted (some under fire from the mutineers), and the mutiny failed. Parker was quickly convicted of treason and piracy and hanged from the yardarm of Sandwich, the vessel where the mutiny had started. In the reprisals which followed, 29 were hanged, 29 were imprisoned, and nine were flogged, while others were sentenced to transportation to Australia. One such was surgeon's mate William Redfern who became a respected surgeon and landowner in New South Wales. The majority of men involved in the mutiny were not punished at all, which was lenient by the standards of the time.

After the Nore mutiny, Royal Navy vessels no longer rang five bells in the last dog watch, as that had been the signal to begin the mutiny.

Mutinies and discontent following
In September 1797, the crew of Hermione mutinied in the West Indies, killing almost all the officers in revenge for a number of grievances including the throwing into the sea of the bodies of three men who had been killed in falling from the rigging in a desperate scramble to avoid flogging for being last man down on deck.[17]The Hermione was taken by the crew to the Spanish port of La Guaira.

On 27 December, the crew of Marie Antoinette murdered their officers and took their ship into a French port in the West Indies.

Other mutinies took place off the coast of Ireland and at the Cape of Good Hope and spread to the fleet under Admiral Jervis off the coast of Spain.

In the years following Spithead and the Nore, there was a significant increase in mutinies among European navies and merchant companies, approximately 50%. Scholars have linked it to the radical political ideologies developing in the transnational space of the Atlantic World, as well as to the development of working class consciousness among sailors. Both explanations have been the subject of extensive academic investigation. Political analyses often emphasize the radical discourse and conduct of the Nore mutineers as evidence of their ideological motivation. Class analyses often emphasize the discipline and solely economic grievances of the Spithead mutineers as pointing to "class solidarity". Recent attempts have been made to unify these approaches under a framework of masculine identity, arguing that different interpretations of what it meant to be a man to the sailors were the cause of the political/ideological/economic differences between the two mutinies


Richard Parker, as the caption states, was the leader of the naval mutiny at the Nore in May and June 1797. Following swiftly on from the major, and seemingly entirely unanticipated, mutiny of the fleet at Spithead, the Nore mutiny presented a potentially disastrous crisis to the government at a very difficult time in the war against France. The anxiety was compounded by the widespread belief that the mutiny was caused by radical democratic and republican lower-deck elements in the Navy. Certainly, due to the increasing demand for manpower, a greater proportion of unskilled landsmen, Irishmen and potential radicals had been absorbed into the lower deck, and some of the sailors were members of the Corresponding Societies. The use of methods such as the ‘round-robin’ petition also indicated the mutineers’ familiarity and presumably sympathy with methods adopted by American and French revolutionaries. However, it is unclear to what extent such political sympathies extended through the lower-deck population: the grievances of the majority were directed principally against poor pay and conditions. The crisis was averted when, after lengthy negotiations, the first ships broke away from the mutiny on 9 June, after which its leaders rapidly capitulated. Parker was court-martialled and hanged on his ship, the ‘Sandwich’, on 30 June, ‘for having been the Principal in a most daring Mutiny on board several of his Majesty’s Ships at the Nore, & which created a dreadful alarm through the whole Nation’. The political message of this print is underscored by the fact that Parker is shown twice, heroically posed in dress reminiscent of French Revolutionary style in the foreground, but pointing with his sword to a hanged body (presumably his own) on the yardarm behind, as a warning to other possible lower-deck subversives. The print can therefore be regarded a visual equivalent of the, often repentant, gallows speeches rushed out in popular editions at this time after the public executions of notorious criminal

Spithead and Nore mutinies - Wikipedia

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