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

[Uwek]

19 June 1864

The Battle of Cherbourg, or sometimes the Battle off Cherbourg or the Sinking of CSS Alabama, was a single-ship action fought during the American Civil War between a United States Navy warship, the USS Kearsarge, and a Confederate States Navy warship, the CSS Alabama, on June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France.

Background
After five successful commerce raiding missions in the Atlantic Ocean, CSS Alabama turned into Cherbourg Harbor on June 11, 1864. The Confederate States sloop-of-war was commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, formerly of CSS Sumter. It was Captain Semmes' intention to drydock his ship and receive repairs at the French port. The Confederate Navy vessel was crewed by about 170 men and armed with six 32-pound (15 kg) cannons, mounted broadside, three guns per side, and two heavy pivot guns, mounted on the centerline and able to fire to either side: one 8-inch, 110-pounder (50 kg) rifled gun and one 7-inch, 68-pound (31 kg) smoothbore gun. Alabama had been pursued for two years by the screw sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge, under Captain John Winslow. Kearsarge was armed with two 11-inch (280 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns which fired approximately 166 pounds of solid shot, four 32-pound guns and one 30-pounder Parrott rifle. She was manned by around 150 sailors and officers.


Painting of CSS Alabama


Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama's commanding officer, standing aft of the mainsail by his ship's aft 8-inch smooth bore gun during her visit to Cape Town in August 1863. His executive officer, First Lieutenant John M. Kell, is in the background, standing by the ship's wheel.

Kearsarge had a form of makeshift armor-clading, medium-weight chain cable triced in tiers along her port and starboard midsections, basically acting as the equivalent of chain mail for vulnerable sections of her hull, where shot could potentially penetrate and hit her boilers or steam engine. This armor protection potentially gave the Union warship a definitive advantage over the Confederate raider; however, the armor was only capable of stopping shots from Alabama's lighter 32-pound balls; either of her heavier guns could easily penetrate such light-weight protection. In the event, it was a moot point, as Alabama only managed to score two hits in this area, both of which were well above the waterline and the vulnerable engineering areas, and would have done little lasting damage even if they had successfully penetrated the hull. On June 14, Kearsargefinally caught up with Alabama as she was receiving repairs. Kearsarge did not attack, as Alabama was in a neutral port; instead, she waited, initiating a blockade of CSS Alabama in Cherbourg. Union Captain Winslow telegraphed USS St. Louis to request her assistance, but the fighting began before she could arrive. Confederate Captain Semmes used the time to drill his men for the coming battle. On June 19, CSS Alabama, with nowhere else to go, ran up the Stars and Bars and exited the harbor to attack Kearsarge. She was escorted by the French Navy ironclad Couronne, whose mission was to ensure that the ensuing battle occurred outside the French harbor.


USS Kearsarge in harbour


The deck of Kearsarge after her engagement with CSS Alabama

The Battle


Battle of the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama (1887 lithograph).

Men aboard USS Kearsarge spotted the incoming Confederate raider, so they turned their ship around to take the impending battle out of French territorial waters. Once out, Kearsarge turned about again, hoisted the United States Navy Jack, and lined up for a broadside. Captain Winslow ordered his gunners to hold their fire until the range closed. CSS Alabama fired the first shots. They are not known to have hit. Eventually Kearsarge was under way, and the range closed to within 1,000 yards (900 m) when she fired her first shot. The two warships maneuvered on opposite courses throughout the battle. Kearsarge and Alabama made seven spiraling circles around each others, moving southwest in a 3-knot current. Both Captain Semmes and Captain Winslow attempted to cross each other's bow, hoping to inflict heavy raking fire. The battle continued in this manner for several minutes; in the meantime, on the French coast, hundreds watched the battle. Kearsarge's armor cladding sustained two hits during the engagement.

The first shell, a 32-pounder, struck within the starboard gangway. The shot cut part of the chain armor and dented the wooden planking underneath. The second shot was again a 32-pounder that exploded and broke a link of the chain. Both hits struck the chain five feet above the waterline and therefore did not threaten the boilers or machinery. The gunnery of USS Kearsarge was reportedly more accurate than that of the Confederates; she fired slowly with well-aimed shots, while Alabama fired rapidly. CSS Alabama fired a total of over 370 rounds during the fighting; it is not known how many Kearsarge fired, but it is known that she fired much less than the Confederates did. Eventually, after just over an hour of exchanging artillery fire, Alabama had received shot-holes beneath the waterline from Kearsarge's Dahlgren guns and began to sink. Captain Semmes struck the Confederate colors, but still Kearsarge continued firing until a white flag was seen, raised by one of the Confederate sailors with his hand. The battle was over, so Captain Semmes sent his remaining dinghy to Captain Winslow, to ask for aid.

During the battle, over forty Confederate sailors were killed in action or drowned. Another seventy or so were picked up by Kearsarge. Thirty or so were rescued by Deerhound, a British yacht, which Captain Winslow asked to help evacuate Alabama's crew, and three French pilot boats. Captain Semmes and fourteen of his officers were among the sailors rescued by Deerhound. Instead of delivering the captured Confederates to Kearsarge, Deerhound set a course for Southampton, thus enabling Captain Semmes' escape. This act severely angered Kearsarge's crew, who begged their captain to allow them to open fire on the British yacht. Captain Winslow would not allow this, so the Confederates got away and avoided imprisonment. Three men were wounded aboard the United States' vessel, one of whom died the following day.


The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama is an 1864 oil painting by Édouard Manet. The painting commemorates the Battle of Cherbourg of 1864, a naval engagement between the Union cruiser USS Kearsargeand the Confederate raider CSS Alabama. Many spectators were able to see the battle from the coast of France and saw that the USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama. Not having witnessed the battle himself, Manet relied on press descriptions of the fight to document his work. Within one month of this battle, Manet had already completed this painting and got it on display in the print shop of Alfred Cadart in Paris.
In 1872, Barbey d'Aurevilly stated that the painting was a "magnificiant marine painting" and that "the sea ... is more frightening than the battle". It was hung at Alfred Cadart's and was praised by the critic Philippe Burty.
The painting was acquired by the French art collecter Marguerite Charpentier in 1878 and is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


Wreck of Alabama

In November 1984, the French minesweeper Circé located the wreck of Alabama at a depth of 60 metres, a little under 10 kilometres north of the western approaches of Cherbourg roads (49°45′9″N 01°41′42″W). Captain Max Guerout later confirmed that the wreck was that of Alabama.

In 1988, a nonprofit organisation named the CSS Alabama Association was created to conduct a scientific survey of the wreck. Although it now lies in French territorial waters, the U.S. government claimed possession of it on the grounds that Alabama had struck to Kearsarge and that the location had not been within French territorial waters at the time of the battle. On 3 October 1989, France and the United States signed an agreement recognising the wreck as a common historic heritage for both nations and established a joint scientific team for its exploration.



On 23 March 1995, the CSS Alabama Association and the Naval History & Heritage Command signed an agreement to accredit the association for the archeological survey of Alabama. In 2002, over 300 samples were recovered, including the ship's bell, guns, part of the ship's structure, furniture, and tableware. In 2004, a human jaw was found under a gun and was subsequently buried in Mobile, Alabama.

Secrets of the CSS Alabama Battleship (DOCUMENTARY)

C-SPAN Cities Tour - Mobile: Confederate Navy Captain Raphael Semmes


http://donhollway.com/alabama-kearsarge/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cherbourg_(1864)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Alabama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(1861)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Kearsarge_and_the_Alabama
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-gun-that-sank-the-css-alabama.116029/page-2
http://www.usnavymuseums.org/virtual-ship-tour-css-alabama/

Edit:
You can find a detailed Book Review of Andrew Bowcock´s book CSS Alabama - Anatomy of a Confederate Raider here on SOS via the following link:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...-a-confederate-raider-by-andrew-bowcock.2136/

 

[Uwek]

Other events at 19 June

1815 - The Battle off Cape Palos was the last battle of the Second Barbary War. The battle began when an American squadron under Stephen Decatur attacked and captured an Algerine brig.

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


1816 – Birth of William H.Webb

William Henry Webb (19 June 1816 – 30 October 1899) was a 19th-century New York shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect.

Webb inherited his father's shipyard, Webb & Allen, in 1840, renamed it William H. Webb, and turned it into America's most prolific shipyard, building 133 vessels between 1840 and 1865. Webb designed some of the fastest and most successful sailing packets and clipper ships ever built, and he also built some of the largest and most celebrated steamboats and steamships of his era, including the giant ironclad USS Dunderberg, in its day the world's longest wooden-hulled ship.
After the American Civil War, the U.S. shipbuilding industry experienced a prolonged slump, and Webb, having already made a considerable fortune, decided to close his shipyard and turn his energies toward philanthropic goals. He chaired an anti-corruption council, became a founding member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and established the Webb Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, which today is known as the Webb Institute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Webb


1915 – Launch of USS Arizona (BB-39)


Arizona (BB39) port bow, before being modernized at Norfolk Naval Shipyard between May 1929 and January 1930

USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania-class battleship built for and by the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state's recent admission into the union, the ship was the second and last of the Pennsylvania class of "super-dreadnought" battleships. Although commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside during World War I. Shortly after the end of the war, Arizona was one of a number of American ships that briefly escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference. The ship was sent to Turkey in 1919 at the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War to represent American interests for several months. Several years later, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and remained there for the rest of her career.


Arizona on the East River, New York City (1916)

Aside from a comprehensive modernization in 1929–1931, Arizona was regularly used for training exercises between the wars, including the annual Fleet Problems (training exercises). When an earthquake struck Long Beach, California, on 10 March 1933, the Arizona's crew provided aid to the survivors. In July 1934, the ship was featured in a Jimmy Cagney film, Here Comes the Navy, about the romantic troubles of a sailor. In April 1940, she and the rest of the Pacific Fleet were transferred from California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a deterrent to Japanese imperialism.

During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Arizona was bombed. After a bomb detonated in a powder magazine, the battleship exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, straddles the ship's hull.


Arizona burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_(BB-39)



1944 - The largest aircraft carrier action in World War II, the Battle of the Philippine Sea begins as Task Force 58 shoots down hundreds of enemy aircraft in what becomes known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot.


USS Bunker Hill is nearly hit by a Japanese bomb during the air attacks of June 19, 1944.


Map of Battle of the Philippine Sea

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

 

[Uwek]

20 June 1631

The Sack of Baltimore took place on June 20, 1631, when the village of Baltimore, West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by the Ottoman Algeria and Republic of Salé slavers from the Barbary Coast of North Africa – Moroccans, Dutchmen, Algerians and Ottoman Turks. The attack was the largest by Barbary pirates on either Ireland or Great Britain.

The attack was led by a Dutch pirate, Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, also known as Murad Reis the Younger. (He "turned Turk" after being captured by a Moorish state in 1618. He began serving as a Barbary pirate, one of the most famous of the 17th-century "Salé Rovers".)


Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, first President and Grand Admiral of Corsair Republic of Sale
Also Known As:
"Murat Reis The Younger", "Jan Jansen", "Jan Jansz", "Morat Rais", "Murat Rais", "Morat", "Little John Ward", "John Barber", "Captain John", "Caid Morato", ""The Hairdresser"", ""Morato Reys", "Moerat Reys de jongere", "Murat Raïs", "Morat reys""

Having sailed for two months and with little to show for the voyage, Janszoon turned to a captive taken on the voyage, a Roman Catholic named John Hackett, for information on where a profitable raid could be made. The Protestant residents of Baltimore, a small town in West Cork, Ireland, were resented by the Roman Catholic native Irish because they were settled on lands confiscated from the O'Driscoll clan. Hackett directed Janszoon to this town and away from his own. Janszoon sacked Baltimore on June 20, 1631, seizing little property but taking 108 captives, whom he sold as slaves in North Africa. Janszoon was said to have released the Irish, and taken only English captives. Shortly after the sack, Hackett was arrested and hanged for his crime. "Here was not a single Christian who was not weeping and who was not full of sadness at the sight of so many honest maidens and so many good women abandoned to the brutality of these barbarians". Only two of the villagers ever returned to their homeland.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Baltimore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Janszoon

 

[Uwek]

20 June 1781 – (some sources stating the 19th, but most the 20th June)

HMS Castor (32) and HMS Crescent (28), badly damaged from a previous engagement at 30th May weren taken by French Gloire (40) and Friponne (36).

Following the action on 30th May the three ships (HMS Crescent, HMS Castor, HMS Flora) repaired their injuries as well as they could, and stood away for England. On June 19th, however, while the HMS Flora was chasing a privateer, a squall suddenly cleared and revealed to her two French frigates, which at once gave chase. The battered appearance of the three British vessels doubtless encouraged the French to confront such formidable odds. Captain Williams did not think it safe to risk an action after the heavy losses he had sustained. He had not much more than three hundred unwounded people to work and fight three ships requiring crews of seven hundred men. The three parted company and steered different courses. The HMS Castor (Amazon class) was overtaken by the La Friponne, 32-guns, and with only seventy-five British seamen on board, nearly all of whom were at the pumps or working the ship, struck at the first shot. The HMS Crescent had only five men to each gun on her broadside, and but nine Marines to act as a small-arms' party. She offered some resistance, but she, too, had quickly to strike.
HMS Flora alone succeeded in escaping.




The capture of the Castor

Additional Info about Action at the 30th May:
The British frigates HMS Flora, 36, Captain William Peere Williams, and HMS Crescent, 28-gun Enterprise class firgate, Captain the Hon. Thomas Pakenham, had been detached by Admiral Darby with a convoy to Minorca. their return, early on May 23rd, when off the south-east coast of Spain, they were chased by a Spanish squadron, and only escaped after a sharp skirmish, in which the Flora lost a man killed and another badly injured, through loading a gun before it had been sponged out. The British frigates, having shaken off their pursuers by altering course, reached Gibraltar safely on the 29th. After communicating with the garrison, they stood over to Ceuta to look for two large ships which had been seen earlier in the morning. They discovered these to be Dutch frigates, and were preparing to attack when a storm compelled them to haul off. Next day the wind fell and they were able to attack the two Dutch vessels, which were the Castor, 36, Captain Pieter Melvill, 1 and the Briel, Captain Gerardus Oorthuijs, also of 36 guns. The ships paired off, the Flora engaging the Castor, and the Crescent the Briel.

The Flora was very much more heavily armed than the Castor, 2 but the Dutchman fought her, none the less, for two hours and a quarter before striking. The Flora lost her Lieutenant of Marines killed, as also did the Castor; of the British wounded eight, and of the Dutch eleven, died after the battle.

The Crescent, a far smaller and weaker ship, was less fortunate in her combat with the Briel, a vessel of equal if not superior force The quarter-deck guns and four main-deck guns were disabled; the head-yards and sails were shot away early in the engagement; and a little later the wreck of the mainmast, mizenmast, and booms fell into the waist of the ship, fatally encumbering her deck, disabling all the guns before the mainmast, and rendering the ship unmanageable. The Briel was to windward and could not be boarded by the Crescent, and the Dutch frigate at once made use of her advantage and came round under the Crescent's stern, whence she began to rake the British ship. Captain Pakenham, as not a gun would bear, and not a yard of canvas was left standing on his frigate, was compelled to strike. The Dutch were not able to take possession, since by that time the victorious Flora was approaching. The Briel, therefore, made off to Cadiz in a very shattered condition, and though her mainmast fell, succeeded in reaching that port.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Crescent_(1779)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carysfort_(1766)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Castor_(1785)

 

[Uwek]

20 June 1783

The Battle of Cuddalore was a naval battle between a British fleet, under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes with Admiral L.J. Weiland, and a smaller French fleet, under the Bailli de Suffren, off the coast of India during the Anglo-French War. This war sparked the Second Mysore War in India. In the battle, taking place near Cuddalore on 20 June 1783, Suffren commanded the engagement from the frigate Cléopâtre and won what is generally considered a victory.[2] Peace had already been agreed upon in Europe, but that news had yet to reach India, making this the final battle of the war. On the death of French ally Hyder Ali, the British decided to retake Cuddalore. They marched troops from Madras, and began preparing for a siege. The French fleet, under Suffren, appeared at Cuddalore on 13 June. A week of fickle winds prevented either side from engaging until 20 June, when Suffren attacked. No ships were seriously damaged, but each side lost about 100 men with around 400 wounded. The British fleet retreated to Madras after the action, preventing the landing of transports carrying additional troops en route to Cuddalore to reinforce the siege. A sortie from the town weakened the British forces, which were likely to have raised the siege when word of peace officially arrived at Cuddalore on 29 June.


The battle lines of the British (right) and the French (left), with Suffren's flagship Cléopâtre on the far left, by Auguste Jugelet, 1836.

Background
Following the December 1782 death of French ally Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore and previous controller of Cuddalore, British commanders at Madras decided to attempt the recapture of Cuddalore. The army marched south from Madras, circling around the city then encamping south of it. The British fleet, eighteen ships of the line under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, anchored to the south of Cuddalore in order to protect the army and its supply ships. By early June 1783, the Siege of Cuddalore was under way.


Vice-Admiral Suffren

French Admiral Bailli de Suffren was ordered on 10 June to sail with his smaller fleet of fifteen ships from Trincomalee to support the besieged city. When he arrived, Hughes, who sought to avoid battle, moved away from the city and again anchored. After five days of adverse winds, Suffren was able to anchor near the city, where he made contact with the city's commander, Sayed Sahib of Mysore. Since it appeared that the success of the siege would be decided by naval action, 1,200 troops were embarked onto Suffren's ships to increase his gunnery complement. His fleet weighed anchor on 18 June, and the two fleets began maneuvering for advantage.

Battle
Both fleets were at first frustrated by light and variable winds. When a consistent west wind developed on 20 June, Hughes lined-up for battle on a northward-trending port tack and awaited Suffren's action. Lining-up in a similar formation, Suffren gave to the order to attack, and battle was engaged shortly after four in the afternoon. The action lasted about three hours resulting in no major damage to ships in either fleet, despite all ships being engaged.

Britain fleet:
Superb, 74, Gibraltar, 80, Cumberland, 74, Defence, 74, Hero, 74, Sultan, 74, Burford, 70, Monarca, 70, Africa, 64, Eagle, 64, Exeter, 64, Inflexible, 64, Magnanime, 64, Monmouth, 64, Sceptre, 64, Worcester, 64, Bristol, 50, Isis, 50

French Fleet:
Héros, 74, Annibal, 74, Argonaute, 74, Fendant, 74, Illustre, 74, Artésien, 64, Ajax, 64, Brillant, 64, Hardi, 64, Sévère, 64, Sphinx, 64, Vengeur, 64, Saint Michel, 60, Flamand, 50, Hannibal, 50


Aftermath
Suffren's fleet anchored about 25 nautical miles north of Cuddalore after the battle, while Hughes anchored near the city. On 22 June, Hughes sighted the French fleet while he was en route to Madras; a number of his ships had been disabled, and he reported that many men were suffering from scurvy and that he was short of water.

Suffren returned to Cuddalore on 23 June, forcing the British supply fleet to withdraw. In addition to returning the 1,200 troops he had borrowed from the city's garrison, he landed an additional 2,400 men to support the defense. A sortie from the city was repelled but weakened the besieging British, and on 29 June a British ship flying under a truce flag brought news of a preliminary peace agreement between the two nations, resulting in a mutually-agreed suspension of hostilities on 2 July.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cuddalore_(1783)
https://morethannelson.com/battle-trincomale-20-june-1783/

 

[Uwek]

20 June 1819

The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.



After leaving Savannah Harbor on May 22 and lingering at Tybee Lighthouse for several hours, Savannah commenced her historic voyage at 5 a.m. on Monday May 24, under both steam and sail bound for Liverpool, England. At around 8 a.m. the same day, the paddlewheels were stowed for the first time and the ship proceeded under sail. Several days later, on May 29, the schooner Contract spied a vessel "with volumes of smoke issuing", and assuming it was a ship on fire, pursued it for several hours but was unable to catch up. Contract's skipper eventually concluded the smoking vessel must be a steamboat crossing for Europe, exciting his admiration as "a proud monument of Yankee skill and enterprise".



On June 2, Savannah, sailing at a speed of 9 or 10 knots, passed the sailing ship Pluto. After being informed by Captain Rogers that his novel vessel was functioning "remarkably well", the crew of Pluto gave Savannah three cheers, as "the happiest effort of mechanical genius that ever sailed the western sea." Savannah's next recorded encounter was not until June 19, off the coast of Ireland with the cutter HMS Kite, which made the same mistake as Contract three weeks earlier and chased the steamship for several hours believing it to be a sailing vessel on fire. Unable to catch the ship, Kite eventually fired several warning shots, and Captain Rogers brought his vessel to a halt, whereupon Kite caught up and its commander asked permission to inspect the ship. Permission was granted, and the British sailors are said to have been "much gratified" by the satisfaction of their curiosity.

On June 18, Savannah was becalmed off Cork after running out of fuel for her engine, but by June 20, the ship had made her way to Liverpool. Hundreds of boats came out to greet the unusual vessel.

On approaching the city, Savannah was cheered by crowds thronging the piers and the roofs of houses. The ship made anchor at 6 p.m. The voyage had lasted 29 days and 11 hours, during which time the vessel had employed her engine for a total of 80 hours.



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

A very good read from the Gutenberg-page for free download:
The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model by Howard Irving Chapelle

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25544

 

[Uwek]

21 June 1841

HMS Trafalgar was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 June 1841 at Woolwich Dockyard. HMS Trafalgar was the last ship to complete the successful Caledonia class. Nevertheless it took 12 years from laying down to the launch.


The Queen at the Launch of Trafalgar, 1841, (1900). Queen Victoria launches HMS 'Trafalgar', a warship of 120 guns, at Woolwich, 21 June 1841. Illustration from The life and times of Queen Victoria by Robert Wilson, (1900).

The ship was named by Lady Bridport, niece of Lord Nelson at the request of Queen Victoria, who with Prince Albert also attended the launch. The wine used was some kept from HMS Victory after returning from Trafalgar. Five hundred people were on board the ship at the time of its launch, of whom 100 had been at Trafalgar. It was estimated 500,000 people came to watch the event and the Thames was covered for miles with all manner of boats. The launch was the subject of the most notable work by Woolwich-based artist William Ranwell.



Hand-coloured. The Royal Dockyard at Woolwich was an important centre for naval shipbuilding from the reign of Henry VIII until its closure in 1869. Ship launches were a popular public spectacle and attracted large crowds. The 120 gun first rate 'Trafalgar' was launched at Woolwich Royal Dockyard in June 1841. She had a displacement of 2694 tons and during the Crimean War took part in the bombardment of Sebastopol in 1854.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/102918.html#pmxuRr6cpYJLDEZj.99

HMS Trafalgar was fitted with screw propulsion in 1859. In 1854 she was present at the bombardment of Sevastopol.
She had been cut down from a three-decker to a two-decker in 1859. HMS ‘Trafalgar’ appears to have had a bust of Nelson wearing a hat when first launched as a three decker (cf. PAH0913) that may have been changed to a bust without a hat when she was cut down. As training ship at Portland, she was renamed HMS 'Boscawen' in 1873, and finally sold out of the service in 1906.


H.M.S. Trafalgar 120 Guns. Malta Harbour (PAH0913)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140860.html#4OUZwdBWlRHieoiU.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trafalgar_(1841)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-355039;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=44

 

[Uwek]

21 June 1900 – Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departed Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.

On June 21, 1900, Zarya left Saint Petersburg with a crew of 20. N. N. Kolomeitsev was the commander of the ship. On July 24 she arrived at the harbour of Alexandrovsk on Murman (today Polyarny) and then continued toward the Kara Sea. The Zarya made her first wintering trapped in the ice of a bay that Toll named after Colin Archer shipyard (Bukhta Kolin Archera) near Taymyr Island. The scientists spent 11 months researching the Nordenskiöld Archipelago and the Taymyr Peninsula coast. In the spring Kolomeitsev was sent on a long sledge trip by expedition leader Eduard Toll, and at this point second-in-command, Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen became the captain for the remaining part of the expedition. Member of the expedition was Aleksandr Kolchak.




In August 1901 the ship headed across the Laptev Sea towards the New Siberian Islands, searching for the legendary Sannikov Land (Zemlya Sannikova), but was soon blocked by floating pack ice. During 1902 the attempts to reach Sannikov Land continued while Zarya was trapped in fast ice. Leaving the ship, Baron Toll and three companions went in search of the elusive land, one of the main objects of the expedition. They vanished in November 1902 while travelling away from Bennett Island towards the south on loose ice floes.


Expedition members aboard Zarya. Top row, third from left: Kolchak.
Second row: Kolomeitsev, Matisen, Toll, Walter, Seeberg and Byalynitsky-Birulya



Due to severe ice conditions the expedition had to spend two winters in the region of the bleak New Siberian Archipelago. In the end, Eduard von Toll traveled to Bennett Island by sledge and kayak along with three expedition members.

The ship "Zarya" attempted to reach Bennett Island to evacuate Toll's party but was unable to do so because of severe ice conditions. Apparently, Toll made a decision to go south to the continent; no further traces of the four men have ever been found.


Routes of expeditions by Toll (1901) and Kolchak (1903)

Badly beaten by the ice, and beyond any hope of repair, Zarya was finally moored east of the delta of the river Lena, in the Bay of Tiksi on the lee side of Brusneva Island, never to leave the place again. Instead of the Russian flag, she flew the flag of the Neva Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in Russia, until she was stripped of all equipment and her hull was allowed to fill with water. Captain Matisen returned to Yakutsk and the remaining members of the expedition left for Saint Petersburg.



Two search parties set out in the spring of 1903. One of them, under engineer Mikhail Brusnev, searched the shores of the New Siberian Islands; the other, under naval commander Aleksandr Kolchak traveled by whaleboat to Bennett Island. They did not find the lost explorers but they found the diaries and the collections of the Zarya expedition, which shed light on the tragic fate of Baron Eduard von Toll and of his companions.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarya_(polar_ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_polar_expedition_of_1900–02
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Toll

 

[Uwek]

21 June 1919

The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the First World War. The High Seas Fleet was interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships. Fearing that all of the ships would be seized and divided amongst the allied powers, the German commander, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, decided to scuttle the fleet.


SMS Bayern sinking by the stern. SMS Baden can be seen at the far left

The scuttling was carried out on 21 June 1919. Intervening British guard ships were able to beach a number of the ships, but 52 of the 74 interned vessels sank. Many of the wrecks were salvaged over the next two decades and were towed away for scrapping. Those that remain are popular diving sites.


Background
The signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, at Compiègne, France, effectively ended the First World War. The Allied powers agreed that Germany's U-boat fleet should be surrendered without the possibility of return, but were unable to agree upon a course of action regarding the German surface fleet. The Americans suggested that the ships be interned in a neutral port until a final decision was reached, but the two countries that were approached – Norway and Spain – both refused. Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss suggested that the fleet be interned at Scapa Flow with a skeleton crew of German sailors, and guarded in the interim by the Grand Fleet.

The terms were transmitted to Germany on 12 November 1918, instructing them to make the High Seas Fleet ready to sail by 18 November, or the Allies would occupy Helgoland.

On the night of 15 November, Rear-Admiral Hugo Meurer, the representative of Admiral Franz von Hipper, met Admiral David Beatty aboard Beatty's flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth. Beatty presented Meurer with the terms, which were expanded at a second meeting the following day. The U-boats were to surrender to Rear-Admiral Reginald Tyrwhitt at Harwich, under the supervision of the Harwich Force. The surface fleet was to sail to the Firth of Forth and surrender to Beatty. They would then be led to Scapa Flow and interned, pending the outcome of the peace negotiations. Meurer asked for an extension to the deadline, aware that the sailors were still in a mutinous mood (which earlier led to the Wilhelmshaven mutiny), and that the officers might have difficulty in getting them to obey orders. Meurer eventually signed the terms after midnight.

he first craft to be surrendered were the U-boats, which began to arrive at Harwich on 20 November 1918; 176 were eventually handed over. Hipper refused to lead his fleet to the surrender, delegating the task to Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. The German fleet was met by the light cruiser Cardiff on the morning of 21 November, and led to the rendezvous with over 370 ships of the Grand Fleet and other allied navies. There were 70 German ships in total; the battleship König and the light cruiser Dresden had engine trouble and had to be left behind. The destroyer V30 struck a mine while crossing, and sank.


Map of the fleet's internment at Scapa Flow from 25 March 1919. Only the locations of battleships, cruisers, and five torpedo boats are shown.

The German ships were escorted into the Firth of Forth, where they anchored. Beatty signalled them:

The German flag will be hauled down at sunset today and will not be hoisted again without permission.


The fleet in Scapa Flow. November 1918

The fleet was then moved between 25 and 27 November to Scapa Flow; the destroyers to Gutter Sound and the battleships and cruisers to the north and west of the island of Cava. Eventually, a total of 74 ships were interned there, König and Dresden having arrived on 6 December accompanied by the destroyer V129, which replaced the sunken V30. The last ship to arrive was the battleship Baden on 9 January 1919.

The fleet is scuttled
Around 10:00 a.m. on 21 June 1919, von Reuter sent a flag signal ordering the fleet to stand by for the signal to scuttle. At about 11:20 the flag signal was sent: "To all Commanding Officers and the Leader of the Torpedo Boats. Paragraph Eleven of to-day's date. Acknowledge. Chief of the Interned Squadron." The signal was repeated by semaphore and searchlights. Scuttling began immediately: seacocks and flood valves were opened and internal water pipes smashed. Portholes had already been loosened, watertight doors and condenser covers left open, and in some ships holes had been bored through bulkheads, all to facilitate the spread of water once scuttling began. One German ship commander recorded that prior to 21 June, seacocks had been set on a hair turning and heavily lubricated, while large hammers had been placed besides valves.


Only the upper works of SMS Hindenburg remained above the water.

There was no noticeable effect until noon, when Friedrich der Grosse began to list heavily to starboard and all the ships hoisted the Imperial German Ensign at their mainmasts. The crews then began to abandon ship. The British naval forces left at Scapa Flow comprised three destroyers, one of which was under repair, seven trawlers and a number of drifters. Fremantle started receiving news of the scuttling at 12:20 and cancelled his squadron's exercise at 12:35, steaming at full speed back to Scapa Flow. He and a division of ships arrived at 14:30 in time to see only the large ships still afloat. He had radioed ahead to order all available craft to prevent the German ships sinking or beach them. The last German ship to sink was the battlecruiser Hindenburg at 17:00, by which time fifteen capital ships were sunk, and only Baden survived. Four light cruisers and thirty-two destroyers were sunk. Nine Germans were shot and killed and about sixteen wounded aboard their lifeboats rowing towards land.

During the afternoon, 1,774 Germans were picked up and transported by battleships of the First Battle Squadron to Invergordon. Fremantle had sent out a general order declaring that the Germans were to be treated as prisoners-of-war for having broken the armistice and they were destined for the prisoner-of-war camps at Nigg. Von Reuter and a number of his officers were brought onto the quarterdeck of HMS Revenge, where Fremantle – through an interpreter – denounced their actions as dishonourable while von Reuter and his men looked on "with expressionless faces."[30] Admiral Fremantle subsequently remarked privately, "I could not resist feeling some sympathy for von Reuter, who had preserved his dignity when placed against his will in a highly unpleasant and invidious position.

Of the 74 German ships in Scapa Flow, 15 of the 16 capital ships, 5 of the 8 cruisers, and 32 of the 50 destroyers were sunk.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_in_Scapa_Flow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Reuter

 

[Uwek]

21 June 1942

The Bombardment of Fort Stevens occurred in June 1942, in the American Theater of the Pacific Theater of World War II. An Imperial Japanese submarine fired on Fort Stevens, which defended the Oregon side of the Columbia River's Pacific entrance.

Bombardment
The Japanese submarine I-25, commanded by Tagami Meiji, had been assigned to sink enemy shipping and attack the enemy on land with their 14 cm deck gun. Transporting a Yokosuka E14Y seaplane, the submarine was manned by a crew of 97. On 21 June 1942, I-25 had entered US coastal waters, following allied fishing boats to avoid the mine fields in the area.



Late that night, Commander Meiji ordered his crew to surface his submarine at the mouth of the Columbia River. His target was Fort Stevens, which dated to the American Civil War and armed with now more or less obsolete Endicott era artillery, including 12-inch coast defense mortars, and several of 10 in (250 mm) disappearing guns.

Meiji ordered the deck gun crew to open fire on Fort Stevens' Battery Russell. Surprisingly, his shots were harmless, in part because the fort's commander ordered an immediate blackout. The commander also refused to permit his men to return fire, which would have revealed their position.

Most Japanese rounds landed in a nearby baseball field or a swamp, although one landed close to Battery Russell and another next to a concrete pillbox. One round severed several large telephone cables, the only real damage that Meiji caused. Seventeen 5.5 in (140 mm) explosive shells had been fired at the fort.

American Army Air Corps planes on a training mission spotted the I-25 and called in her location for an A-29 Hudson bomber to attack. The bomber found the I-25, but she successfully dodged the falling bombs and submerged undamaged.

Aftermath
Even though there were no injuries and very little damage, the Japanese attack on Fort Stevens helped create the 1942 West Coast invasion scare. Thereafter, rolls of barbed wire would be strung from Point Adams southward in case of an invasion. The wrecked British barque Peter Iredale was entangled in the wire and would remain so until the war's end.

The Fort Stevens shelling was the only time that a continental United States military installation was attacked by the Axis Powers during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Fort_Stevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stevens_(Oregon)
http://www.historylink.org/File/7217

 

[Uwek]

Other events at 21 June

1631 – Death of John Smith English captain and explorer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_(explorer)

1712 – Birth of French Admiral Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Urbain_de_Bouëxic,_comte_de_Guichen

1764 - Birth of british Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Smith_(Royal_Navy_officer)

1895 - The Kiel Canal is opened by German Emperor Wilhelm II
The 98 km (61 mi) long canal in Northern Germany is one of the world's busiest artificial waterways. It connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Canal

1898 - During the Spanish-American War, the cruiser USS Charleston captures the island of Guam without resistance from Spain, because the Spanish Navy had no sufficient ammunition for defense.
The Capture of Guam was a bloodless event between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain during the Spanish–American War. The U.S. Navy sent a single cruiser, the USS Charleston, to capture the island of Guam, then under Spanish control. However, the Spanish garrison on the island had no knowledge of the war and no real defenses. They surrendered without resistance and the island passed into American control. The event was the only conflict of the Spanish–American War on Guam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Guam

1940 – Death of Smedley Butler – American marine general
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

1940 - The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

 

[Uwek]

22 June 1372

The Battle of La Rochelle was a naval battle fought on 22 and 23 June 1372 between a Castilian fleet commanded by the Castilian Almirant Ambrosio Boccanegra and an English convoy commanded by John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The Castilian fleet had been sent to attack the English at La Rochelle, which was being besieged by French forces. Besides Boccanegra, other Castilian commanders were Cabeza de Vaca, Fernando de Peón and Ruy Díaz de Rojas.


The Naval Battle of La Rochelle, Chronicle of Jean Froissart, 15th Century.

Pembroke had been dispatched to the town with a small retinue of 160 soldiers and instructions to recruit an army of 3,000 soldiers around Aquitaine. The strength of the fleet is estimated as between the 12 galleys given by the Castilian chronicler and naval captain López de Ayala and the 40 sailing ships and 13 barges mentioned by the French chronicler Jean Froissart. Probably it consisted of 22 ships, mainly galleys and some "naos" or sailing ships. The English convoy probably consisted of 32 vessels and 17 small barges of about 50 tons. To justify the English defeat, the pro-English chronicler Jean Froissart says that only three ships were warships, but it's hard to believe that a fighter escort so small would be sent to defend the convoy.

The Castilian victory was complete and the entire convoy was captured. On his return to the Iberian Peninsula, Boccanegra seized four additional English ships. This defeat undermined English seaborne trade and supplies and threatened their Gascon possessions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_La_Rochelle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Sánchez_de_Tovar

 

[Uwek]

22 June 1798

The 28 gun Frigate HMS Aurora (1777), a Enterprise-class sixth rate, chased, dismasted and destroyed the 20-gun french corvette La Egalite.


The well known Painting of the Neavy board model of HMS Enterprise by Joseph Marshall, 1777

On 19 June 1798, Aurora chased an 18 or 20-gun ship and five merchant vessels past Cape Prior, east into Cedeira harbour. Entering the harbour at 16.30, Aurora came under immediate fire from the fort on the north-east of the town, which was returned. After damaging the fort and driving two of the convoy ashore, the wind dropped and Digby, fearing the ship would become trapped, had the ship's boats launched in order to tow her to safety. Three days later, Aurora was in the Bay of Biscay, off Cape Machichicao, when she spotted a privateer of around 20 guns which, at 15.30, hoisted French colours and ran towards the land with Aurora in pursuit. The privateer was found anchored beneath the guns of a fort but Digby brought his ship within half a gun shot and gave the Frenchman four broadsides, cutting her cables and leaving her dismasted on the shore with the sea breaking over her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Aurora_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Enterprise_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise-class_frigate

see also in SOS:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...74-1807-28-gun-frigate-enterprise-class.1990/

 

[Uwek]

22 June 1807

The Chesapeake–Leopard affair was a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 June 1807, between the British warship HMS Leopard, a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate, and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. The crew of Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy. Chesapeake was caught unprepared and after a short battle involving broadsides received from Leopard, the commander of Chesapeake, James Barron, surrendered his vessel to the British. The Chesapeake had fired only one shot.


USS Chesapeake. Painting by F. Muller

Four crew members were removed from the American vessel and were tried for desertion, one of whom was subsequently hanged. Chesapeake was allowed to return home, where James Barron was court martialedand suspended from command.

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair created an uproar among Americans. There were strident calls for war with Great Britain, but these quickly subsided. President Thomas Jefferson initially attempted to use this widespread bellicosity to diplomatically threaten the British government into settling the matter. The United States Congress backed away from armed conflict when British envoys showed no contrition for the Chesapeake affair, delivering proclamations reaffirming impressment. Jefferson's political failure to coerce Great Britain led him toward economic warfare: the Embargo of 1807.


Action:
By 1807, the French were attempting to provoke the United States into joining them in the war against Great Britain and as part of an attempt to intimidate the USA into deciding otherwise, HMS Leopard was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia to join British forces patrolling the eastern coast of the USA. In the spring of 1807, the Royal Navy had received information that a significant number of British deserters were hiding amongst the crew of the large American frigate USS Chesapeake. Seamen on the run from the Royal Navy had discovered that they would be offered asylum on American ships and be given a chance to earn US Citizenship. On 1st June 1807, Commander-in-Chief Halifax Station issued orders to the effect that the USS Chesapeake was to be stopped and searched if intercepted outside American territorial waters. On 21st June 1807, HMS Leopard, in company with the 74 gun 3rd rate ship of the line HMS Bellona and the 36 gun frigate HMS Melampus anchored off Cape Henry, Virginia and lay in wait for the USS Chesapeake. They were joined the following day by the large 74 gun 3rd rate ship HMS Triumph.

On 22nd June, USS Chesapeake was spotted and HMS Leopard was ordered to intercept the American ship. Captain Salusbury Humphreys of HMS Leopard hailed the American to heave-to. Commodore James Barron, in command of the USS Chesapeake saw no problem with this and complied with the British request. Lieutenant John Meade was despatched from HMS Leopard and presented Commodore Barron with a search warrant. The American was having none of it and sent Mr Meade back to HMS Leopard. Captain Humphreys then ordered the USS Chesapeake to comply and HMS Leopard fired a shot across the American's bow. When the American further refused to comply, HMS Leopard responded by firing three full broadsides into the American ship. USS Chesapeake was totally unprepared for the attack and only managed to fire one single gun in response. With three men dead and 18 wounded, including Commodore Barron himself, Barron ordered his colours to be struck and his ship surrendered. The British captain refused the surrender and sent a boarding party across to the USS Chesapeake.



The boarding party proceeded to search the American ship and found four suspected deserters. These were Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware. These three men had run from HMS Melampus. The fourth man, Jenkin Ratford had run from HMS Halifax. The four men were arrested, taken aboard HMS Leopard and taken to Halifax, where they stood trial at Court Martial. Of the four men, Martin, Strachan and Ware were able to prove their American citizenship. They had previously served in the Royal Navy but were not British Citizens. Two of the three men were African-Americans. They were each sentenced to 500 lashes, but this was commuted. Ratford was not so lucky. He was a British citizen, had deserted from the Royal Navy and was sentenced to death. He was hanged from the fore-yard of HMS Halifax. USS Chesapeake had been allowed to go on her way after the men were seized.


Handing over the sword after the capture

The incident, known now as the 'Leopard-Chesapeake Affair' caused a storm of outrage in the United States and led the two countries to the brink of war. Relations between the United States and Great Britain remained tense for the next few years and this incident, British assistance to rebelling Native Americans, together with constant French provocation and further incidents involving British warships stopping American ships and seizing men thought to be deserters eventually led to the United States declaring war on Britain on 18th June 1812. The unfortunate USS Chesapeake went on to be captured by the 18pdr-armed 38 gun frigate HMS Shannon in 1813.



About the HMS Leopard we have a detailed ship history post in SOS:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...rd-1790-1814-50-gun-ship-portland-class.1988/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake–Leopard_affair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chesapeake_(1799)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barron

 

[Uwek]

Other events on 22 June:


1813 – Battle on Craney Island

Unsuccessful attack by boats of British squadron under Admiral Warren on Craney Island at Portsmouth, Virginia. The Battle of Craney Island was a victory for the United States during the War of 1812. The battle saved the city of Norfolk, Virginia, from British invasion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Craney_Island


1884 - USS Thetis, USS Alert, and USS Bear, under Cmdr. Winfield S. Schley, rescue Lt. Adolphus W. Greely and six of his exploring party from Cape Sabine, where they are marooned for three years.

Thetis (center) with Bear (left) in ice in 1884 during their search for the Greely Expedition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thetis_(1881)


1893 - The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rams the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sinks taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.


HMS Victoria by William Frederick Mitchell


Victoria sinking after the collision, taken from HMS Collingwood. HMS Nile on the left.


Camperdown's damaged bow after her 22 June 1893 collision with battleship Victoria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victoria_(1887)#The_collision
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Camperdown_(1885)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victoria_(1887)


1898 – The Second Battle of San Juan occurred on 22 June 1898 when two Spanish vessels tried to break the American blockade off San Juan.
The Spanish destroyer Terror joins Isabel II in an attempt to torpedo USS Saint Paul, which fires at Terror, damaging the ship.


Spanish vessel Terror undergoing repairs after the battle with USS St. Paul

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_San_Juan_(1898)


2008 - Over seven hundred people were missing after a ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsized off of the coast of the Philippines after encountering harsh seas caused by Typhoon Fengshen. Rescue ships had found only four survivors and hoped that others had managed to swim to shore or find safety somewhere.


A rigid-hull, inflatable boat from Maritime Prepositioning Ship USNS GYSGT Fred W. Stockham helps search for survivors of the capsized commercial passenger ferry MV Princess of the Stars June 25. The ferry capsized during Typhoon Fengshen in the Philippines.

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

 

[Uwek]

23 June 1287

The naval Battle of the Counts took place on 23 June 1287 at Naples, Italy, when an Aragonese-Sicilian galley fleet commanded by Roger of Lauriadefeated a large combined Angevin (Apulian and Principatan) galley fleet commanded respectively by Reynald III Quarrel and Narjot de Toucy.

Lauria had taken his fleet to Augusta, eastern Sicily, after a report of an Angevin galley fleets landing invasion troops there. He landed his troops, who recaptured the town, leaving the Angevins holed up in the castle. However, the invasion was a decoy and the Angevin galleys had sailed around the south of Sicily and linked up with their allies, forming a fleet about twice the size of Lauria's. Their plan was to land troops in the south-west of Sicily.

Lauria searched for the allied fleet and finally found it at Naples. Unable to attack it close to the city he bombarded the nearby coast to lure it out, as he had done in 1284, and sent in a formal challenge. The Angevin fleet came out arranged in 5 squadrons, each commanded by a count (hence the name of the battle). They were Reynald III Quarrel of Avella, Hugh of Brienne, the Count of Aquila, Count Jean de Joinville and Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola. Each of their flag-galleys was surrounded to each side by 4 other galleys and to the rear by 2 galleys. The fleet flag-galley had 2 galleys to its front also. This made 63 galleys, and there may have been a small reserve since about 70 of the about 84 Angevin galleys are said to have come out to fight. 2 tarides carried the Papal and Angevin banners.

Lauria had around 40-45 galleys. He followed his usual tactic and retreated until the Angevin galleys had become disorganized, weathered their initial attack, then counterattacked from the sides, damaging the Angevin galleys oars. In a battle lasting much of the day, Henry di Mari again fled, leaving about 40 Angevin galleys to be captured, along with 5000 prisoners, including many counts and barons.

Ships involved:

Aragon (Roger of Lauria)
40-45 galleys

Angevins
about 70 galleys - About 40 captured

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

 

[Uwek]

Other events at 23 June

1594 – The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.

The Action of Faial or the Battle of Faial Island was a naval engagement that took place on 22–23 June 1594 during the Anglo-Spanish War in which the large and rich 2,000 ton Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas was destroyed by an English fleet after a long and bitter battle off Faial Island in the Azores. The carrack, which was reputedly one of the richest ever to set sail from the Indies, was lost in an explosion which denied the English, as well as the Portuguese and Spanish, the riches.

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

1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.

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

1812 - During the War of 1812, Commodore John Rodgers leads a squadron onboard USS President off New York until she battles HMS Belvidera. The first shot of the War of 1812 is fired by USS President during this engagement.

1861 - During the Civil War, the Confederate Navy begins reconstruction of ex-USS Merrimack as the ironclad CSS Virginia at Gosport (Norfolk) Navy Yard, Va.

1898 - During the Spanish-American War, USS Dixie fires on two Spanish gunboats at Maria Aguilar Point, Cuba.

1933 - USS Macon (ZRS 5) is commissioned. Less than two years later, Macon crashes during a storm off Point Sur, Calif., ending the Navy's program of rigid airship operations.

1951 – The ocean liner, SS United States, is christened and launched.

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

 

[Uwek]

24 June 1779 until 7 February 1783
(duration: 3 years, 7 months and 2 weeks)

The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the American War of Independence.


Admiral George Rodney's relief fleet at Gibraltar with captured Spanish battleships from the Battle of Cape St Vincent, by Dominic Serres

The British garrison under George Augustus Eliott were blockaded at first by the Spanish led by Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor in June 1779. This failed however as two relief convoys entered unmolested - the first under Admiral George Rodney succeeded in 1780 and the second by Admiral George Darbyin 1781 despite the presence of the Spanish fleets. The same year a major assault was planned by the Spanish but a sortie by the Gibraltar garrison in November succeeded in destroying much of the forward batteries. With the siege going nowhere and constant Spanish failures the besiegers were reinforced by French forces under the Duc de Crillon who took over operations in early 1782. With a lull in the siege in which the allied force gathered more guns, ships and troops, a huge 'Grand Assault' was delivered in September 1782. This involved huge numbers - 60,000 men, 49 ships of the line and ten specially designed newly invented floating batteries against 5,000 men of the Gibraltar garrison. This was a disastrous failure which caused heavy losses for the Bourbon allies.


Grand Assault on Gibraltar showing the allied lines & a detonation of one the floating batteries

The siege then settled down again to more of a blockade but the final defeat for the allies was complete when a crucial British relief convoy under Admiral Richard Howe slipped through the blockading allied fleet and arrived at the garrison in October. The siege was subsequently lifted on 7 February 1783 and was a decisive victory for the British forces being a vital decider for the Peace of Paris which had been going on towards the end of the siege.


The aftermath of the destruction of the floating batteries; by Thomas Whitcombe

This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers, particularly the Grand Assault of 18 September 1782. At three years and seven months, it is the longest siege endured by the British Armed Forces and one of the longest sieges in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Siege_of_Gibraltar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_battery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Brydges_Rodney,_1st_Baron_Rodney

 

[Uwek]

24 June 1340

The Battle of Sluys (/ˈslɔɪz/; Dutch pronunciation: [slœys]), also called Battle of l'Ecluse, was a sea battle fought on 24 June 1340 as one of the opening conflicts of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The encounter happened during the reigns of Philip VI of France and Edward III of England, in front of the town of Newmarket or Sluis (French Écluse), on the inlet between West Flanders and Zeeland. During the battle Philip's navy was almost completely destroyed, giving the English fleet complete mastery over the channel. However, by the end of Edward's reign the French had rebuilt their fleet and were to become a threat again.


A miniature of the battle from Jean Froissart's Chronicles, 14th century

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

 

[Uwek]

24 June 1833

The frigate USS Constitution is the first vessel to enter the newly-built dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Mass. for overhaul. A false rumor circulates in Boston in 1830 that the U.S. Navy intends to scrap the ship; young Oliver Wendell Holmes pens his poem "Old Ironsides", becoming a rallying cry to save the ship.


Constitution, dressed overall, fires a 17-gun salute in Boston Harbor, 4 July 2014

Constitution was built in an era when a ship's expected service life was 10 to 15 years. Secretary of the Navy John Branch made a routine order for surveys of ships in the reserve fleet, and commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard Charles Morris estimated a repair cost of over $157,000 for Constitution. On 14 September 1830, an article appeared in the Boston Advertiser which erroneously claimed that the Navy intended to scrap Constitution. Two days later, Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "Old Ironsides" was published in the same paper and later all over the country, igniting public indignation and inciting efforts to save "Old Ironsides" from the scrap yard. Secretary Branch approved the costs, and Constitution began a leisurely repair period while awaiting completion of the dry dock then under construction at the yard. In contrast to the efforts to save Constitution, another round of surveys in 1834 found her sister ship Congress unfit for repair; she was unceremoniously broken up in 1835.

Aye tear her tattered ensign down
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;—
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;—
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms
The lightning and the gale!

On 24 June 1833, Constitution entered dry dock. Captain Jesse Elliott, the new commander of the Navy yard, oversaw her reconstruction. Constitution had 30 in (760 mm) of hog in her keel and remained in dry dock until 21 June 1834. This was the first of many times that souvenirs were made from her old planking; Isaac Hull ordered walking canes, picture frames, and even a phaeton that was presented to President Andrew Jackson.
Meanwhile, Elliot directed the installation of a new figurehead of President Jackson under the bowsprit, which became a subject of much controversy due to Jackson's political unpopularity in Boston at the time. Elliot was a Jacksonian Democrat, and he received death threats. Rumors circulated about the citizens of Boston storming the navy yard to remove the figurehead themselves.


The earliest known photograph of Constitution, undergoing repairs in 1858.

A merchant captain named Samuel Dewey accepted a small wager as to whether he could complete the task of removal. Elliot had posted guards on Constitution to ensure safety of the figurehead, but Dewey crossed the Charles River in a small boat, using the noise of thunderstorms to mask his movements, and managed to saw off most of Jackson's head. The severed head made the rounds between taverns and meeting houses in Boston until Dewey personally returned it to Secretary of the Navy Mahlon Dickerson; it remained on Dickerson's library shelf for many years. The addition of busts to her stern escaped controversy of any kind, depicting Isaac Hull, William Bainbridge, and Charles Stewart; the busts remained in place for the next 40 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Ironsides_(poem)