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
12th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History Other Events on 11 April 1669 – Launch of french Fort 68, later 76 guns (designed and built by Jean Guichard, launched 11 April 1669 at Rochefort) – renamed Foudroyant in June 1671, broken up 1690 1693 – Launch of HMS Winchester...

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1655 – Launch of HMS Royal Charles, an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy.
Royal Charles was an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. She was built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich Dockyardin 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England. She was originally called Naseby, named in honour of Sir Thomas Fairfax's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars. She was ordered in 1654 as one of a programme of four second rates, intended to carry 60 guns each. However, she was altered during construction to mount a complete battery of guns along the upper deck (compared with the partial battery on this deck of her intended sisters, on which there were no gunports in the waist along this deck), and so was reclassed as a first rate.

Royal Charles off Hellevoetsluis, captured by the Dutch after the Raid on the Medway, June 1667. Jeronymus van Diest (II).

1782 - Battle of Providien. British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes engaged a French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren near a rocky islet called Providien, south of Trincomalee, Ceylon.
The Battle of Providien was the second in a series of naval battles fought between a British fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and a French fleet, under the Bailli de Suffren, off the coast of India during the Anglo-French War. The battle was fought on 12 April 1782 off the east coast of Ceylon, near a rocky islet called Providien, south of Trincomalee.

1797 – Launch of HMS Sirius, a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805,
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe. She was lost in 1810 when her crew scuttled her after she grounded during the Battle of Grand Port.

The Sirius stranded on a coral shoal. Lithograph by A. Meyer (National Maritime Museum, London)

Scuttling of Sirius

1806 - HMS Brave (74), Cdr. Edmund Boger, foundered off the Azores in passage from Jamaica to England.
Cassard was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Dix-août in 1798, in honour of the events of 10 August 1792, and subsequently Brave in 1803.

Scale model of The Thomson Collection of Ship Models on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario

1808 - Launch of HMS Venerable, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Northfleet.

1823 - Launch of HMS Prince Regent, a 120-gun Caledonia-class first rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham.
HMS Prince Regent was a 120-gun first rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 April 1823 at Chatham.
Served in the Baltic campaign in 1854 (1st campaign) but not in 1855 (2nd campaign).
She was converted into a screw ship in 1861, and was broken up in 1873.

1861 - The Civil War begins with Confederates firing on Fort Sumter, S.C.
The Union Navy plays an integral part blockading Confederates, keeping them diplomatically and economically contained from other nations.
The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War. Following the declaration of secession by South Carolina on December 20, 1860, its authorities demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. On December 26, Major Robert Anderson of the U.S. Army surreptitiously moved his small command from the vulnerable Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island to Fort Sumter, a substantial fortress built on an island controlling the entrance of Charleston Harbor. An attempt by U.S. President James Buchanan to reinforce and resupply Anderson using the unarmed merchant ship Star of the West failed when it was fired upon by shore batteries on January 9, 1861. South Carolina authorities then seized all Federal property in the Charleston area except for Fort Sumter.

1861 - Capture of Mỹ Tho
The Capture of Mỹ Tho (Vietnamese: Mỹ Tho) on 12 April 1861 was an important allied victory in the Cochinchina campaign (1858–62). This campaign, fought between the French and the Spanish on the one side and the Vietnamese on the other, began as a limited punitive expedition and ended as a French war of conquest. The war concluded with the establishment of the French colony of Cochinchina, a development that inaugurated nearly a century of French colonial dominance in Vietnam.

Capture of Saigon by France, 18th February 1859.

1910 – Launch of SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy
SMS Zrínyi ("His Majesty's ship Zrínyi") was a Radetzky-class pre-dreadnought battleship (Schlachtschiff) of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (K.u.K. Kriegsmarine), named for the Zrinski, a noble Croatian family. Zrínyi and her sisters, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and Radetzky, were the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
During World War I, Zrínyi saw action in the Adriatic Sea. She served with the Second Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's battleships and shelled Senigallia as part of the bombardment of the key seaport of Ancona, Italy, during May 1915. However, Allied control of the Strait of Otranto meant that the Austro-Hungarian Navy was effectively contained in the Adriatic. Nonetheless, the presence of the Zrínyi and other battleships tied down a substantial force of Allied ships.
With the war going against the Austrians by the end of 1918, Zrínyi was prepared to be transferred to the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 10 November 1918, just one day before the end of the war, navy officers sailed the battleship out of Pola (Pula) and surrendered to a squadron of American submarine chasers. Following the handover to the United States Navy, she was briefly designated USS Zrínyi. In the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the transfer was not recognized; instead, Zrínyi was given to Italy and broken up for scrap.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History Other Events on 11 April 1669 – Launch of french Fort 68, later 76 guns (designed and built by Jean Guichard, launched 11 April 1669 at Rochefort) – renamed Foudroyant in June 1671, broken up 1690 1693 – Launch of HMS Winchester...

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1749 - whilst near Fort St David, HMS Pembroke (66), along with HMS Namur (90) and the hospital ship HMS Apollo (20), were wrecked in a storm, with the loss of 330 of her crew, only 12 being saved. On Namur 520 of her crew were drowned, on Apollo all 120.
HMS Pembroke was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the dimensions of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 27 November 1733.
In April 1749, whilst near Fort St David, Pembroke, along with Namur and the hospital ship Apollo, was wrecked in a storm, with the loss of 330 of her crew, only 12 being saved.

HMS Namur was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1697.
On 11 June 1723 she was ordered to be taken to pieces at Portsmouth and her timbers transferred to Deptford Dockyard. In 1729 the timbers were used to rebuild the ship according to the 1719 Establishment. She was relaunched on 13 September 1729. In 1745, she was razeed to 74 guns.
Namur was wrecked on 14 April 1749 in a storm near Fort St David. In total, 520 of her crew were drowned, though Captain Marshal survived.

1758 - HMS Prince George, a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1682 as HMS Duke, at Woolwich Dockyard, accidently burnt at sea in the Bay of Biscay
On 13 April 1758, Prince George was at sea in the Bay of Biscay when a fire broke out below decks. The flames quickly spread throughout the ship and she foundered with the loss of 485 out of 745 crew.

1774 – Launch of HMS Surprise (or Surprize), a 28-gun Enterprise-class

1796 - HMS Revolutionnaire (44) captured french Unite (38) off Ushant.
Revolutionaire captured the French frigate Unité. Unité, under the command of Citizen Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, struck after Revolutionnaire's second broadside. Revolutionnaire had no casualties because the French had fired high, aiming for her rigging; the British fired into their quarry with the result that Unité suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded. In July there was an initial distribution of prize money for the capture of Unité and Virginie (captured by Indefatigable) of £20,000. Revolutionnaire and Indefatigable shared this with Amazon, Concorde and Argo. The Royal Navy took Unité into service under her existing name

1805 – Launch of HMS Revenge, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS Revenge was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1805. Sir John Henslow designed her as one of the large class 74s; she was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck, rather than the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.

1813 - The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought in 1813 during the War of 1812.
The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought in 1813 during the War of 1812. A British force blockading the Rappahannock River of Virginia sent several hundred men in boats to attack four American privateers. Ultimately the British were victorious and the American ships were captured.

The reconstructed Lynx off California being saluted by Lady Washington.

1854 – Launch of HMS Hornet, a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy
HMS Hornet was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched in 1854 and broken up in 1868.

1865 - fire broke out aboard the clipper ship Comet in the cargo of wool while heading from Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia for London.
The captain and all 80 passengers abandoned ship in 3 boats and were lost.
On April 17, just as the Comet was about to sink, the 17 crew members remaining aboard were rescued by the British barque Dauntless.
Comet was an 1851 California clipper built by William H. Webb which sailed in the Australia trade and the tea trade. This extreme clipper was very fast. She had record passages on two different routes: New York City to San Francisco, and Liverpool to Hong Kong, and beat the famous clipper Flying Dutchman in an 1853 race around the Horn to San Francisco.
In 1863 the Comet was sold to the Black Ball Line and renamed the Fiery Star. She was lost at sea on 12 May 1865 after a fire had broken out in her cargo of wool.

1898 – Launch of SS Superior City, considered a pioneer vessel at her launching in 1898.
She was the largest vessel ever built on freshwater at that time
The SS Superior City was considered a pioneer vessel at her launching in 1898. She was the largest vessel ever built on freshwater at that time. She sailed the Great Lakes for twenty-two years until she sank after a collision in 1920 with the steamer Willis L. King in Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior that resulted in the loss of 29 lives. Controversy was immediate over the collision. It was subsequently ruled that the captains of both ships failed to follow the “rules-of-the-road”. Controversy started again in 1988 when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society produced a video called "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" that included extensive footage of the skeletons of the Superior City crew. The controversy continued as late as 1996 over artifacts removed from her wreck. She is now a protected shipwreck in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.

1904 - Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) Sunk by mine off Port Arthur,
Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin.
Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск) was the lead ship of her class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the last decade of the 19th century. The ship was sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1899, where she participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion the next year and was the flagship of the First Pacific Squadron.
At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Petropavlovsk took part in the Battle of Port Arthur, where she was lightly damaged by Japanese shells and failed to score any hits in return. On 13 April 1904, the ship sank after striking one or more mines near Port Arthur, in northeast China. Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The arrival of the competent and aggressive Makarov after the Battle of Port Arthur had boosted Russian morale, which plummeted after his death.

1907 – Launch of HMS Invincible, the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world.
HMS Invincible was the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. During the First World War she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers present. The ship engaged the German light cruiser Cöln, but did not hit her before Cöln was sunk by the battlecruiser Lion.
She was the flagship of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The squadron had been detached from Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet a few days before the battle for gunnery practice with the Grand Fleet and acted as its heavy scouting force during the battle. She was destroyed by a magazine explosion during the battle after one of her gun turret's armour was penetrated.

1917 - Launch of USS New Mexico (BB 40), the first dreadnought with turbo-electric drive.
USS New Mexico (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. She was the lead ship of a class of three battleships, and the first ship to be named for the state of New Mexico. Her keel was laid down on 14 October 1915 at the New York Navy Yard, she was launched on 23 April 1917, and was commissioned on 20 May 1918. She was the first ship with a turbo-electric transmission, which helped her reach a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Shortly after completing initial training, New Mexico escorted the ship that carried President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The interwar period was marked with repeated exercises with the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets, use as a trial ship for PID controllers, and a major modernization between March 1931 and January 1933.

1937 – Launch of HMS Ark Royal (91), an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.
HMS Ark Royal (pennant number 91) was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.
Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; several carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.

HMS Ark Royal in 1939, with Swordfish of 820 Naval Air Squadron passing overhead

1940 - Second naval Battle of Narvik
The Royal Navy considered it imperative, for morale and strategic purposes, to defeat the Germans in Narvik, so Vice Admiral William Whitworth was sent with the battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers; four Tribal-class (HMS Bedouin, Cossack, Punjabi, and Eskimo) and five others (HMS Kimberley, Hero, Icarus, Forester and Foxhound), accompanied by aircraft from the aircraft carrier HMS Furious. These forces arrived in the Ofotfjord on 13 April to find that the eight remaining German destroyers—now under the command of Fregattenkapitän Erich Bey—were virtually stranded due to lack of fuel and were short of ammunition.
Before the battle, Warspite launched its catapult plane (a float-equipped Fairey Swordfish, L 9767), which bombed and sank U-64, anchored in the Herjangsfjord near Bjerkvik. Most of the crew survived and were rescued by German mountain troops. This was the first U-boat to be sunk by an aircraft during the Second World War and the only instance where an aircraft launched from a battleship sank a U-boat.

Warspite engaging shore batteries during the Second Battle of Narvik.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 13 April 1810 - 4 Danish gun boats, under Lt. Skibsted, capture the British gunboat HMS Grinder off the island of Samsoe Grinder was a gunboat serving as a tender, rather than a commissioned warship, to HMS Anholt, the British...

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1655 - Action of 14 April 1655 - English under Robert Blake destroy Barbary ships at Porto Farina, northern Tunisia
The Action of 14 April 1655 took place at Porto Farina (now Ghar el-Melh) in northern Tunisia, when an English fleet under Robert Blake destroyed the vessels of several Barbary corsairs. It achieved little direct effect, although it was the first time that ships alone defeated shore fortifications.

1743 – Launch of HMS Captain, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard,
HMS Captain was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 14 April 1743.
In 1760, Captain was reduced to a 64-gun ship. Then in 1777 she was converted to serve as a storeship and renamed Buffalo.
Although a storeship, Buffalo shared, with Thetis, and Alarm, in the proceeds from Southampton's capture of the 12-gun French privateer Comte de Maurepas, on 3 August 1780.

The Battle of Dogger Bank, by Thomas Luny. NMM

1759 - Launch of HMS Sandwich, a 90-gun Sandwich-class second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 April 1759 at Chatham.

1781 – Capture of USS Confederacy, a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War by the British Royal Navy
USS Confederacy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War. The British Royal Navy captured her in April 1781, took her into service for about half-a-year as HMS Confederate, and broke her up in 1782

A Revolutionary War painting depicting the Continental Navy frigate Confederacy is displayed at the Navy Art Gallery at the Washington Navy Yard.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration detail, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Confederate (captured 1781), a captured American Fifth Rate.

1782 – Recapture of HMS Ardent, a 64-gun Ardent-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Ardent was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by contract by Hugh Blaydes at Hull according to a design by Sir Thomas Slade, and launched on 13 August 1764 as the first ship of the Ardent-class. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.

1793 - HMS Phaeton (38) captured French privateer General Dumourier (22) to the west of Cape Finisterre.
San-Iago, a large Spanish galleon prize, also struck to Phaeton but was taken possession of by HMS Ganges (74)
Service in the Channel
In December 1792 Phaeton was commissioned under Sir Andrew Snape Douglas. In March 1793.
Then on 14 April Phaeton sighted the French privateer Général Dumourier (or Général Du Mourier), of twenty-two 6-pounder guns and 196 men, and her Spanish prize, the St Jago, 140 leagues to the west of Cape Finisterre. Phaeton was part of Admiral John Gell's squadron and the entire squadron set off in pursuit, but it was Phaeton that made the actual capture.
St Jago had been sailing from Lima to Spain when General Dumourier captured her on 11 April. In trying to fend off General Dumourier, St Jago fought for five hours, losing 10 men killed and 37 wounded, before she struck. She also suffered extensive damage to her upper works. St Jago's cargo, which had taken two years to collect, was the richest ever trusted on board a single ship. Early estimates put the value of the cargo as some ₤1.2 and £1.3 million. The most valuable portion of the cargo was a large number of gold bars that had a thin covering of pewter and that were listed on the manifest as "fine pewter". General Dumourier had taken on board 680 cases, each containing 3000 dollars, plus several packages worth two to three thousand pounds.
The ships that conveyed St Jago to Portsmouth were St George, Egmont, Edgar, Ganges and Phaeton. The money came over London Bridge in 21 wagons, escorted by a party of light dragoons, and lodged in the Tower of London.

1809 - Troude's expedition to the Caribbean
Start of 4 day engagement in which HMS Pompee (80), HMS Neptune (98), HMS Castor (32) and HMS Recruit (18), took French D'Hautpoult (74) off Cuba
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean was a naval operation by a French force under Commodore Amable-Gilles Troude during the Napoleonic Wars. The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then under invasion from a British expeditionary force. The force arrived much too late to affect the outcome of the successful invasion and took shelter from a British squadron in the Îles des Saintes, where they were blockaded by part of the British invasion fleet, led by Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. Two weeks after the French ships arrived, British troops invaded and captured the Saintes, constructing mortar batteries to bombard the French squadron. With his position unsustainable, Commodore Troude decided to break out.

1869 – Launch of The SS Silesia, a late 19th-century Hamburg America Line passenger and cargo ship that ran between the European ports of Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France to Castle Garden and later Ellis Island
The SS Silesia was a late 19th-century Hamburg America Line passenger and cargo ship that ran between the European ports of Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France to Castle Garden and later Ellis Island, New York transporting European immigrants, primarily Russian, Prussian, Hungarian, German, Austrian, Italian, and Danish individuals and families. Most passengers on this route were manual laborers, including stonecutters, locksmiths, farmers, millers, upholsterers, confectioners, and tailors, though physicians and other professionals also bought passage on her.

1887 – Launch of SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie, an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1880s, the last vessel of that type to be built for Austria-Hungary.
SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie was an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1880s, the last vessel of that type to be built for Austria-Hungary. The ship, named for Archduchess Stephanie, Crown Princess of Austria, was laid down in November 1884, was launched in April 1887 and completed in July 1889. She was armed with a pair of 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in open barbettes and had a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Her service was limited, in large part due to the rapid pace of naval development in the 1890s, which quickly rendered her obsolescent. As a result, her career was generally limited to routine training and the occasional visit to foreign countries. In 1897, she took part in an international naval demonstration to force a compromise over Greek and Ottoman claims to the island of Crete. Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephaniewas decommissioned in 1905, hulked in 1910, and converted into a barracks ship in 1914. After Austria-Hungary's defeat in World War I, the ship was transferred to Italy as a war prize and was eventually broken up for scrap in 1926.

1896 – Launch of Esmeralda, developed as a custom design by naval architect Philip Watts for the Chilean Navy

1/48th scale model of Esmeralda, on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport.

1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th)
RMS Titanic – A passenger ocean liner and, at the time, the world's largest ship. On 14 April 1912, on her maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg, buckling part of her hull and causing her to sink in the early hours of 15 April.
706 of her 2,224 passengers and crew survived.
Her loss was the catalyst for major reforms in shipping safety and is arguably the most famous maritime disaster, being the subject of numerous media portrayals

Animation showing the sequence of Titanic's sinking, from 23:50 April 14 to 02:20 April 15

1930 – Launch of Shamrock V, the first British yacht to be built to the new J-Class rule.
Shamrock V was the first British yacht to be built to the new J-Class rule. She was commissioned by Sir Thomas Lipton for his fifth America's Cup challenge. Although refitted several times, Shamrock is the only J-class never to have fallen into dereliction.

SAILING YACHT BRITANNIA (K1), ASTRA (K2), SHAMROCK V (K3), CANDIDA (K8) & VELSHEDA (K7), AUGUST 1934

1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 800 to 1.300 people and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
The Bombay explosion (or Bombay docks explosion) occurred on 14 April 1944, in the Victoria Dock of Bombay (now Mumbai) when the freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, gold, and ammunition including around 1,400 tons of explosives, caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some 80,000 people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the aftermath.

Smoke billowing out of harbour

1945 - german submarine U-1206 lost and sunk caused by a failure in the toilet
German submarine U-1206 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down on 12 June 1943 at F. Schichau GmbH in Danzig and went into service on 16 March 1944 before sinking a year later, in April 1945. The boat's emblem was a white stork on a black shield with green beak and legs.
On 14 April 1945, 24 days before the end of World War II in Europe, while U-1206 was cruising at a depth of 200 feet (61 m), 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) off Peterhead, Scotland, misuse of the new toilet caused large amounts of water to flood the boat. According to the Commander's official report, while in the engine room helping to repair one of the diesel engines, he was informed that a malfunction involving the toilet caused a leak in the forward section. The leak flooded the submarine's batteries (located beneath the toilet) causing them to release chlorine gas, leaving him with no alternative but to surface. Once surfaced, U-1206 was discovered and bombed by British patrols, forcing Schlitt to scuttle the submarine. One man died in the attack, three men drowned in the heavy seas after abandoning the vessel and 46 were captured. Schlitt recorded the location as 57°24′N 01°37′W but the wreck would not be located until the 1970s.
During survey work for the BP Forties Field oil pipeline to Cruden Bay in the mid 1970s, the remains of U-1206 were found at 57°21′N 01°39′W in approximately 70 m (230 ft) of water. The site survey performed by RCAHMS suggests that the leak that forced U-1206 to surface may have occurred after running into a pre-existing wreck located at the same site.
A large number of sources incorrectly attribute this incident to U-120.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 14 April 1801 – Launch of HMS Medusa, a 32-gun 5th rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served in the Napoleonic Wars. HMS Medusa was a 32-gun 5th rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served in the Napoleonic Wars. Launched on 14 April...

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1763 - Launch of HMS Ramillies, a 74-gun Ramillies-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham Dockyard.
In 1782 she was the flagship of a fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves off Newfoundland. Ramillies was badly damaged in a violent storm of 1782, and was finally abandoned and burned on 21 September 1782.

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

1786 - Launch of HMS Hannibal, a 74-gun Culloden-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.
HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.

HMS Hannibal (left foreground) lies aground and dismasted at the First Battle of Algeciras.

1790 – Launch of HMS Queen Charlotte, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham.
HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham. She was built to the draught of Royal George designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament.
In 1794 Queen Charlotte was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 she took part in the Battle of Groix.

1802 – Launch of French Rhin, a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802
Rhin was a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. The Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up and then served as a hospital for many years. She was finally broken up in 1884.

1809 - HMS Intrepid (64) engaged French frigates Furieuse (flute 20) and Felicite (flute 14).
HMS Intrepid was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich. She was sold in 1828.

1816 – Launch of HMS Minotaur, a 74-gun Ganges-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham Dockyard.

1847 – Launch of French Tage ("Tagus"), a 100-gun Hercule-class ship of the line of the French Navy.

Scale model on display at the Musée National de la Marine in Paris

1851 - Launch of clipper ship Flying Cloud
Flying Cloud was a clipper ship that set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco, 89 days 8 hours. The ship held this record for over 100 years, from 1854 to 1989.

1863 – Launch of SMS Nymphe, the lead ship of the Nymphe class of steam corvettes
SMS Nymphe was the lead ship of the Nymphe class of steam corvettes, the first ship of that type to be built for the Prussian Navy. She was ordered as part of a naval expansion program to counter the Danish Navy over the disputed ownership of Schleswig and Holstein. Nymphe was laid down in January 1862, she was launched in April 1863, and she was completed in October that year. She had one sister ship, Medusa, and the vessels were wooden-hulled ships armed with a battery of sixteen guns.
Nymphe saw action during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864 at the Battle of Jasmund. She was heavily engaged by a Danish frigate in the battle, and she received around 70 hits, mostly to her rigging, though she was not seriously damaged. The ship was in the process of being recalled to Germany during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and as a result, saw no action during the conflict, but she did see battle with French warships during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. A French squadron of ironclads had anchored off Danzig, and Nymphe launched a surprise night attack on the idle vessels, though she inflicted no serious damage on the armored vessels. Her attack nevertheless convinced the French admiral that his heavy ships were not useful in a close blockade of German ports, and so they left.
In 1871, Nymphe embarked on a major overseas deployment to the Pacific Ocean and East Asia, where her captain conducted negotiations with various governments and she toured numerous cities. She remained abroad until mid-1874, after which she was converted into a training ship for apprentice seamen. She served in that capacity for the next decade, during which she conducted training cruises, usually to the Americas, though in 1882 she toured the Mediterranean Sea. In poor condition and in need of a complete reconstruction by 1885, she was stricken from the naval register in July 1887 and hulked. Nymphe was ultimately sold in 1891 and broken up in Hamburg.

Nymphe, center, at the Battle of Jasmund, battling the Danish frigate Sjælland (right background)

1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg.
Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
RMS Titanic – A passenger ocean liner and, at the time, the world's largest ship. On 14 April 1912, on her maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg, buckling part of her hull and causing her to sink in the early hours of 15 April. 706 of her 2,224 passengers and crew survived. Her loss was the catalyst for major reforms in shipping safety and is arguably the most famous maritime disaster, being the subject of numerous media portrayals

Collapsible lifeboat D photographed from the deck of Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.

1914 – Launch of Imperator Aleksandr III (Emperor Alexander III) was the third, and last, ship of the Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy.
Imperator Aleksandr III (Emperor Alexander III) was the third, and last, ship of the Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was begun before World War I, completed in 1917 and saw service with the Black Sea Fleet. She was renamed Volia or Volya (Russian: Вóля, Freedom) before her completion and then General Alekseyev (Russian: Генерал Алексеев) in 1920. The ship did not take part in operations during World War I because her sister ships were given a higher priority for completion. She was delivered in 1917, but the disruptions of the February Revolution rendered the Black Sea Fleet ineffective and she saw no combat.
Volia was surrendered to the Germans in 1918, but they were forced to turn her over to the British by the terms of the Armistice. The British turned her over to the White Russians in 1919 and they used her to help evacuate the Crimea in 1920. She was interned in Bizerte by the French and ultimately scrapped by them in 1936 to pay her docking fees. Her guns were put into storage and were later used by the Germans and Finns for coastal artillery during World War II. The Finns and the Soviets continued to use them throughout the Cold War.

Volia at sea

1915 – Launch of HMS Abercrombie and HMS Roberts, both Abercrombie class monitors of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War.
HMS Abercrombie was a First World War Royal Navy Abercrombie-class monitor.
On 3 November 1914, Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel offered Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, the use of four 14 in (356 mm)/45cal BL MK II twin gun turrets, originally destined for the Greekbattleship Salamis. These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British Naval blockade. The Royal Navy immediately designed a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets.

1919 - german submarine beached off Hastings directly in front of the Queens Hotel
german submarine U-118, surrendered on 23 February 1919, would have been transferred to France, but the tow cable snapped during her voyage to France and she went aground at Hastings.
SM U-118 was a type UE II mine laying submarine of the Imperial German Navy and one of 329 submarines serving with that navy during World War I.
U-118 engaged in naval warfare and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic.

SM U-118 washed ashore at Hastings, Sussex.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 15 April 1790 – Launch of HMS Queen Charlotte, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham. HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham...

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1748 – Launch of HMS Vanguard, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS Vanguard was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 April 1748. She was built by Philemon Ewer at his East Cowes yard on the Isle of Wight to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, at a cost of £8,009. She was the fourth vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name Vanguard.

1781 - Battle of Porto Praya
British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone at anchor in Porto Praya Bay, Cape de Verd Islands, attacked by French squadron under Admiral Suffren
The Battle of Porto Praya was a naval battle that took place during the American Revolutionary War on 16 April 1781 between a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone and a French squadron under the Bailli de Suffren.
Both squadrons were en route to the Cape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean. The British convoy and its escorting squadron had anchored at Porto Praya (now Praia) in the Cape Verde Islands to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and attacked them at anchor.
Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter, neither fleet was prepared to do battle, and in the inconclusive battle the French fleet sustained more damage than the British, though no ships were lost. Johnstone tried to pursue the French, but was forced to call it off in order to repair the damage his ships had taken.
The French gained a strategic victory, because Suffren beat Johnstone to the Cape and reinforced the Dutch garrison before continuing on his journey to the Île de France (now Mauritius).

Combat de la baie de la Praia dans l'île de Santiago au Cap Vert, le 16 avril 1781, by Pierre-Julien Gilbert(1783–1860)

1797 - Spithead Mutiny starts
The mutiny at Spithead (an anchorage near Portsmouth) lasted from 16 April to 15 May 1797. Sailors on 16 ships in the Channel Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Bridport, protested against the living conditions aboard Royal Navy vessels and demanded a pay rise, better victualling, increased shore leave, and compensation for sickness and injury. On 26 April a supportive mutiny broke out on 15 ships in Plymouth, who sent delegates to Spithead to take part in negotiations.
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 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 Delegates in Council, or beggars on horseback, a contemporaneous caricature

1797 – The Battle of Jean-Rabel consisted of two connected minor naval engagements of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Haitian Revolution
French Harmonie (44) beached and set on fire at St. Domigue to avoid capture by HMS Thunderer (74) and HMS Valiant
The Battle of Jean-Rabel consisted of two connected minor naval engagements of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Haitian Revolution. The first engagement saw an overwhelming British Royal Navy force consisting of two ships of the line attack and destroy a French Navy frigate in Moustique Inlet near the town of Jean-Rabel on the Northern coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (which later gained independence as Haiti). The second engagement took place four days later when a force of boats launched from a British frigate squadron attacked the town of Jean-Rabel itself, capturing a large number of merchant ships in the harbour that had been seized by French privateers.
The engagements came during a campaign for supremacy in the Caribbean Sea as warships and privateers launched from French colonies sought to disrupt the lucrative trade between Britain and the British colonies in the West Indies. In the spring of 1797, most British forces in the region were deployed in the Leeward Islands against the colonies of Spain, which had recently entered the war on the French side. As a result, the waters of the Northern Caribbean were lightly defended, resulting in an increase in the activity of French privateers.
The destruction of Harmonie and the elimination of the privateer base at Jean-Rabel contributed towards a reduction in privateer activity in the region and cemented British control of the Northern Caribbean sea lanes, although British forces were unable to make an impact on French control of Saint-Domingue itself, and withdrew from the island later in the year.

1798 - Launch of HMS Achille, a 74-gun Pompée-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
She was built by Cleverley Bros., a private shipyard at Gravesend,
HMS Achille was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cleverley Bros., a private shipyard at Gravesend, and launched on 16 April 1798. Her design was based on the lines of the captured French ship Pompée. She was the fourth Royal Navy ship to be named after the Greek hero Achilles in the French style.

1885 – Launch of Formidable, an Amiral Baudin-class ironclad battleship of the Marine nationale (French Navy)

1927 – Launch of Myōkō (妙高), the lead ship of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN),
Myōkō (妙高) was the lead ship of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), which were active in World War II. She was named after Mount Myōkō in Niigata Prefecture. The other ships of the class were Nachi, Ashigara, and Haguro.

1941– Battle of the Tarigo Convoy
The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships - italian Lampo, Tarigo and Baleno are sunk, as well as HMS Mohawk
The Battle of the Tarigo Convoy (sometimes referred to as the Action off Sfax) was a naval battle of World War II, part of the Battle of the Mediterranean. It was fought on 16 April 1941, between four British and three Italian destroyers, near the Kerkennah Islands off Sfax, in the Tunisian coast. The battle was named after the Italian flagship, the destroyer Luca Tarigo.
Control of the sea between Italy and Libya was heavily disputed as both sides sought to safeguard their own convoys while interdicting those of their opponent. Axis convoys to North Africa supplied the German and Italian armies there, and British attacks were based on Malta, itself dependent upon convoys.

Destroyer Lampo, sunk in the battle and later salvaged by the Italian Navy

1943 - Battle of the Cigno Convoy
The Battle of the Cigno Convoy was a naval engagement between two British Royal Navy destroyers and two Italian Regia Marina torpedo boats which took place southeast of Marettimo island, on the early hours of 16 April 1943. The Italian units were escorting the transport ship Belluno, of 4,200 long tons (4,300 t). The convoy also involved the delivery of aviation fuel to Tunisia by one of the close escorts, the torpedo boat Tifone. The British force was fought off by the Italian units, at the cost of one torpedo boat. One of the British destroyers, disabled by Italian gunfire, had to be scuttled after the action.

Italian torpedo boat Cassiopea

1945 - The German Navy's transport ship MV Goya was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine L-3 on 16 April 1945.
An estimated 6,000-7,000 civilians and German troops died, only 183 were rescued.
Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter. Completed in 1940 for Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company, she was named after Francisco de Goya. Following the invasion of Norway she was seized by Germany and pressed into service of the Kriegsmarine as a troop transport.
Near the end of the Second World War, the ship took part in Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German military personnel and civilians from German-held pockets along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with thousands of refugees and Wehrmacht soldiers, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3.
Most of the crew and passengers died. The sinking of Goya was one of the biggest single-incident maritime losses of life of the war, and as such one of the largest maritime losses of life in history, with just 183 survivors among roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.

Goya in Akers shipyard in Oslo, shortly before completion

1947 - the French-registered Liberty ship Grandcamp caught fire and exploded dockside while being loaded with ammonium nitrate at Texas City, Texas.
In what came to be called the Texas City Disaster an estimated 581 people, including all of the ship's crew and 28 firefighters, were lost and about 5,000 injured.
The Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred April 16, 1947 in the Port of Texas City, Texas. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. Originating with a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port), her cargo of approximately 2,200 tons (approximately 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate detonated, initiating a subsequent chain-reaction of additional fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities. It killed at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department. The disaster triggered the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the then-recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), on behalf of 8,485 victims.

The SS Wilson B. Keene, destroyed in the disaster's second explosion

1951 - Amphion-class submarine HMS Affray disappeared on a training exercise in the English Channel, killing all 75 crew.
She is the last Royal Navy submarine to have been lost at sea.
HMS Affray, a British Amphion-class submarine, was the last Royal Navy submarine to be lost at sea, on 16 April 1951, with the loss of 75 lives. All vessels of her class were given names beginning with the letter A; she was the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named after a particularly noisy and disorderly fight.
Affray was built in the closing stages of the Second World War. She was one of 16 submarines of her class which were originally designed for use in the Pacific Ocean against Japan.

1953 – Launch of Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, is the former royal yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in service from 1954 until 1997.
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, is the former royal yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in service from 1954 until 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, and is the second royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the globe. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a popular visitor attraction with over 300,000 visits each year.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 16 April 1767 - Birth of Richard Parker, later President of the "Floating Republic" at the Nore, Richard Parker (16 April 1767 – 30 June 1797) was an English sailor executed for his role as president of the so-called "Floating...

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1683 – Launch of HMS Neptune, a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
She was built under the 1677 "Thirty Great Ships" Programme at Deptford Dockyard.
One of the old ladies - with 2 Re-launches she served more than 100 years
HMS Neptune was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built under the 1677 "Thirty Great Ships" Programme and launched in 1683 at Deptford Dockyard.

Action of 18 October 1782 between HMS Torbay and London, and the 74-gun Scipion. Torbay is behind London

1780 - The Battle of Martinique, also known as the Combat de la Dominique, took place on 17 April 1780 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy
The Battle of Martinique, also known as the Combat de la Dominique, took place on 17 April 1780 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.

Combat de la Dominique, 17 Avril 1780, by Auguste Louis de Rossel de Cercy (1736–1804)

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the ‘Centurion’ (1774), a 50-gun small two-decker. The model is decked and rests on a slipway. It has the name ‘Centurion’ painted on the stern. The figurehead depicts a centurion wearing a helmet. The ‘Centurion’ was built at Woolwich by Barnard & Co. and designed by Sir T. Slade. It measured 146 feet along the gun deck by 40 feet in the beam. Between 1775 and 1780, it served in the Caribbean taking part in the Battle of Martinique (1780). It then returned home and had its hull coppered – a relatively new technique employed to protect the underwater hull from the attack of marine boring worms, molluscs and weed growth. Between 1795 and 1805 the ‘Centurion’ served in the East Indies taking part in the Capture of Ceylon (1795) and was involved in Red Sea operations around Suez (1799–1800). It was broken up at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1825 having been a receiving ship there since 1809.

1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
The Battle of San Juan was a 1797 ill-fated British assault on the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan in Puerto Rico. The attack was carried out facing the historic town of Miramar.

The Fortín de San Gerónimo was key to the defense of San Juan.

1798 – Launch of HMS Pheasant, an 18-gun Merlin class sloop of the Royal Navy
HMS Pheasant was an 18-gun Merlin class sloop of the Royal Navy.
She was built in 1798 for the Royal Navy at a cost of £8,087 (equivalent to £836,200 in 2018).
From 1798 to 1803 she was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1802 – Launch of french Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané
HMS Belle Poule was a Royal Navy fifth rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East, but in 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. She was sold in 1816.

Capture of the 'Gypsy', 30 April 1812: left to right: HMS Belle Poule, Gypsy, and HMS Hermes, by Thomas Buttersworth

1806 - HMS Sirius (36), Cptn. Prowse, took Bergere (18), Cptn. Chaney Duolvis, at Civita Vecchia.
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe. She was lost in 1810 when her crew scuttled her after she grounded during the Battle of Grand Port.

Scuttling of Sirius

1809 – French Hautpoult, a Téméraire class 74-gun French Navy ship of the line, captured by her now-British sister ship, HMS Pompée, after a chase over three nights and two days by Pompée, Recruit, and Neptune.

Intrepid behaviour of Captain Charles Napier, in HM 18-gun Brig Recruit for which he was appointed to the Hautpoult. The 74 now pouring a broadside into her. April 15, 1809. Hautpoult can be seen in the background.

1810 – Launch of HMS Menelaus, a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth rate frigate, at Plymouth
HMS Menelaus was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth rate frigate, launched in 1810 at Plymouth.

HMS Menelaus (ship in center) sailing with three other ships from a 19th century watercolor painting by artist, William Innes Pocock

1813 – Launch of HMS Cydnus, one of eight Royal Navy 38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rates.
HMS Cydnus was one of eight Royal Navy 38-gun Cydnus-class (sub-class of Leda-class) fifth-rates. This frigate was built in 1813 at Blackwall Yard, London, and broken up in 1816.

1837 - Texan schooner Independence was one of the four schooners of the First Texas Navy captured during the Battle of Brazos River
The Battle of the Brazos River was an engagement fought in the Brazos River on April 17, 1837, between the Mexican Navy and the Texas Navy.

1855 – Launch of HMS Sutlej, a Constance-class 50-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy

Gun deck on HMS Sutlej, circa. 1865-1868

1866 – Launch of HMS Northumberland, the last of the three Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s.
She had a different armour scheme and heavier armament than her sister ships, and was generally regarded as a half-sister to the other ships of the class.
HMS Northumberland was the last of the three Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. She had a different armour scheme and heavier armament than her sister ships, and was generally regarded as a half-sister to the other ships of the class. The ship spent her career with the Channel Squadron and occasionally served as a flagship. Northumberland was placed in reserve in 1890 and became a training ship in 1898. She was converted into a coal hulk in 1909 and sold in 1927, although the ship was not scrapped until 1935.

Northumberland in her original 5-masted configuration

1866 – Launch of the passenger clipper Sobraon by Alexander Hall & Co. built the ship in Scotland - she was the largest composite-hull sailing vessel ever built,
later HMAS Tingira, a training ship operated by the Royal Australia Navy (RAN) between 1911 and 1927.
HMAS Tingira was a training ship operated by the Royal Australia Navy (RAN) between 1911 and 1927. Alexander Hall & Co. built the ship in Scotland in 1866 as the passenger clipper Sobraon; she was the largest composite-hull sailing vessel ever built. She sailed on an annual migration run between England and Australia until 1891, when she was sold to the colonial government of New South Wales for use as a reformatory ship. The vessel was then sold to the federal government in 1911, and entered RAN service. Tingira was paid off in 1927, but despite efforts to preserve the ship, was broken up in 1941.

HMAS Tingira moored in Rose Bay, Sydney in 1912

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 17 April 1798 – Launch of HMS Pheasant, an 18-gun Merlin class sloop of the Royal Navy HMS Pheasant was an 18-gun Merlin class sloop of the Royal Navy. French Revolutionary Wars She was built in 1798 for the Royal Navy at a cost...

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1698 – Launch of HMS Salisbury, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard and James Herring at Baileys Hard (near Bucklers Hard) on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, England
HMS Salisbury was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard and James Herring at Baileys Hard (near Bucklers Hard) on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, England and launched on 18 April 1698.

1772 – Launch of HMS Monmouth, an Intrepid-class 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Plymouth.

1775 – Launch of HMS Berwick, a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the internal and external profile of works illustrating the knees, beams and external planking from the main wales and above for Berwick (1775), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker.

1802 – Launch of La République française, a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan class, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané and built by Pierre Rolland.
The République française was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané and built by Pierre Rolland.

1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille. On display at Marseille naval museum.

1807 – Launch of french Bellone, a 44-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy

1807 – Launch of French Pauline, a 44-gun Hortense-class frigate of the French Navy

Model of Hortense, on display at Toulon naval museum

1862 - beginning of the Battle of Forts Jackson and St.Philip
The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Navy fleet. As long as the forts could keep the Federal forces from moving on the city, it was safe, but if they were negated, there were no fall-back positions to impede the Union advance.

One of the "bummers", as they were known in the Union Navy. Mortar Schooner of Porter's Bombardment fleet, New Orleans, 1862. A crewman between the masts is leaning on the muzzle of the 13-inch seacoast mortar.(Peabody Museum of Salem)

1878 – Launch of HMS Curacoa, a Comus-class corvette of the Royal Navy, built by John Elder & Co., Govan,
HMS Curacoa was an Comus-class corvette of the Royal Navy, built by John Elder & Co., Govan, launched in 1878, and sold in 1904 to be broken up.[2]She served on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, the Australia Station and as a training cruiser in the Atlantic.

HMS Curacoa drydocked in Sydney Harbour c.1890.

1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson in their shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

1942 - The Doolittle Raid begins
with 16 Army Air Force B-25 bombers launching earlier than expected from USS Hornet (CV 8), approximately 650 miles off Japan, after being spotted by enemy ships. It is the first attack by the U.S. of the Japanese mainland since Pearl Harbor. Most of the 16 B-25s, each with a five-man crew, attack the Tokyo area, with a few hitting Nagoya. Embarrassed, the Japanese revise plans and six weeks later attack the American carrier group near Midway sooner than expected.
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18, 1942, was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on the island of Honshu during World War II, the first air operation to strike the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) deep in the Western Pacific Ocean

1943 - World War II: Operation Vengeance
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
U.S. Army Air Force P-38s off Bougainville, using signals intelligence, shoot down plane carrying Imperial Japanese Navy Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

P-38G Lightnings were the aircraft chosen to carry out the mission.

1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport Drydock and Shipbuilding.
However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
USS United States (CVA-58) was to be the lead ship of a new design of aircraft carrier. On 29 July 1948, President Harry Truman approved construction of five "supercarriers", for which funds had been provided in the Naval Appropriations Act of 1949. The keel of the first of the five planned postwar carriers was laid down on 18 April 1949 at Newport Drydock and Shipbuilding. The program was canceled, United States was not completed, and the other four planned carriers were never built.

Artist's rendering of the proposed USS United Stateshandling McDonnell FH-1 Phantom fighters and Lockheed P2V-3C Neptune twin-engine bombers

Commencement of construction

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 18 April 1807 – Launch of french Bellone, a 44-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy Bellone was a 44-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. French service Bellone, under the command of Guy-Victor Duperré...

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1694 – Launch of HMS Ipswich, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Harwich

1759 – Merlin-class sloop HMS Falcon wrecked on the Îles des Saintes, off Guadeloupe, West Indies
The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy; however, there was a difference, with a platform deck being constructed in the hold in Swallow (i), Merlin, Raven and Swallow (ii), whereas the other seventeen had no platform and thus their depth in hold was nearly twice as much.

1782 - The Battle of the Mona Passage was a naval engagement between a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, and a small French fleet.
French ships Jason (64), Caton (64), Aimable (32) and Ceres (18) captured
The Battle of the Mona Passage was a naval engagement on 19 April 1782 between a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, and a small French fleet. It took place in the Mona Passage, the strait separating Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, shortly after the British victory at the Battle of the Saintes. The British overtook and captured four ships, two of which were 64-gun ships of the line.

The Capture of the French 64-gun ships Caton and Jason by the Valiant, 74 in the Mona Passage, 19 April, 1782

1778 - The Frederica naval action was a naval battle during the American Revolutionary War in which three galleys of the Georgia State Navy defeated a British raiding party off the coast of Georgia
The Frederica naval action was a naval battle during the American Revolutionary War in which three galleys of the Georgia State Navy defeated a British raiding party off the coast of Georgia. The action occurred on April 19, 1778.

Georgia Navy vessels capturing the British squadron on Frederica River

1783 – Launch of HMS Europa, a 50-gun fourth-rate of the Royal Navy, built by Woolwich Dockyard
HMS Europa was a 50-gun fourth-rate of the Royal Navy, built by Woolwich Dockyard in 1783. Europa was based out of Jamaica, and ran aground at Montego Bay in 1785, but was not seriously damaged. When reports of the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars reached the British posts in Jamaica, Europa was sent into action along with the entire British squadron based at Jamaica, which consisted of several 12-pounder frigates and a number of smaller vessels, under the command of Commodore John Ford.

1784 - Launch of HMS Venerable, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Blackwall Yard.

1854 – Launch of Champion of the Seas, the second largest clipper ship destined for the Liverpool, England - Melbourne, Australia passenger service.
Champion of the Seas was the second largest clipper ship destined for the Liverpool, England - Melbourne, Australia passenger service. Champion was ordered by James Baines of the Black Ball Line from Donald McKay. She was launched 19 April 1854 and was abandoned 3 January 1877, off Cape Horn.
Champion of the Seas set a record for the fastest day's run in 24 hours: 465 nautical miles (861 km) noon to noon 10–11 December 1854 under the command of Captain Alexander Newlands. This record stood until August 1984, nearly 130 years.

1890 – Launch of The French ironclad Magenta, an Marceau class ironclad battleship of the French Navy.

1905 – Launch of Liberté, a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s.
She was the lead ship of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class, with the primary difference being the inclusion of a heavier secondary battery.
Liberté was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s. She was the lead ship of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class, with the primary difference being the inclusion of a heavier secondary battery. Liberté carried a main battery of four 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, like the République, but mounted ten 194 mm (7.6 in) guns for her secondary armament in place of the 164 mm (6.5 in) guns of the earlier vessels. Like many late pre-dreadnought designs, Liberté was completed after the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought had entered service, rendering her obsolescent.

Liberté in New York during the visit to the United States

1909 – Launch of São Paulo, a dreadnought battleship designed and built by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, respectively, for the Brazilian Navy
São Paulo was a dreadnought battleship designed and built by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, respectively, for the Brazilian Navy. It was the second of two ships in the Minas Geraes class, and was named after the state and city of São Paulo.
São Paulo was launched on 19 April 1909 and commissioned on 12 July 1910. Soon after, it was involved in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta de Chibata), in which crews on four Brazilian warships mutinied over poor pay and harsh punishments for even minor offenses. After entering the First World War, Brazil offered to send São Paulo and its sister Minas Geraes to Britain for service with the Grand Fleet, but Britain declined since both vessels were in poor condition and lacked the latest fire control technology. In June 1918, Brazil sent São Paulo to the United States for a full refit that was not completed until 7 January 1920, well after the war had ended. On 6 July 1922, São Paulo fired its guns in anger for the first time when it attacked a fort that had been taken during the Tenente revolts. Two years later, mutineers took control of the ship and sailed it to Montevideo in Uruguay, where they obtained asylum.
In the 1930s, São Paulo was passed over for modernization due to its poor condition—it could only reach a top speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), less than half its design speed. For the rest of its career, the ship was reduced to a reserve coastal defense role. When Brazil entered the Second World War, São Paulo sailed to Recife and remained there as the port's main defense for the duration of the war. Stricken in 1947, the dreadnought remained as a training vessel until 1951, when it was taken under tow to be scrapped in the United Kingdom. The tow lines broke during a strong gale on 6 November, when the ships were 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) north of the Azores, and São Paulo was lost.

1989 - USS Iowa – An open breech explosion occurred in the center gun of turret Number Two aboard Iowa, killing all 47 men in the turret.
On 19 April 1989, the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) exploded. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Sandia National Laboratories. The investigations produced conflicting conclusions.
The first investigation into the explosion, conducted by the U.S. Navy, concluded that one of the gun turret crew members, Clayton Hartwig, who died in the explosion, had deliberately caused it. During the investigation, numerous leaks to the media, later attributed to U.S. Navy officers and investigators, implied that Hartwig and another sailor, Kendall Truitt, had engaged in a homosexual relationship and that Hartwig had caused the explosion after their relationship had soured. In its report, however, the U.S. Navy concluded that the evidence did not show that Hartwig was homosexual but that he was suicidal and had caused the explosion with either an electronic or chemical detonator.
The victims' families, the media, and members of the U.S. Congress were sharply critical of the U.S. Navy's findings. The U.S. Senate and U.S. House Armed Services Committees both held hearings to inquire into the Navy's investigation and later released reports disputing the U.S. Navy's conclusions. The Senate committee asked the GAO to review the U.S. Navy's investigation. To assist the GAO, Sandia National Laboratories provided a team of scientists to review the Navy's technical investigation.

A cutaway of a 16-inch gun turret aboard an Iowa-class battleship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
20th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 19 April 1873 – Launch of HMS Amethyst, the lead ship of the Amethyst-class corvettes built for the Royal Navy in the early 1870s. HMS Amethyst was the lead ship of the Amethyst-class corvettes built for the Royal Navy in the early...

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1453 - Fall of Constantinople - Turks fail to prevent Genoese supply ships reaching Constantinople
Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
The Fall of Constantinople (Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit. Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul'un Fethi, lit. 'Conquest of Istanbul') was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading Ottoman army on 29 May 1453. The attackers were commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II, who defeated an army commanded by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos and took control of the imperial capital, ending a 53-day siege that began on 6 April 1453. After conquering the city, Sultan Mehmed transferred the capital of the Ottoman State from Edirne to Constantinople and established his court there.

The Ottoman Turks transport their fleet overland into the Golden Horn.

1657 - Santa Cruz de Teneriffe - British fleet under Robert Blake totally destroyed a Spanish silver fleet of 16 ships at Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife.
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a military operation in the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–60) in which an English fleet under Admiral Robert Blakeattacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. Most of the Spanish merchantmen were scuttled and the remainder were burnt by the English, though the treasure, which had already been landed, was saved.

1768 – Launch of HMS Trident, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth.
From April until June 1778 she was under the command of John Inglis.
For some of the period between 1793 and 1796, she was under the command of Captain Theophilus Jones.
Trident was sold out of the navy in 1816.

1776 – Launch of HMS Camilla, a Royal Navy 20-gun Sphinx-class post ship.
Camilla was built in Chatham Dockyard to a design by John Williams
HMS Camilla was a Royal Navy 20-gun Sphinx-class post ship. Camilla was built in Chatham Dockyard to a design by John Williams and was launched in 1776. She served in the American Revolution, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars, before being sold in 1831.

The Penobscot Expedition naval battle, by Dominic Serres

1781 - HMS Resource (28), an Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate, Cptn. Bartholomew Rowley, took Licorne, former Unicorn, (28) off Cape Blaize.

To Captain Sir Thomas Williams, This Print representing The Capture of the French Frigate La Tribune by His Majesty's Ship The Unicorn on the 8th June 1796 (PAH7894)

1782 - Third Battle of Ushant
or the Action of 20–21 April 1782 was a naval battle fought during the American Revolutionary War, between a French naval fleet of three ships of the line protecting a convoy and two British Royal naval ships of the line off Ushant, a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north-westernmost point of France.
The Third Battle of Ushant or the Action of 20–21 April 1782 was a naval battle fought during the American Revolutionary War, between a French naval fleet of three ships of the line protecting a convoy and two British Royal naval ships of the line off Ushant, a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north-westernmost point of France. This was the third battle that occurred in this region during the course of the war.

HMS Foudroyant towing the Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 30 April 1782 by Dominic Serres

1787 – Launch of french brig Alerte
The French brig Alerte was launched in April 1787. The Royal Navy captured her at Toulon in August 1793, and renamed her HMS Vigilante. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon in December of that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in June 1799 and took her into service as HMS Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.

1796 - HMS Indefatigable (44), Sir Edward Pellew, captured French frigate Virginie (40), Cptn. Jacques Bergeret, off the Lizard
On the morning of 20 April 1796, Indefatigable sighted the French 44-gun frigate Virginie off the Lizard. Indefatigable, Amazon, and Concorde chased Virginie, with Indefatigable catching her just after midnight on 21 April after a chase of 15 hours and 168 miles. After an hour and three quarters of fighting, she still had not struck and had somewhat outmaneuvered Indefatigable when Concorde arrived. Seeing that she was outnumbered, Virginie struck.
Virginie carried 44 guns, 18 and 9-pounders, and had a crew of 340 men under the command of Citizen Bergeret, Capitaine de Vaisseau. She had 14 or 15 men killed, 17 badly wounded, and 10 slightly. She also had four feet of water in her hold from shot holes. Indefatigable had no casualties. Pellew sent Virginie into Plymouth under the escort of Concorde, and followed the next day with Amazon, which had sustained some damage. The Royal Navy took Virginie into service as Virginie.

This coloured engraving shows the naval action between the British Indefatigable and the French La Virginie which took place in April 1791. Indefatigable, shown from the starboard stern quarter, on the right of the picture, is on a starboard tack, passing Virginie which is on a port tack. Cannon smoke swirls between the two ships. Both have multiple holes in their sails. Eventually, the captain of Virginie surrenders to Captain SIr Edward Pellew of the Indefatigable

1796 - HMS Inconstant (36) captured Unite (36) in the Mediterranean.
The Unite was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Surprise made famous by the Patrick O'Brian series about Jack Aubrey.
HMS Surprise was the name the Royal Navy gave to the French Navy's corvette Unité after her capture in 1796. Launched on 16 February 1794, the ship gained fame in 1799 for the recapture of HMS Hermione, and in 1802 was sold out of the service.
Historical fiction author Patrick O'Brian set many of his Aubrey–Maturin series aboard HMS Surprise, including the 2003 film.

Contemporary plans of HMS Surprise

1809 - HMS Alcmene (32), W. Henry Tremlett, wrecked on a shoal at the mouth of the Loire.
or 29th April (dates different in some sources)
HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.

1829 – Launch of HMS President, a large frigate in the British Royal Navy (RN).
HMS President was a large frigate in the British Royal Navy (RN). She was built to replace the previous HMS President, redesignated from the heavy frigate USS President built in 1800 as the last of the original six frigates of the United States Navy under the Naval Act of 1794 and which had been the active flagship of the U.S. Navy until captured while trying to escape the Royal Navy blockade around New York in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812, and which served in the RN until broken up in 1818. The new British President was built using her American predecessor's exact lines for reference, as a reminder to the United States of the capture of their flagship – a fact driven home by President being assigned as the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station in the western Atlantic Ocean under the command of Admiral Sir George Cockburn (1772–1853), who had directed raids throughout the Chesapeake Bay in 1813–1814, culminating in the burning of the American capital Washington, D.C. in 1814.

HMS President in South West India Dock, London, ca. 1880

1861 - Union forces burn several ships and Gosport Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., to prevent Yard facilities and ships from falling into Confederate hands during the Civil War.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most multifaceted. Located on the Elizabeth River, the yard is just a short distance upriver from its mouth at Hampton Roads.
It was established as Gosport Shipyard in 1767. Destroyed during the American Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt and became home to the first operational drydock in the United States in the 1820s. Changing hands during the American Civil War, it served the Confederate States Navy until it was again destroyed in 1862, when it was given its current name. The shipyard was again rebuilt, and has continued operation through the present day.

1893 – Launch of His Majesty's Yacht Britannia, a racing yacht built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
She served both himself and his son King George V, with a long racing career.
His Majesty's Yacht Britannia was a racing yacht built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. She served both himself and his son King George V, with a long racing career.

1909 – Launch of French Condorcet, one of the six Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the early 1900s
Condorcet was one of the six Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. When World War I began in August 1914, she unsuccessfully searched for the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Western and Central Mediterranean. Later that month, the ship participated in the Battle of Antivari in the Adriatic Sea and helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser. Condorcet spent most of the rest of the war blockading the Straits of Otranto and the Dardanelles to keep German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish warships bottled up.
After the war, she was modernized in 1923–25 and subsequently became a training ship. In 1931, the ship was converted into an accommodation hulk. Condorcet was captured intact when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942 and was used by them to house sailors of their navy (Kriegsmarine). She was badly damaged by Allied bombing in 1944, but was later raised and scrapped by 1949.

1913 – Launch of Provence, one of three Bretagne-class battleships built for the French Navy in the 1910s, named in honor of the French region of Provence; she had two sister ships, Bretagne and Lorraine.
Provence was one of three Bretagne-class battleships built for the French Navy in the 1910s, named in honor of the French region of Provence; she had two sister ships, Bretagne and Lorraine. Provence entered service in March 1916, after the outbreak of World War I. She was armed with a main battery of ten 340 mm (13.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

1916 – Launch of HMS Glorious, the second of the three Courageous-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War.
HMS Glorious was the second of the three Courageous-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, they were relatively lightly armed and armoured. Glorious was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later.

1917 - The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916.
Two Royal Navy destroyers defeated a superior force of German Kaiserliche Marine torpedo boats
Two German torpedo boats were sunk; the British suffered damage to both destroyers.
The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916. Two Royal Navy destroyers defeated a superior force of German Kaiserliche Marine torpedo boats[1] (Two German torpedo boats were sunk; the British suffered damage to both destroyers.)

1944 - Paul Hamilton – was a Liberty ship serving as a troopship.
On the evening of 20 April 1944 German bombers attacked her off Cape Bengut near Algiers.
One aerial torpedo struck her and detonated her cargo of high explosives and bombs; the ship and all aboard disappeared within 30 seconds.
The crew and passengers, who included 154 officers and men of the 831st Bombardment Squadron, were all lost. Of the 580 men aboard only one body was recovered.
The SS Paul Hamilton (Hull Number 227) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Paul Hamilton, the third United States Secretary of the Navy.

On her fifth voyage the SS Paul Hamilton left Hampton Roads, Virginia on 2 April 1944 as part of convoy UGS 38, carrying supplies and the ground personnel of the 485th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces to Italy. On the evening of 20 April it was attacked 30 miles (48 km) off the coast of Cape Bengut near Algiers in the Mediterranean Sea by 23 German Ju 88 bombers of III./Kampfgeschwader 26, I. and III./Kampfgeschwader 77. One aerial torpedo struck the Paul Hamilton and detonated the cargo of high explosives and bombs, and the ship and crew disappeared within 30 seconds. The crew and passengers, who included 154 officers and men of the 831st Bombardment Squadron and 317 officers and men of the 32nd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, were all lost. Of the 580 men aboard only one body was recovered.

The explosion of SS Paul Hamilton on 20 April 1944

1944 - Dutch steam trawler Voorbode, loaded with 124,000 kg of explosives, exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen. 160 people were killed and 5,000 wounded, mostly civilians
The Dutch steam trawler Voorbode was a fishing vessel, until it was confiscated by the Germans during World War II and used for military transport. In April 1944, it was on its way from Oslo to Kirkenes when it faced mechanical problems, forcing it to seek repair in Bergen, Norway. Due to lack of control, the ship was allowed entrance to Bergen harbour loaded with 124,000 kg (273,000 lb) of explosives, even though the ship did not satisfy security regulations and should not have been allowed into major cities with this cargo.

Resulting damage
On April 20 at 8:39, the ship exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen. The force of the explosion caused a water column that was hundreds of metres high, spreading heavy debris. Several ships were thrown on land and Voorbode's anchor was later found on the 417-metre-high (1,368 ft) mountain Sandviksfjellet at 60.41756°N 5.34043°E. The air pressure from the explosion and the tsunami that followed flattened whole neighbourhoods near the harbour; then fires broke out and further destroyed the wooden houses, leaving 5,000 people homeless; 160 people were killed and 5,000 wounded, mostly civilians. The Nykirken was among the buildings which were severely damaged.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
21st of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 20 April 1810 - Boats of HMS Firm (12), Lt. John Little, HMS Surly (10), Lt. Richard Welch, and HMS Sharpshooter (14), Lt. John Goldie, cut out privateer Alcide (4) from the mouth of the Piron where she had run ashore. On...

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1631 – Launch of HMS Vanguard, a 40-gun ship of the English Royal Navy, at Woolwich
HMS Vanguard was a 40-gun ship of the English Royal Navy, launched in 1631 at Woolwich, and was the second vessel to bear the name. Officially she was rebuilt from the first Vanguard, but likely only shared some of the timber and fittings from the previous ship. By 1660, her armament had been increased to 56 guns.

1761 – Launch of HMS Ocean, a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham
Ocean was commissioned for service in April 1761 under Captain William Langdon. She was initially assigned to the British fleet under the overall command of Admiral Edward Hawke. In March 1763 Ocean was found to be surplus to Hawke's requirements and she was returned to Plymouth Dockyard to be paid off and placed in ordinary. She remained out of service for the following seven years, undergoing minor repairs in 1769 but not being returned to sea. She was finally recommissioned in October 1770 under Captain James Cranston, and set sail to bolster the Royal Navy presence during the Falklands Crisis with Spain and France.
The crisis concluding without battle, Ocean was returned to Plymouth where she was designated as a guard ship for the port, under the command of Captain Joseph Knight. She was the flagship for Port Admiral Richard Spry from 1772, taking part in home waters patrols and in the Spithead review of June 1773. Captain Knight vacated the vessel in 1774, with command passing briefly to Captain John Reynolds and then to Captain John Laforey. In March 1776 Laforey was replaced by Captain Edward Le Cras, but resumed his post in December of the same year.
She was sold out of the service in 1793.

Scale 1:48. A plan showing sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Ocean' (1761), a 90-gun Second Rate, three decker

Scale: 1:64. A contemporary full hull model of a 90-gun, three-decker ship of the line (circa 1760), built in the Georgian style. The model is decked.

1765 – Launch of HMS Europa, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Lepe, Hampshire.
HMS Europa was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 April 1765 at Lepe, Hampshire. She was renamed HMS Europe in 1778, and spent the rest of her career under this name.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Hannibal (1779), Jupiter (1778), Leander (1780), Adamant (1780), and Europa (1783), all 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-deckers

1798 - The Battle of the Raz de Sein was a naval engagement of the blockade of Brest during the French Revolutionary Wars between a French and Royal Navy ships of the line
French Hercule, a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy, was captured on her maiden voyage by HMS Mars (74), Cptn. Alexander Hood
The Battle of the Raz de Sein was a naval engagement of the blockade of Brest during the French Revolutionary Wars between a French and Royal Navy ships of the line on 21 April 1798. The British blockade fleet under Admiral Lord Bridport had sailed from St Helens on 12 April and on the morning of 21 April was crossing the Iroise Passage when sails were spotted to the east. Three ships were detached in pursuit, led by the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Mars under Captain Alexander Hood. As the British ships approached their quarry a third sail was sighted to the southeast close to the coastline and moving north towards Brest.

The furious action between H.M.S. Mars and the French '74 Hercule off Brest on 21st April 1798, John Christian Schetky

1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
HMS Tremendous (74) and HMS Hindostan (50) engaged Canonniere (50)
The Action of 21 April 1806 was a minor engagement between a French frigate and British forces off South Africa during the Napoleonic Wars. The Île Bonaparte and Île de France constituted French outposts in the Indian Ocean, from which privateers and frigate squadrons could engage in commerce raiding and disrupt British shipping. After encountering a strongly escorted British convoy, the 40-gun Cannonière attempted to flee, but was rejoined by the 74-gun HMS Tremendous. In the ensuing battle, Captain Bourayne displayed superior sailmanship and managed to fend off his much stronger opponent by a combination of manoeuvers that rendered the batteries of Tremendous ineffective, and threatened her with sustaining raking fire. The French frigate thus managed to evade and escape.

In the foreground, HMS Tremendous aborts her attempt at raking Cannonière under the threat of being outmanoeuvred and raked herself by her more agile opponent. In the background, the Indiaman Charlton fires her parting broadside at Cannonière.
The Action of 21 April 1806 as depicted by Pierre-Julien Gilbert. The two events were in fact separated by several hours.

1810 – Launch of HMS America, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Blackwall Yard.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the mizzen, main and foremast channel elevations, sections, and plan views for America (1810), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as fitted to the plan of Captain James Couch [seniority: 24 January 1824]. Signed by Thomas F Hawkes [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1837-1843]

1837 – Launch of HMS Hazard, an 18-gun Favorite-class sloop of the Royal Navy.
HMS Hazard was an 18-gun Favorite-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was one of four Favorite-class ship sloops, which were a ship-rigged and lengthened version of the 1796 Cruizer-class brig-sloop. All four ships of the class were ordered on 10 June 1823. She was launched in 1837 from Portsmouth Dockyard.

1861 - Sloop-of-War USS Saratoga (22), commanded by Alfred Taylor, captures Nightingale, a clipper slaver, at the mouth of the Congo River at Cabinda, Angola, with 961 slaves on board.
USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 26 July 1842 and commissioned on 4 January 1843 with Commander Josiah Tattnall in command.

1861 - slave ship Nightingale was captured in Africa by USS Saratoga,
Originally the tea clipper and slave ship Nightingale, launched in 1851, captured in Africa in 1861 by Saratoga, taken as a prize and purchased by the United States Navy
USS Nightingale (1851) was originally the tea clipper and slave ship Nightingale, launched in 1851. USS Saratoga captured her off Africa in 1861; the United States Navy then purchased her.
During the American Civil War Nighingale served as a supply ship and collier supporting Union Navy ships blockading the Confederate States of America. After the war the Navy sold Nightingale, which went on to a long career in Arctic exploration and merchant trading before foundering in the North Atlantic in 1893.

1900 – Launch of SMS Kaiser Barbarossa, a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class.
SMS Kaiser Barbarossa (His Majesty's Ship Emperor Barbarossa) was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class. The ship was built for the Imperial Navy, which had begun a program of expansion at the direction of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Construction took place at Schichau, in Danzig. Kaiser Barbarossa was laid down in August 1898, launched on 21 April 1900, and commissioned in June 1901, at the cost of 20,301,000 marks. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns inside of two twin gun turrets.

The German Imperial Navy Kaiser-Friedrich-III-class battleship Kaiser Barbarossa before 1914.

1907 – Launch of Roma, an Italian Regina Elena class dreadnought battleship
Roma was an Italian pre-dreadnought battleship, laid down in 1903, launched in 1907 and completed in 1908. She was the third member of the Regina Elena class, which included three other vessels: Regina Elena, Napoli, and Vittorio Emanuele. Roma was armed with a main battery of two 12 in (300 mm) guns and twelve 8 in (200 mm) guns. She was quite fast for the period, with a top speed of nearly 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph).

1936 – Launch of Luigi di Savoia Duca Degli Abruzzi and at the same day Giuseppe Garibaldi, both Italian Duca degli Abruzzi-class light cruisers, that served in the Regia Marina during World War II.
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian Duca degli Abruzzi-class light cruiser, that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. After the war she was retained by the Marina Militare and upgraded. She was built by CRDA, in Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard Trieste and named after the Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Decommissioned in 1953, Giuseppe Garibaldi was converted between 1957 and 1961, at the La Spezia shipyards, into a guided missile cruiser.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
22nd of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 21 April 1861 - Sloop-of-War USS Saratoga (22), commanded by Alfred Taylor, captures Nightingale, a clipper slaver, at the mouth of the Congo River at Cabinda, Angola, with 961 slaves on board. USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the...

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1401 - According to legend, a Hamburgian fleet led by Simon of Utrecht caught up with Störtebeker's force near Heligoland.
According to some stories, Störtebeker's ship had been disabled by a traitor who cast molten lead into the links of the chain which controlled the ship's rudder.
Störtebeker and his crew were captured and brought to Hamburg, where they were tried for piracy.
Nikolaus Storzenbecher, or Klaus Störtebeker known as Germany's most famous pirate (1360 in Wismar – 20 October 1401 in Hamburg), was a leader and the best known representative of a companionship of privateers known as the Victual Brothers (German: Vitalienbrüder). The Victual Brothers (Latin "victualia") were originally hired during a war between Denmark and Sweden to fight the Danish and supply the besieged Swedish capital Stockholm with provisions. After the end of the war, the Victual Brothers continued to capture merchant vessels for their own account and named themselves "Likedeelers" (literally: equal sharers).


1676 - Battle of Augusta.
A French fleet of 29 men-of-war, 5 frigates and 8 fireships under Abraham Duquesne engaged 17 Dutch and 10 Spanish ships plus 5 fireships under Lieutenant-Admiral-General Michiel de Ruyter.
The battle was a short but intense affair and ended abruptly when Duquesne, after hearing that De Ruyter had been mortally wounded, retreated.
Neither side lost a ship, though there were many dead and wounded, especially among the Dutch.
The naval Battle of Augusta (also known as the Battle of Agosta) took place on 22 April 1676 during the Franco-Dutch War and was fought between a French fleet of 29 man-of-war, five frigates and eight fireships under Abraham Duquesne and a Dutch-Spanish fleet of 27 (17 Dutch, 10 Spanish) plus five fireships with Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral-General Michiel de Ruyter in command. The battle was a short but intense affair and ended abruptly when Duquesne, after hearing that De Ruyter had been mortally wounded when a cannonball struck him in the right leg, retreated. Neither side lost a ship, though there were many dead and wounded, especially among the Dutch.

Naval Battle of Augusta, by Ambroise-Louis Garneray.

1806 - Death of Pierre-Charles Villeneuve French admiral (b. 1763)
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (31 December 1763 – 22 April 1806) was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and the Spanish fleets that were defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.


1808 - HMS Goree (18), Joseph Spear, engaged French brigs Pilade and Palinure in Grande Bourg Bay at Marie Galante.
HMS Favourite (or Favorite) was a 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe. The French captured her in 1806 and renamed her Favorite. However, the British recaptured her in 1807 and renamed her HMS Goree. She became a prison ship in 1810 and was broken up in Bermuda in 1817.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with midship framing, and longitudinal half-breadth for Cormorant (1794) and Favourite (1794), both 16-gun Ship Sloop (with quarter deck & forecastle), building at Rotherhithe by Messrs Randall & Brent

1808 - HMS Bermuda Sloop (18), William Henry Byam, wrecked on Memory Rock, Little Bahama Bank.
HMS Bermuda was an 18-gun Bermuda sloop of the Royal Navy.
Bermuda was built in Bermuda of Bermuda cedar in 1805, as the lead ship of her class. The Bermudas were modified versions of the Dasher class of 1797, and eventually consisted of six ships. She was launched in 1805, and commissioned in October that year under the command of William Henry Byam, who transferred from Busy, which was then on the Halifax, Nova Scotia station. Bermuda only spent three years in service before being wrecked on Memory Rock, Little Bermuda, on 22 April 1808. All the crew were saved and Captain Byam went on to command HMS Opossum.

1813 – Launch of HMS Wolfe (later HMS Montreal, originally HMS Sir George Prevost); a 20-gun sloop-of-war, at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard at Kingston, Upper Canada,
HMS Wolfe (later HMS Montreal, originally HMS Sir George Prevost) was a 20-gun sloop-of-war, launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard at Kingston, Upper Canada, on 22 April 1813. She served in the British naval squadron in several engagements on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Upon her launch, Wolfe was made the flagship of the squadron until larger vessels became available. Along with the naval engagements on Lake Ontario, Wolfe supported land operations in the Niagara region and at the Battle of Fort Oswego (as Montreal). Following the war, the vessel was laid up in reserve and eventually sold in 1832.

Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some inboard details and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Montreal (1814), a 22-gun Sloop, as altered in April 1815 to include a spar deck. Signed by Thomas Strickland [Master Shipwright, Kingston Naval Yard, 1814-1815 (died)]

1902 – Launch of Herzogin Cecilie, a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer)
Herzogin Cecilie was a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer), named after German Crown Princess Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886–1954), spouse of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1882–1951) (Herzogin being German for Duchess). She sailed under German, French and Finnish flags.

1916 - the troop ship SS Hsin-Yu collided with the Chinese cruiser Hai Yung in a thick fog while en route to Foo Chow south of the Chu Sen Islands.
She sank killing more than 1,000 people. A foreign engineer, nine sailors and 20 soldiers were the only survivors.

1925 - Launch of Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi
Akagi (Japanese: 赤城 "Red Castle") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), named after Mount Akagi in present-day Gunma Prefecture. Though she was laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, Akagi was converted to an aircraft carrier while still under construction to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The ship was rebuilt from 1935 to 1938 with her original three flight decks consolidated into a single enlarged flight deck and an island superstructure. The second Japanese aircraft carrier to enter service, and the first large or "fleet" carrier, Akagi and the related Kaga figured prominently in the development of the IJN's new carrier striking force doctrine that grouped carriers together, concentrating their air power. This doctrine enabled Japan to attain its strategic goals during the early stages of the Pacific War from December 1941 until mid-1942.

Akagi on trials off the coast of Iyo, 17 June 1927, with all three flight decks visible

2010 - Deepwater Horizon, an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig, sunk two days after an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig.
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon (a later asset of Transocean), registered in Majuro, and leased to BP from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 ft (10,683 m) and measured depth of 35,055 ft (10,685 m) in the Tiber Oil Field at Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Houston, in 4,132 feet (1,259 m) of water.
On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing at the seabed and causing the largest oil spill in U.S. waters.

Deadly accident Deepwater Horizon National Geographic Documentary 2017

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23rd of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 21 April 1861 - Sloop-of-War USS Saratoga (22), commanded by Alfred Taylor, captures Nightingale, a clipper slaver, at the mouth of the Congo River at Cabinda, Angola, with 961 slaves on board. USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the...

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1598 – Birth of Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (23 April 1598 – 10 August 1653) was an officer and later admiral in the Dutch navy. His first name is also spelled Maerten


1692 – Launch of HMS Cornwall, an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1690s.
HMS Cornwall was an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1690s. She served in the War of the Grand Alliance, and in her first year took part in the Battle of Barfleur and the action at La Hougue.

Drawing, inscribed at top, apparently by the artist 'The Burning of the Affrica Adml Reggio's ship of 74 guns about 10 or 12 Lgs. [leagues] to windward of the Havannah by the Cornwall and Strafford. Oct 1748.' It shows the aftermath of the Battle of Havana - also called Knowles's Action - on 1 October when Admiral Don Andres Reggio, commanding the Spanish squadron in the 'Africa' (nominally of 70 guns but reported to have been carrying 75) had been chased into a small bay and burnt his ship to prevent her capture. Knowles's flagship 'Cornwall' (80 guns)

1697 - Birth of George Anson, Admiral
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, PC, FRS (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Battle of Cape Passaro during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. He then undertook a circumnavigation of the globe during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Anson commanded the fleet that defeated the French Admiral de la Jonquière at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre during the War of the Austrian Succession.
Anson went on to be First Lord of the Admiralty during the Seven Years' War. Among his reforms were the removal of corrupt defence contractors, improved medical care, submitting a revision of the Articles of War to Parliament to tighten discipline throughout the Navy, uniforms for commissioned officers, the transfer of the Marines from Army to Navy authority, and a system for rating ships according to their number of guns.


1794 - The Action of 23 April 1794 took place between a British squadron of five frigates, three were captured
HMS Arethusa (38) and HMS Flora (36) captured French Pomone (44) and Babet (22) off Guernsey.
The rest of the squadron, HMS Melampus (36), HMS Nymphe (36),and HMS Concorde (36) captured Engageante (38) but Résolue escaped.
The Action of 23 April 1794 took place between a British squadron of five frigates under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren and three frigates and a corvette under the command of Chef d'escadre F. Desgarceaux during the French Revolutionary Wars. Three of the French ships were captured.

Capture of La Pomone L' Engageante & La Babet April 23rd 1794 (PAD5471)

1796 – Launch of French Désirée, a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy.
Désirée was a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1800 and took her into service under her existing name. she was laid up in 1815, converted to a slop ship in 1823, and sold in 1832.
HMS Dart, under Patrick Campbell, captured Désirée on 8 July 1800 in the Raid on Dunkirk. Many British vessels shared in the proceeds of the capture.

The plate represents the sloop 'Dart', commanded by Captain P. Campbell in the act of boarding and taking the French frigate 'La Desiree'. 'Dart' is in the centre of the picture. Inscribed: "Capture of La Desiree - July 7th 1800."

1796 – Launch of HMS Monmouth, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Rotherhithe.
HMS Monmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1796 at Rotherhithe. She had been designed and laid down for the East India Company, but the Navy purchased her after the start of the French Revolutionary War. She served at the Battle of Camperdown and during the Napoleonic Wars. Hulked in 1815, she was broken up in 1834.

1803 – Launch of HMS Colossus, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Deptford Dockyard
HMS Colossus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Deptford Dockyard on 23 April 1803. She was designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large class 74s, and was the name ship of her class, the other being Warspite. As a large 74, she carried 24 pdrs on her upper gun deck, as opposed to the 18 pdrs found on the middling and common class 74s. She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, and was broken up in 1826

1807 – Launch of HMS Bulwark, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth
HMS Bulwark was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1807 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pounders found on the middling and common class 74s.

1807 – Launch of HMS Horatio and also of HMS Hussar, both Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate Lively-class frigates, built out of fir timbers at the yard of George Parsons in Bursledon.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Horatio (1807), a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate, after her Large Repair at Deptford Dockyard between 1817 and 1819. The plan records the various frames replaced with foreign timbers or old timbers from other ships. Signed by William Stone [Master Shipwright, Deptford Dockyard, 1813-1830]

1838 – Launch of French Cléopâtre, a 50-gun frigate of the Artémise class that served in the French Navy.
Cléopâtre was a 50-gun frigate of the Artémise class that served in the French Navy. Launched in 1838 after an almost 11-year period of construction she was in commission for only three months during her transfer from Saint Servan to Brest. She was recommissioned in 1842. In 1843 the Cléopâtre rescued all 34 people aboard the Regular East Indiaman that had been abandoned during a voyage from London to Bombay. She sailed to Japan in 1846 in an attempt to open up trade with that country and served as a transport during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. She was used as a storage hulk after 1864 and broken up in 1869.

Portrait of Artémise by François Roux

1838 - with the arrival of SS Sirius and SS Great Western in New York on the same day, the time of transatlantic passenger services is reduced extremely
SS Great Western of 1838, was an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship, the first steamship purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic, and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1837 to 1839. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Great Western proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful wooden Atlantic paddle-steamers. She was capable of making record Blue Riband voyages as late as 1843. Great Western worked to New York for 8 years until her owners went out of business. She was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and was scrapped in 1856 after serving as a troop ship during the Crimean War

PS Great Western in 1838

1853 – Launch of HMS James Watt, a 91-gun steam and sail-powered second rate ship of the line.
HMS James Watt was a 91-gun steam and sail-powered second rate ship of the line. She had originally been ordered as one of a two ship class, with her sister HMS Cressy, under the name HMS Audacious. She was renamed on 18 November 1847 in honour of James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. She was the only Royal Navy ship to bear this name. Both ships were reordered as screw propelled ships, James Watt in 1849, and Cressy in 1852. James Watt became one of the four-ship Agamemnon-class of ships of the line. They were initially planned as 80-gun ships, but the first two ships built to the design, HMS Agamemnon and James Watt, were rerated on 26 March 1851 to 91 guns ships, later followed by the remainder of the class.

1890 – Launch of Skomvær, the name of a steel-hulled barque built in 1890 for J. C. & G. Knudsen in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway
Skomvær was the name of a steel-hulled barque built in 1890 for J. C. & G. Knudsen in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway. The ship, which was designed by naval architect Randulf Hansen and constructed at Laxevaags Maskin- og Jernskibsbyggeri in Bergen, was the first sailing ship constructed with steel in Norway and for a time the largest Norwegian sailing vessel ever built. However, the ship struggled to compete in the 20th century with the advent of the steamship, and in 1924 she was decommissioned and sold for scrap.
Skomvær entered the public eye once again in 1960, when musician Erik Bye wrote the song "Skomværsvalsen" as a tribute to the ship and her crew. A fundraising effort by the artist led to the construction of the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue boat Skomvær II that same year, and in 1986 the organization named another of its boats, Skomvær III, after the ship.

Skomvær heeling significantly at a speed of 14.5 knots on her way to Australia in 1897. Photo signed "Jörgen C. Knudsen."

1891 – Launch of Umbria and Etruria, both protected Regioni-class cruisers of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1890s
The Regioni class was a group of six protected cruisers built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the late 1880s through the early 1900s. The class comprised Umbria, Lombardia, Etruria, Liguria, Elba, and Puglia, all of which were named for regions of Italy with the exception of Elba, which was named for the island. The class is sometimes referred as the Umbria class, for the first ship to be laid down. The ships, built by four different shipyards, varied slightly in their size, speed, and armament, but all could steam at about 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) and their main armament consisted of four 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns and six 12 cm (4.7 in) guns.

Etruria in 1909

1918 - Advance of 23 April 1918
In late 1917, light forces of the High Seas Fleet began interdicting British convoys to Norway. On 17 October the light cruisers Brummer and Bremse intercepted one of the convoys, sinking nine of the twelve cargo ships and the two escorting destroyers—Mary Rose and Strongbow—before turning back to Germany. On 12 December, four German destroyers ambushed a second British convoy of five cargo vessels and two British destroyers. All five transports were sunk, as was one of the destroyers. Following these two raids, Admiral David Beatty, the commander of the Grand Fleet, detached battleships from the battle fleet to protect the convoys. The German navy was now presented with an opportunity for which it had been waiting the entire war: a portion of the numerically stronger Grand Fleet was separated and could be isolated and destroyed. Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper planned the operation: the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group, along with light cruisers and destroyers, would attack one of the large convoys, while the rest of the High Seas Fleet would stand by, ready to attack the British dreadnought battleship squadron.
At 05:00 on 23 April 1918, the German fleet, with SMS Hindenburg in the lead, departed from the Schillig roadstead. Hipper ordered wireless transmissions be kept to a minimum, to prevent British intelligence from receiving radio intercepts. At 06:10 the German battlecruisers had reached a position approximately 60 kilometers southwest of Bergen, when SMS Moltke lost her inner starboard propeller. Without resistance from the water, the propeller-less shaft began spinning faster and faster, until one of the engine gears flew apart. Shrapnel from the broken machinery damaged several boilers and tore a hole in the hull; the ship was dead in the water. The ship's crew effected temporary repairs, which allowed the ship to steam at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph). However, it was decided to take the ship under tow by the battleship SMS Oldenburg. Despite this setback, Hipper continued northward. By 14:00, Hipper's force had crossed the convoy route several times but had found nothing. At 14:10, Hipper turned his ships southward. By 18:37, the German fleet had made it back to the defensive minefields surrounding their bases. It was later discovered that the convoy had left port a day later than expected by the German planning staff.

Hindenburg steams to Scapa Flow

1918 – The Zeebrugge Raid (Dutch: Aanval op de haven van Zeebrugge; French: Raid sur Zeebruges) on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
The Zeebrugge Raid (Dutch: Aanval op de haven van Zeebrugge; French: Raid sur Zeebruges) on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. The British intended to sink obsolete ships in the canal entrance, to prevent German vessels from leaving port. The port was used by the Imperial German Navy as a base for U-boats and light shipping, which were a threat to Allied control of the English Channel and southern North Sea. Several attempts to close the Flanders ports by bombardment failed and Operation Hush, a 1917 plan to advance up the coast, proved abortive. As sinkings by U-boats increased, finding a way to close the ports became urgent and the Admiralty became more willing to consider a raid.
An attempt to raid Zeebrugge was made on 2 April 1918 but was cancelled at the last moment, after the wind direction changed and made it impossible to lay a smokescreen to cover the ships. Another attempt was made on 23 April, with a concurrent attack on Ostend. Two of three blockships were scuttled in the narrowest part of the Bruges Canal and one of two submarines rammed the viaduct linking the shore and the mole, to trap the German garrison. The blockships were sunk in the wrong place and after a few days the Germans had opened the canal to submarines at high tide. The British suffered 583 casualties and the Germans 24.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History Other Events on 23 April 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle. The Battle of Clontarf (Irish: Cath Chluain Tarbh) was a battle that took place on 23 April 1014...

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1590 - The First Battle of the Strait of Gibraltar was a naval engagement that took place on 24 April 1590 during the Anglo-Spanish War.
The First Battle of the Strait of Gibraltar was a naval engagement that took place on 24 April 1590 during the Anglo-Spanish War. Ten English armed merchant vessels of the Levant Company were met and intercepted by twelve Spanish galleys under Pedro de Acuña in the service of Spain in the region of the Gibraltar Straits. English sources claim that the English were able to repel the galleys inflicting heavy losses after a six-hour fight, while Spanish sources show the battle as indecisive.

1709 - British channel squadron under Lord Dursley defeated French squadron under Duguay-Trouin, taking Glorieux (44), and HMS Bristol was captured, but re-captured the next day, which sank soon afterwards.

1715 - Battle of Fehmarn - The Action of 24 April 1715 was a battle took place during the Great Northern War
The Action of 24 April 1715 was a battle took place on 24 April 1715, during the Great Northern War. It was a victory for a Danish squadron under Gabel, which captured five of the six Swedish ships under Wachtmeister at the cost of 65 dead and 224 wounded.

1742 – Launch of HMS Stirling Castle, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment,

1774 – Launch of HMS Roebuck, a 44-gun, fifth-rate ship of the Royal Navy which served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars.
HMS Roebuck was a 44-gun, fifth-rate ship of the Royal Navy which served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1769, to operate in the shallower waters of North America, she joined Lord Howe's squadron towards the end of 1775 and took part in operations against New York the following year, engaging the American gun batteries at Red Hook during the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, and forcing a passage up the Hudson River in October. On 25 August 1777, Roebuck escorted troopships to Turkey Point, Maryland, where an army was landed for an assault on Philadelphia. She was again called upon to accompany troopships in December 1779; this time for an attack on Charleston. When the ships-of-the-line, which were too large to enter the harbour, were sent back to New York, Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot made Roebuck his flagship. She was therefore at the front of the attack; leading the British squadron across the bar to engage Fort Moultrie and the American ships beyond.

Roebuck with Phoenix, Tartar and three smaller vessels passing forts Washington and Lee on the Hudson River

1778 – The North Channel naval duel
During the American Revolution, the Continental Navy sloop-of-war USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones, captures the British sloop HMS Drake after an hours battle off Carrickfergus, Ireland.
The North Channel naval duel was a single-ship action between the United States Continental Navy sloop of war Ranger (Captain John Paul Jones) and the British Royal Navy sloop of war Drake (Captain George Burdon) on the evening of 24 April 1778. Fought in the North Channel, separating Ireland from Scotland, it was the first American defeat of a Royal Navy ship within British home waters, and also very nearly the only American victory over the Royal Navy in the Revolution achieved without an overwhelming superiority of force. The action was one of a series of actions by Jones that brought the American War of Independence to British waters.

The life of John Paul Jones – written from original letters and manuscripts in possession of his relatives, and from the collection prepared by John Henry Sherburne – together with Chevalier Jones' (14777463374)

1778 - Battle off Liverpool, Nova Scotia (1778)
The Battle off Liverpool took place on 24 April 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved the British vessel HMS Blonde and the French vessel Duc de Choiseul (24-gun frigate).

1790 – Launch of HMS Leopard, a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Leopard was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was notable for the actions of her captain in 1807, which were emblematic of the tensions that later erupted in the War of 1812 between Britain and America. She was wrecked in 1814.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration detail and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Leopard (1790), a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker, as built at Sheerness Dockyard

1797 - HMS Albion (74), lead ship of the Albion-class, wrecked off Swin
HMS Albion was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 16 May 1763 at Deptford, being adapted from a design of the old 90-gun ship Neptune which had been built in 1730, and was the first ship to bear the name. She was the first of a series of ships built to the same lines, which became known as the Albion-class ship of the line.

1798 - HMS Pearl (32) engaged two French frigates Vertu, Charles René Magon de Médine, and Régénérée escorting a convoy of two Spanish ships of the line back to Europe.

Shortly after commissioning the British ship ‘Pearl’ Captain George Montagu was cruising off Fayal in the Azores when early in the morning he saw and chased a sail. After several hours he was able to open fire and a two hour fight ensued. The other ship eventually struck and it turned out to be the Spanish frigate ‘Santa Monica’. Though the Spanish ship was less strongly armed, Montagu’s crew was very raw since only ten of the men having been in a man-of-war before. In the painting, the ‘Pearl’ is in the centre foreground and is shown in the process of raking the ‘Santa Monica’ in the left of the picture. In the right distance are two more British frigates. The painting is signed ‘Tho. Whitcombe 1805’

1804 – Launch of Armide, a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, at Rochefort.
Armide was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in 1804 at Rochefort. She served briefly in the French navy before the British captured her in 1806. She went on to serve in the British Navy until 1815 when she was broken up.

1872 – Launch of SMS Erzherzog Albrecht, an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1870s, the only member of her class
SMS Erzherzog Albrecht was an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1870s, the only member of her class. Her design was similar to the ironclad Custoza, but Erzherzog Albrecht was built to a smaller size; like Custoza, she was an iron-hulled casemate ship armed with a battery of eight heavy guns. The ship was laid down in June 1870, was launched in April 1872, and was commissioned in June 1874. The ship's service career was limited; tight naval budgets precluded an active fleet policy in the 1870s, which did not markedly improve in the 1880s. Her first period of active service came in 1881 and 1882, when she helped suppress a revolt in Cattaro Bay. In 1908, she was converted into a tender for the gunnery training school, having been renamed Feuerspeier. In 1915, she became a barracks ship, and after World War I ended in 1918, was ceded to Italy as a war prize. She was renamed Buttafuoco, served in the Italian Navy as a hulk through World War II before being scrapped in 1950.

1899 - Scottish sailing barque Loch Sloy, that operated between Great Britain and Australia, wrecked on Brothers Rocks, about 300 metres from shore off Maupertuis Bay, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Of the 34 passengers and crew on board, there were only four survivors, one who died from injuries and exposure shortly afterwards.
Loch Sloy was a Scottish sailing barque that operated between Great Britain and Australia from the late 19th century until 1899. Her name was drawn from Loch Sloy, a freshwater loch which lies to the north of the Burgh of Helensburgh, in the region of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Ships Captains: 1877 - 1885 James Horne, 1885 – 1890 John McLean, 1890 – 1895 Charles Lehman, 1895 – 1896 James R. George, 1896 – 1899 William J. Wade, 1899 Peter Nicol.
In the early hours of 24 April 1899, Loch Sloy overran her distance when trying to pick up the light at Cape Borda and was wrecked on Brothers Rocks, about 300 metres from shore off Maupertuis Bay, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Of the 34 passengers and crew on board, there were only four survivors, one who died from injuries and exposure shortly afterwards.

1916 – Voyage of the James Caird begins
Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.
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.

A depiction of the James Caird landing at South Georgia at the end of its voyage on 10 May 1916

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
25th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 24 April 1913 – Launch of Caio Duilio, an Italian Andrea Doria-class battleship that served in the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II Caio Duilio was an Italian Andrea Doria-class battleship that served in the Regia...

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1185 - The battle of Dan-no-ura was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū
The battle of Dan-no-ura (壇ノ浦の戦い Dan-no-ura no tatakai) was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On April 25, 1185, the fleet of the Minamoto clan (Genji), led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the fleet of the Taira clan (Heike). The morning rip tide was an advantage to the Taira in the morning but turned to their disadvantage in the afternoon. The young Emperor Antoku was one of those who perished amongst the Taira nobles.

1507 - German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Martin Waldseemüller (Latinized as Martinus Ilacomylus, Ilacomilus or Hylacomylus; c. 1470 – 16 March 1520) was a German cartographer.
He and Matthias Ringmann are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

Universalis Cosmographia, Waldseemüller's 1507 world map which was the first to show the Americas separate from Asia

1607 - The naval Battle of Gibraltar took place during the Eighty Years' War when a Dutch fleet surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of Gibraltar.
During the four hours of action, most of the Spanish ships were destroyed
The naval Battle of Gibraltar took place on 25 April 1607 during the Eighty Years' War when a Dutch fleet surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of Gibraltar. During the four hours of action, most of the Spanish ships were destroyed.

The Battle of Gibraltar by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

1763 – Launch of HMS Ramillies, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham Dockyard.

Loss of HMS Ramillies by Robert Dodd artist

1807 – Launch of HMS Garland, a 22-gun Royal Navy Laurel-class post ship. She was built by Richard Chapman at Bideford
HMS Garland was a 22-gun Royal Navy Laurel-class post ship. She was built by Richard Chapman at Bideford and launched on 5 May 1807. She saw action in the War of 1812 and was sold in 1817.

1811 – Launch of french Auguste, an 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané.

1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
The Swan River Colony was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia.
The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832 the colony was renamed the Colony of Western Australia, when the colony's founding lieutenant-governor, Captain James Stirling, belatedly received his commission. However, the name "Swan River Colony" remained in informal use for many years afterwards.

1843 – Launch of HMY Victoria and Albert, a twin-paddle steamer
HMY Victoria and Albert was a twin-paddle steamer launched 25 April 1843. It functioned as a royal yacht of the sovereign of the United Kingdom, owned and operated by the Royal Navy. She was laid down in 1842 at Pembroke Dock and was designed by William Symonds. She measured 1,034 tons burthen, carried two guns, and was the first royal yacht to be steam powered, being fitted with a 430 horsepower (320 kW) engine.

HMY Victoria and Albert, depicted during a royal visit to Le Tréport, France; September 1843.

Scale: 1:96. A contemporary full hull model of the Royal Yacht Victoria & Albert(I) (1843). Built in ‘bread and butter’ fashion, the model is decked and fully equipped and mounted on its original baseboard. It is complete with a variety of equipment including windlass, ventilation cowls, skylights, deckhouses, a wheel, a full complement of boats slung from davits and two stump masts

1857 - Launch of HMS Royal Sovereign, originally laid down as a 121-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Royal Sovereign was originally laid down as a 121-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She would have mounted sixteen 8 in (200 mm) cannon, 114 32-pounder (15 kg) guns, and a 68-pounder (31 kg) pivot gun. With the rise of steam and screw propulsion, she was ordered to be converted on the stocks to a 131-gun screw ship, with conversion beginning on 25 January 1855. She was finally launched directly into the ordinary on 25 April 1857. She measured 3,765 long tons (3,825 t) burthen, with a gundeck of 240 feet 6 inches (73.30 m) and breadth of 62 feet (19 m), and a crew of 1,100, with engines of 780 nhp.

1908 - off the Isle of Wight: the HMS Gladiator collided with the US liner SS St. Paul and Capsized - 127 people died

Raising of HMS Gladiator

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
26th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 26 April 1607 - Late in 1606, English colonizers set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World. The fleet consisted of the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, all under the leadership...

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1607 - Late in 1606, English colonizers set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World. The fleet consisted of the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, all under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport.
They made a particularly long voyage of four months, including a stop in the Canary Islands and subsequently Puerto Rico, and finally departed for the American mainland on April 10, 1607.
The expedition made landfall on April 26, 1607 at a place which they named Cape Henry, Chesapeake Bay, Mid of May they found Jamestown
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the east bank of the James (Powhatan) River about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 O.S.;(May 14, 1607 N.S.), and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke, established in 1585 on Roanoke Island. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony of Virginia for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699.

Colonial Jamestown About 1614

1717 - Whydah Gally – a slave ship that was captured by the pirate Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy, and refitted as his flagship.
On 26 April 1717 off of Cape Cod she ran aground and capsized in a fierce storm. Bellamy and 143 of his crew were lost, as was and more than 4.5 short tons (4.1 tonnes) of gold and silver. There were two survivors. Whydah and her treasure eluded discovery for over 260 years, until being discovered in 1984 under only 14 feet (4.3 m) of water and 5 feet (1.5 m) of sand. She is the only authenticated pirate shipwreck yet found.
The Whydah Gally /ˈhwɪdə ˈɡæli, ˈhwɪdˌɔː/ (commonly known simply as the Whydah) was a fully rigged galley ship that was originally built as a passenger, cargo, and slave ship. On the return leg of its maiden voyage of the triangle trade, it began a new role in the Golden Age of Piracy, when it was captured by the pirate Captain Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy.
Bellamy sailed the Whydah up the coast of colonial America, capturing ships as he went. On 26 April 1717, the Whydah was caught in a violent storm and wrecked. Only two of Whydah's crew survived, along with seven others who were on a sloop captured by Bellamy earlier that day. Six of the nine survivors were hanged, two who had been forced into piracy were freed, and one Indian crewman was sold into slavery.
The Whydah and her treasure eluded discovery for over 260 years until 1984, when the wreck was found – buried under 10 ft (3 m) to 50 ft (15 m) feet of sand, in depths ranging from 16 ft (5 m) to 30 ft (9 m) feet deep, spread four miles parallel to the Cape's coast. With the discovery of the ship's bell in 1985 and a small brass placard in 2013, both inscribed with the ship's name and maiden voyage date, the Whydah is the only fully authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck ever discovered.

model of Whydah

1763 – Launch of French Bordelois, a 56-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the city of Bordeaux, and built by engineer Léon Guignace on a design by Antoine Groignard.
Bordelois was a 56-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the city of Bordeaux, and built by engineer Léon Guignace on a design by Antoine Groignard. Complete too late to serve in the Seven Years' War, she was razéed into a frigate and used as an East Indiaman. She was rebuilt into a frigate to serve in the War of American Independence. Captured by HMS Romney, she was brought into British service as HMS Artois.

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)

1797 - The Action of 26 April 1797 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a Spanish convoy of two frigates was trapped and defeated off the Spanish town of Conil de la Frontera by British ships of the Cadiz blockade.
HMS Irresistible (74) and HMS Emerald (36) captured Spanish frigates Elena (36) and Nimfa (36) in Conil Bay, near Cape Trafalgar.
Elena ran ashore and was got off but was so damaged that she had to be destroyed.

1808 – Launch of HMS Iphigenia, a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings
HMS Iphigenia was a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings.
The French captured her at the debacle of Grand Port and in their service she participated in the capture of several British vessels. The British recaptured her and she served in the West Africa squadron (or "Preventative Service"), combating the slave trade. She was broken up in 1851 after serving for many years as a training ship.

Detail of the Battle of Grand Port: HMS Iphigenia striking her colours (actually happened the next day) Oil on canvas

1828 – Launch of british Lord William Bentink (1828 Bristol ship) at Bristol.
She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and one transporting convicts to Tasmania. She was wrecked on June 18, 1840, off the harbour of Bombay.

'Lord William Bentinck' (1828) Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Lord William Bentinck' (1828), a 123ft, three-masted merchant ship. Mould Loft Number 69. The Lloyd's Survey Report (LON2338) confirms the builder, dimensions and tonnage, as well as notes that in 1829 she had part of her keel replaced in consequence of 'having been onshore'. 'Lord William Bentinck' (1828)

1853 – Launch of RMS Atrato was a UK iron-hulled steamship.
She was built in 1853 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company as a side-wheel paddle steamer, and when completed was the World's largest passenger ship.
RMS Atrato was a UK iron-hulled steamship. She was built in 1853 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company as a side-wheel paddle steamer, and when completed was the World's largest passenger ship. She was a Royal Mail Ship until 1870.
In 1870 RMSP traded her in and in 1872 she was converted to a single screw ship with a compound steam engine. From 1872 Aberdeen Line chartered her to run to Victoria and New Zealand. In 1880 she was renamed Rochester. She sank in 1884.

Royal Mail Steam Ship Atrato Caird & Co, Engineers & Builders, Greenock. Starboard side view (PAH0277)

1865 – Launch of HMS Bellerophon, a central battery ironclad built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1860s

HMS Bellerophon as she appeared when completed in 1866.

1881 - HMS Doterel – The sloop sank at anchor off Punta Arenas after an explosion killing 143 members of a crew of 155, while on her way to join the Pacific Station.
HMS Doterel was a Doterel-class sloop launched by the Royal Navy in 1880. She sank at anchor off Punta Arenas after an explosion on 26 April 1881. Her loss caused the deaths of 143 crew members, and there were 12 survivors. She was en route to join the Pacific Station. Her loss was initially the source of much speculation. Causes considered included an attack by the Fenians, a lost torpedo, and a coal gas explosion. An enquiry in September 1881 concluded coal gas was the cause.
In November 1881, an explosion in HMS Triumph killed three men and wounded seven; it was determined to have been caused by "xerotine siccative", one of a compound commonly called "patent driers." A survivor of the Doterel explosion recalled smelling that compound shortly before the explosion. In 1883 the government determined xerotine siccative caused the first explosion on Doterel, which set off the more damaging explosion of the forward magazine. The Admiralty ordered the compound withdrawn from use in the Royal Navy and better ventilation below decks.

Recovery of Doterel's wreckage

1887 – Launch of Thistle, the unsuccessful Scottish challenger of the seventh America's Cup in 1887 against American defender Volunteer.

Thistle in September 1887

1943 – Launch of USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy.
USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit by four separate Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I". Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

USS Intrepid (CV-11) in the Philippine Sea, November 1944

Essex-class modernizations 1944-1960.

1952 - USS Hobson - On the night of 26 April 1952, Hobson was steaming in formation with carrier USS Wasp (CV-18) about 600 miles (1000 kilometers) west of the Azores.
The Hobson crossed the carrier's bow and was promptly struck amidships. The force of the collision rolled the destroyer-minesweeper over, breaking her in two. USS Rodman (DD-456) and the Wasp rescued many survivors but the ship and 176 of her crew were lost.

1956 – SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for her first voyage in her new configuration for Houston, Texas.
SS Ideal X, a converted World War II T-2 oil tanker, was the first commercially successful container ship.

 

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

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 26 April 1607 - Late in 1606, English colonizers set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World. The fleet consisted of the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, all under the leadership...

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1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
The Battle of Mactan (Cebuano: Gubat sa Mactan; Filipino: Labanan sa Mactan; Spanish: Batalla de Mactán) was fought in the Philippines on 27 April 1521, prior to Spanish colonization. The warriors of Lapu-Lapu, a native chieftain of Mactan Island, overpowered and defeated a Spanish force fighting for Rajah Humabon of Cebu, under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, who was killed in the battle.

Lapu-Lapu shrine, Mactan Shrine Painting 2, Lapu-Lapu vs Ferdinand Magellan.

1702 – Death of Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
Jean Bart (21 October 1650 – 27 April 1702) was a French naval commander and privateer.


1782 – Launch of HMS Polyphemus, a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Sheerness.
HMS Polyphemus, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 April 1782 at Sheerness. She participated in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Siege of Santo Domingo. In 1813 she became a powder hulk and was broken up in 1827.

1785 – Launch of HMS Victorious, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard, London
HMS Victorious was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard, London on 27 April 1785. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.

1793 – Launch of French Insurgente, a 40-gun Sémillante-class frigate of the French Navy
Insurgente was a 40-gun Sémillante-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1793. USS Constellation, Captain Thomas Truxtun in command, captured her off the island of Nevis during the Quasi-War. After her capture she served in the US Navy, patrolling the waters in the West Indies. In September 1800 she was caught up in a severe storm and was presumed lost at sea

Naval encounter during the Quasi-War between USS Constellation and French ship Insurgente (right) on 9 February 1799.

1804 – Launch of The French brig Néarque, an Abeille-class brig launched at Lorient in 1804.
The French brig Néarque was an Abeille-class brig launched at Lorient in 1804. She made a voyage to the Caribbean in 1805. After the frigate HMS Niobe captured her in March 1806, the Royal Navy took her into Plymouth, but apparently laid her up in ordinary. She then disappears from the records until her sale in 1814.

1/36th scale model of Cygne, sister-ship of Néarque, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

1805 - US Naval forces capture Derne, Tripoli
With naval bombardment from USS Nautilus, USS Hornet, and USS Argus, Lt. Presley OBannon leads his Marines to attack Derne, Tripoli, and raises the first U.S. flag over foreign soil. The Battle of Derna was the Marines' first battle on foreign soil, and is notably recalled in the first verse of the Marines Hymn.
The Battle of Derna at Derna, Cyrenaica, was the decisive victory in April–May 1805 of a mercenary army recruited and led by United States Marinesunder the command of U.S. Army Lieutenant William Eaton, diplomatic Consul to Tripoli, and U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Presley Neville O'Bannon. The battle involved a forced 500-mile march through the North African desert from Alexandria, Egypt, to the eastern port city of Derna, Libya, which was defended by a much larger force. The USS O'Bannon (DD-450), the Fletcher-class destroyer nicknamed "Queen of the Tin Can Fleet", which was commissioned while in combat with Japanese naval forces, Solomon Islands, WWII Pacific campaigns, was named in honor of the same Marine officer, O'Bannon.

1813 – The Battle of York was fought on April 27, 1813, in York (present-day Toronto), the capital of the colonial province of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario), during the Anglo-American War of 1812.
A U.S. naval squadron under the command of Commodore Isaac Chauncey supports an attack on York (now Toronto), Canada, of nearly 1,800 troops under Gen. Zebulon Pike during the War of 1812.
The Battle of York was fought on April 27, 1813, in York (present-day Toronto), the capital of the colonial province of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario), during the Anglo-American War of 1812. An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lake shore to the west and advanced against the town, which was defended by an outnumbered force of regulars, militia and Ojibway natives under the overall command of Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.

Battle of York by Owen Staples, 1914. The American fleet before the capture of York.

1826 – Launch of USS Vincennes (1826), a 703-ton Boston-class sloop of war in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1865.
USS Vincennes (1826) was a 703-ton Boston-class sloop of war in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1865. During her service, Vincennes patrolled the Pacific, explored the Antarctic, and blockaded the Confederate Gulf coast in the Civil War. Named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes, she was the first U.S. warship to circumnavigate the globe.

1863 - the steamship Anglo Saxon ran aground north of Cape Race, killing 237 people.
SS Anglo Saxon was an iron screw steam ship belonging to the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company which was wrecked with great loss of life on the Newfoundland coast on 27 April 1863.
Anglo Saxon was built by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1856, and operated on the Liverpool-Canada route.
On her final voyage she was commanded by Captain William Burgess. She sailed from Liverpool for Quebec on 16 April 1863, with a total of 445 aboard; 360 passengers and 85 crew. On 27 April, in dense fog, she ran aground in Clam Cove about four miles north of Cape Race. The ship broke up within an hour of hitting the rocks, and sank. Of those on board 237 people died, making this one of Canada's worst shipwrecks.
Among those saved was Anne Bertram, sister of John Bertram and George Hope Bertram, both later Canadian Members of Parliament, who was travelling with Charlotte Hope, daughter of Scots agriculturalist, George Hope.

1865 - Mississippi riverboat Sultana, steaming north with an excessive number of passengers on board, suffered a series of boiler explosions.
1,168 of her 2,137 passengers (designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers) died in the ensuing fire or of drowning in the freezing river.
Sultana was a Mississippi River side-wheel steamboat, which exploded on April 27, 1865, in the worst maritime disaster in United States history.
Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard in Cincinnati, she was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. The steamer registered 1,719 tons and normally carried a crew of 85. For two years, she ran a regular route between St. Louis and New Orleans, and was frequently commissioned to carry troops.

1876 – Launch of HMS Inflexible, a Victorian ironclad battleship carrying her main armament in centrally placed turrets.
HMS Inflexible was a Victorian ironclad battleship carrying her main armament in centrally placed turrets. The ship was constructed in the 1870s for the Royal Navy to oppose the perceived growing threat from the Italian Regia Marina in the Mediterranean.
The Italian Navy had started constructing a pair of battleships, Caio Duilio and Enrico Dandolo, equipped with four Armstrong 17.7-inch (450 mm) guns weighing 100 tons each. These were superior to the armament of any ship in the British Mediterranean Squadron, and Inflexible was designed as a counter to them.

1882 – Launch of French Courbet, an Dévastation-class ironclad central battery battleship of the French Navy
The ship was laid down at Toulon on 19 July 1875, and was launched on 27 April 1882. Originally named Foudroyant ("Lightning"), she was renamed to honour Admiral Amédée Courbet on 25 June 1885. Courbet was commissioned on 20 October 1886 and assigned to the l'escadre d'évolution ("Squadron of Evolution") at Toulon on 1 November 1886.
In August 1887 she represented France at the International Maritime Exhibition at Cadiz, before visiting Tangier. In 1893, she sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, and visited Tunisia and Algeria in 1895. She was decommissioned in February 1898 to refit, then in October 1898 sailed from Toulon to Cherbourg, where she joined the l'escadre du Nord ("Northern Squadron"). In 1899, she visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Vigo and Ferrol, and in 1901, was at Vigo, Lagos, Toulon and Ajaccio.
After a final voyage to Algeria in 1902, she sailed from Toulon to Brest, where she was put into reserve on 4 January 1903. Disarmed in February 1908, she was struck on 5 February 1909, and sold for scrap on 25 August 1910.

1896 – Launch of French Bouvet, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s.
Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Carnot, and Masséna, which were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. Bouvet was the last vessel of the group to be built, and her design was based on that of Charles Martel. Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12.0 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph), which made her one of the fastest battleships in the world at the time. Bouvet proved to be the most successful design of the five, and she was used as the basis for the subsequent Charlemagne class. She nevertheless suffered from design flaws that reduced her stability and contributed to her loss in 1915.

1896 – Launch of SMS Budapest , a Monarch-class coastal defense ship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy
SMS Budapest  ("His Majesty's Ship Budapest") was a Monarch-class coastal defense ship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1890s. After their commissioning, Budapest and the two other Monarch-class ships made several training cruises in the Mediterranean Sea in the early 1900s. Budapestand her sisters formed the 1st Capital Ship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy until they were replaced by the newly commissioned Habsburg-classpre-dreadnought battleships at the turn of the century. In 1906 the three Monarchs were placed in reserve and only recommissioned during the annual summer training exercises. After the start of World War I, Budapest was recommissioned and assigned to 5th Division together with her sisters.

A model of Budapest at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna

1915 - Léon Gambetta – On the night of 27 April 1915 the French cruiser was patrolling in the Ionian Sea 15 nautical miles (28 km) south of Santa Maria di Leuca.
The Austro-Hungarian U-5 hit her with two torpedoes and she sank in 10 minutes.
Of 821 men aboard 684 including Contre-amiral Victor Baptistin Sénès were lost along with all officers. There were 137 survivors.
Léon Gambetta was a French Navy armoured cruiser of 12,400 tons, the lead ship of the class of that name. The Léon Gambettas were larger than previous armoured cruisers of the class, but they lacked the heavier firepower. They also were vulnerable to underwater attacks.

1916 - HMS Russell – The pre-dreadnought battleship was off Malta early on 27 April 1916 when she struck two mines laid by SM U-73. Fire broke out in her after part and the order abandon ship was given.
There was an explosion near her after 12 inches (300 mm) turret and she took on a dangerous list, but she sank slowly letting most of her crew escape. 27 officers and 98 ratings were lost
After the conclusion of the Dardanelles campaign, Russell stayed on in the eastern Mediterranean. Russell was steaming off Malta early on the morning of 27 April 1916 when she struck two naval mines that had been laid by the German submarine U-73. A fire broke out in the after part of the ship and the order to abandon ship was passed; after an explosion near the after 12-inch (305 mm) turret, she took on a dangerous list. However, she sank slowly, allowing most of her crew to escape. A total of 27 officers and 98 ratings were lost. John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her at the time as a lieutenant commander and survived her sinking; he would one day become First Sea Lord.

1930 – Launch of Fiume and of Zara, both Zara-class heavy cruisers of the Italian Regia Marina
Zara was a heavy cruiser built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy), the lead ship of the Zara class. Named after the Italian city of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia), the ship was built at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard beginning with her keel laying in July 1928, launching in April 1930, and commissioning in October 1931. Armed with a main battery of eight 8-inch (200 mm) guns, she was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, though in reality she significantly exceeded this figure.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 27 April 1785 – Launch of HMS Victorious, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard, London HMS Victorious was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall...

shipsofscale.com

1693 - HMS Windsor Castle, a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, built by Thomas Shish at Woolwich Dockyard, wrecked on the Goodwin Sands

1692 – Launch of HMS Cornwall , an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1690s.

1759 – Launch of HMS Tweed, a 32-gun sailing frigate of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy.
She was designed in 1757 by Sir Thomas Slade, based on the lines of the smaller sixth rate HMS Tartar, but with a 10-foot midsection inserted.

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a ‘Richmond’-class 32-gun frigate (circa 1757)

1778 – Launch of The first USS Alliance of the United States Navy, a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.

USS Alliance under full sail.

1778 – Launch of HMS Medea, a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the inboard profile (incomplete) with figurehead and stern quarter decoration for 'Medea' (1778), a 28-gun Sixth Rate Frigate, as built at Bristol by Mr Hilhouse.

Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for 'Medea' (1778) and 'Crescent' (1779), both 28-gun Sixth Rate Frigates building at Bristol by Mr Hilhouse. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784]

1779 – Launch of french Hermione, a 12-pounder Concorde-class frigate of the French Navy.

photo by Uwe

1789 – Mutiny on the HMAV Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain Lieutenant William Bligh and set him and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's open launch. The mutineers variously settled on Tahiti or on Pitcairn Island. Bligh meanwhile completed a voyage of more than 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) in the launch to reach safety, and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.

1814 - Capture of HMS Epervier
The capture of HMS Epervier was a naval action fought off the coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral on 28 April 1814, between the United States ship-rigged sloop-of-war USS Peacock, commanded by Master Commandant Lewis Warrington, and the British Cruizer-class brig-sloop Epervier under Commander Richard Wales. The Americans captured the British vessel after a one-sided cannonade, but the British merchant convoy escaped.

1835 – Launch of HMS Cleopatra, a 26-gun Vestal-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

1885 – Launch of HMS Howe, an Admiral-class ironclad battleship built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s. HMS Howe was an Admiral-class ironclad battleship built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s. The ship was assigned to the Channel Fleet in mid-1890 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in late 1892. After repairs were completed, Howe was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in late 1893. She returned home in late 1896 and became a guardship in Ireland. Howe remained there until late 1901 when she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet. The ship was paid off in three years later and then sold for scrap in 1910.

1888 – Launch of USS Vesuvius, the third ship of the United States Navy named for the Italian volcano, a unique vessel in the Navy inventory which marked a departure from more conventional forms of main battery armament.
She is considered a dynamite gun cruiser and was essentially an operational testbed for large dynamite guns.
USS Vesuvius, the third ship of the United States Navy named for the Italian volcano, was a unique vessel in the Navy inventory which marked a departure from more conventional forms of main battery armament. She is considered a dynamite gun cruiser and was essentially an operational testbed for large dynamite guns.

Vesuvius in 1891

1943 - the combination troop transport and hospital ship Kamakura Maru, while sailing from Manila to Singapore and carrying some 2,500 soldiers along with civilians, was torpedoed by the US submarine USS Gudgeon.
The ship was hit by two torpedoes and sank within 12 minutes. Four days later 465 survivors were rescued from the sea by Japanese ships with some 2,035 people being killed.
The Chichibu Maru (秩父丸) was a Japanese passenger ship which, renamed Kamakura Maru, was sunk during World World II, killing 2,035 soldiers and civilians on board.


1944 - In a D-Day training exercise named Exercise Tiger, USS LST-531 was torpedoed and sunk by German E-boats. Of 926 troops and crew aboard, 636 were killed and 290 survived
Also USS LST-507 was hit by a torpedo. It partially floated till dawn and then the bow was sunk by fire from a British destroyer. It was the only LST (out of the three hit, of which two sank) to go up in flames. 424 US army and navy personnel were killed on board

1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Incasun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. Kon-Tiki is also the name of Heyerdahl's book, the Academy Award-winning documentary film chronicling his adventures, and the 2012 dramatized feature film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Kon-Tiki raft exhibited at Oslo Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 28 April 1692 – Launch of HMS Cornwall , an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1690s. HMS Cornwall was an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the...

shipsofscale.com

1587 - English fleet entered the Bay of Cádiz.
Singeing the King of Spain's Beard is the derisive name given to the attack in April and May 1587 in the Bay of Cádiz, by the English privateer Francis Drake against the Spanish naval forces assembling at Cádiz. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and substantial supplies were destroyed or captured. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish plans to invade England by more than a year, yet did not dispel them.

Drake's map of his attack on Cádiz.

1676 – Death of Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (IPA: [mɪˈxil ˈaːdrijaːnˌsoːn də ˈrœy̯tər]; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history, most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars. He fought the English and French and scored several victories against them, with the Raid on the Medwayperhaps best known. The pious De Ruyter was very much loved by his sailors and soldiers; from them his most significant nickname derived: bestevaêr("grandfather").

1730 – Launch of French Le Fleuron 64 at Brest, designed by Blaise Olliviere and built by Joseph Ollivier – burnt at Brest 1745

Planset Review:
LE FLEURON
64-gun Ship by Joseph & Blaise OLLIVIER - 1729
by Gerard Delacroix and Jean Boudriot
in scale 1:48 / english translation by Gilles Korent

1758 - Naval Battle of Cuddalore (1758)
Indecisive battle between a British squadron under Vice-Admiral George Pocock and French squadron under Comte d'Aché.
The naval Battle of Cuddalore took place on 29 April 1758 during the Seven Years' War near Cuddalore off the Carnatic coast of India and was an indecisive battle between a British squadron under Vice-Admiral George Pocock and French squadron under Comte d'Aché.
British casualties were 29 killed and 89 wounded, while France lost 99 killed and 321 wounded. Although the battle itself was indecisive, the French fleet was able to achieve its primary objective of delivering the reinforcements that the defenders of Pondicherry were awaiting.
The two squadrons met again on 3 August in the battle of Negapatam and again on 10 September in the battle of Pondicherry.

1758 - The Action of 29 April 1758 was a naval engagement fought in the Bay of Biscay near Brest between a British Royal Navy squadron and a single French Navy ship of the line during the Seven Years' War.
The Action of 29 April 1758 was a naval engagement fought in the Bay of Biscay near Brest between a British Royal Navy squadron and a single French Navy ship of the line during the Seven Years' War. In an attempt to support the garrison of Louisbourg, who were facing an impending siege, the French Atlantic Fleet sent a number of squadrons and ships to sea during the spring of 1758. To intercept these ships, Royal Navy squadrons maintained a close blockade of their main port at Brest. In April a British squadron including HMS Intrepid, HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Achilles was cruising off the French Biscay Coast when a lone sail was sighted to the southwest. Dorsetshire, commanded by Captain Peter Denis was sent to investigate, discovering the ship to be the French ship of the line Raisonnable sailing to Louisbourg. In a fierce battle, Dorsetshire managed to inflict heavy casualties on the French ship and force her captain, Louis-Armand-Constantin de Rohan, to surrender.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and name, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehad, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Raisonnable' (1758), a captured French Third Rate, prior to being fitted as a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker

1763 – Launch of French Provence, a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Provence.

1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.
Lieutenant James Cook first landed at Kurnell, on the southern banks of Botany Bay, in what is now Silver Beach, on Sunday 29 April 1770, when navigating his way up the east coast of Australia on his ship, HMS Endeavour. Cook's landing marked the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia and in the eventual colonisation of this new "southern continent". Initially the name Stingrays Harbour was used by Cook and other journal keepers on his expedition, for the stingrays they caught. That name was also recorded on an Admiralty chart. Cook's log for 6 May 1770 records "The great quantity of these sort of fish found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Stingrays Harbour". However, in the journal prepared later from his log, Cook wrote instead: (sic) "The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botanist Botany Bay"

1794 – Launch of french Lion, a Téméraire class 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy.
Lion was a Téméraire class 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was named Lion on 23 April 1790 and built at Rochefort from August 1791 until June 1794. She was renamed Marat on 28 September 1793 (7 months before being launched) and then Formidable on 25 May 1795, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.

Belleisle, fifteen minutes past noon at Trafalgar

1800 - USS Insurgent – On 29 April 1800 the frigate was ordered to cruise between the West Indies and the US coast to protect US shipping interests and to capture any enemy vessels encountered. Insurgent departed Baltimore 22 July and after a brief stop at Hampton Roads sailed for her station 8 August 1800. Never heard from again, the frigate and her crew were presumed lost as a result of the severe storm which struck the West Indies 20 September 1800.

Naval encounter during the Quasi-War between USS Constellation and French ship Insurgente (right) on 9 February 1799.

1809 - HMS Alcmene (32), Cptn. William Henry Brown Tremlett, while chasing an enemy, was wrecked on a reef of rocks near the Loire.

1862 – Launch of French Thémis, a 46-gun Magicienne class frigate of the French Navy

Launch of Thémis on 29 April 1862

1881 - The passenger steamship SS Tararua struck the reef off Waipapa Point in The Catlins on 29 April 1881 in New Zealand's highest civilian shipping loss of life.
Of 151 passengers and crew aboard, 20 survived.
SS Tararua was a passenger steamer that struck the reef off Waipapa Point in the Catlins on 29 April 1881, and sank the next day, in the worst civilian shipping disaster in New Zealand's history. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, only 20 survived the shipwreck

1893 – Launch of SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia ("Empress and Queen Maria Theresa"), an armored cruiser used by the imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1895 to 1917
SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia ("Empress and Queen Maria Theresa") was an armored cruiser used by the imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1895 to 1917; she was the first ship of that type built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The ship was a unique design, built by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste; she was laid down in July 1891, launched in April 1893, and completed in November 1894. Armed with a main battery of two 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns and eight 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, the ship provided the basis for two subsequent armored cruiser designs for the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

1915 – Launch of HMS Royal Sovereign (pennant number 05), a Revenge-class (also known as Royal Sovereign and R-class) battleship of the Royal Navy displacing 29,970 long tons (30,450 t) and armed with eight 15-inch (381 mm) guns in four twin-gun turrets.
HMS Royal Sovereign (pennant number 05) was a Revenge-class (also known as Royal Sovereign and R-class) battleship of the Royal Navy displacing 29,970 long tons (30,450 t) and armed with eight 15-inch (381 mm) guns in four twin-gun turrets. She was laid down in January 1914 and launched in April 1915; she was completed in May 1916, but was not ready for service in time to participate in the Battle of Jutland at the end of the month. She served with the Grand Fleet for the remainder of the First World War, but did not see action. In the early 1930s, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and based in Malta.

Illustration of HMS Revenge as she appeared in 1916

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30th of April

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 29 April 1758 - Naval Battle of Cuddalore (1758) Indecisive battle between a British squadron under Vice-Admiral George Pocock and French squadron under Comte d'Aché. The naval Battle of Cuddalore took place on 29 April 1758...

shipsofscale.com

1751 – Launch of HMS Buckingham, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and in active service during the Seven Years' War with France

Buckingham on the stocks at Deptford

1790 – Launch of HMS Brunswick, a 74-gun third rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford.
HMS Brunswick was a 74-gun third rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, launched on 30 April 1790 at Deptford. She was first commissioned in the following month under Sir Hyde Parker for the Spanish Armament but was not called into action. When the Russian Armament was resolved without conflict in August 1791, Brunswick took up service as a guardship in Portsmouth Harbour. She joined Richard Howe's Channel Fleet at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War and was present at the battle on Glorious First of June where she a fought a hard action against the French 74-gun Vengeur du Peuple. Brunswick was in a small squadron under William Cornwallis that encountered a large French fleet in June 1798. The British ships were forced to run into the Atlantic and narrowly avoided capture through a combination of good fortune and some fake signals.
After a five-year spell in the West Indies, Brunswick returned home and was refitted at Portsmouth. In 1807, when Denmark was under threat from a French invasion, Brunswick was part of a task force, under overall command of James Gambier, sent to demand the surrender of the Danish fleet. When the Danes refused to comply, Brunswick joined in with an attack on the capital, Copenhagen. She returned to the Baltic some months later, following the Treaty of Tilsit and, while attached to Richard Goodwin Keats' squadron, she helped with the evacuation of 10,000 Spanish troops from the region. From 1812 Brunswick was on harbour service, and in 1826 she was broken up

HMS Brunswick fighting the Achille and Vengeur du Peuple simultaneously

1796 - HMS Agamemnon (64), Cptn. Horatio Nelson, and squadron captured six vessels at Oneglia.
HMS Agamemnon was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She saw service in the Anglo-French War, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and fought in many of the major naval battles of those conflicts. She is remembered as being Nelson's favourite ship, and was named after the mythical ancient Greek king Agamemnon, being the first ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.

1815 - HMS Rivoli (74) captured Melpomene (1812 - 44) off Ischia

1/40th scale model of Rivoli fitted with seacamels.

1857 - The Novara Expedition (1857–1859) under command of Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, the first large-scale scientific, around-the-world mission of the Austrian Imperial navy, begins in Triste
SMS Novara was a sail frigate of the Austro-Hungarian Navy most noted for sailing the globe for the Novara Expedition of 1857–1859 and, later for carrying Archduke Maximilian and wife Carlota to Veracruz in May 1864 to become Emperor and Empress of Mexico.

Novara, the original hull in cross-section

1904 - german Christian Huelsmeyer applied for a patent for his 'telemobiloscope' , the first Radar
On the 30th April 1904, Christian Huelsmeyer in Duesseldorf, Germany, applied for a patent for his 'telemobiloscope' which was a transmitter-receiver system for detecting distant metallic objects by means of electrical waves. The telemobiloscope was designed as an anti-collision device for ships and it worked well. His interest in collision prevention arose after observing the grief of a mother whose son was killed when two ships collided. After a period teaching in Bremen, where he had the opportunity of repeating Hertz's experiments, he joined Siemens.

1904 – Launch of French Démocratie, a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s.
Démocratie was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s. She was the fourth member of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class, with the primary difference being the inclusion of a heavier secondary battery. Démocratie carried a main battery of four 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, like the République, but mounted ten 194 mm (7.6 in) guns for her secondary armament in place of the 164 mm (6.5 in) guns of the earlier vessels. Like many late pre-dreadnought designs, Démocratie was completed after the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought had entered service, rendering her obsolescent.

1904 – Launch of SMS Erzherzog Friedrich (German: "His Majesty's ship Archduke Friedrich"), a pre-dreadnought battleship built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1902
SMS Erzherzog Friedrich (German: "His Majesty's ship Archduke Friedrich") was a pre-dreadnought battleship built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1902. The second ship of the Erzherzog Karl class, she was launched on 30 April 1904. She was assigned to the III Battleship Division.

1908 - the Japanese cruiser Matsushima, while returning from a training cruise and anchored at Mako in the Pescadores islands off of Taiwan, had an accidental explosion occur in her ammunition magazine. Matsushima rolled over onto her starboard side and then sank stern-first. 206 of her 350 crew were lost.
Matsushima (松島) was a Matsushima-class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Like her sister ships, (the Itsukushima and Hashidate) her name comes from one of the traditional Three Views of Japan, in this case, the Matsushima archipelago near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture.

With parade pennants, 1896

1937 - Alfonso XIII was a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class, struck a mine and sank; most of her crew was taken off by the destroyer Velasco.
Alfonso XIII was a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class. She had two sister ships, España and Jaime I. Alfonso XIIIwas built by the SECN shipyard; she was laid down in February 1910, launched in May 1913, and completed in August 1915. Named after King Alfonso XIII of Spain, she was renamed España in 1931 after the king was exiled following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. The new name was the namesake of her earlier sister ship, the España that served in the Spanish fleet from 1913 to 1923.

1940 - SS Nerissa – The passenger and cargo steamship was torpedoed and sunk on 30 April 1940 by the German submarine U-552. She was the only transport carrying Canadian troops to be lost in World War II. 207 people, soldiers and civilians, were killed.
The SS Nerissa was a passenger and cargo steamer which was torpedoed and sunk on 30 April 1941 during World War II by the German submarine U-552 following 39 wartime voyages between Canada and Britain. She was the only transport carrying Canadian troops to be lost during World War II.

1943 – World War II: Operation Mincemeat
The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.

Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. Correspondence between two British generals which suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was also placed on the body.

Part of the wider Operation Barclay, Mincemeat was based on the 1939 Trout memo, written by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Division and his personal assistant, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming. With the approval of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and the military commander in the Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the plan began by transporting the body to the southern coast of Spain by submarine and releasing it close to shore, where it was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman. The neutral Spanish government shared copies of the documents with the Abwehr, the German military intelligence organisation, before returning the originals to the British. Forensic examination showed they had been read and Ultra decrypts of German messages showed that the Germans fell for the ruse. Reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none.

The effect of Operation Mincemeat is unknown, although Sicily was liberated more quickly than anticipated and losses were lower than predicted. The events were depicted in Operation Heartbreak, a 1950 novel by the former cabinet minister Duff Cooper, before one of the agents who planned and carried out Mincemeat, Ewen Montagu, wrote a history in 1953. Montagu's work formed the basis for the 1956 British film The Man Who Never Was.