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

2nd of May

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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 1 May 1813 – Launch of French Piet Hein, a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy Piet Hein was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Piet Hein, was one of the ships built in the...

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1654 - Action of 2 May 1654 was a sea battle which took place near Colombo, Ceylon, when a force of 11 Dutch ships defeated 3 Portuguese galleons, which ran aground and were burnt near Carmona, north of Cabo de Rama.
Action of 2 May 1654 was a sea battle which took place near Colombo, Ceylon, when a force of 11 Dutch ships defeated 3 Portuguese galleons, which ran aground and were burnt near Carmona, north of Cabo de Rama. On about 4 May Zijdeworm was burnt as a fireship near Karwar, and on 6 May the Portuguese galleon Nazareth was burnt near Hanovar. This removed a significant proportion of Portuguese ships in the Indian Ocean area.


1707 - The Action of 2 May 1707, also known as Beachy Head, was a naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession in which a French squadron under Claude de Forbin intercepted a large British convoy escorted by three ships of the line, under Commodore Baron Wylde.
The Action of 2 May 1707, also known as Beachy Head, was a naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession in which a French squadron under Claude de Forbin intercepted a large British convoy escorted by three ships of the line, under Commodore Baron Wylde. The action began when three French ships, the Grifon, Blackoal and Dauphine, grappled HMS Hampton Court, killing her captain, George Clements, and taking her. Claude Forbin's 60-gun Mars next attacked HMS Grafton and, when joined by the French ships Blackoal and Fidèle, killed the Captain Edward Acton, and took her too. The convoy was scattered and the last British escort, HMS Royal Oak, badly hit and with 12 feet of water in her wells, managed to escape by running ashore near Dungeness, from where she was carried the next day into the Downs.
The French took 21 merchant ships, besides the two 70-gun ships of the line, and carried them all into Dunkirk.

On the left, a near starboard quarter view of the ‘Royal Oak’ at anchor. Her main topmasthead is not shown, but there is the tail of a pendant shown in the top left corner. Several other ships are in the background. It is inscribed ‘rooijal oock 1674’. This drawing is by the Younger, signed ‘W.V.VJ’ in pencil. The work is in pen, brown ink and grey wash over slight preliminary pencil work. Some of the wash may have been added by a later hand

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 70-gun two-decker ship of the line, built plank on frame in the Navy Board style.


1774 – Launch of HMS Eagle, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Rotherhithe.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Eagle' (1774), later for 'Vigilant' (1774), and with alterations for 'America' (1777), 'Ruby' (1776), and 'Standard' (1782), all 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784]


1787 – Launch of Spanish Salvador del Mundo, a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa, one of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sternboard outline, sheer lines with some inboard and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Salvador del Mundo (captured 1797), a captured Spanish First Rate. The plan illustrate the ship as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard when a 112-gun First Rate, three-decker. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1802-1813]


1794 - Beginning of the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 - which will end in the Glorious First of June
The Atlantic campaign of May 1794 was a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet against the French Navy's Atlantic Fleet, with the aim of preventing the passage of a strategically important French grain convoy travelling from the United States to France. The campaign involved commerce raiding by detached forces and two minor engagements, eventually culminating in the full fleet action of the Glorious First of June 1794, at which both fleets were badly mauled and both Britain and France claimed victory. The French lost seven battleships; the British none, but the battle distracted the British fleet long enough for the French convoy to safely reach port.

HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious 1st June 1794, Nicholas Pocock


1795 – Launch of French Cassard, 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.


1798 – Launch of HMS Renown, a 74-gun America-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


1798 – Launch of French Ligurienne, a 16-gun sectional brig of the French Navy that was launched in 1798.

1809 – Launch of HMS Ajax, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Blackwall Yard.

HMS Ajax (1809) was guardship at Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire until 1864 when she was broken up. The Royal St George Yacht Club is in the foreground.


1810 – Launch of French Friedland, an 80-gun Bucentaure-class ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané

Napoleon I and Marie Louise, together with Jérôme Bonaparte and Catharina of Württemberg, assisting at the launching of the Friedland at the arsenal of Antwerp


1832 – Launch of HMS Castor, a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

1855 - Launch of HMS Conqueror, a 101-gun Conqueror-class screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

"The loss of H.M.S. Conqueror 100 guns on Rum Cay, Bahamas, West Indies" [sic], attributed to George Pechell Mends


1866 - Battle of Callao
occurred on May 2, 1866 between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War.
The Battle of Callao (in Spanish, called Combate del Dos de Mayo mainly in South America) occurred on May 2, 1866 between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War. The Spanish fleet bombarded the port of Callao (or El Callao), and eventually withdrew without any notable damage to the city structures, according to the Peruvian and American sources; or after having silenced almost all the guns of the coastal defenses, according to the Spanish accounts and French observers. This proved to be the final battle of the war between Spanish and Peruvian forces.

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon.
Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship's hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
The Attack on USNS Card was a Viet Cong (VC) operation during the Vietnam War. It took place in the port of Saigon in the early hours of May 2, 1964, and mounted by commandos from the 65th Special Operations Group (Đội Biệt động 65).
Card was first commissioned into the United States Navy during World War II. Decommissioned in 1946, Card was reactivated in 1958 and entered service with the Military Sea Transport Service, transporting military equipment to South Vietnam as part of the United States military commitment to that country.
As a regular visitor to the port, Card became a target for local VC commando units. Shortly after midnight on May 2, 1964, two Viet Cong commandos climbed out of the sewer tunnel near the area where Card was anchored, and they attached two loads of explosives to the ship's hull. The attack was a success and Card sank 48 feet (15 m), and five civilian crew members were killed by the explosions. The ship was refloated 17 days later, and was towed to the Philippines for repairs.

1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano, killing 323 people.
This was the first time a warship had been sunk by a nuclear-powered submarine.
ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982.
Originally commissioned by the U.S. as USS Phoenix, she saw action in the Pacific theatre of World War II before being sold by the United States Navy to Argentina. The vessel was the second to have been named after the Argentine founding father Manuel Belgrano (1770–1820). The first vessel was a 7,069-ton armoured cruiser completed in 1896.

General Belgrano, sinking

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

3rd of May

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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 2 May 1810 – Launch of French Friedland, an 80-gun Bucentaure-class ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané The Friedland was an 80-gun Bucentaure-class ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané. Career...

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1241 - The naval Battle of Giglio was a military clash between a fleet of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and a fleet of the Republic of Genoa in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The naval Battle of Giglio was a military clash between a fleet of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and a fleet of the Republic of Genoa in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It took place on Friday, May 3, 1241 between the islands of Montecristo and Giglio in the Tuscan Archipelago and ended with the victory of the Imperial fleet.
The target of the Imperial fleet was to intercept a delegation of high-ranking prelates from France, Spain, England and northern Italy which were traveling with the Genoese fleet en route to Rome where Gregory IX had summoned a council.

The battle of Giglio depicted in the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris (1259)


1704 – Launch of French 54-gun Auguste, built in Brest in 1704 that the British captured in 1705.

Scale:1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for August (captured 1705), a captured French Fourth Rate, converted to a 60-gun two-decker. Note that the lower deck includes fittings for rowing


1710 - HMS Suffolk (1678 - 70) captured Gaillard (1693 - 54)
HMS Suffolk was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by contract of 20 February 1678 by Sir Henry Johnson at his Blackwall Yard and launched in May 1680. Suffolk was commanded by Captain Wolfran Cornwall at the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690, and by Captain Christopher Billopp at the Battle of Barfleur in 1692.

Possibly a portrait of the ‘Suffolk’, viewed from the port beam.

Gaillard 54 guns (designed and built by Félix Arnaud, launched 13 October 1693 at Bayonne) – captured by the British in 1710

No scale. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with framing detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for an unnamed French 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. The shape of the hull, as illustrated by the body plan, and the rake of the stem post are all indications of the ship having been French. Note that the dimensions are not a clear match for 'Superb' (captured 1710), or 'August' (captured 1708), but the draught style and composition reflects this period


1740 – Launch of HMS Winchelsea, a 20-gun sixth-rate launched in 1740 and in service during the War of the Austrian Succession in Mediterranean, Atlantic and home waters. She was captured by the French in 1758, but was retaken two weeks later.


1744 – Launch of HMS Winchester, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe to the dimensions prescribed by the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment,
HMS Winchester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe to the dimensions prescribed by the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 3 May 1744.
Winchester was sold out of the navy in 1769.

1777 - During the American Revolution, the Continental lugger USS Surprise, led by Capt. Gustavus Conyngham, captures the British mail packet Prince of Orange and the brig Joseph in the North Sea.


1780 - Launch of French Northumberland, a 74-gun Annibal class ship of the line of the French Navy
She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake (5 September 1781), a crucial naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War (Captain Bon-Chrétien, Marquis de Bricqueville), as well as the Battle of the Saintesseven months later, under Captain Saint Cézaire, who was killed in the action. In 1782, she captured the 14-gun sloop HMS Allegiance.
Northumberland was captured during the Glorious First of June in 1794, where she was captained by François-Pierre Étienne. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Northumberland, and was broken up the next year in December 1795.

1790 - Launch of HMS Windsor Castle, a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford Dockyard.

1812 - HMS Skylark (16), James Boxer, grounded to the west of Boulogne and was burnt to avoid capture
HMS Skylark was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in February 1806. She served primarily in the Channel, capturing several vessels including a privateer, and taking part in one notable engagement. She grounded in May 1812 and her crew burnt her to prevent the French from capturing her.


1819 – Launch of French Thétis, a 44-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy
Commissioned in Toulon on 8 March 1822, Thétis crossed to Brest in late 1822. From December 1822 to October 1823, she cruised the Caribbean before circumnavigating the planet, under Captain Hyacinthe de Bougainville. From 1824 to 1826, she served in the Indian Ocean along with Espérance, again sailing around the globe.
Thétis took part in the Invasion of Algiers in 1830. From 1832 to 1847, she was in various states of commission, and from 1851 she was used as a schoolship for cabin boys. In 1865, she was renamed to Laninon (to free up the name for the armoured corvette Thétis) and used as a coal depot.

Model of Thétis on display at the Musée de la Marine de Rochefort


1827 – Launch of French frigate Iphigénie, a first rank frigate of the French Navy, in Toulon


1860 - Launch of french Guerrière, a sail and steam frigate of the French Navy.
She is known as the flagship of Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze during the French campaign against Korea in 1866.
Guerrière was a sail and steam frigate of the French Navy. She is known as the flagship of Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze during the French campaign against Korea in 1866.

1/48th scale model of dry dock n°1 of Toulon harbour, with the model of Guerrière placed inside by order of Admiral Pâris.


1866 - Hornet, an 1851 extreme clipper in the San Francisco trade, famous for its race with Flying Cloud, burned and sank
Hornet was an 1851 extreme clipper in the San Francisco trade, famous for its race with Flying Cloud.

1915 – Launch of HSwMS Sverige, the first Swedish Sverige-class coastal defence ship (Pansarskepp) commissioned during the last year of World War I and serving into the 1950s.
HSwMS Sverige was the first Swedish Sverige-class coastal defence ship (Pansarskepp) commissioned during the last year of World War I and serving into the 1950s. Her cost was approximately 12 million kronor in 1912, and the entire sum was raised in public in a nationwide fundraising campaign that gained over 15 million (approximately 650 MKr, in 2005 Kr). The fundraising was done because of the Karl Staaff government's reluctance to spend money on a new battleship.

1933 – Launch of Gorch Fock I (ex Tovarishch, ex Gorch Fock), a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933
Gorch Fock I (ex Tovarishch, ex Gorch Fock) is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933. She was taken as war reparations by the Soviet Unionafter World War II and renamed Tovarishch. The ship was acquired by sponsors, after a short period under the Ukrainian flag in the 1990s and a prolonged stay in British ports due to lack of funds for necessary repairs, and she sailed to her original home port of Stralsund where her original name of Gorch Fock was restored on 29 November 2003. She is a museum ship, and extensive repairs were carried out in 2008.

1939 – Launch of HMS Prince of Wales, a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead
HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. She was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the May 1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait against the German battleship Bismarck, operations escorting convoys in the Mediterranean, and her final action and sinking in the Pacific in December 1941.
Prince of Wales had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock, being attacked and damaged by German aircraft. Her brief but storied career ended 10 December 1941, when Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse became the first capital ships to be sunk solely by air power on the open sea, a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was subsequently to play in naval warfare. The wreck lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water, near Kuantan, in the South China Sea.

1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay, with great loss of life of 8.500 people who died
Cap Arcona, named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen, was a large German ocean liner and the flagship of the Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft ("Hamburg-South America Line"). She took her maiden voyage on 29 October 1927, carrying passengers and cargo between Germany and the east coast of South America, and in her time was the largest and quickest ship on the route.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

4th of May

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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 3 May 1915 – Launch of HSwMS Sverige, the first Swedish Sverige-class coastal defence ship (Pansarskepp) commissioned during the last year of World War I and serving into the 1950s. HSwMS Sverige was the first Swedish Sverige-class...

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1744 – Launch of HMS Vulture, a 10-gun two-masted Hind-class sloop of the Royal Navy, designed by Joseph Allin and built by John Greaves at Limehouse on the Thames River, England

1812 Re-capture of Brig-sloop HMS Apelles (14) near Etaples by HMS Bermuda (10), Alexander Cunningham, HMS Rinaldo (10), Sir W. G. Parker, HMS Castilian (18), David Braimer, and HMS Phipps (14), Thomas Wells.

Apelles and Somnambule. This is an engraving by Felix Achille Saint-Aulaire (1801-99), engraver T. Ruhierre, in the book France Maritime, by Amédée Gréhan, published in 1844, though the picture itself dates to 1837


1823 - The Battle of 4 May was fought in open sea near Salvador, Bahia,
between the Brazilian Navy, under the command of a former admiral of the British Royal Navy, Thomas Cochrane, and the Portuguese Navy during the Brazilian War of Independence

Batalha de 4 de maio de 1823


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

The naval battle of Hakodate Bay Bay, May 1869; in the foreground, Kasuga and Kōtetsu of the Imperial Japanese Navy


1917 - Transylvania – The ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Gulf of Genoa on 4 May 1917 by U-63. She was carrying Allied troops to Egypt; 412 people were killed.
The SS Transylvania was a passenger liner of the Cunard subsidiary Line, and a sister ship to SS Tuscania. She was torpedoed and sunk on May 4, 1917 by the German U-boat U-63. Completed just before the outbreak of World War I, the Transylvania was taken over for service as a troopship upon completion. She was designed to accommodate 1,379 passengers but the Admiralty fixed her capacity at 200 officers and 2,860 men, besides crew, when she was commissioned in May 1915.

1940 - ORP Grom – On 4 May 1940, naval gunfire support missions in the Narvik area, the Polish destroyer was attacked by German aircraft.
Her loaded midship torpedo launcher was struck by a bomb from a German plane and the torpedo exploded causing the hull to break in two.
The ship sank almost immediately, killing 59 crew.
ORP Grom was the lead ship of her class of destroyers serving in the Polish Navy during World War II. She was named after the Polish word for Thunderbolt, while her sister ship ORP Błyskawica translates to lightning.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The battle is historically significant as the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which the opposing ships neither sighted nor fired directly upon one another.
In an attempt to strengthen their defensive position in the South Pacific, the Japanese decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in New Guinea) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan to accomplish this was called Operation MO, and involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. These included two fleet carriers and a light carrier to provide air cover for the invasion forces. It was under the overall command of Japanese Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue.
The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence, and sent two United States Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-U.S. cruiserforce to oppose the offensive. These were under the overall command of U.S. Admiral Frank J. Fletcher.

1945 - USS Morrison – On 4 May 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa, the US destroyer was sunk after being hit by four kamikaze aircraft.
After the fourth hit the destroyer, heavily damaged, began to list sharply to starboard. Two explosions occurred almost simultaneously that lifted her bow in the air. She then sank so quickly that most men below decks were killed. 152 men were killed.

1945 - USS Luce – On 4 May 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa, the US destroyer was sunk by a kamikaze attack. She shot down one attacker but the explosion from the bomb it carried caused a power failure. Unable to bring her guns to bear in time she was struck in the aft section by the second kamikaze. Her port engine was knocked out, engineering spaces flooded and the rudder jammed. She listed heavily to starboard and the order to abandon ship was given. Moments later she sank in a violent explosion killing 126 of her 312 officers and men.

1945 - Orion – On 4 May 1945, while transporting refugees to Copenhagen, the German auxiliary cruiser Orion was hit by bombs from Soviet aircraft off Swinemünde and sank. Of the more than 4,000 people aboard, 150 died.

1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it tells the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba.
In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.


1960 – Launch of The Vlora was a cargo ship built in 1960 in Ancona (Italy) that sailed under the Albanian flag until 1996. It is most famous for carrying tens of thousands of Albanian refugees to the Italian port of Bari on 8 August 1991, an unprecedented mass arrival that left Italian authorities unprepared.

Refugees from the Vlora (background) in Bari's port(Italy) on 8 August 1991


1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

5th of May

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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 4 May 1945 - USS Morrison – On 4 May 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa, the US destroyer was sunk after being hit by four kamikaze aircraft. After the fourth hit the destroyer, heavily damaged, began to list sharply to starboard. Two...

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1757 – Launch of HMS Southampton, the name ship of the 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy.
She was launched in 1757 and served for more than half a century until wrecked in 1812.

George III in HMS Southampton reviewing the fleet off Plymouth, 18 August 1789


1794 - The Action of 5 May 1794 was a minor naval engagement fought in the Indian Ocean during the French Revolutionary Wars.
HMS Orpheus (32), Cptn Henry Newcome, captured french Duguay-Trouin (34) off the Isle of France
The Action of 5 May 1794 was a minor naval engagement fought in the Indian Ocean during the French Revolutionary Wars. A British squadron had been blockading the French island of Isle de France (now Mauritius) since early in the year, and early on 5 May discovered two ships approaching their position. As the strange vessels came closer, they were recognised as the French frigate Duguay Trouin, which had been captured from the East India Company the year before, and a small brig. Making use of a favourable wind, the British squadron gave chase to the new arrivals, which fled. The chase was short, as Duguay Trouin was a poor sailor with many of the crew sick and unable to report for duty. The British frigate HMS Orpheus was the first to arrive, and soon completely disabled the French frigate, successfully raking the wallowing ship. After an hour and twenty minutes the French captain surrendered, Captain Henry Newcome of Orpheus taking over the captured ship and bringing his prize back to port in India.


1806 – Launch of HMS Shannon, a 38-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Shannon was a 38-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806 and served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. She won a noteworthy naval victory on 1 June 1813, during the latter conflict, when she captured the American Navy's USS Chesapeake in a singularly bloody battle.

Ship portrait. Oil painting by A. de Simone, entitled 'HMS Shannon'.


1813 – Launch of HMS Wolfe (later HMS Montreal, originally HMS Sir George Prevost), a 20-gun sloop-of-war, launched 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.

1829 – Launch of French Créole, a 24-gun Créole-class corvette of the French Navy

1/40th scale model of Créole, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris

A very good monographie of the LA CREOLE - Corvette - 1823 made by famous Jean Boudriot is available from ancre:

1840 – Launch of HMS Maeander, a Seringapatam-class sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy
HMS Maeander was a Seringapatam-class sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy. Her service included the suppression of piracy, the Russian War, and support for the suppression of slavery with the West Africa Squadron. She was wrecked in a gale in 1870.

1937 – Launch of MV Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise ship converted into a hospital ship and which while functioning as a military transport ship was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilians, German officials, refugees from Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia and Croatia and military personnel from Gotenhafen (now Gdynia) as the Red Army advanced.
By one estimate, 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.

german Docu:

film:

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

6th of May

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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 4 May 1945 - USS Morrison – On 4 May 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa, the US destroyer was sunk after being hit by four kamikaze aircraft. After the fourth hit the destroyer, heavily damaged, began to list sharply to starboard. Two...

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1682 - HMS Gloucester (60) wrecked off Yarmouth
HMS Gloucester was a 50-gun third rate Speaker-class ship of the line, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England during the 1650s and taken over by the Royal Navy after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The ship participated in multiple battles during the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654–60, and the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. Gloucester was wrecked in 1682 on a sandbar while carrying the Duke of York (the future James II).

The Wreck of the 'Gloucester' off Yarmouth, 6 May 1682


1709 - HMS Portland (54) re-captured Coventry (50)


1757 – Launch of HMS Dublin, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford.

1757 – Launch of French Souverain, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class

1761 – Launch of HMS Mermaid, a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

1780 – Launch of HMS Flora, a Flora-class frigates were 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy.
They were designed in 1778 by Sir John Williams in response to an Admiralty decision to discontinue 32-gun, 12-pounder (5.4 kg), vessels

A Flora-class frigate, HMS Crescent, capturing the French frigate Réunion off Cherbourg, 20th October 1793


1781 - HMS Roebuck, a 44-gun, captured Protector


1801 - Lord Thomas Cochrane in HMS Speedy (14) captures Spanish xebec frigate El Gamo (32), Cptn. Don Francisco de Torris (Killed in Action), off the coast near Barcelona.
The Action of 6 May 1801 was a minor naval engagement between the 32-gun xebec-frigate El Gamo of the Spanish Navy under the command of Don Francisco de Torres and the much smaller 14-gun brig HMS Speedy under the command of Thomas, Lord Cochrane. El Gamo was subsequently captured. The skirmish is notable for the large disparity between the size and firepower of El Gamo and Speedy – the former was around four times the size, had much greater firepower and a crew six times the size of Speedy, which had a reduced crew of 54 at the time of the engagement.

Painting depicting the capture of the Spanish xebec frigate El Gamo in 1801 off the coast of Barcelona by the Royal Navy brig HMS Speedy commanded by Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald


1814 - The Battle of Fort Oswego was a partially successful British raid on Fort Ontario and the village of Oswego, New York on May 6, 1814 during the War of 1812.
British squadron under Sir James Lucas Yeo of HMS Prince Regent (56), HMS Princess Charlotte (42) and consorts destroyed a fort and captured USS Growler (5) and other vessels at Oswego, Lake Ontario

"The attack on Fort Oswego, May 6, 1814". Drawing by L. Hewitt, engraving by R. Havell From "http://collections.ic.gc.ca/stlauren/hist/hi_war1812.htm"


1829 – Launch of HMS Hyacinth, an 18-gun Royal Navy ship sloop.
She surveyed the north-eastern coast of Australia under Francis Price Blackwood during the mid-1830s

1867 – Launch of SMS Kronprinz, a unique German ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in 1866–1867.
Kronprinz was laid down in 1866 at the Samuda Brothers shipyard at Cubitt Town in London.
SMS Kronprinz  was a unique German ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in 1866–1867. Kronprinz was laid down in 1866 at the Samuda Brothers shipyard at Cubitt Town in London. She was launched in May 1867 and commissioned into the Prussian Navy that September. The ship was the fourth ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius, Prinz Adalbert, and Friedrich Carl, though she entered service before Friedrich Carl. Kronprinz was built as an armored frigate, armed with a main battery of sixteen 21 cm (8.3 in) guns; several smaller guns were added later in her career.
Kronprinz saw limited duty during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. Engine troubles aboard the ship, along with the two other armored frigates in her squadron, prevented operations against the French blockade. Only two sorties in which Kronprinz participated were conducted, both of which did not result in combat. The ship served in the subsequent Imperial Navy until she was converted into a training ship for boiler room personnel in 1901. The ship was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921.

Illustration of Kronprinz in 1868


1869 - The Battle of Miyako Bay (宮古湾海戦 Miyakowan Kaisen) was a naval action on 6 May 1869.
It was part of the overall Battle of Hakodate at the end of the Boshin War, a civil war in Japan between Imperial forces of the new Meiji government, and samurai loyalists to the former Tokugawa shogunate.


1902 - passanger steamer SS Camorta was caught in a cyclone and sank in the Irrawaddy Delta with the loss of all 655 passengers and 82 crew.
She was en route from Madras, India, to Rangoon, Burma, across the Bay of Bengal.
SS Camorta was a passenger steamship built at A. & J. Inglis in 1880 and owned by the British India Steam Navigation Company.

1905 – Launch of The fourth USS St. Louis (C-20/CA-18), the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers in the United States Navy.
The fourth USS St. Louis (C-20/CA-18), was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers in the United States Navy. St. Louis was launched on 6 May 1905 by the Neafie & Levy Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was sponsored by Miss Gladys Bryant Smith and commissioned on 18 August 1906 with Captain Nathaniel R. Usher in command.

1937 – Hindenburg disaster
The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. On board were 97 people (36 passengers and 61 crewmen); there were 36 fatalities

Hindenburg disaster sequence from the Pathé reel, showing the bow nearing the ground.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

7th of May

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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 6 May 1757 – Launch of French Souverain, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class Souverain was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She took part in the Battle of...

shipsofscale.com

1694 - Henry Every (also spelled Avery) leads a mutiny aboard the privateer Charles II anchored off La Coruna, Spain.
Henry Every, also Avery or Evory (20 August 1659 – time of death uncertain), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates.

An 18th-century depiction of Henry Every, with the Fancy shown engaging its prey in the background


1765 – Launch of HMS Victory, a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765.
She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

Scale: 1:60. A model of H.M.S Victory (1765) made entirely in wood that has been painted in realistic colours with metal fittings. The vessel is shown in a launching cradle on a slipway.


1773 – Launch of HMS Orpheus, a British Modified Lowestoffe-class fifth-rate frigate, ordered on 25 December 1770 as one of five fifth-rate frigates of 32 guns each contained in the emergency frigate-building programme inaugurated when the likelihood of war with Spain arose over the ownership of the Falkland Islands
Sir Thomas Slade's design for the Lowestoffe was approved, but was revised to produce a more rounded midships section; the amended design was approved on 3 January 1771 by Edward Hawke's outgoing Admiralty Board, just before it was replaced. The contract to build the Orpheus was awarded to John Barnard at Harwich, the keel being laid in May 1771, and the frigate was launched 7 May 1773, at a cost of £12,654.16.11d. She sailed from Harwich on 24 May for Sheerness Dockyard, where she was completed and fitted out to the Navy Board's needs (for £835.7.7d) by 11 June.

1779 - The Continental Navy sloop USS Providence, captures the British brig HMS Diligent off Sandy Hook and is later acquired for service in the Continental Navy.
USS Providence was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy, originally chartered by the Rhode Island General Assembly as Katy. The ship took part in a number of campaigns during the first half of the American Revolutionary War before being destroyed by her own crew in 1779 to prevent her falling into the hands of the British after the failed Penobscot Expedition.

Continental Sloop Providence (1775-1779) Painting in oils by W. Nowland Van Powell.


1794 - The Action of 7 May 1794 was a minor naval action fought between a British ship of the line and a French frigate early in the French Revolutionary Wars. HMS Swiftsure (74), Captain Charles Boyles, captured Atalante (36), Cptn. Charles-Alexandre-Leon Durand-Linois


1798 - Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf - HMS Badger (4) and HMS Sandfly gunbrig repulsed 52 gun brigs at Marcon.
The Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf was an engagement fought off the Îles Saint-Marcouf near the Cotentin peninsula on the Normandy coast of France in May 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1795 a British garrison was placed on the islands, which operated as a resupply base for Royal Navy ships cruising off the coast of Northern France. Seeking to eliminate the British presence on the islands and simultaneously test the equipment and tactics then being developed in France for a projected invasion of Britain, the French launched a massed amphibious assault on the southern island using over 50 landing ships and thousands of troops on 7 May 1798. Although significant Royal Navy forces were in the area, a combination of wind and tide prevented them from intervening and the island's 500-strong garrison was left to resist the attack alone.

Attack of St Marcou, I. Scatcherd


1803 – Launch of Russian Liogkii ("Лёгкий"), or Legkiy or Legkii, was a 38-gun Russian Speshni-class frigate
Liogkii ("Лёгкий"), or Legkiy or Legkii, was a 38-gun Russian Speshni-class frigate launched in 1803. She served in the Mediterranean during the Anglo-Russian war. The Russians sold her to the French Navy in 1809, which refitted her and put her into service in 1811, renaming her Corcyre. The British captured her in November 1811.

Model of the frigate O'Higgins from the Museo Naval y Marítimo of the Chilean Navy


1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
City of Adelaide is a clipper ship, built in Sunderland, England, and launched on 7 May 1864. The ship was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Carrick between 1923 and 1948 and, after decommissioning, was known as Carrick until 2001. At a conference convened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 2001, the decision was made to revert the ship's name to City of Adelaide, and the duke formally renamed her at a ceremony in 2013.

1872 – Launch of French La Galissonnière, lead ship of a class of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s.
La Galissonnière was lead ship of a class of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s. She was named after the victor of the Battle of Minorca in 1756, Marquis de la Galissonnière. She bombarded Sfax in 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia and was present in Alexandria shortly before the British bombarded it before the beginning of the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War. The ship participated in a number of battles during the Sino-French War of 1884–85. La Galissonnière was condemned in 1894.

1875 - SS Schiller – the ship sank after hitting the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly. Most of her crew and passengers were lost, totalling 335 fatalities.
SS Schiller was a 3,421 ton German ocean liner, one of the largest vessels of her time. Launched in 1873, she plied her trade across the Atlantic Ocean, carrying passengers between New York and Hamburg for the German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line. She became notorious on 7 May 1875, while operating on her normal route, when she hit the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly, causing her to sink with the loss of most of her crew and passengers, totalling 335 fatalities.

1885 – Launch of SMS Arcona, a member of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s.
SMS Arcona was a member of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s. Intended for service in the German colonial empire, the ship was designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended range, and was equipped with a battery of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns. Arcona was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig in 1881, she was launched in May 1885, and she was completed in December 1886.

Arcona in Nagasaki, Japan, c. 1897


1887 – Launch of French Neptune, an ironclad battleship of the French Navy

The Neptune on Penfeld river, c. 1892, by Edmond Chagot


1902 – Launch of Preußen (usually Preussen in English) (PROY-sin), a German steel-hulled five-masted ship-rigged windjammer built in 1902 for the F. Laeisz shipping company and named after the German state and kingdom of Prussia.
It was the world's only ship of this class with five masts carrying six square sails on each mast.
Until the 2000 launch of the Royal Clipper, a sail cruise liner, she was the only five-masted full-rigged ship ever built.

1913 – Launch of spanish Alfonso XIII, a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class.
Alfonso XIII was a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class. She had two sister ships, España and Jaime I. Alfonso XIII was 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.

1915 - RMS Lusitania torpedoed and sunk
The passenger liner was torpedoed by U-20 on 7 May 1915. She sank in just 18 minutes 8 nmi (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland killing 1,198 out of over 1,900 of the people aboard.
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking presaged the United States declaration of war on Germany (1917).

1934 - The frigate USS Constitution completes her 3-year tour of 76 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and then returns to Boston, Mass. Prior to her journey that began July 1931, the 137-year-old frigate undergoes a refit and overhaul. Congress authorized the restoration of Constitution in March 1925.

1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō;
the battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
Shōhō (Japanese: 祥鳳, "Auspicious Phoenix" or "Happy Phoenix") was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally built as the submarine support ship Tsurugizaki in the late 1930s, she was converted before the Pacific War into an aircraft carrier and renamed. Completed in early 1942, the ship supported the invasion forces in Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and was sunk by American carrier aircraft on her first combat operation during the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May. Shōhō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II.

1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
Jodl and Keitel surrender all German armed forces unconditionally:
Thirty minutes after the fall of "Festung Breslau" (Fortress Breslau), General Alfred Jodl arrived in Reims and, following Dönitz's instructions, offered to surrender all forces fighting the Western Allies. This was exactly the same negotiating position that von Friedeburg had initially made to Montgomery, and like Montgomery the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, threatened to break off all negotiations unless the Germans agreed to a complete unconditional surrender to all the Allies on all fronts. Eisenhower explicitly told Jodl that he would order western lines closed to German soldiers, thus forcing them to surrender to the Soviets. Jodl sent a signal to Dönitz, who was in Flensburg, informing him of Eisenhower's declaration. Shortly after midnight, Dönitz, accepting the inevitable, sent a signal to Jodl authorizing the complete and total surrender of all German forces.

The first instrument of unconditional surrender signed at Reims on 7 May 1945.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

8th of May

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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 7 May 1794 - The Action of 7 May 1794 was a minor naval action fought between a British ship of the line and a French frigate early in the French Revolutionary Wars. HMS Swiftsure (74), Captain Charles Boyles, captured Atalante (36)...

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1711 – Launch of HMS Bristol, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 18th century

1744 - HMS Northumberland (70), Cptn. Thomas Watson (mortally wounded), captured by a French squadron of Content (62) and Mars (64).
The Action of 8 May 1744 was a minor naval engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession in which two French ships of the line, the 60-gun Content, and the 64-gun Mars, captured the British ship of the line HMS Northumberland, after a desperate action lasting four hours. Northumberland's captain, Thomas Watson, and her second-lieutenant were among those killed.

The Description of ye Loss of His Majestys Ship Northumberland Taken by ye French May ye 8th 1744 (PAF4581)


1781 - HMS Port Royal (18) captured by the Spaniards at Pensacola and HMS Mentor (16), Robert Deans, burnt to avoid capture

A 1783 engraving depicting the exploding magazine which marked the end of the Siege of Penascola


1793 – Launch of French Tigre, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy

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

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Tigre' (1795), a captured French Third Rate,


1794 - HMS Placienta (6), a single-masted forty-six foot Newfoundland hoy, wrecked off Newfoundland

Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Placentia' [Pleanica] (1790) and 'Trepassey' [Trepassee] (1790), both single-masted forty-six foot Newfoundland hoys


1794 - French Patriote (74), part of a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Joseph-Marie Nielly, captures HMS Castor (32), Cptn. Thomas Troubridge, off Cape Clear. 20 days later she was recaptured by Francis Laforey's HMS Carysfort

Hand-coloured. The Castor, a British vessel captured by the French (and flying French colours) is shown on the left of the picture, just before her re-capture by the British vessel Carysfort


1804 - HMS Vincejo (16), John Westly Wright, captured by French flotilla of 6 brigs and 5 luggers off the mouth of the Morbihan

Second View of HM Sloop El Vincego I W Wright Esqr, Commander, taken in the Bay of Quiberon by Six Brigs & Eleven Gun Boats of the French, on the 8th of May 1804 (PAG9022)


1812 - american Baltimore pilot schooner Arrow was seized by HMS Andromache under Orders in Council, for trading with the French.

Technique includes scratching out.; Medium includes sepia ink.; Heightened with white. This anonymous watercolour, presumably of an incident in the Anglo-American ware of 1812-14 is inscribed at the bottom: 'The American Schooner bore down on the Pylades Sloop of war, mistaking her, but on receiving a shot made sail & escaped hoisting a white flag at her fore 'Catch me who can' G.H'


1876 – Launch of Caio Duilio, the lead ship of the Caio Duilio class of ironclad turret ships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy).
Caio Duilio was the lead ship of the Caio Duilio class of ironclad turret ships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). Named for the Roman admiral Gaius Duilius, the ship was laid down in January 1873, was launched in May 1876, and was completed in January 1880. She was armed with a main battery of four 17.7-inch (450 mm) guns, then the largest gun afloat, and she was capable of a top speed of around 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph).

Caio Duilio while fitting out in 1880


1895 – Launch of HMS Renown, a second-class predreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1890s.
HMS Renown was a second-class predreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1890s. Intended to command cruiser squadrons operating on foreign stations, the ship served as the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station and the Mediterranean Fleet early in her career. Becoming obsolete as cruiser speeds increased, Renown became a royal yacht and had all of her secondary armament removed to make her more suitable for such duties. She became a stoker's training ship in 1909 and was listed for disposal in 1913. The ship was sold for scrap in early 1914.

Scale: 1:192


1899 – Launch of Russian Gromoboi (Russian: Громобой, meaning: "Thunderer") was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1890s.
Gromoboi (Russian: Громобой, meaning: "Thunderer") was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1890s. She was designed as a long-range commerce raider and served as such during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. When the war broke out, she was based in Vladivostok and made several sorties in search of Japanese shipping in the conflict's early months without much success.

A beautiful and amazing model of the Gromoboi in scale 1:700 built by an old friend of mine Jim Baumann

1918 - The Action of 8 May 1918 was a small naval engagement which occurred off Algiers, North Africa during World War I.
The Action of 8 May 1918 was a small naval engagement which occurred off Algiers, North Africa during World War I. In the action, an American armed yacht and a British destroyer encountered the German U-boat UB-70. Initially, the engagement was thought to be inconclusive, but later on the allied warships were credited with sinking the German submarine.


1940 - HNLMS Buffel and HNLMS Schorpioen, both monitors ironclad ram ships, captured by germans

1941 – action of 8 May 1941
German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin, which served as a commerce raider in World War II that captured or sunk 32 ships. On 8 May 1941 she was sunk in a battle with HMS Cornwall in the Indian Ocean.
Of 401 crew, 341 were lost along with 214 of the 238 prisoners aboard.


1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.

Aerial view of Lexington on 14 October 1941

USS Lexington explodes on 8 May 1942, several hours after being damaged by a Japanese carrier air attack.


1945 - The unconditional surrender of Germany was ratified by Allies in Berlin. This event is remembered as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) !
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day (Great Britain) or V-E Day (North America), is celebrated on Tuesday, 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.

United States military policemen reading about the German surrender in the newspaper Stars and Stripes

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

9th of May

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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 8 May 1794 - French Patriote (74), part of a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Joseph-Marie Nielly, captures HMS Castor (32), Cptn. Thomas Troubridge, off Cape Clear. 20 days later she was recaptured by Francis Laforey's HMS Carysfort...

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1666 – Launch of HMS Saint Patrick, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy.


1781 – Launch of HMS Narcissus, a Sphinx-class 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy
HMS Narcissus was a Sphinx-class 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1781. Most notably in 1782, while she was under the command of Captain Edward Edwards, a mutiny occurred aboard the vessel that resulted in the hanging of six men, and the flogging of an additional 14. Captain Edwards went on to command HMS Pandora, which was assigned to carry the Bounty mutineers back to England.

1795 - HMS Melampus (36), Sir Richard Strachan, HMS Diamond (38) Cptn. Sir W. Sidney Smith and another frigate left anchorage in Gourville Bay, Jersey and took convoy of 11 French merchantmen and 2 gun-vessels, Eclair and Crache-Feu.

Detail from the painting by Bristol artist Chris Woodhouse of the 36-gun Bristol-built frigate HMS Melampus, commissioned and purchased in 1990 by Bristol City Museum


1795 - Launch of HMS Coromandel, a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, previously the East Indiaman Winterton.
HMS Coromandel was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, previously the East Indiaman Winterton. She was purchased on the stocks in 1795, used as a troopship from 1796, was converted to a convalescent ship in 1807 for Jamaica, and was sold there in 1813. She returned to Britain around 1847 and was wrecked at Yarmouth in 1856.

An original art: drawing by Edward William Cooke of 'Coromandel' her at Yarmouth, where she was wrecked in 1856. The drawing, which depicts a close-up her stern, is part of series of five drawings of the ship dated 22 October, 1856. See also PAE6154, PAE6156, PAE6158, and PAE6159


1835 – Launch of steamship Beaver, the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America.
Beaver was the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America. She made remote parts of the west coast of Canada accessible for maritime fur trading and was chartered by the Royal Navy for surveying the coastline of British Columbia. She served off the coast from 1836 until 1888, when she was wrecked.

864 - The Battle of Heligoland (or Helgoland) was fought on 9 May 1864, during the Second Schleswig War, between a Danish squadron led by Commodore Edouard Suenson and a joint Austro-Prussian squadron commanded by the Austrian Commodore Wilhelm von Tegetthoff.
The action came about as a result of the Danish blockade of German ports in the North Sea; the Austrians had sent two steam frigates, SMS Schwarzenberg and Radetzky, to reinforce the small Prussian Navy to help break the blockade. After arriving in the North Sea, Tegetthoff joined a Prussian aviso and a pair of gunboats. To oppose him, Suenson had available the steam frigates Niels Juel and Jylland and the corvette Hejmdal.

Das Seegefecht bei Helgoland 1864 (die brennende österreichische Fregatte Schwarzenberg, dahinter die Fregatte Radetzky), Öl auf Karton, signiert "Püttner", 38,5 x 26,5 cm

Jylland, preserved as a museum ship


1887 -Launch of HMS Sans Pareil, a Victoria-class battleship of the British Royal Navy of the Victorian era, her only sister ship being HMS Victoria.

1895 – Launch of SMS Monarch, the lead ship of the Monarch-class coastal defense ship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1890s
SMS Monarch ("His Majesty's Ship Monarch") was the lead ship of the Monarch-class coastal defense ship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1890s. After their commissioning, Monarch and the two other Monarch-class ships made several training cruises in the Mediterranean Sea in the early 1900s. Monarch and her sisters formed the 1st Capital Ship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy until they were replaced by the newly commissioned Habsburg-class pre-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.

The battleship Monarch before World War I

Austro-Hungarian Monarch-class battleship battleship SMS Budapest (1896). 1:50 scale model at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien.


1902 – Launch of French cruiser Amiral Aube, a Gloire-class armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the early 1900s
The French cruiser Amiral Aube was a Gloire-class armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. She served in the English Channel and the Mediterranean during World War I. In early 1918, the ship was sent to Murmansk to support Allied forces during the when they intervened in the Russian Civil War. Amiral Aube was placed in reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1922

1918 - The Second Ostend Raid (officially known as Operation VS)
was the later of two failed attempts made during the spring of 1918 by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy to block the channels leading to the Belgian port of Ostend as a part of its conflict with the German Empire during World War I.
Due to the significant strategic advantages conferred by the Belgian ports, the Imperial German Navy had used Ostend as a base for their U-boat activities during the Battle of the Atlantic since 1915.
A successful blockade of these bases would force German submarines to operate out of more distant ports, such as Wilhelmshaven, on the German coast. This would expose them for longer to Allied countermeasures and reduce the time they could spend raiding. The ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge (partially blocked in the Zeebrugge Raid three weeks previously) provided sea access via canals for the major inland port of Bruges. Bruges was used as a base for small warships and submarines. As it was 6 mi (5.2 nmi; 9.7 km) inland, it was immune to most naval artillery fire and coastal raids, providing a safe harbour for training and repair.
The First Ostend Raid on 23 April 1918 was largely a failure, the blockships grounded too far from the channels to obstruct them. The second attempt also failed, due to heavy German resistance and British navigational difficulties in poor weather. In anticipation of a raid, the Germans had removed the navigation buoys and without them the British had difficulty finding the narrow channel into the harbour in poor weather. When they did discover the entrance, German resistance proved too strong for the operation to be completed as originally planned: the obsolete cruiser HMS Vindictive was sunk, but only partially blocked the channel.
Despite its failure, the raid was presented in Britain as a courageous and daring gamble that came very close to success. Three Victoria Crosses and numerous other gallantry medals were awarded to sailors who participated in the operation. British forces had moderate casualties in the raid, compared to minimal German losses.

1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy HMS Bulldog.
On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
German submarine U-110 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II. She was captured by the Royal Navy on 9 May 1941 and provided a number of secret cipher documents to the British. U-110's capture, later given the code name "Operation Primrose", was one of the biggest secrets of the war, remaining so for seven months. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was only told of the capture by Winston Churchill in January 1942.


1980 – In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse.
Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

10th of May

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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 9 May 1902 – Launch of French cruiser Amiral Aube, a Gloire-class armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the early 1900s The French cruiser Amiral Aube was a Gloire-class armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the early...

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1746 – Launch of HMS Kent, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Kent was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was ordered from Deptford Dockyard on 10 May 1743 to be built to the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and was launched on 10 May 1746. Her first commander was Thomas Fox, who had previously commanded HMS Newcastle.

1758 – Launch of French Fantasque, a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
The Fantasque was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She is famous for being captained by the French commander Pierre-André de Suffrenduring the American Revolutionary War.

1762 – Launch of HMS Lark, a 32-gun Richmond-class frigate fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Lark was a 32-gun Richmond-class frigate fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1762 and destroyed in Narragansett Bay in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War.

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

1780 - Launch of HMS Ontario, a British warship that sank in a storm in Lake Ontario on 31 October 1780, during the American Revolutionary War.
HMS Ontario was a British warship that sank in a storm in Lake Ontario on 31 October 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. She was a 22-gun snow, and, at 80 feet (24 m) in length, the largest British warship on the Great Lakes at the time. The shipwreck was discovered in 2008 by Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville. Ontario was found largely intact and very well preserved in the cold water. Scoville and Kennard assert that "the 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes."

MarisStella - New Kit - Hms Ontario 1780 1:48​

A relatively small deep water draught and heavily armed snow, built like her much bigger seagoing cousins. Stern and quarters unusually handsome and elegant, decorations kept to a minimum as per colonial fashion of the day. She represents the vessel as she was originally drawn up by the British...
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1797 – Launch of USS United States, a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.
USS United States was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so United States and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. She was built at Humphrey's shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and launched on 10 May 1797 and immediately began duties with the newly formed United States Navy protecting American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France.
In 1861 United States was in port at Norfolk and was seized by the Virginia Navy and subsequently commissioned into the Confederate navy as CSS United States, but was later scuttled by Confederate forces. Union forces raised the scuttled ship, and retained control of the ship until she was broken up in 1865.

1800 – Launch of HMS Spencer, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Bucklers Hard.
HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 May 1800 at Bucklers Hard. Her designer was the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier. She served in two major battles, Algeciras Bay and San Domingo, and in a number of other campaigns. She was broken up in 1822.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the launching arrangements at Bucker's Hard, Beaulie, for Spencer (1800), a 74-gun, two-decker. The reverse has the measurements of the Spenser comparing the contract to the 'as built' dimensions


1801 – Launch of French Héros, a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort from 1795 to 1801 by engineer Roland


1807 - Battle of the Dardanelles
The naval Battle of the Dardanelles took place on 10–11 May 1807 during the Russo-Turkish War (1806–12, part of the Napoleonic Wars). It was fought between the Russian and Ottoman navies near the Dardanelles Strait.


1808 – Launch of French Ville de Varsovie, a Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Chaumont from original plans by Sané.

1808 - Start of 5 day engagement between HMS Wizard (16), Abel Ferris, and Requin (16) from off Toulon to Goulette near Tunis.
On May 10th, the Wizard, 16, Commander Abel Ferris, sighted and chased, to the south of Toulon, the Requin, 16, Commander C. E. Berar, and, after a long pursuit, engaged her in close action on the morning of the llth. The Requin fired high and inflicted sufficiently severe injuries to be able to draw away from her adversary. The British crew refitted their ship, and, on the morning of the 12th, were near enough to the Requin to open a long range fire. The firing killed the breeze, and the Requin drew ahead once more; but the Wizard stuck to her enemy all the 12th and 13th, now gaining and now losing ground, and exchanging shots whenever near enough for the guns to carry. On the 14th, however, the Requin entered the neutral harbour of Goletta in Tunis, and the pursuit ceased, having continued through 88 hours over 369 miles of sea. The Requin was ultimately taken on July 28th, to the north of Corsica, on her way back from Tunis to Toulon, by the Volage, 22, Captain Philip Lewis J - Rosenhagen, after a long chase. The Wizard's total loss was 1 killed and 5 wounded; the Requin's is unknown.
HMS Wizard (1805) was a brig-sloop launched 1805 and sold October 1816.

1862 – Launch of USS New Ironsides, a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–65. New Ironsides bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston in 1863 during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 she bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher.
Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew.[2] Her only casualty in combat occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the CSS David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was destroyed by fire in 1865 after she was placed in reserve.

New Ironsides as she appeared on blockade duty.


1887 – Launch of HMS Buzzard, a Nymphe-class composite screw sloop

1900 – Launch of Russian Pobeda (Russian: Победа, lit. 'Victory'), the last of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century.
Pobeda (Russian: Победа, lit. 'Victory') was the last of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century. The ship was assigned to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur from 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she participated in the battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea. Having escaped serious damage in these engagements, Pobeda was sunk by gunfire during the Siege of Port Arthur, and then salvaged by the Japanese and placed into service under the name Suwo (周防).
Rearmed and re-boilered by the Japanese, Suwo was reclassified by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a coastal defense ship in 1908 and served as a training ship for several years. She was the flagship of the Japanese squadron that participated in the Battle of Tsingtao at the beginning of World War Iand continued in that role until she became a gunnery training ship in 1917. The ship was disarmed in 1922 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and probably scrapped around that time.

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

Goeben steaming at full speed


1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, a distance of 1,300 kilometres (800 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, it aimed to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, which was stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever completed.
In October 1915, pack ice in the Weddell Sea had sunk Endurance, leaving Shackleton and his companions adrift on a precarious ice surface. Throughout the duration of their survival, the group drifted northward until April 1916, when the floe on which they had encamped broke up. They then made their way in the ship's lifeboats to Elephant Island, where Shackleton decided that the most effective means of obtaining rescue would be to sail one of the lifeboats to South Georgia.

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

The James Caird, preserved at Dulwich College in south London

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

11th of May

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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 10 May 1915 - The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the Russian pre-dreadnought squadron and the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim in the Black Sea The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the...

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


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


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

Battle of Bantry Bay by Adriaen van Diest.


1762 – Launch of HMS Boston, a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy
HMS Boston was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1762. She served during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, and was broken up in 1811.
On 16 April 1797, Boston was 18 leagues NNE of Cape Finisterre when after a six-hour chase she captured the French privateer Enfant de la Patrie, of 16 guns and 130 men. Enfant de la Patrie was eight days out of Bordeaux but had not taken anything. The captain of the privateer was drunk, and so decided to resist, firing his guns, small arms, and running his vessel into Boston. His rashness resulted in five of his crew being killed, ten wounded, and he himself drowning.

1765 – Launch of French Flamand, a 56-gun Bordelois-class ship of the line of the French Navy.
The Flamand was a 56-gun Bordelois-class ship of the line of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Flanders, and built by engineer Léon Guignace on a design by Antoine Groignard.
She took part in Suffren's campaign during the American Revolutionary War.

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

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

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

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


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

1918 - SS Sant Anna – This troopship, traveling from Marseille over Bizerte to Salonica, with 2,025 soldiers on board was torpedoed on 11 May 1918 by German submarine SM UC-54. There were 605 casualties.
SS Sant′ Anna was a Transatlantic ocean liner converted into a troopship in 1915, torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea on 11 May 1918 with 605 casualties.

1918 - SS Verona – On 11 May 1918 the troop ship was off Capo Peloro in Sicily and heading for Libya, when UC-52 torpedoed and sank her. She sank quickly, killing 880 of about 3,000 troops aboard.
SS Verona was an Italian passenger steamer, built in 1908 by Workman, Clark and Company in Belfast, and operated by the Navigazione Generale Italiana, of Genoa. SS Ancona was her sister ship.

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

1972 - STV Royston Grange – The British cargo liner was destroyed by fire after a collision with the petroleum tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. There were no survivors from the 72 aboard.
The STV Royston Grange was a British cargo liner which was destroyed by fire after a collision in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. She had been built in 1959 and was owned by the Houlder Line.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

12th of May

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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 10 May 1915 - The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the Russian pre-dreadnought squadron and the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim in the Black Sea The Action of 10 May 1915 was a naval encounter between the...

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

1704 – Launch of HMS Mary, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard

1796 - The Action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy
HMS Phoenix (36), Cptn. Lawrence Halstead, captured Argo (36) in the North Sea
The Action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the previous day from the British North Sea fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, which was cruising off the Batavian fleet anchorage at the Texel, while the Batavian squadron was returning to the Netherlands from the Norwegian coast where it had been sheltering since suffering defeat at the Action of 22 August 1795 the previous year. As the Batavian squadron neared the Batavian coast, the British squadron under Captain Lawrence Halstead attacked.
In his frigate HMS Phoenix, Halstead was able to cut the Batavian frigate Argo off from the shore and bring it to battle, forcing it to surrender in just 20 minutes as other British ships closed with the combat. The remainder of the Batavian squadron had dispersed eastwards away from the frigates and Duncan's fleet, pursued by the frigate HMS Pegasus and brig-sloop HMS Sylph. After a lengthy chase, Phoenix caught the cutter Duke of York, Sylph seized the brig Mercury, while Pegasus succeeded in driving the other brigs, Echo and Gier ashore, where both were believed wrecked. Duncan's blockade of the Texel was instrumental in British control of the North Sea, and a year later it would achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Camperdown.

HMS Phoenix in chase of Didon


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

1808 - HMS Tartar (32), Cptn. G. E. B. Bettesworth (Killed in Action), and boats engaged at Bergen.
HMS Tartar left Leith roads on 10 May 1807 and arrived off Bergen on the 12th, but heavy fog prevented her from getting closer until three days later. Unfortunately, by the time Tartar arrived, Guelderland had sailed more than a week earlier. Bettesworth nevertheless decided to send his boats into the harbour to cut out some merchant vessels and three privateers that were there. When the boats encountered heavy fire and discovered that a heavy chain protected the ships in the harbour, they and Bettesworth returned to Tartar. However, as Tartar tried to withdraw, she came attack from the schooner Odin and between three and six gunboats (accounts differ). Cannon fire from the Norwegians killed Bettesworth and a midshipman, Henry FitzHugh, early in the action. A further twelve men were wounded before Tartar was able to complete her withdrawal. The Danes lost four men, and a gunboat.

Tartar fighting gunboats at the battle of Alvøen


1810 – Launch of French Renard, an Abeille-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1810 in Genoa
Renard was an Abeille-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1810 in Genoa. She is known for her battle against the brig HMS Swallow, one of the early deeds of then-Lieutenant Charles Baudin.

1813 – Launch of HMS Cornwallis, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 May 1813 at Bombay
She was built of teak. The capture of Java by USS Constitution delayed the completion of Cornwallis as Java had been bringing her copper sheathing from England.

HMS Cornwallis and the British squadron under the walls of Nanking, saluting the peace treaty.


1831 – Launch of HMS Viper, a six-gun Cockatrice-class schooner built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s.


1842 – Launch of The second USS Somers, a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration which became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions.

This Lithograph, published circa 1843, shows the mutineers hanging under the US flag.


1865 - Comet, an 1851 California clipper built by William H. Webb which sailed in the Australia trade and the tea trade, was lost at sea
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 Cityto 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.

Clipper Ship Comet of New York in a hurricane off Bermuda on her voyage from New York to San Francisco, Octr 1852 (PAH8536)


1911 – SS Merida, a steam cargo ship, sank
Merida was a steam cargo ship built in 1906 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co., owned and operated by Ward Line, with intention of serving their New York to Havana route

1915 - HMS Goliath, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class, was torpedoed and sunk,
HMS Goliath was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Goliath and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Goliath was laid down in January 1897, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1900.

1930 – Launch of Japanese Takao (高雄), the lead vessel in the Takao-class heavy cruisers, active in World War II with the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Takao (高雄) was the lead vessel in the Takao-class heavy cruisers, active in World War II with the Imperial Japanese Navy. These were the largest and most modern cruisers in the Japanese fleet, and were intended to form the backbone of a multipurpose long-range strike force. Her sister ships were Atago, Maya and Chōkai.

1975 - The Mayaguez incident took place between Kampuchea and the United States from May 12–15, 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic.
It was the last official battle of the Vietnam War.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

13th of May

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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 12 May 1808 - HMS Tartar (32), Cptn. G. E. B. Bettesworth (Killed in Action), and boats engaged at Bergen. HMS Tartar left Leith roads on 10 May 1807 and arrived off Bergen on the 12th, but heavy fog prevented her from getting closer...

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1717 - The Battle of Gothenburg was a Danish attempt to destroy the Swedish squadron in Gothenburg, which was led by Olof Strömstierna.
The Danes were led by the famous Peter Tordenskjold. The Swedish land defence was led by Fredrik of Hessen, and it consisted of the land batteries Billingen and Rya Nabbe with 12 guns each, and the Älvsborg fortress, who had 400 soldiers with 90 guns.

1778 – Launch of HMS Jupiter, a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy.
HMS Jupiter was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years. She was also one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy as shown by her attempt to capture the cutter Eclipse under Nathaniel Fanning.

Naval battle off the coast of Lisbon, 20 October 1778. The French vessel Triton against the British ship Jupiter and the frigate Medea.

1790 - Battle of Reval - Disastrous Swedish attack on Russian battlefleet at Reval (now Tallinn).
The naval Battle of Reval or took place on 13 May 1790 (2 May OS) during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790), off the port of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia).

The Battle of Reval by Bogolyubov, Oil on Canvas


1793 – HMS Iris and Citoyenne Française conduct an inconclusive but sanguinary engagement
HMS Iris (32), Cptn. George Lumsdaine, engaged Citoyenne Francaise (32) about 6 leagues from Gibraltar in the first action of the war with a French naval ship.

Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Toulon


1797 – French Jalouse, an 18-gun Belliqueuse-class brig-corvette of the French Navy, was captured by HMS Vestale

1854 – Launch of French Ulm, a 100-gun Hercule-class ship of the line of the French Navy.

1/40th-scale model of the 100-gun Hercule, lead ship of Ulm ' class, on display at the Musée national de la Marine.


1854 – Launch of HMS Royal Albert, a 121 gun three-decker ship of the Royal Navy, at Woolwich Dockyard.

Woolwich Dockyard, launch of Royal Albert 1854

Scale: 1:48? A contemporary full hull model


1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.
USS Planter (1862) was a steamer taken over by Robert Smalls, a Southern slave and ship's pilot who steered the ship past Confederate defenses and surrendered it to Union Navy forces on 13 May 1862 during the American Civil War.
For a short period, Planter served as a gunboat for the Union Navy. As the ship burned wood, which was scarce where the Navy was operating, the Navy turned the ship over to the Union Army for use at Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast. In 1863 Smalls was appointed captain of Planter, the first black man to command a United States ship, and served in that position until 1866.

1878 – Launch of SMS Bayern, one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy.
SMS Bayern was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were Sachsen, Baden, and Württemberg. Named for Bavaria, Bayern was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel from 1874 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10 in) guns in two open barbettes.

SMS Bayern (Stapellauf 1878) auf einer Zeichnung.

SMS Bayern circa 1893


1879 – Launch of The SMS Möwe (Seagull), a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy. Its only sister ship was the SMS Habicht, although the SMS Adler was later built on the basis of the same blueprint.
The SMS Möwe (Seagull) was a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy. Its only sister ship was the SMS Habicht [de], although the SMS Adler was later built on the basis of the same blueprint.

1903 – Launch of HMS Commonwealth, a King Edward VII-class battleship of the British Royal Navy.
HMS Commonwealth, was a King Edward VII-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. Like all ships of the class (apart from HMS King Edward VII) she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely the Commonwealth of Australia. Armed with a battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) and four 9.2 in (234 mm) guns, she and her sister ships marked a significant advance in offensive power compared to earlier British battleship designs that did not carry the 9.2 in guns. Commonwealth was built at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, and was laid down in June 1902, launched in May 1903, and completed in March 1905.

1915 - HMS Goliath – On the night of 12–13 May 1915, Goliath was anchored in Morto Bay off Cape Helles when she was torpedoed.
Goliath began to capsize almost immediately, she rolled over and began to sink by the bow, taking 570 of the 700-strong crew to the bottom.
HMS Goliath was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Goliath and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Goliath was laid down in January 1897, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1900.

1972 – Launch of USS Nimitz (CVN-68), a supercarrier of the United States Navy, and the lead ship of her class.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is a supercarrier of the United States Navy, and the lead ship of her class. One of the largest warships in the world, she was laid down, launched, and commissioned as CVAN-68; "aircraft carrier, attack, nuclear powered", but she was later redesignated as CVN-68; "aircraft carrier, multi-mission", nuclear-powered", on 30 June 1975, as part of a fleet-wide realignment that year.

USS Nimitz (CVN-68) off the coast of San Diego in July 2009

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

14th of May

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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 May 1878 – Launch of SMS Bayern, one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. SMS Bayern was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were Sachsen, Baden...

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1713 – Re-Launch of HMS Royal Oak, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS Royal Oak was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Jonas Shish at Deptford and launched in 1674. She was one of only three Royal Navy ships to be equipped with the Rupertinoe naval gun. Life aboard her when cruising in the Mediterranean in 1679 is described in the diary of Henry Teonge.

On the left, a near starboard quarter view of the ‘Royal Oak’ at anchor.

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 70-gun two-decker ship of the line, built plank on frame in the Navy Board style.


1741 - HMS Wager (24), Cptn. Dandy Kidd, wrecked on the South coast of Chile
HMS Wager was a square-rigged sixth-rate Royal Navy ship of 28 guns. She was built as an East Indiaman in about 1734 and made two voyages to India for the East India Company before the Royal Navy purchased her in 1739. She formed part of a squadron under Commodore George Anson and was wrecked on the south coast of Chile on 14 May 1741. The wreck of the Wager became famous for the subsequent adventures of the survivors who found themselves marooned on a desolate island in the middle of a Patagonian winter, and in particular because of the Wager Mutiny that followed.

The Wreck of the Wager, the frontispiece from John Byron's account


1747 - First Battle of Cape Finisterre
14 British ships of the line under Admiral George Anson attack a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquière and capture 4 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 7 merchantmen, in a five-hour battle in the Bay of Biscay.
The First Battle of Cape Finisterre (14 May 1747) saw 14 British ships of the line under Admiral George Anson attack a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquière during the War of the Austrian Succession. The British captured 4 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 7 merchantmen, in a five-hour battle in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Finisterre in northwest Spain. One French frigate, one French East India Company warship and the other merchantmen escaped.

Lord Anson's victory off Cape Finisterre, 3 May 1747, National Maritime Museum.


1766 – Launch of french Languedoc, a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy and flagship of Admiral d'Estaing.
The Languedoc was a ship of the line of the French Navy and flagship of Admiral d'Estaing. She was offered to King Louis XV by the Languedoc, as part of the Don des vaisseaux, a national effort to rebuild the navy after the Seven Years' War. She was designed by the naval architect Joseph Coulomb, and funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Languedoc.

The Languedoc, dismasted by the storm the night of the 12th, attacked by HMS Renown the afternoon of 13 August 1778


1794 – Launch of Spanish Montañés, a 74 gun third-rate Spanish ship of the line.
The name ship of her class, she was built in the Ferrol shipyards and paid for by the people of Cantabria.
The Montañés was a 74 gun third-rate Spanish ship of the line. The name ship of her class, she was built in the Ferrol shipyards and paid for by the people of Cantabria. She was built following José Romero y Fernández de Landa's system as part of the San Ildefonso class, though her were amended by Retamosa to refine her buoyancy. She was launched in May 1794 and entered service the following year. With 2400 copper plates on her hull, she was much faster than other ships of the same era, reaching 14 (rather than the average 10) knots downwind and 10 (rather than 8) knots upwind.

1794 - HMS Alert, launched in 1793 for the Royal Navy, was captured by the French Navy and took her into service as Alerte.
A few months later the Royal Navy destroyed her.
HMS Alert was launched in 1793 for the Royal Navy. In May 1794 the French Navy captured her and took her into service as Alerte. A few months later the Royal Navy destroyed her.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for the Alert (1793)


1806 – Action of 1806-05-14 - HMS Pallas vs French Minerve and other french ships


1814 - May 14, 16 and 17 - Argentines under William Brown defeat Spanish
The Battle of Buceo was a decisive naval battle which took place on 14–17 May 1814, during the Argentine War of Independence between an Argentine fleet under William Brown and a Spanish fleet under Admiral Sienna off the coast of Montevideo, in today's Uruguay.


1824 – Launch of HMS Aetna, a Hecla class bomb vessel of the Royal Navy of the early 19th century.
The Hecla class was a class of bomb vessels of the Royal Navy of the early 19th century. They were designed for use as bomb or mortar ships and were very heavily built. Eight ships were launched; all were converted for use as exploration or survey ships. Four ships of the class are known for the role they played in Arctic and Antarctic exploration.

1832 – Launch of HMS Salamander, one of the first paddle warships built for the Royal Navy.
HMS Salamander was one of the first paddle warships built for the Royal Navy. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel, she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop when that categorisation was introduced on 31 May 1844. She was launched in 1832 from Sheerness Dockyard, took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War and was broken up in 1883.

1847 - HMS Driver was a Driver-class wooden paddle sloop of the Royal Navy.
She is credited with the first global circumnavigation by a steamship when she arrived back in England on 14 May 1847.

1904 – Launch of SMS Yorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck"), the second and final member of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet.
SMS Yorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck") was the second and final member of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine(Imperial Navy) as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. Yorck was named for Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, a Prussian field marshal. She was laid down in 1903 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, launched in May 1904, and commissioned in November 1905. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed was 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph). Like many of the late armored cruisers, Yorck was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her career was limited.

1904 - Although Port Arthur was as good as blocked, due to the lack of initiative by Makarov's successors, Japanese naval losses began to mount, largely due to Russian mines.
two Japanese battleships, the 12,320-ton Yashima and the 15,300-ton Hatsuse, sank in a Russian minefield off Port Arthur after they both struck at least two mines each, eliminating one-third of Japan's battleship force.
At the same day cruiser Yoshino sank killing 319 people after a collision with cruiser Kasuga. Only 19 survived.
-> The worst day for the Japanese Navy during the war.

A model of Yashima in the British National Maritime Museum


1917 - The 1917 Battle of the Strait of Otranto was the result of an Austro-Hungarian raid on the Otranto Barrage, an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto.
The battle took place on 14–15 May 1917, and was the largest surface action in the Adriatic Sea during World War I
The 1917 Battle of the Strait of Otranto was the result of an Austro-Hungarian raid on the Otranto Barrage, an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto. The battle took place on 14–15 May 1917, and was the largest surface action in the Adriatic Sea during World War I. The Otranto Barrage was a fixed barrier, composed of lightly armed drifters with anti-submarine nets coupled with minefields and supported by Allied naval patrols.
The Austro-Hungarian navy planned to raid the Otranto Barrage with a force of three light cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Commander (later Admiral) Miklós Horthy, in an attempt to break the barrier to allow U-boats freer access to the Mediterranean, and Allied shipping. An Allied force composed of ships from three navies responded to the raid and in the ensuing battle, heavily damaged the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Novara. However, the rapid approach of the Austro-Hungarian relief force persuaded Rear Admiral Acton, the Allied commander, to retreat.

SMS Novara in action


1918 - HMS Phoenix, an Acheron-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy, was the only British warship ever to be sunk by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
HMS Phoenix was an Acheron-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is named for the mythical bird, and was the fifteenth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was the only British warship ever to be sunk by the Austro-Hungarian Navy

1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 died, including 63 of the 65 army personnel.

The Scottish-built vessel was launched in 1924 as a combination passenger liner and refrigerated cargo ship and operated a trade route between Western Australia and Singapore via the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), carrying passengers, cargo, and livestock. At the start of World War II, Centaur (like all British Merchant Navy vessels) was placed under British Admiralty control, but after being fitted with defensive equipment, was allowed to continue normal operations. In November 1941, the ship rescued German survivors of the engagement between Kormoran and HMAS Sydney. Centaur was relocated to Australia's east coast in October 1942, and used to transport materiel to New Guinea.

In January 1943, Centaur was handed over to the Australian military for conversion into a hospital ship, as the ship's small size made her suitable for operating in Maritime Southeast Asia. The refit (including installation of medical facilities and repainting with Red Cross markings) was completed in March, and the ship undertook a trial voyage: transporting wounded from Townsville to Brisbane, then from Port Moresby to Brisbane. After replenishing in Sydney, Centaur embarked the 2/12th Field Ambulance for transport to New Guinea, and sailed on 12 May. Before dawn on 14 May 1943, during her second voyage, Centaur was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine off North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. The majority of the 332 aboard died in the attack; the 64 survivors were discovered 36 hours later. The incident resulted in public outrage as attacking a hospital ship is considered a war crime under the 1907 Hague Convention. Protests were made by the Australian and British governments to Japan and efforts were made to discover the people responsible so they could be tried at a war crimes tribunal. In the 1970s the probable identity of the attacking submarine, I-177, became public.

The reason for the attack is unknown, with theories that Centaur was in breach of the international conventions that should have protected her, that I-177's commander was unaware that Centaur was a hospital ship, or that the submarine commander knowingly attacked a protected vessel. The wreck of Centaur was found on 20 December 2009; a claimed discovery in 1995 had been proven to be a different shipwreck.

AHS Centaur following her conversion to a hospital ship. The Red Cross designation "47" can be seen on the bow.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

15th of May

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

13 May 1906 – Launch of Ioann Zlatoust (Russian: Иоанн Златоуст), an Evstafi-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. There is something fascinating in those pre-dreadnought battleships...the way they look, the way they operate and their fate...

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1812 – Launch of French Aréthuse, a 46-gun 18-pounder frigate of the French Navy.
The Aréthuse was a 46-gun 18-pounder frigate of the French Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, taking part in a major single-ship action. Much later she took part in the conquest of Algeria, and ended her days as a coal depot in Brest.

HMS Amelia in action with the French Frigate Aréthuse, 1813, by John Christian Schetky, 1852

1839 – Launch of HMS Queen, a 110-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth.
HMS Queen was a 110-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 May 1839 at Portsmouth. She was the last purely sailing battleship to be completed - subsequent ones had steam engines as well although all British battleships were constructed with sailing rig until the 1870s.

HMS Queen, Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Edward Rich Owen, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean fleet, leaving Malta (Robert Strickland Thomas, 1842)

Scale: 1:24. A midship sectional model of the 110-gun first rate ship HMS Queen (1839) made entirely in wood with metal fittings and painted in realistic colours.

1854 – Launch of HMS Cossack, a wooden 20-gun corvette, built at Northfleet. She was originally laid down for the Imperial Russian Navy as the corvette Witjas, however was confiscated during the Crimean War in 1854.

1864 - SS Tristram Shandy, an iron-hulled sidewheel steamer completed in 1864 at Greenock, Scotland, used as a blockade runner, was captured by the USS Kansas.


1945 - The Battle of the Malacca Strait, sometimes called the Sinking of Haguro, and in Japanese sources as the Battle off Penang (ペナン沖海戦),
The Battle of the Malacca Strait, sometimes called the Sinking of Haguro, and in Japanese sources as the Battle off Penang (ペナン沖海戦), was a naval battle that resulted from the British search and destroy operation in May 1945, called Operation Dukedom, that resulted in the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Haguro. Haguro had been operating as a supply ship for Japanese garrisons in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal since 1 May 1945.

1969 - The pre-commissioned submarine USS Guitarro (SSN 665) accidentally sinks while moored at U.S. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Calif. Due to the damage, her commissioning date is rescheduled to Sept. 1972.
USS Guitarro (SSN-665), a Sturgeon-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the guitarro, a ray of the guitarfish family.

Guitarro (SSN-665) entering the water at Mare Island on 27 July 1968.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

16th of May

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

13 May 1906 – Launch of Ioann Zlatoust (Russian: Иоанн Златоуст), an Evstafi-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. There is something fascinating in those pre-dreadnought battleships...the way they look, the way they operate and their fate...

shipsofscale.com

1644 - Danes defeat Dutch ships which have been hired to support Sweden
This battle took place on 16 May 1644 during the Danish-Swedish War near List Deep, between Sylt and Rømø in western Denmark. Nine Danish ships under King Christian IV forced a retreat back into List Deep of 26 smaller Dutch ships (13 under Marten Thijsen and 13 under Hendrik Gerritsen) which had come to assist Sweden against Denmark. 4 more Dutch ships from Marcus' squadron appeared during the battle but took no part.


1654 - Battle of the Dardanelles (1654) - Turks under Murad defeat Venetians under Giuseppe Delfino in Dardanelles


1763 – Launch of HMS Albion, 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.
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.

HMS Albion in a gale (PAF6082)

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Fortitude (1780) and Irresistible (1782), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, based on Albion (1763)


1797 - The action of 16 May 1797 - was a naval battle that took place near Tripoli in Ottoman Tripolitania (present-day Libya).
The Danish squadron was victorious over a Tripolitan squadron that outnumbered them in terms of the number of vessels.
The result was a peace treaty between the Bey of Tripoli and Denmark.

The Dano-Norwegian frigate Najaden leading a small Danish squadron against six corsair ships outside Tripoli, May 16, 1797.


1802 - The First Battle of Tripoli Harbor was a naval battle fought on May 16, 1802 in Tripoli Harbor between a combined force consisting of the American frigate USS Boston and two Swedish Navy frigates against several Tripolitan Barbary corsairs.
The First Battle of Tripoli Harbor was a naval battle fought on May 16, 1802 in Tripoli Harbor between a combined force consisting of the American frigate USS Boston and two Swedish Navy frigates against several Tripolitan Barbary corsairs. The Swedish-American force was enforcing the blockade when an engagement broke out between it and Tripolitan forces. The Allied fleet damaged the Tripolitan squadron as well as the harbor fortifications before withdrawing and resuming the blockade.

USS Boston


1807 - HMS Dauntless (22), Christopher Strachey, surrendered to the French at Danzig after grounding.
The first HMS Dauntless was a sixth-rate Combatant-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1804 and the French captured her in 1807 at Danzig. The French Navy took her into service as Sans Peur, but her subsequent fate is unknown.

HMS Dauntless aground, by Benjamin Zix / Surrender of HMS Dauntless


1808 - Battle of Alvøen - was a sea battle of the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom. It was fought on 16 May 1808 in Vatlestraumen, outside Bergen in Norway, between the British frigate HMS Tartar and a Norwegian force consisting of four kanonjolles and one kanonsjalupps (collectively known as gunboats).

HMS Tartar attacked by Danish-Norwegian gunboats in the Battle of Alvøen


1811 - Little Belt affair - USS President (58), Commodore John Rodgers, engaged HMS Little Belt (20), Cptn. Arthur Bingham, off Cape Hatteras.
The Little Belt affair was a naval battle on the night of 16 May 1811. It involved the United States frigate USS President and the British sixth-rate HMS Little Belt, a sloop-of-war, which had originally been the Danish ship Lillebælt, before being captured by the British in the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen. The encounter took place off the North Carolina coast. The Little Belt Affair was one of many incidents and events that led to the War of 1812.

1813 - Boats of HMS Berwick (74), Cptn Edward Brace, and HMS Euryalus (36), Cptn. Charles Napier, took or destroyed 20 vessels at Cavalarie Bay near Toulon.
On 16 May 1813, boats from Berwick and Euryalus attacked French coastal shipping at Cavalaire, east of Toulon. There they captured the French naval xebec Fortune, of ten 9-pounder guns and four swivel guns. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseaux Félix-Marie-Louise-Anne-Joseph-Julien Lecamus, and had a crew of 95 men who had abandoned her before the British boarded. In addition, the British captured 22 small coasting vessels. They took out 14, but then destroyed nine after removing their cargoes. Fifteen of the vessels were chiefly laden with oil, corn, lemons, etc., and one with empty casks; six of those destroyed were empty. In the attack Berwick lost one man killed, and Euryalus had one man missing.

1843 – Launch of HMS Eurydice, a 26-gun Royal Navy corvette which was the victim of one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters when she sank in 1878

H.M.S Eurydice, 26 guns (PAH0921)

Sketch of the bow of HMS Eurydice portside view June 29th 1843 (PAH4394)


1850 – Launch of Napoléon, a 90-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, and the first purpose-built steam battleship in the world.

Napoléon (1850), the first purpose-built steam battleship in history.


1874 – Launch of The Brazilian ironclad Sete de Setembro, a wooden-hulled armored frigate built for the Brazilian Navy during the Paraguayan War in the late 1860s.
The Brazilian ironclad Sete de Setembro was a wooden-hulled armored frigate built for the Brazilian Navy during the Paraguayan War in the late 1860s. Construction was delayed by a debate over her armament and she was not completed until 1874, by which time the ship was essentially obsolete. Sete de Setembro was transferred to Rio de Janeiro in the 1880s and captured by the rebels during the Fleet Revolt of 1893–94. She sank after she caught fire when the government forces recaptured her in late 1893.

1919 - Three Curtiss NC seaplanes leave from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, Canada for the first trans-atlantic flight.
Only NC 4 makes the flight successfully reaching the Azores on May 17.

Crews of the NC-4, NC-3 and NC-1 immediately before the departure of the first transatlantic flight

US Navy warships "strung out like a string of pearls" along the NC's flightpath (3rd leg)

1932 - MS Georges Philippar was an ocean liner of the French Messageries Maritimes line that was built in 1930.
On her maiden voyage in 1932 she caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Aden with the loss of 54 lives.
Georges Philippar was a 17,359 GRT ocean liner. She was 542.7 ft (165.4 m) long, with a beam of 68.2 ft (20.8 m) and a depth of 46.9 ft (14.3 m). She was a motor ship with two two-stroke, single cycle single-acting marine diesel engines. Each engine had 10 cylinders of 28 3⁄4 inches (730 mm) bore by 17 1⁄4 inches (440 mm) stroke and was built by Sulzer Brothers, Winterthur, Switzerland. Between them the two engines developed 3,300 NHP, giving the ship a speed of 18 1⁄2 knots (34.3 km/h).

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

17th of May

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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 May 1811 - Little Belt affair USS President (58), Commodore John Rodgers, engaged HMS Little Belt (20), Cptn. Arthur Bingham, off Cape Hatteras. The Little Belt affair was a naval battle on the night of 16 May 1811. It...

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1682 – Birth of Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722)
Bartholomew Roberts (17 May 1682 – 10 February 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided ships off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy as measured by vessels captured,[1] taking over 400 prizes in his career.[2] He is also known as Black Bart (Welsh: Barti Ddu), but this name was never used in his lifetime.

Bartholomew Roberts at Ouidah with his ship and captured merchantmen in the background.


1683 - The attack on Veracruz was a 1683 raid against the port of Veracruz, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial Mexico).
The attack on Veracruz was a 1683 raid against the port of Veracruz, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial Mexico). It was led by pirates Laurens de Graaf, Nicholas van Hoorn and Michel de Grammont.

Veracruz in the 17th century.


1756 - HMS Colchester (50), Cptn. Lucius O'Brien, and HMS Lyme (20), Capt. Edward Vernon, engaged the french ships Aquilon (42) and Fiddle (24) off Brittany
The French ships were standing in for Rochefort in charge of a convoy, when, quite near the forts, they were sighted by the British and chased. The convoy was ordered to make the best of its way, and the men-of-war gave battle to cover its retreat. The ships paired off, the Colchester engaging the Aquilon, while the frigates fought it out together; but so equal were the forces on both sides, that, when they parted by mutual consent, and with heavy loss, no definite result had been arrived at as the outcome of seven hours' hard pounding.


1756 – Launch of HMS Lowestoffe, a 28-gun Lowestoffe-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Lowestoffe was a 28-gun Lowestoffe-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Named after the UK's most easterly port of Lowestoft in Suffolk the ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade based on the earlier Lyme of 1748, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns." The design provided for a 24-gun ship (from 22 September 1756 this was raised to 28 guns by including the 3 pounders on the quarterdeck in the count) of 583 tons, but on completion the ship measured some 11 tons more.
The ship served in the British operations to relieve Quebec during the Seven Years' War before being wrecked off Pointe-aux-Trembles on 19 May 1760.

1779 - Launch of HMS Pandora, a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy
HMS Pandora was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy launched in May 1779. She is best known as the ship sent in 1790 to search for the Bounty mutineers. The Pandora was partially successful by capturing 14 of the mutineers, but was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef on the return voyage in 1791. The Pandora is considered to be one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere.

HMS Pandora in the act of foundering 29 August 1791

The Anatomy of the Ship series has also one copy about the 24-gun frigate HMS Pandora - highly recommended



1795 - HMS Thetis (38), Cptn. Hon. Alexander Cochrane, and HMS Hussar (28), Cptn. John Poer Beresford, engaged 5 French flutes Normand, Trajan, Prévoyante, Hernoux, and Raison off Cape Henry, Chesapeake Bay.
Raison (18) and Prévoyante (24) were taken.

Cochrane attacking five French storeships, 17 May 1795, The Prevoyant dismasted (PAD0403)

1799 – Launch of french Mutine, the name-vessel of her two-vessel class of corvettes designed by Charles-Henri Tellier.
Mutine was the name-vessel of her two-vessel class of corvettes designed by Charles-Henri Tellier. She was ordered as Nouvelle in 1797, but received the name Mutine at her launching in May 1799. She was wrecked near Santiago de Cuba on 17 August 1803 as a consequence of a single-ship action with HMS Racoon.

HMS Racoon engaging with French navy corvette Mutine, circle of William John Huggins


1821 – Launch of The first USS Shark, a schooner in the United States Navy.
The first USS Shark was a schooner in the United States Navy. Built in the Washington Navy Yard to the designs of Henry Steers, Shark was launched on 17 May 1821. On 11 May 1821, Matthew C. Perry was ordered to take command of Shark, and the ship was ready to receive her crew on 2 June 1821.

Model of the USS Shark in the U.S. Navy Museum


1865 – Launch of SMS Meteor, a Camäleon-class gunboat of the North German Federal Navy (later the Imperial German Navy)
SMS Meteor was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the North German Federal Navy (later the Imperial German Navy) that was launched in 1865. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Meteor took part in the Battle of Havana in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. There, she battled the French aviso Bouvet; both vessels were lightly damaged, though Bouvet was compelled to disengage after a shot from Meteor disabled her engine. After the war, Meteor returned to Germany, where her career was limited; she served briefly as a survey vessel. From 1873 to 1877, she was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea as a station ship in Constantinople during a period of tensions in the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Germany in 1877, she was decommissioned, converted into a coal hulk and expended as a target ship some time later.

Painting of Meteor in battle with Bouvet


1897 – Launch of USS Holland (SS-1) was the United States Navy's first modern commissioned submarine, although not the first military submarine of the United States, which was the 1775 submersible Turtle.
USS Holland (SS-1) was the United States Navy's first modern commissioned submarine, although not the first military submarine of the United States, which was the 1775 submersible Turtle. The boat was originally laid down as Holland VI at the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth, New Jersey for John Holland's Holland Torpedo Boat Company, and launched on 17 May 1897. She was acquired by the USN on 11 April 1900 and commissioned on 12 October 1900, Lieutenant H. H. Caldwell commanding.

1904 – Launch of USS Rhode Island (BB-17), the last of five Virginia-class battleships built for the United States Navy
USS Rhode Island (BB-17) was the last of five Virginia-class battleships built for the United States Navy, and was the second ship to carry her name. She was laid down in May 1902, launched in May 1904, and commissioned into the Atlantic Fleet in February 1906. The ship was armed with an offensive battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns, and she was capable of a top speed of 19 knots(35 km/h; 22 mph).

1987 - USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by two Iraqi Exocet Missiles in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 Sailors and wounding 21.
USS Stark (FFG-31), 23rd ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates, was named for Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark (1880–1972). Ordered from Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle, Washington, on 23 January 1978, Stark was laid down on 24 August 1979, launched on 30 May 1980, and commissioned on 23 October 1982 with CDR Terence W. Costello commanding. In 1987, an Iraqi jet fired two missiles at Stark, killing 37 U.S. sailors on board. Decommissioned on 7 May 1999, Stark was scrapped in 2006.

Stark listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.


2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
USS Oriskany (CV/CVA-34) – nicknamed Mighty O, and occasionally referred to as the O-boat – was one of the few Essex-class aircraft carriers completed after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was named for the Battle of Oriskany during the Revolutionary War.
The history of Oriskany differs considerably from that of her sister ships. Originally designed as a "long-hulled" Essex-class ship (considered by some authorities to be a separate class, the Ticonderoga class) her construction was suspended in 1946. She eventually was commissioned in 1950 after conversion to an updated design called SCB-27 ("27-Charlie"), which became the template for modernization of 14 other Essex-class ships. Oriskany was the final Essex-class ship completed.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

18th of May

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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 May 1904 – Launch of USS Rhode Island (BB-17), the last of five Virginia-class battleships built for the United States Navy USS Rhode Island (BB-17) was the last of five Virginia-class battleships built for the United States Navy...

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1757 - HMS Unicorn captured french privateer Invincible
the British 28 gun frigate HMS Unicorn, Captain John Rawlings, cruizing off the coast of Ireland, gave chase to the French privateer Invincible, of 24 guns and 286 men. An action ensued, in the early part of which Captain Rawlings was mortally wounded in the head, and the command of the ship devolved on Lieutenant Michael Clements, who conducted the fight with great skill, and compelled the privateer to surrender. The Unicorn sustained a loss, besides her captain, of the boatswain and two men killed and five men wounded. The Invincible lost a great many men, killed and wounded, before she struck. Having obtained information from some of the prisoners respecting another privateer, which had been cruizing in company with the Invincible, Lieutenant Clements, after seeing his prize into Kinsale, went in pursuit of the other, and had the good fortune to fall in with and capture her. She proved to be a privateer, of 18 guns and 143 men, belonging to Bourdeaux.

1759 - HMS Thames (32) and HMS Venus (32) took french Arethuse (36), Marquis Vandrenil, near Audierne Bay

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Arethusa (1759),

1775 - Col. Benedict Arnold captures a British sloop at St. Johns in Quebec, Canada and renames her USS Enterprise, the first of many famous ships with that name.


1776 - Launch of HMS Culloden, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard, England,
HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard, England, and launched on 18 May 1776. She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden, which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite rising.

1787 – Launch of French Gracieuse, a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy.
Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802

1800 – Launch of Foudroyant ("Lightning"), a Tonnant class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy

1803 – Britain declared war against France - and - HMS Doris captures the French lugger Affronteur on the first day of the war, off Ushant.


1809 - HMS Standard (74), Cptn. Askew Hollis, and HMS Owen Glendower (36) captured the island of Anholt.

1886 – Launch of Chesma (Russian: Чесма, sometimes transliterated as Tchesma), the second ship of the Ekaterina II-class battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1880s.
Chesma (Russian: Чесма, sometimes transliterated as Tchesma) was the second ship of the Ekaterina II-class battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1880s. When the ship was completed she proved to be very overweight which meant that much of her waterline armor belt was submerged. Russian companies could not produce the most advanced armour and machinery desired by the Naval General Staff, so they were imported from the United Kingdom and Belgium. Chesma spent her career as part of the Black Sea Fleet.

1898 – Launch of USS Alabama (BB-8), an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy.
USS Alabama (BB-8) was an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy. She was the second ship of her class, and the second to carry her name. Her keel was laid in December 1896 at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, and she was launched in May 1898. She was commissioned into the fleet in October 1900. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13-inch (330 mm) guns and she had a top speed of 16 knots(30 km/h; 18 mph).

1901 – Launch of USS Ohio (BB-12), a Maine-class battleship pre-dreadnought battleship, was the third ship both of her class and of the United States Navy to be named for the 17th state.
USS Ohio (BB-12), a Maine-class battleship pre-dreadnought battleship, was the third ship both of her class and of the United States Navy to be named for the 17th state. She was laid down at the Union Iron Works shipyard in San Francisco in April 1899, was launched in May 1901, and was commissioned into the fleet in October 1904. She was armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and could steam at a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

1912 – Launch of Kongō (金剛, "Indestructible Diamond", named for Mount Kongō), a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II.
Kongō (金剛, "Indestructible Diamond", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formally commissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.

1912 – Launch of USS Texas (BB-35), the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of Texas, is a New York-class battleship.

Texas, photographed in 2014 in her berth at the San Jacinto Battleground, near Houston. She is wearing Measure 21 camouflage as she did in 1945.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

19th of May

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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 May 1652 - The naval Battle of Goodwin Sands (also known as the Battle of Dover), fought on 19 May 1652 (29 May 1652 Gregorian calendar), was the first engagement of the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of the Commonwealth of...

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1652 - The naval Battle of Goodwin Sands (also known as the Battle of Dover), fought on 19 May 1652 (29 May 1652 Gregorian calendar), was the first engagement of the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
English fleet under Robert Blake fire on Maarten Tromp's Dutch fleet off Dover starting the First Anglo-Dutch War

An ordinance of Cromwell required all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to dip their flag in salute, but when Tromp did not comply because he saw no reason to lower his flag for the English, Blake fired three warning shots. When the third hit his ship, wounding some sailors, Tromp replied with a warning broadside from his flagship Brederode. Blake then fired a broadside in anger and a five-hour battle ensued.


1692 - Start of Battle of Barfleur, and destruction of ships at La Hogue.
A French fleet of 44 ships of the line, under Comte Anne Hilarion de Tourville, engaged an Anglo-Dutch fleet of 82 ships of the line, under Edward Russell.
The action at Barfleur was part of the battle of Barfleur-La Hougue during the War of the Grand Alliance. A French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Tourvillewas seeking to cover an invasion of England by a French army to restore James II to the throne, but was intercepted by an Anglo-Dutch fleet under Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford on 19 May Old Style (29 May New Style) 1692.

Battle of Barfleur 1692, French flagship Soleil Royal is shown in the center (by Ludolf Bakhuizen)

1724 – Birth of Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, English admiral and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (d. 1779)


1745 - french Le Vigilant (1744 - 58) is captured by HMS Superb (1736 - 60), Commodore Warren, and HMS Mermaid (1708 - 54) and HMS Eltham (1736 - 40) in Bight of' Louisbourg
HMS Superb was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment of dimensions at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 27 August 1736.

1760 - HMS Lowestoffe, a 28-gun Lowestoffe-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, wrecked off Pointe-aux-Trembles
HMS Lowestoffe was a 28-gun Lowestoffe-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Named after the UK's most easterly port of Lowestoft in Suffolk the ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade based on the earlier Lyme of 1748, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns." The design provided for a 24-gun ship (from 22 September 1756 this was raised to 28 guns by including the 3 pounders on the quarterdeck in the count) of 583 tons, but on completion the ship measured some 11 tons more.
The ship served in the British operations to relieve Quebec during the Seven Years' War before being wrecked off Pointe-aux-Trembles on 19 May 1760.

1761 - Launch of HMS Cornwall, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford.
The ship was named in honour of James Cornewall, who had been killed at the battle of Toulon in 1744, and was initially commanded by his cousin Frederick Cornewall who lost an arm in the same engagement.
She served in the English Channel until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. After service as a guard-ship at Plymouth, she was sent to North America to serve in the American Revolutionary War. She arrived in New York on 30 July 1779 and just ten days later was in a confrontation with the French Navy. Later that year she was deployed to the West Indies where she was badly damaged in action off Grenada and again off Martinique in 1780. She was sent to St Lucia for urgent repairs, but her damage was too extensive and impossible to repair.
Cornwall was deemed unserviceable and burned on 30 June 1780.

1763 - Birth of Thomas Whitcombe (british painter)
Thomas Whitcombe (possibly 19 May 1763 – c. 1824) was a prominent British maritime painter of the Napoleonic Wars. Among his work are over 150 actions of the Royal Navy, and he exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists. His pictures are highly sought after today.

The Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797 by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1798

A becalmed man o'war firing a salute, 1797


1777 - American privateer Oliver Cromwell (1777 - 24) was captured by brig sloop HMS Beaver (1761 - 14)
The American was to windward, northwest of the island. When Beaver fired a shot to bring her to, Courter turned Oliver Cromwell and bore directly down toward Beaver. When within range Courter hoisted American colors and fired a broadside into the British. The two vessels then ranged side by side, running down toward St. Lucia, and waged a hot but short fight, using great guns and musketry. Jones had a narrow escape, taking a musket ball through his coat which grazed the skin. After forty-five minutes the Oliver Cromwell struck, only two miles off St. Lucia. Her marksmanship had been terrible, and that of the British had been superb: Beaver had three men wounded; Oliver Cromwell had thirteen or fifteen killed and twenty wounded, out of a crew of 125. Courter later stated he lost thirty-one killed and more than twenty wounded. By noon the British had sent over a prize crew, put a lieutenant and a mate aboard, received the American officers aboard the Beaver, repaired the damage to Oliver Cromwell’s rigging, and made sail. Courter’s sickly crew and the action of the men from the prizes was blamed for the loss. The men from the prizes had reportedly urged Courter to fight, then ran below when the Beaver got alongside.

1787 – Launch of French Gracieuse, a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793,


1804 - British Attack on Charles Hendrik Ver Huell's squadron, 16th May 1804 - 19th May 1804


1808 - Capture of the dutch Gelderland
HMS Virginie (1796 - 38), Cptn. Edward Brace, captured Dutch frigate Guelderland (1803 - 36), Colonel de mer Pool.
On the evening of May 19th the Gelderland was sighted to the south-west of Ireland by the Virginie, 38, Captain Edward Brace, and brought to action late in the night. A heavy sea was running, and the night was very dark; but this did not apparently affect the accuracy of the British fire. Three times the Dutchman wore, probably with the object of raking the Virginie. Attempting that manoeuvre a fourth time, the Gelderland ran on board the British ship, but soon got free again. At last, after ninety minutes' hard fighting, with their ship on fire, all masts and the bowsprit shot away, and one-fourth of the crew killed Or wounded, the Dutch struck. Pool [the Dutch captain] deserted his quarters during the action, having received two slight wounds. For this he was afterwards cashiered. The Dutch shooting appears to have been most indifferent, seeing that the loss and damage to the British ship was insignificant, whereas the gunnery of the British crew must have been surprisingly good.

1814 - HMS Halcyon Sloop (18), John Marshall, wrecked on reef of rocks in Annatto Bay, Jamaica.


1825 – Launch of HMS Mutine at Plymouth, England as a 6-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop.


1825 – Launch of HMS Formidable, an 84-gun second rate of the Royal Navy, at Chatham Dockyard.

Formidable at Sheerness in December 1850

1835 - HMS Challenger (28) wrecked on coast of Moquilla, Conception, Chile.

Coloured etching and engraving of The Challenger (1826),


1845 – Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.
Franklin's lost expedition was a British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebusand HMS Terror. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer. His fourth and last, undertaken when he was 59, was meant to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage. After a few early fatalities, the two ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic, in what is today the territory of Nunavut. The entire expedition, comprising 129 men, including Franklin, was lost.

The Arctic Council planning a search for Sir John Franklin by Stephen Pearce, 1851. Left to right are: George Back, William Edward Parry, Edward Bird, James Clark Ross, Francis Beaufort (seated), John Barrow Jnr, Edward Sabine, William Alexander Baillie Hamilton, John Richardson and Frederick William Beechey.


1898 – Launch of Peresvet (Russian: Пересвет), the lead ship of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century.
Peresvet (Russian: Пересвет) was the lead ship of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur from 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was seriously damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and again in the Siege of Port Arthur. The ship was scuttled before the Russians surrendered, then salvaged by the Japanese and placed into service with the name Sagami (相模).
Partially rearmed, Sagami was reclassified by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a coastal defense ship in 1912. In 1916, the Japanese sold her to the Russians, their allies since the beginning of World War I. En route to the White Sea in early 1917, she sank off Port Said, Egypt, after striking mines laid by a German submarine.

Peresvet at anchor, 1901


1931 – Launch of Deutschland, the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Deutschland was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine, she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Originally classified as an armored ship (Panzerschiff) by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. In 1940, she was renamed Lützow, after the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Lützow was handed over to the Soviet Union.

Deutschland in 1935.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

20th of May

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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 May 1652 - The naval Battle of Goodwin Sands (also known as the Battle of Dover), fought on 19 May 1652 (29 May 1652 Gregorian calendar), was the first engagement of the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of the Commonwealth of...

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1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).


1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.

1506 – Death of Christopher Columbus (before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.
Christopher Columbus (/kəˈlʌmbəs/; before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. He led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, initiating the permanent European colonization of the Americas. Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a continent that was then unknown to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered was a route to the Far East, he is credited with the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans.

The voyages of Christopher Columbus


1570 - Abraham Ortelius published Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the "first modern atlas"
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Latin: [tʰɛˈaːtrʊm ˈɔrbɪs tɛˈrːaːrʊm], "Theatre of the World") is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on May 20, 1570, in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and sustaining text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography (approximately 1570s–1670s).

1756 - Battle of Minorca
was a naval battle between French and British fleets. It was the opening sea battle of the Seven Years' War in the European theatre. French under la Galissonnière defeat British under John Byng
The Battle of Minorca (20 May 1756) was a naval battle between French and British fleets. It was the opening sea battle of the Seven Years' War in the European theatre. Shortly after the war began British and French squadrons met off the Mediterranean island of Minorca. The French won the battle. The subsequent decision by the British to withdraw to Gibraltar handed France a strategic victory and led directly to the Fall of Minorca.
The British failure to save Minorca led to the controversial court-martial and execution of the British commander, Admiral John Byng, for "failure to do his utmost" to relieve the siege of the British garrison on Minorca.

1795 – Launch of French Incorruptible, a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy

1797 - HMS Oiseau (36), Cptn. Charles Brisbane, engaged one of two Spanish frigate off the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.

1798 – Ending of the Operations against Ostend, 14th May 1798 - 20th May 1798


1799 – Launch of the third USS Boston, a 32-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy
The third USS Boston was a 32-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy. Boston was built by public subscription in Boston under the Act of 30 June 1798. Boston was active during the Quasi-War with France and the First Barbary War. On 12 October 1800, Boston engaged and captured the French corvette Berceau. Boston was laid up in 1802, and considered not worth repairing at the outbreak of the War of 1812. She was burned at the Washington Naval Yard on 24 August 1814 to prevent her capture by British forces.

1800 - HMS Cormorant Sloop (24), Cptn. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, wrecked on a shoal near Rosetta, coast of Egypt.
Etna was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795 that the Royal Navy captured in November 1796. She was taken into service as HMS Aetna and renamed to HMS Cormorant the next year. She captured several merchant vessels and privateers before she was wrecked in 1800 off the coast of Egypt.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Cormorant (captured 1796)


1810 – Launch of French frigate Iphigénie, a Pallas-class frigate of a nominal 44 guns


1811 - Battle of Tamatave
HMS Astrea (36), HMS Phoebe (36), HMS Galatea (36) and HMS Racehorse (18) engaged 3 large French frigates, full of troops off Foul Point, Madagascar.
Renommee surrendered, but Clorinde and Nereide escaped.
The Battle of Tamatave (sometimes called the Battle of Madagascar or the Action of 20 May 1811) was fought off Tamatave in Madagascar between British and French frigate squadrons during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was the final engagement of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, and it saw the destruction of the last French attempt to reinforce their garrison on Mauritius. Although the news had not reached Europe by February 1811 when the reinforcement squadron left Brest, Mauritius had been captured in December 1810 by a British invasion fleet, the French defences hampered by the lack of the supplies and troops carried aboard the frigate squadron under the command of Commodore François Roquebert in Renommée. Roquebert's heavily laden ships reached Mauritius on 6 May and discovered that the island was in British hands the following day, narrowly escaping a trap laid by a squadron of British frigates ordered to hunt and destroy them.

1813 - HMS Algerine Schooner (10), Lt. Daniel Carpenter, wrecked Galapagos Roads, West Indies.


1815 - Commodore Stephen Decatur sails with his flagship USS Guerriere and a squadron of nine ships for the Mediterranean to suppress piracy. Under strict negotiations, Decatur is able to secure a treaty with the Day of Algiers, His Highness Omar Bashaw, on July 3.


1822 - Charles Mills, launched at Chester in 1810 and made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) was foundered on 20 May 1822 with the loss of most of the people on board.


1844 - USS Constitution sails from New York on round the world cruise

Constitution c. 1803–04


1856 – Launch of HMS Alert, a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched in 1856 and broken up in 1894.
MS Alert was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched in 1856 and broken up in 1894. She was the eleventh ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name (or a variant of it), and was noted for her Arctic exploration work; in 1876 she reached a record latitude of 82° North. Alert briefly served with the US Navy, and ended her career with the Canadian Marine Service as a lighthouse tender and buoy ship.

1865 - City of Dunedin – The side wheel paddle steamer wrecked in Cook Strait near Cape Terawhiti on 20 May 1865 while sailing from Wellington to Hokitika via Nelson, New Zealand with the loss of all on board.


1905 – Launch of HMS Africa, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, and the penultimate ship of the King Edward VII class.
HMS Africa was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, and the penultimate ship of the King Edward VII class. The ship was built by Chatham Dockyard between 1904 and 1906. Armed with a battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) and four 9.2 in (234 mm) guns, she and her sister ships marked a significant advance in offensive power compared to earlier British battleship designs that did not carry the 9.2 in guns. Like all ships of the class (apart from HMS King Edward VII), she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely Africa.

1909 - USS Mississippi (BB 23) arrives at Natchez, Miss., and becomes the first U.S. Navy battleship to visit an inland city.
USS Mississippi was the lead ship of the Mississippi class originally built by the US Navy in 1904–1908. The class was built to a design smaller than other American battleships as the result of a limit on displacement imposed by Congress as part of an effort to constrain costs. The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm), the standard for pre-dreadnought battleships of the time, but to secure that heavy primary armament, significant compromises in speed, secondary batteries, and armor protection were necessary to keep the ship within the prescribed displacement limit.

1943 – Launch of HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/), the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Nairana-class escort carriers that saw service in the Second World War
HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/) was the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Nairana-class escort carriers that saw service in the Second World War. She was built at John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland. When construction started in 1941 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.
Nairana operated escorting convoys and doing anti-submarine work in the Atlantic and Arctic theatres. On 26 May 1944, Royal Navy Sea Hurricanes operating from Nairana claimed the destruction of three Junkers Ju 290s during the defence of a convoy. This represented 10 percent of the total German inventory of the type. She survived the war, and in 1946 was transferred to the Dutch Navy as the Karel Doorman (QH1), the first Dutch aircraft carrier. In 1948, she was replaced in the Dutch Navy by another vessel of the same name. Nairana was returned to the Royal Navy, and sold to the Port Line company, becoming the merchant ship Port Victor.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

21st of May

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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 20 May 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date). John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto [dʒoˈvanni kaˈbɔːto]; c. 1450 –...

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1565 - The Battle of Rügen
was a naval battle near the island of Rügen (in modern Germany), that took place on 21 May 1565 between an allied fleet of 6 Danish and 3 Lübeck ships, and a Swedish fleet of 48 ships with a total of 1,638 guns and 8,000 men under Klas Horn.
The Swedish fleet was victorious, and 4 of the allied ships were burned, while the remaining 5 were captured.


1692 – Launch of HMS Boyne, an 80-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford Dockyard

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary Navy Board model of the 'Boyne' (1692),


1692 - The Action at Cherbourg was fought on 21 and 22 May Old Style (1st and 2 June New Style) 1692 as part of the aftermath of the Battle of Barfleur which had just been fought on 19 May (Old Style) 1692.
All six french ships including the Soleil Royal burned

Destruction of the French flagship Soleil Royal

1692 - The Action at La Hogue (21–24 May OS(1–4 June(NS)), 1692)
occurred during the pursuit by the English of the French fleet after the Battle of Barfleur during the Nine Years' War.
The pursuing English fleet, under the command of Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford, destroyed a number of French ships that had been beached near the port of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue.

The action at La Hogue in May 1692 formed a crucial scene in the wider context of the Battle of Barfleur


1760 – Launch of French Protecteur, a Souverain-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, the only to have borne the name.

Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris. This model is a 64-gun, probably mislabeled.


1768 - The Venetian Arsenal ship San Carlo Borromeo, a San Carlo Borromeo-class ship of the line 66-gun third rate, foundered


1776 – Launch of USS Raleigh, one of thirteen ships that the Continental Congress authorized for the Continental Navy in 1775

Model of the USS Raleigh in the U.S. Navy Museum


1788 – Launch of French America, a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'America' (1794),

This print is one of a series depicting the six French ships captured by the British fleet under Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the First of June, 1794, which took place 400 (nautical) miles west of the French island of Ushant. This plate, the first in the series, portrays L'Amerique ('America'), left,


1793 - the British privateer Active was captured by French frigate Sémillante
On 21 May 1793, Sémillante captured the Liverpool privateer Active. She was under the command of Captain Stephen Bower, and was sailing under a letter of marque dated 2 May 1793. The letter of marque described her as a sloop of 100 tons burthen (bm), armed with twelve 4-pounder guns and four swivel guns, and having a crew of 40 men. The British later recaptured Active and sent her into Guernsey. The next day Sémillante captured the Guernsey privateer Betsey, of 10 guns and 55 men.

1800 - Boats of HMS Minotaur (74), Cptn. Thomas Louis, & consorts cut out a galley La Prima, Cptn. Patrizio Galleano, from Genoa.
HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 November 1793 at Woolwich. She was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete. She fought in three major battles - Nile, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen (1807) - before she was wrecked, with heavy loss of life, in December 1810.

The shipwreck of the Minotaur, oil on canvas, by J. M. W. Turner


1800 - HMS Peterel captured french Ligurienne
In March 1800, HMS Peterel was sailing near Marseille with the frigate HMS Mermaid. On 21 March, Peterel spotted a large convoy with three escorts: the brig-sloop French brig Ligurienne, armed with fourteen brass 6-pounder guns and two brass 36-pounder howitzers, the corvette Cerf, of fourteen 6-pounder guns, and the xebec Lejoille, of six 6-pounder guns.
Peterel captured a bark of 350 tons and a bombarde (ketch) of 150 tons, both carrying wheat and which their crews had abandoned, and sent them off with prize crews; later that afternoon the escorts caught up to Peterel and attacked. Mermaid was in sight but a great distance to leeward and so unable to assist. Single-handedly, Peterel drove Cerf and Lejoille on shore, and after a 90-minute battle captured Ligurienne, which lost the French commander (lieutenant de vaisseaux Citoyen Francis Auguste Pelabon), and one sailor killed and two sailors wounded out of her crew of 104 men; there were no British casualties. Cerf was a total loss but the French were able to salvage Lejoille. The whole action took place under the guns of two shore batteries and so close to shore that Peterel grounded for a few minutes. Austen recommended, without success, that the Navy purchase Ligurienne, which was less than two years old. In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service medal with clasp "Peterel 21 March 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Battle between Ligurienne and HMS Peterel, 30 Ventôse an VIII (21 March 1800). Aquatint by Antoine Roux.


1809 - HMS Goldfinch (6) and HMS Black Joke (6) versus french Mouche (16), 17th May 1809 - 21st May 1809
On May 17th 1809, the Goldfinch, 10, Commander Fitzowen George Skinner, gave chase to the French corvette Mouche, 16, in lat. 44 6 ! N., long. 11 20' W. The Mouche, though greatly superior in force, attempted to avoid an action. She was overtaken on the 18th, but, firing high, inflicted so much injury upon the Goldfinch's masts and sails that she was able to escape. On the 21st, she exchanged some broadsides with the hired armed lugger Black Joke, Lieutenant Moses Cannadey, and entered the Spanish port of Santander, where she was captured on June 10th by the British frigates Amelia, 38, and Statira, 38.

1860 – Launch of French Ville de Bordeaux, a Ville de Nantes-class 90-gun ship of the line of the French Navy

1879 - Naval Battle of Iquique
The Battle of Iquique (Spanish: Batalla de Iquique or Combate naval de Iquique) was a confrontation that occurred on 21 May 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific, a conflict that pitted Chile against Peru and Bolivia. The battle took place off the then-Peruvian port of Iquique. The Peruvian ironclad Huáscar, commanded by Miguel Grau Seminario, sank Esmeralda, a Chilean wooden corvette captained by Arturo Prat Chacón, after four hours of combat.

Painting by Thomas Somerscales of the sinking of Esmeralda by Huáscar during the Battle of Iquique


1879 - The Battle of Punta Gruesa - a naval action and final ending of the Battle of Iquique
The Battle of Punta Gruesa was a naval action that took place on May 21, 1879, during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. This may be labelled as the second part of the Naval Battle of Iquique, although it is described in many sources as a separate battle.

Naval Combat of Punta Gruesa - The stranding of the Independencia


1918 - The Action of 21 May 1918 was a naval engagement of World War I fought between an American armed yacht and a German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean off Spain.

USS Christabel in 1917.