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
26 November 1914 - HMS Bulwark, pre-dreadnought battleships, destroyed by internal explosion


HMS Bulwark belonged to a sub-class of the Formidable-class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy known as the London class. Entering service with the Royal Navy in 1902, she sailed with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1907. She then served with the Home Fleet, for a time under Captain Robert Falcon Scott. After a refit in 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Bulwark, along with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the Channel Fleet, conducting patrols in the English Channel. On 26 November 1914, while anchored near Sheerness, she was destroyed by a large internal explosion with the loss of 736 men. There were only 14 survivors of the explosion and of these 2 died later in hospital. The explosion was likely to have been caused by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler room bulkhead.



Technical description
HMS Bulwark was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 20 March 1899 and launched on 18 October 1899. She began trials in May 1901 and was completed in March 1902.

Like the first three Formidable-class ships, Bulwark and her four London-class sisters were similar in appearance to and had the same armament as the Majestic and Canopus classes that preceded them. The Formidables and Londons are often described as improved Majestics, but in design were essentially enlarged Canopuses; while the Canopuses took advantage of the greater strength of the Krupp armour so they could remain the same size as the Majestics, with increased tonnage devoted to speed and less to armour without sacrificing protection, the Formidables and Londons used Krupp armour to improve protection without reducing their size. The Formidables and Londons thus were larger than the two preceding classes, and enjoyed both greater protection than the Majestics and the higher speed of the Canopuses. The armour scheme of the Formidables and Londons was similar to that of the Canopuses, although – unlike in the Canopuses – the armour belt ran all the way to the stern; it was 215 ft (66 m) long and 15 ft (4.6 m) deep and 9 in (23 cm) thick, tapering at the stem to 3 in (7.6 cm) thick and 12 ft (3.7 m) deep and at the stern to 1.5 in (3.8 cm) thick and 8 ft (2.4 m) deep. The main battery turrets had Krupp armour, 10 in (25 cm) on their sides and 8 in (20 cm) on their backs.

The Formidables and Londons improved on the main and secondary armament of previous classes, being upgunned from 35-calibre to 40-calibre 12 in (300 mm) guns and from 40-calibre to 45-calibre 6 in (150 mm) guns. The 12 in (300 mm) guns could be loaded at any bearing and elevation, and beneath the turrets the ships had a split hoist with a working chamber beneath the guns that reduced the chance of a cordite fire spreading from the turret to the shell and powder handling rooms and to the magazines.

The Formidables and Londons had an improved hull form that made them handier at high speeds than the Majestics. They also had inward-turning screws, which allowed reduced fuel consumption and slightly higher speeds than in previous classes but at the expense of less manoeuvrability at low speeds.

A change in design from that of the first three Formidables occurred in Bulwark and the other four Londons, which is why the Londons often are considered a separate class. The main difference in the Bulwarks and the other four Londons from the first three ships was thinner deck armour and some other detail changes to the armour scheme.

Like all pre-dreadnoughts, Bulwark was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906. Like other pre-dreadnoughts, however, Bulwark took on some first-line duties during the early part of the First World War.



Operational history
Pre-First World War
Bulwark had a long refit immediately after completion for the installation of fire control, but finally commissioned at Devonport Dockyard by Captain Frederick Hamilton on 18 March 1902 for Mediterranean Fleet service. She left Plymouth on 6 May, and four days later arrived at Gibraltar, then proceeded to Malta. Admiral Sir Compton Domvile had hoisted his flag on board on 1 May 1902 (while at Plymouth), and succeeded as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet when Bulwarkrelieved battleship Renown as fleet flagship on 20 May 1902. In August 1902 she was lead ship of a squadron visiting the Agean sea for combined manoeuvres, landing at Lemnos and Nauplia, and in October that year she visited Cagliari. She underwent a refit at Malta in 1905–1906. Her Mediterranean Fleet service ended when she paid off at Devonport on 11 February 1907.

On 12 February 1907, Bulwark recommissioned to serve as Flagship, Rear-Admiral, Nore Division, Home Fleet, at the Nore. She grounded near Lemon Light in the North Sea on 26 October, and underwent a refit at Chatham Dockyard in 1907–1908.

In 1908, Captain Robert Falcon Scott of Antarctic fame became Bulwark's commander, becoming the youngest battleship commander at that time. Bulwark joined the Channel Fleet on 3 October 1908. Under the fleet reorganisation of 24 March 1909, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet, and Bulwark thus became a Home Fleet unit. She underwent a refit later in 1909.

On 1 March 1910, Bulwark commissioned into the reserve at Devonport with a nucleus crew as Flagship, Vice-Admiral, 3rd and 4th Divisions, Home Fleet, at the Nore. She began a refit at Chatham in September 1911, and grounded twice on Barrow Deep off the Nore during refit trials in May 1912, suffering bottom damage.

Her refit complete in June 1912, she recommissioned and joined the 5th Battle Squadron.

First World War
From the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, Bulwark and the 5th Battle Squadron, assigned to the Channel Fleet and based at Portland upon the outbreak of war, carried out numerous patrols in the English Channel under the command of Captain Guy Sclater.

From 5 to 9 November 1914, while anchored at Portland, Bulwark hosted the court martial of Rear-Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge for his actions during the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea in August 1914.

On 14 November 1914, the 5th Battle Squadron transferred to Sheerness to guard against a possible German invasion of England.

Loss
A powerful internal explosion ripped Bulwark apart at 07:50 on 26 November 1914 while she was moored at Number 17 buoy in Kethole Reach, 4 nmi (4.6 mi; 7.4 km) west of Sheerness in the estuary of the River Medway. Out of her complement of 750, no officers and only 14 sailors survived, two of whom subsequently died of their injuries in hospital. Most of the survivors were seriously injured.


HMS Bulwark explodes at Sheerness, 26 November 1914.

The only men to survive the explosion comparatively unscathed were those who had been in Number 1 mess-deck amidships, who were blown out of an open hatch. One of these men, Able Seaman Stephen Marshall, described feeling the sensation of "a colossal draught", being drawn "irresistibly upwards", and, as he rose in the air, clearly seeing the ship's masts shaking violently.

Witnesses on the battleship Implacable, the next ship in line at the mooring, reported that "a huge pillar of black cloud belched upwards... From the depths of this writhing column flames appeared running down to sea level. The appearance of this dreadful phenomenon was followed by a thunderous roar. Then came a series of lesser detonations, and finally one vast explosion that shook the Implacable from mastheads to keel."

The destruction of Bulwark was also witnessed on board battleship Formidable, where "when the dust and wreckage had finally settled a limp object was seen hanging from the wireless aerials upon which it had fallen. With difficulty the object was retrieved and found to be an officer's uniform jacket with three gold bands on the sleeves and between them the purple cloth of an engineer officer. The garment's former owner had been blasted into fragments."

Perhaps the most detailed descriptions of the disaster came from witnesses on board battleships Prince of Wales and Agamemnon, both of whom stated that smoke issued from the stern of the ship prior to the explosion and that the first explosion appeared to take place in an after magazine.

On 29 November 1914 divers sent to find the wreck reported that the ship's port bow as far aft as the sick bay had been blown off by the explosion and lay 50 ft (15 m) east of the mooring. The starboard bow lay 30 ft (9.1 m) further away. The remainder of the ship had been torn apart so violently that no other large portions of the wreck could be found.

In terms of loss of life, the incident remains the second most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the United Kingdom, exceeded only by the explosion of the dreadnought battleship Vanguard, caused by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.

Inquiry into loss
A naval court of enquiry into the causes of the explosion held on 28 November 1914 established that it had been the practice to store ammunition for Bulwark's 6 in (150 mm) guns in cross-passageways connecting her total of 11 magazines. It suggested that, contrary to regulations, 275 six-inch shells had been placed close together, most touching each other, and some touching the walls of the magazine, on the morning of the explosion.

The most likely cause of the disaster appears to have been overheating of cordite charges stored alongside a boiler room bulkhead, and this was the explanation accepted by the court of enquiry. It has also been suggested that damage caused to one of the shells stored in the battleship's cross-passageways may have weakened the fusing mechanism and caused the shell to become 'live'. A blow to the shell, caused by it being dropped point down, could then have set off a chain reaction of explosions among the shells stored in Bulwark's cross-passageways sufficient to detonate the ship's magazines.

Memorials

The Naval War Memorial, Southsea, on which victims from Bulwark are commemorated.

A memorial to those lost on Bulwark and Princess Irene was erected at the Dockyard Church, Sheerness in 1921. It was dedicated by Archdeacon Ingles, the Chaplain of the Fleet. It was unveiled by Hugh Evan-Thomas, Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. Victims of both ships are also commemorated on the Naval War Memorial at Southsea.

Another memorial was placed in Woodlands Road Cemetery, Gillingham, as part of the Naval Burial Ground.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bulwark_(1899)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
26 November 1941 - Under the greatest secrecy, the Japanese armada, commanded by Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo, leaves Japan to attack the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941


Diplomatic background
War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility that each nation had been aware of, and planned for, since the 1920s. The relationship between the two countries was cordial enough that they remained trading partners. Tensions did not seriously grow until Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Over the next decade, Japan expanded into China, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China, and endeavored to secure enough independent resources to attain victory on the mainland. The "Southern Operation" was designed to assist these efforts.


Pearl Harbor on October 30, 1941, looking southwest

Starting in December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre swung Western public opinion sharply against Japan. Fearing Japanese expansion, the United States, United Kingdom, and France assisted China with its loans for war supply contracts.

In 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina, attempting to stymie the flow of supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan, which the latter perceived as an unfriendly act. The United States did not stop oil exports, however, partly because of the prevailing sentiment in Washington: given Japanese dependence on American oil, such an action was likely to be considered an extreme provocation.

In mid-1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Hawaii. He also ordered a military buildup in the Philippines, taking both actions in the hope of discouraging Japanese aggression in the Far East. Because the Japanese high command was (mistakenly) certain any attack on the United Kingdom's Southeast Asian colonies, including Singapore, would bring the U.S. into the war, a devastating preventive strike appeared to be the only way to prevent American naval interference. An invasion of the Philippines was also considered necessary by Japanese war planners. The U.S. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with an elite force of 40,000 men; this option was never implemented due to opposition from Douglas MacArthur, who felt he would need a force ten times that size. By 1941, U.S. planners expected to abandon the Philippines at the outbreak of war. Late that year, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet, was given orders to that effect.

The U.S. finally ceased oil exports to Japan in July 1941, following the seizure of French Indochina after the Fall of France, in part because of new American restrictions on domestic oil consumption. Because of this decision, Japan proceeded with plans to take the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. On August 17, Roosevelt warned Japan that America was prepared to take opposing steps if "neighboring countries" were attacked. The Japanese were faced with a dichotomy—either withdraw from China and lose face, or seize new sources of raw materials in the resource-rich European colonies of Southeast Asia.

Japan and the U.S. engaged in negotiations during 1941, attempting to improve relations. In the course of these negotiations, Japan offered to withdraw from most of China and Indochina after making peace with the Nationalist government. It also proposed to adopt an independent interpretation of the Tripartite Pact and to refrain from trade discrimination, provided all other nations reciprocated. Washington rejected these proposals. Japanese Prime Minister Konoye then offered to meet with Roosevelt, but Roosevelt insisted on reaching an agreement before any meeting. The U.S. ambassador to Japan repeatedly urged Roosevelt to accept the meeting, warning that it was the only way to preserve the conciliatory Konoye government and peace in the Pacific. However, his recommendation was not acted upon. The Konoye government collapsed the following month, when the Japanese military rejected a withdrawal of all troops from China.

Japan's final proposal, delivered on November 20, offered to withdraw from southern Indochina and to refrain from attacks in Southeast Asia, so long as the United States, United Kingdom, and Netherlands ceased aid to China and lifted their sanctions against Japan. The American counter-proposal of November 26 (November 27 in Japan), the Hull note, required Japan completely evacuate China without conditions and conclude non-aggression pacts with Pacific powers. On November 26 in Japan, the day before the note's delivery, the Japanese task force left port for Pearl Harbor.

Military planning
Preliminary planning for an attack on Pearl Harbor to protect the move into the "Southern Resource Area" (the Japanese term for the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia generally) had begun very early in 1941 under the auspices of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, then commanding Japan's Combined Fleet. He won assent to formal planning and training for an attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff only after much contention with Naval Headquarters, including a threat to resign his command. Full-scale planning was underway by early spring 1941, primarily by Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka, with assistance from Captain Minoru Genda and Yamamoto's Deputy Chief of Staff, Captain Kameto Kuroshima. The planners studied the 1940 British air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto intensively.

Over the next several months, pilots were trained, equipment was adapted, and intelligence was collected. Despite these preparations, Emperor Hirohito did not approve the attack plan until November 5, after the third of four Imperial Conferences called to consider the matter. Final authorization was not given by the emperor until December 1, after a majority of Japanese leaders advised him the "Hull Note" would "destroy the fruits of the China incident, endanger Manchukuo and undermine Japanese control of Korea."

By late 1941, many observers believed that hostilities between the U.S. and Japan were imminent. A Gallup poll just before the attack on Pearl Harbor found that 52% of Americans expected war with Japan, 27% did not, and 21% had no opinion.[48] While U.S. Pacific bases and facilities had been placed on alert on many occasions, U.S. officials doubted Pearl Harbor would be the first target; instead, they expected the Philippines would be attacked first. This presumption was due to the threat that the air bases throughout the country and the naval base at Manila posed to sea lanes, as well as to the shipment of supplies to Japan from territory to the south. They also incorrectly believed that Japan was not capable of mounting more than one major naval operation at a time.

Objectives
The Japanese attack had several major aims. First, it intended to destroy important American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. Second, it was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorized by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory. Third, to deliver a blow to America's ability to mobilize its forces in the Pacific, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. Finally, it was hoped that the attack would undermine American morale such that the U.S. government would drop its demands contrary to Japanese interests, and would seek a compromise peace with Japan.

Striking the Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor carried two distinct disadvantages: the targeted ships would be in very shallow water, so it would be relatively easy to salvage and possibly repair them; and most of the crews would survive the attack, since many would be on shore leave or would be rescued from the harbor. A further important disadvantage—this of timing, and known to the Japanese—was the absence from Pearl Harbor of all three of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers (Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga). IJN top command was attached to Admiral Mahan's "decisive battle" doctrine, especially that of destroying the maximum number of battleships. Despite these concerns, Yamamoto decided to press ahead.

Japanese confidence in their ability to achieve a short, victorious war also meant other targets in the harbor, especially the navy yard, oil tank farms, and submarine base, were ignored, since—by their thinking—the war would be over before the influence of these facilities would be felt.


Route followed by the Japanese fleet to Pearl Harbor and back

Approach
On November 26, 1941, a Japanese task force (the Striking Force) of six aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku—departed Hittokapu Bay on Kasatka (now Iterup) Island in the Kurile Islands, en route to a position northwest of Hawaii, intending to launch its 408 aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor: 360 for the two attack waves and 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave.

In 1941, Japan was one of the few countries capable of carrier aviation. The Kido Butai, the Combined Fleet's main carrier force of six aircraft carriers (at the time, the most powerful carrier force with the greatest concentration of air power in the history of naval warfare), embarked 359 airplanes, organized as the First Air Fleet. The carriers Akagi (flag), Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, and the newest, Shōkaku and Zuikaku, had 135 Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 fighters (Allied codename "Zeke", commonly called "Zero"), 171 Nakajima B5N Type 97 torpedo bombers (Allied codename "Kate"), and 108 Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bombers (Allied codename "Val") aboard. Two fast battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers, and three fleet submarines provided escort and screening. In addition, the Advanced Expeditionary Force included 20 fleet and five two-man Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, which were to gather intelligence and sink U.S. vessels attempting to flee Pearl Harbor during or soon after the attack. It also had eight oilers for underway fueling.


Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Kaga (foreground) and Zuikaku (background) head towards Hawaii through heavy seas in November or December 1941 to attack Pearl Harbor.


D3A dive bombers preparing to take off from an aircraft carrier for the attack on Pearl Harbor; Sōryū is in the background.

Execute order
On December 1, 1941, after the striking force was en route, Chief of Staff Nagano gave a verbal directive to the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, informing him:

Japan has decided to open hostilities against the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands early in December...Should it appear certain that Japanese-American negotiations will reach an amicable settlement prior to the commencement of hostilities, it is understood that all elements of the Combined Fleet are to be assembled and returned to their bases in accordance with separate orders. [The Kido Butai will] proceed to the Hawaiian Area with utmost secrecy and, at the outbreak of the war, will launch a resolute surprise attack on and deal a fatal blow to the enemy fleet in the Hawaiian Area. The initial air attack is scheduled at 0330 hours, X Day.​

Upon completion, the force was to return to Japan, re-equip, and re-deploy for "Second Phase Operations".

Finally, Order number 9, issued on 1 December 1941 by Nagano, instructed Yamamoto to crush hostile naval and air forces in Asia, the Pacific and Hawaii, promptly seize the main U.S., British, and Dutch bases in East Asia and "capture and secure the key areas of the southern regions".

On the home leg, the force was ordered to be alert for tracking and counterattacks by the Americans, and to return to the friendly base in the Marshall Islands, rather than the Home Islands.


Photograph of Battleship Row taken from a Japanese plane at the beginning of the attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo strike on USS West Virginia. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard.

The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to attack carriers as its first objective and cruisers as its second, with battleships as the third target. The first wave carried most of the weapons to attack capital ships, mainly specially adapted Type 91 aerial torpedoes which were designed with an anti-roll mechanism and a rudder extension that let them operate in shallow water. The aircrews were ordered to select the highest value targets (battleships and aircraft carriers) or, if these were not present, any other high value ships (cruisers and destroyers). First wave dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to intercept the bombers, especially in the first wave. When the fighters' fuel got low they were to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. Fighters were to serve CAP duties where needed, especially over U.S. airfields

Before the attack commenced, two reconnaissance aircraft launched from cruisers Chikuma and Tone were sent to scout over Oahu and Maui and report on U.S. fleet composition and location. Reconnaissance aircraft flights risked alerting the U.S., and were not necessary. U.S. fleet composition and preparedness information in Pearl Harbor was already known due to the reports of the Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa. A report of the absence of the U.S. fleet in Lahaina anchorage off Maui was received from the fleet submarine I-72. Another four scout planes patrolled the area between the Japanese carrier force (the Kidō Butai) and Niihau, to detect any counterattack


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_leading_to_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
26 November 1943 – World War II: HMT Rohna is sunk by the Luftwaffe in an air attack in the Mediterranean north of Béjaïa, Algeria.


HMT Rohna was a British India Steam Navigation Company passenger and cargo liner that was built on Tyneside in 1926 as SS Rohna and requisitioned as a troop ship in 1940. ("HMT" stands for His Majesty's Transport.) Rohna was sunk in the Mediterranean in November 1943 by a Henschel Hs 293 guided glide bomb launched by a Luftwaffe aircraft. More than 1,100 people were killed, most of whom were US troops.



Building
In 1925 British India Line ordered two new ships for its Madras – Nagapatam – Singapore service. They were sister ships but were built by different shipyards and had different engines. Hawthorn Leslie and Company built Rohna at its shipyard at Hebburn on Tyneside. Barclay, Curle and Company built Rajula in Glasgow on Clydeside. Both ships were launched and completed in 1926.

Rohna was launched on 24 August 1926 and completed on 5 November. She was named after a village in Sonipat, Punjab, India. She had 15 corrugated furnaces that heated five single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 14,080 square feet (1,308 m2). These fed steam at 215 lbf/in2 to two four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines, developing a total of 984 NHP. Each engine drove one of the ship's twin screws, giving Rohna 984 NHP or 5,000 ihp.[1] She achieved 14.3 knots(26.5 km/h) on her sea trials and had a cruising speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h).

By 1934 Rohna carried wireless direction finding equipment.

Civilian service
Instead of taking up her Madras – Nagapatam – Singapore route immediately, Rohna spent her first six months of service taking military reinforcements to Shanghai. As a result, she did not start her intended service until June 1927.

Cyclone in Madras
On 31 October 1927 Rohna was moored to a buoy in Madras Harbour in India when a weather signal and falling air pressure warned of the approach of a tropical cyclone. Her Master, EG Carré, had her starboard anchor laid out with 90 fathoms (160 m) of cable, and got the engineers to raise steam so that her main engines could be started if needed.

By 0700 hrs on 1 November a heavy swell was running within the harbour, at times lifting the four-ton mooring buoy completely out of the water. By 1100 hrs there was also heavy rain and Rohna's bridge ordered the engines to "stand by". Ten minutes later the anchor cable parted, shaking the ship. She was now dragging her port anchor, which Captain Carré therefore decided to have hauled in.

Weighing anchor would take about 20 minutes, so in the meantime Carré had Rohna got under way to avoid being run onto the harbour breakwater. Other ships were moored in the harbour, and Carré's helmsman had to steer through a narrow space between two of them in a very heavy sea. Eventually Rohna was able to make for the harbour mouth and put to sea and head 20 miles south to where the storm was less severe. Next day the cyclone had passed and Rohna returned to port.



Deck passengers
When new, Rohna was certified to carry 5,064 deck passengers. In 1931 new regulations called the Simla Rules (superseded in 1948 by the SOLAS Convention) reduced this to 3,851, but this was still more than any other UK-registered ship.

War service
When the UK entered the Second World War in September 1939 Rohna was in the Indian Ocean. Apart from a voyage from Karachi to Suez with Convoy K 4, Rohna operated unescorted between Rangoon and Madras until late November. On 10 December she left Bombay for the Mediterranean, passing through the Suez Canal on 20–21 December and reaching Marseille on 26 December. From 3 January 1940 until 10 March she operated unescorted between Marseille and Port of Haifa in Mandatory Palestine, at first in convoys but after 29 January independently.

On 15 March 1940 Rohna returned through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, where she operated unescorted between Bombay, Rangoon and Colombo until June. In May she was requisitioned as a troop ship and on 6 June she left Bombay for Durban. She then ran between Durban, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam until 28 July, when she left Mombasa for Bombay.

Rohna took troops from Bombay to Suez in August 1940 in Convoy BN 3 and from Bombay to Port Sudan in September/October 1940 in Convoy BN 6. She made further trips from Bombay to Suez in November 1940 in Convoy BN 8A, from Colombo to Suez in February 1941 in Convoy US 8/1 and from Bombay to Singapore in March 1941 in Convoy BM 4. The day after the Iraqi coup d'état in April 1941 Rohna was ordered to Karachi, whence she took some of the first elements of Iraqforce to Basra in Convoy BP 2. During the Anglo-Iraqi War in May the ship made a second trip from Karachi to Basra in Convoy BP 5. After the Allied victory in Iraq at the end of May she spent the rest of the year running between Basra and Bombay, each time going to Basra in a BP-series convoys and returning independently.

On 8 December 1941 Japan invaded Malaya. A month later Rohna left Bombay for Singapore in Convoy BM 10, arriving on 25 January 1942. She left on 28 January in Convoy NB 1, a fortnight before Singapore was surrendered to Japan. From March 1942 Rohna spent a year criss-crossing the Indian Ocean between Bombay, Karachi, Colombo, Basra, Aden, Suez, Khorramshahr, Bandar Abbas, Bahrain and Âbâdân; sometimes in convoys but much of the time unescorted. In March 1943 she sailed from Bombay in Convoy BA 40 to Aden and then independently to Suez, where she passed through the canal on 6–7 April.

For the remainder of her career Rohna supported the North African Campaign, the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Allied invasion of Italy. Until the beginning of July she ran independently between Alexandria, Tripoli and Sfax. From then on she sailed mostly in convoys, working between Alexandria, Malta, Tripoli, Augusta, Port Said, Bizerta and Oran.

Loss
At 1230 hrs on 25 November 1943 Rohna and four other troop ships left Oran in French Algeria. At sea three hours later they joined Convoy KMF 26 which was passing on its way from Britain to Alexandria.

About 1630 hrs the next day off Bougie the convoy was attacked by 14 Luftwaffe Heinkel He 177A heavy bombers escorted by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft, followed by between six and nine torpedo bombers. At the time the convoy had a limited air escort of four land-based Free French Air Force Spitfires. Later in the course of the attack they were relieved by RAF Spitfires.


Henschel Hs 293 radio-guided glide bomb


The He 177As carried Henschel Hs 293 radio-guided, rocket-boosted glide bombs, almost 30 of which they launched at the convoy. The convoy's combined anti-aircraft fire seems to have impeded most of the attackers' attempts to guide their glide bombs onto their targets. Rohna's DEMS gunners contributed with her machine guns, Oerlikon autocannons and about 20 rounds from her 12-pounder gun. The convoy shot down at least two aircraft and damaged several others.

Rohna was the only casualty. About 1715 or 1725 hrs a He 177A piloted by Hans Dochtermann released a glide bomb that hit Rohna on her port side, at the after end of her engine room and Number Six troop deck. Men poured on deck, many of them badly wounded.

The impact was about 15 feet (5 m) above the water line but it flooded the engine room, knocked out all electrical equipment including her pumps, and set the ship ablaze. The impact demolished the number four bulkhead. It also destroyed six of her 22 lifeboats and forced out the plates of her hull so that none of her surviving port boats could be lowered past them. Troops cut the falls of some of the boats, causing them to fall in the sea and be swamped. Only eight boats were launched; they became overloaded with troops and most became waterlogged or capsized. The number one deck serang (boatswain), Bhowan Meetha, helped the chief officer to launch the boats. Other members of the lascar crew launched the two aft lifeboats and abandoned ship without remaining to help to launch the other boats. With number four hold afire and all communications severed, the crewmen aft had lost contact with the bridge and had no way to reach the boat deck to help with the other boats. They disobeyed orders, and acted on their own.


The minesweeper USS Pioneerrescued 602 survivors


The destroyer HMS Atherstoneprovided anti-aircraft cover and then rescued about 70 survivors

As Rohna listed 12 degrees to starboard, her crew launched most of her 101 liferafts. By 1750 hrs only a few rafts remained so they took the hatch boards from number three hold and threw them overboard too. By now number four hold, just aft of the engine room, was on fire. The Auk-class minesweeper USS Pioneer and cargo ship Clan Campbell fell behind the convoy to rescue survivors, protected by the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Atherstone which made a smokescreen and gave anti-aircraft cover. Clan Campbell had a high freeboard so she lowered a cargo net for survivors to use as a scramble net. The climb was about 30 feet (9 m) from the sea to the deck, which was difficult for many of the exhausted survivors. The wind was only Force 4, but there was a 15-to-20-foot (5 to 6 m) swell that prevented the rescue ships from launching their own boats.

Among the last people to leave the ship were her master, Captain TJ Murphy, the chief, second and third officers, the senior medical officer and four US soldiers. This group remained on the foredeck for about 30 minutes after the other soldiers and crew had abandoned ship. About 90 minutes after the missile hit the ship there was a rending noise, probably from the collapse of a bulkhead aft. Clouds of smoke came from number three hold and the ship settled by the stern. The group threw the last four rafts overboard and abandoned ship.

After night fell, Atherstone switched from anti-aircraft cover to rescuing survivors and the tug Mindful arrived from Bougie and joined the operation. The rescue continued until 0215 hrs on 27 November. In total, 819 survivors were taken to Philippeville: 602 on Pioneer, about 110 on Clan Campbell and about 70 on Atherstone.

1,138 men were killed, including 1,015 US personnel. The attack is the largest loss of US troops at sea due to enemy action in a single incident. A further 35 US troops of the 2,000 originally embarked later died of wounds. As well as the troops, five of Rohna's officers and 117 of her 195 crew were killed, along with one of her 12 DEMS gunners and one hospital orderly. USS Pioneer rescued 606 survivors.

Details of the loss were revealed slowly over time. By February 1944 the US Government had acknowledged that more than 1,000 soldiers had been lost in the sinking of an unnamed troopship in European waters, but it hinted that a submarine was responsible. By June 1945 the US Government had released accurate casualty figures, the ship had been identified as Rohna, and the cause of the sinking had been identified as German bombers, but did not mention that a guided bomb was used. The use of an "aerial glider bomb" was first reported publicly on November 14, 1945 in an account of the battle in the Salt Lake City Tribune. On March 9, 1947 the Chicago Tribune published a complete account of the attack, including the use of a "radio-controled [sic] glider bomb." In 1948 a history of British India Line in the Second World War was published, stating "the missile was one of the new glider bombs guided by wireless". The US Government officially released the remaining details of the incident, specifically that a radio-controlled glide bomb had been used, in 1967 after the passing of the Freedom of Information Act.

Monuments
Members of Rohna's crew who were killed are commemorated in the Second World War section of the Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill in London. Her lascar seamen are commemorated in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission monuments at Chittagong and Mumbai. A monument to the US troops who were killed was unveiled at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Seale, Alabama in 1996. In 1962, the traffic median of the Esplanade in Bronx, New York, at the corner of Astor Avenue, was named in memory of Private Sidney Weissman, a local resident killed in the sinking of the Rohna.

Controversy
In 1998 Dr James G. Bennett, who lost a brother in the sinking, published a book, The Rohna Disaster, through the self-publishing service Xlibris. In it he alleges that the heavy loss of life was due to the incompetence and cowardice of the Rohna's lascar crew and faulty safety procedures and equipment aboard.

In 2002 the History Channel released an episode of its History Undercover series, The Rohna Disaster: WWII's Secret Tragedy, that was based on Bennett's book and repeated his allegations. Wartime reports by the lieutenant colonel in command of the US troops aboard, and by Rohna's second officer and other survivors, contradict aspects of Bennett's allegations



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMT_Rohna
http://www.daileyint.com/wwii/picwar9.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 26 November


1703 - HMS Orford (1698 - 70), HMS Warspite (1666 – 70), and HMS Lichfield (1695 - 48), Cptn. Lord Dursley, captured 'Le Hazardeux' (1699 - 54)

HMS Orford was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford in 1698.[1] She carried twenty-two 24-pounder guns and four (18-pounder) culverins on the lower deck; twenty-six 12-pounder guns on the upper deck; fourteen (5-pounder) sakers on the quarter-deck and forecastle; and four 3-pounder guns on the poop or roundhouse.





Scale 1:48. A contemporary full hull block model of the ‘Orford’ (circa 1698), a 70-gun two-decker third rate ship. The model is painted showing the upper and lower wales in black, the bulwark screens are a dark blue with a buff beading leading from the waist towards the stern. The only decoration on the model appears on the stern and quarter galleries which have been painted onto what looks like a layer of card and applied to the hull. The figurehead has been represented by a flat wooden outline while the headrails of the bow have been omitted for clarity to allow for inspection of the hull and shape of the bow. The model is mounted on an original wooden baseboard supported by two keel blocks at bow and stern, and brass rods amidships. It is likely that this model was made for the rebuilt of the 'Orford' in 1713.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66344.html#jsMc7u2raCfQ6yoK.99

In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Orford served in Admiral Sir George Rooke's fleet in the Mediterranean; she was present as a member of the naval bombardment force at the Capture of Gibraltar. Shortly thereafter, at the Battle of Malaga, commanded by Captain John Norris, Orford was a member of the vanguard division of Rooke's fleet under Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and Vice-Admiral John Leake; all these officers but the latter, who himself became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1710, were future admirals of the fleet.

In 1707, she belonged to Admiral Shovell's fleet. She saw action during the unsuccessful Battle of Toulon and was present during the great naval disaster off the Isles of Scilly when Shovell and four of his ships (Association, Firebrand, Romney and Eagle) were lost, claiming the lives of nearly 2,000[3] sailors. Orford suffered little to no damage and finally managed to reach Portsmouth.
She was rebuilt for the first time according to the 1706 Establishment at Limehouse, relaunching on 17 March 1713. She underwent a second rebuild in 1727.[2]
In 1718 she was present at the Battle of Cape Passaro, and in 1736 she brought John Harrison and his first marine clock back from Lisbon.
Orford was wrecked on 13 February 1745 in the Windward Passage, though all her crew were saved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Orford_(1698)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_(1666)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lichfield_(1695)


1760 - HMS Conqueror (1758 - 68) wrecked on St. Nicholas Island (now Drake Island) off Plymouth

HMS Conqueror was a 68-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 May 1758 at Harwich.
She was wrecked in 1760


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Conqueror' (1758) and 'Temple' (1758), both 68-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, based on the design for 'Vanguard' (1748), a 1745 Establishment 68-gun Third Rate, two-decker.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81217.html#mHWCYl3GURyJbYtu.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Conqueror_(1758)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-304302;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C


1776 - During the American Revolution, the Continental sloop USS Independence, commanded by Capt. John Young, captures the British merchant ship Sam with $20,000 in coin on board.

USS Independence (1776 sloop) was a sloop in the Continental Navy. Acting as a dispatch boat, she was sent to France on a diplomatic mission – carrying important dispatches. While there, John Paul Jones embarked on her, and she received additional salutes to the American Republic from the French.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_(1776_sloop)


1794 - HMS Pylades (1794 - 16) wrecked in Heraldswick bay, Isle of Nest, Shetland. (Salvaged and repurchased in 1796)

HMS Pylades (1794) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1794. She was wrecked later that year, but salvaged and sold. She was repurchased in 1796 and sold in 1815.


1794 - HMS Actif (1794 - 10), John Harvey, foundered off Bermuda

HMS Actif was the British privateer Active that the French captured in 1793 and that became the French privateer Actif. Iphigenia recaptured Actif on 16 March 1794. The Royal Navy took her into service but she foundered on 26 November. All her crew were saved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Actif_(1794)


1798 - HMS Medusa (1785 - 50), Cdr. Alexander Becher, was driven ashore and wrecked in the confusion whilst Lord St. Vincent, on shore at Gibraltar, was passing instructions to her captain through a speaking trumpet.

HMS Medusa (1785) was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1785 and wrecked in 1798.


1812 – Launch of USS Madison, a U.S. Navy corvette (or sloop) built during the War of 1812 for use on the Great Lakes

USS Madison was a U.S. Navy corvette (or sloop) built during the War of 1812 for use on the Great Lakes.
USS Madison was built at Sackets Harbor, New York by Henry Eckford. She was launched on Lake Ontario on 26 November 1812, Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliot in command. She was the first U.S. corvette launched on the lake.
Madison departed Sackets Harbor on 25 April 1813 as flagship of Commodore Isaac Chauncey. She saw active duty in the War of 1812 as part of Chauncey’s Lake Ontario Squadron. Madison participated in the capture of York, now Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in April 1813; the attacks on Fort George in May 1813; and engagements with British squadrons on Lake Ontario from 7–11 August 1813, and from 11–22 September 1813.
After the end of the war, Madison, a fast ship-rigged vessel that was not considered very safe to operate, was laid up at Sackets Harbor until sold in 1825.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Madison_(1812)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagements_on_Lake_Ontario


1813 - Boats of HMS Swiftsure (1804 - 74), Cptn. Edward Stirling Dickson, took French privateer schooner Charlemagne (8) off Cape Rousse in Corsica.

HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Bucklers Hard on 23 July 1804. She fought at Trafalgar.
The French 74-gun ship Swiftsure also took part in the battle. She had originally been a British ship that the French had captured in 1801.
It was a myth at the time that the Swiftsure sailed faster at night.
Swiftsure became a receiving ship in 1819, In September 1844, she heeled over and sank at Portchester, Hampshire. She was sold out of the service in 1845. In November 1844, she was in use as a target ship by HMS Excellent.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Swiftsure' (1804) and 'Victorious' (1808), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, both to be built at Bucklers Hard by Messrs B & E Adams. The plan also shows alterations to the rudder on 'Swiftsure', while she was at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1815-6. The alterations were suggested by the ship's Captain - Captain William Henry Webly/Webley, appointed 20 September 1814 [Captain seniority: 29 April 1802]. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 6, folio 130 states that 'Swiftsure' (1804) was at Portsmouth Dockyard between 18 August 1815 and September 1816.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81125.html#GpYDP2mKpKs2QEoI.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Swiftsure_(1804)


1863 - The side-wheel steamship USS James Adger, commanded by Cmdr. F.H. Patterson, seizes British blockade runner schooner Ella off Masonboro.

USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She retained her former name.

Before being pressed into service by the United States Navy, the SS James Adger was a United States Mail Steamship operating between Charleston, South Carolina and New York City, New York. Owned by James Adger II (James Adger & Co) of Charleston, she was seized while in New York City at the outset of the Civil War and converted for military duty by the Union Navy.
James Adger was built at New York City by William H. Webb in 1851. Her 240 hp (180 kW) side-lever engine was supplied by the Allaire Iron Works.
James Adger was purchased at New York for the sum of $85,000 from Spofford, Tileston & Co., on 20 July 1861, and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 20 September 1861, Commander John B. Marchand in command.


SS James Adger, capturing the 'Emily St. Pierre' off Charleston, 18 March 1862

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


1864 - The Sassacus class "double-ender" steam gunboat USS Metacomet, commanded by Lt. Cmdr. J.E. Jouett, captures Confederate blockade runner steamer Susanna in the Gulf of Mexico off Campeche Banks. Half her cargo of cotton is thrown overboard in the chase.

The second USS Metacomet was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was named for Metacomet, a war chief of the Wampanoag Indians.
Metacomet was launched on 7 March 1863 by Thomas Stack, Brooklyn, New York, and commissioned at New York on 4 January 1864 under the captaincy of Commander James E. Jouett.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Metacomet_(1863)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1703 – The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.


The Eddystone Lighthouse is on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, 9 statute miles (14 km) south of Rame Head, England, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian gneiss.


The current lighthouse and the stub of Smeaton's Tower.

The current structure is the fourth to be built on the site. The first and second were destroyed by storm and fire. The third, also known as Smeaton's Tower, is the best known because of its influence on lighthouse design and its importance in the development of concrete for building. Its upper portions have been re-erected in Plymouth as a monument. The first lighthouse, completed in 1699, was the world's first open ocean lighthouse although the Cordouan lighthouse preceded it as the first offshore lighthouse.

Year first constructed 1698 (first)
1709 (second)
1759 (third)
Year first lit 1882 (current)
Automated 1982
Deactivated 1703 (first)
1755 (second)
1877 (third)
Construction wooden tower (first and second)
granite tower (third and current)
Tower shape octagonal tower (first)
dodecagonal tower (second)
tapered cylindrical tower (third)
tapered cylindrical tower with lantern and helipad on the top (current)
Tower height 18 metres (59 ft) (first)
21 metres (69 ft) (second)
22 metres (72 ft) (third)
49 metres (161 ft) (current)



The need for a light
The Eddystone Rocks are an extensive reef approximately 12 miles (19 km) SSW of Plymouth Sound, one of the most important naval harbours of England, and midway between Lizard Point, Cornwall and Start Point. They are submerged at high spring tides and were so feared by mariners entering the English Channel that they often hugged the coast of France to avoid the danger, which thus resulted not only in shipwrecks locally, but on the rocks of the north coast of France and the Channel Islands. Given the difficulty of gaining a foothold on the rocks particularly in the predominant swell it was a long time before anyone attempted to place any warning on them.

Winstanley's lighthouse
The first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. The lighthouse was also the first recorded instance of an offshore lighthouse. Construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on 14 November 1698. During construction, a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner and destroyed the work done so far on the foundations, causing Louis XIV to order Winstanley's release with the words "France is at war with England, not with humanity".


Winstanley's lighthouse, as modified in 1699

The lighthouse survived its first winter but was in need of repair, and was subsequently changed to a dodecagonal (12 sided) stone clad exterior on a timber framed construction with an octagonal top section as can be seen in the later drawings or paintings. This gives rise to the claims that there have been five lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Winstanley's tower lasted until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace on 27 November. Winstanley was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him, or of the other five men in the lighthouse.

The cost of construction and five years' maintenance totalled £7,814 7s.6d, during which time dues totalling £4,721 19s.3d had been collected at one penny per ton from passing vessels.

Rudyard's lighthouse

Elevation of Rudyard's lighthouse finished in 1709

Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, Captain John Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by Act of Parliament was allowed to charge passing ships a toll of one penny per ton. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete. A temporary light was first shone from it in 1708 and the work was completed in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly fifty years.


A contemporary painting of Rudyard's lighthouse by Isaac Sailmaker.

On the night of 2 December 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven onto the rock and were rescued by boat as the tower burnt down. Keeper Henry Hall, who was 94 at the time, died from ingesting molten lead from the lantern roof. A report on this case was submitted to the Royal Society by physician Edward Spry, and the piece of lead is now in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland.


Smeaton's lighthouse
Main article: Smeaton's Tower
The third lighthouse marked a major step forward in the design of such structures.

Recommended by the Royal Society, civil engineer John Smeaton modelled the shape on an oak tree, built of granite blocks. He pioneered 'hydraulic lime', a concrete that cured under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 at Millbay and the light was first lit on 16 October 1759.


Smeaton's Lighthouse


The dovetail design in a cross-section of the lower part of the tower

Smeaton's lighthouse was 59 feet (18 m) high and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet (8 m) and at the top of 17 feet (5 m).

In 1841 major renovations were made, under the direction of engineer Henry Norris of Messrs. Walker & Burges, including complete repointing, replacement water tanks and filling of a large cavity in the rock close to the foundations. It remained in use until 1877 when erosion to the rocks under the lighthouse caused it to shake from side to side whenever large waves hit. Smeaton's lighthouse was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in Plymouth, as a memorial. William Tregarthen Douglass supervised the dismantling and removal of Smeaton's Tower. The re-erected tower on the Hoe is now a tourist attraction.

The foundations and stub of the tower remain, close to the new and more solid foundations of the current lighthouse – the foundations proved too strong to be dismantled so the Victorians left them where they stood.

An 1850 replica of Smeaton's lighthouse, Hoad Monument, stands above the town of Ulverston, Cumbria as a memorial to naval administrator Sir John Barrow.


Douglass's lighthouse

Original drawing of 4th Eddystone Lighthouse

The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass, using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's techniques. By April 1879 the new site, on the South Rock was being prepared during the 3½ hours between ebband flood tide. The supply ship Hercules was based at Oreston, now a suburb of Plymouth, and the stone was prepared at the Oreston yard and supplied from the works of Messrs Shearer, Smith and Co of Wadebridge.

The light was lit in 1882 and is still in use. It was automated in 1982, the first Trinity House 'Rock' (or offshore) lighthouse to be converted. The tower has been changed by construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews access. The helipad has a weight limit of 3600kg.

The tower is 49 metres (161 ft) high, and its white light flashes twice every 10 seconds. The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 km), and is supplemented by a foghorn of 3 blasts every 62 seconds.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeaton's_Tower

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1784 – Launch of HMS Dido, one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates


HMS Dido was one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates in service with the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dido was commissioned in September 1787 under the command of Captain Charles Sandys. She participated in a notable action for which her crew would later be awarded the Naval General Service Medal; her participation in a campaign resulted in the award of another. Dido was sold for breaking up in 1817.

Tons burthen: 595 39⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 120 ft 5 in (36.70 m) (gundeck)
• 99 ft 3 in (30.25 m) (keel)

Beam: 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m
)Depth of hold: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 200 officers and men
Armament:

• Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
• QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 x 18-pounder carronade
• Fc: 2 x 18-pounder carronades

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines and longitudinal half breadth for Pomona (1778), then Pegasus (1779), then Mercury (1779), and wih pencil alterations for Hussar (1784), Rose (1783), Dido (1784), Thisbe (1783), Alligator (1787), Circe (1783), Lapwing (1785), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 171765-1784]. The top ship is not 'Laurel' as listed in the annotation on the right, as this plan predates her ordering by over one year.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83173.html#3uY7MEba0d3urfvD.99

Vrai Patriote
On 9 August 1793 Dido was patrolling off Norway when she encountered a French privateer. She drove the vessel ashore, and Lieutenant Edward Hamilton took a boat and eight men to take possession. The privateer was the Vrai Patriote, of 13 guns and a crew of 45 men, whose crew had set her on fire before escaping ashore. Hamilton and his men extinguished the fire, the setting of which Hamilton considered a "base attempt" as had it been successful it would have deprived the British of prize money. Unwilling to let the matter go, Hamilton and his men pursued the privateers inland and captured 13 of them. The British then brought out the prize, for which prize money was paid in July 1799.

Hamilton and his prize crew of two midshipmen and twenty sailors were taking Vrai Patriote back when they encountered the cutter Nimble. Nimble had been looking for privateer, and not realizing that the Dido had captured her, attempted to take Vrai Patriote. Hamilton hoisted British colors over the French and sent his crew below decks while he attempted to convince Nimble that the French vessel was now in British hands. Nimble, unconvinced, fired several broadsides into Vrai Patriote causing damage but no casualties. Eventually Nimble was convinced and ceased fire. Nimble herself suffered casualties when one of her guns burst.

Dido was the only ship of the Mediterranean Fleet to exchange fire with French ships during Martin's cruise of 1794, but was unable to prevent the French escaping into Gourjean Bay.

Dido captured Révolution, a French vessel possibly a navy corvette, on 8 October 1794 off Porto Mauruzio between Nice and Genoa.

Dido captured the xebec Témėraire on 14 March 1795. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Temeraire, later renamed to HMS Transfer.

Dido and Lowestoffe vs. Minerve and Artemise
Main article: Action of 24 June 1795
Admiral Hotham sent Dido under Captain George Henry Towry and Lowestoffe, a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate under Captain Robert Middleton, to reconnoiter the French fleet at Toulon. While off Menorca on 24 June 1795 the two British frigates encountered two French frigates, the 42-gun Minerve and the 36-gun Artémise.


A painting of an action in 1795, during the French Revolutionary Wars. Almost simultaneously the opposing French and British admirals in the Mediterranean, sent two frigates each to reconnoitre each other’s fleets. Early on the morning of 24 June they sighted each other off Minorca. The British ships were the ‘Dido’ and ‘Lowestoft’ and the French were the ‘Minerve’ and ‘Artemise’. Several hours later the ‘Minerve’ came into close action and attempted to board the ‘Dido’, and each were damaged. The ‘Lowestoft’ then took up the fight and within an hour all the ‘Minerve’s’ topmast went over the side. The ‘Lowestoft’ then engaged the second French frigate, leaving the two damaged ships to make repairs. After a time it became clear that the second French frigate, which had taken flight, had the edge on the ‘Lowestoft’ which was therefore recalled. On her return she placed herself across the stern of the French frigate and raked her, with the result that she struck some time later. She was the ‘Minerve’ a more powerful ship than either of the British frigates. The French ship which escaped was another powerful frigate, the ‘Artemise’. In the left foreground is the ‘Dido’ in action to starboard with the ‘Minerve’ whose bow shows starboard broadside view. The ‘Dido’s’ mizzen mast is shot away and the wreck of it is towing astern of her. She has a red ensign at the main. The ‘Minerve’s’ fore topgallant mast is shot through and hanging and her main mast is in the act of falling. In the right background is the ‘Lowestoft’ port quarter view in action to starboard with the ‘Artemis’, also port quarter view.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11972.html#qwZFWtbFE3Qek2Mm.99

The French were initially wary, but when they realised that they were larger and stronger than the British vessels, the French captains manoeuvred to attack. Minerve attempted to run down Dido but when Dido turned to avoid the impact, Minerve's bowsprit became entangled in Dido's rigging, costing Dido her mizzenmast and colours. Lowestoffe came along the port side of Minerve and her broadside carried away Minerve's foremast and topmasts, crippling her. Lowestoffe pursued the retreating Artémise, which eventually escaped. Lowestoffe returned to Minerve, firing on her until she struck. Lowestoffe had three men wounded, the Dido six killed and 15 wounded. Minerve lost about 10 percent of her crew of over 300 men.


Depicts a confrontation between two British and two French naval ships. Cannon smoke hangs between the vessels. The French La Minerve, in the centre foreground, in port broadside view, has lost the top section of her mainmast and her entire foremast. Her bow is badly damaged with the bowsprit and figurehead gone. Figures can be seen crowding the deck. Behind La Minerve, passing on the opposite tack, the starboard stern quarter of a British naval vessel can be seen through the smoke. This vessel has lost her mizzen mast overboard, but is still carrying three courses of sails on her remaining masts and flying the Red Ensign on her main mast. On the right of the picture, further away, two vessels, one French, one British, both on the same tack, are seen in port stern quarter view exchanging cannon fire. Their sails are intact, but holed; otherwise, both vessels appear to be in better condition than those in the foreground. The scene depicts the capture of La Minerve by the British Dido and Lowestoffe off Toulon on 24th June 1795. The French L'Artemise was also involved in the action.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109646.html#grWbko3gmvic1ggJ.99

The British took Minerve into service as the 38-gun frigate HMS Minerve. The weight of Minerve's broadside alone was greater than that of the two British frigates together, making the battle a notable victory; the Admiralty duly awarded the two captains a Naval Gold Medal each. In 1847 the Admiralty issued to all surviving claimants from the action the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Dido 24 June 1795" and "Lowestoffe 24 June 1795".

Because Dido served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal.

Fate
Dido was sold to break up on 3 April 1817.


The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands emergency. Two ships were built by contract in private shipyards, while three others were constructed in the Royal Dockyards using foreign oak.

A second batch of fifteen ships were ordered in 1776 to 1778 to meet the exigencies of the North American situation, and a final group of seven ships followed in 1782 to 1783 with only some minor modifications to include side gangways running flush with the quarter deck and forecastle, and with solid bulkheads along the quarterdeck.

Enterprize class 28-gun sixth rates 1773-87; 27 ships, designed by John Williams.

• HMS Siren 1773 - wrecked on the coast of Connecticut 1777.
• HMS Fox 1773 - taken by USS Hancock 1777, retaken by HMS Flora a month later, but then taken by the French Junon off Brest in 1778.
• HMS Enterprize 1774 - hulked as receiving ship at the Tower of London 1791, broken up 1807.
• HMS Surprise 1774 - sold 1783.
• HMS Actaeon 1775 - grounded at Charleston and burnt to avoid capture on 28 June 1776.
• HMS Proserpine 1777 - wrecked off Heligoland in 1799.
• HMS Andromeda 1777 - capsized in the Great West Indian Hurricane of 1780.
• HMS Aurora 1777 - sold 1814.
• HMS Medea 1778 - hulked as a hospital ship at Portsmouth in 1801 and sold in 1805.
• HMS Pomona 1778 - renamed Amphitrite in 1795, broken up 1811.
• HMS Resource 1778 - converted to troopship in 1799, hulked as receiving ship at the Tower of London and renamed Enterprize in 1803, broken up in 1816.
• HMS Sibyl 1779 - renamed Garland in 1795, lost off Madagascar on 26 July 1798.
• HMS Brilliant 1779 - broken up 1811.
• HMS Crescent 1779 - captured by the French frigates Gloire (1778) and Friponne (1780) on 20 June 1781.
• HMS Mercury 1779 - used as floating battery since 1803, converted to troopship in 1810, broken up in 1814.
• HMS Pegasus 1779 - converted to troopship in 1800, hulked as receiving ship in 1814, sold 1816.
• HMS Cyclops 1779 - converted to troopship in 1800, hulked as receiving ship at Portsmouth in 1807, sold 1814.
• HMS Vestal 1779 - converted to troopship in 1800, on lease to Trinity House from 1803 to 1810, hulked as prison ship at Barbados in 1814, sold 1816.
• HMS Laurel 1779 - driven ashore and disintegrated during the Great West Indian Hurricane of 1780.
• HMS Nemesis 1780 - taken by the French in 1795, retaken in 1796, converted to troopship in 1812, sold 1814.
• HMS Thisbe 1783 - converted to troopship in 1800, sold 1815.
• HMS Rose 1783 - wrecked on Rocky Point, Jamaica, on 28 June 1794.
• HMS Hussar 1784 - wrecked near Île Bas on Christmas Eve 1796.
• HMS Dido 1784 - converted to troopship in 1800, hulked as Army prison ship at Portsmouth in 1804, sold 1817.
• HMS Circe 1785 - wrecked near Yarmouth on 6 November 1803.
• HMS Lapwing 1785 - hulked as salvage ship at Cork in 1810, residential ship at Pembroke from 1813, broken up in 1828.
• HMS Alligator 1787 - hulked as salvage ship at Cork in 1810, sold in 1814.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dido_(1784)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-307232;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_24_June_1795
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1784 – Launch of HMS Experiment, a Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker


HMS Experiment

• Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
• Ordered: 13 July 1780
• Laid down: June 1781
• Launched: 27 November 1784
• Completed: 11 January 1785 at Portsmouth Dockyard
• Fate: Sold to be broken up 8 September 1836

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Charon (1778), as built at Harwich in 1778, and later used for Experiment (1784), Gladiator (1783), and Serapis (1782), all 44-gun Fifth Rate, two-deckers. Note that Charon was built with a single row of windows, unlike other ships in the class. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 176-1784] and Edward Hunt [Surveyor of the Navy, 1778-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81905.html#lG5C3FxbBE9zOzvi.99


Scale: 1:96. A plan showing the spar deck, upper deck, gun deck (lower), and orlop deck for 'Experiment' (1784), a forty-four gun fifth rate, two-decker, as fitted for a storeship. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1802-1823].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/85226.html#d1QdWID32kj7MHR1.99

The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.


The 44-gun ship Argo with russian ship 1799 at Gribraltar

Classification
The Royal Navy classed the Roebuck class as fifth rates like frigates but did not classify them as frigates. Although sea officers sometimes casually described them and other small two-deckers as frigates, the Admiralty officially never referred to them as frigates. By 1750, the Admiralty strictly defined frigates as ships of 28 guns or more, carrying all their main battery (24, 26 or even 28 guns) on the upper deck, with no guns or openings on the lower deck (which could thus be at sea level or even lower). A frigate might carry a few smaller guns - 3-pounders or 6-pounders, later 9-pounders - on their quarterdeck and (perhaps) on the forecastle. The Roebuck-class ships were two-deckers with complete batteries on both decks, and hence not frigates.

Design and construction
The Admiralty assigned the contract for Roebuck to Chatham Dockyard on 30 November 1769. Some seven years after the design was first produced, the Admiralty re-used it for a second batch of nineteen ships. The Admiralty ordered them to meet the particular requirements of the American War of Independence for vessels suitable for coastal warfare in the shallow seas off North America (where deeper two-deckers could not sail). The first five vessels of the class, and the later Guardian, had two rows of stern lights (windows), like larger two-deckers though actually there was just the single level of cabin behind. Most, if not all, of the other ships of the class - from Dolphin onwards - had a 'single level' frigate-type stern.

Ships in class
PROTOTYPE

• Roebuck
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 November 1769
  • Laid down: October 1770
  • Launched: 24 April 1774
  • Completed: 4 August 1775
  • Fate: Broken up at Sheerness in July 1811.

WARTIME BATCH

• Romulus
  • Builder: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
  • Ordered: 14 May 1776
  • Laid down: July 1776
  • Launched: 17 December 1777
  • Completed: 7 April 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Captured by a French squadron consisting of a ship of the line, two frigates and a cutter, off the Chesapeake 19 February 1781.[2]
• Actaeon
  • Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  • Ordered: 3 July 1776
  • Laid down: July 1776
  • Launched: 29 January 1778
  • Completed: 17 April 1778 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 30 April 1802
• Janus
  • Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse
  • Ordered: 24 July 1776
  • Laid down: 9 August 1776
  • Launched: 14 May 1778
  • Completed: 11 August 1778 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Renamed Dromedary 1788 as storeship. Wrecked near Trinidad in August 1800 but with no loss of life.
• Charon (i)
  • Builder: John Barnard, Harwich
  • Ordered: 9 October 1776
  • Laid down: January 1777
  • Launched: 8 October 1778
  • Completed: 23 January 1779 at Sheerness Dockyard
  • Fate: She was trapped at the Yorktown so her stores, men and guns were taken ashore; on 10 October 1781 heated shot from a French battery set her on fire.
• Dolphin
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  • Ordered: 8 January 1777
  • Laid down: 1 May 1777
  • Launched: 10 March 1781
  • Completed: 11 May 1781
  • Fate: Broken up in July 1817
• Ulysses
  • Builder: John Fisher, Liverpool
  • Ordered: 16 April 1777
  • Laid down: 28 June 1777
  • Launched: 14 July 1779
  • Completed: 2 January 1780 at Plymouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816
• Endymion
  • Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse
  • Ordered: 2 February 1778
  • Laid down: 18 March 1778
  • Launched: 28 August 1779
  • Completed: 5 November 1779 at Woolwich Dockyard
  • Fate: Wrecked on an uncharted rock off Turks Island on 20 August 1790 with the loss of one man.[5]

Battle between Continental Ship Bonhomme Richard and HMS Serapis, 23 September 1779, by Thomas Mitchell, 1780, US Naval Academy Museum

• Serapis (i)
  • Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  • Ordered: 11 February 1778
  • Laid down: 3 March 1778
  • Launched: 4 March 1779
  • Completed: 6 May 1779 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Taken by American Bonhomme Richard, assisted by other vessels, and transferred to the French who employed her as a privateer; wrecked 1781 off Madagascar.
• Assurance
  • Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  • Ordered: 20 May 1778
  • Laid down: 11 June 1778
  • Launched: 20 April 1780
  • Completed: 15 July 1780 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up in March 1815
• Argo
  • Builder: John Baker & Co, Howden Pans, Newcastle
  • Ordered: 26 February 1779
  • Laid down: 18 August 1779
  • Launched: 8 June 1781
  • Completed: 15 October 1781 at Chatham Dockyard
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816

Cybèle and Prudente fighting Centurion and Diomede

• Diomede
  • Builder: James Martin Hilhouse, Bristol
  • Ordered: 14 August 1779
  • Laid down: March 1780
  • Launched: 18 October 1781
  • Completed: 14 March 1782 at Bristol
  • Fate: Wrecked off Trincomalee, 2 August 1795.[6]
• Mediator
  • Builder: Thomas Raymond, Northam, Southampton
  • Ordered: 3 December 1779
  • Laid down: July 1780.
  • Launched: 30 March 1782
  • Completed: 15 June 1782 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Renamed Camel 1788 as storeship. Broken up in December 1810.
• Resistance
  • Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse
  • Ordered: 29 March 1780
  • Laid down: April 1781
  • Launched: 11 July 1782
  • Completed: 17 September 1782 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Blew up (believed struck by lightning) off Sumatra 24 July 1798; four survivors.[7]
• Gladiator
  • Builder: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
  • Ordered: 13 July 1780
  • Laid down: April 1781
  • Launched: 20 January 1783
  • Completed: February 1783 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up in August 1817
• Serapis (ii)
  • Builder: James Martin Hillhouse, Bristol
  • Ordered: 13 July 1780
  • Laid down: May 1781
  • Launched: 7 November 1782
  • Completed: December 1782 at Bristol
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up at Jamaica on 17 July 1826
• Experiment
  • Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
  • Ordered: 13 July 1780
  • Laid down: June 1781
  • Launched: 27 November 1784
  • Completed: 11 January 1785 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 8 September 1836

Guardian hitting an iceberg in 1789

• Guardian
  • Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse
  • Ordered: 11 August 1780
  • Laid down: December 1780
  • Launched: 23 March 1784
  • Completed: 20 May 1784 at Deptford Dockyard
  • Fate: Collided with iceberg 24 December 1789 and of the 40 men and passengers who set out in boats, 10 survived; Guardian, with the remaining 61 crew, convicts and passengers, arrived at Cape Town in sinking condition 21 February 1790 and beached on 12 April during a gale; remains sold to be broken up 8 February 1791.[8]
• Regulus
  • Builder: Thomas Raymond, Northam, Southampton
  • Ordered: 20 October 1780
  • Laid down: June 1781
  • Launched: 10 February 1785
  • Completed: 10 March 1785 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up in March 1816
• Charon (ii)
  • Builder: James Martin Hillhouse, Bristol
  • Ordered: 19 September 1781
  • Laid down: May 1782
  • Launched: 17 May 1783
  • Completed: 5 February 1784 at Plymouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up in December 1805

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebuck-class_ship
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-311505;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1787 – Launch of HMS Excellent, a 74-gun Arrogant-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich


HMS Excellent was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich on 27 November 1787. She was the captaincy of John Gell before he was appointed an Admiral.

Class and type: Arrogant class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1645 bm
Length: 168 ft (51 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

• Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
• Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
• Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Cornwall (1761), Arrogant (1761), and Kent (1762), and later for Defence (1763), Edgar (1779), Goliath (1781), Vanguard (1787), Excellent (1787), Saturn (1786), Elephant (1786), Illustrious (1789), Bellerophon (1786), Zealous (1785), and Audacious (1785), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80933.html#hisDfr9GJexBJZXL.99


Scale: 1:24. Plan showing the elevation of the gun and carriage, and split view of the carriage to show the construction from above and below, relating to a new Truck Carriage for a 68 pounder or ten inch Gun sent to HMS Excellent (1787), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, possible after she was cut down to a 56-gun Frigate. The date of the plan is based on ZAZ6992. NMM, Progress Book, volume 6, folio 88, states that in December 1825 she was 'Taken in hand' at Portsmouth Dockyard, but no details are given regarding the work carried out.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/86784.html#61t9HzGTELGsJzP2.99

Excellent took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797.

On 9 October 1799, Excellent chased the 18-gun Aréthuse. Aréthuse attempted to flee but part of her rigging broke during the night, and Excellent caught her. After a brief fight, Aréthuse struck her colours. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Raven.

On 9 April 1802, the 8th West India Regiment revolted in Dominica. They killed three officers, imprisoned the others and took over Fort Shirley. On the following day, Magnificent, which was anchored in Prince Rupert's Bay, sent a party of marines ashore to restore order. The mutineers fired upon the Magnificent with no effect. Excellent, the frigate Severn, and the sloop Gaiete assisted Magnificent, also supplying marines.

On 12 April, Governor Cochrane entered Fort Shirley with the Royal Scots Regiment and the 68th Regiment of Foot. The rebels were drawn up on the Upper Battery of Fort Shirley with three of their officers as prisoners and presented arms to the other troops. They obeyed Cochrane's command to ground their arms but refused his order to step forward. The mutineers picked up their arms and fired a volley. Shots were returned, followed by a bayonet charge that broke their ranks and a close range fire fight ensued. Those mutineers who tried to escape over the precipice to the sea were exposed to grape-shot and canister fire from Magnificent.

Fate
In 1820, Excellent was reduced to a 58-gun ship. From 1830 she was serving as a training ship. She was broken up in 1835.


The Arrogant-class ships of the line were a class of twelve 74-gun third rate ships designed by Sir Thomas Slade for the Royal Navy.

Design
The Arrogant-class ships were designed as a development of Slade's previous Bellona class, sharing the same basic dimensions. During this period, the original armament was the same across all the ships of the common class, of which the Arrogant-class ships were members. Two ships were ordered on 13 December 1758 to this design (as the same time as the fourth and fifth units of the Bellona class), and a further ten ships were built to a slightly modified version of the Arrogant design from 1773 onwards.

Arrogant class (Slade) – modified Bellona class

• Arrogant 74 (1761) – broken up 1810
• Cornwall 74 (1761) – scuttled/burnt 1780
• Edgar 74 (1779) – broken up 1835
• Goliath 74 (1781) – razéed to 58 guns 1813, broken up 1815
• Zealous 74 (1785) – broken up 1816
• Audacious 74 (1785) – broken up 1815
• Elephant 74 (1786) – razéed to 58 guns 1818, broken up 1830
• Bellerophon 74 (1786) – sold 1836
• Saturn 74 (1786) – razéed to 58 guns 1813, broken up 1868
• Vanguard 74 (1787) – broken up 1821
• Excellent 74 (1787) – razéed to 58 guns 1820, broken up 1835
• Illustrious 74 (1789) – wrecked 1795

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Excellent_(1787)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogant-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-311405;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1806 - The Raid on Batavia - Boats of British squadron, under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, destroyed Dutch frigate Phoenix and 20 other vessels in Batavia Roads.


The Raid on Batavia of 27 November 1806 was an attempt by a large British naval force to destroy the Dutch squadron based on Java in the Dutch East Indies that posed a threat to British shipping in the Straits of Malacca. The British admiral in command of the eastern Indian Ocean, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, led a force of four ships of the line, two frigates and brig to the capital of Java at Batavia (later renamed Djakarta), in search of the squadron, which was reported to consist of a number of Dutch ships of the line and several smaller vessels. However the largest Dutch ships had already sailed eastwards towards Griessie over a month earlier, and Pellew only discovered the frigate Phoenix and a number of smaller warships in the bay, all of which were driven ashore by their crews rather than engage Pellew's force. The wrecks were subsequently burnt and Pellew, unaware of the whereabouts of the main Dutch squadron, returned to his base at Madras for the winter.


A painting by Thomas Whitcombe depicting Batavia harbour in 1806.
Capture of the Maria Riggersbergen, Octr. 18th. 1806 (PAD5767)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109918.html#we1Hx5Ba1IbrZgWZ.99

The raid was the third of series of actions intended to eliminate the threat posed to British trade routes by the Dutch squadron: at the Action of 26 July 1806 and the Action of 18 October 1806, British frigates sent on reconnaissance missions to the region succeeded in attacking and capturing two Dutch frigates and a number of other vessels. The raid reduced the effectiveness of Batavia as a Dutch base, but the continued presence of the main Dutch squadron at Griessie concerned Pellew and he led a second operation the following year to complete his defeat of the Dutch. Three years later, with the French driven out of the western Indian Ocean, British forces in the region were strong enough to prepare an expeditionary force against the Dutch East Indies, which effectively ended the war in the east.

Background
In early 1806, Pellew was relieved by the news that a large French squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Linois had sailed out of the Indian Ocean and into the Atlantic. The departure of Linois after three years of operations in eastern waters freed Pellew's small squadron based at Madras for operations against the Dutch East Indies. Pellew's particular target was the island of Java, where the principal Dutch squadron and their base at Batavia were located. The Dutch Kingdom of Holland was a French client state under Emperor Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte and Batavia had been used by Linois in his preparations for the Battle of Pulo Aura, in which a valuable British convoy came under attack, and its position close to the Straits of Malacca threatened British trade with China.

Pellew's departure for the East Indies was delayed by the Vellore Mutiny in the spring, and instead he sent frigates to reconnoitre the situation of the Dutch forces in the region. In July, HMS Greyhound under Captain Edward Elphinstone cruised in the Molucca Islands and captured a Dutch convoy at the Action of 26 July 1806 off Celebes. Three months later another frigate, HMS Caroline under Captain Peter Rainier, cruised successfully in the Java Sea and managed to capture a Dutch frigate at the Action of 18 October 1806 from the entrance to Batavia harbour. Shortly before Rainier's engagement, the principal ships of the Dutch squadron, the two ships of the line Pluto and Revolutie, had sailed westwards towards the port of Griessie, Rear-Admiral Hartsinck seeking to divide his forces in preparation for the coming British attack to prevent their complete destruction.


Capture of the Maria Riggersbergen, Octr. 18th. 1806 (PAD5765)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109916.html#okAsiYjbbiWtogbx.99

Pellew sailed from Madras in the early autumn of 1806, expecting the full Dutch squadron to be present and preparing accordingly with the ship of the line HMS Culloden under Captain Christopher Cole as his flagship, accompanied by HMS Powerful under Captain Robert Plampin, HMS Russell under Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield and HMS Belliqueux under Captain George Byng. The ships of the line were accompanied by the frigate HMS Terpsichore under Captain Fleetwood Pellew, Admiral Pellew's son, as well as the brig HMS Seaflower under Lieutenant William Fitzwilliam Owen.

Pellew's attack
By 23 November, Pellew's squadron was approaching the Sunda Strait from the southwest when he encountered the British frigate HMS Sir Francis Drake, which he attached to his force. Three days later, the squadron passed the port of Bantam and seized the Dutch East India Company brig Maria Wilhelmina, continuing on to Batavia during the night. At the approaches to the port, the squadron separated, with the frigates and brig passing between Onrust Island and the shore while the ships of the line took a longer route through deeper water. Although Terpsichore was able to surprise and capture the corvette William near Onrust Island, the main body of the squadron was spotted by Dutch lookouts from a distance, who initially mistook the approaching vessels for a French squadron. The Dutch officers, led by Captain Vander Sande on the frigate Phoenix, decided that resistance against such a large British squadron was useless: the only warships remaining in the harbour were the Phoenix and six small armed ships, none of which could contend with the approaching British force. In an effort to dissuade the British from pressing their attack, the Dutch captains all drove their vessels ashore, joined by the 22 merchant vessels that were anchored in the harbour.


Captain Fleetwood Pellew commanding H.M. Ship Terpsichore against Dutch vessels in Batavia Roads 24 Nov. 1806. Drawn at Madras, May 1807 (PAF3592)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/127727.html#Odu7e7kU4CgYtAQQ.99

Determined to prevent the Dutch from refloating the grounded ships, Admiral Pellew ordered landing parties to assemble in the boats of his squadron alongside Terpsichore. From there, under distant covering fire from the British frigates, Fleetwood Pellew led the boats against Phoenix, coming under fire from the grounded vessels and gun batteries ashore. Passing through the bombardment from the shoreline, Pellew's men boarded Phoenix to find that the Dutch crew had just abandoned the vessel, scuttling the frigate as they departed. Although now useless as a ship, Phoenix's guns were turned on the other beached vessels to cover the British boats as they spread out to board and burn them. This operation was followed by the destruction of 20 grounded merchant ships in the harbour, although two others were successfully refloated and captured.[9] In a final act before withdrawing to the squadron offshore, Captain Pellew set fire to the wreck of Phoenix, burning the ship to the waterline. The entire operation was conducted under heavy fire from the shore, but British casualties were only one Royal Marine killed and three men wounded.

Without sufficient troops to attempt a landing at Batavia itself, Admiral Pellew withdrew from the harbour. Preparing his prizes for the return to Madras, he ordered all prisoners taken from the captured and burnt ships returned to shore under condition of parole. The captured William was found to be in such a poor state of repair that it was not worth keeping the corvette and Admiral Pellew ordered the ship burnt, noting in his official report that Lieutenant Owen, who as senior lieutenant would otherwise have been placed in command, should be recompensed with another command as reward for his services in the engagement. With his preparations complete, Pellew then ordered his squadron to disperse, Culloden sailing to Malacca.

Aftermath
The British raid on Batavia had destroyed 28 vessels. In addition to Phoenix, William and the merchant ships, Pellew's squadron had burnt the 18-gun brigs Aventurier and Patriot, the 14-gun Zee-Ploeg, the 10-gun Arnistein, the 8-gun Johanna Suzanna and the 6-gun Snelheid. Just three ships were captured: two merchant vessels and Maria Wilhelmina. The elimination of the smaller vessels of the Dutch squadron was an important victory for Pellew, leaving only the larger ships of the line at large. These ships were old and in poor condition, limiting the threat they posed to British trade routes. Nevertheless, Pellew returned to the Java Sea in 1807 in search of the warships, destroying them at the Raid on Griessie in November, a year after the success at Batavia. A lack of resources in the region and the threat posed by the French Indian Ocean island bases delayed larger scale British operations against the East Indies until 1810, when a series of invasions rapidly eliminated the remaining Dutch presence in the Pacific.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Batavia_(1806)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1812 - HMS Southampton (1757 - 32) wrecked on reef of rocks, off Conception Island


HMS Southampton was 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.

Class and type: Southampton-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 671 64⁄94 bm
Length:

• 124 ft 4 in (37.90 m) (gundeck)
• 103 ft 1 in (31.42 m) (keel)

Beam: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 1 in (3.68 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 210 officers and men
Armament:

• Upperdeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
• QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns
• Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Lines & Profile (ZAZ3069)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82860.html#zXbAP7L5Qlq5HxU4.99

In 1772, Southampton – at the time commanded by the capable John MacBride, destined for a distinguished naval career – was sent to Elsinore, Denmark, to take on board and convey to exile in Germany the British Princess Caroline Matilda, George III's sister, who had been deposed from her position as Queen of Denmark due to her affair with the social reformer Johan Struensee.

On 3 August 1780, Southampton captured the French privateer lugger Comte de Maurepas, of 12 guns and 80 men, under the command of Joseph Le Cluck. She had on board Mr. Andrew Stuart, Surgeon's Mate of HMS Speedwell, "as a ransomer." She had suffered shot holes between wind and water and sank shortly thereafter. Southampton shared the head money award with Buffalo, Thetis, and Alarm.


'George III in HMS Southampton reviewing the fleet off Plymouth, 18 August 1789'. The Carnatic is shown just right of the centre of the picture, heading the line of ships being reviewed.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11952.html#7l1ZP0ERfHlklPhD.99

On 10 June 1796, Southampton captured the French corvette Utile at Hyères Roads, by boarding. Utile was armed with twenty-four 6-pounder guns and was under the protection of a battery. She had a crew of 136 men under the command of Citizen François Veza. The French put up a resistance during which they suffered eight killed, including Veza, and 17 wounded; Southampton had one man killed. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Utile. Gorgon, Courageux, and the hired armedcutter Fox were in company at the time, and with the British fleet outside Toulon. They shared with Southampton in the proceeds of the capture, as did Barfleur, Bombay Castle, Egmont, and St George.


Scale: 1:24. Plan showing the elevation and plan for the steering apparatus as fitted to Southampton (1757), a 32-gun Fifth Rate Frigate; to an invention of Captain Lawson (Seniority, 21 October 1810, no ship assigned [Steel's Navy List, March 1811]). Signed Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, March 1803 - January 1823].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/86485.html#uWCg8wDKdqicCQOL.99

Lloyd's List reported that she and the sloop Brazen had run aground and lost their masts on the coast of Mississippi during a great hurricane on 19 and 20 August 1812, but that the crews were saved. Neither vessel was lost though.

On 22 November, Southampton, under the command of Captain James Lucas Yeo, captured the American brig USS Vixen. Vixen was armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and two 9-pounder bow chasers, and had a crew of 130 men under the command of Captain George Reed. She had been out five weeks but had not captured anything.

Fate
A strong westerly current wrecked Southampton and Vixen on an uncharted submerged rock off Conception Island in the Crooked Island Passage of the Bahamas on 27 November. No lives were lost.


deck Signed by John Henslow [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1775-1784; Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 256 states that 'Southampton' was at Plymouth Dockyard from October to December 1776 for small repairs and to be fitted. Her only other visit to Plymouth Dockyard is in 1794, by which time John Henslow was Surveyor of the Navy.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82861.html#YIjb3fZEy3qPkxIg.99


The Southampton-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were the first 'true' fifth-rate frigates produced to the new single-deck concept (that is, without any gunports on the lower deck). They were, however, designed with sweep ports (for rowing) along the lower deck.

Unlike the contemporary sixth-rate frigates of 28 guns, which were derived from French designs by Slade, the Southampton class were fully British-designed. Unlike the French models, these ships had considerably more height on the lower deck, and were originally intended to work their cables here.

A total of four ships were built in oak during the Seven Years’ War, all ordered from private shipyards. The initial design was approved on 12 March 1756, and provided for a ship of 648 37/94 tons burthen, and the contract with Robert Inwood to build the prototype reflected this. On 25 May the design was modified by Slade to lengthen the ship on the lower deck by 3 inches, and along the keel by 10½ inches, thus raising the tonnage to 652 51/94 burthen; on the same date, the name Southampton was approved for the prototype, and two further ships were ordered to be built to this design, with a fourth vessel being ordered one week later.

Ships in class

• HMS Southampton
  • Ordered: 12 March 1756
  • Built by: Robert Inwood, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: April 1756
  • Launched: 5 May 1757
  • Completed: 19 June 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Wrecked in the Bahamas on 27 November 1812.
• HMS Minerva
  • Ordered: 25 May 1756
  • Built by: John Quallet, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 1 June 1756
  • Launched: 17 January 1759
  • Completed: 3 March 1759 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Captured by the French on 22 August 1778. Retaken on 4 January 1781 and renamed Recovery 20 April 1781. Sold at Deptford Dockyard 30 December 1784.

HMS Minerva was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759 and served through the Seven Years' War, but was captured in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War and served as the French Minerve until being recaptured in 1781 and renamed HMS Recovery. She was broken up in 1784.

• HMS Vestal
  • Ordered: 25 May 1756
  • Built by: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich.
  • Keel laid: June 1756
  • Launched: 17 June 1757
  • Completed: 17 August 1757 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in June 1775.
• HMS Diana
  • Ordered: 1 June 1756
  • Built by: Robert Batson, Limehouse.
  • Keel laid: June 1756
  • Launched: 30 August 1757
  • Completed: 12 September 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold at Deptford Dockyard on 16 May 1793.

HMS Diana was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757. In 1760, at the Battle of Neuville she and HMS Vanguard pursued and sank two French frigates, Atlante, commanded by Jean Vauquelin, and Pomone; Diana took on board the important prisoners. Later, she served through the American Revolutionary War.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Southampton_(1757)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-349412;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1940 – World War II: At the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Royal Navy engages the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean Sea.


The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina on 27 November 1940.


Italian cruiser Bolzano, during the battle of Capo Teulada

Origins
On the night of 11 November 1940, the British incapacitated or destroyed half of the Italian fleet's battleships in a daring aerial assault as they lay at rest at Taranto. Until then, the Italians had left their capital ships in harbour, hoping its mere presence as a fleet in being would deter British shipping through the area, though they would not decline battle if given the opportunity.

Six days later, on the night of 17 November, an Italian force consisting of two battleships (Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare) and a number of supporting units attempted to intercept two British aircraft carriers, HMS Ark Royal and Argus and their cruiser escorts, who were en route to Malta in an attempt to provide planes to reinforce that island's defenses (Operation White). The British were warned of their approach and immediately turned about and returned to Gibraltar, launching their aircraft (two Blackburn Skuas and 12 Hawker Hurricanes) prematurely. One Skua and eight Hurricanes were lost at sea, as they ran out of fuel well before arriving at their destination, with the loss of seven airmen.

The Italians' success in disrupting the reinforcement of Malta cast serious doubt upon British plans to send a further convoy to supply the island (Operation Collar). However, the convoy was attempted, with increased support, including ships from Gibraltar-based Force H and Force D out of Alexandria. The convoy was spotted by the Italian intelligence service, and once again the Italian fleet sailed out to intercept it. The first Italian naval unit to make visual contact with the convoy was the torpedo boat Sirio on the night of 26 November. After launching two torpedoes from long range, which missed their target, Sirio reported seven enemy warships heading to the east.

Order of Battle
Regia Marina

• Admiral Angelo Iachino
  • 6 heavy cruisers: Bolzano, Fiume, Gorizia, Pola, Trieste (slightly damaged), Trento.
  • 7 destroyers: Ascari, Carabiniere, Lanciere (damaged), Oriani, Alfieri, Carducci, Gioberti
• Admiral Inigo Campioni
  • 2 battleships: Vittorio Veneto, Giulio Cesare
  • 7 destroyers: Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, Granatiere, Dardo, Freccia, Saetta

Royal Navy

• Admiral Lancelot Holland Force F
  • 1 heavy cruiser: Berwick (damaged)
  • 4 light cruisers: Manchester (slightly damaged), Newcastle, Sheffield, Southampton
• Admiral Sir James Somerville Force B
  • 1 battleship: Ramillies
  • 1 battlecruiser: Renown
  • 9 destroyers: Encounter, Faulknor, Firedrake, Forester, Fury, Gallant, Greyhound, Griffin, Hereward
• not entered in battle
  • 1 aircraft carrier: Ark Royal (carrying 12 fighters, 12 dive bombers, 30 torpedo planes)
  • 2 destroyers: Jaguar, Kelvin
• escort and convoy
  • 1 anti-aircraft cruiser: Coventry
  • 1 light cruiser: Despatch
  • 3 destroyers: Duncan, Hotspur, Wishart
  • 4 corvettes: Gloxinia, Hyacinth, Peony, Salvia
  • 4 freighters including Clan Forbes, Clan Fraser, New Zealand Star

British heavy cruiser HMS BERWICK at a buoy in the Hamoaze.

Battle
The British, aware of the Italian fleet's movements, sent their forces north to intercept them before they could come anywhere near the cargo ships. At 09:45 on 27 November, an IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance floatplane from the heavy cruiser Bolzano discovered a British squadron steaming to the east, 17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi) north of Chetaïbi.

Shortly after, at 9:56, Somerville received the report of his own aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal about the presence of five cruisers and five destroyers, and assumed that these were Italian units closing for battle. Force D had not yet arrived from Alexandria and the British were outgunned, but 15 minutes later, Force D was spotted and the tables turned. The two forces were fairly even; although the Italian ships possessed both longer-ranged and larger guns, the British had an aircraft carrier, which had shown several advantages over the battleship at Taranto. However, the Italian admiral Inigo Campioni had been given orders to avoid combat unless it was heavily in his favour, so a decisive battle was out of the question.


Bombs falling astern of HMS Ark Royal (91) during an attack by Italian aircraft during the Battle of Cape Spartivento The photograph was taken from the cruiser HMS Sheffield (C24).

Admiral Somerville deployed his forces into two main groups, with five cruisers under Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland in front and two battleships and seven destroyers in a second group following to the south. Meanwhile, and even further to the south, Ark Royal was preparing to launch its complement of Fairey Swordfish. The Italians had organized their fleet into three groups, two composed of the six heavy cruisers and seven of the destroyers and a third group of the two battleships and another seven escorting destroyers bringing up the rear. At 12:07, after a report received from the cruiser Gorizia's floatplane, Campioni realized the closeness in strengths of the two forces and in accordance with his orders commanded the cruiser groups to re-form on the battleships and prepare to depart. However, by this point, the lead cruiser formation had already angled toward the British and was beginning to engage them in battle.


Blackburn Skuas and Fairey Swordfish aircraft landing on the deck of HMS ARK ROYAL after attacking the Italian Fleet during the action off Sardinia. Photograph taken from HMS KELVIN. One Italian cruiser and two Italian destroyers were damaged in this action.

At 12:22, the lead groups of both cruiser forces came into range and Fiume opened fire at 23,500 metres (25,700 yd). Rapid fire between the two forces continued as the distance between them closed, but as the range shortened Italian firepower began to put pressure on the outgunned British. The arrival of the battleship HMS Ramillies on the British side helped to even the odds, but she was too slow to maintain formation and dropped out of battle after a few salvoes at 12:26. Four minutes later, Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the Italian cruiser group, received orders to disengage, although the battle had swung slightly in their favour. Iachino ordered an increase in speed to 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph), laid smoke and started to withdraw.

At this time, the Italian destroyer Lanciere was hit by a broadside from HMS Manchester and seriously damaged, although she was towed to port after the battle. The heavy cruiser HMS Berwick was hit at 12:22 by a single 203 mm (8 in) shell, which knocked out her "Y" turret, killed seven men, wounded nine others and ignited a fire that took an hour to subdue. A second hit at 12:35 destroyed the after breaker (electrical switchboard) room and cut power to the ship's aft section, including the remaining aft turret. Most sources believe that the first hit was scored by an Italian heavy cruiser from the 1º Cruiser Division, either from Fiume or Pola, while the second round came from the 3º Cruiser Division, either from Trieste or Trento, at the time the only Italian warships within range.


HMS SOUTHAMPTON firing during the fleet action off Sardinia. The flash of the guns can be seen, as can the splashes of the enemy shells seen falling short and astern. Photograph taken from HMS SHEFFIELD. One Italian cruiser and two Italian destroyers were damaged in this action. Comment : this was the Battle of Cape Spartivento.

For the next few minutes, the tables turned in favour of the British when the battlecruiser HMS Renown closed the distance on the Italian cruisers, and straddled Trieste with two salvoes. The Italian cruiser was hit by splinters. This advantage was soon negated, however, when at 13:00, Vittorio Veneto opened fire from 27,000 metres (30,000 yd). Vittorio Veneto fired 19 rounds in seven salvoes from long range and that was enough for the now outgunned British cruisers, which turned back at the fourth salvo. In fact, as giant water-spouts erupted around Berwick and Manchester, Holland ordered smoke, and his ships fled southeast to close with Renown. Manchester was holed by splinters from Vittorio Veneto's rounds. Both forces withdrew, the battle lasting a total of 54 minutes and causing little damage to either side.

After the battle, Winston Churchill demanded Somerville's scalp, having questioned the admiral's offensive spirit ever since his objections to attacking the French at Mers-el-Kébir. However, a board of inquiry exonerated Somerville, who enjoyed the strong support of several fellow admirals. As for Campioni, although he had a mandate to be conservative, he had presided over the loss of Italy's best opportunity to deal the British a sharp setback in a fleet action. His days of command at sea were numbered. As Iachino remarked, "the use of these ships, which constituted at that moment nearly all of our fleet's effective units after the blow at Taranto, was decided by Supermarina mainly for reasons of morale, and to demonstrate that our combative spirit remained intact."

Popular culture
The battle features in the 1941 Italian film The White Ship directed by Roberto Rossellini.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Spartivento
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Berwick_(65)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 November 1942 – World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.


Scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon
The French fleet at Toulon was scuttled on 27 November 1942 to avoid capture by Nazi German forces.

The Allied invasion of North Africa had provoked the Germans into invading the ‘Free Zone’ (Vichy France), officially neutral according to the 1940 Armistice. Vichy Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Darlan, defected to join De Gaulle and the Free French, who were gaining increasing support from both servicemen and civilians. His replacement, Admiral Auphan, guessed correctly that the Germans were aiming to seize the large fleet at Toulon, and issued orders for scuttling these vessels.

The Germans launched a heavy assault, but the naval crews used deception tactics to delay the enemy until scuttling could be carried out. The German operation was judged a failure, with the capture of 39 small ships, while the French destroyed 77 vessels, and several submarines escaped to French North Africa. It marked the end of Vichy France as a credible power.


The scuttled French fleet at Toulon: aerial pictures. On 28 November 1942, the day after the scuttling and firing of the ships of the French fleet in Toulon harbour, photographs were taken by the Royal Air Force. Many of the vessels were still burning so that smoke and shadows obscure part of the scene. But the photographs show, besides the burning cruisers, ship after ship of the contre-torpilleurs and destroyer classes lying capsized or sunk, testifying to the thoroughness with which the French seamen carried out their bitter task. While the vast damage done is shown in these photographs, no exact list of the state of the ships can be drawn up, since the ships themselves cannot be seen in an aerial photograph. Thus the upper deck of the battle cruiser Strasbourg is not submerged, but here are signs that the vessel has settled and is grounded. The key plan C.3296 shows the whereabouts of the majority of the ships and their condition as far as it can be seen from the photographs. Picture shows: damaged and sunk light cruisers and destroyers visible through the shadow and the smoke caused by the burning cruisers. left is the Strasbourg (bridge above the water but clearly sunk) next to her, burning, is the Colbert under the smoke, the Algérie to the right, the Marseillaise.

Context
After the Fall of France and the Armistice of 1940, France was divided in two zones, one occupied by the Germans, and the "Free Zone". Officially, both zones were administered by the Vichy regime. The armistice stipulated that the French fleet would be largely disarmed and confined to its harbours, under French control. The Allies were concerned that the fleet, which included some of the most advanced warships of the time, might fall into enemy hands and so the British attacked the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir on 3 July 1940 and at the Battle of Dakar on 23 September 1940.

On 8 November 1942 the Allies invaded French North Africa (Operation Torch). It may be that General Dwight Eisenhower, with the support of President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, made a secret agreement with Admiral François Darlan, commander of Vichy Naval forces, that Darlan would be given control of French North Africa if he joined the Allied side. An alternative view is that Darlan was an opportunist and simply switched sides for self-advancement, thus becoming titular controller of French North Africa. Following the Allied invasion of French North Africa, Adolf Hitler immediately triggered Case Anton, the occupation of Vichy France, and reinforced German forces in Africa.

Prelude
Political aspect
From 11 November 1942 negotiations took place between Germany and Vichy France. The settlement was that Toulon should remain a "stronghold" under Vichy control and defended against the Allies and "French enemies of the government of the Marechal". Großadmiral Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine, believed that French Navy officers would fulfill their armistice duty not to let the ships fall in the hands of any foreign nation. Raeder was led to believe that the German aim was to use anti-British sentiment amongst the French sailors to have them side with the Italians, while Hitler was in fact preparing a forcible seizure of the fleet. Hitler's plan was to have German sailors capture the French ships and turn them over to Italy; German officers privy to this plan were critical of it, but their objections were ignored. Orders to implement the plan were given on 19 November.

On 11 November, as German and Italian troops encircled Toulon, the Vichy Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Auphan, ordered Admiral Jean de Laborde and Admiral André Marquis to:

1. Oppose, without spilling of blood, the entry of foreign troops in any of the establishments, airbases and buildings of the Navy;
2. Similarly oppose entry of foreign troops aboard ships of the Fleet; find settlements by means of local negotiation; and
3. If the former proved impossible, to scuttle the ships.

Initial orders were to scuttle the ships by capsizing them, but engineers, thinking of recovering the ships after the war, managed to have the orders changed to sinking on an even keel.

On 15 November, Laborde met with Marshal Pétain and Auphan. In private, Auphan tried to persuade Laborde to set sail and join with the Allies; Laborde refused to obey anything short of a formal order of the government. Auphan resigned shortly after.

Technical and tactical aspect
On the French side, as a token of goodwill towards the Germans, coastal defences were strengthened to safeguard Toulon from an attack from the sea by the Allies. These preparations included setups for scuttling the fleet, in case of a successful landing by the Allies. French forces were commanded by Admiral Jean de Laborde (chief of the "High sea fleet", composed of the 38 most modern and powerful warships) and Admiral André Marquis (préfet maritime, commanding a total of 135 ships, either in armistice custody or under repairs).

Under armistice provisions, the French ships were supposed to have their fuel tanks almost empty; in fact, through falsification of reports and tampering with gauges, the crews had managed to store enough fuel to reach North Africa. One of the cruisers, Jean de Vienne, was in drydock, helpless. After the remnants of the French Army were required by the Germans to disband, French sailors had to man coastal defense artillery and anti-aircraft guns themselves, which made it impossible to swiftly gather the crews and have the ships quickly under way.

Crews were initially hostile to the Allied invasion but, out of the general anti-German sentiment and as rumours about Darlan's defection circulated, this stance evolved towards backing of De Gaulle. The crews of Strasbourg, Colbert, Foch and Kersaint, notably, started chanting "Vive De Gaulle! Appareillage!" ("Long live De Gaulle! Set sail!"). In the afternoon of 12 November, Admiral Darlan further escalated the tension by calling for the fleet to defect and join the Allies.

Vichy military authorities lived in fear of a coup de main organised by the British or by the Free French. The population of Toulon was in the main favourable to the Allies; the soldiers and officers were hostile to the Italians, seen as "illegitimate victors" and duplicitous, and defiant of the Germans. The fate of the fleet, in particular, was seen to be doubtful. Between the 11th and the 26th, numerous arrests and expulsions took place. The French admirals, Laborde and Marquis, ordered their subordinates to take a pledge of allegiance to the regime (two of the senior officers, Humbertand and capitaine de vaisseau Pothuau, refused). The crews were first kept aboard their ships, and when they were allowed ashore the Service d'ordre légionnaire monitored all places suspected to be targeted by the Resistance.

Operation Lila
The objective of Operation Lila was to capture the units of the French fleet at Toulon intact, and was carried out by the 7th Panzer Division, augmented with units from other divisions. Four combat groups including two armoured groups and a motorcycle battalion from 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich were entrusted with the mission. To prevent the French naval units scuttling themselves, Marinedetachment Gumprich was assigned to one of the groups.

The Operation was initiated by the Germans on 19 November 1942, to be completed by 27 November. German forces were to enter Toulon from the east, capturing Fort Lamalgue, headquarters of Admiral Marquis and Mourillon arsenal; and from the west, capturing the main arsenal and the coastal defenses. German naval forces were cruising off the harbor to engage any ships attempting to flee, and laid naval mines.

The combat groups entered Toulon at 04:00 on 27 November and made for the harbour, meeting only weak and sporadic resistance. At 04:30 the Germans entered Fort Lamalgue and arrested Marquis, but failed to prevent his chief-of-staff, Contre-Admiral Robin, from calling the chief of the arsenal, Contre-Admiral Dornon. The attack came as a complete surprise to the Vichy officers, but Dornon transmitted the order to scuttle the fleet to Admiral Laborde aboard the flagship Strasbourg. Laborde was taken aback by the German operation, but transmitted orders to prepare for scuttling, and to fire on any unauthorised personnel approaching the ships.

Twenty minutes later, German troops entered the arsenal and started machine-gunning the French submarines. Some of the submarines set sail to scuttle in deeper water. Casabianca left her moorings, sneaked out of the harbour and dived at 5:40am, escaping to Algiers.

The German main force got lost in the arsenal and was behind schedule by one hour; when they reached the main gates of the base, the sentries pretended to need paperwork so as to delay the Germans without engaging in an open fight. At 5:25am, German tanks finally rolled through, and Strasbourg immediately transmitted the order "Scuttle! Scuttle! Scuttle!" by radio, visual signals and dispatch boat. French crews evacuated, and scuttling parties started preparing demolition charges and opening sea valves on the ships.

At 6:45am fighting broke out around Strasbourg and Foch, killing a French officer and wounding five sailors. When naval guns started engaging the German tanks, the Germans attempted to negotiate; a German officer demanded that Laborde surrender his ship, to which the admiral answered that the ship was already sunk.

As Strasbourg settled on the bottom, her captain ordered the ignition of the demolition charges, which destroyed the armament and vital machinery, as well as igniting her fuel stores. Strasbourg was a total loss. A few minutes later the cruiser Colbert exploded.

The German party attempting to board the cruiser Algérie heard the explosions and tried to persuade her crew that scuttling was forbidden under the armistice provisions. However, the demolition charges were detonated, and the ship burned for twenty days.


The stern of the cruiser Marseillaise.

Meanwhile, the captain of the cruiser Marseillaise ordered his ship capsized and demolition charges set. German troops requested permission to come aboard; when this was denied, they did not attempt to board. The ship sank and exploded, burning for seven days.

German troops forcibly boarded the cruiser Dupleix, put her crew out of the way, and closed her open sea valves. The ship's captain, capitaine de vaisseau Moreau, ordered the scuttling charges in the main turrets to be lit with shortened fuses and when they exploded and fires took hold, Moreau ordered the final evacuation. French and Germans alike fled the vessel. s from the ship's torpedo stores destroyed the vessel, which burned for ten days.


German Panzertruppen watch a burning French warship, probably the cruiser Colbert.

The cruiser Jean de Vienne, in drydock, was boarded by German troops, who disarmed the demolition charges, but the open sea valves flooded the ship. She sank, blocking the drydock. In another drydock, the captain of the damaged battleship Dunkerque, which had been heavily damaged by the British in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, at first refused orders to scuttle, but was persuaded by his colleague in the nearby cruiser La Galissonnière to follow suit. The crew opened the holes caused by British torpedo attacks to sink the ship, and demolition charges destroyed her vital machinery. As Dunkerque exploded, La Galissonnière reproduced the manoeuvre executed by Jean de Vienne.

Officers of the battleship Provence and the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste managed to delay German officers with small talk until their ships were completely sunk.

Similar scenes occurred with the destroyers and submarines. The Germans eventually seized three disarmed destroyers, four badly damaged submarines, three civilian ships, and the remains of two battleships of no value, the semi-dreadnought Condorcet and the disarmed former Jean Bart, renamed Océan in 1936.

Aftermath
Operation Lila was a failure. The French destroyed 77 vessels, including three battleships, seven cruisers, 15 destroyers, 13 torpedo boats, six sloops, 12 submarines, nine patrol boats, 19 auxiliary ships, one school ship, 28 tugs and four cranes. Thirty-nine small ships were captured, most of them sabotaged and disarmed. Some of the major ships were ablaze for several days, and oil polluted the harbour so badly that it would not be possible to swim there for two years.

Several submarines ignored orders to scuttle and chose to defect to French North Africa: Casabianca and Marsouin reached Algiers, Glorieux reached Oran. Iris reached Barcelona. Vénus was scuttled in the entrance of Toulon harbour. One surface ship, Leonor Fresnel, managed to escape and reach Algiers.

General Charles de Gaulle heavily criticised the Vichy admirals for not ordering the fleet to flee to Algiers. The Vichy regime lost its last token of power, as well as its credibility with the Germans, with the fleet. While the German Naval War Staff were disappointed, Adolf Hitler considered that the elimination of the French fleet sealed the success of Case Anton. The destruction of the fleet also denied it to Charles de Gaulle and the Free French Navy.

Most of the cruisers were salvaged by the Italians, either to restore them as fighting ships or for scrap. The cruisers Jean de Vienne and La Galissonnière were renamed FR11 and FR12, respectively, but their repair was prevented by Allied bombing and their use would have been unlikely, given the Italians' chronic shortage of fuel. Even the light destroyer Le Hardi (renamed FR37) and another four of the same class as Le Hardi were salvaged: FR32 (ex-Corsaire), FR33 (ex-Epée), FR34 (ex-Lansquenet), FR35 (ex-Fleuret).

The main guns from the scuttled battleship Provence were later removed and used in a former French turret battery at Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, guarding the approaches to Toulon, to replace original fortress guns, sabotaged by their French crews. Mounting four 340 mm (13 in) guns, in 1944 this fortification duelled with numerous Allied battleships for over a week before being silenced during Operation Dragoon.

Ships sunk


Positions of the main ships during the operation

Battleships
Strasbourg (flagship), Dunkerque, Provence

Seaplane tender
Commandant Teste

Heavy cruisers
Dupleix, Foch, Algérie, Colbert

Light cruisers
Marseillaise, Jean de Vienne, La Galissonnière

Destroyers
Cassard, Aigle, Gerfaut, Lion, Lynx, L'Indomptable, Mogador, Panthère, Tigre, Kersaint, Tartu, Valmy, Vauban, Vauquelin, Vautour, Guépard, Le Hardi

Torpedo-boats
Casque, Bordelais, Bison, Bayonnaise, Foudroyant, Trombe, Siroco, Poursuivante, Mars, Palme, Cyclone, Mameluk

Submarines
Redoutable, Eurydice, Diamant, Thétis, Sirène, Vénus, Vengeur, Naïade, Pascal, Espoir, Achéron, Fresnel, Caïman, Henri Poincaré, Galatée

Sloops
Épargne, D'Iberville, Chamois, Yser, Impétueuse, Curieuse, Granit, Dédaigneuse



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 27 November


1718 – Launch of Spanish Cambi, 60/66 at Sant Feliú de Guíxols - Burnt 1725


1770 - Horatio Nelson entered as midshipman in HMS Raisonnable.

For clarification, it should be explained that Nelson’s role would have been as a ‘Midshipman in Ordinary’; for although the ship had her quota of Midshipmen aboard, and there was no room for the young Horatio aboard in an official role, the captain was entitled to have up to a dozen servants. For that reason, they often took boys of friends, family and anyone else they owed a favour to or were doing a favour for, aboard as Midshipmen-in-Ordinary.



The boys in this role were on the ships books as Captains` Servants, rated and paid as Able Seamen, but wore the uniform and did the job of a Midshipman proper, that is to assist a Lieutenant in his day-to-day duties. They also lived in the Midshipmen’s quarters, which was in the cockpit, located on the ships Orlop level. They would have continued in this role for two years until they gained two years sea service at which point the Admiralty would have appointed them as Midshipmen proper, enabling them to transfer (or be transferred) between ships in order to gain experience and to further their careers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson,_1st_Viscount_Nelson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Raisonnable_(1768)


1787 – Launch of Spanish San Leandro, 64 at Ferrol - Stricken 1813


1807 - Boats of HMS Porcupine (1807 - 22), Cptn. Hon. Henry Duncan, took two small vessels at Ragusa.

HMS Porcupine was a Royal Navy Banterer-class post ship of 24 guns, launched in 1807. She served extensively and relatively independently in the Adriatic and the Western Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars, with her boats performing many cutting out expeditions, one of which earned for her crew the Naval General Service Medal. She was sold for breaking up in 1816 but instead became the mercantile Windsor Castle. She was finally sold for breaking up in 1826 at Mauritius.

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


1809 - HMS Chiffonne (1799 - 36), Cptn. John Wainwright, burnt pirate vessels at Luft, Persian Gulf.

Chiffonne was a 38-gun Heureuse-class frigate of the French Navy. She was built at Nantes and launched in 1799. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1801. In 1809 she participated in a campaign against pirates in the Persian Gulf. She was sold for breaking up in 1814.

Class and type: Heureuse-class frigate
Length:

• 144 ft 1 in (43.92 m) (overall);
• 120 ft 6 1⁄4 in (36.735 m) (keel)

Beam: 37 ft 11 in (11.56 m)
Draught: 5.8 m (19 ft)
Complement: French service: 250 men
Armament:

• French service:
• UD: 28 × 12-pounder guns
• QD: 8 × 8-pounder guns and 4 × 36-pounder carronades
• Fc: 4 × 8-pounder guns
• British service:
• UD:26 × 12-pounder guns
• QD: 9 × 9-pounder guns
• Fc: 12 × 32-pounder carronades

Then in November, she and Caroline, together with a number of East Indiamen, participated in the campaign to eradicate piracy in the Persian Gulf, centered on Ras al-Khaimah. In an attack the British began with a cannonade of the town and followed with a ground attack. The destroyed about some vessels, 30 of them very large dhows, together with much in the way of naval stores. Chiffonne's casualties amounted to two men wounded. She and Caroline destroyed the Persian towns of Linga and Laft on Qeshm Island. Chiffone also destroyed 20 vessels, nine of them large dhows at Linga and eleven, nine of them large dhows, at Laft. This time the resistance on shore was more intense and Chiffone lost one man killed and 17 wounded out of total British casualties (including men from the East India Company's vessels), of two killed and 27 wounded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Chiffone_(1799)


1811 - HMS Eagle (1804 - 74), Cptn. Charles Rowley, captured French frigate Corceyre (28) near Brindisi. Her companions, the frigate Uranie and brig Scemoplone escaped.

HMS Eagle was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 February 1804 at Northfleet.

Class and type: Repulse-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1923 (bm)
Length: 174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold: 20 ft (6.1 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

• Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
• Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
• Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Sceptre' (1802), 'Repulse' (1803) and 'Eagle' (1804), and with modifications for 'Belleisle' (1819), 'Malabar' (1818) and 'Talavera' (1818), all 74-gun, Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793 to 1813].

On 11 November 1804, Glatton, together with Eagle, Majestic, Princess of Orange, Raisonable, Africiane, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, shared in the capture of the Upstalsboom, H.L. De Haase, Master

In 1830 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and became a training ship in 1860. She was renamed HMS Eaglet in 1919, when she was the Royal Naval Reserve training centre for North West England. A fire destroyed Eagle in 1926.

The Repulse-class ships of the line were a class of eleven 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Rule. The first three ships to this design were ordered in 1800, with a second batch of five following in 1805. The final three ships of the class were ordered towards the end of the Napoleonic War to a modified version of Rule's draught, using the new constructional system created by Sir Robert Seppings; all three were completed after the war's end.

Repulse class (Rule) – Talavera structurally different

• Repulse 74 (1803) – broken up 1820
• Eagle 74 (1804) – cut down as 50-gun frigate 1831, hulked at Falmouth for the Coastguard 1857, training ship in Southampton Water 1860, to Liverpool 1862, Mersey Division RNVR 1910, renamed Eaglet 1918, burnt 1926, wreck sold for breaking 1927
• Sceptre 74 (1802) – broken up 1821
• Magnificent 74 (1806) – hulked as receiving ship Jamaica 1823, sold 1843
• Valiant 74 (1807) – broken up 1823
• Elizabeth 74 (1807) – broken up 1820
• Cumberland 74 (1807) – hulked as convict ship and coal deport Chatham, renamed Fortitude 1833, to Sheerness as coal deport by 1856, sold 1870
• Venerable 74 (1808) – hulked as church ship Portsmouth, broken up 1838
• Talavera 74 (1818) – timbered according to Seppings' principle using smaller timbers than usual. Accidentally burnt at Plymouth Oct 1840, then broken up
• Belleisle 74 (1819) – troopship 1841, hulked as hospital ship Sheerness 1854, lent to the seaman's hospital at Greenwich 1866–68, broken up 1872
• Malabar 74 (1818) – hulked as coal deport Portsmouth 1848, renamed Myrtle 1883, sold 1905

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_(1804)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-308906;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line


1943 – Launch of HMS Glory (R62)

HMS Glory (R62) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy laid down on 27 August 1942 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast.[1] She was launched on 27 November 1943 by Lady Cynthia Brooke, wife of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glory_(R62)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1627 – The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy has its greatest and last victory in the Battle of Oliwa


The naval Battle of Oliwa, also Battle of Oliva or Battle of Gdańsk Roadstead, took place on 28 November 1627 (N.S.) during the Polish–Swedish War slightly north of the port of Danzig (Gdańsk) near the village of Oliva (Oliwa). It was the largest naval battle fought by the Polish royal navy, and resulted in the defeat of a small Swedish squadron. The Poles slipped out of the Danzig harbor and captured the Swedish flagship and sank another vessel.


Zeitgenössische Druckgraphik von Philip Janssen, im Februar 1628 gefertigt

Background
The Swedes had a long tradition of seamanship and maintained a strong navy, and were able to land troops from the Swedish mainland at will along the south Baltic shore. They were also able to blockade Poland's ports, the most important of which was Danzig, maintaining a stranglehold on Polish trade. On 28 November 1627, a small, newly formed Polish fleet emerged from Danzig to engage the Swedish blockading squadron.



The battle
The Polish ships were more numerous: numbering ten in all, but were mostly small, and only four galleons had full combat value. The Polish vessels were commanded by Admiral Arend Dickmann in the galleon Sankt Georg (Święty Jerzy). The Swedish squadron numbered six vessels, under Nils Stiernsköld in his flagship the Tigern. The Polish vessels had a larger complement of marines on board than the Swedish ships, and this in large part determined the tactics employed in the action.

The Polish ships anchored off the Danzig roadstead, while the Swedish squadron sailed southwards from the Hel Peninsula. The Poles weighed anchor and suddenly rushed towards the Swedes squadron, much to their surprise.

The battle split into two main encounters. The Polish flagship Sankt Georg, supported by a smaller vessel, Meerweib (Panna Wodna), attacked the Swedish flagship Tigern. The Polish ships came alongside the Tigern, and Polish marines boarded, overwhelmed the Swedes and captured the vessel. Meanwhile, the Polish vice-admiral's ship, the small galleon Meerman (Wodnik) attacked the larger Solen ("The Sun"). The captain of the Solen blew his ship up rather than allowing it to be captured. The four surviving Swedish ships quickly headed towards the open sea and managed to escape pursuit. Both admirals were killed in the battle.

The Polish court used the victory to its maximum in its propaganda. A popular saying had it that on that day "the sun went down at noon", referring to the scuttling of one of the Swedish ships, the Solen. Gustavus received the news of this battle with some marks of impatience, and apparently little awareness of the difference between naval and land operations, he could not help expressing his surprise that a city of merchants should be able to dispute the sea with professional navy.


Ein Aquarell von Adolf Boy des Gefechtes vor der Weichselmündung

Ships of the Kingdom of Poland

• 1st Squadron
  • Ritter Sankt Georg (Rycerz Święty Jerzy) ("Knight St George") – galleon, 31 guns, 400t under the command of Johann Storch
  • Fliegender Hirsch (Latający Jeleń) ("Flying Deer") – galleon, 20 guns, 300t under the command of Ellert Appelman
  • Meerweib (Panna Wodna) ("Sea Virgo") – 12 guns, 160t under the command of Adolf von Arzen
  • Schwarzer Rabe (Czarny Kruk) ("Black Raven") – 16 guns, 260t under the command of Alexander Bley
  • Gelber Löwe (Żółty Lew) ("Yellow Lion") – 10 guns, 120t under the command of Hans Kizer
• 2nd Squadron
  • Meermann (Wodnik) ("Aquarius") – galleon, 17 guns, 200t under the command of Hermann Witte
  • König David (Król Dawid) ("King David") – galleon, 31 guns, 400t, under James Murray (known to the Poles as Jakub Mora)
  • Arche Noah (Arka Noego) ("Noah's Ark") – 16 guns, 180t under the command of Magnus Wesman
  • Weißer Löwe (Biały Lew) ("White Lion") – 8 guns, 200t under the command of Peter Böse
  • Feuerblase (Płomień) ("Fireblaze") – 18 guns, 240t

Ships of the Swedish King

• Tigern ("Tiger") – flagship, galleon, 22 guns, 320t – captured
• Solen ("Sun") – galleon, 38 guns, 300t – scuttled by her own crew
• Pelikanen ("Pelican") – galleon, 20 guns, 200t
• Månen ("Moon") – galleon, 26 guns, 300t
• Enhörningen ("Unicorn") – galleon, 18 guns, 240t
• Papegojan ("Parrot") – 16 guns, 180t

The following taken from the web-page of the polish Maritime museum
http://doabordazu.nmm.pl/en/bitwy-wystawa/

The Battle of Oliwa



The Battle of Oliwa (28 November 1627) was one of the episodes during the so-called war over the Vistula mouth, one of the encounters during dozens of years of the Polish-Swedish struggle from the first half of the 17th century. It was mainly caused by the expansive policy of Sweden which tried to transform the Baltic Sea into their own internal waters, and in consequence – to take control of all sea routes and the Baltic coastline with the most important ports and customs houses. In July 1626, after capturing Piława (Bałtijsk today in Kaliningrad Oblast) one of the main tasks for the Swedish army was to take control of the Vistula mouth. In order to force Gdańsk to give in, a group of Swedish warships began to bar access to the port from the Bay of Gdańsk. The Battle of Oliwa was an attempt to breach the blockage by the Polish fleet.

Comparing forces
From May 1627, 16 Swedish warships had been blocking the entrance to the port in Gdańsk but when autumn storms came, 10 of them sailed home. The remaining ones were to block Gdańsk till December. Perhaps, the Polish commanders knew about it and decided to make use of the significantly reduced forces. The first fire exchange which happened to be inaccurate, took place already on 26th of November; as a result the Polish warships sailed back to Wisłoujście and the Swedish ones sailed towards the Hel Peninsula where other warships of the squadron were stationed. During the night from 27th to 28th of November 1627, all Polish warships sailed outside the Wisłoujście Fortress and were divided into two squadrons – with five warships in each. The first squadron included the admiral’s warship „Knight St George” (later referred to as „St George”, "Be Virgo", “Flying Deer”, “Yellow Lion” and “Black Raven”; the second – “Aquarius” (vice-admiral’s warship), “King David”, “Noah’s Ark”, “Fireblaze” and “White Lion”. The swarm formation was employed as military tactics, IU. the warships of the squadron, like bees around their queen, grouped around the flagship.
The Swedish squadron included 6 warships: the admiral’s „Tigern”, vice-admiral's "Pelikanen", "The Sun", "The Moon", "Unicorn" and "The parrot".

The Course of the Battle:
About 6 in the morning on 28th November 1627, the Poles noticed the Swedish warships coming from the Hel Peninsula. The commander of the Polish fleet, the admiral Arend Dickmann fired the cannon as a signal to weigh anchor and set sail. „Kind David” was first to sail towards the Swedish warships. She was followed by „St George”. When „King David” recognized the Swedish admiral’s warship „Tigern”, she slowed down to make way for “St George” (the Polish admiral’s warship), “Flying Deer” and “Sea Virgo”. They were followed by warships of the second squadron: “Aquarius”, “Fireblaze” “Noah’s Ark”, and “White Lion”; despite the plan, „King David” did not join them.
The Polish warships employed the swarm tactics preparing to board the Swedish admiral’s warship which changed the course and tried to enter the open sea. To stop her, the captain of „Flying Deer” tried to bar her way. When the distance between the opposing admiral warships shortened, Dickmann ordered to fire 4 bow cannons at the Swedish warship. „Tigern” responded with fire hitting the bow of „St George”. After short cannon-fire exchange, the warships pressed against their sides and huge fire from small cannons and hand weapon began. During the fight, the Swedish admiral Stiernsköld was fatally injured.

The Polish musketeers continued accurate firing of the enemy warship, slaughtering the Swedish troops. The fighting continued because the Swedes put up fierce resistance, and direct fights with the use of firing weapon and cold steel took place. Then, as planned, „Sea Virgo” joined the battle coming towards to belligerent warships from their sterns, firing the muskets.
The Poles of „St George” attacked again and some of them managed to reach the board of “Tigern”. At the same time, „Flying Deer” fired a broadside at the Swedish warship. The Polish commander did not know that on board of the Swedish warship there were some Poles. Moreover, „Flying Deer” hit „Be Virgo”, positioned near the stern of “Tigern”, and entangled the bowsprit in her rigging. At that time, lieutenant Olofsson of „St George” burst into Stiernsköld cabin, accepted his capitulation and captured the warship.

Meanwhile, the Swedish „Pelikanen” approached the unprotected side of „St George”. The Polish troops quickly returned to their warship and after a while they fired a broadside at “Pelikanen”, which caused such big losses that the Swedish warship raised the white flag. However, when they caught favourable wind, they sailed away to the open sea. Then, Dickmann and the Polish seamen returned on board of „Mooch” to finish the battle. Unfortunately, when the admiral found himself on the stern of the Swedish warship, he was fatally shot in both legs.
When the first squadron was capturing „Mooch”, the second led by „Aquarius” was fighting with „The Sun”. After cannon and musket fire, the crews of warships attempted boarding. The Poles, however, were not able to board “Solen” so the vice-admiral, Witte ordered “King David” to attack the port side of the Swedish warship. „King David” failed to follow that order; she approached the same side where “Aquarius” boarded the warship and tried to fire at the Swedes from there. The commander of „White Lion” decided to help “Aquarius” and approach the Swedish warship.
During the manoeuvring of the Polish warships, the Poles were attacking from “Aquarius” and the Swedes from “Solen”. In order not to let „Solen” escape, the Polish seamen continued to destroy her rigging. The battle was interrupted by a huge explosion – the skipper of the Swedish warship threw a burning tar wreath into the gunpowder chamber. „Solen” was destroyed and quickly sank; 23 Poles died. Saved were only those who managed to jump on “Aquarius” – the Poles and 32 Swedes. 14 Swedes and 3 Poles were recovered from water by the crew of „White Lion” which at that time reached the site.

After scuttling of “Solen”, the other Swedish warships turned back towards the sea and set a course for Piława. A group of Polish warships gave chase, however, after some time, they returned to the roadstead.
The Swedish blockage of the Bay of Gdańsk was breached; however, the Battle of Oliwa did not have significant influence on the course of the Polish-Swedish conflict.

Bibliography:
Eugene Koczorowski, Oliwa 1627, Bellona Publishing House, Warsaw 2002.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Oliwa
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeschlacht_von_Oliwa
http://www.zaglowce.ow.pl/bitwy/oliwa/oliwa.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1758 - HMS Lichfield (1746 - 50), Cptn. Matthew Barton, went aground on the Barbary coast and the crew were enslaved until 1760


HMS Lichfield was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Harwich to the dimensions laid down in the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 26 June 1746. She was wrecked on the Barbary Coast of North Africa on 28 November 1758.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Lichfield (1746) and Colchester (1746), a 1741 Establishment, 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81596.html#ZXvVhXCFq97kDrwm.99

Class and type: 1741 proposals 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 97919⁄94 (bm)
Length :140 ft (42.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 40 ft (12.2 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 2 1⁄2 in (5.2 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

• 50 guns:
• Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdrs
• Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdrs
• Quarterdeck: 4 × 6 pdrs
• Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

Career
Lichfield was built as a replacement to the previous HMS Lichfield which had been broken up in 1744, and used some of the timbers from that vessel. In June 1756, under Captain Matthew Barton, Lichfield captured the French ship of the line Arc-en-Ciel off Louisbourg, Nova Scotia during the Seven Years' War.

In November 1758 Lichfield, was assigned to a squadron under the command of Commodore Augustus Keppel, with orders to transport troops to West Africa to capture the island of Gorée from the French. The ship left Cork Harbour, Ireland on 11 November 1758 along with four larger ships of the line, and six smaller vessels.

When she went in a dock in Portsmouth for re-fitting it was noted that part of her lower false keel had been beaten away when she grounded on a rock in Antigua and it was proposed to strengthen her with 6 pair of breadth riders.

Lichfield was assigned to lead the squadron. At nightfall on the sixteenth day at sea her sailing master estimated their position as being around 350 miles (563.3 kilometres) from shore. This proved to be incorrect, as at dawn the following morning Lichfield ran aground on the Barbary Coast.

According to the account of Lieutenant Southerland:

“At six in the morning I was awakened by a very great shock, and a confused noise of the men on deck. I ran up, thinking some ship had run afoul of us, for by my own reckoning, and that of every other person on the ship, we were at least 35 leagues distant from land; but, before I could reach the quarter-deck, the ship gave a great stroke upon the ground, and the sea broke over her.”

The ship was badly damaged, and broke apart during the day. Around 220 of the 350 crew managed to reach the shore. They were captured and held as slaves for 18 months until ransomed with other Europeans in April 1760.
After eighteen month's slavery he was ransomed by the government and he and his crew returned home in the MARLBOROUGH storeship in August 1760. He was honourably acquitted of blame by a court martial.


Establishment
Fourth rates of 50 guns
General characteristics for 50-gun fourth rates
Type: 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 755 89⁄94 bm
Length:

• 134 ft 0 in (40.8 m) (gundeck)
• 109 ft 8 in (33.4 m) (keel)

Beam: 36 ft 0 in (11.0 m)
Depth of hold: 15 ft 2 in (4.6 m)
Complement: 280 officers and men (300 from 1733)
Armament:

• 50 guns:
• Lower deck: 22 × 18-pounders (24-pounders from 1743)
• Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounders (12-pounders from 1743)
• Quarter deck: 4 × 6-pounders
• Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounders

The 1716 Establishment of Guns for the smaller fourth rates had replaced the 12-pounder guns on their lower deck by 18-pounders, and the 6-pounders on their upper decks by 9-pounders; at the same time, it removed four of the smaller (6-pounder) guns from the quarterdeck, turning them from 54 to 50 guns. The 1719 Establishment revised the dimensions of these ships as shown in the adjacent table.

Fourteen vessels were rebuilt to this specification between 1718 and 1732 - the Falkland, Chatham, Colchester, Leopard, Portland, Lichfield, Argyll, Assistance, Romney, Oxford, Greenwich, Falmouth, Salisbury and Newcastle.

The 1733 revision increased the dimensions as follows:

• Tons burthen: 853 44⁄94 bm
• Length: 134 ft 0 in (40.8 m) (gundeck)
  108 ft 3 in (33.0 m) (keel)
• Beam: 38 ft 6 in (11.7 m)
• Depth in hold: 15 ft 9 in (4.8 m)

Eight ships were rebuilt to this specification in the Royal Dockyards - the Gloucester, Severn, Saint Albans, Woolwich, Dartmouth, Guernsey, Antelope and Preston. Subsequently four further vessels were newbuilt by commercial contract - the Hampshire, Leopard, Sutherland and Nonsuch.

The 1741 revision further increased the dimensions to:

• Tons burthen: 968 8⁄94 bm
• Length: 140 ft 0 in (42.7 m) (gundeck)
  113 ft 9 in (34.7 m) (keel)
• Beam: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m)
• Depth in hold: 17 ft 2.5 in (5.2 m)

Fourteen vessels were newbuilt by contract to a common design by the Surveyor's Office - the Harwich, Colchester, Falkland, Chester, Winchester, Portland, Maidstone, Gloucester, Norwich, Ruby, Advice, Salisbury. Lichfield and a second Colchester (after the first was lost in 1744). A fifteenth vessel - Panther - was built to a local design at Plymouth Dockyard, and two others were also dockyard-built at Woolwich and Deptford to a lengthened design - the Bristol and Rochester.




For further reading about these kind of ships, this book is highly recommended:



a Book Review you can find here (click on title)
The 50-gun Ship by Rif Winfield


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lichfield_(1746)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-326343;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=L

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1780 – Launch of HMS Repulse, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,


HMS Repulse was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 November 1780 at East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with stern-quarter decoration, and longitrudinal half-breadth proposed for 'Polyphemus' (1782), and later for 'Repulse' (1780), both 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81138.html#c3abze7Uj6qKBStp.99

Class and type: Intrepid-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1387 bm
Length: 159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

• 64 guns:
• Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs
• Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
• Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs
• Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

Mutiny at The Nore
At the mutiny at The Nore in 1797, Repulse made a 'miraculous' escape from the mutineers reaching shore despite receiving 'as was calculated two hundred shot'. Its First Lieutenant, Lieutenant T. Frances Douglas, was presented with a commemorative sword inscribed: ‘PRESENTED by the Committee of Merchants &c OF LONDON to LIEUT.T FRANCIS DOUGLAS for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the REPULSE. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the MUTINY at the NORE in 1797. Marine Society Office, May 1o 1798 } Hugh Inglis Esq.r Chairman’

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Loss
On 10 March 1800, having been driven off course by heavy weather, Repulse struck a submerged rock and began taking on water. The crew eventually abandoned the ship somewhere in the vicinity of the Glénan islands, from where the majority of the survivors were taken away as prisoners of war. The first lieutenant took a number of men in Repulse's large cutter, and headed for England instead, arriving at Guernsey on 16 March.



HMS Diadem (a sistership) at the capture of the cape Good Hope

The Intrepid-class ships of the line were a class of fifteen 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Williams. His design, approved on 18 December 1765, was slightly smaller than Sir Thomas Slade's contemporary Worcester class design of the same year, against which it was evaluated competitively. Following the prototype, four more ships were ordered in 1767–69, and a further ten between 1771 and 1779.

Intrepid class (Williams)

• Intrepid 64 (1770) – sold for breaking 1828.
• Monmouth 64 (1772) – broken up 1818.
• Defiance 64 (1772) – sank 1780.
• Nonsuch 64 (1774) – broken up 1802.
• Ruby 64 (1776) – broken up 1821.
• Vigilant 64 (1774) – broken up 1816.
• Eagle 64 (1774) – broken up 1812.
• America 64 (1777) – broken up 1807.
• Anson 64 (1781) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, wrecked 1807
• Polyphemus 64 (1782) – broken up 1827.
• Magnanime 64 (1780) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, broken up 1813.
• Sampson 64 (1781) – sold for breaking 1832.
• Repulse 64 (1780) – wrecked 1800.
• Diadem 64 (1782) – broken up 1832.
• Standard 64 (1782) – broken up 1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Repulse_(1780)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-342825;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spithead_and_Nore_mutinies#The_Nore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrepid-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1788 - slaver Tarleton foundered on 28 November 1788 off St David's Head


Tarleton was built in France under another name in 1778 (or simply captured then). The partnership of the Tarletons and Backhouse purchased her in 1779. She first traded between Liverpool and Jamaica, and then became a slaver. She was lost in November 1788.

Tons burthen: 342, or 35268⁄94, or 400 (bm)
Length: 97 ft 3 in (29.6 m),
Beam: 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) (above wales); 29 ft 0 in (8.8 m) (below wales)
Depth of hold: 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Sail plan: Brigantine, later Full-rigged ship
Armament: 18 × 6-pounder guns
Notes: Two decks and three masts



Merchantman
The High Court of Admiralty condemned her on 4 November 1778 and she was made free on 5 February 1779 at Liverpool.
She underwent a good repair in 1780. She then sailed and between Liverpool and Jamaica.
She underwent a good repair again in 1782.

After Parliament passed the Registry Act (1786), the Tarletons and Backhouse twice registered her at Liverpool: on 13 November 1786 (Liverpool; №154/86), and then on 16 October 1788 (Liverpool; №79/88).

Slave trading voyages
Between 1785 and 1788 Tarleton made three voyages as a slaver, foundering at the outset of the fourth. Captain Patrick Fairweather was an experienced captain of slave ships. He had made his first voyage to Calabar in 1755, probably as an apprentice on Dalrymple while still a teenager. His first command had been in 1768.

First slaving voyage: Fairweather left Liverpool on 24 March 1784, bound for the Bight of Biafra and Gulf of Guinea islands to gather his slaves. He gathered the slaves at Calabar and then delivered them to Grenada, arriving on 3 February 1785. Fairweather had embarked 557 slaves and disembarked 510, for a loss rate of 8.4%. Her crew of 38 suffered three deaths. Tarleton left Grenada 7 March and arrived at Liverpool 21 April 1785.

Second slaving voyage: Fairweather sailed from Liverpool on 23 June 1785 bound for the Bight of Biafra and Gulf of Guinea islands to gather his slaves. She arrived at Calabar on 14 August. She stayed there 180 days. Tarleton left on 20 March 1786. Tarleton delivered the slaves to Dominca, where she arrived on 9 May. She had embarked 440 slaves and disembarked 360, for a loss rate of 18.2%. She also had 46 crew men, five of whom died on the voyage. At some point in the voyage Captain Thomas Smith replaced Fairweather. Tarleton left Dominica on 4 July, and arrived at Liverpool on 5 September. When she arrived at Liverpool she brought with her 57 puncheons and one butt of palm oil, 50 barrels of pepper, 105 ivory tusks, eight tons of redwood, and cargo from the West Indies.)

A listing of cargoes taken up at Old Calabar between 1785 and 1788 states records that on one voyage Tarleton loaded 440 slaves, an estimated 1,512 lbs of ivory, 4,915 gals of palm oil, 9,800 lbs of pepper, and 17,920 lbs of redwood.

While Fairweather and Tarleton were at Calabar, Banastre, another vessel under the ownership of the Tarleton-Backhouse partnership, arrived there. Fairweather sent Banastre, Thomas Smith, master, to the coast of Cameroon. When she arrived there some natives in a canoe approached to trade with her, but were warned off by a shot from another slave vessel, Othello, that killed one of the natives. Captain James McGauley, of Othello, had ordered the shot fired because the natives on that coast owed him a debt and he had declared that he would permit no trade until they had paid him. In 1793 the case of Tarleton and others vs. McGauley came to trial with the plaintiffs suing McGauley for loss of trade. The court found for the plaintiffs, establishing that it is a tort "to cause damage to a person by maliciously using any unlawful means, (e.g. fraud, or threats of assault), to induce anyone to abstain from entering into a contract with him."

Third slaving voyage: Tarleton's master was J. Smith, and her trade was Liverpool-Africa. Alternatively, her master may have been Thomas Smith, replaced by Patrick Fairweather. She left Liverpool on 26 August 1786 and left Calabar after 281 days. (However, the same source states that Tarleton and Fairweather left Liverpool on 25 December 1786, which is more consistent with having arrived in Liverpool in September, and is also consistent with the data in the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade Database.) Tarleton left Africa on 19 February 1788 and arrived at Dominica on 11 May. When she arrived she was carrying 308 slaves, 45 ivory tusks, 94 puncheons, 8 butts, and 15 tierces of palm oil, 50 tons of redwood, and 60 barrels of Guinea pepper. She had started with 371 slaves, and another three to five slaves died after arrival, for a loss rate o f18.6%. She left Dominica on 24 June and arrived at Liverpool on 24 June with 80 tons of redwood and cargo from the West Indies. Another account describes her cargo from Africa as 377 slaves, an estimated 648 lbs. of ivory, 9,600 gallons of palm oil, 11,760 lbs. of pepper, and 112,000 lbs of redwood.

Loss
Tarleton, Christian, master, was on her way to Africa on her fourth slaving voyage when she foundered on 28 November 1788 off St David's Head. Her crew was saved. She had left Liverpool 10 November 1788. The Liverpool Registry records her as having been lost off the coast of Wales, and gives a date of 26 May 1789, but this date may represent a declaration rather than the date of the actual loss.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarleton_(1780_ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1795 – Launch of French Résistance, a Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy.


Résistance was a Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. She was captured by HMS St Fiorenzo in 1797 and taken into British service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.


HMS Fisgard taking the French Immortalite off Brest 20 Oct 1798 (PAF5951)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/100778.html#bjadqlPV51fPZutJ.99

Class and type: 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate
Tons burthen: 1,183 (bm)
Length: 48.7 m (159 ft 9 in)
Beam: 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in)
Draught: 6.4 m (21 ft 0 in)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:

• 28 18-pounder long guns
• 12 8-pounder long guns
• Further armament on castles

French career
The ship ordered on 8 March 1793 as Fidélité, was renamed Résistance while still on keel. In 1797 she served as a troop ship, ferrying the Légion Noire to Cardigan Bay during the Battle of Fishguard. On 9 March 1797, HMS St Fiorenzo and Nymphe, captured her, along with Constance.

British career
The Royal Navy took Résistance into service as the first HMS Fisgard, naming her after the town of Fishguard because of her role in the battle. On 20 October 1798, she captured Immortalité.


This images shows port stern quarter views of the L'Immortalite (on the left) and the Fisgard (on the right) as they both run before the wind, engaging in broadside gun battle. Smoke billows between the vessels and both have holed sails. L'Immortalite flies the French flag at her stern, while the Fisgard flies the red ensign.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109762.html#Db8Sphb82huocH7K.99

Between 20 July 1800 and 2 August, Captain T.B. Martin and Fisgard captured four vessels:

• St. John Baptiste, a Spanish lugger, that she burnt:
• Gironde a French privateer of 16 guns and 141 men. Gironde had been a particularly successful and active vessel. She had on board 53 English prisoners, the masters and crews of four vessels that she had captured;
• Alerte, a French privateer of 14 guns and 84 men. She was only six days out of Bordeaux and had been sent out to intercept the homeward bound West India convoy; and
• Joseph, an English South Seas whaler that had been a prize to the French privateer Minerve.

Fisgard may also have recaptured four of Gironde's prizes:

• Swan sloop, Andrew Miller, Master, from Oporto and carrying wine;
• Countess of Lauderdale, Thomas Bennett, master, from Deraerary, carrying sugar and cotton;
• Active brig,Benjamin Tucker, master, from Bermuda, carrying sugar and cotton; and
• Young William, Charles Bacon, master, returning from the South Sea's with a cargo of (whale) oil. Young William was certainly recaptured and sent into Cork.

The Conquest of the Island of Curacoa by Four Frigates under the Command of Sir Charles Brisbane &c &c - viz Arethusa Latona Anson and Fisguard [Fisgard] 1. Sr C: B: leading his men to storm Fort Amsterdam...6. Dutch Commodore in possession 7. Surinam in possession (PAI6997)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/157594.html#6YzxZoiC8K8R84CY.99

On 15 May 1801 Fisgard, and the hired armed cutters Hirondelle and Earl Spencer, recaptured the brig Victory from the French. Then on 7 July Fisgard was at Plymouth when the gun-vessel HMS Augustus ran aground under the Royal Citadel, Plymouth. Fisgard sent her boats to assist and the crew and some of the stores were saved, but the vessel herself was a wreck.

Fate
The Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Royal Navy offered "Fisgard, of 38 guns and 1182 tons", lying at Portsmouth, for sale on 11 August 1814. The buyer had to post a bond of £3,000, with two guarantors, that the buyers would break up the vessel within a year of purchase.


The Vengeance class was a type of large sailing frigates designed by Pierre Degay and built in Paimbœuf for the French Navy. Rated at 48 guns, the type was one of the French attempts at increasing the firepower of frigates by mounting a 24-pounder main battery, as was tried with Forfait's Romaine class. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the ships mounted 18-pounder long guns on their main gun deck while in service.

Only two ships of the design were built, both being captured by the British and recommissioned in the Royal Navy.


Aquatint, coloured print by Thomas Whitcombe depicting the capture of the French frigate Vengeance by HMS Seine


The La Raison of 24 Guns, Captn Beresford, beating-off a French Frigate, of 44 Guns (the Vengeance), near Hallifax (PAD5504)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109655.html#d7tdOBt0pIFKQ3qU.99

• Vengeance

Builder: Paimbœuf
Begun: June 1793
Launched: 8 November 1794
Completed: By April 1795
Fate: captured on 20 August 1800 by the Royal Navy. Sold in 1814.

• Résistance

Builder: Paimbœuf
Begun: April 1794
Launched: 28 November 1795
Completed: May 1796
Fate: captured on 9 March 1797 by the Royal Navy. Sold in 1814.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Résistance_(1796)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vengeance-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1808 - Boats of HMS Heureux (16) ex-french Lynx, William Coombe, took a schooner and a brig lying under the protection of two batteries in the harbour of Bay Mahaut. They grounded under fire and were abandoned. Coombe was killed in action - action known as Attack on Mahaut



Lynx (or Linx) was a 16-gun brig of the French Navy, name ship of her two-vessel class of brigs, and launched at Bayonne on 17 April 1804. The British captured her in 1807 and named her HMS Heureux. After service in the Caribbean that earned her crew two medals, including one for a boat action in which her captain was killed, she was laid up in 1810 and sold in 1814.

Type: Lynx-class brig
Displacement: 402 tons
Tons burthen: 336 48⁄94 (bm)
Length: 93 ft 10 in (28.60 m) (gundeck); 78 ft 8 3⁄8 in (23.987 m)
Beam: 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
Depth of hold: 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Sail plan: Brig rigged
Complement:
French service: 94 men
British service: 100
Armament:

• French service: 16 × 6-pounder guns
• British service: 2 × 6-pounder bow chasers + 14 × 24-pounder carronades

French service
Lynx was the name ship of her two-vessel class of brigs. She was built to plans by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland. The French Navy commissioned her in June 1804 under Lieutenant Fargenel. She took part in the Trafalgar Campaign, ferrying dispatches between Fort de France and France, where she arrived on 10 July 1805.


His Majesty's Ship Pallas passing to Windward of La Minerve and between her, and La Lynx, Palinure and Sylph Brigs at one o'Clock on the 14th May 1806 under the Batteries of the Isle D'Aix, with a view of the French Squadron (PAH6336)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/146283.html#WdJRpLhJ3DeRIqyL.99

She was then attached to a five-frigate squadron under Commodore Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil, tasked with ferrying supplies and troops to the French West Indies. A British squadron intercepted the convoy, which led to the Action of 25 September 1806, where the British captured four of the frigates. Lynx, the frigate Thétis, and the corvette Sylphe escaped, with Lynx managing to outrun HMS Windsor Castle. Lynx finally arrived in Martinique on 31 October.

Capture
The boats of Galatea, under Lieutenant William Coombe, captured Lynx off Les Saintes on 21 January 1807. The boats, manned with five officers, 50 seamen and 20 marines, had to row for eight hours, mainly in the blazing sun, to catch her. During the action Coombe, who had already lost a leg in a previous action, received a musket ball through the thigh above the previous amputation. The British only succeeded in boarding Lynx on their third attempt and a desperate struggle occurred on deck as the crew of the Lynx outnumbered their attackers. The British lost nine men killed and 22 wounded, including Coombe. The French had 14 killed and 20 wounded, including the captain.

The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Coombe and several of the other British officers swords worth 50 guineas, but Coombe did not live to receive his. The surviving officers were promoted; Coombe was promoted to commander but appointed as captain of Hart, not Lynx. Hart was a lesser vessel than Lynx and Coombe complained to the admiral of the station and then to the Admiralty. The Admiralty reversed the appointments, which led to Coombe fighting a duel with the relegated captain. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "21 Jan. Boat Service 1807" to all surviving claimants of the action.

The British took Lynx into service as HMS Heureux as the Royal Navy already had a Lynx, and had lost an Heureux the year before.

British service
Heureux was commissioned in Antigua in April 1807 under Coombe.

Coombe was killed in the early morning of 29 November 1808. He had received information that seven French vessels were lying under the protection of two batteries in the harbour at Mahaut, Guadeloupe and decided to attack them. Coombe took three boats and 63 men who rowed six hours to reach Mahaut at about midnight. The cutting out party then waited for four hours at their oars until just after the moon set at 4 am on 29 November. Coombe, with 19 men, boarded and carried a schooner armed with two guns and with a crew of 39 men. After a few minutes of desperate fighting the attackers prevailed. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Daniel Lawrence and the remainder of the party landed and spiked three 24-pounders in the batteries, before boarding a brig. On the way out the prizes grounded, making them ideal targets for small arms fire and the three field pieces that the French had brought down to the shore. As Coombe was about to abandon the prizes, a 24-pound shot struck him on the left side, killing him almost immediately. A musket ball wounded Lawrence in the forearm. Still, he extricated all the men without further casualties. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "28 Nov. Boat Service 1808" to all surviving claimants of the action.

Commander John Ellis Watt replaced Coombe. Captain Michael Halliday replaced Watt in 1809.

Fate
Heureux arrived in Plymouth on 20 January 1810 and was laid up in ordinary. She was sold there on 1 September 1814 for £460 and was broken up


Lynx-class brig
Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland designed the Lynx-class of 16-gun brigs for the French Navy. Only two were built and the British Royal Navy captured both.

• Lynx (or Linx) was launched at Bayonne in 1804. The British captured her in 1807 and named her HMS Heureux. After service in the Caribbean that earned her crew two medals, including one for a boat action in which her captain was killed, she was laid up in 1810 and sold in 1814.
• Actéon launched at Rochefort in 1804. The British captured her in 1805, named her HMS Acteon (or Actaeon), but laid her up. The navy finally commissioned her in 1809. She was at the British invasion of Île de France and later served in the Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Chesapeake. She was broken up in 1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Lynx_(1804)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=22063
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=4719
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx-class_brig

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 November 1840 - HMS Spey (1827 - 10) wrecked on Racoon Key, West Indies.


HMS Spey was a 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop built for the Royal Navy during the 1820s. She was wrecked in 1840.

Description
Spey had a length at the gundeck of 90 feet (27.4 m) and 72 feet 3 inches (22.0 m) at the keel. She had a beam of 24 feet 8 inches (7.5 m), a draught of about 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m) and a depth of hold of 11 feet (3.4 m). The ship's tonnage was 230 64/94 tons burthen. The Cherokee class was armed with two 6-pounder cannon and eight 18-pounder carronades. The ships had a crew of 52 officers and ratings.

Class and type: Cherokee-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 230 64/94 bm
Length:

• 90 ft (27.4 m) (gundeck)
• 72 ft 3 in (22.0 m) (keel)

Beam: 24 ft 8 in (7.5 m)
Draught: 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m)
Depth: 11 ft (3.4 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 52
Armament: 2 × 6-pdr cannon; 8 × 18-pdr carronades


Construction and career
Spey, the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered on 25 March 1823, laid down in July 1825 at Pembroke Dockyard, Wales, and launched on 6 October 1827. She was completed on 17 November 1828 at Plymouth Dockyard.

Spey was wrecked on a reef in the Bahama Channel on 24 November 1841. All passengers and crew were rescued.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck of Parthian (1809), a 10-gun Brig to be built by contract by Messrs Barnard and Roberts of Deptford. The only Cherokee class ship to be built by this firm in 1807/8 was the Parthian. The title has been erased and re-dated to 25 February 1817 and refers to the Atholl (1820), a 28-gun Brig Sloop built of larch. The dimensions of the ship do not match the plan, although the alterations in green may be relevant to the Atholl. These alterations relate to the capstan, forecastle deck addition, extended platforms and the removal of bulkheads. Initialled by Joseph Tucker [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831], Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822], and Robert Seppings [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1832].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84646.html#mjUzjm5W0y29rPt0.99


The Cherokee class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting 10 guns. Brig-sloops are sloops-of-war with two masts (a fore mast and a taller main mast) rather than the three masts of ship sloops. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including 5 which were cancelled and 6 for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels.

Many of these sailing vessels served as mail packet ships, and more than eight assisted with exploration and surveys. The best known of the class was HMS Beagle, then considerably modified for Beagle's second survey voyage under Robert FitzRoy, with the gentleman naturalist Charles Darwin on board as a self-funded supernumerary.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck for Zephyr (1823) and Tyrian (1826), 10 gun Brig/Brig Sloops, completed as Packets. According to the annotations dated 14 July to 29 August 1823, copies of this plan were also sent for the rest of the Cadmus/Cherokee/Rolla class ordered in 1823 to be built in the Royal Dockyards (originally about 44 vessels).
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84945.html#WjjjIZ5eKvV0lCyU.99

Design
The carronade, nicknamed the "smasher" or "devil gun", was significantly smaller and lighter than conventional cannon. It was also found to have a more destructive broadside at close range, so that a smaller (and cheaper) ship could be more effective in naval actions than a much larger man-of-war. Sir Henry Peake designed a small ship to operate in both shallow and deep waters, carrying eight 16-pounder or 18-pounder carronades plus two long 6-pounder cannon as forward-mounted chase guns.

Henry Peake completed the design for the Cherokee class in 1807. The design was approved on 26 November 1807, with the first four vessels having been ordered in March 1807 but not laid down until December; by the end of 1808 another 30 vessels had been ordered to this design. After these 34, a further 2 were ordered in 1812 which were built of teak at Bombay. The design was revived after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and another 78 were ordered in two batches between 1817 and 1827. The first batch of these later vessels consisted of 35 orders (of which one was cancelled) whilst the second amounted to 44 new vessels of which 4 were cancelled and 6 replaced by orders for paddle vessels.

The class was much criticised, being popularly known as 'coffin brigs', following the loss by wrecking or foundering of a number of them. There seems to have been no particular fault in their design, but they were considered to be somewhat too small for the global duties they took on. Almost a quarter of them were lost, and they were also nicknamed "Half Tide Rock" as they had low freeboard so the deck was frequently awash with water, and solid bulwarks preventing the water from being shed quickly. William James, in his Naval History written before May 1827, dismissed the supposed design faults, and said that it would be "surprising indeed that the navy board would continue adding new individuals by dozens at a time" to "this worthless class". These open flush-decked ships lacked a forecastle to deflect heavy seas crashing over the bow: one was added to Beagle in 1825 before its first voyage, together with a mizzen mast which improved the handling. Despite these modifications to the design, Captain Pringle Stokes protested that "our decks were constantly flooded".

Further extensive modifications were made for the second voyage of HMS Beagle. Darwin noted in his journal in April 1833 that "It blew half a gale of wind; but it was fair & we scudded before it. — Our decks fully deserved their nickname of a "half tide rock"; so constantly did the water flow over them", but John Lort Stokes who was on all three survey expeditions praised Beagle: "The reader will be surprised to learn that she belongs to that much-abused class, the '10-gun brigs'—coffins, as they are not infrequently designated in the service; notwithstanding which, she has proved herself, under every possible variety of trial, in all kinds of weather, an excellent sea boat."


Male figurehead of HMS 'Forester', a 10-gun 'Cherokee' class brig-sloop built at Chatham Dockyard in 1832 and sold in 1843.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/18782.html#gArVxHXldzMCJBQQ.99

Service
Few of the Cherokee class ships took part in sea battles of any importance. Large numbers of them went on to serva as passenger and mail carrying packet ships, running from the UK to the USA and Canada.

Several assisted with exploration and survey expeditions, including HMS Barracouta, which served with William Fitzwilliam Owen's survey of African and Arabian coasts between 1821 and 1826 before being converted to a barque-rigged packet in 1829 and then being sold in 1836.

The first voyage of Beagle set out in 1826 under Captain Pringle Stokes as part of Phillip Parker King's survey of South American coasts, which returned late in 1830 with Beagle by then commanded by Robert FitzRoy. Captain Henry Foster commanded HMS Chanticleer on his survey around the South Atlantic, known as his "pendulum expedition", from 1827 to 1831. Chanticleer was then intended to be used for FitzRoy's next survey expedition, but was found to be in poor condition. Instead, the Beagle was repaired and modified for its famed second survey voyage from 1831 to 1836, which took along the naturalist Charles Darwin as a self-funded supernumerary. The Beagle subsequently carried out a survey of coasts of Australia from 1837 to 1843 under John Clements Wickham and John Lort Stokes.

From 1838 to around 1841 HMS Britomart, commanded by Owen Stanley, carried out survey work and other duties around Australia and New Zealand. Other survey ships of this class included HMS Fairy from about 1832 to 1840, Scorpion from 1848 to 1858 and Saracen from 1854 to 1860


Described by former NMM curator James Taylor (in ‘The Voyage of the Beagle…’ (Conway, 2008), p.26) as: “… the best-known watercolour image of the survey ship, although it relates to her third and final expedition in 1837-43. It was created by Owen Stanley (1811-50), captain of HMS ‘Britomart’, a sister-ship of the ‘Beagle’, who was also an artist of promising ability and occasionally produced accomplished work. Stanley’s picture featuring the ‘Beagle’ was completed when ‘Britomart’ came into contact with ‘Beagle’ in Australian waters. It is loosely constructed and to a small scale (the size of a large postcard). It is full of atmosphere and charm… However, his painting technique makes it difficult to determine if this really is a technically accurate portrayal of the ‘Beagle’.” Although described by J Lort Stokes, the commander of the expedition, as “belonging to that much abused class the 10-gun brigs”, the ‘Beagle’ is shown here barque rigged (as in other pictures by those who knew her, e.g. those by Lieut. Graham Gore in Lort Stokes’s own book “Discoveries in Australia”, p.187 & 225 of vol. II); this is because the mizzen was regarded as a temporary sail. She was built as a brig (not, initially, a brig-sloop) of the ‘Cherokee’ / ‘Rolla’ class, and therefore classed as such despite being later given a rather different rig. Medium includes ink. Signed by artist. Inscribed on back “HMS ‘Beagle’ Sydney April 10 1841”.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/113120.html#glHW7lQWrh85BLQt.99



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Spey_(1827)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee-class_brig-sloop