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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 December 1941 – World War II: The Japanese super-battleship IJN Yamato is commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy and transfers the title of Flagship from IJN Nagato.


Yamato (大和) was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a warship.

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Yamato running machinery trials off Bungo Strait (outside Sukumo Bay) on 20 October 1941

Named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, Yamato was designed to counter the numerically superior battleship fleet of the United States, Japan's main rival in the Pacific. She was laid down in 1937 and formally commissioned a week after the Pearl Harbor attack in late 1941. Throughout 1942, she served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Musashi took over as the Combined Fleet flagship in early 1943, and Yamato spent the rest of the year, and much of 1944, moving between the major Japanese naval bases of Truk and Kure in response to American threats. Although present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, she played no part in the battle.

The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy surface targets was in October 1944, when she was sent to engage American forces invading the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the verge of success, the Japanese force turned back, believing they were engaging an entire US carrier fleet rather than a light escort carrier group that was all which stood between the battleship and vulnerable troop transports.

During 1944, the balance of naval power in the Pacific decisively turned against Japan, and by early 1945, its fleet was much depleted and badly hobbled by critical fuel shortages in the home islands. In a desperate attempt to slow the Allied advance, Yamato was dispatched on a one-way mission to Okinawa in April 1945, with orders to beach herself and fight until destroyed protecting the island. The task force was spotted south of Kyushu by US submarines and aircraft, and on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers with the loss of most of her crew.

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Line drawing of Yamato as she appeared in 1944–1945 (specific configuration from 7 April 1945)

Design and construction
Main article: Yamato-class battleship
During the 1930s the Japanese government adopted an ultranationalist militancy with a view to greatly expand the Japanese Empire. Japan withdrew from the League of Nationsin 1934, renouncing its treaty obligations. After withdrawing from the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited the size and power of capital ships, the Imperial Japanese Navy began their design of the new Yamato class of heavy battleships. Their planners recognized Japan would be unable to compete with the output of U.S. naval shipyards should war break out, so the 70,000 ton[3] vessels of the Yamato class were designed to be capable of engaging multiple enemy battleships at the same time.

The keel of Yamato, the lead ship of the class, was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal, Hiroshima, on 4 November 1937, in a dockyard that had to be adapted to accommodate her enormous hull. The dock was deepened by one meter, and gantry cranes capable of lifting up to 350 tonnes were installed. Extreme secrecy was maintained throughout construction, a canopy even being erected over part of the drydock to screen the ship from view. Yamato was launched on 8 August 1940, with Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Miyazato Shutoku in command. A great effort was made in Japan to ensure that the ships were built in extreme secrecy to prevent American intelligence officials from learning of their existence and specifications.

Armament

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Yamato near the end of her fitting out, 20 September 1941

Yamato's main battery consisted of nine 46 cm (18.1 in) 45 Caliber Type 94 naval guns—the largest caliber of naval artillery ever fitted to a warship, although the shells were not as heavy as those fired by the British 18-inch naval guns of World War I. Each gun was 21.13 metres (69.3 ft) long, weighed 147.3 metric tons (162.4 short tons), and was capable of firing high-explosive or armor-piercing shells 42 kilometres (26 mi). Her secondary battery comprised twelve 155-millimetre (6.1 in) guns mounted in four triple turrets (one forward, one aft, two midships), and twelve 127-millimetre (5.0 in) guns in six twin mounts (three on each side amidships). These turrets had been taken off the Mogami-class cruisers when those vessels were converted to a main armament of 20.3-centimetre (8.0 in) guns. In addition, Yamato carried twenty-four 25-millimetre (0.98 in) anti-aircraft guns, primarily mounted amidships. When refitted in 1944 and 1945 for naval engagements in the South Pacific, the secondary battery configuration was changed to six 155 mm guns and twenty-four 127 mm guns, and the number of 25 mm anti-aircraft guns was increased to 162.


Cultural significance
From the time of their construction, Yamato and her sister Musashi carried significant weight in Japanese culture. The battleships represented the epitome of Imperial Japanese naval engineering, and because of their size, speed, and power, visibly embodied Japan's determination and readiness to defend its interests against the Western Powers and the United States in particular. Shigeru Fukudome, chief of the Operations Section of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, described the ships as "symbols of naval power that provided to officers and men alike a profound sense of confidence in their navy." Yamato's symbolic might was such that some Japanese citizens held the belief that their country could never fall as long as the ship was able to fight.

Decades after the war, Yamato was memorialised in various forms by the Japanese. Historically, the word "Yamato" was used as a poetic name for Japan; thus, her name became a metaphor for the end of the Japanese empire. In April 1968, a memorial tower was erected on Cape Inutabu in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture to commemorate the lives lost in Operation Ten-Go. In October 1974, Leiji Matsumoto created a new television series, Space Battleship Yamato, about rebuilding the battleship as a starship and its interstellar quest to save Earth. The series was a huge success, spawning five feature films and two more TV series; as post-war Japanese tried to redefine the purpose of their lives, Yamato became a symbol of heroism and of their desire to regain a sense of masculinity after their country's defeat in the war. Brought to the United States as Star Blazers, the animated series proved popular and established a foundation for anime in the North American entertainment market. The motif in Space Battleship Yamato was repeated in Silent Service, a popular manga and anime that explores issues of nuclear weapons and the Japan-US relationship. It tells the story of a nuclear-powered super submarine whose crew mutinies and renames the vessel Yamato, in allusion to the World War II battleship and the ideals she symbolises. The idea of giant cannon on space battleships has also brought into famous video game Star Craft, with the main cannon of Terran battle cruiser named as "yamato cannon".

In 2005, the Yamato Museum was opened near the site of the former Kure shipyards. Although intended to educate on the maritime history of post Meiji-era Japan, the museum gives special attention to its namesake; the battleship is a common theme among several of its exhibits, which includes a section dedicated to Matsumoto's animated series. The centrepiece of the museum, occupying a large section of the ground floor, is a 26.3-metre (86 ft) long model of Yamato (1:10 scale).

Later that year, Toei released a 143-minute movie, Yamato, based on a book by Jun Henmi, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II; Tamiya released special editions of scale models of the battleship in conjunction with the film's release. Based on a book of the same name, the film is a tale about the sailors aboard the doomed battleship and the concepts of honour and duty. The film was shown on more than 290 screens across the country and was a commercial success, taking in a record 5.11 billion yen at the domestic box office.



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The very large model at the Yamato Museum, with museum visitors (2006)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato
https://yamato-museum.com/en/
https://web.archive.org/web/2010032...mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 December 1991 - The Salem Express was a passenger ship that sank in the Red Sea


The Salem Express was a passenger ship that sank in the Red Sea. It is controversial due to the loss of life which occurred when she sank shortly after midnight on December 17, 1991.

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The Salem Express was a Roll-on/roll-off car and passenger ferry that operated between the ports of Safaga (in Egypt) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The ship was constructed in 1964 in the La Seyne-sur-Mer shipyards in France and launched under the name Fred Scamaroni in 1966. After going through several owners and names, the ship was acquired by Hussein Salem, an Egyptian businessman and a confidant of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

On one such return journey from Jeddah, carrying hundreds of Egyptian pilgrims, she sank after colliding with the Hyndman Reefs on the Egyptian coast in the early hours of 17 December 1991. The impact holed the bows and forced open the bow visor. The ship very quickly took on water and sank, on her starboard side within minutes. Loss of life was considerable, with the official figure being quoted as 470. Rumour suggests that there were many more on board, however this is debatable as official records list the number of passengers and crew as 690.

Many bodies were recovered after the sinking, but eventually a halt was called due to the danger involved and the wreck was sealed with plates welded across openings.

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Salem Express 18 years after the tragedy

Dives, as of April 2013, revealed that the wreck is in good condition and coral covers much of the ship. Scuba divers can peer into windows and easily enter the ship from many points. Reports of plates being welded over access points could not be verified. Additionally, while the bow of the ship is crumpled and bent, there are no signs of cracking, at least on the port side. The bow visor is clearly open by about 12-16 inches at the base, closest to the waterline. The sea floor, 29 meters deep, is littered with debris. Notably, two ridged life boats rest between the smoke stacks and the stern. At the stern of the ship, divers can enter the large car door. The wreck still contains cars and luggage.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Salem_Express
https://giddeonzeix.smugmug.com/Diving/Salem/
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 16 December

1766 – Launch of spanish San Pascual Bailon 74 at Guarnizo - BU 1797


1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.

The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.

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They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution. The Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, and since then other political protests such as the Tea Party movement have referred to themselves as historical successors to the Boston protest of 1773.

The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act because they believed that it violated their rights as Englishmen to "no taxation without representation", that is, to be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a British parliament in which they were not represented. In addition, the well-connected East India Company had been granted competitive advantages over colonial tea importers, who resented the move and feared additional infringement on their business. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain.

The Boston Tea Party was a significant event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Intolerable Acts, or Coercive Acts, which, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts and closed Boston's commerce. Colonists up and down the Thirteen Colonies in turn responded to the Intolerable Acts with additional acts of protest, and by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the acts and coordinated colonial resistance to them. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775.

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


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

Tourville was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

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In August 1793, she was damaged by a tempest, which also killed her captain, and had to return to Brest. In September, a mutiny broke out aboard. She took part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2, to the Expédition d'Irlande, and to the Cruise of Bruix. She was eventually broken up in Brest in 1841.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Tourville_(1788)


1789 – Launch of French Vengeur, the lead ship of the Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

The Vengeur was the lead ship of the Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
In 1792, captained by Le Dall Kéréon, she was part to a squadron under Latouche-Tréville. On 26 August, she bombarded the city of Onaglia.
On 12 December 1792, she ran aground off Ajaccio. After attempts to refloat her proved unsuccessful, she was abandoned. She sank on 8 June 1793.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Vengeur_(1790)


1803 - Boats of HMS Merlin (16), Edward Pelham Brenton, destroyed the grounded British frigate HMS Shannon (36), Cptn. Edward Gower, at Baie des Veys

HMS Merlin was launched in 1801 in South Shields as the collier Hercules. In July 1803, with the resumption of war with France, the Admiralty purchased her. She was one of about 20 such vessels that the navy would then employ primarily for convoy escort duties. She served on active duty until 1810, capturing one small privateer. She then served as a receiving ship until 1836 when the navy sold her for breaking up.

The action
In December Merlin was attached to the Channel fleet and was in company with Shannon on patrol off the Cape La Hogue searching for French coastal shipping and privateersattempting to slip out of the Normandy port of Cherbourg. At 8pm on 10 December, Shannon grounded on Tatihou Island, near Barfleur, during a heavy gale. Merlin spotted land thanks to a bolt of lighting and was able to wear off in time.

A shore battery fired on Shannon, killing some men. When it was clear that Shannon could not be gotten off, her captain surrendered. The French army then took the officers and men prisoners. Some French fishing boats took possession of Shannon but saw that her hull was so damaged that she would be impossible to refloat.

Merlin stood back into shore on the 16th and at 11.30am dispatched two boats of marines and sailors to destroy Shannon to prevent the French from salvaging her guns and stores. Despite heavy fire from the island's batteries the boarders were able to burn and destroy the frigate without suffering a single casualty.

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Shannon on shore, by Edward Pelham Brenton, c.1803, in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The third HMS Shannon was a 36-gun frigate of the British Royal Navy built at Frindsbury on the River Medway on the Thames Estuary. She was completed on 3 September 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars. Her name was changed from Pallas to Shannon shortly before construction, traditionally an omen of bad luck for a ship. In her case, she was wrecked within three months of her being launched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Merlin_(1803)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Shannon_(1803)


1821 - Lt. Robert F. Stockton and Dr. Eli Ayers, a naval surgeon and member of American Colonizing Society, persuade a local African king to sell territory for a colony that becomes the Republic of Liberia.



1846 - The second USS Union was a schooner that served in the United States Navy briefly during the Mexican War, wrecked

The second USS Union was a schooner that served in the United States Navy briefly during the Mexican War.
Union was serving as a Mexican schooner when the U.S. Navy steam screw corvette USS Princeton captured her off Tampico, Mexico, on 14 November 1846. She entered U.S. Navy service later that month with Lieutenant John Ancrum Winslow in command.
Poorly equipped, Union was wrecked on a reef off Veracruz, Mexico, on 16 December 1846.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Union_(1846)


1862 – Launch of USS Catskill (1862) was a monitor built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Catskill (1862) was a monitor built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She continued to serve the Navy after the war's end until decommissioned in 1898 after the end of the Spanish–American War.

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USS Catskill—a single-turreted Passaic-class monitor—was launched on December 16, 1862 by Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, New York; outfitted at New York Navy Yard; commissioned on February 24, 1863, Commander George Washington Rodgers in command; and reported to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Catskill_(1862)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/catskill.htm


1922 - Lt. Cmdr. Walter A. Edwards, commanding USS Bainbridge (DD 246), leads the rescue of 482 passengers from the burning French transport Vinh-Long by placing his destroyer in dangerous positions to ensure the passengers could disembark, despite a series of explosions. He later brings them to Constantinople. For his leadership and heroism, Edwards receives the Medal of Honor.

The third USS Bainbridge (DD-246) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Commodore William Bainbridge, who served in the War of 1812 and the First and Second Barbary Wars.

USS_Bainbridge_(DD-246)_1921.jpg

Bainbridge operated along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean with the fleet carrying out tactical exercises and maneuvers until October 1922, when she departed for Constantinople to join the Naval Detachment in Turkish waters. On 16 December 1922 she rescued approximately 500 survivors of the burning French military transport Vinh-Longabout 10 miles off Constantinople. For extraordinary heroism during the rescue Lieutenant Commander Walter A. Edwards received the Medal of Honor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bainbridge_(DD-246)


1944 - USS Swordfish (SS 193) attacks a Japanese convoy south of Hainan Island and sinks Japanese army transport Atsutasan Maru.

USS Swordfish (SS-193), a Sargo-class submarine, was the first submarine of the United States Navy named for the swordfish, a large fish with a long, swordlike beak and a high dorsal fin. She was the first American submarine to sink a Japanese ship during World War II.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Swordfish_(SS-193)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1691 – Launch of french La Lys, a First Rate ship of the line of the French Royal Navy


The Lys was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the second vessel in the two-ship Sceptre Class (her sister being the Sceptre).

Tonnage: 1,800
Length: 153 French feet
Beam: 44 French feet
Draught: 23 French feet
Depth of hold: 20¼ French feet
Decks: 3 gun decks
Complement: 650 (500 in peacetime), + 12 officers
Armament: 84 guns

This ship was ordered in April 1691 to be built at Toulon Dockyard, and on 13 May she was allotted the name Lys. The designer and builder of both ships was François Coulomb. They were three-decker ships without forecastles. The Lys was launched on 17 December 1691 and completed in February of the next year.

She was initially armed with 84 guns, comprising twenty-six 36-pounders on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounders on the middle deck, twenty-four 8-pounders on the upper deck, and six 4-pounders on the quarterdeck. The 4-pounders were replaced by six 6-pounders by 1699; a thirteenth pair of 8-pounders (on the upper deck) and a fourth pair of 6-pounders (on the quarterdeck) were added in 1704, raising her to 88 guns.

The Sceptre took part in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga on 24 August 1703, and subsequently in the Battle of Marbella on 21 March 1705; in the latter battle she was driven ashore (along with the Magnanime) and burnt by her crew to avoid capture by the squadron of Vice-Admiral Sir John Leake.


Sceptre Class, designed and built by François Coulomb snr.
Sceptre 84/88 guns (launched 10 November 1691 at Toulon) – broken up 1718
Lis or Lys 84/88 guns (launched 17 December 1691 at Toulon) – driven ashore and burnt in the Battle of Marbella in March 1705


The Sceptre was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the lead vessel in the two-ship Sceptre Class (her sister being the Lys).

This ship was ordered in April 1691 to be built at Toulon Dockyard, and on 13 May she was allotted the name Sceptre. The designer and builder of both ships was François Coulomb. They were three-decker ships without forecastles. The Sceptre was launched on 10 November 1691 and completed in March of the next year.

She was initially armed with 84 guns, comprising twenty-six 36-pounders on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounders on the middle deck, twenty-four 8-pounders on the upper deck, and six 4-pounders on the quarterdeck. The 4-pounders were replaced by six 6-pounders by 1699; a thirteenth pair of 8-pounders (on the upper deck) and a fourth pair of 6-pounders (on the quarterdeck) were added in 1704, raising her to 88 guns.

The Sceptre took part in the capture of Cartagena de Indias in May 1697, and later in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga on 24 August 1703. She was scuttled at Toulon in July 1707 during the siege of that port, but was subsequently refloated. She was condemned at Toulon on 18 December 1717, and on 12 January 1718 she was ordered to be taken to pieces.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Lys_(1691)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Sceptre_(1691)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1774 – Launch of HMS Nonsuch, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line


HMS Nonsuch was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 December 1774 at Plymouth.[2] She was broken up in 1802


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

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

Career
Nonsuch was commissioned in August 1775 as a guardship at Plymouth. She was fitted for the role in December 1776, but sailed for North America on 23 March 1777.

Class and type: Intrepid-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1373 (bm)
Length: 159 ft 5 in (48.6 m) (gundeck);130 ft 10 1⁄2 in (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam: 44 ft 0 7⁄8 in (13.4 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 0 1⁄2 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement:
  • As third rate: 500 (491 from 1794)
  • As floating battery: 230 officers and men, 14 Marines, and 50 supernumeraries.
Armament:
  • As third rate:
    • Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns
  • As floating battery:
    • Lower deck: 20 x 68-pounder carronades
    • Upper deck: 26 x 24-pounder guns
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers of the Intrepid class (approved 1765). As this plan is undated, it is unknown as to which of the class the plan refers to. The class was built in two batches: those ordered between 1765 and 1769 - Intrepid (1770), Monmouth (1772), Defiance (1772), Nonsuch (1774) and Ruby (1776), and then the second group ordered between 1771 and 1779 - Vigilant (1774), Eagle (1774), America (1777), Anson (1781), Polyphemus (1782), Magnanime (1780), Sampson (1781), Repulse (1780), Diadem (1782), and Standard (1782).

American War of Independence
On 7 July 1780 Nonsuch, under the command of Sir James Wallace, captured the brig-rigged cutter Hussard of Saint Malo. Hussard was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Echo.

On 14 July Nonsuch captured the 26-gun frigate Belle Poule off the Loire. The Royal Navy took Belle Poule into service under her existing name.

In April 1781, Nonsuch was part of Admiral George Darby's relief fleet during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. On 14 May 1781, on the homeward voyage, while scouting ahead, Nonsuch chased and brought to action the French 74-gun Actif, hoping to detain her until some others of the fleet came up. However, Actif was able to repulse Nonsuch, causing her to suffer 26 men killed and 64 wounded, and continued on to Brest.

Nonsuch fought at the Battle of the Saintes (9 April—12 April 1782).

Late in 1782 Nonsuch and Zebra escorted a fleet from Georgia "with the principal inhabitants, their Negroes, and their Effects" to Jamaica.

Floating battery
Between February and May 1794 Nonsuch was at Chatham, being cut down and fitted as a floating battery. Captain Bill Douglas commissioned her in March. In June she was at Jersey under Captain Philippe d'Auvergne, Prince of Bouillon, and Senior Officer of Gunboats, in charge of a small flotilla of useless gunvessels, including Eagle, Lion, Repulse, Scorpion, and Tiger. (The Navy disposed of most of them within a year or so.) Nonsuch was paid off in December. In February 1795 Captain William Mitchell recommissioned her in the Humber at Hull as a floating battery.

Mitchell's successor, in August, was Captain Henry Blackwood. Nonsuch's logs state she arrived in the Humber at the end of June 1795, having sailed up from Chatham under Blackwood's command. By 2 July she was in a permanent mooring at Hull Roads.

In April 1796 Captain Robert Dudley Oliver replaced Blackwood, only to be replaced in October 1797 by Captain Isaac Woolley, who commanded her until 1799.

Fate
In 1802 Nonsuch was broken up

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HMS Diadem (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_Nonsuch_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrepid-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-334934;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=N
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1782 - Launch of French Temeraire, the lead ship of the 74-gun Téméraire class


Téméraire was the lead ship of the Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Class and type: Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement:
  • 1966 tonnes
  • 3260 tonnes fully loaded
Length: 55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam: 14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught: 7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion: Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament:

a sistership captured by british
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'America' (1794), a captured French Third Rate, prior to fitting as a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Portsmouth Dockyard. Note that by Admiralty Order 14 July 1795 her name was changed to 'Impetueux'. Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].


She took part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2, battling HMS Russell.

She took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver of winter 1794-1795, but sustained damage when a leak opened in her hull in the night of the 30 to 31 December, and she had to return to Saint Malo. From 1798, she was in a state of disrepair and needed to be refitted or demolished. She was eventually condemned in 1802 and broken up in 1803.


large (3).jpg
Coloured lithograph (PAF4706 is an uncoloured impression). Le Genereux (a sistership) and HMS Leander are depicted after the action. Le Genereux, in port side view, is flying the French flag at the main mast and stern, gun ports are open, all sails are holed. The starboard bow of HMS Leander is visible on the right-hand side of the image. She appears to have lost her masts, tattered sails are draped on the decks and hang from the bowspit. Flotsam is visible in the calm sea. While carrying Nelson's despatches announcing the victory in the Battle of the Nile, HMS Leander was captured by the French Le Genereux on 18th August 1798. The crew displayed exceptionally brave resistence. The commander, Captain Thomas Boulden Thompson, and Nelson's flag commander, Edward Berry, who was on board, were afterwards knighted. Le Genereux was eventually captured and added to the Royal Navy in 1800.


The Téméraire-class ships of the line were class of a hundred and twenty 74-gun ships of the line ordered between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy or its attached navies in dependent (French-occupied) territories. Although a few of these were cancelled, the type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built.

The class was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané in 1782 as a development of the Annibal and her near-sister Northumberland, both of which had been designed by him and built at Brest during the 1777-1780 period. Some dozen ships were ordered and built to this new design from 1782 to 1785, and then the same design was adopted as a standard for all subsequent 74s during the next three decades as part of the fleet expansion programme instituted by Jean-Charles de Borda in 1786.

The design was appreciated in Britain, which eagerly commissioned captured ships and even copied the design with the Pompée and America class.






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Téméraire_(1782)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1799 - HMS Glenmore (1796 - 36) and HMS Aimable (1776 - 32) engaged Sirene (1795 - 36) and Bergere (1794 - 18).


On December 17th, the British Glenmore, 36, Captain George Duff, and Aimable, 32, Captain Henry Eaper, with a large convoy, fell in with the French Sirene, 36, Captain J. M. Kenaud, Bergere, 18, Captain Bourdichon, and the Calcutta, East Indiaman, which the French had just captured, off Madeira. The Glenmore mistook the Calcutta for a cut-down ship of the line and stood in chase of her and captured her. Meantime the Aimable pursued the two French warships, and at 1.30 P.M. was out of sight of her consort. She attacked the Bergere, hoping that the Glenmore would come up to her aid; but, when this did not happen and the Sirene wore and stood towards her, she had to draw off. She remained watching the French ships till nightfall, when she rejoined the convoy.


https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=551
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1810 - HMS Rinaldo (1808 - 10), James Anderson, engaged four French privateers near the Owers. One, La Vieux Josephine (1810 - 16) was sunk and a second which had struck escaped after Rinaldo ran foul of the Owers light vessel.



HMS Rinaldo (1808) was a 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop launched in 1808. She was converted to a packet brig in 1824 and was sold in 1835.

On the 17th Dec. 1810, the Rinaldo, while on her way from Dover to Spithead, induced four lugger privateers to chase her. It was nearly dark when the two foremost overtook her, and, with a volley from their small-arms, hailed her to strike. One being upon each of her quarters, she tacked, and poured a broadside into each; then, wearing, delivered a second broadside into the larger, which thereupon became unmanageable, and shouted that she was sinking. The second lugger, after endeavouring to run the Rinaldo down, was also reduced to call for quarter. While wearing round, and manning her boats, the brig fouled the Owers lightship, and could not for some time clear herself. This gave opportunity for three of the luggers to make off. The one which sank, unhappily with 77 out of a crew of 80, was the Vieille Josephine, 16. No one in the Rinaldo was hurt.


https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=895
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1851 - The Battle of the Tonelero Pass, also known as Passage of the Tonelero, was a battle fought near the cliff of Acevedo, Argentina, between the Argentine Confederation Army and warships of the Brazilian Imperial Navy


The Battle of the Tonelero Pass, also known as Passage of the Tonelero, was a battle fought near the cliff of Acevedo, in the west bank of the Paraná River, Argentina, on 17 December 1851, between the Argentine Confederation Army commanded by Lucio Norberto Mansilla and warships of the Brazilian Imperial Navy led by John Pascoe Grenfell.

Passage_of_tonelero.jpg
Brazilian warships passing The Tonelero defences

The battle
On 17 December 1851, the Brazilian fleet commanded by Grenfell was near the cliff of Acevedo in the river Paraná, with the intention to break through the Argentine defenses of Tonelero pass. There were eight Brazilian warships: four steam corvettes, Dom Pedro, Dom Pedro II, Dom Pedro and Recife, that towed two sailing corvettes, Dona Francisca and União, plus a brig, Calíope. On board Grenfell's flagship, Dom Afonso, were Brigadier General Marques de Sousa and the Argentines Colonel Wenceslao Paunero, Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolomé Mitre and Lieutenant-Colonel Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. The ships ferried half of the troops that composed the 1st Division of Imperial Infantry. The rest of the division was waiting at Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

Tonelero.png
Location of the Imperial Armada passing through Tonelero and Argentine batteries.

To oppose the passage, there were 16 cannons and 2,000 soldiers commanded by Lucio Norberto Mansilla, son-in-law of the leader of the Argentine Confederation, Juan Manuel de Rosas. For one hour the Argentines fired more than 450 cannon rounds in the direction of the Brazilian ships, causing little damage, but killing four sailors and wounding other five. The warships counterattacked, without causing major damage to the Argentine forces, killing eight soldiers and wounding twenty. The squadron landed the troops at Diamante, Entre Ríos and part of the ships returned to bring the other battalions that stayed behind in Colonia. Mansilla believed that the Brazilian division was going to land right on his main position. He fled along with his men, leaving all the artillery and other equipment behind.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tonelero_Pass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platine_War
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1903 – Launch of French République, a pre-dreadnought battleships of the French Navy;


République was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the early 1900s. The lead ship of her class, she had only one sister ship: Patrie. The ship was built by the Arsenal de Brest, laid down in December 1901, launched in September 1902, and commissioned into the fleet in December 1906, the same time as the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought. Armed with a main battery of four 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, she was outclassed by Dreadnought by the time she entered service.

Battleship_Republique_illustration.png

République served in the Mediterranean Fleet for the duration of her career. In 1910 she was accidentally torpedoed by Patrie. She was moored near the battleship Liberté when the latter exploded accidentally in 1911, and was damaged by flying debris. After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she covered troop convoys from Algeria to France, and participated in the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Zenta later that month. She spent the majority of the war in Corfu at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, to keep the Austro-Hungarian fleet bottled up in the Adriatic. She was eventually stricken in 1921 and broken up for scrap thereafter.

Design

Republique_class_line_drawing.png
Line-drawing of the Républiqueclass
Main article: République-class battleship

République was 133.81 meters (439 ft 0 in) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 24.26 m (79 ft 7 in) and a full-load draft of 8.41 m (27 ft 7 in). She displaced 14,605 metric tons (14,374 long tons; 16,099 short tons) at full load. She was powered by three vertical triple expansion engines with twenty-four Niclausse boilers. They were rated at 18,000 indicated horsepower (13,420 kW) and provided a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Coal storage amounted to 1,800 t (1,770 long tons; 1,980 short tons). She had a crew of 766–825 officers and enlisted men, which varied over the course of her career.

Republique_(1906).jpg

République's main battery consisted of four Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1893/96 guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary battery consisted of eighteen Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893 guns; twelve were mounted in twin turrets, and six in casemates in the hull. She also carried twenty-five 47 mm (1.9 in) guns. The ship was also armed with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubessubmerged in the hull. The ship's main belt was 280 mm (11.0 in) thick and the main battery guns were protected by up to 350 mm (13.8 in) of armor on the fronts of the turrets. The conning tower had 305 mm (12.0 in) thick sides.

Service history


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An armor plate from Liberte, lodged into the side of République, following the explosion.

République was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest in December 1901, launched on 4 September 1902, and completed in December 1906,[1] at the same time as the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought, which rendered the pre-dreadnoughts like République outdated. After commissioning in December 1906, République conducted her sea trials. During the speed trials, she reached a top speed of 19.15 knots (35.47 km/h; 22.04 mph), more than a knot faster than her contract speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). In 1907, after joining the fleet, République took first place in the annual gunnery competition. She was assigned to the 1st Division of the Mediterranean Fleet, along with her sister Patrie and Suffren, the divisional flagship.

On 16 February 1910, during exercises in the Gulf of Jouan, a torpedo was accidentally launched from her sister ship Patrie. The torpedo struck République, damaging her hull.[6] On 25 September 1911, the battleship Liberté was moored near Republique in Toulon. An accidental explosion, the result of the spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose gel, occurred aboard Liberté; she was destroyed and debris was hurled into the air. République was hit by a 37-metric-ton (36-long-ton; 41-short-ton) piece of armor plate from Liberté, on the starboard quarter directly behind the main battery turret. République was attached to the 2nd Battleship Squadron in April 1912, along with Patrie, the three surviving Liberté-class battleships, and Suffren.

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, République was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Squadron in the Mediterranean, along with Patrie and the flagship, Vérité; this was the main battle fleet of the French Navy. The French fleet was initially used to cover the movement of French troops—the XIX Corps—from Algeria to metropolitan France. As a result, the fleet was far out of position to catch the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. For the majority of the war, the French used their main fleet to keep the Austro-Hungarian fleet bottled up in the Adriatic Sea. In 1914 she participated in the Battle of Antivari, where the battle line caught the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Zenta by surprise and sank her. The French battleships then bombarded Austrian fortifications at Cattaro in an attempt to draw out the Austro-Hungarian fleet, which refused to take the bait.

Battleship_Republique_at_full_speed.png
République steaming at full speed

The French operations in the area were hampered by a lack of a suitable base close to the mouth of the Adriatic; the British had given the French free access to Malta, but it was hundreds of miles away. The Austrians also possessed several submarines, one of which torpedoed the dreadnought Jean Bart in December 1914. The threat from underwater weapons greatly limited French naval activities in the Adriatic. As the war progressed, the French eventually settled on Corfu as their primary naval base in the area. Together with the pre-dreadnought Gaulois, the ship covered the Allied evacuation from Gallipoli in January 1916.

Later in 1916, République, Patrie, and the surviving Liberté-class battleships supported Allied operations in Salonica and also detached landing parties to support the Allied attempt to force Greek acquiescence for those operations in Athens on 1 December. They spent the rest of the war at Salonica and Athens. During the war, four of République's 3-pounder guns were converted into anti-aircraft guns with new high-angle mounts. After the end of the war, République was placed in reserve in 1919, along with Patrie. She was disarmed the following year and subsequently stricken from the naval register in 1921 and broken up for scrap



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_République
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/République-class_battleship
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1915 – SMS Bremen, the lead ship of the seven-vessel Bremen class light cruisers, struck two Russian naval mines and sank with the loss of 250 of her crew.


SMS Bremen ("His Majesty's Ship Bremen")[a] was the lead ship of the seven-vessel Bremen class, built by the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, her namesake city. She was laid down in 1902, launched in July 1903, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in May 1904. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Bremen was capable of a top speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).

SMS_Bremen_LOC_ggbain_09545.jpg
Prewar photo of Bremen in Germany

Bremen served on the East American Station for the majority of her career, including the ten years before the outbreak of World War I. She returned to Germany in 1914 before the start of the war. At the onset of hostilities, she was attached to the fleet in the Baltic tasked with containing the Russians. In August 1915, she participated in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga, but did not see significant action during the battle. Four months later, on 17 December, she struck two Russian naval mines and sank, with the loss of 250 of her crew.

Construction
Main article: Bremen-class cruiser

1280px-SMS_Bremen_Gun_LOC_08813u.jpg
10.5 cm gun on board Bremen

Bremen was ordered under the contract name "L" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in the ship's namesake city in 1902 and launched on 9 July 1903, after which fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 19 May 1904. The ship was 111.1 meters (365 ft) long overall and had a beam of 13.3 m (44 ft) and a draft of 5.53 m (18.1 ft) forward. She displaced 3,797 t (3,737 long tons; 4,185 short tons) at full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion engines, designed to give 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) for a top speed of 22 knots(41 km/h; 25 mph). The engines were powered by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. Bremen carried up to 860 tonnes (850 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 4,270 nautical miles (7,910 km; 4,910 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). She had a crew of 14 officers and 274–287 enlisted men.

The ship was armed with ten 10.5 cm SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (40,000 ft). They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. She was also equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with five torpedoes. They were submerged in the hull on the broadside.[3] The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 mm (2.0 in) thick shields.

Service history

1280px-SMS_Bremen_1907.jpg
Bremen in 1907

After her commissioning, Bremen served on the East American station, and she frequently visited the United States. In April 1907, she and the armored cruiser Roon sailed to the United States to participate in the Jamestown Exposition commemorating the anniversary of the arrival of colonists in Chesapeake Bay on 26 April. In addition to the German delegation, the international fleet consisted of warships from Great Britain, Japan, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, and several other nations.

Wilhelm Canaris, the future admiral and head of the Abwehr during World War II, served aboard the ship starting on 2 November 1907, his first assignment after graduating from the naval academy. Bremen conducted a tour of South America in late 1908, beginning in September with a call on Buenos Aires, followed by a stop in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The tour lasted through February 1909, and included stops in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and the Dutch Antilles. In March, Bremen returned to the northern Atlantic and visited American ports for the next three months.

1280px-SMS_Bremen_LOC_hec_01142a.jpg
Bremen in the United States in 1912

In September–October 1909, Bremen, joined the protected cruisers Victoria Louise and Hertha, and the light cruiser Dresden, which had traveled to the United States to represent Germany during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. In early 1912, Bremen was assigned to a goodwill cruise to the United States, along with the battlecruiser Moltke and the light cruiser Stettin. On 11 May 1912 the ships left Kiel and arrived off Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 30 May. There, they met the US Atlantic Fleet and were greeted by then-President William Howard Taft aboard the presidential yacht USS Mayflower. After touring the East Coast for two weeks, they returned to Kiel on 24 June.

Bremen remained abroad until 1914, when she returned to Germany. After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, she was assigned to the fleet in the Baltic Sea. While there, she participated in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. She was assigned to the second attack on the Gulf, which took place on 16 August. She and the cruisers Graudenz, Augsburg, and Pillau escorted the dreadnoughts Nassau and Posen while they attempted to force their way into the Gulf. The German flotilla penetrated the Russian defenses by 19 August and steamed into the Gulf, but withdrew shortly thereafter due to the threat of Allied submarines and mines. On 17 December 1915, Bremen and the torpedo boat V191 ran into a Russian minefield; Bremen struck a pair of mines off Windau and sank, as did V191. The majority of Bremen's crew died in the sinking, with 250 men killed.

Unbenannt.JPG


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Bremen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen-class_cruiser
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1917 - While underway off Point Loma, Calif., USS F 1 collides with her sister submarine, USS F 3. With her hull torn open amidships, she rapidly sinks and loses 19 crewmen.


USS F-1 (SS-20) was an F-class submarine. She was named Carp when her keel was laid down by Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California, making her the first ship of the United States Navy named for the carp. She was launched on 6 September 1911 sponsored by Ms. J. Tynan, renamed F-1 on 17 November 1911, and commissioned on 19 June 1912, Lieutenant, Junior Grade J.B. Howell in command.

USS_F-1_1912.jpg

Service history
Assigned to the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, F-1 operated in the San Francisco, California area on trials and tests through 11 January 1913, when she joined the flotilla for training at sea between San Diego, California and San Pedro, California, then in San Diego Harbor.

USS_F-1_Grounded_1912.JPG
F-1 beached in late 1912 after slipping her mooring

In late 1912, the boat — which then held the world's deep diving record, descending to 283 ft (86 m) — slipped her mooring at Port Watsonville in Monterey Bay, California, and grounded on a nearby beach. While most of the crew of 17 safely evacuated, two men died in the incident.

From 21 July 1914 – 14 November 1915, the Flotilla based at Honolulu, Hawaii for development operations in the Hawaiian Islands.

F-1 was in ordinary from 15 March 1916 – 13 June 1917. When she returned to full commission, she served with the Patrol Force, Pacific, making surface and submerged runs to continue her part in the development of submarine tactics. Her base during this time was San Pedro, California. On 17 December 1917, while maneuvering in exercises off Point Loma, San Diego, California, F-1 and F-3 collided, the former sinking in ten seconds, her port side torn forward of the engine room. Nineteen of her men were lost; the remaining five were rescued by the submarines with which she was operating.

US_Navy_F-Class_Plans-1_1910.jpg
US_Navy_F-Class_Plans-2_1910.jpg
Plans for the F-class submarines of the US Navy


Vessels in class
  • USS F-1 (SS-20) (originally named Carp, but renamed F-1 on 17 November 1911) was laid down on 23 August 1909, launched on 6 September 1911 and was commissioned on 19 June 1912. Sunk by collision with F-3, 17 December 1917.
  • USS F-2 (SS-21) (originally named Barracuda, but renamed F-2 on 17 November 1911) was laid down on 23 August 1909, launched on 19 March 1912 and was commissioned on 25 June 1912. Reclassified as SS-21 on 17 July 1920, the submarine was decommissioned on 16 March 1922 and sold afterwards.
  • USS F-3 (SS-22) (originally named Pickerel, but renamed F-3 on 17 November 1911) was laid down on 17 August 1909, launched on 6 January 1912 and was commissioned on 5 August 1912. Reclassified as SS-22 on 17 July 1920, the submarine was decommissioned on 15 March 1922 and sold afterwards.
  • USS F-4 (SS-23) (originally named Skate, but renamed F-4 on 17 November 1911) was laid down on 21 August 1909, launched on 6 January 1912 and was commissioned on 3 May 1913. Foundered off Hawaii, 25 March 1915.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_F-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_F-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_F-class_submarine
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.


Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class "Panzerschiff" (armored ship), nicknamed a "pocket battleship" by the British, which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The two sister-ships of her class, Deutschland and Admiral Scheer, were reclassified as heavy cruisers in 1940. The vessel was named after Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron that fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action, in World War I. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets, Admiral Graf Spee and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) left only the few battlecruisers in the Anglo-French navies fast enough and powerful enough to sink them.

Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-63-06,_Panzerschiff__Admiral_Graf_Spee_.jpg

The ship conducted five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938, and participated in the Coronation Review of King George VI in May 1937. Admiral Graf Spee was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II, to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared. Between September and December 1939, the ship sank nine ships totaling 50,089 gross register tons (GRT), before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. Admiral Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, but she too was damaged, and was forced to put into port at Montevideo. Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces approaching his ship, Hans Langsdorff, the commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled. The ship was partially broken up in situ, though part of the ship remains visible above the surface of the water.

Graf_Spee_scuttled.png


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_River_Plate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Admiral_Graf_Spee
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 1941 - First Battle of Sirte


The First Battle of Sirte was fought between the British Royal Navy and the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. The engagement, largely uneventful, took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of Malta, in the Gulf of Sirte.

In the following days, two Royal Navy forces based at Malta ran into an Italian minefield off Tripoli and two British battleships were disabled by Italian manned torpedoes at Alexandria. By the end of December, the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean had shifted in favour of the Italian Fleet.

Andrea_Doria_1940.jpg
The Italian battleship Andrea Doria training her main guns at Pola, 1940

Background
The British Eighth Army and the Axis armies in North Africa were engaged in battles resulting from Operation Crusader, which had been fought between 18 November and 4 December. Its aim was to defeat the Afrika Korps and relieve the siege of Tobruk. This had been achieved and Axis forces were conducting a fighting retreat; by 13 December, they were holding a defensive line at Gazala, east of Benghazi. The Axis were desperate to supply their forces, intending to transport stores to Tripoli, their main port in Libya and Benghazi, the port closest to the front line. The island garrison of Malta was under siege and the British wanted to supply their forces on the island.

Prelude
Axis convoys M41 and M42
The Italians were preparing to send M41, a convoy of eight ships, to Africa on 13 December 1941. That morning, their previous supply attempt, two fast cruisers carrying fuel to Tripoli, had failed when both ships were sunk at the Battle of Cape Bon by a force of destroyers en route to Alexandria.

Convoy M41 consisted of eight merchant ships in three groups, with a close escort of five destroyers and a distant cover force of the battleships, Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, four destroyers and two torpedo boats.

Soon after sailing on 13 December, a group of M41 was attacked by the British submarine HMS Upright and two ships were sunk; later that day two ships collided and had to return to base, while the distant cover force was sighted by the submarine HMS Urge and Vittorio Veneto was torpedoed and forced to return to port.

Supermarina the Italian navy high command, rattled by these losses and a report that a British force of two battleships was at sea, ordered the ships to return to await reinforcement but the "force of two battleships" was a decoy operation by the minelayer HMS Abdiel.

On 16 December, the four-ship Italian convoy, renamed M42, left Taranto, picking up escorts along the way. The close escort was provided by seven destroyers and a torpedo boat; by the time they reached Sicily they were also accompanied by a close cover force, comprising the battleship Caio Duilio, three light cruisers and three destroyers. The distant covering force consisted of the battleships Littorio, Andrea Doria and Giulio Cesare, two cruisers and 10 destroyers.

Allied convoy
The British planned to run supplies to Malta using the fast merchant ship Breconshire, covered by a force of cruisers and destroyers, while the destroyers from the Cape Bon engagement, would proceed to Alexandria from Malta covered by Force K and Force B from Malta on 15 December.

The British force was depleted when the light cruiser HMS Galatea was torpedoed and sunk by U-557, just before midnight on 14 December. U-557 was accidentally sunk less than 48 hours later, by the Italian torpedo boat Orione.

On 15 December, Breconshire sailed from Alexandria escorted by three cruisers and eight destroyers under Rear-Admiral Philip Vian in HMS Naiad. On 16 December, the four destroyers of 4th Flotilla (Commander G. Stokes in HMS Sikh) left Malta, covered by Force K (Captain W. G. "Bill" Agnew in HMS Aurora), two cruisers and two destroyers. Thirty Italian warships were escorting four cargo ships. The two British groups were also at sea and steaming toward each other; the opposing forces were likely to cross each other's tracks east of Malta on 18 December.

Order of battle
Forces present 17 December 1941
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3.JPG


Battle
On 17 December, an Italian reconnaissance aircraft spotted the British west-bound formation near Sidi Barrani, apparently proceeding from Alexandria to intercept the Italian convoy. The British convoy was shadowed by Axis aeroplanes and attacked during the afternoon but no hits were scored and Agnew and Stokes met the west-bound convoy. By late afternoon the Italian fleet was close by and spotter planes from the battleships had made contact with the British convoy, but the planes misidentified Breconshire as a battleship. At 17:42, the fleets sighted each other; Admiral Angelo Iachino—commander of the Italian forces—moved to intercept to cover his convoy.

Vian also wished to avoid combat, so with the British giving ground and the Italians pursuing with caution, the British were easily able to avoid an engagement. Just after sunset, an air attack on the British ships caused them to return fire with their anti-aircraft guns, allowing the Italian naval force to spot them. Iachino took in the distant covering force and opened fire at about 32,000 m (35,000 yd), well out of range of the British guns. Vian immediately laid smoke and moved to the attack while Breconshire moved away, escorted by the destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Havock.

Lacking radar and mindful of their defeat in the night action at the Battle of Cape Matapan, the Italians wished to avoid night combat. Expecting an attack, the Italians fired for only 15 minutes before disengaging and returning westward to convoy M42. HMS Kipling suffered the loss of one seaman and some damage due to a near-miss from an 8 in (200 mm) shell, possibly fired by the Italian cruiser Gorizia or by 13 in (320 mm) shell splinters fired by Andrea Doria and Giulio Cesare, knocking down wireless aerials and holing the hull, superstructure and ship's boats. According to Italian sources, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyer HMAS Nizam was also damaged by near-misses from the Italian destroyer Maestrale. British reports tell of other warships punctured by splinters.

Aftermath
Minefield off Tripoli
After dark, Vian to return with Stokes to Alexandria, leaving Agnew to bring Breconshire to Malta, joined by Force B, one cruiser (the other was under repair) and two destroyers. Breconshire and her escorts arrived in Malta at 15:00 on 18 December. At midday, the Italian force also split up and three ships headed for Tripoli, accompanied by the close cover force, while the German supply ship Ankara, headed for Benghazi. The distant cover force remained on station in the Gulf of Sidra until evening, before heading back to base. The British had now realised that the Italians had a convoy in the area; Vian searched for it without success as he returned to Alexandria.

In the afternoon, the position of the Tripoli group was established; a cruiser and two destroyers of Force B and two cruisers and two destroyers of Force K (Captain O'Conor, on the cruiser HMS Neptune) sortied at 18:00 to intercept. The force ran into a minefield 20 mi (17 nmi; 32 km) off Tripoli, in the early hours of 19 December. The minefield took the British by surprise as the water-depth was 600 ft (180 m), which they had thought was too deep for mines. Neptune struck four mines and sank, the destroyer HMS Kandahar struck a mine and was scuttled the following day. The cruisers HMS Aurora and Penelope were badly damaged but were able to return to Malta. About 830 Allied seamen, many of them New Zealanders from Neptune, lost their lives in the disaster. The Malta Strike Force, which had been such an active threat to Axis shipping to Libya during most of 1941, was much reduced in its effectiveness and was later forced to withdraw to Gibraltar.

Attack on Alexandria
Main article: Raid on Alexandria (1941)
While steaming back to Alexandria along with Vian's force, destroyer HMS Jervis reported an apparently successful depth-charge attack on an unidentified submarine. The only axis submarine off Alexandria was the Italian Sciré, which was carrying a group of Luigi Durand De La Penne (Italian frogmen) equipped with manned torpedoes. Shortly after Vian's force arrived in Alexandria, on the night of 18 December, the Italians penetrated the harbour and attacked the fleet. Jervis was damaged, a large Norwegian tanker disabled and the battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth were severely damaged. This was a strategic change of fortune against the Allies whose effects were felt in the Mediterranean for several months.

Results
Both sides achieved their strategic objectives; the British got supplies through to Malta and the Axis got their ships through to Tripoli and Benghazi, although Benghazi fell to the Eighth Army five days later, on 24 December.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Sirte
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
17 December 2009 – MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.


Danny F II (originally Don Carlos) was a cargo ship built in 1975 as a car carrier. It was renamed Danny F II when rebuilt as a livestock transporter in 1994. The ship capsized and sank off Lebanon on 17 December 2009, carrying 83 people, 10,224 sheep, and 17,932 cattle. Thirty-nine people were rescued and nine human bodies recovered. The other passengers and animals are presumed to have died.

MV_Don_Carlos.jpg MV_Danny_F_II.JPG

Construction
Don Carlos was built by Oy Wärtsilä Ab Turku shipyard, Finland, as yard number 1220. She was launched on 14 November 1975, and completed in April 1976. She was 202.62 metres (664 ft 9 in) long, with a beam of 28.15 metres (92 ft 4 in) and a draught of 8.48 metres (27 ft 10 in). The ship was 14,478 GT, 7,258 NRT and 14,800 DWT. Her Sulzer 6RND 90 diesel engine gave her a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h).

History
Don Carlos was built for Rederei AB Soya, Stockholm. Originally a car carrier, she was delivered on 30 April 1976. In October 1985, Don Carlos was transferred to Wallenius Lines Singapore Ptd Ltd, Singapore. In July 1994, she was sold to BSA Transportation Pte, Ltd. of Singapore and renamed Danny F II.

Danny F II arrived at Singapore on 15 August 1994 for rebuilding as a livestock transporter. The work was carried out by Pan United Shipyards.[6] She was sold in 1995 to Rachid Fares Enterprise Proprietary, Fremantle, and reflagged to Liberia. On 25 April 2000, she was registered to Danny F II, St Vincent and the Grenadines.[3] On 16 September 2000, Danny F II rescued the 25 crew of Madona some 200 nautical miles (370 km) north of the Cocos Islands. Madona had developed a severe list after her cargo shifted. On 24 October 2005, Danny F II was registered to Falcon Point International, Panama.

In 2005, it was reported that Danny F II had been detained at Adelaide because of defects which included holed bulkheads, defective navigation lights and radio equipment and defective watertight doors.

Sinking
On 17 December 2009, Danny F II capsized and sank in bad weather in the Mediterranean Sea, 11 nautical miles (20 km) from Tripoli, Lebanon (not to be confused with the Libyan city of the same name), while sailing from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Tartus, Syria, carrying six passengers, 77 crew, 10,224 sheep and 17,932 head of cattle. At least 47 survivors were rescued and nine bodies recovered, including a man who died before reaching a hospital. The ship's British captain, John M Milloy, is reported to have remained on board when the ship rolled over in the high seas. As of 25 January 2010, 43 people were unaccounted for presumed dead.

All the livestock are presumed perished.

After a distress call made at 15:55 local time (13:55 UTC), a rescue effort was launched comprising ships from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) CTF 448 under the command of Italian Navy Rear Admiral Francesco Sandalli, onboard ITS Zeffiro. Among the rescuers where two German Navy Ships, as part of the CTF 448, and small rescue boats from Lebanese Armed Force (LAF). A Bell Griffin HAR2 helicopter from 84 Squadron, Royal Air Force, based at RAF Akrotiri and Cyprus Police Aviation Unit helicopters (Bell 412) following a request from the rescue coordination centre in Larnaca were dispatched to assist in the rescue.

Rescue efforts were hampered by poor weather conditions, high waves and floating carcasses from the ship's livestock cargo.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Danny_F_II
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 17 December

1717 - HMS Sorlings (1706 - 42) wrecked in a storm on the East Freisland coast, 142 were drowned

Sorlings.JPG
The French ship Protée capturing the English ship HMS Pendennis , supported by the French Triton and Salisbury. In the background, the battle between six other French warships, French privateers, and the English ships Blackwall and HMS Sorlings. The battle actually took place on 20 October 1705.

Lark group - 42-gun fifth rates 1703-1706
HMS Hector 1703
HMS Lark 1703
HMS Greyhound 1703
HMS Garland 1703
HMS Folkestone 1703
HMS Roebuck 1704 (40 guns only)
HMS Sorlings 1706

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6784


1718 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.

By 17 December 1718, the French, British, and Austrians had all officially entered the war against Spain. The Dutch would join them later, in August 1719.

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


1746 Death of Richard Lestock

Richard Lestock (22 February 1679 – 17 December 1746) was an officer in the Royal Navy, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral. He fought in a number of battles, and was a controversial figure, most remembered for his part in the defeat at the Battle of Toulon, and the subsequent court-martial.

Richard_Lestock.jpg 4.JPG

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


1747 – Launch of Spanish Tigre (San Lorenzo) 70/74 at Havana - Captured by Britain 11 August 1762, same name, sold 1784


1761 – Launch of Spanish San Antonio 60 at Havana - Captured by Britain 11 August 1762, retaining same name, sold 1775

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-345737;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S


1777 - Launch of HMS Romulus, a 44-gun Roebuck-class two-decker

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebuck-class_ship


1809 - HMS Sceptre (74), Cptn. Samuel James Ballard, and consorts took Loire (20) and Seine (20) at Anse la Barque, Guadaloupe.

HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821.

large (5).jpg
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].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sceptre_(1802)


1811 – Launch of French Meuse, a 40-gun Pallas class frigates

The Pallas class constituted the standard design of 40-gun frigates of the French Navy during the Napoleonic Empire period. Jacques-Noël Sané designed them in 1805, as a development of his seven-ship Hortense class of 1802, and over the next eight years the Napoléonic government ordered in total 62 frigates to be built to this new design. Of these some 54 were completed, although ten of them were begun for the French Navy in shipyards within the French-occupied Netherlands or Italy, which were then under French occupation; these latter ships were completed for the Netherlands or Austrian navies after 1813.

Clorinde-cropped.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate_(1808)


1812 - The brig USS Argus, commanded by Arthur Sinclair, recaptures the American schooner Vancise during the War of 1812. The ship had been abandoned and found derelict by another ship.


The first USS Argus, originally named USS Merrimack, was a brig in the United States Navy commissioned in 1803. She enforced the Embargo Act of 1807 and fought in the First Barbary War – taking part in the blockade of Tripoli and the capture of Derna – and the War of 1812. During the latter inflict, she had been audaciously raiding British merchant shipping in British home waters for a month, when the heavier British Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Pelican intercepted her. After a sharp fight during which Argus's captain, Master Commandant William Henry Allen, was mortally wounded, Argus surrendered when the crew of Pelican were about to board.

American_naval_battles;_(1837)_(14741132336) (1).jpg
Argus during the War of 1812

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Argus_(1803)


1846 Ships under Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry capture Laguna de Terminos during Mexican War.

Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a Commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War (1846–48). He played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.

Commodore_Matthew_Calbraith_Perry.png

Perry was interested in the education of naval officers, and assisted in the development of an apprentice system that helped establish the curriculum at the United States Naval Academy. With the advent of the steam engine, he became a leading advocate of modernizing the U.S. Navy and came to be considered "The Father of the Steam Navy" in the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_C._Perry


1863 - The bark-rigged clipper ship USS Roebuck seizes blockade-runner British schooner Ringdove off Indian River, Fla., with cargo including salt, coffee, tea, and whiskey.

USS Roebuck (1856) was a barque used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
She was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. At war's end, she was converted to a storeship before eventually being decommissioned.
Roebuck, a bark rigged clipper ship built at New York in 1856 by Thomas Collyer, operated as a merchantman and made at least one voyage around Cape Horn to California. She was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 21 July 1861 from Reynolds and Cushman of that city; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 8 November 1861, Act. Vol. Lt. George A. Trundy in command.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Roebuck_(1856)


1917 - USS Remlik (SP 157) reportedly encounters an enemy submarine during a storm in the Bay of Biscay, but the weather prevents an engagement. While she is fighting the heavy seas that day, a depth charge breaks loose on her after deck and is secured by Chief Boatswain's Mate John MacKenzie, who receives the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions.

USS Remlik (SP-157) (sometimes spelled Remlick) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was converted into an armed patrol craft and assigned to protect ships from German submarines in the North Atlantic Ocean. Post-war she was decommissioned, stripped of naval ordnance and sold in Norfolk, Virginia.

Yacht_Remlik_(1903).jpg

USS_Remlik_(SP-157).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Remlik_(SP-157)


1942 - USS Grouper (SS 214) sinks the Japanese army passenger cargo ship Bandoeng Maru about 15 miles northwest of Cape Henpan, Buka Island, Solomons and survives the counterattack by submarine chaser Ch 29.

USS Grouper (SS/SSK/AGSS-214), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grouper.

USS_Grouper;0821405.jpg

Grouper was launched by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut on 27 October 1941 (sponsored by Mrs. Albert F. Church), and commissioned at New London on 12 February 1942, with Lieutenant Commander C. E. Duke in command.

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


1998 - The Battle of Yeosu, in December 1998, was a naval skirmish that began when the Republic of Korea Navy intercepted a North Korean semi-submersible vessel attempting to land commandos on the southern South Korean coast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yeosu
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1633 - Birth of Willem van de Velde the Younger (bapt. 18 December 1633; died 6 April 1707), a Dutch marine painter.


Biography
Willem van de Velde was baptised on 18 December 1633 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic.

800px-Willem_van_de_Velde_II_(1633-1707)_-_(by_Lodewijk_van_der_Helst,_1672).jpg

A son of Willem van de Velde the Elder, also a painter of sea-pieces, Willem van de Velde, the younger, was instructed by his father, and afterwards by Simon de Vlieger, a marine painter of repute at the time, and had achieved great celebrity by his art before he came to London. By 1673 he had moved to England, where he was engaged by Charles II, at a salary of £100, to aid his father in "taking and making draughts of sea-fights", his part of the work being to reproduce in color the drawings of the elder Van de Velde. He was also patronized by the Duke of York and by various members of the nobility.

He died on 6 April 1707 in London, England, and was buried at St. James's Church.

His brother Adriaen van de Velde was also an artist.

Works

1280px-Willem_van_de_Velde_II_-_Dutch_men-o'-war_and_other_shipping_in_a_calm.jpg
Dutch men-o'-war and other shipping in a calm. c. 1665

800px-Het_Kanonschot_-_Canon_fired_(Willem_van_de_Velde_II,_1707).jpg

800px-De_Windstoot_-_A_ship_in_need_in_a_raging_storm_(Willem_van_de_Velde_II,_1707).jpg

The pendants The cannon shot and The gust (c. 1680), in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Most of Van de Velde's finest works represent views off the coast of Holland, with Dutch shipping. His best productions are delicate, spirited and finished in handling, and correct in the drawing of the vessels and their rigging. The numerous figures are tellingly introduced, and the artist is successful in his renderings of sea, whether in calm or storm. The ships are portrayed with almost photographic accuracy, and are the most precise guides available to the appearance of 17th-century ships.

There are a number of van de Velde's marine paintings in the Wallace Collection, London, including "The Embarkation of King Charles II at Scheveningen, 1660".

800px-HMS_St_Andrew_at_sea_in_a_moderate_breeze.jpg
HMS St Andrew at sea in a moderate breeze, painted c. 1673

De_Velde,_Battle_Of_Solebay.jpg
The burning of the Royal James at the Battle of Solebay


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_van_de_Velde_the_Younger
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/actor:van-de-velde-ii-willem-16331707/page/2
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1669 - Battle of Cádiz (1669)


The Battle of Cádiz, on 18–19 December 1669, took place in the waters near Cádiz between the English fourth-rate frigate Mary Rose under the command of Rear-Admiral John Kempthorne, escorting several merchantmen, and a group of seven pirate ships operating out of Algiers. The incident was recorded and drawn by the engraver Wenceslaus Hollar, with an engraving appearing in John Ogilby's Africa.

Hollar-Kempthorne's_Engagement.png
Engraving of the battle by Wenceslaus Hollar, an eyewitness

The action occurred while the Mary Rose was returning from a diplomatic mission to Mulay Rashid (referred to as "Tafiletta" in early English sources), the sultan of Morocco, that had been conducted by Lord Henry Howard, with Hollar accompanying him in order to complete some drawings and maps of Tangier that he had begun some years earlier. The frigate was towing a merchant ship, the King David, that Kempthorne had recaptured from Barbary pirates, and was accompanied by five other vessels. The convoy encountered a group of seven pirate ships on 18 December 1669, with six attacking the Mary Rose while one pursued the King David that Kempthorne had cut loose. The pirates withdrew as night fell, resuming their attack on the morning of the 19th. Despite the Mary Rose sustaining damage to all three masts, she held off the attack, and the pirates withdrew, capturing only the King David. After repairs at Cádiz the Mary Rose returned to England in April 1670, and Kempthorne was knighted for "his very great valour".[3] A version of Hollar's engraving of the battle was done by Willem van de Velde the Younger.

large (2).jpg
Action between HMS Mary Rose and seven Algerines, 18 December 1669 (BHC0297)

Background
The Mary Rose, a fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy carrying forty-eight guns, conveyed Lord Henry Howard, with an entourage of 70 attendants and £4000 in gifts, to Tangier in 1668 or 1669. The visit was on the order of Charles II to negotiate a commercial treaty with the sultan of Morocco, Al-Rashid, also known as "Tafiletta". The engraver Wenceslaus Hollar formed part of the expedition on his own request to finish drawings of Tangier he had started when he accompanied Howard's grandfather on a similar mission in 1636.[5][6] The meeting with Mulay Rashid was delayed for eleven months[8] and ended up not taking place at all; then, according to Hollar, Howard obtained a "Letter of Security" from Mulay Rashid and "purposd himself" to "go by Land, and the Ship by Sea to Salee" from where they "set Sail on Wednesday the eighth of the said Month at two a clock in the morning".

Prelude
The Mary Rose was accompanied by three ships: a small narrow-sterned ship of shallow draught or pink, the two-masted Roe ketch which had come from England with her, and a Hamburg merchantman, called the "Hamborough frigate." They passed Asilah that evening. After midnight, they overtook a large flyboat of 300 tons, loaded with timber, tobacco, salt, and malt. This proved to be the King David, an English trader bound from New England to Cádiz. Off Cape St. Vincent, she had been captured by a party of Algerines or Barbary pirates, and the captain and crew were taken as slaves. When the Mary Rose and convoy found her, she carried a prize-crew of 22 Algerines, as well as one Russian and two Englishmen; Hollar writes that "we transported them aboard [the Mary Rose], and sent other men aboard her."

An English prize-crew was sent aboard, and the King David was to follow the convoy to Salé. However, the recaptured ship was both poorly built for speed and laden with cargo, and the Mary Rose was obliged to tow her, retarding the convoy's progress. Consequently, they did not arrive at Salé until the 11th, where they met a two-masted brigantine from Tangier with Englishmen aboard. This vessel told them that there was an insurrection in progress and that they could not land, and recommended that they try to pick up some of the people ashore.

The convoy remained there until the 13th, though failing to bring anyone aboard as they were detained in Salé. A storm forced them to leave the shore, towing the brigantine astern. The storm continued for the next few days, during which, says Hollar, the Mary Rose took on the brigantine's crew and passengers and let her go.[9] On the 15th they sighted Rota, but were unable to put in because of the contrary wind. On the 17th the convoy was joined by two merchantmen, one French and one Scottish, bound from the Canary Islands to Cádiz. Several times during these few days the Mary Rose saw two Algerine men of war; these merchantmen had also seen the men of war and come to the convoy for protection.

Battle

Van_de_Velde_the_Younger_-_Mary_Rose.png
Van de Velde's drawing of the battle, based on Hollar's eyewitness engraving

At dawn on the 18th, the Mary Rose sighted seven Algerine men of war. The Mary Rose immediately prepared for action, clearing the decks in order to work the guns, taking on the prize-crew of the King David and abandoning her to be driven by the wind, and throwing overboard anything that might prove a hindrance. The Algerine ships passed near noon; one of the prisoners, a Dutchman, identified them as the Golden Lion, Orange Tree, Half Moon, Seven Stars, White Horse, Blewhart, and Rose Leaf. The Half Moon, not built for speed and also loaded down with men, fell behind, and the others sent two boats to tow her; Admiral Kempthorne sent out a boat to intercept theirs, but the Algerines sent out another boat, well-armed, and Kempthorne recalled the English boat.

The Algerine ships stood close together, and around 3:00 six of them attacked the Mary Rose, while the Rose Leaf chased the abandoned King David. Hollar described "a hot Service, and much harm done on both sides," until night fell and the Algerine ships retired.

Early the next morning the two groups engaged again. The Algerines approached in a line from the southeast: the Half Moon was first, and she and subsequent ships fired, both with broadsidesfrom the ships' guns and with small-arms, on the Mary Rose before steering away to the northeast. According to Hollar's account, Mary Rose replied firing every other gun, in order to be able to keep up a consistent fire on all the approaching ships.[9] Golden Lion, the Algerine flagship, was in the rear, intending to board. However, the Mary Rose hit her hull below the waterline with one shot and destroyed her mainsail with another, and she, along with the other Algerines, retreated.

large (1).jpg
A starboard broadside view of a ship being towed out of action, with only her foremast standing; the fore course is set, but only the shreds of a topsail are left. A galley is positioned under her stern. This is a pen and brown ink drawing by the Younger with a grey wash. It has a pencil signature ‘W.V.V.J’, which is thought to be false. The work is a sketch for a painting and is of very doubtful date; it might be as late as 1700.

During the battle, the French and Scottish merchantmen escaped; a number of Jews and Armenians aboard the pink, according to Hollar, attempted to take the ship over to the Algerines, but the latter mistook it for a fire ship sent by the English to destroy them, and the attempt failed when the squadron retreated.[9]

The English casualties were twelve killed and eighteen wounded; according to Owen Hurst, the Mary Rose had all three masts damaged, and her mainmast, foremast, and both topmast yards disabled.

Aftermath
The Mary Rose arrived in Cádiz on the 20th. Kempthorne sold the 22 Algerine prisoners as slaves; two were bought by the English consul there.[3] The Mary Rose returned to England in April 1670 with a thirty-ship convoy of Mediterranean trade and a cargo of silver, whereupon Kempthorne was knighted for "his very great valour and conduct shown against the pirates of Algiers."

King David, which had been taken by the Rose Leaf, was recaptured by Sir Thomas Allin, who ordered her to be sold with her cargo as a prize at Málaga; the original owners successfully petitioned to have them restored. In July 1670, Charles II ordered that money earned from selling Moorish prisoners should henceforth be put into a fund for the redemption of Englishmen taken as slaves, beginning with King David's crew, including master Edward Clements and supercargo Jeremiah Armiger, who had put up three days' resistance before being captured. Sailors who had fought well were also to be given preference in the future.

Arts
Hollar, who reportedly sat on deck sketching during the action, later produced an etching of the battle, which was included in Ogilby's 1670 Africa. The picture shows the Algerine line engaging the Mary Rose and the Roe, while Rose Leaf chases King David to the southeast, the French merchantman escapes to the northwest, and the other merchantmen shelter behind the Mary Rose. Willem van de Velde the Younger soon after made his own drawing of the battle, based on Hollar's. A van de Velde oil painting based on Hollar's etching of the Mary Rose engagement is in the Royal Collection, where it has been held at least since 1687, and is currently (2013) on public display in the Queen’s Private Dining Room at Hampton Court Royal Palace. A copy with the monogram of Adriaen van Diest inscribed on the reverse was with the Leger Galleries in London in 1973, and another is recorded as being in the collection at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, England. This picture was possibly commissioned during Kempthorne's lifetime or by his family: alterations from the original were made to the flags in order to correct them.

A painting signed by Peter Monamy in the National Maritime Museum has an inscription stating that it depicts this battle. It is more likely, however, that it was intended to depict a similar battle fought in 1681 by Morgan Kempthorne, John Kempthorne's son, in the Kingfisher.


large.jpg
Portrait of the ‘Mary Rose’, fourth rate, viewed from the port quarter. She was built in 1654 as the ‘Maidstone’, 48 guns, and renamed in 1660. She was taken by the French 1691. Part of the bow is not shown. The gundeck port is in line with the break of the forecastle coming on the edge of the paper. The ship has square decorated ports. There is a draped figure in a recess above the quarter-gallery and a Tudor rose below. The work is unsigned. It has been rubbed on the back; possibly it has had an offset taken from it.

The Maidstone was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England at Woodbridge, and launched in 1654.

Class and type: Fourth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 556
Length: 100 ft (30.5 m) (keel)
Beam: 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft (4.0 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament: 40 guns (1660); 48 guns (1677)

After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, her name was changed to Mary Rose. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 48 guns. She fought in the Anglo-Dutch Warsand the War of the Grand Alliance. She was commanded by John Kempthorne in 1669, and fought off an attack by seven Algerian corsair ships in the Battle of Cádiz. Mary Rosewas captured by the French in 1691




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cádiz_(1669)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Mary_Rose_(1654)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-329835;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=M
http://www.cichw1.net/pmhollalger2.html
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1750 – Launch of French Foudroyant, a 80-gun ship of the line at Toulon,
designed by François Coulomb the Younger) – Captured by the British near Cartagena in February 1758 and added to the RN under the same name, BU 1787


The Foudroyant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was later captured and served in the Royal Navy as the Third Rate HMS Foudroyant.

Class and type: 80-gun Third Rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 2061 57⁄94(bm)
Length: 180 ft 5 in (54.99 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
Depth of hold: 23 ft (7.0 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:
  • French service:
  • Gundeck: 30 × 36-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 32 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 18 × 8-pounder guns
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The 'Foudroyant' was a large and new 80-gun French flagship of a squadron under Admiral Duquesne. On 28 February 1758 she was on her way to relieve the French Commodore, de la Clue, at Cartagena when she was intercepted by Admiral Osborn with three British ships of the line, the 'Monmouth' and 'Hampton Court', both 64 guns, and the 'Swiftsure', 70 guns. The 'Monmouth' was the first of the separated British squadron to engage the 'Foudroyant', despite the disparity in force between the ships. The action began at 8.00 pm and at about 9.30 pm, the 'Monmouth's' commander, Captain Arthur Gardiner, was hit in the forehead by a piece of grape-shot. He was carried below and Lieutenant Robert Carkett assumed command. Shortly afterwards, the 'Monmouth' lost her mizzen, followed by the 'Foudroyant', which also lost her mainmast. By midnight, the Frenchman's fire had almost ceased and, on the arrival of the 'Swiftsure', which fired one broadside into her, she struck. The 'Monmouth' was unable to take possession of the 'Foudroyant' herself, since none of her boats would float and Captain Gardiner subsequently died from his wounds. 'Foudroyant' was taken into the Royal Navy after capture and during her working life was considered to be its finest two-decker. Several other ships were later named after her. The principal ships are shown in the moonlit path of the night action. The 'Foudroyant', in port-broadside view, is on the left of the picture, her main and mizzen mast gone and still firing at the 'Monmouth'. The latter, in the centre of the picture, also in port-bow view, and with her mizzen mast gone, is firing her starboard broadside. On her port bow, in the water, is what is probably her mizzen spars, and in the right background the 'Swiftsure' and 'Hampton Court' are overhauling the combatants. The artist was a painter and draughtsman who worked as a Navy Office messenger in 1735. He was practising as a marine painter by the late 1740s, and regularly exhibited in the Free and Incorporated Societies of Artists from 1761. His work was an interpretation of ideas made popular in England by Willem van de Velde the Younger's, but shows an informed knowledge of English shipping. The painting is signed but not dated.

French Navy and capture
Foudroyant was built at Toulon to a design by François Coulomb, and was launched on 18 December 1750. She was present at the Battle of Minorca in 1756, where she engaged the British flagship HMS Ramillies. She then formed part of a squadron under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran, during which time she was captured during the Battle of Cartagena off Cartagena, Spain on 28 February 1758 by Monmouth, Hampton Court and Swiftsure. The Monmouth's Captain Gardiner was wounded early in the fight, and died, and his two lieutenants commanded the ship for most of the battle. The captain of the Foudroyant insisted upon handing his sword to the lieutenants, including Lt Hammick, who commanded the main gun-deck. After the battle the ship's crew composed a poem about the action which included the lines "Gallant Hammick aimed his guns with care, not one random shot he fired in the air".

large (4).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Foudroyant (captured 1758), a captured French 80-gun, fitted as an 80-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan illustrates a British configuration. The ship was fitted at Portsmouth Dockyard between 26 February and August 1759. She was later refitted between January and April 1760 at Plymouth Dockyard. Foudroyant later underwent a large repair at Plymouth Dockyard between February 1772 and November 1773.

Royal Navy
She was brought into Portsmouth and surveyed there in September 1758 for £163.10.2d. The Admiralty approved her purchase on 7 November that year, and she was duly bought on 6 December for the sum of £16,759.19.11d. She was officially named Foudroyant and entered onto the navy lists on 13 December 1758. She underwent a refit at Portsmouth between February and August 1759 for the sum of £14,218.9.2d to fit her for navy service.

She was commissioned in June 1759 under the command of Captain Richard Tyrell, serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy between June and October 1759. She spent August sailing with Admiral Edward Hawke's fleet. Foudroyant underwent another refit at Portsmouth in the spring of 1760, commissioning later that year under Captain Robert Duff. She sailed to the Leeward Islands in April 1760, but had returned to Britain by Autumn 1761 to undergo another refit. She took part in the operations off Martinique in early 1762, before coming under the command of Captain Molyneaux Shuldham later that year. She served for a short period as the flagship of Admiral George Rodney, before being paid off in 1763. She underwent several surveys, and a large repair between February 1772 and January 1774, after which she was fitted to serve as the Plymouth guardshipin April 1775. She recommissioned again in August that year, under the command of Captain John Jervis, and was stationed at Plymouth until early 1777.

In March 1777 she was fitted for service in the English Channel, and spent that summer cruising off the French coast. On 31 July 1777, she engaged the American privateer Fancy, which was driven ashore at Penzance, Cornwall. On 18 June 1778 she engaged and captured the 32-gun Pallas, and was then present with Admiral Augustus Keppel'sfleet at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. Jervis was briefly replaced as captain by Captain Charles Hudson, while the Foudroyant became the flagship of her old commander, now Vice-Admiral Lord Shuldham. Jervis resumed command in 1779, sailing with Hardy's fleet, before being moved to a detached squadron in December 1779. Foudroyant returned to port in early 1780, where she was refitted and had her hull coppered. On the completion of this work by May, she returned to sea, sailing at first with Admiral Francis Geary's fleet, and later with George Darby's. She was then present at the relief of Gibraltar in April 1781, after which she was moved to Robert Digby's squadron. By the summer of 1781 she had returned to sailing with Darby's fleet, and by April 1782 had moved to a squadron under Samuel Barrington.

Foudroyant&PegasEnteringPortsmouthHarbour.jpg
HMS Foudroyant towing the Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 30 April 1782 by Dominic Serres

She captured the French 74-gun Pégase on 21 April 1782, for which actions Jervis was knighted. In addition to Pégase, Jervis captured four transports: Fidelité (178 troops and stores), Belonne (147 troops and stores), Lionne (180 troops and stores), and Duc de Chartres(stores and arms).

She sailed again in July 1782, this time as part of a fleet under Admiral Richard Howe, before spending the autumn cruising in the Western Approaches. She briefly came under the command of Captain William Cornwallis in 1783, but was soon paid off and then fitted for ordinary.

Fate
An Admiralty order of 24 August 1787 provided for Foudroyant to be broken up and she was sold off for £479.3.2d. The breaking up had been completed by 26 September 1787.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Foudroyant_(1758)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Foudroyant_1758;start=0
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1762 - HMS Temple (70) foundered in the West Indies.


HMS Temple was a 68-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 November 1758 at Hull.

Class and type: 68-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 142876⁄94 (bm)
Length: 160 ft (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 45 ft (14 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:
  • 68 guns:
  • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 12 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs
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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.

Commissioned in January 1759 under the command of Washington Shirley, she saw service at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November.

The following year, in March 1760, she sailed for the West Indies under Captain Lucius O'Brien. With the aid of the cutter Griffin, in September of that year she recaptured the sloop Virgin off Grenada.

Temple operated as part of the fleet at the capture of Havana in 1762, under the command of Julian Legge. However, in December of that year, she foundered at sea and was lost

large (6).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Vanguard' (1748), a 1745 Establishment 68-gun Third Rate, two-decker, and later altered in September 1757 for building 'Temple' (1758) and 'Conqueror' (1758), both 68-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Temple
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-353306;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T
 
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