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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1900 - During the Philippine Insurrection, the gunboat USS Princeton (PG-13), commanded by H. Knox, takes possession of the Bataan Island group in the Philippines.


The third USS Princeton was a composite gunboat in the United States Navy.

Princeton was laid down in May 1896 by J. H. Dialogue and Son, Camden, New Jersey; launched on 3 June 1897; sponsored by Miss Margeretta Updike; and commissioned on 27 May 1898 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Commander C. H. West in command.

Type: Gunboat
Displacement: 1,103 long tons (1,121 t)
Length: 168 ft (51 m)
Beam: 36 ft (11 m)
Draft: 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Speed: 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement: 147
Armament:

• 2 × 1-pounder guns
• 1 × machine gun

USS Princeton in 1898

Service history
Spanish–American War, 1898–1899
After acceptance trials on 7–25 July 1898 off Delaware Bay, Princeton got underway for Key West where she joined the North Atlantic Fleet on 27 July at the beginning of the Spanish–American War. She was immediately sent (on 2 August) to patrol the area from the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula to Livingston, Guatemala. After completing this mission on 13 August, she returned to Key West and the Dry Tortugas and remained on this station until departing on 11 January 1899 for New York City.

Asiatic Fleet, 1899–1903
Princeton sailed for the Pacific in early 1899 She passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on 2 February and the Suez Canal from 13–17 February, joining the Asiatic Fleet on 16 April at Cavite, Philippines. Princeton cruised throughout the Philippines from 4–15 May with the gunboat Petrel, distributing the proclamation of peace with Spain. Later, she carried Senator Albert J. Beveridge on a tour of the newly acquired Philippine Territory.


USS Princeton in Manila Bay, about 1903

In late May, Princeton commenced blockading the Lingayen Gulf ports of St. Vincent and Musa and extended the blockade to the entire Gulf from 18–26 June. During the various local disturbances on Luzon, she landed troops at San Fabian on 2–7 November, transported cavalrymen from Vigan to Lingayen, conveyed dispatches, received surrendered arms and carried stores to the Marines at Subic Bay. She met the expedition led by Col. Luther Hare and Col. Robert Howze on 2 Jan. 1900 at Abulug, which rescued American prisoners, including Lt. Gillmore's men from the Siege of Baler. Princeton took formal possession of the Babuyan and the Batan Islands on 10–13 January 1900 and continued to patrol off Luzon on 10 February. Princeton was later station ship at Iloiloand Cebu from 5 March until 21 June.

At the time of the Boxer Rebellion, Princeton cruised in Chinese waters (26 June–29 November) between Hong Kong and Woosung where she received a draft of men from the auxiliary cruiserBuffalo on 9 August.

She returned on 4 December to operations in the Philippine-American War, principally in the Sulu Archipelago, and remained on duty there until 20 July 1902. Princeton was stationed at Cavitebeginning 23 July and called at Uraga, Japan (9 October–18 December). While at Cavite, she participated in large-scale maneuvers off the Philippines (29 December–3 February 1903). Afterwards, Princeton acted as a survey ship (13 February–5 April) at Malabug Bay, Zamboanga and Dumanquilas Bay until she departed on 13 April for California. Princeton decommissioned on 12 June 1903 at Mare Island Navy Yard.

Pacific Squadron, 1905–1907
Princeton recommissioned on 12 May 1905 at Mare Island Navy Yard and was attached to the Pacific Squadron. She left on 4 June for duty as station ship at Panama City, where she remained until 24 October. On 2 December 1905, Princeton returned to Mare Island Navy Yard and began cruising off the Pacific coast from San Diego, California to Esquimalt, British Columbia. She escorted Rear Admiral C. J. Train's remains from Vancouver to Seattle (22–24 August), assisted the protected cruiser Boston (6–9 December) which was aground off Bellingham, Washington, and accompanied the armored cruiser California on her sea trials off Washington from 10–22 September. Princeton remained on station off the West coast until directed to rejoin the Pacific Squadron on 3 January 1907 at Magdalena Bay, Mexico.

Princeton proceeded to Corinto, Nicaragua, arriving 17 March for the purpose of protecting American interests there. She transported troops from Ampala, Honduras, to La Unión, (12 April) and brought General Bonilla back to Salina Cruz, Mexico (13 April). She returned to San Diego on 30 May and decommissioned on 3 July 1907 at Bremerton, Washington.

Nicaraguan Expedition, 1909–1911
Princeton recommissioned on 5 November 1909 at Bremerton and sailed on 28 November for Central America for duty with the Nicaraguan Expeditionary Squadron. From 20 December until 21 March 1911 she showed the flag in this area, operating between San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, and La Unión, El Salvador. She returned to Puget Sound Navy Yard 20 June 1911 for repairs and alterations.

1911–1919
From late 1911 until 1915 she was used as a station ship at Tutuila, American Samoa. Returning to San Francisco on 18 September 1915, Princeton decommissioned and was laid up until 20 February 1917 when she proceeded to Puget Sound for repairs. She commissioned in ordinary there on 16 January 1918 for use as a training ship at Seattle from 9 May 1918 to 25 April 1919 when she decommissioned. Princeton was struck from the Navy List on 23 June 1919 and sold to Farrell, Kane and Stratton, Seattle, Washington, on 13 November 1919.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(PG-13)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1917 - HMS Ben-my-Chree (Manx: "Woman of My Heart"), ex-packet steamer and a Royal Navy (RN) seaplane carrier of the First World War, sunk by turkish artillery


HMS Ben-my-Chree (Manx: "Woman of My Heart") was a packet steamer and a Royal Navy (RN) seaplane carrier of the First World War. She was originally built in 1907 by Vickers for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was intended for use on the England–Isle of Man route. She was the third vessel to bear her name. To this day Ben-my-Chree holds the crossing speed record from Liverpool to Douglas for a steamship at under three hours.


HMS Ben-my-Chree

She was chartered by the RN at the beginning of 1915 and participated in several abortive attacks on Germany in May. The ship was transferred to the Dardanelles in June to support the Gallipoli Campaign. One of her aircraft made the first ship-launched aerial torpedo attack on a ship in August. After Gallipoli was evacuated at the end of the year, Ben-my-Chree became flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron that operated in the Eastern Mediterranean, performing reconnaissance missions and attacking Turkish facilities and troops. She was sunk by Turkish artillery while anchored at the recently occupied island of Kastellorizo in early 1917, five members of her crew being injured. The ship was salvaged in 1920 and broken up in 1923. Ben-my-Chree was the only aviation vessel of either side sunk by enemy action during the war

Description and construction
Main article: SS Ben-my-Chree (1908)
SS Ben-my-Chree had a tonnage of 2,651 GRT. The ship was 390 feet (118.9 m) long overall and 375 feet (114.3 m) long between perpendiculars. She had a beam of 46 feet (14.0 m) and a depth of 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) from her main deck to the top of her keel. Ben-my-Chree had five decks and a capacity of 2,549 passengers with a crew of 119.





The ship was powered by three license-built Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft. They were powered by steam provided by four cylindrical boilers at a working pressure of 170 psi (1,172 kPa; 12 kgf/cm2) that gave her a speed of 24.2 knots (44.8 km/h; 27.8 mph). Her engines burnt up to 95 long tons (97 t) of coal a day, which made her an expensive ship to run.

She was ordered in 1907 by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was built at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness at a cost of GB£112,000. The ship was launched on 23 March 1908 and completed on 8 August. Ben-my-Chree was normally laid up, because of her expense, except for the three busiest months of the year when she had a full complement of passengers.

Royal Navy modifications and service
SS Ben-my-Chree was chartered by the Royal Navy on 1 January 1915 and she began her conversion into a seaplane carrier at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead the following day. Part of her aft superstructure was removed and replaced by a hangar, aft of her rear funnel, that housed four to six seaplanes. The aircraft were lifted in and out of the water by derricks fore and aft. A dismountable 60-foot-long (18 m) flying-off platform was installed forward of her superstructure; it was equipped with a trolley and rails to allow a seaplane to take off.


Stern view of HMS Ben-my-Chree, showing the aircraft hangars

In RN service the ship displaced 3,888 long tons (3,950 t), was 387 feet (118.0 m) long overall, and had a draught of 16 feet (4.9 m). Ben-my-Chree's turbines generated 14,500 shaft horsepower (10,800 kW) and she was credited with a speed of 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph) although that speed was exceeded in service. The ship could carry 502 long tons (510 t) of coal. Her crew consisted of approximately 250 officers and enlisted men.

Her armament consisted of four quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 18 cwt guns, and two Vickers three-pounder AA guns. Ben-my-Chree carried 130 rounds per 12-pounder and 64 rounds for each three-pounder. In May 1916, one 12-pounder AA gun, a three-pounder, and a 2-pounder pom-pom, each on army carriages, were added.

She was initially assigned to the Harwich Force, under the command of Commander Cecil L'Estrange Malone, where on 3 May she took part in an abortive air raid on Norddeich that had to be abandoned because of thick fog. On 6 May, while on another unsuccessful mission to attack Norddeich, she was accidentally rammed by the destroyer Lennox in thick fog, although damage was slight. Another attempt was made on 11 May, but was again abandoned because of heavy fog. During this raid, Ben-my-Chree attempted to launch her Sopwith Schneider from a trolley off the fore deck, but the engine backfired, wrecking its starter, and breaking the pilot's wrist as the starter handle was in the cockpit.

To the Dardanelles

Illustration of Ben-my-Chree off the Dardanelles in 1915

In May 1915, she sailed for the Dardanelles, carrying two Short Type 184 torpedo bombers, and arrived at Lesbos on 10 June. Her aircraft were mainly involved in spotting for ships providing naval gunfire support for troops ashore, although they also conducted reconnaissance missions of the area. On 11 August, one of these missions had spotted a Turkish ship off the north coast of the Sea of Marmora and, on the following day, Flight Commander Charles Edmonds attacked it flying a Short 184 seaplane. He left his observer behind and flew with a reduced fuel load to lighten his aircraft enough to carry a 14-inch (356 mm), 810-pound (370 kg) torpedo. He successfully dropped his aerial torpedo at a distance of about 800 yards (730 m) and an altitude of 15 feet (4.6 m). It turned out that his target had been beached after having been torpedoed by the British submarine E14. This was followed by a successful attack on 17 August against a 5,000-long-ton (5,100 t) ship by Edmonds. Flight Lieutenant George Dacre accompanied Edmonds on his flight in his own aircraft, but suffered engine troubles and had to land in the Dardanelles. He was taxiing on the water when he encountered a large steam tugboat, which he promptly torpedoed. After taxiing for several miles he was able to get airborne again and was within gliding distance of Ben-my-Chree when his engine failed permanently.

On 2 September, she helped to rescue Australian troops from the torpedoed troopship HMT Southland off Lemnos. The ship was transferred to Port Said, Egypt after the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. Ben-my-Chree became the flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron when it was formed in January 1916. The squadron was under the command of the General Officer Commanding, Egypt and its primary duty was to watch Turkish positions and movements in southern Palestine and the Sinai. SS Uganda collided with her on 11 February and badly damaged the ship's bow. Permanent repairs took were made at Suez from 13 March to 25 April. Commander Charles Samson replaced L'Estrange Malone as captain on 14 May. A few days later, Lieutenant William Benn joined the ship as an observer. Ben-my-Chree was based at Aden later in 1916.

Loss


HMS Ben-my-Chree under fire

French troops occupied the Greek island of Kastellorizo, off the southwest coast of Turkey, on 20 December 1916 to use it as an advance base against the Turks. Not pleased at the presence of the French, the Turks secretly deployed an artillery battery of four 155-millimetre (6.1 in) and twelve 77-millimetre (3.0 in) guns within range of the island. The French commander requested a seaplane carrier to conduct reconnaissance in the area and Ben-my-Chree was sent in response. She arrived on 11 January 1917 and anchored in the harbour which faced the mainland. The Turkish guns opened fire about two hours later, hitting the carrier with their third shot. Subsequent shells disabled her steering and started a fire in her hangar that spread across her upper deck. (See Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker)


HMS Ben-my-Chree sinking

The crew was ordered to abandon ship after about forty minutes of the bombardment using the only remaining operable motor lifeboat of the three stowed on board. One officer and four enlisted men were injured, but no one was killed. The Turks continued their bombardment for five hours until Ben-my-Chree listed to starboard and sank in shallow water. Later in the day, the captain and the chief engineer returned to the wreck to rescue the ship's mascots, a cat and dog which had both survived the attack.

Ben-my-Chree's wreck remained in place until 1920 when it was refloated by the salvage ship Vallette and towed to the port of Piraeus. The ship proved to be a constructive total loss and was broken up in Venice, Italy in 1923.

During her short career she operated Sopwith Type 860, Schneider, and Baby, as well as Short Type 830 and Type 184 floatplanes.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ben-my-Chree_(1908)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ben-my-Chree

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1942 - German U-123 began Unternehmen Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat") to destroy Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic, also called the "Second Happy Time", by sinking the british cargo ship Cyclops


The Second Happy Time, also known among German submarine commanders as the "American shooting season", was the informal name for a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping and Allied naval vessels along the east coast of North America. The first "Happy Time" was in 1940–41 in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941 so their navies could begin the Second Happy Time.

The Second Happy Time lasted from January 1942 to about August of that year and involved several German naval operations including Operation Paukenschlag (or Operation Drumbeat) and Operation Neuland. German submariners named it the happy time or the golden time as defense measures were weak and disorganized, and the U-boats were able to inflict massive damage with little risk. During this period, Axis submarines sank 609 ships totaling 3.1 million tons and the loss of thousands of lives, mainly those of merchant mariners, against a loss of only 22 U-boats. Although less than losses during the 1917 campaign of the First World War, it was roughly one quarter of all shipping sunk by U-boats during the entire Second World War.

Historian Michael Gannon called it "America's Second Pearl Harbor" and placed the blame for the nation's failure to respond quickly to the attacks on the inaction of Admiral Ernest J. King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. fleet. Others however have pointed out that the belated institution of a convoy system was at least in substantial part due to a severe shortage of suitable escort vessels, without which convoys were seen as actually more vulnerable than lone ships.


Dixie Arrow torpedoed off Cape Hatteras by U-71, 26 March 1942

Operation Drumbeat
For the five Type IX boats in the first wave of attack, known as Operation Drumbeat, it was a bonanza. They cruised along the coast, safely submerged through the day, and surfacing at night to pick off merchant vessels outlined against the lights of the cities.

• Reinhard Hardegen in U-123 sank seven ships totalling 46,744 tons before he ran out of torpedoes and returned to base;
• Ernst Kals in U-130 sank six ships of 36,988 tons;
• Robert-Richard Zapp in U-66 sank five ships of 33,456 tons;
• Heinrich Bleichrodt in U-109 sank four ships of 27,651 tons; and
• Ulrich Folkers on his first patrol in U-125 sank one 6,666 ton vessel, the West Ivis (he was criticized by Dönitz for his poor performance, although he would later win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.)

The tanker Pennsylvania Sun torpedoed by U-571 on 15 July 1942

When the first wave of U-boats returned to port through the early part of February, Dönitz wrote that each commander "had such an abundance of opportunities for attack that he could not by any means utilize them all: there were times when there were up to ten ships in sight, sailing with all lights burning on peacetime courses."

A significant flaw in U.S. pre-war planning was the failure to provide ships suitable for convoy-escort work. Escort vessels travel at relatively slow speeds; carry a large number of depth charges; must be highly maneuverable; and must stay on station for long periods. The fleet destroyers equipped for high speed and offensive action that were available were not the ideal design for this type of escort work. When the war started, the U.S. had no equivalent of the more effective British Black Swan-class sloops or the River-class frigate in their inventory. This blunder was highly surprising since the American Navy (USN) had previously been involved in anti-submarine work in the Atlantic (see USS Reuben James) and at the time was marginally aggravated by the loss of the destroyers "loaned" to Britain through Lend-Lease; however, these vessels would have been largely obsolete for anti-submarine purposes due to their counter-attack vulnerability and inherent inability to maneuver as required to combat submarines. The U.S. also lacked both aircraft suitable for anti-submarine patrol and any aircrew trained to use them at that time.

Offers of civilian ships and aircraft to act as the Navy's "eyes" were repeatedly turned down, only to be accepted later when the situation was clearly critical and the admiral's claims to the contrary had become discredited.

In the attachment of this post:
Animation simulating a tanker silhouetted against lights of a city. When partial blackouts were introduced towards the middle of 1942, skyglow continued to be a problem in coastal cities.


SS Cyclops was a British cargo steamship of Alfred Holt and Company (Blue Funnel Line). She was built in Glasgow in 1906, served in both the First and Second World Wars and survived two German submarine attacks in 1917. A German submarine sank her in January 1942 off the coast of Nova Scotia, killing 87 of the men aboard her. This was the first attack of the Kriegsmarine's Unternehmen Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat") to destroy Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic.


"Cyclops approaching Hong Kong"
painting in the Museum of Liverpool by an unknown artist

This Cyclops was the second of four Alfred Holt ships to bear the name. The first was a two-masted sail and steamship built in 1880, transferred in 1894 to Alfred Holt's Dutch joint venture Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan and sold in 1902 to Uruguayan buyers who renamed her Iberia. The third was a motor ship built in 1948, renamed Automedon in 1975 and scrapped in 1977. The fourth was built in 1975, sold to Greek buyers in 1983 and renamed Procyon.

Loss
Cyclops' complement, including her Master, Leslie Webber Kersley, was 96 officers and men plus seven DEMS gunners. She was also carrying another 78 Chinese sailors as passengers to join other merchant ships at Halifax or in the UK. At least one of the passengers was the survivor of a previous sinking.

After nightfall 11 January 1942 about 125 nautical miles (232 km) southeast of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia the German Type IXB submarine U-123 fired a G7a torpedo at Cyclops at close range, hitting her starboard side abreast of her Nos. 6 and 7 holds. After settling by the stern she stayed afloat, but Captain Kersley's damage assessment was that she could not be saved. Ordering the ship to be abandoned, Kersley also ensured that the radio officer had both sent a distress signal and received an acknowledgement from a shore radio station.

As Cyclops' lifeboats were launched and got clear, Kersley and some of his officers remained aboard to ensure that everyone who was still alive had left. Twenty-nine minutes after the first attack, U-123 fired a second torpedo from one of her stern tubes, hitting hit Cyclops' port side. The ship immediately started to break up and sank within five minutes. Some of those remaining aboard managed to reach a liferaft that the Chief Officer had released only minutes before.

The Royal Canadian Navy Bangor-class minesweeper HMCS Red Deer rescued Captain Kersley, 55 crew, six DEMS gunners and 33 passengers and landed them at Halifax. 40 crew, 46 passengers and one gunner had been killed; some by the explosion and sinking; others by exposure in the cold water. One of Cyclops' survivors, Midshipman Desmond Stewart, was awarded Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea.






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-123_(1940)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Happy_Time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cyclops_(1906)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1944 - Action of 11 January 1944 - a minor naval action that resulted in the sinking of the light cruiser Kuma of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho.

The Action of 11 January 1944 was a minor naval action that resulted in the sinking of the light cruiser Kuma of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho. Kuma was being escorted by the destroyer Uranami about 10 nmi (12 mi; 19 km) north-west of Penang, Malaya.


HMS Tally-Ho

Tally-Ho was patrolling from her base at Trincomalee, Ceylon searching for Japanese vessels and on 9 January, sighted the Japanese light cruiser Kuma off Penang. Kuma was on anti-submarine warfareexercises. She was flanked by destroyers and Tally-Ho could not get within range. She was able to plot the Japanese's route in and out of Penang and to take up a suitable position to intercept the cruiser.


Plan of the Japanese light cruiser Kuma



On the morning of 11 January, Tally-Ho's commander, Leslie Bennington, spotted a Mitsubishi F1M2 Pete floatplane flying westwards along the route on which the cruiser that had been sighted on 9 January was to be expected. It was felt that this heralded the approach of the cruiser. Just before 09:00, the officer of the watch sighted the masts of the cruiser on the port bow. Kuma had a destroyer—Uranami—as an escort. Whilst 10 nmi (12 mi; 19 km) north west of Penang, at midday, Bennington fired a seven-torpedo salvo from 1,900 yd (1,700 m). Kumas's lookouts soon spotted the torpedoes' wakes, and Captain Sugino shifted his rudder hard over. Kuma was hit starboard aft by two torpedoes. Bennington decided to head toward the shallows along the shore. The destroyer Uranami counterattacked with 18 depth charges, but all missed the submarine. A fire raged on board the Kuma and she soon began to sink by the stern. As she sank, her own depth charges detonated. Uranami then picked up the survivors, including Captain Sugino, while 138 crewmen were lost.

After his success, Bennington managed to slip away and returned to Trincomalee.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_11_January_1944
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Kuma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Tally-Ho_(P317)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1962 – Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.


Soviet submarine B-37 (Russian: Б-37) was a Project 641 or Foxtrot-class diesel submarine of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet.


A Cuban Foxtrot underway

Service history
On 11 January 1962, the submarine was tied up at the pier in Ekaterininsky Bay of Polarny naval base, with all watertight doors open, while conducting maintenance and testing of her torpedoes. A fire broke out in the torpedo compartment, probably due to hydrogen gas igniting when electrical equipment was energized. All eleven torpedoes cooked off. The submarine was instantly destroyed with all hands except the commanding officer Captain Second Rank Begeba who was on the pier at the time of explosion, and Captain Third Rank Jakubenko, who was on another part of the sub base.


B-37 and S-350 after 11 torpedoes cooked off in a torpedo room fire

Soviet submarine S-350, a Project 633 or Romeo-class submarine tied up next to B-37, was badly damaged by the explosion as well, and several men from other ships and the shipyard were killed.

In total, 122 people were killed: 59 B-37 crewmen, 19 S-350 crewmen, and 44 others. The explosion hurled B-37's anchor nearly 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from the dock.


Silhouette of a Foxtrot Submarine


INS Kursura (S20) was a Kalvari-class diesel-electric submarine of the Indian Navy. She was India's fifth submarine. Kursura was commissioned on 18 December 1969 and was decommissioned on 27 February 2001 after 31 years of service. She participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, where she played a key role in patrol missions. She later participated in naval exercises with other nations and made many goodwill visits to other countries.

After decommissioning, she was preserved as a museum for public access on RK Beach in Visakhapatnam. Kursura has the distinction of being one of the very few submarine museums to retain originality and has been called a "must-visit destination" of Visakhapatnam. Despite being a decommissioned submarine, she still receives the navy's "Dressing Ship" honour, which is usually awarded only to active ships.

Museum ship (2002 – present)


Kursura undergoing repairs in 2013

After decommissioning, the ship was towed to RK Beach in Visakhapatnam and was established as a museum ship, which is the first submarine museum in South Asia. The idea of the boat's conversion to a museum is credited to Admiral V Pasricha. Towing the submarine 600 metres to its final location took 18 months and cost ₹ 55 million. It was inaugurated by the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu on 9 August 2002, and it was open to the public from 24 August 2002. Six retired naval personnel serve as guides and another one as the curator.

Kursura has the distinction of being one of the very few submarine museums to retain originality. She has become a famous tourist attraction of the city and has been called a "must-visit destination" of Visakhapatnam by The Hindu. Out of the ₹ 10 million revenue generated every year by the museum, ₹ 8 million is used for the submarine's maintenance. During the first four months of the museum's operation, it was visited by about 93,000 people. Daily visitors usually range between 500 and 600 and shoot up to 1,500 during the tourist season.

In September 2007, Vice Admiral Carol M. Pottenger of the United States Navy visited the submarine when she wrote in the guestbook "What a fantastic experience. The Indian Navy should be very proud of this awesome display". She said that the submarine was very well preserved and they did not have anything similar to it in the United States. A major overhaul was done in December 2007 to repair her hull's corrosion. New steel plates were arranged at a cost of ₹ 1.5 million. As of August 2008, about 1.5 million people had visited the museum, and in 2010, she was visited by 270,000 people.


A museum ship, INS Kursura S20.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_B-37

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 January 1986 - The Castillo de Salas, a 250 meter long Spanish bulk carrier, wrecked


The Castillo de Salas was a Spanish bulk carrier that was launched in Ferrol in August, 1980. It weighed over 50,000 tons, displaced over 100,000 tons of water, measured approximately 250 metres (820 ft) in length, 40 metres (130 ft) across the beam, and 14.5 metres (48 ft) in draft. It required a crew complement of 32.



Disaster
During the morning of January 11, 1986 the Castillo de Salas, property of the Spanish company "Elcano", ran aground over rocks 740 metres North/North-west of Gijón. The ship was anchored outside Gijón's seaport (El Musel) when the ship's anchor came loose in bad weather. Efforts to re-anchor, self-propel and even tow the ship away from the coast failed due to harsh seas. The cargo was nearly 100,000 metric tonnes of coal loaded in Norfolk, Virginia as well as over 1000 tonnes of fuel-oil used for propulsion.



On January 15, 1986 the hull broke in two during efforts to bring the ship afloat, therefore releasing a spill of diesel oil and coal ore.

On February 23, 1986 the bow half of the hull was refloated, towed 39 miles (63 km) into the sea and scuttled in waters of 4000 metres in depth. Officials stated that no diesel oil was left in the bow section of the hull. During the following spring, the company "Fondomar" was tasked with scrapping the remainder of the stern portion of the hull.



Second salvage of the stern section
Small balls of decomposed oil were found sporadically since until 2001, when a major find of these balls was confirmed to be from fuel remaining in the double bottom fuel tank of the stern section that was not removed in 1986. This led to a second salvage operation to remove the fuel during 2001-2002 and the complete the removal of the remainder of the wreck in 2003 due to public out-cry.

Trophies


"Memoria", by Joaquín Rubio Camín

On November 15, 2003 Gijón artist Joaquín Rubio Camín's sculpture "Memoria" (Memory) was unveiled on the Camino del Cervigón overlooking the sea. The sculpture was made using part of the remains of the Castillo de Salas which sank off Gijón and were recovered earlier in the year.

One of the ship's anchors is displayed in the Philippe Cousteau Museum in Salinas beach, Spain, 30 km west of Gijón.

Side effects
Since the accident, it is common to find dark sand contaminated with coal on the beaches in the Bay of Gijón, particularly after rough sea conditions. The amounts recovered continue to reduce over time, but patches of dark coloured sand, high in black coal particles, can be seen at low tide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_Salas_(ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 11 January


1687 – Launch of french Serieux 64, later 58 guns (designed and built by Laurent Coulomb, at Toulon – renamed Croissant 1688, then reverted to Serieux 1689; broken up 1718


1769 – Launch of French Oiseau, (one-off 32-gun design of 1767 by François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns), at Rochefort – captured by British Navy 31 January 1779, becoming HMS Oiseau.

HMS Oiseau (1779), a 32-gun fifth rate, launched in 1769 as the frigate Oiseau, captured from France on 31 January 1779 by HMS Apollo and sold on 19 June 1783. She then became the Liverpool-based slaver Count du Nord. Last listed in 1789. May have become the Dover, sold to the Imperial East India Company, Ostend (Austrian flag) in 1796.


1783 – Death of Charles Fielding (or Feilding; 2 July 1738 – 11 January 1783) was a British naval officer who gained brief notoriety for his role in the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt

Charles Fielding (or Feilding; 2 July 1738 – 11 January 1783) was a British naval officer who gained brief notoriety for his role in the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt in the run-up to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. He attained the "rank" of Commodore and died of gangreneafter being wounded in action during the Battle of Cape Spartel, commanding HMS Ganges.



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


1905 - The gunboat USS Petrel (PG 2) becomes the first U.S. Navy ship to enter Pearl Harbor, then Territory of Hawaii, by way of a newly-dredged channel.

The third USS Petrel (PG-2) was a 4th rate gunboat in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was named for a sea bird.



Petrel was laid down on 27 August 1887, built by the Columbia Iron Works and Dry Dock Company in Baltimore, Maryland; launched on 13 October 1888; and commissioned 10 December 1889, with Lieutenant Commander W. H. Bronson in command.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Petrel_(PG-2)


1944 - Torpedo bombing aircraft from USS Block Island (CVE 21) make first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine, U-758.

USS Block Island (CVE-21/AVG-21/ACV-21) was a Bogue-class escort carrier for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first of two escort carriers named after Block Island Sound off Rhode Island. Block Island was launched on 6 June 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation in Tacoma, Washington, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. H. B. Hutchinson, wife of Commander Hutchinson; transferred to the United States Navy on 1 May 1942; and commissioned on 8 March 1943, Captain Logan C. Ramsey in command. Originally classified AVG-21, she became ACV-21 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-21 on 15 July 1943. She was named after Block Island, an island in Rhode Island east of New York


USS Block Island underway with a deckload of aircraft, 15 October 1943.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Block_Island_(CVE-21)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1783 - HMS Coventry, a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate, was captured by a french fleet under Suffren,


HMS Coventry was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1757 and in active service as a privateer hunter during Seven Years' War, and as part of the British fleet in India during the Anglo-French War. After seventeen years' in British service she was captured by the French in 1783, off Ganjam in the Bay of Bengal. Thereafter she spent two years as part of the French Navy until January 1785 when she was removed from service at the port of Brest. She was broken up in 1786.

Class and type: Coventry-class frigate
Displacement: 850 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 599 25⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 118 ft 4 3⁄4 in (36.087 m) (gundeck)
• 97 ft 0 1⁄2 in (29.578 m) (keel)

Beam: 34 ft 0 7⁄8 in (10.385 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement:

• British service:200
• French service:210 (war) and 130 (peace)

Armament:

• British service
• Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
• QD: 4 × 3-pounder guns
• Also: 12 × swivel guns
• French service
• Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
• Spardeck: 4 x 6-pounders + 6 x 18-pounder carronades

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Coventry (1757), Lizard (1757),Liverpool (1757), Maidstone (1758), Acteon (1757), Shannon (1757), Levant (1757), Coberus (1757), Griffin (1757), Hussar (1757), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates, based on the plan for Lowestoft (1756) and Tartar (1756, which were the same as Unicorn (1748) and Lyme (1748). Maidstone (1758), Cerberus (1757), Griffin (1757), Acteon (1757), Shannon (1757),Bureas (1757) and Trent (1757) had the House holes moved to the upper deck. There are construction amendments for the first built Frigates. Annoted in the top right: " Body, same as the Lestaff and Tartar, except one havng a Beakhead and the other a round bow, withou the least alteration below the surface of the water - and the Tartar and Leostaff are exactly the same Body as the Unicorn and Lime. "

Design
Sir Thomas Slade designed Coventry "to the draught of the Tartar with such alterations withinboard as may be judged necessary", making her a further development of the Lyme. A further twelve ships were built to the draught of the Coventry between 1756 and 1763, as well as another five to a modified version of fir (pine) construction.

The vessel was named after the city of Coventry in England's West Midlands. In selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition, dating to 1644, of using geographic features; overall, ten of the nineteen Coventry-class vessels, including Coventry herself, were named after well-known regions, rivers or towns. With few exceptions the remainder of the class were named after figures from classical antiquity, following a more modern trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty.

In sailing qualities Coventry was broadly comparable with French frigates of equivalent size, but with a shorter and sturdier hull and greater weight in her broadside guns. She was also comparatively broad-beamed which, when coupled with Adams' modifications to her hull, provided ample space for provisions, the ship's mess and a large magazine for powder and round shot. Taken together, these characteristics would enable Coventry to remain at sea for long periods without resupply. She was also built with broad and heavy masts, which balanced the weight of her hull, improved stability in rough weather and made her capable of carrying a greater quantity of sail. The disadvantages of this comparatively heavy design were a decline in manoeuvrability and slower speed when sailing in light winds.

Career
Coventry saw active service shortly after launch. On 19 December 1757 she was chasing the 14-gun French privateer Diamond when that vessel caught fire and exploded, likely as a result of sparks flying from her guns back into the powder room. Five days later, in company with the 36-gun frigate HMS Brilliant, Coventry engaged and defeated a 24-gun privateer, Le Dragon. Six of Coventry's sailors were wounded in the brief exchange of fire with the French vessel, compared with four killed and either 10 or 12 wounded aboard the privateer. A total of 280 French sailors survived the battle and were taken prisoner aboard Coventry and Brilliant.

Early on the morning of 10 August 1778, Admiral Edward Vernon's squadron, consisting of Rippon (Vernon's flagship), Coventry, Seahorse, Cormorant, and the East India Company's ship Valentine, encountered a French squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly which consisted of the 64-gun ship of the line Le Brillant, the frigate La Pourvoyeuse, and three smaller ships, Sartine, Lauriston, and Brisson. An inconclusive action followed for about two hours in mid-afternoon. The French broke off the action and the British vessels were too damaged to be able to catch them up again. In the action the British suffered 11 men killed and 53 wounded, including one man killed and 20 wounded aboard Coventry.

Seahorse captured Sartine on 25 August 1778. Sartine had been patrolling off Pondichery with Pourvoyeuse when they sighted two East Indiamen, which were sailing blithely along, unaware of the outbreak of war. The French vessels gave chase lazily. Sartine's captain, Count du Chaillar, first had to be roused from his bed ashore. The British merchant vessels escaped, but Sartine came too close to Vernon's squadron. Vernon sent Coventry and Seahorse after her and she surrendered after a short action. A French account remarks acidly that she surrendered to a frigate of her own size without a fight. All four Royal Navy vessels in Vernon's squadron shared in the prize money. (Vernon had already sent Valentine off with dispatches.) The Royal Navy took Sartine into service as the fifth-rate frigate HMS Sartine.

On 12 August 1782, Coventry, under the command of Captain Andrew Mitchell encountered the French frigate Bellone off Friars Hood, Ceylon. After two-and-a-half hours, Bellone sailed away. Coventry pursued until Bellone reached the protection of the French fleet at Batacaloa. Coventry suffered 15 men killed and 29 wounded in the engagement.

Capture
On 14 September 1782, Captain William Wolseley took command of Coventry. On the night of 12 January 1783, he sailed her towards four large vessels at Ganjam Roads, believing them to be some East Indiamen for which he was searching to convoy to Calcutta. He had no information that French vessels were in the area and so allowed the current to take him towards the vessels, the wind being weak. When he realized that they were French vessels, part of the fleet under Suffren, he was unable to escape. The French vessels opened fire and Wolseley had no choice but to surrender.

Fate
The French sailed Coventry to Brest, where they decommissioned her in January 1785. She was broken up in 1786.


Scale 1:96. Plan showing the quater deck and forecastle, upper deck, lower deck and fore and aft platforms for Coventry (1757) , a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigate as taken off at Chatham Dockyard in 1775. Signed Israel Pownoll (Master Shipwright, Chatham 1775-1779)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Coventry_(1757)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1805 - HMS Doris (36), Cptn. Patrick Campell, struck the Diamond Rock rock in Quiberon Bay.
Due to leak sustained, 3 days later off the Loire, the ship was set on fire and she burned until her after magazine blew up and she sank


HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched on 31 August 1795. which saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Doris was built by Cleveley, of Gravesend.

Class and type: 36-gun Phoebe-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 913 (bm)
Length: 142 ft (43.3 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 38 ft (11.6 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament: 36 guns







Scale: unknown. A full hull model of the ‘Phoebe’ (1795), a 36-gun frigate. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. This model represents the new, large types of frigate which were built in large numbers in the 1790s.It is fully rigged and shows the seamen’s hammocks stowed around the decks. It also shows the Nelson chequer, or black and white painting of the hull. This style was not common until about 1815, which may date the model to this time. The ‘Phoebe’ was built on the Thames in Dudman’s yard at Deptford. It served off the Irish coast in 1796–1800 and captured many enemy ships. In 1805 it was present at the Battle of Trafalgar captained by Thomas Bladen Capel, one of Nelson’s original ‘band of brothers’. It became a depot ship at Plymouth in 1822 and was finally broken up in 1840.

Service
She entered service in November 1795, operating as part of the Channel Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. Her first captain was the Hon. Charles Jones, who in 1797 became Lord Ranelagh.

In June 1796, Doris and Apollo captured the French corvette Légère, of twenty-two 9-pounder guns and 168 men. Légère had left Brest on 4 June in company with three frigates. During her cruise she had captured six prizes. However, on 23 June she encountered the two British frigates at 48°30′N 8°28′W. After a 10-hour chase the British frigates finally caught up with her; a few shots were exchanged and then Légère struck. The Navy took into her service as HMS Legere.

In January 1797 Doris shared with Druid and Unicorn in the capture of the French privateer Eclair. Unicorn was the actual captor. Eclair was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 120 men.

On 15 July, Doris took the privateer Duguay Trouin. Duguay Trouin had been armed with twenty 6-pounders and two 12-pounders but had thrown them overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 127 men and was out four days from Nantes, but had not taken any prizes. On her previous cruise she had taken the Sandwich Packet of Falmouth. Galatea shared in the capture.

On 19 July 1797, Doris and Galatea recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Patrocinio e Santa Anna. At some point they also recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Conceiçao e Navigantes.

In 1798 Doris was engaged in the hunt for Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart's French squadron that culminated in the Battle of Tory Island, although Doris was not present during the action. In 1800 and 1801, Doris under the command of John Holliday participated in the capture of six French merchant brigs and prizes.

On 21 July 1801, the boats of Doris, Beaulieu, Uranie and Robust succeeded in boarding and cutting out the French naval corvette Chevrette, which was armed with 20 guns and had 350 men on board (crew plus troops placed on board in expectation of the attack). Also, Chevrette had anchored under the batteries of Cameret Bay. The hired armed cutter Telemachus placed herself in the Goulet de Brest and thereby prevented the French from bringing reinforcements by boat to Chevrette.

The action was a sanguinary one. The British had 11 men killed, 57 wounded, and one missing. Also killed was Lieutenant Burke (who was a relative of Walter Burke- purser of HMS Victory), who was wounded in the fight, and died after boarding the French ship. Chevrette lost 92 officers and men, including her first captain, and 62 seamen and troops were wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "21 JULY BOAT SERVICE 1801" to surviving claimants from the action.

In 1803 following the Peace of Amiens, Doris took two more French privateers. On 18 May Doris, under the command of Captain Richard Harrison Pearson, captured the French naval lugger Affronteur, off Ushant. Affronteur was armed with fourteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 92 men under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau M. Morce André Dutoya. Capturing Affronteur required an engagement during which Doris suffered one man wounded, while Affronteur lost Dutoya and eight men killed, and 14 men wounded, one of whom died shortly thereafter. Affronteur became the hired armed vessel Caroline.


Lines (ZAZ2659)

Fate
In 1806, while under the command of Captain Patrick Campbell, Doris was lost on a rock off Quiberon Bay. She had arrived there on 10 January to bring news of a French squadron that was preparing to set sail, but when she arrived the British fleet was no longer in the bay. The next morning, as Doris set sail, the weather worsened. Campbell returned to the bay to take shelter, at which time Doris hit the Diamond Rock in Benequet Passage. She took on water but the crew was able to get her nearly clear of water, in part by stretching a sail over the hole in her side and then pumping the accumulated water out. However, that afternoon the schooner Felix arrived with news that the Rochefort Squadron had sailed. Campbell felt it imperative that he get the news to the blockading squadron. As he set sail, the holes in the hull opened and despite her crew's efforts to save her she began to sink rapidly. Campbell anchored her eight miles north-east of Le Croisic and evacuated the crew to Felix and a passing American merchant schooner. He then set the ship on fire to prevent her use by the enemy. He later took passage to Britain aboard HMS Tonnant. The subsequent court martial reprimanded the pilot, Jean Le Gall, for his lack of skill.


Frame (ZAZ2673)

Phoebe class 36-gun fifth rates 1795-1800, lengthened version of William Hunt's Perseverance class of 1780.

• HMS Phoebe 1795 - hulked as receiving ship at Plymouth 1826, sold 1841.
• HMS Dryad 1795 - hulked as receiving ship at Portsmouth 1838, broken up 1860.
• HMS Caroline 1795 - hulked as salvage vessel at Portsmouth 1813, broken up 1815.
• HMS Doris 1795 - wrecked in Quiberon Bay on 21 January 1805.
• HMS Fortunee 1800 - sold 1818.

Inboard profile plan (ZAZ2660)


Deck, Orlop (ZAZ2661)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Doris_(1795)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-338894;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=P

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1810 - HMS Scorpion (18), Cptn. Francis Stanfell, captured Oreste (16), Lt. Monnier, off Basse-Terre.


Oreste was a 16-gun brig, the name ship of her class. She had been built to a design by Notaire Granville and was launched at Le Havre in 1805. The British captured her in 1810, renamed her HMS Wellington, but never commissioned her. She was broken up in 1812.

Displacement :352 tons
Tons burthen: 312
Length:

• 27.61 m (90.6 ft) (overall)
• 25.66 m (84.2 ft)

Beam: 8.45 m (27.7 ft)
Draught: 3.55 m (11.6 ft) (unloaded)
Depth of hold: 4.22 m (13.8 ft)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 94
Armament:

• 1805: 12 x 6-pounder guns + 4 x 32-pounder carronades
• 1807:14 x 24-pounder carronades + 2 x 8-pounder chase guns

Career
In 1808 Oreste was under the command of capitaine de frégate Thierria-La Maisonblanche. She carried dispatches from Bayonne to Cayenne, cruised off Guyana, returned to Bayonne from Martinique, sailing via Pasajes, carried provisios from Bayonne to Martinique, and returned to Pasajes. There on 1 October 1808 lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Baptiste-Anselme Mousnier took command of Oreste.

Between 15 January and 12 November 1809, Oreste sailed her from Bayonne to Bilbao. She was stationed there but then sailed to Bordeaux via La Teste. At Bordeaux Mousnier received the mission of transporting troops, provisions, and supplies to Guadeloupe. In October, Oreste captured the British merchant vessel Saint Andrew. On 18 November 1809 Oreste sailed her from Bordeaux for Guadeloupe.

She left Guadeloupe on 11 January 1810 for France. Her passengers included a lieutenant-colonel and two other army officers and the captains and other officers from two French frigates that the British had recently destroyed.

Capture
In late 1809, HMS Scorpion, under the command of Commander Francis Stanfell, formed part of the squadron off Guadeloupe under Captain Volant Vashon Ballard of Blonde. On 11 January 1810, Ballard detached Stanfell to attempt to cut out a French brig anchored near the shore. At about 9pm, Scorpion spotted Oreste clearing the north point of the bay. Stanfell set off in pursuit. During the chase Scorpion's crew had to use her sweeps before she could close with Oreste at about 11:30pm. The action lasted for two to two-and-a-half hours, with Scorpion also being exposed to fire from the shore. Oreste made every effort to escape or run on shore, but Stanfell's skillful sailing frustrated these efforts. Oreste, which had been dismasted, finally struck her colours at 1:30am on 12 January. At this point a barge from Blonde arrived and assisted in the capture.

Scorpion had four men wounded during the action; the French losses were two killed and ten wounded, including Mousnier. Oreste carried a crew of 110; the British captured 91 officers and men. The remaining survivors escaped to shore on one of the brig's boats. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Scorpion 12 Jany. 1810" to the survivors of the action.

Fate
Oreste was a relatively new vessel so the Royal Navy took her into service. As the Royal Navy already had an Orestes, the Navy named her HMS Wellington. However, the Navy never commissioned Wellington, and she was broken up at Portsmouth in September 1812.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Cruiser (1797), and later for Ferret (1806), Scorpion (1803), Swallow (1805), Musquito (1804), Scout (1804) and Despatch (1804), all 18 gun Brig Sloops. The plan also shows the mast alterations (to ship-rigged) for Snake (1797) and Victor (1798), both 18 gun Ship Sloops.

HMS Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiraltyauthorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.

Type: Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tonnage: 383 86⁄94 bm
Length:

• 99 ft 11 1⁄2 in (30.5 m) (gundeck)
• 77 ft 2 in (23.5 m) (keel)

Beam: 30 ft 7 in (9.3 m)
Draught:

• 6 ft 0 in (1.8 m) (unladen)
• 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) (laden)

Depth of hold: 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 121
Armament:

• 16 × 32-pounder carronades
• 2 × 6-pounder bow guns

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_brig_Oreste_(1805)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Scorpion_(1803)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1813 - US Frigate Chesapeake (38), Cptn. Samuel Evans, captures British merchant Volunteer and two days later, British brig Liverpool Hero.


Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young navy's capital ships. Chesapeake was originally designed as a 44-gun frigate but construction delays, material shortages, and budget problems caused builder Josiah Fox to alter her design to 38 guns. Launched at the Gosport Navy Yard on 2 December 1799, Chesapeake began her career during the Quasi-War with France and saw service in the First Barbary War.


USS Chesapeake painting by F. Muller

On 22 June 1807 she was fired upon by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to comply with a search for deserters. The event, now known as the Chesapeake–LeopardAffair, angered the American populace and government and was a precipitating factor that led to the War of 1812. As a result of the affair, Chesapeake's commanding officer, James Barron, was court-martialed and the United States instituted the Embargo Act of 1807 against Great Britain.

Early in the War of 1812 she made one patrol and captured five British merchant ships before returning. She was captured by HMS Shannon shortly after sailing from Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 June 1813. The Royal Navy took her into their service as HMS Chesapeake, where she served until she was broken up and her timbers sold in 1819; they are now part of the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, England.

War of 1812

Captain James Lawrence
See also: War of 1812

After the heavy damage inflicted by Leopard, Chesapeake returned to Norfolk for repairs. Under the command of Stephen Decatur, she made patrols off the New England coast enforcing the laws of the Embargo Act throughout 1809.

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, and later the Little Belt Affair, contributed to the United States' decision to declare war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Chesapeake, under the command of Captain Samuel Evans, was prepared for duty in the Atlantic. Beginning on 13 December, she ranged from Madeira and traveled clockwise to the Cape Verde Islands and South America, and then back to Boston. She captured six ships as prizes: the British ships Volunteer, Liverpool Hero, Earl Percy, and Ellen; the brig Julia, an American ship trading under a British license; and Valeria, an American ship recaptured from British privateers. During the cruise she was chased by an unknown British ship-of-the-line and frigate but, after a passing storm squall, the two pursuing ships were gone the next morning. The cargo of Volunteer, 40 tons of pig iron and copper, were sold for $185,000. Earl Percy never made it back to port as she ran aground off the coast of Long Island, and Liverpool Hero was burned as she was considered leaky. Chesapeake's total monetary damage to British shipping was $235,675. She returned to Boston on 9 April 1813 for refitting.

Captain Evans, now in poor health, requested relief of command. Captain James Lawrence, late of Hornet and her victory over HMS Peacock, took command of Chesapeake on 20 May. Affairs of the ship were in poor condition. The term of enlistment for many of the crew had expired and they were daily leaving the ship. Those who remained were disgruntled and approaching mutiny, as the prize money they were owed from her previous cruise was held up in court. Lawrence paid out the prize money from his own pocket in order to appease them. Some sailors from Constitution joined Chesapeake and they filled the crew along with sailors of several nations.

Meanwhile, Captain Philip Broke and HMS Shannon, a 38-gun frigate, were patrolling off the port of Boston on blockade duty. Shannon had been under the command of Broke since 1806 and, under his direction, the crew held daily great gun and small arms drills lasting up to three hours each. Crew members who hit their bullseye were awarded a pound (454 g) of tobacco for their good marksmanship. Broke had also fitted out his cannons with dispart and tangent sights to increase accuracy as well as degree bearings on the decks and gun carriages to allow the crew to focus their fire on a specific target. In this regard Chesapeake, with traditional gun practice and a crew that had only been together for a few months, was greatly inferior.




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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1819 – Launch of HMS Blonde, a 46-gun modified Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate of 1,103 tons burthen.


HMS Blonde was a 46-gun modified Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate of 1,103 tons burthen. She undertook an important voyage to the Pacific in 1824. She was used for harbour service from 1850 and was renamed HMS Calypso in 1870, before being sold in 1895


HMS Blonde, by Robert Dampier, 1825

Construction
Blonde was ordered on 11 December 1812 from Deptford Dockyard, to a new design developed from the lines of the Apollo class. She was laid down in March 1816, and was rated at 38 guns until February 1817. Blonde was launched on 12 January 1819, but was almost immediately laid up in ordinary at Greenhithe from between April 1819 and 1824, when she was completed and fitted for service at Woolwich. She cost a total of £38,266 to build, with a further £15,241 spent on fitting out.

Class and type: 46-gun modified Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 1,103 bm
Length:

• 155 ft (47.2 m) (overall)
• 131 ft 9 in (40.2 m) (keel)

Beam: 39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 315
Armament:

• Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounders
• Quarter deck: 14 × 32-pounder carronades
• Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

Voyage to Hawaii
Lord Byron (the 7th Baron, cousin of the famous poet George Gordon Byron) commanded her on an important voyage in 1824. Blonde departed Woolwich, England on 8 September 1824 with the bodies of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu of the Kingdom of Hawaii who had died while trying to visit King George IV. The Hawaiian Islands had been named the "Sandwich Islands" in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich who was the sponsor of the voyage of Captain James Cook in 1776–1779. The crew included Scottish botanist James Macrae from the Royal Horticultural Society, and naturalist Andrew Bloxam whose brother Rowland was ship's chaplain. Ship's artist Robert Dampieralso made several important paintings on the voyage.

On 27 November 1824 they arrived at Rio de Janeiro. From 24 December until 1 January 1825 they stayed at St. Catherines in Brazil, where the naturalist gathered some plants he thought might provide commercial crops in Hawaii. On 4 February 1825 they anchored at Valparaíso, Chile, where the Hawaiian Admiral Naihekukui (also known as "Kipihe") died suddenly. From 25 March to 3 April they stayed at the Galapagos Islands. On 1 May several Hawaiians, such as Kuini Liliha were baptised by the ship's chaplain. On 3 May land was first sighted off the island of Hawaii at Hilo. On 4 May they landed at Lahaina on the island of Maui where the Hawaiians disembarked.

On 6 May they landed at Honolulu. A gardener named John Wilkinson had been brought from England to teach agriculture. Before they left England, Governor Boki had agreed to give some land to Wilkinson in the Mānoa Valley, although private ownership of land did not take hold until 1848 in Hawaii. The botanist Macrae left some coffee plants and others he had brought from Brazil. Unfortunately the climate did not agree with Wilkinson, who died in March 1827.[2]:34 would take many more years to become a successful crop (see also coffee production in Hawaii and Kona coffee).

On 11 May a state funeral was held for the late King and Queen, the first Christian memorial service for a ruler of Hawaii. The crew and many of the Hawaiian nobility attended. On 7 June the Blonde sailed back past Maui to Hilo, where they had church services on Sunday 12 June. For a while Hilo Bay was called "Byron's Bay" by Europeans. American missionary Joseph Goodrich led a party in an attempt to climb Mauna Kea, the highest point for thousands of miles in any direction. On 15 June they took a canoe to Laupāhoehoe. Although Goodrich did not reach the snow-covered summit due to altitude sickness, a few of the party did on 17 June.


'Karaikapa painted by ship artist Robert Dampier, 1825


Map of the Voyage of the Blonde, showing the main places visited. (The lines between these places are purely schematic and do not represent the actual route.) The journey out to Hawaii is shown in blue, the return in green.

On 25 June a party set out to visit the Kīlauea volcano. They arrived at the smoking crater with glowing red lava on 27 June. Lord Byron visited a few days later.[2]:64 On 7 July they left Hilo and returned to Honolulu by 9 July. On 12 July they left for Kealakekua Bay, arriving on 14 July, where they inspected the place of death of Captain James Cook in 1779. On 15–16 July they visited the royal tomb called Hale o Keawe at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau and removed most of the wooden carvings and other artefacts. Byron considered them "pagan symbols". They constructed a post with copper plate as a monument to Captain Cook, and left on 18 July.

On 27 July they crossed the equator planning to go to Tahiti. The crew of the Blonde are credited as the first Europeans to see Malden Island, named for navigator Lt. Charles Robert Malden on 30 July 1825. They landed on the island, however, and discovered remains of houses. On 1 August they passed Starbuck Island, and landed at Maʻuke in the Cook Islands on 8 August. On 6 September they reached Valparaíso, explored the coast of Chile, and rounded Cape Horn on 29 December. On 7 March 1826, they rescued survivors of the Frances Mary and arrived back in England on 15 March.

In 1826, Maria Graham published a book based on Rowland Bloxam's journal.

Service in China
HMS Blonde was involved in a number of actions in China during the First Opium War (1839–1842)

The first introduction of the top-level bureaucrats of Turkey to the combination of fork and knife occurred at the ball that took place on the British ship Blonde in Istanbul after the war of 1828-29.

Fate
Blonde became a receiving ship at Portsmouth in November 1850. In the 1861 Census she was at Portsmouth, attached to the Royal Yacht Osbourne, and listed as 'her hulk'. She was renamed HMS Calypso on 9 March 1870. She was sold at Portsmouth on 28 February 1895.


The Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule. Twenty-five served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, two being launched too late.

Of the 25 ships that served during the Napoleonic Wars, only one was lost to enemy action. Of the entire class of 27 ships, only two were lost to wrecking, and none to foundering.

The Admiralty ordered three frigates in 1798–1800. Following the Peace of Amiens, it ordered a further twenty-four sister-ships to the same design between 1803 and 1812. The last was ordered to a fresh 38-gun design. Initially, the Admiralty split the order for the 24 vessels equally between its yards and commercial yards, but two commercial yards failed to perform and the Admiralty transferred these orders to its own dockyards, making the split 14–10 as between the Admiralty and commercial yards.

Apollo class, 27 ships, 36-gun fifth rates 1799–1819, designed by William Rule.

• HMS Apollo 1799
• HMS Blanche 1800
• HMS Euryalus 1803
• HMS Semiramis 1808
• HMS Owen Glendower 1808
• HMS Curacoa 1809
• HMS Saldanha 1809
• HMS Malacca 1809
• HMS Orpheus 1809
• HMS Theban 1809
• HMS Leda 1809
• HMS Manilla 1809
• HMS Belvidera 1809
• HMS Hotspur 1810
• HMS Astraea 1810
• HMS Galatea 1810
• HMS Havannah 1811
• HMS Maidstone 1811
• HMS Stag 1812
• HMS Magicienne 1812
• HMS Barrosa 1812
• HMS Dartmouth 1813
• HMS Creole 1813
• HMS Tartar 1814
• HMS Brilliant 1814
• HMS Pallas 1816
• HMS Blonde 1819 - completed to fresh 46-gun design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Blonde_(1819)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1909 - Sibyl Marston, a wooden schooner cargo ship, sank off the coast of Lompoc, California


Sibyl Marston was a wooden schooner cargo ship built by W.A. Boole & Sons of Oakland, California and belonging to the Sibyl Marston Co.[1] Sibyl Marston sank off the coast of Lompoc, California on 12 January 1909.

Tonnage: 1,020 GT (est.)
Length: 215 ft (66 m)
Installed power: Triple expansion steam



Fate
On 12 January 1909, Sybil Marston, the largest steam schooner built on the United States West Coast, struck the rocks near Surf Beach, California and ran aground in a storm. She was carrying 1,100,000 board feet (3,000 m3) of lumber. Two crew members were killed in the disaster.

Shortly after the Sybil Marston disaster, Lompoc residents salvaged the lumber and used it to begin a town lumberyard. Several houses built in Lompoc used lumber from the shipwreck.

Surf Beach and its adjoining coastal area was a dangerous place for ship travel in the time before radar navigational systems made seafaring safer. There are about 30 recorded shipwrecks along the Surf Beach coast.



Location
The shipwreck is located 1 mile (2 km) south of the Surf Amtrak Station in Lompoc.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyl_Marston_(ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1920 - Afrique, a passenger ship of the French shipping company Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis, sank with only 34 survivors of the 609 on board.


Afrique was a passenger ship of the French shipping company Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis, which was put into service in 1907 and sank January 1920 with only 34 survivors of the 609 on board.


Afrique was a 5,404 GRTpassenger steamship built for Chargeurs Réunis in 1907 and sunk by a storm in the Bay of Biscay in 1920 with the loss of 575 lives

The final voyage
On 10 January 1920, in the early morning, Afrique, liner of the Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis started its voyage on the Gironde channel with 609 people on board (crew and passengers). It headed for Dakar and the other ports of the French West Coast, its usual line. This was its 58th trip. It sank in the early hours of January 13, 1920, to the northeast edge of the Rochebonne plateau, less than 23 miles (42 km) from Olonne.



The Sinking
At about 11:58 pm on January 12, 1920, Afrique passed between Pierre Levée and the Plateau de Rochebonne. It lost engine power. The weather made it hard to repair the engines and it drifted onto a reef and got stuck. The weather made a gash in the hull and the Afrique started to sink. A call for help brought the tugboats Cedar and Victory out from Rochefort but the raging storm prevented either vessel to get close enough to the liner to rescue passengers.
On January 13, 1920 at 3 o'clock, Afrique lost all contact with other ships and soon after sank. Only 34 survivors were collected of 135 crew and 474 passengers.


The Ceylan was a passenger ship of the French shipping company Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis, which was put into service in 1907 and withdrawn in 1934. In January 1920, it took on board the 34 survivors of the passenger ship Afrique (1907), which had sunk in the Bay of Biscay in a storm.



On 11 January 1920, the Ceylan under the command of Captain Juan, went to help a passenger ship that belonged to the same company. The Afrique, with 609 passengers and crew members on board, had just got stuck on a reef in the Bay of Biscay. Because of the stormy sea, the Ceylan could not approach the Afrique but, shortly afterwards, she took two lifeboats, which together had 34 people on board. These 34 people, including four women, were the only survivors of the disaster. They were brought ashore by the Ceylan.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Afrique_(1907)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylan_(ship)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrique_(Schiff,_1907)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 January 1922 - HMS Victory (100) entered Portsmouth dock where she remains to this day


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


The Battle of Cape Saint Vincent, Richard Brydges Beechey, 1881

She additionally served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship.

In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission with 240 years service by 2018.

In dry dock


Restoring HMS Victory (William Lionel Wyllie, 1925)

By 1921 the ship was in a very poor state, and a public Save the Victory campaign was started, with shipping magnate Sir James Caird as a major contributor. On 12 January 1922, her condition was so poor that she would no longer stay afloat, and had to be moved into No. 2 dock at Portsmouth, the oldest dry dock in the world still in use. A naval survey revealed that between a third and a half of her internal fittings required replacement. Her steering equipment had also been removed or destroyed, along with most of her furnishings.

The relocation to No. 2 dock sparked public discussion about Victory's future location. Suggestions in contemporary newspapers included the creation of a floating plinth atop which she could be preserved as a monument, either in Portsmouth or adjacent to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Others proposed a berth beside Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames, or as land-based structure in Trafalgar Square. Despite popular support, these options were not seriously entertained by Admiralty. The naval architects who had surveyed the ship reported that she was too damaged to be moved; Admiralty formally adopted their advice and No. 2 dock thereafter became Victory's permanent home.

During the initial restoration period from 1922 to 1929, a considerable amount of structural repair work was carried out above the waterline and mainly above the middle deck. In 1928, King George V was able to unveil a tablet celebrating the completion of the work, although restoration and maintenance still continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research.[75]Restoration was suspended during the Second World War, and in 1941, Victory sustained further damage when a bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe destroyed one of the steel cradles and part of the foremast. On one occasion, German radio propaganda claimed that the ship had been destroyed by a bomb, and the Admiralty had to issue a denial.


Stern of Victory

In the 1950s, a number of preventive measures were instigated, including the removal of bulkheads to increase airflow and the fumigating of the ship against the deathwatch beetle. The following decade saw the replacement of much of the decayed oak with oily hardwoods such as teak and Iroko, which were believed to be more resistant to fungus and pests. The decision to restore Victory to her Battle of Trafalgar configuration was taken in 1920, but the need to undertake these important repairs meant this was not achieved until 2005, in time for the Trafalgar 200celebrations. Victory's foretopsail was severely damaged during the Battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle, but was preserved and eventually displayed in the Royal Naval Museum.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory
https://www.hms-victory.com/

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 12 January


1719 – Launch of Spanish Catalán 62 at Sant Feliú de Guíxols - Stricken 1731

1769 – Launch of Spanish San Francisco de Paula 70/74 at Havana - Burned 1784

1794 - HMS Sphinx captured Trompeuse (16) near Cape Clear Island.

HMS Sphinx (1775) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1775. The French captured her in September 1779, but HMS Proserpine recaptured her on 29 November 1779. She was broken up in 1811.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Sphinx (1775), a 20-gun sixth Rate to be built at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan includes a table of the mast and yard dimensions. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784]


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and her name on the counter, the sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and the longitudinal half-breadth for Sphinx (1775), a 20-gun Sixth Rate, as built at Portsmouth Dockyard.

Trompeuse (captured 1794)
Begun as a privateer but requisitioned on the stocks by the French Navy as a corvette. A French brig captured off Cape Clear by HMS Sphynx on 12 January 1794.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline and some decoration, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Trompeuse (captured 1794), a captured French brig, now fitted at Plymouth as a 16-gun Brig Sloop. Signed by Edward Sisons [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1793-1795].

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Sphinx_(1775
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-355504;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T


1799 - HMS Weazle (14) wrecked off Barnstaple Bay

HMS Weazle (1783) was a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1783 and wrecked while attempting to leave Barnstaple Bay on 12 February 1799. She vainly fired signals of distress before she broke up; her purser was the only survivor of her crew of 106 men and boys


1804 – Launch of French Lion, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Lion was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
She took part in Allemand's expedition of 1805 under Captain Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil.
On 21 October 1809, she departed Toulon escorting a convoy bound to Barcelona. Six days into the journey, she encountered a British squadron sent by Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, which gave chase. Lion ran aground near Sète, and was set on fire by her crew to avoid capture.


Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Lion (1803), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris

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


1820 - Lord Cathcart, launched at Hull in 1807, wrecked

Lord Cathcart was launched at Hull in 1807. She was a West Indiaman that made one voyage to India before she foundered in 1820 after striking a rock at Pelagosa Island in the Adriatic Sea.

Tons burthen: 362 (bm)
Complement: 17 at loss
Armament: 8 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder carronades (1810)

Career
Lord Cathcart entered Lloyd's Register in 1808 with J. Lane, master, Foster & Co., owner, and trade Hull–Jamaica.
Fate
Lord Cathcart was sailing from Fiume to England when she sank within 15 minutes after striking a rock 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) east north east of Pelagosa Island, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, on 12 January 1820 in the Adriatic Sea, north of Gargano. Captain J. Ferrand , the carpenter, and three seamen drowned. The Chief Officer and eleven of the crew reached Manfredonia after two days and nights in her boats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Cathcart_(1807_Hull_ship)


1847 - US Sloop Lexington (6) landed party at San Blas, Mexico and captured guns.

The second USS Lexington was a sloop in the United States Navy built at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, in 1825; and commissioned on 11 June 1826, Master Commandant William B. Shubrick in command.



The new sloop was first stationed off Labrador to protect American fishing vessels. After returning to the United States, she was sent to Trinidad to return the body of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry who had died in schooner Nonsuch on 23 August 1819 while returning from Angostura, Venezuela, where he had arranged for Venezuelan help to suppress piracy off the Spanish Main.

In 1827 Lexington sailed to the Mediterranean Sea where she cruised for three years. In 1828, her commander, Benjamin W. Booth, likely commissioned the above painting while she was off the coast of Smyrna. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia in the fall of 1830, she decommissioned at Norfolk Navy Yard on 16 November. Recommissioning on 31 May 1831, Master Commandant Silas M. Duncan in command, she proceeded to São Paulo, Brazil, for duty with the Brazil Squadron until late 1836. Notably, in 1831 Duncan raided Luis Vernet's settlement at Puerto Luis in the Falkland Islands where the American ships Harriet, Superior and Breakwater had been captured in a dispute over fishing and seal huntingrights, prompting Duncan to take seven prisoners aboard the Lexington and charge them with piracy; which precipitated the re-establishment of British rule. She then sailed around Cape Horn to protect American commerce on the Pacific coast. On 1 March 1834 at Rio de Janeiro, diplomatist Edmund Roberts, then returning from his first mission aboard Peacock, boarded Lexington under the command of Captain M’Keever for return to Boston Harbor on 24 April.

Returning to the east coast in 1840, Lexington was converted into a store ship and her 24 medium 24-pounders were replaced by six 32-pounder carronades. In April 1843, she sailed to the Mediterranean and served there for two years.

The outbreak of war with Mexico in the spring of 1846 found Lexington operating along the west coast of North America. During the conflict, she transported troops and assisted in the blockade. On 12 January 1847, she landed a party at San Blas, Nayarit, and captured several enemy guns. After the war Lexington remained on the California coast, a source of stability and security during the territory's transition to U.S. control and in the earlier months of the gold rush of 1849.

Returning to the United States East Coast early in 1850, Lexington operated on the eastern seaboard until getting underway from New York Harbor 18 June 1853 to join Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan. After the success of this notable expedition, Lexington remained in the Orient before returning to New York where she decommissioned on 26 February 1855. The sloop was sold in 1860

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(1825)


2004 – The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.

RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2) is a transatlantic ocean liner. She is the largest passenger ship built for the Cunard Line since Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969, the vessel she succeeded as flagship of the line.[9] As of 2019, Queen Mary 2 is the only passenger ship operating as an ocean liner.


Queen Mary 2 in San Francisco Bay in 2007

The new ship was named Queen Mary 2 by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 after the first RMS Queen Mary of 1936. Queen Mary was in turn named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. With the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ocean liner in line service between Southampton, England, and New York City, United States, operating for a part of each year. The ship is also used for cruising, including an annual world cruise.

She was designed by a team of British naval architects led by Stephen Payne, and was constructed in France by Chantiers de l'Atlantique. At the time of her construction, Queen Mary 2 held the distinctions of being the longest, at 1,131.99 ft (345.03 m), and largest, with a gross tonnage of 148,528 GT, passenger ship ever built. She no longer holds this distinction after the construction of Royal Caribbean International's 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas in April 2006, but remains the largest ocean liner ever built.

Queen Mary 2 was intended for routine crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, and was therefore designed differently from many other passenger ships. The liner's final cost was approximately $300,000 US per berth. Expenses were increased by the high quality of materials, and having been designed as an ocean liner, she required 40% more steel than a standard cruise ship. Queen Mary 2 has a maximum speed of just over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a cruising speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), much faster than a contemporary cruise ship. Instead of the diesel-electric configuration found on many ships, Queen Mary 2 uses integrated electric propulsion to achieve her top speed. Diesel engines, augmented by gas turbines, are used to generate electricity for electric motors for propulsion and for on-board use.

Some of Queen Mary 2's facilities include fifteen restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre, and the first planetarium at sea.

On 12 January 2004 Queen Mary 2 set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States, carrying 2,620 passengers. She was under the command of captain Ronald Warwick, who had previously commanded Queen Elizabeth 2. Warwick is the son of William (Bill) Warwick, who had also been a senior Cunard officer and the first captain of Queen Elizabeth 2. The ship returned to Southampton late from her maiden voyage after bow doors covering the thrusters failed to shut in Portugal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 January 1779 - HMS Weazel or Weazle, a 16-gun ship-sloop, captured by French frigate Boudeuse


HMS Weazel or Weazle was a 16-gun ship-sloop of the Royal Navy, in active service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1745, she remained in British service until 1779 and captured a total of 11 enemy vessels. She was also present, but not actively engaged, at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747.

Weazel was captured by the French in 1779, and was later sold into private hands.

Class and type: 16-gun ship-sloop
Tons burthen: 307 65⁄94bm
Length:

• 94 ft 6.75 in (28.8 m) (gundeck)
• 76 ft 4.5 in (23.3 m) (keel)

Beam: 27 ft 6.25 in (8.4 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 0 in (3.7 m)
Sail plan: Ship rig
Complement:

• 110 (1745–1749)
• 125 (1749–1779)

Armament:

• 16 × 6-pounder guns
• 14 × ½-pdr swivel guns

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail (no waterlines), longitudinal half-breadth for Weazle (1745), a 16-gun two-masted Ship Sloop, possibly as launched in May 1745.

Construction
The vessel that would become Weazel was built by shipwrights James Taylor and John Randall of Rotherhithe, and was initially intended to be a private merchant craft. The Royal Navy purchased the half-built vessel on 22 April 1745 and hired Taylor and Randall to complete her for naval service. The fee for the vessel and her completion was £2,387, or the equivalent of £361,000 in 2015 terms.

Once ownership of the vessel had passed into Navy hands, Randall and Taylor were directed to complete her in accordance with an experimental design, as the Royal Navy's first three-masted ship rigged sloop. The quarterdeck was lengthened from the original plans in order to incorporate a mizzen mast, with the intention that the additional sails would enhance speed and maneuverability compared to the traditional two-masted snow rig sloop. This proved sufficiently successful that from 1756 ship rigging became the standard for all subsequent 14-gun and 16-gun sloops in Royal Navy hands.

As built, Weazel was 94 ft 6.75 in (28.8 m) long with a 76 ft 4.5 in (23.3 m) keel, a beam of 27 ft 6.25 in (8.3884 m), and a hold depth of 12 ft 0 in (3.7 m). She was constructed with eighteen broadside gunports and two bow chasers, although in practice she carried only sixteen cannons with the remaining ports left unused. Despite this, at the time of her launch she was the most heavily armed sloop in the Navy.[3] Her designated complement was 110 officers and ratings from 1745 to 1749, rising to 125 thereafter.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth with deck detail for Weazle (1745), a 16-gun Ship Sloop. The plan shows her as a two-masted sloop, to which she was possibly altered by 1762. She underwent two surveys in 1764 and 1768 before a Great Repair in April-May 1769 at Portsmouth.

Navy service
European waters


Waterfront at Deptford, where Weazel was commissioned for service in 1745.

Weazel was launched on 22 May 1745 and sailed to Deptford Dockyard for fitout and to take on armament and crew. She was formally commissioned on 24 June under Commander Thomas Craven, entering Royal Navy service at the height of the War of Austrian Succession which pitted coalitions broadly comprising France, Prussia and Spain, against Britain, the Hapsburg Monarchy and the Dutch Republic. Craven's orders were to take Weazel into the English Channel and the Downs to patrol for enemy privateers. The new-built sloop was swiftly in action, capturing the privateer Le Renard in the Channel on 23 November. In February 1746 Craven was replaced by Lieutenant Hugh Palliser, who immediately pressed Weazel back into active service. The 8-gun French privateer La Revanche was captured on 27 March, followed by La Charmante on 1 April. One further privateer narrowly avoided capture off Spithead in early April when Weazel's approach was slowed by light winds. The French vessel escaped only after throwing its cannons overboard to increase its speed.

Further victories followed that year with Weazel capturing the privateers L'Epervier on 29 July, Le Delangle on 3 August and both La Fortune and La Jeantie on 8 October. In November she encountered a large 30-gun French privateer in the Bay of Biscay, and opened fire despite being considerably outgunned. A contemporaneous newspaper report describes Weazel's crew as fighting "very bravely for a considerable time," before the advantage swung to the British with the arrival of the 58-gun fourth rate HMS Princess Louisa. The privateer turned to flee but was driven ashore and wrecked near Port-Louis, Morbihan.

At the end of the year Commander Palliser was to post-captain and assigned to the 70-gun ship of the line HMS Captain; his place on Weazel was taken by Commander Samuel Barrington. On 24 April 1747 Weazel was off the Dutch coastline and in company with HMS Lys, when she encountered and defeated the privateers La Gorgonne and La Charlotte.



In June 1747 Weazel returned to port at Plymouth, where Barrington was replaced by Commander John Midwinter. There she remained until 30 August when she was joined to a squadron under Admiral Peter Warren, with orders to reinforce a British fleet in position off the French island of Ushant. Poor weather delayed the voyage, and Weazel did not reach her destination until 26 September. The fleet commander, Admiral Edward Hawke immediately allocated her the role of carrying messages between his ships of the line. On the morning of 14 October the fleet was offshore from Cape Finisterre when it encountered a French force of eight ships of the line, escorting a convoy of 252 merchant vessels. Hawke approached from the leeward while the French sailed close-hauled in a line ahead, expecting that he would engage in a long-range artillery duel. Instead, Hawke made the signal for a general chase, freeing his captains from the constraints of a formal battle; the British then overhauled the French line and enveloped it from rear to van, capturing six ships. Around 4,000 French sailors were captured or killed, against 757 British casualties.

During the battle the merchant convoy, and the remaining two French naval vessels, had escaped to the west with the intention of reaching the French Caribbean. Weazel had been too small to join the line of battle the previous day, but Admiral Hawke now deputised her to sail in haste for the Royal Navy's Jamaica Station with a message advising the likely course of the French convoy. Weazel reached the Caribbean before most of the French convoy; the Royal Navy squadron based in the Leeward Islands put immediately to sea and was successful in intercepting 40 French ships and taking 900 prisoners.

During the Seven Years' War, Commodore John Moore dispatched the Weazel to the neutral Dutch island of Sint Eustatius in December 1757. The ship warned the island's governor that nearby French islands were being blockaded and any ships attempting to defy the blockade would be attacked. The Weazel's appearance caused a panic on the island as the governor quickly halted all outgoing trade.

Final voyage
In 1779 Weazel was off the Caribbean island of St Eustatius when she was captured by the 32-gun French frigate Bodeuse. The French took their prize to the Antilles where she was disarmed and her guns transferred to Admiral d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781.


Boudeuse was a 26-gun, 12-pounder-armed sailing frigates named La Boudeuse on 6 June 1765. She is most famous for being the exploration ship of Louis Antoine de Bougainville between 1766 and 1769. She also served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars, during which she captured two enemy vessels. She was broken up for firewood at Malta in early 1800.


Boudeuse arriving in Matavai in 1767.

Class and type: Frigate
Displacement: 1,030 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 580 (French; "of the port")
Length:

• 40.6 m (133 ft) (gundeck)
• 38.33 m (125.8 ft) (keel)

Beam: 10.61 m (34.8 ft)
Draft: 5.36 m (17.6 ft)
Depth of hold:

• 4.36 m (14.3 ft) (forward)
• 4.49 m (14.7 ft) (aft)

Complement: 214
Armament:

• 26 guns (later 32)
• Upper deck: 26 x 12-pounder long guns
• Upperworks: 6 x 6-pounder long guns + 2 x 36-pounder obusiers (all added later)

Armour:timber


Career
First French circumnavigation
Boudeuse, under Antoine de Bougainville, departed from Nantes on 15 November 1766 for the first French circumnavigation of the globe, along with the Étoile. On board was the botanist Philibert Commerçon and his valet, later unmasked by the ship's surgeon as Jeanne Baré, Commerçon's mistress; she would become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

The expedition saw islands of the Tuamotu group on the 22 March. On 2 April they saw the peak of Mehetia and famously visited the island of Otaheite shortly after. de Bougainville narrowly missed becoming their discoverer, unaware of a previous visit, and claim, by Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin less than a year previously. Bougainville claimed the island for France and named it New Cythera.

They left Tahiti and sailed westward to southern Samoa and the New Hebrides, then on sighting Espiritu Santo turned west still looking for the "Southern Continent". On June 4 he almost ran into heavy breakers and had to change course to the north and east. He had almost found the Great Barrier Reef. He sailed through what is now known as the Solomon Islands that, due of the hostility of the people there, he avoided. Bougainville named them Bougainville Island for himself. The expedition was attacked by people from New Irelandso they made for the Moluccas. At Batavia they received news of Wallis and Carteret who had preceded Bougainville.

On 16 March 1769 the expedition completed its circumnavigation and arrived at Saint-Malo, with the loss of only seven out of upwards of 200 men, an extremely low level of loss, and a credit to Bougainville's enlightened management of the expedition.

In 1775-76 Boudeuse underwent refitting at Brest.

American Revolutionary War
Boudeuse later took part in the American War of Independence under Commandante Grenier. On 13 January 1779, she captured the 16-gun sloop HMS Weazel off Sint Eustatius. The French took Weazel to the Antilles where they disarmed her by taking all her guns for Admiral d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781.

On 28 February, Boudeuse took Saint Martin island. On 6 July 1779, she participated in the Battle of Grenada as a member of the rear guard.

French Revolutionary Wars
During the French Revolutionary Wars, in the Action of 8 June 1794, Boudeuse captured from the Sardinian Navy the 36-gun former French frigate Alceste. The British had captured Alceste in Toulon harbour in August 1793 and then handed her over to the Sardinians.

Last journey
On 28 January 1799, Boudeuse, under the command of Lieutenant Calaman, sailed from Toulon to Malta. Boudeuse was loaded with essential supplies for the beleaguered French garrison in Malta which at the time was under a blockade. The French garrison under the command of General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois had withdrawn to the fortified cities found around the Grand Harbour basin following an armed insurrection by the Maltese back in September 1798. Portuguese and Royal Navy ships were assisting the Maltese rebellion by imposing a sea blockade on French shipping, thus cutting off French supplies. Under the cover of inclement weather, Boudeuse managed to run the blockade and on 4 February 1799 she entered the French-controlled Grand Harbour and moored under the Lower Barracca. In July 1800, the French authorities broke up Boudeuse for firewood because supplies of firewood for bakeries had run out.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Weazel_(1745)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-363500;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=W
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Boudeuse_(1766)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 January 1798 - Lt. Lord Camelford, commanding HMS Favorite (16), shot dead Lt. Charles Peterson commanding, HMS Perdrix (22), for mutiny in an argument over seniority at English Harbour, Antigua


Lieutenant Lord Camelford
Wood's replacement, in May 1797, was Commander S. Powell. Some months later, in July, Commander James Hanson assumed command. Then Thomas Pitt, Lieutenant Lord Camelford, took command, replacing Hanson, who had taken ill. Although Camelford was apparently appointed in January, he had been acting captain for some time.
On 13 January 1798, Camelford shot and killed Lieutenant Charles Peterson, acting captain of Perdrix for mutiny, in a dispute over which of them was senior to the other. At the time, both vessels were in English Harbour, Antigua, serving as guardships. What triggered the dispute was the departure from the harbour on the previous day of HMS Babet, whose captain, Jemmet Mainwaring, had previously been the senior officer in the port. Peterson had been first lieutenant under Camelford for three months when Camelford had taken over Favourite, even though Peterson was senior on the lieutenants list and represented Captain Fahie of Perdrix, who was away in St. Kitts.
The two ships' companies almost fired on each other when Camelford shot Petersen.
Captain Henry Mitford of Matilda arrived that evening and put Camelford under arrest. Mitford put Lieutenant Parsons of Favourite in command of Perdrix and sent her out to sea. The subsequent court martial acquitted Camelford.


Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (19 February 1775 – 10 March 1804) was a British peer, naval officer and wastrel, best known for bedevilling George Vancouver during and after the latter's great voyage of exploration.



HMS Favourite (or Favorite) was a 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe. The French captured her in 1806 and renamed her Favorite. However, the British recaptured her in 1807 and renamed her HMS Goree. She became a prison ship in 1810 and was broken up in Bermuda in 1817.


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

Class and type: 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop
Tons burthen: 426 88⁄94 bm
Length:

• 108 ft 5 in (33.0 m) (overall)
• 90 ft 8 1⁄4 in (27.6 m) (keel)

Beam: 29 ft 9 in (9.1 m)
Depth of hold: 9 ft (2.7 m
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Sloop
Complement:

• British service:121
• French service:150

Armament:

• Originally:16 x 6-pounder guns + 12 x ½-pounder swivel guns
• French capture:18 x 6-pounder guns + 11 x 12-pounder carronades
• British capture:16 x 6-pounder guns + 13 x 12-pounder carronades

Perdrix was a corvette of the French Royal Navy, launched in 1784. The British captured her off Antigua in 1795 and she served briefly in the Royal Navy in the West Indies, where she captured a French privateer, before being broken up in 1798.


lines & profile NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 753, states that 'Perdrix' (1795) arrived at Deptford Dockyard on 22 July 1799 and docked on 1 August to have her copper removed. The ship was then taken to pieces on 10 September 1799.

Class and type: Fauvette-class corvette
Displacement: 752 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 516 31⁄94 (bm)
Length: 118 ft 5 1⁄2 in (36.1 m) (overall); 98 ft 7 3⁄8 in (30.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 31 ft 4 1⁄2 in (9.6 m)
Draught: 12 ft 0 in (3.7 m) (unladen);12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) (laden)
Depth of hold: 9 ft 0 in (2.7 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Complement:

• French service:160
• British service:155

Armament:

• French service: 20 x 6-pounder guns + 2 x 36-pounder obusiers
• British service: 24 guns

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pitt,_2nd_Baron_Camelford
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Favourite_(1794)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-311980;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=F
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Perdrix_(1784)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-338411;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=P

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 January 1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.


The Lexington was a paddlewheel steamboat that operated along the Atlantic coast of the Northeastern United States between 1835 and 1840, before sinking in January 1840 due to an onboard fire. Commissioned by industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, the ship was considered one of the most luxurious steamers in operation, and began service on a route between New York City and Providence, Rhode Island. In 1837, the Lexington switched to the route between New York and Stonington, Connecticut, the terminus of the newly built railroad from Boston. Vanderbilt sold the ship to his competitor, the New Jersey Steamship Navigation and Transportation Company, in December 1838 for $60,000, at which time the Lexington was reputedly the fastest steamer on Long Island Sound.

On the night of 13 January 1840, midway through the ship's voyage, the casing around the ship's smokestack caught fire, igniting nearly 150 bales of cotton that were stored nearby. The resultant fire was impossible to extinguish, and necessitated the evacuation of the ship. The ships' overcrowded lifeboats were sunk almost immediately after their launch, leaving almost all of the ship's passengers and crew to drown in the freezing water, with rescue attempts impossible due to the rough water and lack of visibility. Of the estimated 143 people on board the Lexington, only four survived, having clung to large bales of cotton which had been thrown overboard.


A lithograph of the fire on board the Lexington, by Nathaniel Currier.

–A couple attempts to lower lifeboats resulted in the boats getting sucked into the paddlewheel and crushed to bits. One of those boats was full of passengers. If you look closely at Currier’s lithograph, you can see that he has included this detail:


Specifications and route
The Lexington was commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt in early 1834. The ship's keel was laid down at the Bishop and Simonson Shipyards in New York in September 1834. Unlike later steamboats, no detailed plans of the ship were made. Instead, a wooden model of the hull was carved and altered according to Vanderbilt's satisfaction. Using the model as a guide, full-sized outlines were then drawn in chalk on the timber to be used for the hull, which was then cut and assembled by carpenters. The engine of the Lexington was constructed at the West Point Foundry. Making use of a "walking beam" connection mechanism, activated by a 48-inch-diameter (1.2 m) steam cylinder with an 11-foot (3.4 m) stroke, the ship's engine was one of the most efficient of its time. Measuring 207 feet (63 m) in length and weighing 488 long tons (496 t), the Lexington was also one of the most luxuriously outfitted steamers on its route, incorporating ornate teak deck railings, cabin doors, staircases, and panelling; a large cabin including both a lounge and a dining saloon; and elegant deck lighting, curtains, and furniture.

The Lexington began service as a day boat between New York City and Providence, Rhode Island in 1835. The ship began service to Stonington, Connecticut in 1837. She was sold to the New Jersey Steamship Navigation and Transportation Company in December 1838 for around US$60,000. From 1835 to 1840, the Lexington was the fastest vessel en route from New York City to Boston.



Fire and wreck
The Lexington left its pier on Manhattan's East River at 4:00 p.m. on January 13, 1840 bound for Stonington. She was carrying 143 passengers and crew and a cargo of 150 bales of cotton. The ship was expected to arrive in Stonington the following morning in time to meet the train that connected with Boston.

The ship's usual captain, Jacob Vanderbilt (the brother of Cornelius), could not make the voyage owing to illness, and was replaced by veteran Captain George Child.

At 7:30 p.m., the ship's first mate noticed that the woodwork and casings about the smokestack were on fire. The ship was four miles off Eaton's Neck on the north shore of Long Island. Crew members used buckets and boxes to throw water on the flames, as well as a small, hand-pumped fire engine. Once it was apparent that the fire could not be extinguished, the ship's three lifeboats were prepared for launch. The ship's paddlewheel was still churning at full speed, since crewmen could not reach the engine room to shut off the boilers. The first boat was sucked into the wheel, killing its occupants. Captain Child had fallen into the lifeboat and was among those killed. The ropes used to lower the other two boats were cut incorrectly, causing the boats to hit the water stern-first. Both boats promptly sank.

Pilot Stephen Manchester turned the ship toward the shore in hopes of beaching it. The drive-rope that controlled the rudder quickly burned through, and the engine stopped two miles from shore. The ship, out of control, drifted northeast, away from land.

The ship's cargo of cotton ignited quickly, causing the fire to spread from the smokestack to the entire superstructure. Passengers and crew threw empty baggage containers and bales of cotton into the water to be used as rafts. The center of the main deck collapsed shortly after 8:00 p.m.

The fire spread to such an extent that most of the passengers and crew were forced to jump into the frigid water by midnight. Those who had nothing to climb onto quickly succumbed to hypothermia. The ship was still burning when it sank at 3:00 a.m.

According to legend, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was scheduled to travel on the Lexington's fatal voyage, but missed it due to discussing the merits of a recent poem, The Wreck of the Hesperus, with a publisher. The poem also included a ship sinking.

One of the passengers who was lost in the catastrophe was the noted radical minister and abolitionist Karl Follen (1796–1840).

The disaster was depicted in a celebrated colored lithograph by Currier and Ives, and was their first major-selling print. A black-and-white lithograph was also produced from an eyewitness account.

Survivors
Of the 143 people on board the Lexington, only four survived:

Chester Hilliard, 24, the only passenger to survive, had helped crew members throw bales of cotton to people in the water. He climbed onto the last bale at 8:00 p.m., along with ship’s fireman Benjamin Cox. About eight hours later, Cox, weak from hypothermia, fell off the bale and drowned. At 11:00 a.m., Hilliard was rescued by the sloop Merchant.

Stephen Manchester, the ship's pilot. He and about 30 others huddled at the bow of the ship until about midnight, when the flames closed in on them. Shortly after he stepped onto a makeshift raft with several passengers, the raft sank. He then climbed onto a bale of cotton with a passenger named Peter McKenna. Three hours later, McKenna died of exposure. Manchester was rescued by the sloop Merchant at noon.

Charles Smith, one of the ship's firemen, descended the stern of the ship and clung to the ship's rudder along with four other people. The five dove into the sea just before the ship sank, around 3.00 AM, and climbed onto a floating piece of the paddlewheel. The other four men died of exposure during the night, and Smith was rescued by the sloop Merchant at 2:00 the following afternoon.

David Crowley, the second mate, drifted for 43 hours on a bale of cotton, coming ashore 50 miles east, at Baiting Hollow, Long Island. Weak, dehydrated and suffering from exposure, he staggered a mile to the house of Matthias and Mary Hutchinson, and collapsed after knocking on the door. A doctor was immediately summoned, and once well enough, Crowley was taken to Riverhead, where he recovered.

Inquest
An inquest jury found a fatal flaw in the ship's design to be the primary cause of the fire. The ship's boilers were originally built to burn wood, but were converted to burn coal in 1839. This conversion had not been properly completed. Not only did coal burn hotter than wood, but extra coal was being burned on the night of the fire because of rough seas. A spark from the over-heated smokestack set the stack's casing ablaze on the freight deck. The fire then spread to the bales of cotton, which were stored improperly close to the stack.

Previous, smaller fires that had occurred due to the design flaw had been extinguished; however, nothing had been done to correct the problem.

The jury also found crewmen's mistakes and violation of safety regulations to be at fault. Hilliard testified that once crew members noticed the fire, they went below deck to check the engines before attempting to fight the blaze. The jury believed that the fire could have been extinguished if the crew had acted immediately. Also, not all of the ship's fire buckets could be found during the fire. Only about 20 of the passengers were able to locate life preservers. The crew members were also careless in launching the lifeboats, all of which sank.

The sloop Improvement, which had been less than five miles from the burning ship, never came to the Lexington's aid. Captain William Tirrell of the Improvement explained that he was running on a schedule; he did not attempt a rescue because he didn’t want to miss the high tide. The public became furious at this excuse, and Tirrell was attacked by the press in the days following the disaster.

Ultimately, no legislation was passed by the U.S. government in the wake of the tragedy. It was not until the steamboat Henry Clay burned on the Hudson River 12 years later that new safety regulations were imposed.

The Lexington fire remains Long Island Sound's worst steamboat disaster. One hundred thirty-nine of the 143 aboard perished.

Salvage attempts
An attempt was made to raise the Lexington in 1842. The ship was brought to the surface briefly, and a 30-pound (14 kg) mass of melted silver was recovered from the hull. The chains supporting the hull snapped, and the ship broke apart and sank back to the bottom of Long Island Sound.

Today, the Lexington sits in 140 feet of water, broken into three sections. There is allegedly still gold and silver that has not been recovered. Adolphus S. Harnden of the Boston and New York Express Package Car Office had reportedly been carrying $18,000 in gold and silver coins and $80,000 in paper money at the time of the sinking. The silver recovered in 1842 is all that has been found to date.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington_(steamship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 January 1915 - RMS Atrato, a UK steamship that was built in 1888 as a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner, sank in heavy seas off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland. with all hands, a total of 295 Royal Navy officers and men


RMS Atrato was a UK steamship that was built in 1888 as a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. In 1912 she was sold and became the cruise ship The Viking. Toward the end of 1914 she was requisitioned and converted into the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor. She sank in 1915 with all hands, a total of 295 Royal Navy officers and men.


Atrato

Building
In the 1880s RMSP introduced a series of larger new ships to improve its scheduled services between Southampton, South America and the Caribbean. The first was the 4,572 GRTOrinoco, built by Caird and Company and launched in 1886. She was RMSP's first new ship to have a hull of steel rather than iron. After her success RMSP ordered two more ships to an improved and enlarged version of the design from Robert Napier and Sons of Govan. Atrato was launched in 1888, followed by Magdalena launched in 1889. Before these were completed RMSP ordered two more from Napier: the slightly larger Thames in 1889 and Clyde launched in 1890.

Orinoco had only a small amount of deck housing and was the last square-rigged sail-steamer to be built for RMSP. The Napier ships were more modern, each with a full superstructure deck and rigged as a three-masted schooner. The smaller sail plan was based on the increasing economy and reliability of their engines.

Atrato's boilers had a working pressure of 150 lbf/in2. She had eight of them, supplying steam to one three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that drove a single screw. This gave her a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h) on trials and a service speed of 14 knots (26 km/h).

The ship's passenger capacity included 176 in first class state rooms and nearly 400 emigrants in steerage class. Her cargo capacity was 2,524 tons and her coal bunkers 1,109 tons. She had 6,000 cubic feet (170 m3) of refrigerated storage space for provisions, using a dry-air refrigeration system with a discharge rate of 10,000 cubic feet (280 m3) of air per hour. She had tanks for 20,000 imperial gallons (91,000 litres) of fresh water.

Atrato was launched on 22 September 1888, named after the Atrato River in Colombia. RMSP named all of its ships after rivers; many of them with Hispanic names to reflect its trade with Latin America.

Civilian service
Atrato's maiden voyage began from Southampton on 17 January 1889. As well as her passengers, mails and a full cargo she carried in her strong room £120,000 in sovereigns, jewellery worth £2,000 and silver bars worth £400. She called at Carril, Vigo and Lisbon, and then crossed the Atlantic to South America. There she worked her way down the east coast, calling at Pernambuco, Maceió, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Magdalena, Thames and Clyde joined the same South American route over the next 18 months, but after her maiden voyage Atrato was switched to join Orinoco on RMSP's Caribbean route. All five sisters had long and successful careers.

The five ships' furnaces suffered from heat damage, so in 1891 they were lined with zinc. In 1899 Day, Summers and Company of Southampton raised the boats on Atrato, Magdalena, Thames and Clyde "to a boat deck clear of the promenade" at a cost of more than £5,000. In 1903 Atrato, Magdalena and Clyde were fitted with bronze propellers costing another £5,000. In May 1905 RMSP ordered insulation and refrigeration to be fitted to part of their cargo space to enable Orinoco and Atrato to carry fresh fruit.

In October 1912 the Viking Cruising Company of London bought Atrato and renamed her The Viking. She became a cruise ship, touring the waters of northern Europe.

Naval service and loss


The Norwegian liner Bergensfjord, which Viknor detained in 1915

When the UK entered the First World War in 1914 the Admiralty requisitioned her, had her re-fitted as an armed merchant cruiser and commissioned her as HMS Viknor. She was placed under the command of Commander EO Ballantyne with a complement of 22 officers and 273 ratings and assigned to the 10th Cruiser Squadron.

On 28 December 1914 Viknor went on patrol from the River Tyne, and on 1 January she joined "B" patrol off the north coast of Scotland. The patrol was ordered to find and stop the neutral Norwegian America Line ship Bergensfjord, which the UK Government believed was carrying a suspected German spy. Viknor found Bergensfjord, detained her and escorted her to Kirkwall in Orkney. There the suspect and a number of other prisoners were transferred to Viknor, which then left for Liverpool.

Viknor never reached her destination. On 13 January 1915 she sank with all hands in heavy seas off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland.[9] She sent no distress signal. Some wreckage and many corpses washed ashore on the northern coast of Ireland.

It is thought she struck a German naval mine, possibly one of those laid by the German Bremen-class cruiser SMS Berlin. Her wreck was found in 2006, and in 2011 a scuba diver placed a White Ensign on it in memory of her complement.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Atrato_(1888)