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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 October 1955 – The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk (ex italian Giulio Cesare) strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.


Giulio Cesare was one of three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. She served in both World Wars, although she was little used and saw no combat during the former. The ship supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923 and spent much of the rest of the decade in reserve. She was rebuilt between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

Battleship_Giulio_Cesare.jpg

Both Giulio Cesare and her sister ship, Conte di Cavour, participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, when the former was lightly damaged. They were both present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940, but Giulio Cesare was not damaged. She escorted several convoys to North Africa and participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late 1940 and the First Battle of Sirte in late 1941. She was designated as a training ship in early 1942, and escaped to Malta after Italy surrendered. The ship was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk (Russian: Новороссийск). The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk, with the loss of 608 men, when an old German mineexploded in 1955. She was salvaged the following year and later scrapped.

Soviet service

1280px-Novorosiysk-1950-Sevastopol-2.jpg
Novorossiysk at anchor, flying the Soviet ensign

After the war, Giulio Cesare was allocated to the Soviet Union as part of the war reparations. She was moved to Augusta, Sicily, on 9 December 1948, where an unsuccessful attempt was made at sabotage. The ship was stricken from the naval register on 15 December and turned over to the Soviets on 6 February 1949 under the temporary name of Z11 in Vlorë, Albania. She was renamed Novorossiysk, after the Soviet city on the Black Sea. The Soviets used her as a training ship, and gave her eight refits. In 1953, all Italian light AA guns were replaced by eighteen 37 mm 70-K AA guns in six twin mounts and six singles. Also replaced were her fire-control systems and radars. The Soviets intended to rearm her with their own 305 mm guns, but this was forestalled by her loss. While at anchor in Sevastopol on the night of 28/29 October 1955, an explosion ripped a 4-by-14-meter (13 by 46 ft) hole in the forecastle forward of 'A' turret. The flooding could not be controlled, and she capsized with the loss of 608 men, including men sent from other ships to assist.

The cause of the explosion is still unclear. The official cause, regarded as the most probable, was a magnetic RMH or LMB bottom mine, laid by the Germans during World War II and triggered by the dragging of the battleship's anchor chain before mooring for the last time. Subsequent searches located 32 mines of these types, some of them within 50 meters (160 ft) of the explosion. The damage was consistent with an explosion of 1,000–1,200 kilograms (2,200–2,600 lb) of TNT, and more than one mine may have detonated. Nonetheless, other explanations for the ship's loss have been proposed, and the most popular of these is that she was sunk by Italian frogmen of the wartime special operations unit Decima Flottiglia MAS who – more than ten years after the cessation of hostilities – were either avenging the transfer of the former Italian battleship to the USSR or sinking it on behalf of NATO. Novorossiysk was stricken from the naval register on 24 February 1956, salvaged on 4 May 1957, and subsequently scrapped.


A very good article taken from http://survincity.com/2012/12/the-battleship-novorossiysk-lurking-death/

The battleship Novorossiysk — lurking death

27c4112bf9c5f3130027d2d85fb47b7d.jpg

Frogmeny — this submarine-blasters, which are one of the more secretive special units of the Navy at least some of the army. First information about them came during the second world war. Their main task was reduced to undermine coastal fortifications for the upcoming landing operations. These units were in the German Navy, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the U.S. and Italy. About frogmenah and it will be the last.
Even despite the fact that the Italian division of fighters early in the war allowed the bottom of about 30 vessels of their own allies, among which two battleships and the British, Italian and English frogmeny started to cooperate intensively in 1943. Italian Prince Valerio Borghese, known under the name of the Dark Prince, which was the commander of special forces commandos submarine and torpedo boats, was able to escape punishment for war crimes because they took him under their protection by the British.
When it was decided to transfer the Russian Union of Italian battleship "Giuseppe Cesare," Italian media appreciated this fact as a public disgrace. In the end, Dark prince swore that before anything did not stop, and if you want to be — and that would undermine the battleship, but to serve the Soviets that will not happen. In 1949, he gave the order to his own special divisions frogmenov sink the ship in the Aegean Sea, which at the time was heading to the USSR from Albania. For the successful execution of the job has been promised a great reward currency. Since the information about the diversion penetrated the Russian Alliance, the "Giuseppe Cesare" was placed under the protection of the submarine with swimmers "Barracuda" — a top-secret unit. All commandos who took part in the operation, were destroyed, and the ship arrives safely in Sevastopol. In the same year the ship modernized and given a new name — "Novorossiysk", then he took the place of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.
Around 17.00 October 28, 1955 the ship returned to port, and a couple of hours moored in the bay near the naval hospital. At about 1.30 in the bow of the battleship explosion, which destroyed all of the horizontal overlap on the forecastle deck to the very bottom. The total area of damage was about 430 square meters on a plot of 22 meters in length.
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The explosion took with him hundreds of lives of seafarers. According to the official version, the cause of the explosion was the German mine that has remained since the war times. Sailors accused of negligence, and the protection of the town from the sea and from the land was considered very satisfactory. Indeed, the boom was exposed only at night, and it was not a severe obstacle for professional saboteur.
In the course of the investigation, which, by the way, lasted only one week, the Commission has decided not to take into account the huge number of suspicious facts and circumstantial evidence found during the investigation. The members of the committee have not been able to answer the question, why after so many years of work for clockwork mines, and why it is effective in a more vulnerable position ship. Many knew it was sabotage operation, and that the perpetrators must be found in the middle of its former owners. Instead, the Commission noted the shortcomings of constructive and technical support vitality and unsinkable battleship.
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According to one version, the preparation of the terrorist act took place followed properly. Prior to 1954 Borghese lived in Spain, but funds for large-scale sabotage operations had because of the arrest of their own bank accounts in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy. Then he had to realize Franco drawings technically perfect little submarine "Wasp" in what used electronic engines. To control the boat submariners were supposed to be outside. So Makar, the saboteurs could sneak undetected into the bay, and even undermine what the ship. After receiving funds, the Dark prince started to implement its own plan. And after a while after the explosion, and he and several members of his entourage were given a large Municipal Awards Italy.
And only in 1997, one of the frogmenov, some Nicolo, publicly spoke about how exactly was destroyed "Novorossiysk". According to him, he was the last survivor of all those involved in the attack, saboteurs.
Preparation for a terrorist attack carried out recognizable Italian submariner in the course of the year. Then ship cargo ship flying the flag of Liberia has been focused in the dark sea. The speed of the vessel and its course was designed in such a Makarov to go Chersonese lighthouse is 15 miles from the coast at midnight on October 26. In the bottom of the cargo ship was made a special cut-out, which was released through a mini-submarine "Piccolo" with equipment and saboteurs, then himself ship went its course. Not far from the Omega Bay near Sevastopol commandos staged an underwater base, where all the equipment and left, then came back out to sea. After having been obtained by a prearranged signal the location of the battleship, they returned to base, they took all the right and came to the ship, using gidrobuksiry. Apart from their own explosives they used and found a bottom mine. Later saboteurs returned to the bay and the NIGHT MODE headed out to sea, where they are expected ship.
It is also clear that in the 50 years of the twentieth century, the case between the former allies deteriorated to such an extent that the world was on the brink of modern war. Totally could be that the management decided to kill NATO battleship, Using Italian saboteurs to further destabilize the situation.
Russian military command meant that the terrorist attack implicated former allies, and that we can expect from them and other dirty tricks. And after some time the cruiser "Kerch", as, in general, four destroyers and one submarine, purchased from Italy, were sent for scrap.
Around the same time, there was another story associated with the activities of saboteurs submarine. Been written about in newspapers around the world (except Russian). In 1956, in order to significantly reduce tension in international relations in the UK with a friendly visit came Nikita Khrushchev, which served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Frogmenov group led by Lionel Crabbe beginning of intelligence operations, carrying out inspection of Russian ship on which a delegation from the USSR. During this operation, Crabbe just disappeared. The Western press has linked his disappearance to the activities of "Barracuda", which the swim
mers were armed Russian ship. Approximately year Crabbe's body was found near Pils Island with his hands and his head cut off.
But back to the disaster "Novorossiysk". The fact that his destruction of a hand in the NATO security forces, says the fact that in 1978, after the death of the Dark Prince, published a book of his biographer, under the title "Valerio Borghese. My furtive war "in what has been described and sabotage against the battleship. Moreover, it immediately rebuked in the UK, the U.S. and Canada, then it is not reprinted.
In 1992, the Chief of the Italian Navy G.Venturioni acknowledged that sank the "Novorossiysk" specifically Italian frogmeny. But he insisted that it was made without the knowledge of the authorities. But after all the commandos after the operation bestowed! ..
The death of the battleship have been the subject of articles in almost all known publications. In the years since the disaster, has developed many versions, each of which has numerous enemies and supporters. In 1996, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office after numerous appeals veteran sailors began for the verification of the results of the investigation. As it turns out, all the crew members were presented to the government awards — the Order of Red Banner, the Order of Lenin, Nakhimov and Ushakov also "For Valour". But, since the time of the discovery of these premium sheets had neither orders nor of the Russian Union, all the ship's sailors were awarded the Order of Courage.
In addition, in Sevastopol was created two memorials: the Brethren cemetery and the cemetery Communards. And the 36th anniversary of the death of the ship were a memorial plaque with the names of the dead sailors, also a bronze plaque.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_battleship_Giulio_Cesare
http://wikimapia.org/10788388/Site-of-Sinking-Battleship-Novorossiysk-29-10-1955
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 29 October


1754 – Launch of French Valeur, (24-gun design by François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers, with 20 x 8-pounder guns at Rochefort – sold 1764.


1781 – launch of French frigate Iris was a Magicienne-class frigate

Iris, (launched 29 October 1781 at Toulon) – captured August 1793 by British Navy at Marseille, and burnt December 1793 during evacuation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Iris_(1781)


1779 – HMS Roebuck (1774 – 44) captured american privateer Revenge

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

Forcing_a_Passage_of_the_Hudson.jpg
HMS Phoenix, Roebuck and Tartar, accompanied by three smaller vessels, forcing their way through a cheval-de-frise on the Hudson River with the Forts Washington and Lee and several batteries on both sides. The painting is a copy by Thomas Mitchell after the original rendering of the subject, a scene from the American Revolutionary War, by Dominic Serres the Elder.

In October 1783, Roebuck underwent repairs at Sheerness and was refitted as hospital ship. She served in this capacity during the capture of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia by a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis in 1794. Recommissioned as a troopship in July 1799, Roebuck was part of the fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, to which the Dutch surrendered in the Vlieter Incident, on 30 August. Following the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, Roebuck was paid off and laid up in ordinary at Woolwich Dockyard. When hostilities resumed in May 1803, she was brought back into service as a guardship at Leith, flying the flags of Vice-Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh then Rear-Admiral James Vashon under whom she later transferred to Great Yarmouth. In March 1806, she became a receiving ship, and from some point in 1810, the flagship of Lord Gardner. Roebuck was broken up at Sheerness in July 1811.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Roebuck_(1774)


1799 - Boats of HMS Tigre (80), Cptn. Sir William Sydney Smith, engaged off Damietta, mouth of the Nile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Tigre_(1793)


1802 – Launch of Experiment and was immediately taken up by the British East India Company (EIC),

Experiment was launched in 1802 and was immediately taken up by the British East India Company (EIC), as an "extra ship" on a multi-voyage charter. She made three voyages for the EIC and disappeared without a trace while homeward bound on her fourth voyage in the same storm that claimed two other East Indiamen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment_(1802_EIC_ship)


1814 – Launch French Magnifique, an 86-gun Bucentaure-class

Magnifique 80 (launched 29 October 1814 at Lorient) – 86 guns from 1837; condemned 1837.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Magnifique
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1744 – Launch of French Oriflamme 56, later 50 guns at Toulon


Oriflamme was a 56-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was ordered on 16 February 1743 and built at Toulon Dockyard by engineer-constructor Pierre-Blaise Coulomb, and launched on 30 October 1744. She carried 24 x 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, 26 x 8-pounder guns on her upper deck, and 6 x 4-pounder guns on her quarterdeck (although the latter smaller guns were removed when she was rebuilt at Toulon from August 1756 to July 1757). The ship was named for the long, multi-tailed red banner that was historically the battle standard of the medieval French monarchy.

She narrowly survived one encounter with the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, but was captured during a later engagement by HMS Isis off Cape Trafalgar, on 1 April 1761. She was not taken into British service but was used as a merchant ship, ending her days in Spanish service. She sailed on her last voyage in 1770, but her crew apparently succumbed to a plague and the ship was lost at sea.

Class and type:
56-gun ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,000
Length: 135 French feet
Beam: 37 French feet
Draught: 18½ French feet
Depth of hold: 17¾ French feet
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 380 men, + 5/10 officers
Armament: 56 guns of various weights of shot (reduced to 50 guns in 1757)


French career


The oriflamme of the Capetian dynasty.

Following her reconstruction in 1756-57, the Oriflamme served during the Seven Years' War, and had an encounter with a superior British squadron in late February 1758, when she was chased off the Spanish coast by the 60-gun HMS Montagu, under Captain Joshua Rowley and the 74-gun HMS Monarch under Captain John Montagu. They chased Oriflamme onshore, but owing to Spain's neutrality at the time, did not attempt to destroy her, and Oriflammewas later salvaged.

Oriflamme again encountered the British, this time when she was chased by the 50-gun HMS Isis, under Captain Edward Wheeler, off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco on 1 April 1761. The two engaged at 6pm, with Wheeler being killed early in the exchange of fire. Command then devolved to Lieutenant Cunningham, who on seeing that the French ship was trying to escape towards Spain, ran aboard her, and soon forced her to strike her colours. Oriflamme, which had been armed en flûte and was carrying between 40 and 50 guns during the action, had 50 killed and wounded from her complement of around 370. Isis had four killed, including Wheeler, and nine wounded.The captured Oriflamme was brought into Gibraltar.

Spanish career
Oriflamme was not brought into the Royal Navy, but was instead sold into mercantile service. She appears to have then entered Spanish service, and was sold at auction to the company of Juan Baptista de Uztaris, Bros & Co.

She set sail on her final voyager on 18 February 1770, departing Cadiz under the command of Captain Joseph Antonio de Alzaga, with Joseph de Zavalsa as Master and Manuel de Buenechea as pilot. On 25 July she was sighted by the Gallardo, whose captain, Juan Esteban de Ezpeleta, knew de Alzaga. The Gallardo signalled to her with a cannon shot, but it went unanswered. The first officer of the Gallardo, Joseph de Alvarez, was sent to investigate and found that the Oriflama had been swept by a mysterious plague. Half the crew had already died, and the rest were dying, with only thirty men barely able to haul a sail.

De Alvarez returned to his ship and a boatload of supplies was prepared, but bad weather drove the ships apart and it was impossible to catch up with the Oriflama. It was reported that as the crew of the Gallardo prayed for the safety of the men of the Oriflama, a ghostly light illuminated the latter's sails and she was seen to sail away into the night. On 28 July wreckage of the Oriflama and some bodies were washed up on the coast of Chile near the mouth of the Huenchullami River.

The following spring Manuel de Amat y Juniet, the Viceroy of Peru, sent Juan Antonio de Bonachea, apparently a relative of the pilot of the Oriflama (Buenechea and Bonachea were interchangeable spellings), with trained divers to search for the wreck, but the search was abandoned in January 1772.


The Oriflamme (from Latin aurea flamma, "golden flame") was the battle standard of the King of France in the Middle Ages. It was originally the sacred banner of the Abbey of St. Denis, a monastery near Paris. When the oriflamme was raised in battle by the French royalty during the Middle Ages, most notably during the Hundred Years War, no prisoners were to be taken until it was lowered. Through this tactic they hoped to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, especially the nobles, who could usually expect to be taken alive for ransom during such military encounters.

In French, the term "oriflamme" has come to mean any banner with pointed ends; by association with the form of the original.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Oriflamme_(1744)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriflamme
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1762 - The Action of 30 October 1762 - HMS Panther (1758 - 60) + HMS Argo (1758 - 28) captured Santisima Trinidad (1751 - 60)


was a minor naval battle that was fought in the San Bernardino Strait off the coast off British occupied Manila in the Philippines between two Royal naval ships; the 60 gun ship of the line HMS Panther under captain Hyde Parker and the frigate HMS Argo under Richard King. They fought for the capture of the heavily armed Spanish treasure galleon, Santisima Trinidad.

Background
The Santisima Trinidad was a large ship constructed in 1750 at Manila of 60 guns and at the time the largest Manila galleon ever built. It was built for trade in the Pacific between the Spanish colonies. On 3 September 1762 the Trinidad departed the port of Cavite in the Spanish Philippines for Acapulco in Spanish Mexico with a cargo of valuables. However, due to contrary winds she never left the San Bernardino Strait until late September. On the night of 2–3 October a storm, possibly the tail end of a Typhoon, brought down the fore and mainmasts and it was decided to turn back to Cavite under a jury rig. Unbeknown to the ships company Spain and Great Britain were at war as Spain had joined on the side of the French. As a result, a British and East Indian Company task force from India had thus seized Manila just as the Trinidad had left port.

Action
As the Trinidad passed through the San Bernardino Strait HMS Panther and HMS Argo soon discovered her, and caught up with the Spanish ship. An action followed with Argo and Panther concentrating their fire on the masts and rigging. To Parker's amazement the shots from Panther made very little impression on the galleon's hardwood. However Trinidad was soon disabled and unable to manoeuvre was left a dismasted wreck. Despite this Trinidad managed to put up stout resistance and continued for a total of 2 hours but the ship was overcrowded for its size of nearly 800 crew, marines, civilians and its large cargo. It had in fact less than half the guns required to fight. Soon the Spanish commander realised that any further resistance was futile and surrendered soon after. The cost for the Spanish was 18 killed and 10 wounded and 750 captured while British casualties were 35 killed and 37 wounded.

Aftermath
The cargo was valued at $1.5 million and the ship at $3 million. The Trinidad was later sent to Plymouth in 1764 and subsequently broken up for her wood.[citation needed]

The Manila ransom which was supposed to be paid by Spain in return for Manila never happened. The capture of the Santisima Trinidad however made the expedition and the occupation rewarding more to the British rather than the East India Company.


The Santísima Trinidad / Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin / El Poderoso was a galleon destined for merchant shipping between the Philippines and México. She was one of the largest of the Manila galleons; officially named Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin, and was familiarly known as The Mighty (Spanish: El Poderoso). She is not to be confused with the Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, the biggest warship in the world in its time, which sank at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Construction
Armed with 60 guns, she was laid in Bagatao Island shipyard (Real Astillero) Sorsogon in 1751 with a carrying capacity of 2,000 tons. With a length of 167 feet and a beam of 50 feet, she was "one of the largest galleons ever built in the Philippines," able to carry 5,068 crates of cargo. Orders came from the Governor-General of the Philippines Don Francisco José de Ovando, 1st Marquis of Brindisi. Her large volume and some construction errors made modifications necessary in 1757 to reduce her displacement.

Capture
Further information: Action of 2 October 1762
On 3 Sept. 1762 she departed from Cavite towards Acapulco, but due to a severe storm near the Marianas, she lost a mast. The captain decided to return to the Philippines for repair, unaware that Manila had fallen into British hands after the Battle of Manila.

The ship was intercepted by Edgar Class fourth-rate 60-gun HMS Panther under captain Hyde Parker and the Coventry Class sixth-rate HMS Argo of 28 guns under Richard King. Panther opened fire, but did little damage to her thick wooden hull and caused few casualties. Nevertheless, the disheartened crew of the Santísima Trinidad decided to surrender. On board was cargo valued at $1.5 million, besides the value of the ship at $3 million. Previously, the Filipina had been captured with her cargo of American silver from Acapulco.

The ship was taken to Portsmouth, where her sale earned the two captains 30,000 pounds, a fortune at that time. It is not known what happened to the ship after the sale but she was probably scrapped.

Further info you can find here:

JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Great Galleon: The "Santísima Trinidad" (1750-65)
David F. Marley
Philippine Studies
Vol. 41, No. 2 (Second Quarter 1993), pp. 167-181
Published by: Ateneo de Manila University
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42633369



HMS Panther was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 June 1758 at Chatham Dockyard.

large.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Panther (1758), Firm (1759), and Edgar (1758), all 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-deckers.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81359.html#CCl8BvgKZ3exGuv8.99


She served during the Seven Years' War, sailing for the far east to take part in the expedition against Manila. On 31 October 1761 Panther and Coventry Class 24-gun sixth-rate Argo captured the Spanish Galleon Santísima Trinidad in a two-hour action, loaded with cargo valued at $1.5 million.

Panther was fitted as a prison hulk at Plymouth Dockyard from 1807, and was broken up in 1813.


HMS Argo was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was one of the Coventry class, designed by Sir Thomas Slade as a development of based on the Lyme, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns."

large (1).jpg
Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half breadth for Argo (1758), Active (1758), Aquilon (1758), Milfrord (1759), and later in 1758 for Guadeloupe (1763), and in 1764 for Carysfort (1766), then in 1782 for Laurel (cancelled 1783 and not built), and Hind (1785)a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83197.html#5fXhs6eGSud30UsS.99



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_30_October_1762
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_ship_Santísima_Trinidad_(1751)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Panther_(1758)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Argo_(1758)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=19755
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1784 - Launch of HMS Tremendous, a 74-gun Ganges-class a third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,


HMS Tremendous was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 30 October 1784 at Deptford.

Throughout May 1794 Tremendous, whilst under the command of Captain James Pigott, participated in the campaign which culminated in the Battle of the Glorious First of June. Pigott had kept his ship too far to windward of the enemy to make best use of his guns in the battle; Tremendous's captain was one of several denied medals afterwards.

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

large (2).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building 'Tremendous' (1784), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, at Deptford by Mr William Barnard. Initialled by Edward Hunt [Surveyor of the Navy, 1778-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80877.html#c2wZRYg6CCyKGoRC.99


While operating in the Indian Ocean, on 25 April 1799 Tremendous, Jupiter, and Adamant recaptured Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire. On 11 December 1799, she destroyed the Preneuse at the Battle of Port Louis.

On 21 April 1806, she fought the inconclusive Action of 21 April 1806 against Canonnière

On 13 May she was present at the surrender of Naples during the Neapolitan War. A British squadron, consisting of Tremendous, the frigate Alcmene, the sloop Partridge, and the brig-sloop Grasshopper blockaded the port and destroyed all the gunboats there. Parliament voted a grant of £150,000 to the officers and men of the squadron for the property captured at the time, with the money being paid in May 1819.

Early in September 1811, Primus, carrying tar and hemp, Worksam, in ballast, Experiment, carrying iron, Columbus, carrying linseed, Neptunus, carrying timber, and Hector, carrying sundry goods, came into Yarmouth. They were prizes to Tremendous, Ranger, Calypso, Algerine, Musquito, Earnest. and Portia.

Fate
In 1845 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and renamed HMS Grampus. Grampus became a powder hulk in 1856, and was eventually sold out of the service in 1897.

Class and type: Ganges-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,65664⁄94 (bm)
Length: 169 ft 6 in (51.66 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 8 1⁄2 in (14.542 m)
Depth of hold: 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns



The Ganges-class ships of the line were a class of six 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Edward Hunt.

Ships
Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 14 July 1779
Launched: 30 March 1782
Fate: Broken up, 1816
Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 12 July 1779
Launched: 16 June 1783
Fate: Broken up, 1813
Builder: Barnard, Deptford
Ordered: 1 January 1782
Launched: 30 October 1784
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1897
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 25 June 1801
Launched: 15 March 1808
Fate: Broken up, 1861
Builder: Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia, Duncan Docks, Bombay
Ordered: 9 July 1801
Launched: 19 June 1810
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1861
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 3 December 1811
Laid Down: December 1812
Launched: 15 April 1816
Fate: Hulked, 1842, BU 1869


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Tremendous_(1784)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Minerve_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...5;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T;start=0
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1788 – Launch of French Uranie at Lorient


Uranie was a frigate (40-gun one-off design by Pierre Ozanne and Leon-Michel Guignace, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns) of the French Navy launched in 1788. She took part in a frigate action in 1793, capturing HMS Thames, and was renamed Tartu in honour of her captain, Jean-François Tartu, who was killed in the action. The Royal Navy captured her in 1797. She served as HMS Uranie until the Royal Navy sold her in 1807.

French service
At the Action of 24 October 1793, under Jean-François Tartu, she engaged HMS Thames, which she reduced to a hulk before disengaging. Tartu was killed; he was hailed as a hero, and Uranie was renamed Tartu in his honour.

large (3).jpg
Capt Cotes in the Thames defeats large French frigate Uranie, 1793. With inscription (PAF0004)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/124139.html#RswLrJuUJYUfLOBD.99


British service
On 5 January 1797, she was captured by HMS Polyphemus, and subsequently brought into British service as HMS Uranie.

On 28 July 1800, Uranie captured the French privateer schooner Revanche, which was armed with fourteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 80 men. Revanche was 19 days out of Vigo and had already captured and sent in the English brig Marcus, a Portuguese ship, and a Spanish brig that had been a prize to Minerve. Sirius shared in the capture.

In 1807, she detected Manche, but failed to engage. Complaints by her crew led to the court martial of the captain for "failure to do his utmost to bring the enemy's frigate to action"


The Action of 24 October 1793 was a minor naval engagement during the first year of the French Revolutionary Wars. While cruising in the Northern Bay of Biscay, the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Thames, under Captain James Cotes, encountered the much larger French frigate Uranie, under Captain Jean-François Tartu. The ships engaged, with each suffering severe damage until they separated after nearly four hours of continual combat. Cotes ordered his crew to make hasty repairs, intending to resume the battle, but Uranie's crew, with their captain dead, slipped away while Thames was unable to manoeuvre. At 16:00, with repairs on Thames ongoing, a French squadron of three frigates and a brig, under Captain Zacharie Allemand, arrived, firing on Thames as they approached. Outnumbered, Cotes surrendered his ship to Allemand, who commended Cotes on his resistance to the far larger Uranie.

The French brought Thames into Brest, where sailors from Allemand's squadron looted the frigate. The British officers were imprisoned for the next two years. The frigate was commissioned into the French Navy as Tamise, and Uranie was renamed Tartu in honour of her deceased captain. Both vessels then served with the French Atlantic Fleet, Tamise until 8 June 1796, when the British recaptured her off the Scilly Isles, and Tartu until 30 December 1796 when the British captured her during the Expédition d'Irlande.

Background
In February 1793, amid rising political tension, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain, drawing Britain into the French Revolutionary Wars. At sea, the Bay of Biscay, the Western Approaches and the English Channel all became areas of significant naval activity as French privateers sailed on raiding cruises against British merchant shipping. To augment these attacks, the French naval authorities dispatched squadrons of frigates to attack British trade routes. To counter these operations, the Royal Navy sent their own frigates to sea, sometimes in squadrons and sometimes on single patrols.
A French frigate squadron sent to on a cruise in the Northern Bay of Biscay in the early autumn of 1793 was commanded by Captain Zacharie Allemand and consisted of the frigates Carmagnole, Résolue, Sémillante and Uranie with the brig-corvetteEspiègle. On 22 October, the squadron sighted the 16-gun Spanish brig Alcoudia and Allemand ordered Uranie under Captain Jean-François Tartu to separate from the squadron and pursue the Spaniard. Uranie was easily able to capture Alcoudia, taking the prisoners on board the frigate and establishing a prize crew on the brig. Two days later, Uranie was sailing southwards in company with the prize with the wind at the southwest, when a sail appeared to the north at 09:30.

The new arrival was a British ship sent from the Channel Fleet on a lone patrol: the frigate HMS Thames under Captain James Cotes. Thames was an old frigate, built in 1758 and carrying 32 12-pounder guns. The ship was below its standard complement of 215 men, sailing with only 184, which meant that the 6-pounder guns that augmented the main battery could not be manned. By comparison, Uranie was five years old and carried 40 18-pounder guns and weighing almost double the weight of the British ship. Her full complement was of 260 men, but she lacked 60 of her sailors, dispatched in prize crews over three captured ships, and was burdened with over 260 prisoners. At first unsure of the identity of the ship to the north, Tartu hoisted a blue flag as an identification signal and sent the Alcoudia away in case the ship should be revealed to be hostile. Cotes did not respond to the signal, and the two ships were soon hidden from one another by a rain squall.

Battle

Uranie_vs_HMS_Thames.png
The Action of 24 October 1793 between Uranie and HMS Thames

At 10:15 the weather cleared, leaving both frigates well in sight of one another, both Tartu and Cotes identifying the opposing ship as an enemy and clearing for action, Tartu hoisting the French tricolour. With both captains determined on battle, the frigates approached one another rapidly on opposing tacks. Uranie was the first to fire, discharging a full broadside at Thames and then wearing around to pull alongside Thames on the same tack. The manoeuvre placed the two frigates directly alongside one another and a close engagement began, each discharging broadside after broadside at the another. At 12:15, a round shot swept Uranie's quarterdeck, killing a helmsman, cutting a boy in half, wounding another, and severing Tartu's leg under the knee; Tartu was brought below deck and Lieutenant Wuibert assumed command of Uranie. The fight continued in this manner for several hours, until 14:20, when Uranie was able to pull ahead of Thames and fire several broadsides into the bows of the British ship, raking her. British historian William James recorded that the crew of Uranie then attempted to board via the starboard bow of Thames, but were driven off by fire from Cotes' bow guns, which had been double–shotted for this reason. However the after action report by Lieutenant Wuibert on Uranie states that no boarding action was attempted.

With the boarding attempt thwarted Uranie pulled back, turning southwards to put distance between the vessels. Tartu, brought below deck and dying, had ordered a retreat for fear that his prisoners would revolt and because the engagement was drifiting in the east-north-east direction, where two sails, assumed to be British warships, had been sighted.[8] It was assumed on Thames that the French ship was retreating, the British crew cheering as the firing ceased. Cotes however anticipated a resumption of the action and ordered his men to begin making repairs immediately: Thames was so badly damaged that pursuit was out of the question. All three of Thames' masts had been shot through, most of the rigging had been torn away, the hull and decks were badly damaged and 34 men were killed or wounded. Uranie was in a similar state, and hauled up approximately 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) away, the masts intact but damaged with most of the rigging shot through and numerous holes smashed through the hull. It was also evident on Thames that the crew of the French ship were pumping water over the side, an indication that the ship had been damaged below the waterline.

Cotes' ship was fit only to sail with the wind, and the captain urged his men to make greater efforts to repair their ship before Uranie could come up with them again. So engrossed was the British crew with their repairs that it was not until 16:00 that it was realised that the French frigate was no longer holding station within sight, and had completely disappeared. This led some on the British ship to assume that Uranie had sunk, although in fact the ship had simply turned away in an effort to make it back to Rochefort to repair the damage suffered in the engagement. Also apparent were a number of sails in the distance. These rapidly approached and were revealed to be a frigate squadron flying the Union Flag. Cotes was unable to manoeuvre his ship or respond to the new arrivals, which were soon identified as French vessels wearing false flags. The leading frigate pulled up close to Thames and fired a broadside at the British frigate. Cotes immediately hailed the French, announcing that he was in no position to fight them due to the damage his ship had suffered and that he was striking his flag.

Aftermath
Allemand requested that Cotes come aboard Carmagnole, but Cotes responded that he was unable to do so as his ship's boats had all been destroyed. Allemand sent a boat from his own ship to Thames and brought Cotes to Carmagnole as a prisoner of war; Cotes used the delay to destroy his ship's documents. Allemand questioned Cotes intently about the nature of his recent combat and, on identifying Uranie as one of his own squadron, commented that Tartu should have defeated Thames in half the time the action had taken.

Thames subsequently returned to Brest with Allemand's squadron on 25 October, although the British ship was thoroughly looted during the journey by the French sailors, whose officers were unable to exert any control over them. The ship's officers had been removed, including the surgeon, and therefore the British wounded did not receive medical treatment until the squadron arrived at Brest on 25 October; two subsequently died, making the total British deaths 13, with 21 wounded. Cotes wrote a report on the engagement, which he sent to the Admiralty from captivity in Gisors, which the French authorities intercepted and delayed, with the result that the first news of Thames' fate did not arrive in Britain until 7 May 1794. Cotes was soon afterwards exchanged and returned to Britain, where a court-martial investigating the loss of Thames exonerated him. Several of his officers were not repatriated however, remaining in French captivity for the next two years.

Uranie lost four killed, including Captain Tartu, and seven wounded, including three seriously, and the frigate arrived at Rochefort soon afterwards, where in honour of the captain's death, she was renamed Tartu. It was subsequently incorrectly reported in Britain that the ship's name was changed to Tortue (tortoise) to disguise its identity after being defeated by Thames. Thames was taken into French service as Tamise, and participated in the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 the following year. The French lost both frigates in 1796. HMS Santa Margarita recaptured Tamise in an engagement near the Scilly Isles between British and French frigate squadrons at the Action of 8 June 1796. Some six months later, the ship of the line HMS Polyphemus captured Tartu on 30 December in the aftermath of the disastrous Expédition d'Irlande.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Uranie_(1788)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_24_October_1793
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1794 - HMS Ganges and HMS Montagu captured the brand new French La Jacobin


HMS Matilda was the French corvette Jacobine (or Jacobin), which was launched in March 1794, commissioned in June 1794 and which the British captured in the West Indies seven months later. She served in the West Indies until 1799, capturing six small privateers. In 1799 she sailed to Woolwich where she became a hospital ship. Between 1805 and 1807 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Henry Stanhope. She was broken up in 1810.

Tons burthen: 573 (bm)
Length: 129 ft 3 in (39.4 m) (overall); 105 ft 5 in (32.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 32 ft 10 in (10.0 m)Depth of hold:9 ft 10 in (3.0 m)
Complement:
  • French service:223
  • British service:180
Armament:
  • French service:22 × 12-pounder guns
  • British service:28 × 8-pounder guns
Origins
Jacobine was originally named Bonheur, but received the name change before she was launched. She was built to a one-off design by Pierre Degay.

Jacobine was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Dalbarde from 3 April 1794 until 13 September 1794. She initially was stationed at Nantes. She then sailed from Mindin (opposite Saint-Nazaire), to Brest. From there she made a patrol in the Atlantic, returning to Brest. Her next commander was lieutenant de vaisseau Dandicolle.

Capture
HMS Ganges and Montagu captured Jacobine. She was armed with twenty-four 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 220 men; she was nine days out of Brest and had taken nothing. The capture took place on 30 October 1794, about 30 leagues west of Cape Finisterre. Ganges and Montague were sailing to the West Indies and took Jacobine with them.

Career
The Royal Navy in July 1795 commissioned Matilda under Commander George Vaughan. (Because she was a sixth rate she would normally be a post captain's command, and Vaughan indeed received the requisite promotion in November.) In fact, Matilda was already in service by July.

Vice-Admiral Benjamin Caldwell, the commander-in-chief of the Barbados and Leeward Islands station had stationed her off Basseterre, Guadeloupe. She joined up with him at Saint-Pierre, Martinique, on 29 June with the report that the day before she had seen a French squadron of nine ships, three of them large frigates. They had chased him off, and sailed into the port.

She had also qualified to share in the proceeds of the capture of Saint Lucia in 25 May by the naval forces under Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian and troops under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby.

In December Captain Captain Robert Otway replaced Vaughan. In May 1796 Captain Henry Mitford replaced Otway.

On 13 February 1797 Matilda captured a French navy schooner of two guns and 38 men. The capture took place off Barbados and Captain Mitford sent the schooner into port there.

At some point between 25 July and 5 October, Matilda detained the sloop Mary, of 104 tons (bm) and ten men, of Saint Thomas. She was sailing from Saint Thomas to Suriname. She was carrying cash and dry goods, had a crew of Frenchmen, and had false invoices.

On 14 January 1798, Mitford and Matilda arrived at English Harbour, Antigua. There Mitford arrested Thomas Pitt, Lieutenant Lord Camelford, of Favourite. He had shot and killed Lieutenant Charles Peterson, was in command of Perdrix. Both vessels were in the harbour undergoing refit when they got into a dispute over who was the senior commander. Camelford accused Paterson of mutiny, and shot him. The two ships' companies came close to firing on each other. The subsequent court martial acquitted Camelford.

On 19 January Matilda captured the French privateer ship Ceres off Antigua. Ceres was pierced for 14 guns but only carried two. She had a crew of 45 men, and was sailing from Saint Bartholomew's to Guadeloupe to complete her fitting-out. She was carrying a cargo of pitch and tar.

Matilda was still north of Antigua when on 29 and 31 March she captured two privateers. On 29 March she captured the sloop Vautour, of 10 guns and 64 men.[Note 3] Then two days later, Matilda captured the brig Aigle, of 12 guns and 86 men.

The waters off Antigua continued to be productive for Matilda. On 29 June she captured Annibale, of 14 guns and 97 men. Then on 23 June Matilda captured Etoile, of six guns 53 men.

The arrival of an Admiralty Order dated 27 June 1798 confirmed the commissioning of Matilda, and the name change from Jacobine.

Matilda's last capture took place on 5 October, again off Antigua. The captured privateer was Intrepid, of 14 guns and 74 men. She was three days out of Guadeloupe and had not yet taken anything.

Matilda sailed for England and arrived at Woolwich on 15 October 1799. There she was hulked and became a hospital ship under the command of a succession of lieutenants. From December her commander was William Lanyon who served until January 1801. In May 1803, Lieutenant J. James recommissioned her. His replacement in August 1804 was Thomas D. Birchall, who served until 1807.

Between 1805 and 1807, Matilda was also the flagship for Rear-Admiral Henry Stanhope.

Fate
Matilda was broken up in 1810.


HMS Ganges
was a 74-gun Ganges-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1782 at Rotherhithe. She was the first ship of the Navy to bear the name, and was the name ship of her class. She saw active service from 1782 to 1811, in Europe and the West Indies.

HMS Montague was a 74-gun Alfred-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 August 1779 at Chatham Dockyard.
Montague took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the Glorious First of June in 1794.
On 30 October 1794 Montague and Ganges captured the French corvette Jacobine. Jacobine was armed with twenty-four 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 220 men; she was nine days out of Brest and taken nothing. The Royal Navy took Jacobininto service as HMS Matilda.
She was driven ashore and damaged at Saint Lucia in the Great Hurricane of 1780 but recovered.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Matilda_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ganges_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Montagu_(1779)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1800 – Launch of French Uranie at Basse-Indre


Uranie was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her two-vessel class.

One of two Uranie class, (40-gun design of 1797 by Jean-François Gautier, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns);
both ships built by Pierre Degay and Entreprise Crucy at Basse-Indre, near Nantes).

Displacement: 1,350 tons (French)
Length:
  • 47.26 m (155.1 ft) (overall)
  • 45.00 m (147.64 ft) (keel)
Beam: 12.18 m (40.0 ft)
Draught: 5.85 m (19.2 ft)
Complement:
  • 340 (wartime)
  • 260 (peacetime)
Armament:
  • UD: 28 x 18-pounder long guns
  • Spardeck: 12 x 8-pounders + 4 x 36-pounder obusiers

Career
She served in the Mediterranean, first under captain Maistral, and later under Margollé, operating from Ancona.

On 6 July 1803, HMS Redbridge sailed from Malta carrying some supernumeraries for Admiral Nelson's fleet and escorting the transport Caroline, Dandison, master, which was carrying water. On the evening of 3 August Redbridge encountered the frigate HMS Phoebe. Next morning Phoebe and Redbridge sighted four sail. Phoebe advised that they were probably French and the British ships set sail to escape. Phoebe was able to outpace their pursuers, but Redbridge was not and fell prey to them.

The four sail were a squadron of French frigates, Cornélie, Rhin, Uranie, and Tamise, and possibly some corvettes that had sortied in the night from Toulon. The French also captured the transport. Redbridge's actual captor was Cornélie. Admiral Nelson attempted to send into Toulon a boat under a flag of truce offering the French a prisoner exchange, but the French refused his letter and proposal.

On 29 September 1810, the newly arrived French frigates Favorite, under Bernard Dubourdieu, and Uranie joined the Venetian squadron of Corona, Bellona, and Carolina. The force then sailed from Chiozzo to Ancona, arriving on 6 October, having sighted Hoste's Amphion in the distance during the passage.

On 27 November 1811, HMS Eagle chased the French frigates Uranie and Corcyre (armed en flute), and corvette Scemplone near Fano. Uranie and Scemplone escaped but Eagle was able to overhaul and capture Corceyre.

Fate
Uranie escaped from Ancona on 16 January 1814. She encountered HMS Cerberus and to avoid her took refuge in Brindisi. HMS Apollo and HMS Havannah then arrived at Brindisi and anchored outside the port. Captain John Taylor, of Apollo then sent a message to the authorities at Brindisi that he understood that the Neapolitan Government had joined the Allies and declared war on the French, and why a French vessel was sheltering there. When Apollo appeared on the scene and made signs of being about to enter the port, Uranie's captain removed the powder from his ship and set her on fire



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Uranie_(1800)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1806 – Launch of French Robuste, an 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy


Robuste was an 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané.

She was commissioned under Captain Louis-Antoine-Cyprien Infernet, and was later captained by Julien Cosmao.

Robuste-Antoine_Roux.jpg

From April 1809, she was the flagship of a squadron.

In late 1809, Vice-Admiral Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume was organising shipment of reinforcements to Barcelona. Robuste became the flagship of a squadron under Julien Cosmao, along with Donawerth, Génois, Borée and Lion, as well as the frigates Pauline and Pénélope, and a dozen of transports. The fleet departed Toulon on 24 April 1809, and returned on 1 May without incident.

In October, the squadron attempted another ferry, under Rear-Admiral François Baudin. On 21 October the French were detected by HMS Pomone, which reported to Lord Collingwood's squadron. Collingwood sent his three frigates as a vanguard and sailed with 15 ships of the line to intercept the French. On the morning of 23 October HMS Volontaire detected and reported the French squadron's position.

The British gave chase, but lost contact. HMS Tigre detected Robuste, Borée, Lion and Pauline at dawn on 24 October, but the fleets lost contact again. Contact was re-established in the morning of 25 October, the French sailing close to the shore, and the chase resumed. Robuste and Lion ran aground around noon near Frontignan. After two hours of fruitless attempts to save the ships, Baudin ordered them scuttled, and they were set on fire in the evening. They exploded at 10h30.

1280px-Trafalgar-Mayer_mg_0586.jpg
Bucentaure at Trafalgar

The Bucentaure class was a class of 80-gun French ships of the line built to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané from 1802 onwards, of which at least 29 were ordered but only 21 ships were launched, of which 16 were afloat by the end of 1814. They were a development from his earlier Tonnant class.

80-gun ships ("vaisseaux de 80") of the First Empire
  • Bucentaure 80 (launched 13 July 1803 at Toulon) – Flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, captured there by the British and wrecked in the subsequent storm
  • Neptune 80 (launched 15 August 1803 at Toulon) – Captured by the Spanish at Cadiz in June 1808, renamed Neptuno, BU 1820
  • Robuste 80 (launched 30 October 1806 at Toulon) – Driven ashore by the British and burnt near Frontignan in October 1809
  • Ville de Varsovie 80 (launched 10 May 1808 at Rochefort) – Captured and burnt by the British in the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809
  • Donawerth 80 (launched 4 July 1808 at Toulon) – BU 1824
  • Eylau 80 (launched 19 November 1808 at Lorient) – BU 1829
  • Friedland 80 (launched 2 May 1810 at Antwerp) – Transferred to the Dutch Navy in August 1814 and renamed Vlaming, BU 1823
  • Sceptre 80 (launched 15 August 1810 at Toulon) – Condemned 1828
  • Tilsitt 80 (launched 25 August 1810 at Antwerp) – Transferred to the Dutch Navy in August 1814 and renamed Neptunus, BU 1818
  • Auguste 80 (launched 25 April 1811 at Antwerp) – Transferred to the Dutch Navy in August 1814 and renamed Illustre, returned in September 1814, BU 1827
  • Pacificateur 80 (launched 22 May 1811 at Antwerp) – BU 1824
  • Illustre 80 (launched 9 June 1811 at Antwerp) – Transferred to the Dutch Navy in August 1814 and renamed Prins van Oranje,BU 1825.
  • Diadème 80 (launched 1 December 1811 at Lorient) – 86 guns from 1837; condemned 1856.
  • Conquérant 80 (launched 27 April 1812 at Antwerp) – Condemned 1831.
  • Zélandais 80 (launched 12 October 1813 at Cherbourg) – renamed Duquesne in April 1814, but reverted to Zélandais in March 1815 then Duquesne again in July 1815. Condemned 1858.
  • Magnifique 80 (launched 29 October 1814 at Lorient) – 86 guns from 1837; condemned 1837.
  • One further ship begun at Venice to this design was never launched – Saturne, which was broken up on the stocks by the Austrian occupiers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Robuste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucentaure-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1896 - Samuel P. Ely wrecked


Samuel P. Ely was a schooner that sailed the Great Lakes carrying iron ore, coal, and other bulk freight. She was built in 1869 and was a fairly typical example of the 200-foot schooner built in the 1870s, though she was reinforced for the demands of carrying iron ore. Samuel P. Ely is a shipwreck in Two Harbors, Minnesota listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Samuel_P._Ely.jpg
The schooner Samuel P. Ely in Detroit, Michigan

Career
Samuel P. Ely first served in the Winslow fleet, often traveling from Escanaba, Michigan, to Cleveland, Ohio, and occasionally to Marquette, Michigan. In 1881, it was purchased by the Bradley Transportation Company of Cleveland. As part of the Bradley fleet, it often served the ore docks at Duluth, Minnesota, Ashland, Wisconsin, and Two Harbors, Minnesota. Later in her career, she was often towed as a barge behind a steamboat, Sarah E. Sheldon or other Bradley steamers.

Samuel P. Ely visited Two Harbors approximately 150 times between 1884 and 1896.

The wreck
In October 1896, Samuel P. Ely traveled from Kelley's Island, Ohio to Duluth, Minnesota, in tow of Hesper and carrying a load of limestone. Hesper was also towing Negaunee, a similar barge. Hesper, along with Samuel P. Ely and Negaunee, reached Duluth on 27 October 1896. The two barges unloaded their limestone while Hesper unloaded her cargo of coal. On 29 October 1896, Hesper steamed up to Two Harbors with Negaunee and Samuel P. Ely in tow. A storm had impeded their progress to Two Harbors, with heavy headwinds and high seas, and Hesper was barely able to make it into port while towing Samuel P. Ely. Around 8:00 in the evening, Hesper had to cast off the towline, and although the crew of Samuel P. Ely dropped the anchors, they were unable to hold the ship, and she drifted toward the breakwater. Around midnight, she was wedged against the rocks of the breakwater and could not be moved. Finally, around 3:00 in the morning, Samuel P. Ely sank, although the crew was able to escape drowning by clinging to the rigging of the masts.

The next morning, many residents of Two Harbors were watching the scene from the shore, but any plan to rescue the crew was complicated by the possibility of the tugboat becoming entangled on the breakwater as well. Finally, someone devised a plan whereby the tugboat Ella G. Stone would travel close to the wreck and float a small sailboat out to the wreck while tethered on about 200 feet (61 m) of line. This plan was successful, although it took three trips to retrieve all ten men of the crew.

Diving the wreck of the Samuel P. Ely, a 3 masted schooner barge in Two Harbors, MN

Deterioration and preservation
Samuel P. Ely suffered further damage after she sank. The ship's location became known to recreational scuba divers in the mid to late 1950s, and local historians and divers noted that several items were removed from the wreck between 1958 and 1961. Several small pieces of equipment were removed at first. In 1961, a large wooden anchor was removed and put on display in someone's lawn in Superior, Wisconsin. The deck capstan was removed in 1974 and brought to Lake Superior Maritime Collections in Duluth. One of the deck winches was removed in 1978 and brought to the SS Meteor Marine Museum in Superior, while another winch was removed to an unknown location. There were also reports that divers had removed parts of the red oak deck planking to make furniture and picture frames. After the wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, it became illegal to remove artifacts from the wreck.

High seas, repair work to the breakwater structure, and other forces have caused deterioration of the wreck. In 1994, a group of concerned divers began a project to preserve Samuel P. Ely, since the deck was starting to collapse into the hull. They performed a series of dives under the ice in March 1994 and lifted the deck through holes in the ice, then installed 3/4 inch steel tie rods to hold the sides of the hull together. After the sides of the hull were fastened into place, the deck was lowered back onto place onto the original ledges that supported it. The group also installed simple measuring devices to monitor the movement of the hull over time. This group later evolved into the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society. In 2001, members of the group returned to do some more strengthening work, including installing thicker steel rods with turnbuckles


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Ely_(shipwreck)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1913 – Launch of SS Alcantara was an ocean liner that went into service just weeks before the start of World War I, was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915, and was sunk in combat with the German armed merchant cruiser SMS Greif in 1916


SS Alcantara
was an ocean liner that went into service just weeks before the start of World War I, was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915, and was sunk in combat with the German armed merchant cruiser SMS Greif in 1916.

StateLibQld_1_125487_Alcantara_(ship).jpg
Alcantara (ship) 15,831 tons. Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. On 29 February 1916, as an armed merchantman engaged the German Raider 'Grief' in the North Sea. Both the 'Alcantara' and the 'Grief' sank. (Description supplied with photograph).

Ocean liner
Harland and Wolff in Govan built Alcantara for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She was one of the later members of RMSP's "A-series" of liners, which had begun with RMS Aragon launched in 1905. In common with all of the last four "A-series" ships, Alcantara had three screws. A pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines drove her port and starboard screws, and a Parsons low-pressure steam turbine drove her middle screw.

Alcantara was launched on 30 October 1913 and made her maiden voyage in June 1914 on RMSP's route from Southampton to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

HMS Alcantara
In April 1915 the Admiralty requisitioned Alcantara and her "A-series" sisters Avon, Arlanza and Andes to be armed merchant cruisers. She was armed with six 6 in (150 mm) guns, anti-aircraft guns and depth charges. On 17 April at Liverpool she was commissioned into the Royal Navy's 10th Cruiser Squadron as HMS Alcantara. Arlanza and Andes were also commissioned into the 10th Cruiser Squadron, which joined the Northern Patrol that was part of the First World War Allied naval blockade of the Central Powers. The Squadron patrolled about 200,000 square miles (520,000 km2) of the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Arctic Ocean to prevent German access to or from the North Atlantic.

German submarine attacks on ships voyaging to and from Archangelsk created a suspicion that the Imperial German Navy had established a submarine base somewhere in the Arctic. In the summer of 1915 Alcantara was sent to Jan Mayen Island to investigate. She arrived on 3 July and sent a landing party ashore. It found no evidence of enemy activity; only the remains of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition base built in 1882 and three Arctic fox cubs, which for a short time were taken aboard as pets.

Battle with Greif
Main article: Action of 29 February 1916

In January 1916 Alcantara embarked on the 10th Cruiser Squadron's G patrol. She was due to return to port on 1 March, but on the morning of 29 February 1916 she was north-east of Shetland en route to a rendezvous with Andes she intercepted the German merchant raider Greif disguised as the Norwegian merchant ship Rena out of Tønsberg, Norway. At 0915 hrs at a range of 6,000 yards Alcantara ordered Greif to stop for inspection, which she did. Alcantara's company went to Action Stations, she trained her guns on Greif, closed to 2,000 yards and slowed to lower a cutter to put an armed guard aboard the suspect ship.

At 0940 hrs Greif increased speed and opened fire. One source claims she raised the Imperial German war ensign ("Kriegsflagge"). However, Alcantara's captain, Thomas Wardle, reported that after lowering the Norwegian ensign Greif fought under no flag. The first shell hit Alcantara's bridge, disabling her steering gear, engine order telegraph and all telephones and killing or wounding a number of men. Captain Wardle ordered full speed and open fire at a range of 2,000 yards. A messenger was sent aft and got her after emergency steering gear connected.

Greif turned to starboard and closed range to 750 yards. Several German shells hit Alcantara near her waterline, entering her stokehold bunkers and engine room. Greif tried to torpedo Alcantara. Captain Wardle reported that evasive action at 1002 hrs allowed the torpedo to pass clear under Alcantara's stern, but another source states that a torpedo detonated amidships against Alcantara's port side. A shell from Alcantara's port after 6-inch (150 mm) gun hit and detonated the ready ammunition for Greif's after gun, putting it out of action. By 1015 hrs Greif was badly afire by her bridge and seemed to have stopped. At 1022 hrs Alcantara saw boats leaving Greif and duly ceased fire.

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An artist's impression of HMS Alcantaraand SMS Greif engaging each other

Greif then fired one more shot, and Alcantara duly returned fire. The one shot was later attributed to a shell left in the breech of an abandoned gun being fired by the heat of the fire now raging aboard Greif.

By 1035 hrs Alcantara was reduced to about 3 knots (5.6 km/h) and her after steering gear was disabled. Her helm seemed to be jammed hard over to starboard but she was turning to starboard. Wardle ordered his company to cease fire, stop engines and go to boat stations. The order to stop engines was not received, but flooding in the engine room stopped them. Several of Alcantara's lifeboat falls had been damaged by enemy fire, so that attempts to launch some boats caused men to be dropped into the sea. Alcantara rolled, capsized and sank at 1102 hrs. At least 15 of her boats and a large liferaft floated clear.

The C-class light cruiser HMS Comus and M-class destroyer HMS Munster then arrived. Comus proceeded to rendezvous with Andes about 8,000 yards away, while Munster started rescuing survivors. Greif was carrying a large amount of cork that at first kept her afloat. Andes and Comus reopened fire on Greif. Eventually a large explosion, possibly of ammunition, sank the German ship.

The battle killed 230 men from Greif and 68 from Alcantara. 210 German survivors were rescued.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Alcantara_(1913)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_29_February_1916
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Greif_(1914)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1914 – SS Rohilla, a passenger steamer of the British India Steam Navigation Company ran aground near Whitby with the loss of 83 lives.


Rohilla
was a passenger steamer of the British India Steam Navigation Company which was built for service between the UK and India, and as a troopship. After becoming a hospital ship in the First World War, Rohilla ran aground in October 1914 near Whitby with the loss of 83 lives.

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History
Rohilla was ordered in 1905 by the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) from Harland & Wolff Ltd of Belfast, at the same time as sister ship Rewa from William Denny & Bros at Dumbarton. They differed mainly in their engines: Rewa was triple-screw with steam turbines, while Rohilla had a pair of quadruple expansion steam engines, also made by Harland & Wolff, and twin screws. Rohilla's engines totalled 8,000 indicated horsepower (6,000 kW), producing 16.6 knots (30.7 km/h; 19.1 mph) on sea trials. Although ordered for the London to Calcutta service, increased competition prompted BI to design the two sisters to be suitable also as troopships.

The steamship was named Rohilla in honour of the Rohillas, Pashtun highlanders who lived in Rohilkhand, east of Delhi, in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

After entering service, the sisters were soon taken up for trooping, in 1908 for Rohilla as 'Troopship No.6'. Two years later they were the first BI ships to have radio receivers fitted, and were both hired in that year for the Coronation Fleet Review, carrying members of the House of Lords (Rewa) and House of Commons (Rohilla).

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Photograph of the steamship Rohilla grounded at Whitby, England in 1914

Loss
Rohilla was called up at the outset of the First World War and converted into a naval hospital ship. HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Rohilla had only a short life in that role. On 30 October 1914, sailing from South Queensferry, Firth of Forth for Dunkerque to evacuate wounded soldiers, the ship ran aground on Saltwick Nab, a reef about a mile east of Whitby, North Riding of Yorkshire, during a full south westerly gale and with the lighthouses unlit due to the war. The reef is about 400 yards (370 m) offshore and the ship soon broke her back.

The conditions made rescue extremely difficult, but lifeboats from Whitby, Upgang (near Whitby), Redcar, Tynemouth and Scarborough attempted to close on the wreck. Over the next three days, some of those who attempted to swim to safety in the raging seas were rescued, though many were lost, and lifeboats were able to rescue others. In all, 146 of the 229 on board, including Captain Neilson and all the nurses, as well as Titanic survivor Mary Kezia Roberts, survived.

Captain Nielson believed that the ship had struck a mine before grounding.[8] An inquest jury exonerated Nielson from all blame and recommended that all passenger vessels carry rocket apparatus rather than rely on rockets fired to the ship from shore, and also that a motor lifeboat be stationed at Whitby.

The Gold Medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the highest honour the institute could award, was presented to Superintendent Major H. E. Burton and Coxswain Robert Smith of the Tynemouth lifeboat Henry Vernon and to Coxswain Thomas Langlands of the Whitby lifeboat. The Empire Gallantry Medal (subsequently changed to the George Cross) was awarded to Burton and Smith in 1924. In 1917 a monument was erected at Whitby by the British India Steam Navigation Company, commemorating all those who lost their lives in the tragedy.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Rohilla
http://www.titanicandco.com/rohilla.html
http://www.eskside.co.uk/ss_rohilla/rohilla_tragedy.htm
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 30 October


1632 – Death of Henri II de Montmorency, French admiral and politician (b. 1595)

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


1706 - HMS Nassau (80) wrecked of Sussex coast

HMS Nassau was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1699.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nassau_(1699)


1719 – Launch of HMS Britannia

HMS Britannia was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett II at Chatham Dockyard, and launched in 1682. In 1705 she took on board Charles III of Spain, when on her way to Catalonia

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Britannia shown in two positions, painting by Isaac Sailmaker

In 1715, Britannia was ordered to be taken to pieces and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard, from where she relaunched on 30 October 1719, again as a 100-gun first rate.
Britannia was placed on harbour service in 1745, and was broken up in 1749.
She was captained from 1734 to 1736 by Sir Tancred Robinson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Britannia_(1719)


1750 – Launch of french Topaze, (launched 30 October 1750 at Brest) – deleted 1775.

Topaze class, (24/26-gun design by Jean-Joseph Ginoux, with 24/26 x 8-pounder guns)


1757 – Death of Edward Vernon, English admiral and politician (b. 1684)

Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was an English naval officer. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 1739 he was responsible for the capture of Porto Bello, seen as expunging the failure of Admiral Hosier there in a previous conflict. However, his later amphibious operation against Cartagena de Indias suffered a severe defeat. Vernon also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) on three occasions and was out-spoken on naval matters in Parliament, making him a controversial figure.

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The origin of the name "grog" for rum diluted with water is attributed to Vernon. He was known for wearing coats made of grogram cloth, earning him the nickname of "Old Grog", which in turn came to mean diluted rum. The use of citrus juice helped to avoid scurvy.

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


1775 - Congress authorizes four vessels for the defense of the United Colonies


1788 – Launch of French Pénélope, (40-gun one-off design by Jacques-Noel Sané, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns) launched 30 October 1788 at Brest – wrecked October 1788 in South Africa.


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

In 1791, Duguay-Trouin ferried troops from Brest to Martinique and Saint Domingue, along with Amphitrite, Danaé, Éole, Apollon, Didon and Jupiter. The next year, she patrolled off Bretagne.
In 1793, Duguay-Trouin took part in the operations in Sardinia, and ran aground off Cagliari on 12 February, although she managed to break free on 19.
Present at Toulon when the city was surrendered to the British by a rebellion of Royalists, she was scuttled by fire at the end of the Siege of Toulon. The wreck was raised in 1807 and broken up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Duguay-Trouin_(1788)


1799 - William Balch becomes the U.S. Navy's first commissioned chaplain.

1810 – Launch of French Pregel, a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate

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


1863 - The wooden side-wheel steam ship Vanderbilt captures the bark Saxon, which was suspected of having rendezvoused with and taken cargo from CSS Tuscaloosa at Angra Pequena, Africa.


1863 - The first USS Undine, a "tinclad" steamer in the United States Navy, was captured on 30 October and put in service with the Confederates, but was not renamed before being burned, 5 days later, to prevent re-capture.

The first USS Undine was a "tinclad" steamer in the United States Navy in 1864, during the American Civil War. She was captured on 30 October and put in service with the Confederates, but was not renamed before being burned, 5 days later, to prevent re-capture.

Undine was built in 1863 at Cincinnati, Ohio, as Ben Gaylord. She was purchased by the Navy at Cincinnati on 7 March 1864 and commissioned there in April.

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


1882 – Birth of William Halsey, Jr., American admiral (d. 1959)

Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., KBE (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959), known as Bill Halsey or "Bull" Halsey, was an American admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He is one of the four individuals to have attained the rank of fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the others being Ernest King, William Leahy, and Chester Nimitz.

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Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Halsey graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1904. He served in the Great White Fleet and, during World War I, commanded the USS Shaw. He took command of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga in 1935 after completing a course in naval aviation, and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1938. At the start of the War in the Pacific (1941–45) Halsey commanded the task force centered on the carrier USS Enterprise in a series of raids against Japanese-held targets.

Halsey was made commander, South Pacific Area and led the Allied forces over the course of the Battle for Guadalcanal (1942–43) and the fighting up the Solomon chain (1942–45). In 1943 he was made commander of the Third Fleet, the post he held through the rest of the war. He took part in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the largest naval battle in history. He was promoted to fleet admiral in December 1945 and retired from active service in March 1947.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Halsey,_Jr.


1899 – Death of William H. Webb, American shipbuilder and philanthropist (b. 1816)

William Henry Webb (19 June 1816 – 30 October 1899) was a 19th-century New York shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect.

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Webb inherited his father's shipyard, Webb & Allen, in 1840, renamed it William H. Webb, and turned it into America's most prolific shipyard, building 133 vessels between 1840 and 1865. Webb designed some of the fastest and most successful sailing packetsand clipper ships ever built, and he also built some of the largest and most celebrated steamboats and steamships of his era, including the giant ironclad USS Dunderberg, in its day the world's longest wooden-hulled ship.

After the American Civil War, the U.S. shipbuilding industry experienced a prolonged slump, and Webb, having already made a considerable fortune, decided to close his shipyard and turn his energies toward philanthropic goals. He chaired an anti-corruption council, became a founding member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and established the Webb Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, which today is known as the Webb Institute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Webb

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 October 1719 – Launch of HMS Britannia - Add on

HMS Britannia was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett II at Chatham Dockyard, and launched in 1682. In 1705 she took on board Charles III of Spain, when on her way to Catalonia


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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some external detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Britannia (1719), a 1719 Establishment 100-gun First Rate, three-decker. The plan is undated, but she underwent some refitting and later surveys during her lifetime.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79910.html#1HWKV5vjbKhiohT0.99

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some external detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Britannia (1719), a 1719 Establishment 100-gun First Rate, three-decker. The plan is undated, but she underwent some refitting and later surveys during her lifetime. The plan includes floor sweeps.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79909.html#KA8R1fco8OfAQ3rY.99

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Scale: 1:48. A block model of the ‘Britannia’ (1719), a 100-gun three-decker, first-rate ship of the line. Scale: 1:48. A block model of the first rate 100-gun ship Britannia (1719) made entirely in wood and painted in realistic colours. The hull is painted white below the waterline, pale ochre above, with double wales and three further small wales above, all painted black. The stern and quarter galleries, together with other embellished areas, are painted black with fittings and decoration finely painted in dark ochre. The large beakhead-like decoration at the bow has on it on either side a painted representation of Britannia’s figurehead. The decks are flush with no fittings or details and painted a uniform cream. Fittings include a scaling ladder on the port side, entry ports on both sides at main gundeck level, two officers’ heads and two open galleries at the stern. The model is mounted on a pair of rectangular plinth supports and displayed on a rectangular wooden baseboard. The ship ‘Britannia’ was launched in October 1719 at Woolwich. It was 175 feet long in the gun deck with a beam of 50 feet, and weighed 1895 tons burden. It would have carried twenty-eight 32-pound guns on its gun deck, twenty-eight 24-pounders on its middle deck, twenty-eight 12-pounders on its upper deck, along with twelve 6-pounders on its quarterdeck and four on its forecastle. Its complement was 800 men. In 1734, it was prepared for sea as the flagship of Sir John Norris, and served on the Tagus station in 1735 and 1736. By 1745, it had returned to Sheerness as a hospital ship, and was broken up at Chatham in 1749. See also SLR0223.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66371.html#Op6EVolo4sotTuD1.99

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the ‘Britannia’ (1719), a 100-gun three-decker, first-rate ship of the line, built in the Georgian style. The model is decked and equipped, and has been made to split along the gun deck, revealing the interior layout and construction. It is mounted on an original baseboard with a later wooden plaque inscribed ‘The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights presented by Walter Leslie Viscount Runciman of Doxford Prime Warden 1940. In memory of his father Walter Viscount Runciman of Doxford, PC prime warden 1926’. The model is unusual in that it has been made from a soft wood as opposed the normal harder fruitwoods. The ‘Britannia’ was launched in October 1719 at Woolwich and measured 175 feet along the gun deck by 50 feet in the beam and was 1895 tons burden. It never saw active service and was latterly employed as a hospital ship at Sheerness before being broken up at Chatham in 1749. See also SLR0410.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66184.html#6IYHUhhss67XWMbD.99

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A flagship, on the right, is shown either letting fly her sheets to reduce speed or, perhaps in contradiction to the modern title, shaking out sail to proceed. There is some doubt about the identity of this ship, although it is probably the 'Britannia', 100 guns, the only first-rate in commission in the Admiralty list at the date of the painting. If so, she is shown as flagship of Sir John Norris, Admiral of the Fleet and Commander-in-Chief in the Channel in 1735, with the Union flag flying at the main and the red ensign from the stern. A gun is firing a salute from the bow. The decks are full of sailors and several figures are shown climbing the shrouds. The two officers looking at the rest of the fleet from the gallery of the Admiral's great cabin in the ornately carved stern imply that an important moment is being recorded in the painting. Several sailors are positioned in the tops (the platforms of the masts) which have distinctive red canvas side panels. Since the 'Britannia', sailed for Lisbon in June 1735 following a refit in 1733-34 this may be the event recorded. The picture is characterized by careful delineation of the shipping and by attention to detailing, such as the figures in the small boats in the foreground to the centre and to the right. Although the painting is believed to be one of a pair with BHC1040 and intended to be positioned over a door, no evidence exists to support this other than the fact that they are of the same size and were acquired together. Scott belonged to the first generation of British marine painters, who worked in the tradition of the van de Veldes and the other Dutch artists who came to practice in London from the 1670s. His reputation chiefly rests on his topographical views of London but he was a very good marine painter, who accepted commissions like this and whose artistic and social skills eclipsed - at least in business terms- those of his slightly earlier contemporary Peter Monamy. He was notably averse to travelling by sea himself but produced many small drawings and watercolours to be incorporated later as details into his oils, such as men rowing and unloading boats, and often drew his ships from models. This painting is signed and dated 'Saml Scott 1736'.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12531.html#9cgBjpOtooTLrHSy.99


http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-297954;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1639 - Battle of the Downs - Part I


The naval Battle of the Downs took place on 31 October 1639, during the Eighty Years' War, and was a decisive defeat of the Spanish, commanded by Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, by the United Provinces, commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp.

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The Battle of the Downs by Willem van de Velde, 1659. RijksMuseum.

Background
The entry (in 1635) of France into the Thirty Years War had blocked off the overland "Spanish Road" to Flanders. To support the Spanish army of Flanders of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, the Spanish navy had to ferry supplies by sea via Dunkirk, the last Spanish-controlled port on the North Sea coast. A Spanish fleet, under admiral Lope de Hoces y Córdova, had managed to make the trip to Dunkirk in 1636 and again in 1637, without being spotted by Dutch squadrons. In 1638, the French invaded Spain, and laid siege to Fuentarrabia. Lope de Hoces was hurriedly dispatched to rescue the city, but his fleet was destroyed by the French navy under Henri de Sourdis while it lay at anchor near Getaria. As the remainder of the Spanish navy was engaged on missions in the Mediterranean and Brazil, there were not enough ships left to attempt the Dunkirk passage that year.

In the spring of 1639, the Count-Duke of Olivares ordered the construction and assembly of a new fleet at A Coruña for a new relief jaunt to Dunkirk. 29 warships were assembled in four squadrons, soon joined by an additional 22 warships (also in four squadrons) from the Spanish Mediterranean fleet. Twelve English transport ships also arrived, contracted to carry the Spanish army under the flag of English neutrality. Lope de Hoces was offered overall command, but he turned it down. As a result, the command passed to Antonio de Oquendo, commander of the Mediterranean fleet. Oquendo was under instructions to assume a half-moon formation, to induce the Dutch into a boarding battle. The flagship was placed on the right wing (rather than the center), as that is where it was expected the Dutch firepower would come from. In a curious decision, ships of different squadrons were mixed through the formation, an attempt to ensure that the smaller ships would be supported by larger ones. The vanguard was to be composed of the seven-ship "Dunkirk squadron" commanded by Miguel de Horna, in light of their experience with the channel.

The Dutch States-General made their own preparations. From intelligence networks, the Dutch learned that the Spanish fleet might attempt to make for the anchorage known as The Downs, off the English coast, between Dover and Deal. There they could anchor under protection of English neutrality and ferry the army and supplies on smaller, fast boats across the English Channel to Dunkirk. The States-General ordered a fleet of 23 warships and some fireships, under the overall command of Maarten Tromp, into the channel to prevent this eventuality, while the rest of the Dutch fleet was still being prepared. Tromp was under instructions to watch for and, if necessary, harass and delay the Spanish fleet, but was forbidden from engaging them in battle until the rest of the Dutch fleet, some fifty vessels under Johan Evertsen, had been launched and joined them. Setting out, Tromp divided his fleet into three squadrons. One squadron of fifteen ships, under rear admiral Joost Banckert, was dispatched to a position above the Downs, in case the Spanish fleet had circumvented the British Isles and was coming from that side, and a second squadron of six ships under Witte de With was put inside the English Channel, on patrol by the English coast, while Tromp himself took the remaining 12 ships to patrol the French side of the channel.

Opening phase
The Spanish fleet of 75 ships and 24,000 soldiers and sailors set out on 27 August from A Coruña (in another calculation, 51 galleons, with the troops carried aboard 7 pataches and 12 English transports; on the whole, an estimated 8,000 sailors and 8,000 troops). The fleet reached the mouth of the English Channel on 11 September. On 15 September they learned from a passing English ship that a Dutch squadron was anchored near Calais.

On the morning of 16 September the Spanish fleet spotted the 12-ship squadron of Maarten Tromp near the French coast. Tromp immediately dispatched one of his ships to warn Banckert, leaving him with only 11. De With's squadron were visible at a distance, but too late to reach Tromp. With odds of 57 against 11, Oquedo could probably have made for Dunkirk directly, and there would have been little Tromp could to do stop it. But Oquedo could not resist the chance to make battle with such favorable odds.

Perhaps not realizing the size of the Spanish fleet, Tromp did not decline battle but rather ordered his squadron into a tight line of battle. Believing Tromp's squad was attempting to slip past his right wing, Oquendo impetuously ordered his flagship to turn hard to starboard, hoping to board Tromp's flagship. This maneouver, however, was effected without warning the rest of the Spanish fleet. Some of the ships near Oquendo turned with him, others were confused and maintained bearing. The half-moon formation quickly disintegrated, and only the Dunkirk squadron and the galleon San Juan kept up with the Spanish flagship's pursuit of Tromp.

Had Oquendo given the order for a line, the immense Spanish fleet could have probably encircled and dispatched the Dutch squadron in a few hours. But Oquendo seemed intent on boarding the Dutch flagship. When he finally decided to turn for a shot, he did it too late and sailed past the Tromp's poop. Trying to correct his error, Oquendo attempted to board the second ship in the Dutch column. The latter also avoided him. Oquendo's flagship and one of the Dunkirk ships, the Santiago, were now downwind and on the receiving end of the cannonades of the remaining nine ships of the Dutch column. Tromp turned his column and went for another round on the Santiago. Oquendo, the other six Dunkirk ships and the San Juan, unable to turn upwind, fired as they could. The artillery did little damage, but Spanish musketry picked off many on the Dutch decks.

This encounter lasted for three hours, in the course of which the Dutch ship Groot Christoffel accidentally exploded. By noon, the six ships of the De With column had reached Tromp, and increased his number to 16. Although the rest of the Spanish fleet remained dispersed and disorganized, many units had finally turned and were also approaching from the other side. For Tromp, this was building up into a dangerous situation, as the Spanish units upwind would cut off his exit, and force the Dutch squadron to turn into the shoals of the bay of Boulogne and almost certainly run aground. But at this moment, Oquendo ordered the Spanish fleet to resume a half-moon formation. The Spanish ships turned, allowing Tromp's squadron to turn also, gain the wind, and escape the danger.

There were no more engagements that evening. The fleets anchored in, and the next day, rear-admiral Joost Banckert arrived, bringing the total Dutch fleet to thirty-two. But there was no engagement, just preparations for what was to become known as the Action of 18 September 1639.

The Spanish, whose priority was to protect the troops, not to endanger them by continuing the battle, were driven to take refuge off the coast of England, in the anchorage known as The Downs between Dover and Deal, near an English squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral John Pennington. They hoped the usual autumn storms would soon disperse the Dutch fleet. Tromp, as always, endured De With's insubordination with complacency. In a famous scene, described by De With himself, he entered Tromp's cabin after the battle with his face sooty, his clothes torn, and limping from a leg wound. Tromp looked up from his desk and asked: "Are you alright, De With?" De With replied: "What do you think? Would I have been if you had come to help me?"

On the evening of the 28th, Tromp and De With withdrew to resupply, as they were short on gunpowder. They feared they had failed in their mission until they rediscovered the Spanish at the Downs on the 30th. Together, they blockaded the Spanish and sent urgently to the Netherlands for reinforcements. The five Dutch admiralties hired any large armed merchant ship they could find. Many joined voluntarily, hoping for a rich bounty. By the end of October, Tromp had 95 ships and 12 fire ships.

Meanwhile, the Spanish, who earlier had managed to sneak 13 or 14 Dunkirker frigates through the blockade, began to transport their troops and money to Flanders on British ships under an English flag. Tromp stopped this by searching the English vessels and detaining any Spanish troops he found. Uneasy about the possible English reaction to this, he pretended to Pennington to be worried by his secret orders from the States-General. He showed him, "confidentially", a missive commanding him to attack the Spanish armada wherever it might be located and to prevent by force of arms any interference by a third power.

Legend also says that Tromp formally asked de Oquendo why he refused battle though he had superior firepower. De Oquendo replied that his fleet had to be repaired first, but that he could not obtain masts and other materials now that the Dutch blockaded him. On learning this, Tromp supplied the Spanish with the necessary materials for repair. Nevertheless, they did not leave the English coast.

The battle

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Before the Battle of the Downs by Reinier Nooms, circa 1639, depicting the Dutch blockade off the English coast, the vessel shown is the Aemilia, Tromp's flagship.

On 31 October, an easterly wind giving him the weather gage, Tromp having dispatched 30 ships under De With to watch the English and prevent them from interfering,[3] kept two squadrons to the north (under Cornelis Jol) and the south (under Commodore Jan Hendriksz de Nijs) to block escape routes and attacked with three squadrons. Some of the large, unmanoeuverable Spanish ships panicked on approach of the Dutch fleet and grounded themselves deliberately; they were immediately plundered by the English populace, present in great numbers to watch the uncommon spectacle. Others tried a planned breakthrough.

De Oquendo's Royal Flagship, the Santiago, came out first followed by the Santa Teresa, the Portuguese flagship. Five blazing fireships were sent into the Spanish ships. The first Spanish ship could disengage and avoid three of the fireships at the last moment, but these hit the following Santa Teresa, who had just managed to repel the attack of the other two. Too big (the biggest ship in the Spanish/Portuguese fleet) and slow to manoeuvre, and with no time to react, the Santa Teresa was finally grappled and set on fire by one fire ship. With Admiral Lope de Hoces already dead from his wounds, she fiercely burned with great loss of life.

The Portuguese ships were intercepted by the squadron of the Zeelandic Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen who launched his fireships against them: most Portuguese ships were taken or destroyed, leaving according to some reports 15,200 dead and 1,800 prisoner. The number of dead is today considered as greatly exaggerated; for example, it does not take into account that a third of the troops had already reached Flanders. De Oquendo managed to escape in the fog with about ten ships, most of them Dunkirkers, and reach Dunkirk. Nine of the ships driven ashore during the battle could be later refloated and also reached Dunkirk.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Downs
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1639 - Battle of the Downs - Part II


Losses
According to the Spanish naval historian Cesáreo Fernández Duro, of the 38 ships that attempted to break the Dutch blockade, twelve ran aground on the Downs (of which nine were refloated and managed to reach Dunkirk), one was burnt by a Dutch fireship, nine surrendered (of which three were so damaged that they sank on the way to port) and three ran aground on the coasts of France or Flanders to avoid capture.
The French diplomat Comte d'Estrades, in a letter to Cardinal Richelieu, claimed that the Spanish had lost thirteen ships burnt or sunk, sixteen captured with 4,000 prisoners, and lost fourteen off the coasts of France and Flanders, a figure higher than the number of Spanish ships present at the Downs. D'Estrades also reported in his letter that the Dutch had lost ten ships sunk or burnt. This source is cited by Jean Le Clerc in his Histoire des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas.
The Portuguese Admiral and historian Ignacio Costa Quintella gives figures of 43 ships and 6,000 men lost by the Spanish and some ships and more than 1,000 men by the Dutch.
The Dutch sources only mention the loss of one Dutch ship that got entangled with the Santa Teresa and about a hundred persons dead. Historian M.G de Boer's extensively researched book about the subject confirms this and puts Spanish losses in ships and men at about 40 and 7000 respectively.

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The Battle of the Downs, 21 October 1639 (BHC0269)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11761.html#mb8V0PMQwh7k7KVI.99

Aftermath
The celebrated Dutch victory marked a significant moment in the shifting balance of naval power. Even if the Spanish mission was a failure, the larger part of the infantry troops managed to reach Flanders with all the money. Of the ships that succeeded in breaking through the blockade, many were severely damaged. Spain, straining under the vast commitments of the Thirty Years War, was in no position to rebuild its naval dominance. Fighting over trade continued between Dutch and Dunkirker forces and the convoy itself was just one of a number; but these convoys paid a heavy price in lives and ships in running the Dutch blockades. These complicated operations in the Low Countries had left the overall Spanish Habsburg forces and finances in a precarious situation. The Dutch, English and French were quick to take advantage by seizing some small Spanish island possessions in the Caribbean. But by far the worst effects for Spain were the increased difficulties it suffered in maintaining its position in the Southern Netherlands.

Tromp was hailed as a hero on his return and was rewarded with 10,000 guldens, invoking the jealousy of De With who only got 1,000. De With wrote some anonymous pamphlets painting Tromp as avaricious and himself as the real hero of the battle. With Spain gradually losing its dominant naval position, England weak, and France not yet in possession of a strong navy, the Dutch allowed their own navy to diminish greatly after a peace treaty was signed in 1648. So, with an ineffective naval administration and ships that were too light and too few in number, they were to find themselves at a serious disadvantage in their coming struggles with the English. However, they were able to maintain their large mercantile advantage over the English, entering into a period of increasing Dutch maritime superiority, both mercantile and naval, from the Second Anglo-Dutch War, until the onset of the 18th century.

The Battle of the Downs was a flagrant violation of English neutrality within sight of the English coast. For the English, the inability of their navy and nearby coastal forts such as Deal Castle to intervene was a humiliation. Lingering resentment from this incident may have influenced the breakout of the First Anglo-Dutch War, not far from the Downs at the Battle of Goodwin Sands in 1652

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An interpretation of an action during the First Dutch War. It depicts a Dutch ship, the 'Amelia', engaged in action with British ships. The increasing conflict of trade interests between England and the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th century made armed conflict likely. The English claimed the right to search Dutch ships for French goods and in essence to control the English Channel, while the Dutch wanted the right to use the Channel. The first clash came in 1652 at Dover. The English strategy in the First Dutch War centred on the need both to control the English Channel and Dutch coasts and to impose a blockade. Furthermore they needed to cut Dutch trade and rely on economic pressure to secure a settlement. The decoratively carved stern of the 'Amelia' is visible in the centre of the painting, firing at the English ship to the right. In the left foreground another ship displays an ornately carved stern with a crest. Other ships involved in the action have been positioned in the background.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/14663.html#gfhFFpv8slWjXym8.99

The Aemilia was the flagship of Lieutenant-Admiraal Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp during part of the Eighty Years' War. She was a Dutch 46-gun (later increased in 1637 to 57-gun) ship of the line. Built by Jan Salomonszoon van den Tempel for the Admiralty of Rotterdam in 1632, the ship was the largest Dutch warship built up to that time.

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The flagship Aemilia fires a salute for Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, by Simon de Vlieger

Dimensions
The gundeck length of this ship was measured at 132 Maas feet, equivalent to 144 Amsterdam feet or 133 ft 8 in (in English Imperial measurements). The maximum breadth was 32 Maas feet (equal to 35ft 3 in Amsterdam feet, or 32 ft 6 in Imperial), and the depth in hold was 13½ Maas feet (equal to 14 ft 2 inches in Amsterdam feet, or 13 ft Imperial).

Service history
In 1635 the ship served as the flagship of Vice-Admiraal Witte Corneliszoon de With. In 1636, now carrying 54 guns, the Aemilia, under Kapitein Gerrit Meyndertszoon den Uyl, was the flagship of Lieutenant-Admiraal Philip van Dorp. She was refitted in 1639 and recommissioned as a 57-gun ship Kapitein Barent Barentszoon Cramer, as the flagship of Lieutenant-Admiraal Maarten Tromp. She then took part in the blockading of Dunkirk, including leading the 12-ship Dutch squadron in the action off Dunkirk on 18 February 1639, and in the Action off Beachy Head on 17 September on the same year. At the Battle of the Downs, on 21 October 1639, the vessel fought well under the personal command of Tromp.

She transported Queen Henrietta Marie from England to the Netherlands in February 1643, suffering extensive storm damage in the process. She was sold to France soon after and employed as a privateer in the Mediterranean before being captured by the Spanish. She was last mentioned being taken to pieces in 1647.



Order of battle
The Netherlands (Maarten Tromp)
(not complete: the contemporaneous Dutch sources give only lists of participating captains; in many cases it is unknown which ship they commanded)
26 September:
Aemilia 57 (Tromp, flagcaptain Barend Barendsz Cramer) Rotterdam
Frederik Hendrik 36 (Pieter Pietersz de Wint) Amsterdam; on 31 October this was Witte de With's flagship
Hollandsche Tuyn 32 (Lambert IJsbrandszoon Halfhoorn) Northern Quarter (Noorderkwartier)
Salamander 40 (Laurens Pietersz Backhuysen) - WIC ship
Gelderland 34 (Willem van Colster) Rotterdam
Sampson 32 (Claes Cornelisz Ham) Noorderkwartier
Omlandia 28 (Jan Gerbrandszoon) Frisia
Groot Christoffel 28 (hired by Noorderkwartier admiralty, Frederick Pieterszoon) - blew up on 26 September
Deventer 28 (Robert Post) Amsterdam
Gideon 24 (Hendrick Jansz Kamp) Frisia
Meerminne 28 (Jan Pauluszoon) Zealand
Veere 32 (Cornelis Ringelszoon) Zealand

Reinforcements 27 September:
Maeght van Dordrecht 42 (Vice-Admiral Witte de With) Rotterdam
Overijssel 24 (Jacques Forant) Amsterdam
Utrecht 30 (Gerrit Meyndertsz den Uyl) Amsterdam
Sint Laurens 32 (A.Dommertszoon)
Bommel 28 (Sybrant Barentsz Waterdrincker) Amsterdam

Reinforcements 28 September:
Banckert squadron:

't Wapen van Zeeland 28 (Vice-Admiral Joost Banckert) Zealand
Zeeridder 34 (Frans Jansz van Vlissingen) Zealand
Zutphen 28 (Joris van Cats) Amsterdam
Walcheren 28 (Jan Theunisz Sluis) Amsterdam
't Wapen van Holland 39 (Lieven Cornelisz de Zeeuw) Noorderkwartier
Neptunis 33 (Albert 't Jongen Hoen) Noorderkwartier
Amsterdam 10 (Pieter Barentsz Dorrevelt) Amsterdam
Drenthe 16 (Gerrit Veen) Amsterdam
Rotterdam 10 (Joris Pietersz van den Broecke) Frisia
Arnemuyden 22 (Adriaen Jansz de Gloeyende Oven) Zealand
Ter Goes 24 (Abraham Crijnssen) Zealand
Friesland 22 (Tjaert de Groot) Frisia

After reinforcements 31 September
Evertsen squadron:

Vlissingen 34 (Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen, flagcaptain Frans Jansen) Zealand

De With squadron: thirty ships, four fireships

Jol squadron, seven ships:
Jupiter (Cornelis Cornelisz Jol "Houtebeen") WIC

De Nijs squadron, eight ships

Spain (Antonio de Oquendo)
Order of Battle of the Spanish Armada, 6 September 1639 (Orden de Batalla en media Luna). Total is 75 ships. Dates are now NS.

Name guns (squadron/type/commander etc.) - Fate

Santiago 60 (Castile) - Capitana Real or Royal Flagship. Escaped into Dunkirk, 1 November 1639
San Antonio (pinnace) (Masibradi) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Agustin (pinnace) (Martin Ladron de Guevara) - Driven ashore 31 October
Santa Teresa 60 (Portugal) - Don Lope de Hoces, commander. Destroyed in action 31 October
San Jeronimo
San Agustin
(Naples) - Vice-Admiral. Driven ashore 31 October, sunk 3 or 4 days later
El Gran Alejandro (Martin Ladron de Guevara) - Taken by the Dutch
Santa Ana (Portugal)
San Sebastian
Santa Catalina
(Guipuzcoa) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Lazaro
San Blas
(Masibradi) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Jerónimo (Masibradi) - Burnt in the Downs 31 October
San Nicolas
Santiago
(Castile) - Burnt off Dover on the night of 2 November
San Juan Bautista (Guipuzcoa) - Sunk 31 October
Esquevel 16 (hired Dane) - Captured 28 September
San Jose (Dunkirk)
Los Angeles (Castile) - Driven ashore 31 October
Santiago (Portugal) - Driven ashore 31 October
Delfin Dorado (Naples) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Antonio (Naples) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Juan Evangelista (Dunkirk)
El Pingue (hired ship) - Sunk in the Downs 31 October
San Carlos (Masibradi)
San Nicolas (Masibradi)
San Miguel
Orfeo
44 (Naples) - Lost on the Goodwin sands 31 October
San Vicente Ferrer (Dunkerque)
San Martin (Dunkerque)
Nuestra Senora de Monteagudo (Dunkerque) - Escaped into Dunkirk 1 November
Santiago 60? (Galicia) - Captured 31 October
? (flag of Masibradi) - Captured 28 September, retaken same day, escaped to Dunkirk, 1 November, wrecked 4 days later
Santo Tomas (Martin Ladron de Guevara) - Driven ashore 31 October
Nuestra Senora de Luz
Santa Clara
San Gedeon
(Dunkerque)
San Jacinto
San Carlos
(Dunkerque) - Sunk 31 October
Santo Cristo de Burgos (San Josef) - Lost off the French coast 31 October
San Paulo (Masibradi)
San Miguel
La Corona
(hired ship)
La Presa or San Pablo La Presa (Castile)
San Esteban (Martin Ladron de Guevara) - Captured 31 October
San Pedro de la Fortuna (hired ship) - Driven ashore but got off, 31 October
Los Angeles (hired ship)
Aguila Imperial
La Mujer
Santo Domingo de Polonia
(hired Polish ship) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Jose (flagship of Vizcaya) - Captured 31 October
San Salvador (flagship of Dunkirk) - Escaped into Dunkirk 1 November
São Baltasar (Vice-Admiral of Portugal) - 800 tons. Back at Lisbon in 1640
San Francisco 50? (Rear-Admiral of Dunkerque) - Escaped into Dunkirk 1 November
San Pedro el Grande (flagship of Ladron de Guevara)
Santiago (Martin Ladron de Guevara)
Jesus Maria (pinnace)
San Pedro Martir (urca) (hired ship) - Driven ashore 31 October
Fama (Urca) (hired ship) - Driven ashore 31 October
Santa Cruz (Masibradi)
San Daniel (Guipuzcoa) - Driven ashore 31 October
San Juan Evangelista (hired ship of Hamburg) - Driven ashore 31 October
Santa Agnes (frigate) (Naples) - Stranded but got off, 3 November
Grune? (Castile) - Driven ashore, 31 October 1639
Santa Teresa (Saetia) (Castile) - Taken by a French privateer 31 October
Exchange (hired English transport) - All 8 English transports put into Plymouth 13 September, and reached the Downs 22 October, where they were detained
Peregrine (hired English transport)
Assurance (hired English transport)
5 other hired English transports


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Downs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_ship_Aemilia_(1632)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1757 – Launch of HMS Trent, a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.


HMS Trent was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

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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. "
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83192.html#xLIiKBmL81BYCDFA.99


Construction
Trent was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak. Fir was cheaper and more abundant than oak and permitted noticeably faster construction, but at a cost of a reduced lifespan; the four fir-built Coventry-class vessels that did not get captured lasted an average of only nine years before being struck off.

The vessel was named after the River Trent, England's third-longest waterway. In selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition dating to 1644 of using geographic features for ship names; overall, ten of the nineteen Coventry-class vessels 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 Sandwichin his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty.

In sailing qualities Trent 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 with ample space for provisions and the ship's mess, and incorporating a large magazine for powder and round shot.

Taken together, these characteristics would enable Trent 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.

Her designated complement was 200, comprising two commissioned officers – a captain and a lieutenant – overseeing 40 warrant and petty officers, 91 naval ratings, 38 Marines and 29 servants and other ranks. Among these other ranks were four positions reserved for widow's men – fictitious crew members whose pay was intended to be reallocated to the families of sailors who died at sea

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, longitudinal half breadth proposed and approved for building Carysfort (1766), a 28-gun, Six th Rate Frigate building at Sheerness Dockyard, in the design room of Trent (1757, sold 1764)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82998.html#KA5xesGZU4dMhizO.99



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trent_(1757)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-305058;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1780 - HMS Ontario (22) sinks in Lake Ontario (found intact almost 230 years later)


HMS Ontario was a British warship that sank in a storm in Lake Ontario on 31 October 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. She was a 22-gun snow, and, at 80 feet (24 m) in length, the largest British warship on the Great Lakes at the time.[2] The shipwreck was discovered in 2008 by Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville. Ontario was found largely intact and very well preserved in the cold water. Scoville and Kennard assert that "the 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes."

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth of Ontario (1780), a 16-gun Brig Sloop launched at Carleton Island, Lake Ontario, 10 May 1780. Signed by Jonathan Coleman [Master Shipwright, St. Johns, Lake Champlain, Canada].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84516.html#3oxkRwI7CJYJOZBh.99


History
Ontario was built in 1780 on Carleton Island, a major base in the St Lawrence River for the British during the Revolutionary War, but now part of New York. She was operated by the Royal Navy for the Provincial Marine in the capacity of an armed transport.

At the time, Ontario was the largest British warship to sail on the Great Lakes. She was launched just five months before she sank, and was used to ferry troops, supplies and prisoners from one remote part of New York to another. She never saw battle.

Sinking
Ontario sank in a storm on 31 October 1780 while underway from Fort Niagara to Oswego. Approximately 130 men perished with ship, comprising an estimated 60 British soldiers of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot, (comprising one officer, 34 other ranks, 4 women and 5 children from the regiment) a crew of about 40 Canadians and possibly up to 30 American prisoners of war. News of the sinking of the Ontario was kept quiet for a number of years to hide the military loss.


Search and discovery
Sophisticated side-scan sonar technology was used in the search of HMS Ontario in late May 2008. A promising wreck was found between Niagara and Rochester, NY in an area of Lake Ontario where the depth exceeds 492 feet (150 m). The sonar imagery clearly showed a large sailing ship resting upright at an angle, with two masts reaching up at least 70 feet (21 m) above the bottom of the lake. The high resolution images showed the remains of two crow's nests on each mast, strongly suggesting that the sunken vessel was the brig-sloop Ontario. Due to the depth limitations for diving on this shipwreck, a remotely operated underwater vehicle was deployed and confirmed the identity of the ship in early June 2008.

Kennard and Scoville believe that the cold, fresh water of Lake Ontario, combined with a lack of light and oxygen, have slowed decomposition and account for the ship being found largely intact, despite being on the bottom for 230 years. The shipwreck's discoverers have notified the New York State Office of Historic Preservation, however the exact location of the wreck has not been publicly disclosed. The wreck is technically still considered property of the British Admiralty and as such, will be treated as a war grave


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ontario_(1780)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1803 - The frigate USS Philadelphia runs aground near Tripoli while pursuing an enemy vessel in shallow water and was captured.


USS Philadelphia, a 1240-ton, 36-gun sailing frigate, was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Philadelphia. Originally named City of Philadelphia, she was built in 1798–1799 for the United States government by the citizens of that city. Funding for her construction was the result of a funding drive which raised $100,000 in one week, in June 1798. She was designed by Josiah Fox and built by Samuel Humphreys, Nathaniel Hutton and John Delavue. Her carved work was done by William Rush of Philadelphia. She was laid down about November 14, 1798, launched on November 28, 1799, and commissioned on April 5, 1800, with Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. in command. She is perhaps best remembered for her burning after being captured in Tripoli.

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Stranding and capture of USS Philadelphia, 31 October 1803, sketch by William Bainbridge Hoff. It depicts Philadelphia under attack by gunboats off Tripoli, after she ran aground on uncharted rocks while chasing a small enemy vessel. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph #: NH 56734

Class and type: Philadelphia-class frigate
Tonnage: 1240
Length: 157 ft (48 m) between perpendiculars
Beam: 39 ft (12 m)Depth:13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Complement: 307 officers and crew
Armament:
  • 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • 16 × 9-pounder long guns (replaced with 16 x 32-pounder carronades in 1803)

Service history
Putting to sea for duty in the West Indies to serve in the Quasi-War with France, she arrived on the Guadeloupe Station in May 1800 and relieved the frigate Constellation. During this cruise she captured five French armed vessels and recaptured six merchant ships that had fallen into French hands.

Returning home in March 1801, she was ordered to prepare for a year's cruise in the Mediterranean in a squadron commanded by Commodore Richard Dale. At his own request, Decatur was relieved of the command of President by Captain Samuel Barron. The squadron arrived at Gibraltar on July 1, with Commodore Dale in the frigate President. Philadelphia was directed to cruise the Straits and blockade the coast of Tripoli, since in May 1801 the Pasha Yusuf Karamanli had threatened to wage war on the United States by chopping down the flagpole with the American flag before the U.S. consulate.

Philadelphia departed Gibraltar for the United States in April 1802, arriving in mid-July. In ordinary until May 21, 1803, when she recommissioned (having her sixteen 9-pounder long guns replaced with sixteen 32-pounder carronades at this time), and sailed for the Mediterranean on July 28, 1803. She arrived in Gibraltar on August 24 with Captain William Bainbridge in command, and two days later recaptured the American brig Celia from the Moroccan ship-of-war Mirboka (24 guns and 100 men), and brought them both into Gibraltar.

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Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804.

Destruction
During the First Barbary War (1801–1805), Philadelphia cruised off Tripoli until October 31, 1803, while giving chase and firing upon a pirate ship she ran aground on an uncharted reef two miles off Tripoli Harbor. The captain, William Bainbridge, tried to refloat her, first laying the sails aback, and casting off three bow anchors and shifting the guns aftward. But a strong wind and rising waves drove her further aground. Next they jettisoned many of her cannons, barrels of water, and other heavy articles overboard in order to make her lighter, but this too failed. They then sawed off the foremast in one last desperate attempt to lighten her. All of these attempts failed and Bainbridge, in order not to resupply the pirates, ordered holes drilled in the ship's bottom, gunpowder dampened, sails set afire and all other weapons thrown overboard before surrendering. Her officers and men were made slaves of the Pasha (or Bashaw).

Philadelphia, which had been refloated by her captors, was too great a prize to be allowed to remain in the hands of the Tripolitans, so a decision was made to recapture or destroy her. The U.S. had captured the Tripolitan ketch Mastico, renamed her Intrepid, and re-rigged the ship with short masts and triangular sails to look like a local ship. On February 16, 1804, under the cover of night and in the guise of a ship in distress that had lost all anchors in a storm and needed a place to tie up, Intrepidwas sailed by a volunteer assaulting party of officers and men under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr. next to Philadelphia. The assault party boarded Philadelphia, and after making sure that she was not seaworthy, burned the ship where she lay in Tripoli Harbor. Lord Horatio Nelson, known as a man of action and bravery, is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the Age."

Her anchor was returned to the United States on April 7, 1871, when the Bashaw presented it to the captain of the visiting Guerriere.

Local account of the destruction
In 1904, Charles Wellington Furlong, an American adventurer went to Tripoli to investigate the sinking of Philadelphia and later wrote of it in his book, The Gateway to the Sahara: Observations and Experiences in Tripoli (1909). In this book the following account, based on records from a local synagogue, is given:

Yusef Pashaw had equipped a number of corsairs.... His captains, Zurrig, Dghees, Trez, Romani and El-Mograbi, set sail from Tripoli and shortly sighted an American vessel [Philadelphia]. Zurrig left the others and daringly approached the ship, annoying her purposely to decoy her across the shoals. She stranded, but fired on the other vessels until her ammunition gave out, whereupon the Moslems pillaged her. The American Consul [actually the Danish consul, Nissen] was very much disheartened and tried to conclude arrangements similar to those recently made between the Bashaw and the Swedish Consul; but such an enormous tribute was demanded that no terms could be reached, so by order of the Bashaw the vessel was burned.... Footnote 2: This of course was an erroneous idea. It may have been purposefully circulated through the town, particularly among the inhabitants other than Mohammedans.​
Furlong later reports in the same book, that he talked to other Arabs in Tripoli who said that the ship was not burned, but moved to the Lazaretto where it was dressed up as a trophy and its guns used to call the end of Ramadan. According to the detailed account of Hadji-Mohammed Gabroom, an American ketch was able to sneak in, kill some of the 10 guards, cause the others to flee, then set the ship on fire.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_(1799)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 October 1860 – Death of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Scottish-English admiral and politician (b. 1775)


Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM, OSC (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and radical politician. He was a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading Napoleon to nickname him Le Loup des Mers ('The Sea Wolf'). He was successful in virtually all his naval actions.

Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald.jpg
Engraving of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, based on a painting by James Ramsay

He was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 following a controversial conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. He helped organise and lead the rebel navies of Chile and Brazil during their respective successful wars of independence through the 1820s. While in charge of the Chilean Navy, Cochrane also contributed to Peruvian Independence through the Freedom Expedition of Perú. He was also asked to help the Greek Navy but was prevented by events from having much impact.

In 1832, he was pardoned by the Crown and reinstated in the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. After several more promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

His life and exploits inspired the naval fiction of 19th- and 20th-century novelists, particularly the figures of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's protagonist Jack Aubrey.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald
 
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