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

[Uwek]

1 August 1761 – Launch of Essex class 64 gun third rate HMS Africa

HMS Africa was a 64-gun third rate Essex-class ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1761 and in active service during the latter half of the Seven Years' War against France and Spain.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Africa' (1761), 'Asia' (1764), 'Essex' (1760), all 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Note alterations made to the quarterdeck.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81132.html#5oCHmidE7Kvvq2sV.99

Naval career
Africa was one of two Essex-class vessels, built according to a design by naval architect Thomas Slade. They were intended to be slightly larger versions of HMS Asia, also designed by Slade but still under construction at the time Africa was launched. Admiralty orders for her construction were issued on 31 December 1758, as part of a general Royal Navy expansion following France's declaration of war earlier in that year. Construction commenced on 7 May 1758 and was completed on 1 August 1761. The vessel was named in November 1759; in selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition, dating to 1644, of using well-known geographic features.

The new third-rate was commissioned in September 1761 under Captain Alexander Hood, and assigned to Britain's Mediterranean fleet under Admiral Edward Hawke. She remained at this station for the remainder of the war, returning to England in April 1763 after the Treaty of Paris brought formal hostilities to a close. On arrival at Portsmouth Dockyard she was paid off and her crew dispersed to other vessels. After six months in port she was recommissioned and sent to the Caribbean, where she remained until November 1765. Returning to Portsmouth in that year, she was paid off a second time and left at anchor for the next nine years.

In May 1774 she was declared surplus to Navy needs and sold as timber for £900.



The other ship of the same class was the HMS Essex built by Wells and Stanton in Rotherhithe, launched: 28 August 1760 (Fate: Sold out of the service, 1799).
Some sources also define the HMS Asia, launched 1764 from the same class


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Africa_(1761)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1778 – Launch of French Magicienne class 32 gun frigate Magicienne

Magicienne was a frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1781 and she served with the Royal Navy until her crew burned her in 1810 to prevent her capture after she grounded at Isle de France (now Mauritius). During her service with the Royal Navy she captured several privateers and participated in the Battle of San Domingo.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing sheer lines (only one water line), proposed (and approved) for Magicienne (1781), a captured French Frigate, as altered to a 32-gun Fifth Rate Frigate, repairing and refitting at Harwich by Mr.Graham. Annotation in top right corner: "Acopy of this sent to the Overseer 10th March 1791 for fitting the ship according -" NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 254, states that 'Magicienne' arrived at Mr Graham's Yard in Harwich and was hove upon a slip on 21 September 1790, and her copper removed. She was undocked on 14 January 1793 and sailed on 14 February 1793 having undergone a Great Repair.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82924.html#Ym4ogp7gdmPxF2JC.99

French service and capture
Magicienne was built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb at Toulon. She was the first of 12 vessels built to her design.

She served in Orvilliers' fleet under captain Brun de Boades. HMS Chatham captured her on 2 September 1781 off Cape Ann. In the action the French lost 60 men killed and 40 wounded; the British lost one man killed and one man wounded. She was described as being of 800 tons, 36 guns and 280 men.

A prize crew took her to Halifax where she was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Magicienne under Thomas Graves, on the North America station. They sailed her to Jamaica in December.

British service
On 15 July 1782, Magicienne and Prudent captured three French merchant vessels carrying sugar from Martinique to Europe. These were the ship Tea Bloom, the snow Balmboom, and the brig Juno. Juno was also carrying rum.

On 2 January 1783, Magicienne, met the Sibylle. The ships fought inconclusively, reducing each other to wrecks before parting. In September 1783 Magicienne was paid off and fitted for ordinary at Chatham on 30 October.


Magicienne dismasted after her fight against Sibylle (January 1783)

French Revolutionary Wars
On 29 April Magicienne was in company with Aquilon, Diamond, Minerva, Syren, Camilla, and Childers, when Acquilon captured the Mary.

On 1 November 1796, Magicienne, under the command of Captain William Henry Ricketts, captured the French brig Cerf Volant (enseigne de vaisseau Camau), off San Domingo. Cerf Volant was flying a flag of truce and had on board a midshipman and several British seamen, prisoners from Hindostan, to give the appearance that Cerf Volant was a cartel. She was carrying delegates from the Southern Department of St. Domingo to the French Legislative Body, and hidden dispatches for the Directory General, that a search the next day uncovered. The hidden dispatches violated the truce flag and made Cerf Volant a legitimate prize. The search also uncovered a box of money. Though Cerf-Volant was only three years old, the Royal Navy did not take her into service.

In early 1797, HMS Magicienne captured two privateers named Poisson Volant. One was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 80 men, and the other was armed with five guns and had a crew of 50 men. One was captured on 13 January, and the other on 16 February. Bounty bills (head money) was paid in September 1827. A later account narrates that Poisson Volant was a Dutch privateer, out of Curacao, and that Magicienne sent her into Jamaica to be condemned as a prize.

In late 1797 or early 1798, Magicienne, the troopship Regulus, and the brig-sloop Diligence captured the French privateer Brutus, of nine guns.

After the crew of Hermione mutinied and murdered her captain, Hugh Pigot, in 1797, Magicienne was involved in the efforts to capture the mutineers and bring them to trial.

On 23 November 1800 Captain Sir Richard Strachan in Captain chased a French convoy in to the Morbihan where it sheltered under the protection of shore batteries and a 24-gun corvette. Magicienne was able to force the corvette Réolaise onto the shore at Port Navalo. The hired armed cutters Suworow, Nile and Lurcher then towed in four boats with a cutting-out party of seamen and marines from Captain and Magicienne. Although the cutting-out party landed under heavy grape and small arms fire, it was able to set the corvette on fire; shortly thereafter Réolaise blew up. Only one British seaman, a crewman from Suworow, was killed. However, Suworow's sails and rigging were so badly cut up that Captain had to tow her.

In January 1801, Magicienne, with Doris in sight, captured in the Channel the French letter of marque Huron, which was returning from Mauritius with a highly valuable cargo of ivory, cochineal, indigo, tea, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, ebony, etc. Ogilvy described her as a "remarkable fine Ship, fails well, is pierced for Twenty Guns, had Eighteen mounted, but threw thorn all overboard except Four during the Chace; I think her a Vessel well calculated for His Majesty's Service."



Napoleonic Wars
On 24 July 1804 Amethyst, while in company with Magicienne, captured the Agnela.

Early in March 1805, Magicienne and Reindeer sent two boats each, under the command of Lieutenant John Kelly Tudor of Reindeer, to cut out a 4-gun schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico.

In 1806, while under the command of Captain Adam Mackenzie, she cruised in the Caribbean. On 25 January 1806, Magicienne was in company with Penguin in the Mona Passage when Magicienne captured the Spanish packet ship Carmen after a chase of 12 hours. Carmen was pierced for 14 guns but carrying only two, and had a crew of 18 men under the command of an officer of the same rank as a commander in the British Navy.

Magicienne joined John Thomas Duckworth's squadron on 5 February, which led to her taking part in the Battle of San Domingo. Duckworth sent Magicienne and Acasta to reconnoitre, and it was they that signaled that the French were at anchor, but getting under way. Duckworth formed up the smaller ships, Acasta, Magicienne, Kingfisher and Epervier, windward of the line-of-battle ships to keep them out of the action.


HMS Magicienne and HMS Acasta and the Battle of San Domingo

Donegal forced the surrender of the Brave and directed Acasta to take possession of her, whilst the Donegal moved on to engage the other French ships. Brave was one of the three that the British captured, the other two being the Jupiter and the Alexandre. Their captains drove two French ships, the flagship, Impérial, and the Diomède, on shore between Nizao and Point Catalan, their hulls broadside to the beach and their bottoms stove in by the reefs that lay offshore, to prevent their capture.

On 8 February Duckworth sent boats from Acasta and Magicienne to the wrecks. Boarding unopposed, the boat parties removed the remaining French crewmen as prisoners and set both ships on fire. Lastly, in 1847 the Admiralty awarded the surviving claimants from the action the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo".

On 18 August Magicienne was in company with Penguin, Franchise, and Veteran as they escorted a fleet of 109 merchantmen from Jamaica to Britain. The convoy cleared the Gulf of Florida but between 19 and 23 August they ran into a gale that did not fully abate until 25 August. Initial reports had nine vessels foundering, with the crew of some being saved; later reports put the loss at 13 merchant vessels foundered and two abandoned but later salvaged. Franchise lost her fore-mast and main-top-mast but together with Penguinmanaged to bring 71 merchant vessels back to England. (Others arrived earlier or later, and some went to America.) Magicienne, however, was so badly damaged that she had to put in at Bermuda for repairs.

In December 1809, Magicienne served in the Indian Ocean. During the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, the French Navy captured the East Indiaman Windham in the Action of 18 November 1809 but the newly arrived Magicienne under Captain Lucius Curtisrecaptured her on 29 December 1809.

Loss
In March 1810, Magicienne was part of a frigate squadron comprising Iphigenia and Leopard, later joined by Nereide and Sirius.

The summer of 1810 saw a campaign against the French Indian Ocean possessions; The Île de Bourbon (Réunion) was captured in July. In August, attention was turned to Mauritius, where the British attempted to land troops to destroy coastal batteries and signals around Grand Port; the attempt turned sour, however, when two French forty-gun frigates, Bellone and Minerve, the 18-gun corvette Victor, and two East Indiaman prizes entered the harbour and took up defensive positions at the head of the main entrance channel. The French also moved the channel markers to confuse the British approach.


Magicienne, aground, being scuttled at the Battle of Grand Port.

In the run-up to the battle, Sirius re-captured Windham, which the French had captured a second time in the Action of 3 July 1810. On the 23 August 1810 the British squadron entered the channel at Grand Port. Sirius was the first to run aground, followed by Magicienne and Néréide. Iphigenia prudently anchored in the channel some distance from the action. The French vessels concentrated all their gunfire first against Néréide and then against Magicienne.

The battle continued without interruption all night and on the 24 August the French boarded the defenceless Néréide. Once the French flag was hoisted on what was left of the foremast of the Néréide, Magicienne and the Sirius began an intense cross fire against their enemies. Still, in the evening her crew had to abandon Magicienne, setting her on fire as they left her. Magicienne lost eight men killed and 20 wounded.

The battle cost the British all four frigates, including Iphigenia and Sirius.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Magicienne_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicienne-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...5;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=M;start=0

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1785 - french Jean-François de La Pérouse started around the world tour from Brest

Preparations
As early as March 1785, Lapérouse proposed that Paul Monneron, who had been chosen as the expedition's chief engineer, go to London to find out about the anti-scurvymeasures recommended by Cook and the exchange items used by Cook in his dealings with native peoples, and to buy scientific instruments of English manufacture.

The best-known figure from Cook's missions, Joseph Banks, intervened at the Royal Society to obtain for Monneron two inclining compasses that had belonged to Cook. Furnished with a list produced by Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, Monneron also bought scientific instruments from some of the largest English firms, particularly Ramsden. He even surpassed Fleurieu's directives by acquiring two sextants of a new type.


The Lapérouse voyage

Crew
Lapérouse was well liked by his men. Among his 114-man crew there were ten scientists: Joseph Lepaute Dagelet (1751–1788), an astronomer and mathematician; Robert de Lamanon, a geologist; La Martinière, a botanist; a physicist; three naturalists; and three illustrators, Gaspard Duché de Vancy and an uncle and nephew named Prévost. Another of the scientists was Jean-André Mongez. Even both chaplains were scientifically schooled.

One of the men who applied for the voyage was a 16-year-old Corsican named Napoléon Bonaparte. Bonaparte, a second lieutenant from Paris's military academy at the time, made the preliminary list but he was ultimately not chosen for the voyage list and remained behind in France. At the time, Bonaparte was interested in serving in the navy rather than army because of his proficiency in mathematics and artillery, both valued skills on warships.

Copying the work methods of Cook's scientists, the scientists on this voyage would base their calculations of longitude on precision watches and the distance between the moon and the sun followed by theodolite triangulations or bearings taken from the ship, the same as those taken by Cook to produce his maps of the Pacific islands. As regards geography, Lapérouse decisively showed the rigour and safety of the methods proven by Cook. From his voyage, the resolution of the problem of longitude was evident and mapping attained a scientific precision. Impeded (as Cook had been) by the continual mists enveloping the northwestern coast of America, he did not succeed any better in producing complete maps, though he managed to fill in some of the gaps.

Lapérouse and his 220 men left Brest on 1 August 1785, rounded Cape Horn, investigated the Spanish colonial government in the Captaincy General of Chile. He arrived on 9 April 1786 at Easter Island He then sailed to the Sandwich Islands, the present-day Hawaiian Islands, where he became the first European to set foot on the island of Maui.

more info about the complete tour on wikipedia......


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-François_de_Galaup,_comte_de_Lapérouse

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1798 - The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; French: Bataille d'Aboukir)

was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from 1 to 3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had ranged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers.

Bonaparte sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Bonaparte's fleet crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British force under Nelson who had been sent from the British fleet in the Tagus to learn the purpose of the French expedition and to defeat it. He chased the French for more than two months, on several occasions missing them only by a matter of hours. Bonaparte was aware of Nelson's pursuit and enforced absolute secrecy about his destination. He was able to capture Malta and then land in Egypt without interception by the British naval forces.


Battle of the Nile, Augt 1st 1798, Thomas Whitcombe, 1816, National Maritime Museum. The British fleet bears down on the French line.

With the French army ashore, the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay, 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Alexandria. Commander Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers believed that he had established a formidable defensive position. The British fleet arrived off Egypt on 1 August and discovered Brueys's dispositions, and Nelson ordered an immediate attack. His ships advanced on the French line and split into two divisions as they approached. One cut across the head of the line and passed between the anchored French and the shore, while the other engaged the seaward side of the French fleet.


Map of ship positions and movements during the Battle of Aboukir Bay, 1–2 August 1798. British ships are in red; French ships are in blue. Intermediate ship positions are shown in pale red/blue. The map has been simplified, and differs from the text in several minor particulars.

Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French warships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour battle, while the centre succeeded in repelling the initial British attack. As British reinforcements arrived, the centre came under renewed assault and, at 22:00, the French flagship Orient exploded. The rear division of the French fleet attempted to break out of the bay, with Brueys dead and his vanguard and centre defeated, but only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped from a total of 17 ships engaged.


The Battle of the Nile, Thomas Luny, 1830, National Maritime Museum

The battle reversed the strategic situation between the two nations' forces in the Mediterranean and entrenched the Royal Navy in the dominant position that it retained for the rest of the war. It also encouraged other European countries to turn against France, and was a factor in the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition. Bonaparte's army was trapped in Egypt, and Royal Navy dominance off the Syrian coast contributed significantly to the French defeat at the Siege of Acre in 1799 which preceded Bonaparte's return to Europe. Nelson had been wounded in the battle, and he was proclaimed a hero across Europe and was subsequently made Baron Nelson—although he was privately dissatisfied with his rewards. His captains were also highly praised and went on to form the nucleus of the legendary Nelson's Band of Brothers. The legend of the battle has remained prominent in the popular consciousness, with perhaps the best-known representation being Felicia Hemans' 1826 poem Casabianca.


Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798, Daniel Orme, 1805, National Maritime Museum. Nelson returns on deck after his wound is dressed.

Detailed information about the sequence etc. of this battle you can find in wikipedia.....



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

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1798 - The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay - Order of Battle and involved ships

The Battle of the Nile was a significant naval action fought during 1–3 August 1798. The battle took place in Aboukir Bay, near the mouth of the River Nile on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt and pitted a British fleet of the Royal Navy against a fleet of the French Navy. The battle was the climax of a three-month campaign in the Mediterranean during which a huge French convoy under General Napoleon Bonaparte had sailed from Toulon to Alexandria via Malta. Despite close pursuit by a British fleet of thirteen ships of the line, one fourth rate and a sloop under Sir Horatio Nelson, the French were able to reach Alexandria unscathed and successfully land an army, which Bonaparte led inland. The fleet that had escorted the convoy, consisting of thirteen ships of the line, four frigates and a number of smaller vessels under Vice-amiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, anchored in Aboukir Bay as Alexandria harbour was too narrow, forming a line of battle that was protected by shoals to the north and west.



Nelson reached the Egyptian coast on 1 August and discovered the French fleet at 14:00. Advancing during the afternoon, his ships entered the bay at 18:20 and attacked the French directly, despite the rapid approach of nightfall. Taking advantage of a large gap between the lead French ship Guerrier and the northern shoal, HMS Goliath rounded the French line at 18:40 and opened fire from the unprepared port side, followed by five more British ships. The rest of the British line attacked the starboard side of the French van, catching the ships in a fierce crossfire. For three hours the battle continued as the British overwhelmed the first five French ships but were driven away from the heavily defended centre. The arrival of reinforcements allowed a second assault on the centre at 21:00 and at 22:00 the French flagship Orient exploded. Despite the death of Vice-amiral Brueys, the French centre continued to fight until 03:00, when the badly damaged Tonnant managed to join the thus far unengaged French rear division. At 06:00 firing began again as the less damaged ships of the British fleet attacked the French rear, forcing Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve to pull away for the mouth of the bay. Four French ships were too badly damaged to join him and were beached by their crews, two subsequently surrendered. Villeneuve eventually escaped to open water with just two ships of the line and two frigates. On 3 August the last two remaining French ships stranded in the bay were defeated, one surrendering and the other deliberately set on fire by its crew.

The almost total destruction of the French fleet reversed the strategic situation in the Mediterranean, giving the Royal Navy control of the sea which it retained until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Nelson and his captains were highly praised and generously rewarded, although Nelson privately complained that his peerage was not senior enough. Bonaparte's army was trapped in the Middle East and Royal Navy dominance played a significant part in its subsequent defeat at the Siege of Acre, Bonaparte himself abandoned the army late in 1799 to return to France and deal with the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition. Of the captured ships, three were no longer serviceable and were burnt in the bay, and three others were judged fit only for harbour duties owing to the damage they had received in the battle. The remainder enjoyed long and successful service careers in the Royal Navy; two subsequently served at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

The Fleets at the Battle of the Nile:

The British Fleet, His Majesty’s Ships Vanguard (Nelson’s Flagship: Captain Berry, 74 guns), Majestic (Captain Westcott, 74 guns), Bellerophon (Captain Darby, 74 guns), Defence (Captain Peyton, 74 guns), Orion (Captain Saumarez, 74 guns), Minotaur (Captain Louis, 74 guns), Theseus (Captain Miller, 74 guns), Goliath (Captain Foley, 74 guns), Audacious (Captain Gould, 74 guns), Zealous (Captain Hood, 74 guns), Leander (Captain Thompson, 50 guns), Swiftsure (Captain Hallowell, 74 guns), Alexander (Captain Ball, 74 guns), Culloden (Captain Troubridge, 74 guns) and Mutine (Captain Hardy, 74 guns).

The French Fleet, L’Orient (Flagship: Commodore Casabianca, 120 guns), Guerrier (Captain Trullet, 74 guns), Conquerant (Captain D’Albarde, 74 guns), Spartiate (Captain Eimeriau, 74 guns), Aquilon (Captain Thevenard, 74 guns), Peuple Souverain (Captain Raccord, 74 guns), Franklin (Flagship of Admiral Hayla: Captain Gillet, 80 guns), Tonnant (Captain Thouars, 80 guns), Heureux (Captain Etienne, 74 guns), Mercure (Captain Cambon, 74 guns), Guillaume Tell (Admiral Villeneuve’s Flagship: 80 guns), Genereux (Captain Lenoille, 74 guns), Timoleon (Captain Trullet [jeune], 74 guns), Frigates, Serieuse (Captain Martin, 36 guns), L’Artemise (Captain Estandlet, 36 guns), Diane (Admiral de Crepe: Captain Soleil, 36 guns) and Justice (Captain Villeneuve, 40 guns).

The French Fleet of 13 ships of the line and 4 frigates carried 1,196 guns.
The British Fleet of 13 ships of the line and one 50 gun ship carried 1,012 guns.



A more detailed listing you can find at wikipedia...


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

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1798 - french flagship Orient exploded

During the Battle of the Nile ......

At 21:00, the British observed a fire on the lower decks of the Orient, the French flagship. Identifying the danger this posed to the Orient, Captain Hallowell directed his gun crews to fire their guns directly into the blaze. Sustained British gun fire spread the flames throughout the ship's stern and prevented all efforts to extinguish them. Within minutes the fire had ascended the rigging and set the vast sails alight. The nearest British ships, Swiftsure, Alexander, and Orion, all stopped firing, closed their gunports, and began edging away from the burning ship in anticipation of the detonation of the enormous ammunition supplies stored on board. In addition, they took crews away from the guns to form fire parties and to soak the sails and decks in seawater to help contain any resulting fires. Likewise the French ships Tonnant, Heureux, and Mercure all cut their anchor cables and drifted southwards away from the burning ship. At 22:00 the fire reached the magazines, and the Orient was destroyed by a massive explosion. The concussion of the blast was powerful enough to rip open the seams of the nearest ships, and flaming wreckage landed in a huge circle, much of it flying directly over the surrounding ships into the sea beyond. Falling wreckage started fires on Swiftsure, Alexander, and Franklin, although in each case teams of sailors with water buckets succeeded in extinguishing the flames, despite a secondary explosion on Franklin.


Battle of the Nile, August 1st 1798 at 10 pm

It has never been firmly established how the fire on Orient broke out, but one common account is that jars of oil and paint had been left on the poop deck, instead of being properly stowed after painting of the ship's hull had been completed shortly before the battle. Burning wadding from one of the British ships is believed to have floated onto the poop deck and ignited the paint. The fire rapidly spread through the admiral's cabin and into a ready magazine that stored carcass ammunition, which was designed to burn more fiercely in water than in air. Alternatively, Fleet Captain Honoré Ganteaume later reported the cause as an explosion on the quarterdeck, preceded by a series of minor fires on the main deck among the ship's boats. Whatever its origin, the fire spread rapidly through the ship's rigging, unchecked by the fire pumps aboard, which had been smashed by British shot. A second blaze then began at the bow, trapping hundreds of sailors in the ship's waist. Subsequent archaeological investigation found debris scattered over 500 metres (550 yd) of seabed and evidence that the ship was wracked by two huge explosions one after the other.


Orient explodes at the Battle of the Nile. Franklin is the ship in the extreme left of the picture, and was almost set on fire herself by falling debris.

Hundreds of men dove into the sea to escape the flames, but fewer than 100 survived the blast. British boats picked up approximately 70 survivors, including the wounded staff officer Léonard-Bernard Motard. A few others, including Ganteaume, managed to reach the shore on rafts. The remainder of the crew, numbering more than 1,000 men, were killed, including Captain Casabianca and his son, Giocante.


Battle of the Nile, Augt 1st 1798, Thomas Whitcombe, 1816, National Maritime Museum – the climax of the battle, as Orient explodes

For ten minutes after the explosion there was no firing; sailors from both sides were either too shocked by the blast or desperately extinguishing fires aboard their own ships to continue the fight. During the lull, Nelson gave orders that boats be sent to pull survivors from the water around the remains of Orient. At 22:10, Franklin restarted the engagement by firing on Swiftsure. Isolated and battered, Blanquet's ship was soon dismasted and the admiral, suffering a severe head wound, was forced to surrender by the combined firepower of Swiftsure and Defence. More than half of Franklin's crew had been killed or wounded.


The Battle of the Nile: Destruction of 'L'Orient', 1 August 1798, Mather Brown, 1825, National Maritime Museum

By midnight only Tonnant remained engaged, as Commodore Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars continued his fight with Majestic and fired on Swiftsure when the British ship moved within range. By 03:00, after more than three hours of close quarter combat, Majestic had lost its main and mizzen masts while Tonnant was a dismasted hulk. Although Captain Du Petit Thouars had lost both legs and an arm he remained in command, insisting on having the tricolour nailed to the mast to prevent it from being struck and giving orders from his position propped up on deck in a bucket of wheat. Under his guidance, the battered Tonnant gradually drifted southwards away from the action to join the southern division under Villeneuve, who failed to bring these ships into effective action. Throughout the engagement the French rear had kept up an arbitrary fire on the battling ships ahead. The only noticeable effect was the smashing of Timoléon's rudder by misdirected fire from the neighbouring Généreux.


French ship Orient (1791)

Orient was an Océan-class 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, famous for her role as flagship of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798, and for her spectacular destruction that day when her magazines exploded. The event was commemorated by numerous paintings and poems


1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille, on display at Marseille naval museum, combined with a half-hull of a generic Ocean-type 120-gun ship of the line on display at Brest navl museum

Career
The ship was laid down in Toulon, and launched on 20 July 1791 under the name Dauphin Royal. In September 1792, after the advent of the French First Republic, and not yet commissioned, she was renamed Sans-Culotte, in honour of the Sans-culottes.

On 14 March 1795, she took part in the Battle of Genoa as flagship of Rear Admiral Martin. She covered the rear of the French line, exchanging fire with HMS Bedford and HMS Egmont, but lost contact with her fleet during the night and was thus prevented from taking further part in the action. In May 1795, Sans-Culotte was again renamed as a consequence of the Thermidorian Reaction, and took her best-known name of Orient.

In 1798, Orient was appointed flagship of the squadron tasked with the invasion of Egypt, under Admiral Brueys, with Captain Casabianca as his flag officer. Orient also ferried the chiefs of the Armée d'Égypte, notably General Bonaparte. The fleet avoided the British blockade and captured Malta before landing troops in Egypt. Afterwards, the squadron anchored in a bay east of Alexandria, in a purportedly strong defensive position. The British 's squadron under the command of Nelson discovered the fleet on 1 August, and Nelson attacked the next day, starting the Battle of the Nile. Nelson had his units sail between the shore and the French ships at anchor, picking them one by one in a cross-fire. Orient eventually came under fire from five ships, caught fire and exploded spectacularly at 22:30.

The number of casualties is disputed: the British reported 70 survivors, reflecting the numbers they rescued aboard their ships, and inferring considerable losses over the 1,130-man complement; however, the crew was far from complete at the time of the battle and a number of survivors might have been picked up by French ships. Contre-amiral Decrès reported as many as 760 survivors.

The explosion is also often presented as a turning point of the battle; as a matter of fact, the battle was won by the British when their reinforcements arrived at nightfall, and the interruption of the fighting was brief after the explosion.

Legacy
The explosion of Orient struck the public of the time, both because of its historical signification and of its spectacular aesthetics. Its romantic load was compounded by the presence aboard of Captain Casabianca's young son, who died in the wreck; this particular detail inspired Felicia Hemans's poem Casabianca:

The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead
Shortly after the battle, Nelson was presented with a coffin carved from a piece of the main mast of Orient, which had been taken back to England for this purpose; he was put inside this coffin after his death at the Battle of Trafalgar.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Orient_(1791)

 

[Uwek]

1 August 1798 – Death of French Admiral Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers during the Batlle of the Nile

Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, Comte de Brueys (February 12, 1753 – August 1, 1798) was the French commander in the Battle of the Nile, in which the French Revolutionary Navy was defeated by Royal Navy forces under Admiral Horatio Nelson. The British victory helped to ensure their naval supremacy throughout the Napoleonic Wars. He was also a Freemason in the La Bonne Foi lodge at Montauban.



Pre-Revolution
Brueys was born to an aristocratic family in Rue Boucairie, Uzès, Gard, southern France in a house which now bears a plaque with his name. Joining the navy at 13, he was a volunteer on the ship-of-the-line Protecteur in 1766, he served in several campaigns in the Levant. Becoming a Garde de la marine in 1768, he fought in the Tunis expedition on the frigate Atalante and the Saint Domingue campaign on the ship-of-the-line Actionnaire, though he was forced to leave the latter due to sickness and return to France, where he served at shore establishments, mostly on France's Mediterranean coast.

He rose to enseigne de vaisseau in 1777 and lieutenant de vaisseau in April 1780, before serving on the ship-of-the-line Terrible then the Zélé in Guichen's squadron. He fought in three battles against Admiral Rodney in April and May 1780, then in the battle against Hood's fleet before Fort-de-France in April 1781. He was present at all the battles involving Grasse's squadron, including the Chesapeake (September 1781) and the capture of Saint Kitts in February 1782. He then moved to the frigate Vestale, by chance he was not present at the battle of Les Saintes. He was made a chevalier de Saint-Louis at the end of the war.

On the peace he was put in command of the aviso Chien de Chasse, with which he spent four years in the Antilles and off the American coast. In 1787 he moved to command another aviso, the Coureur, which cruised along the coasts of Latin America. He then returned to France to command the fluyt Barbeau before taking one year's leave (1788–89). In 1790 he commanded the corvette Poulette. He sailed her from Toulon to Algiers with M. Vallière, France's consul general in Algeria. She also carried dispatches for the naval station and French consuls in the Levant.

1792–1798
He saw aristocratic family and friends killed during the Reign of Terror but managed to avoid such a fate himself. He did not emigrate and even found himself promoted to capitaine de vaisseau on 1 January 1792, before being put in command of the ship-of-the-line Le Lys at Toulon (renamed le Tricolore on the fall of the monarchy). He fought in the campaigns undertaken by Admiral Truguet's fleet - the bombardment of Oneglia, the Naples operation led by Latouche-Tréville, and finally the attack on Cagliari on Sardinia.

In the Toulon affair the town authorities arrested him. A decree of the National Convention in September 1793 stripped him of his rank as a noble. Truguet's ministry in 1795 restored his rank and he received promotion to contre-amiral the following year. He commanded French naval forces in the Adriatic from 1796 to 1798, flying his flag in the ship-of-the-line Guillaume Tell. He transported troops to the Ionian Islands and supported Bonaparte's campaign in Italy by blockading the coasts but keeping supply lines open to Bonaparte's troops.

Egypt
Bonaparte noted Brueys's conduct in Italy and made him commander-in-chief of the fleet that would transport his army for the Egyptian campaign, with the rank of vice-admiral and flying his flag on the Orient. The fleet set sail from Toulon on 19 May 1798.

He succeeded in evading British attempts to prevent the French fleet reaching Egypt, reaching Malta and then (on 1 July 1798) Alexandria without incident. As soon as the land troops were disembarked, he was reputedly ordered by Bonaparte to either anchor in the port of Alexandria or return quickly to France, Malta or Corfu. Citing concern that the Alexandria harbor was too shallow and difficult to enter for his large warships, and unwilling to leave Egypt until the situation of the French army was secured, he instead opted to anchor in Aboukir Bay to await the British.

Knowing the poor quality of his ships and crews, he preferred to guard a defensive position than take the offensive and refused to weigh anchor when Horatio Nelson attacked his fleet on the evening of 1 August 1798. In the ensuing Battle of the Nile, the Orient fought HMS Bellerophon, causing her major damage but receiving little support, especially from the rearguard under Denis Decrès and Villeneuve. Already wounded twice during the day, and almost cut in half by a cannon shot, Brueys died at his command post around 9 PM. His ship exploded one hour later after a fire on board reached the gunpowder stores. The resulting blast was seen from miles away and killed approximately 800 of the ship's crew.

Brueys was criticised in France for remaining at anchor right up until the moment of the attack, but Bonaparte replied to such criticism by saying "If, in this disastrous event, he made mistakes, he expiated them by his glorious end". His name appears on the southern pillar (23rd column) of the Arc de triomphe in Paris.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François-Paul_Brueys_d'Aigalliers

 

[Uwek]

Other events on 1 August


1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.

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

1779 - HMS Alarm Galley (1777) lost at Rhode Island

1781 - HMS Pelican (1777), a 24 gun Porcupine class sixth rate, foundered off Morant Keys.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pelican_(1777)

1799 – Launch of Didon, French 40 gun frigate of Virginie class, later HMS Didon



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Didon_(1805)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginie-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-307248;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=D

1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.

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

1803 - Boats of HMS Hydra (38), Cptn. George Mundy, captured Favori.

1808 - HMS Wizard (16), Abel Ferris, towed and covered boats of HMS Wizard and HMS Kent whilst they captured guns ashore, the gunboat Vigilant and a convoy of 10 sail, at Noli.

1810 – Launch of HMS Impregnable

HMS Impregnable was a 98-gun second rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 August 1810 at Chatham. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught. Purportedly as originally built she was a near copy of the famed first rate HMS Victory.

HMS Impregnable was a 98-gun second rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 August 1810 at Chatham. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught. Purportedly as originally built she was a near copy of the famed first rate HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.[citation needed]

During the Napoleonic Wars, she was used as the flagship of the Admiral the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV). She took part in the bombardment of Algiers in 1816 under the command of Admiral David Milnewhere she was second in the order of battle. In the attack on Algiers, Impregnable, isolated from the other ships was a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, she was severely damaged. 268 shots hit the hull, the main mast was damaged in 15 places. Impregnable lost Mr. John Hawkins, midshipman, 37 seamen, 10 marines and 2 boys killed and Mr. G. N. Wesley, Mr. Henry Quinn, 111 seamen, 21 marines, 9 sappers and miners and 17 boys wounded. The Impregnable saw little further action, apart from a short commission in the Mediterranean, and in 1819 she was placed in the Reserve Fleet at Devonport. From May 1839 to October 1841 she had relieved HMS Royal Adelaide[citation needed] as the Commander-in-Chief's flagship moored at the entrance to the Hamoaze. She then saw service again in the Mediterranean until May 1843, when she was once again laid up with the reserve fleet at Devonport.

Impregnable was rated as a training ship in 1862 and removed from the reserve fleet to begin service at Devonport training boy seamen for the Royal Navy.


Quarterdeck of HMS “Impregnable”. Albumen print

On 27 September 1886, Impregnable was replaced by HMS Howe which was renamed HMS Bulwark as she became a training ship. The old Impregnable ended her days first as a tender to HMS Indus and then on 9 November 1888 she was renamed HMS Kent to be used as a hulk in the event of an epidemic. On that date, her name, Impregnable, was given to HMS Bulwark (the former HMS Howe), still serving at Devonport. Three years later on 22 September 1891, she was once again re-named, this time HMS Caledonia, and became a Scottish boys training / school ship moored at Queensferry in the Firth of Forth.



As HMS Caledonia, she was to spend the next 15 years at anchor in the Firth of Forth as a training ship for boys. The ship was divided up for training by decks: The Upper Deck was used exclusively for sail drill, gunnery and recreation. The Main and Middle decks were used for seamanship classes and instruction. The Lower and Orlop decks were devoted to living and sleeping spaces. The training ship accommodated 190 Officers and men as well as 800 boys. Instruction covered boat pulling, sailing & gunnery. It was hoped that this form of training would instil in the boys the qualities of resourcefulness, courage and self-reliance. Theoretical instruction was undertaken in the 'Schoolroom'. This room could accommodate 200 boys at once and often did. The 200 boys were broken down into classes of 15 – 20. Commander the Hon. Robert Francis Boyle was in command from August 1901.

She was sold for breaking up in 1906. The heavy oak beams of the cloister of St Conan’s Kirk were made from Caledonia and HMS Duke of Wellington. The church is situated by the side of Loch Awe.



Beginning with HMS Bulwark in 1886 until Impregnable moved ashore in 1936 and becoming a stone frigate in the process, every subsequent vessel that served in this ship's stead as a school ship at Devonport had been renamed Impregnable in her honour. The training school eventually closed in 1948.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Impregnable_(1810)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...7;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=I;start=0

1812 – Launch of Neapolitan ship Gioacchino (1812) 74 gun Temeraire class, also Andromeda sub-class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan_ship_Gioacchino_(1812)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line


1825 - HMS Fury Bomb Vessel, Cptn. Henry Hoppner, wrecked by being driven ashore by the ice on the western coast of Prince Regent Inlet, Arctic, and bilged. .

HMS Fury was a Hecla-class bomb vessel of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1814.
Fury saw service at the Bombardment of Algiers on 27 August 1816, under the command of Constantine Richard Moorsom.



Between November 1820 and April 1821, Fury was converted to an Arctic exploration ship and re-rated as a sloop. Commander William Edward Parry commissioned her in December 1820, and Fury then made two journeys to the Arctic, both in company with her sister ship, Hecla.
Her first Arctic journey, in 1821, was Parry's second in search of the Northwest Passage. The farthest point on this trip, the perpetually frozen strait between Foxe Basin and the Gulf of Boothia, was named after the two ships: Fury and Hecla Strait.



On her second Arctic trip, Fury was commanded by Henry Parkyns Hoppner while Parry, in overall command of the expedition, moved to Hecla. This voyage was disastrous for Fury. She was damaged by ice while overwintering and was abandoned on 25 August 1825, at what has since been called Fury Beach on Somerset Island. Her stores were unloaded onto the beach and later came to the rescue of John Ross, who traveled overland to the abandoned cache when he lost his ship further south in the Gulf of Boothia on his 1829 expedition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fury_(1814)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-314220;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=F

1833 – Launch of HMS Forth, 44 gun Seringapatam-class fifth-rate frigate





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Forth_(1833)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seringapatam-class_frigate

1849 - Pope Pius IX and King Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies, briefly visit USS Constitution and marks the first time that a Roman Catholic pope steps foot on American territory.

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1665 - The Battle of Vågen (also Battle in the Bay of Bergen, or shortened Battle of Bergen)

was a naval battle between a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet and an English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen (meaning "the bay, voe" in Norwegian), the main port area of neutral Bergen, Norway. Due to a delay in orders the Norwegian commanders took the side of the Dutch, contrary to the secret intentions of the King of Norway and Denmark. The battle ended with the defeat of the English fleet, which retreated, much damaged but without losing any ships. The treasure fleet was relieved by the Dutch home fleet seventeen days later.


The attack on the Norwegian port of Bergen on Tuesday August 12th, 1665.

The Battle
Early in the morning the English beat their drums and sounded their trumpets and the Dutch knew hostilities would soon begin. Their crews bared their heads for a short prayer and then hastily manned the guns.

When violence erupted at six in the morning of 2 August Old Style, both fleets engaged at merely some hundreds of metres distance of each other. Teddiman decided against using fireships in order not to endanger the precious cargo. Besides he didn't have the weather gage and simply couldn't execute a direct attack. The Dutch had positioned their eight heaviest ships so that they could give broadsides at the English; most smaller guns had been moved to point at the enemy as manoeuvring would be impossible anyway. The English fleet was in a leeward position and thus had a better range, but the English gunners overcompensated for this, and so their shots mostly fell short. Fierce southern winds and rain blew the smoke from the English guns back to the ships, blinding them, and they were unaware the Dutch ships were rarely hit. As Bergen protrudes somewhat into the bay from the north, the most northern English vessels had to shoot just along it to reach the Dutch. An English shot landed in the fortress, killing four people. The commandant responded by firing back at the English fleet. The English fleet which in total possessed about 600 cannon and 2000 men was in itself far superior to the Norwegian arsenal which had only 125 guns and 200-300 men. However the ships facing the Dutch were poorly positioned to answer the Norwegian fire. Besides most English vessels were frigates and unable to take as much damage as the large Dutch merchantmen, while the Dutch actually had some superiority in firepower. Teddiman had hoped Dutch morale would quickly break and made the mistake not to break off action when this didn't happen. After three hours of being mercilessly pounded, the English blocking ships were routed. Their panicked crews cut the anchor ropes, but some ships remained entangled and threatened to capsize because of the weight of the broken masts, so they had to anchor again under fire to cut them off. The English were forced to retreat, to Herdla, at around ten in the morning.

The English had 421 casualties: 112 dead (among them most of the captains of the blocking ships) and 309 wounded. Andrew Marvell wrote in his long ironic poem about the "Dutch War":

Six Captains bravely were shot,And Mountagu, though drest like any bride,Aboard the Admiral, was reacht, and died

The "reached" was a typical sneer from Marvell, alluding to the fact Teddiman hadn't placed his flagship in the blocking line, though it was by far the most powerful ship he could employ.

In the biography of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester the story is told that Rochester, Montagu and George Windham, three young noblemen, had had a strong premonition of their death. They made a pact that whoever should perish first would appear to the other in spirit form. Late in the battle, George suddenly began to shake with fear. Edward embraced him for consolation and then both were slain by the same cannonball.

The Dutch convoy suffered some damage to their ships, especially the Catherina, a Mediterranean fleet vessel, and about 25 dead and seventy wounded. Eight men died in the fortress, and another ten died in the city.



Order of Battle

United Provinces

Ship name - Commander - Guns - Notes
Slot Hooningen - Herman de Ruyter - 60
Catharina - Ruth Maximilian - 40 - Ran aground
Walcheren - Pieter de Bitter - 60 to 70
Jonge Prins - Jacob Jochemszoon - 60 - 66
Gulden Phenix - Jacob Burckhorst - 65
Rijzende Zon - Unknown - 50
Kogge - Luyt Pieterszoon - 45
Wapen van Hoorn - Pieter Willemszoon van Weesp - 60 to 66

England

Ship name - Commander - Guns - Notes
Prudent Mary - Thomas Haward - 28
Breda - Thomas Seale - 40 to 48
Foresight - Packington Brooks - 34 to 48
Bendish - Robert Taylor - 42
Happy Return - James Lambert 52
Sapphire - Thomas Elliot - 36 to 40
Pembroke - Richard Cotton 22 to 34
Guernsey - John Utber - 22 to 30
Revenge - Thomas Teddiman - 60
Golden Lion - William Dale - 42
Society - Ralph Lascelles - 44
Norwich - John Wetwang - 24 to 30
Guinea - Thomas Room Coyle - 34 to 40

Legacy


The cannonball imbedded in the wall of Bergen Cathedral

Today, the Bergen Cathedral has a cannonball from the battle imbedded in the wall of its tower. In 2015 a plaquette was unveiled on a wall of the cathedral; an information board (infoplate) was unveiled "near Kongestatuen at Bergenhus Fortress". Bergen Maritime Museum has on display part of the decoration on the English vessels: two wooden figures, depicting the head of a lion and the head of a unicorn; in 2015, an exhibition marked the 350th anniversary of the battle: [kings, spices and gunpowder] "Konger, krydder og krutt"

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

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1795 - HMS Diomede (44) wrecked after striking a sunken rock off Trincomalee

HMS Diomede was a 44-gun fifth rate built by James Martin Hillhouse and launched at Bristol on 18 October 1781. She belonged to the Roebuck class of vessels specially built during the American Revolutionary War for service in the shallow American coastal waters. As a two-decker, she had two complete batteries of guns, one on the upper deck and the other on the lower deck.



Diomede participated in two major actions. The first occurred in 1782 when she captured South Carolina of the South Carolina Navy. The second took place in 1794 in the Indian Ocean. Although the action in the Indian Ocean was inconclusive and the French broke off contact after suffering much heavier casualties than the British, the French did succeed in breaking the blockade of Île de France and saved it from starvation.

Diomede was wrecked in 1795 off Trincomalee, Ceylon, during the campaign to capture Trincomalé.

Career
In October 1781 Diomede was commissioned under Captain Thomas L. Frederick. On 8 June 1782 he sailed her for North America.

Capture of South Carolina
On 20 December 1782 the Diomede, and the sister 32-gun frigates – Quebec, Captain Christopher Mason, and Astraea, Captain Matthew Squires – captured the South Carolina Navy's frigate South Carolina in the Delaware River. South Carolina, under Captain John Joyner, was attempting to dash out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, through the British blockade. She was in the company of the brig Constance, schooner Seagrove and the ship Hope, which had joined her for protection.


Capture of the American Frigate South Carolina by the British frigates Diomede, Quebec and Astrea, c.1925, National Archives of Canada

The British chased South Carolina for 18 hours and fired on her for two hours before she struck. She had a crew of about 466 men when captured, of whom she had lost six killed or wounded. The British suffered no casualties. Astraea and Quebec also captured Hope and Constance, which was carrying tobacco. Prize crews then took South Carolina, Hope, and Constance to New York. Seagrove escaped. Prize money was paid in 1784. Diomede was paid off in December 1783, after the end of the war. She was recommissioned in March 1793 under Captain Matthew Smith. On 17 November 1793, Smith sailed Diomede for the East Indies.

Action of 22 October 1794
A year later Diomede was with the British 50-gun ship Centurion, Captain Samuel Osborne, in a blockade of Île de France. She took part in the Action of 22 October 1794 when the senior French naval officer there, Commodore Jean-Marie Renaud, decided to try to break the blockade.


French frigate Cybèle and Prudente battling HMS Centurion and HMS Diomede

Malacca station
On 5 February 1795 Rainier sent Diomede and Heroine to take station between Malacca and the north-west end of Banda Island. They were to stay there until all the trade from the eastward had passed. Diomede was then to return to Madras via the Sunda Straits and Heroine via the Strait of Malacca.

Fate
On 23 July Diomede joined a squadron under Commodore Peter Rainier consisting of Suffolk, Hobart, Centurion, with troop-transports, and sailed for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on the Island.

On 2 August 1795 Diomede was towing a transport brig when she struck a sunken rock in Black Bay and sank.[9] She was working into the bay against a strong land wind when she hit the rock, which her charts showed as being a half-mile further north. She went down with all her stores on board and there was barely enough time for her crew to save themselves.

Although the loss of Diomede delayed the landing by a day, on 31 August the British captured Fort Ostenburg, and with it Trincomalee. The British would go on to capture other Dutch settlements in India and Ceylon, but denying Trincomalee to the French was the most important objective.

Post script
In his report on the action of 22 October 1794, Osborne wrote critically of Smith’s conduct. Smith asked Osborne for an explanation. Osborne replied even more critically and demanded a court martial to examine Smith's command of the two frigates. The resulting court martial dismissed Smith from the Navy. The issue was not a lack of courage but rather Smith's dislike and jealousy of Osborne. When Smith returned to Britain in 1798 he appealed the sentence. His dismissal was rescinded due to irregularities in the proceedings and he was restored to his rank. However, the Admiralty never again called him into service.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Diomede_(1781)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebuck-class_ship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Delaware_Capes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Centurion_(1774)

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1916 – Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto


Leonardo da Vinci was one of three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnoughts built for the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) in the early 1910s. Completed just before the beginning of World War I, the ship saw no action and was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 with the loss of 248 officers and enlisted men. The Italians blamed Austro-Hungarian saboteurs for her loss, but it may have been accidental. Leonardo da Vinci was refloated in 1919 and plans were made to repair her. Budgetary constraints did not permit this and her hulk was sold for scrap in 1923.



Description
Leonardo da Vinci was 168.9 meters (554 ft 2 in) long at the waterline, and 176 meters (577 ft 5 in) overall. The ship had a beam of 28 meters (91 ft 10 in), and a draft of 9.3 meters (30 ft 6 in). She displaced 23,088 long tons (23,458 t) at normal load, and 25,086 long tons (25,489 t) at deep load. The Conte di Cavour-class dreadnoughts had a complete double bottom and their hull was subdivided by 23 longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. They had a crew of 31 officers and 969 enlisted men.

Sinking
She capsized in Taranto harbor, in 11 metres (36 ft) of water, after an internal magazine explosion on the night of 2/3 August 1916 while loading ammunition. Casualties included 21 officers and 227 enlisted men. The subsequent investigation blamed Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, but unstable propellant may well have been responsible.

The Regia Marina wanted to raise the ship and rejected initial plans to demolish the wreck with explosives. They ultimately settled on a plan to make the ship's hull airtight and raise it using compressed air and pontoons. This required that the ship's coal, ammunition, and gun turrets be removed or cut loose, respectively, by divers to reduce her weight. A further complication was that the largest drydock in Taranto had a maximum depth of only 12.2 metres (40 ft) and the upside-down Leonardo da Vinci drew 15.2 metres (50 ft). This meant that her funnels had to be cut off as well.


Leonardo da Vinci being righted, 25 January 1921



All of this preparation required over two years and the ship was refloated on 17 September 1919. A deep channel had been dredged from her location to the drydock and she was moved there. A special wooden framework had to be built to support her, still inverted, after the water in the drydock had been drained. Her decks were not designed to handle the stresses involved in her unique situation and had to be reinforced to withstand the weight of the hull and preliminary repairs were made in preparation for righting her. A deep spot in the harbor was dredged for this task and some 400 long tons (410 t) of ballast were added in spots calculated to assist in the righting effort. The primary work was done by 7,500 long tons (7,600 t) of water pumped into the ship's starboard side and she was successfully righted on 24 January 1921. The Regia Marina planned to modernize Leonardo da Vinci by replacing her center turret with six 102-millimeter (4 in) AA guns, but ultimately lacked the funds to do so and sold her for scrap on 22 March 1923

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

Very Interesting link
http://www.shippingwondersoftheworld.com/raising_24000_tons.html

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1917 – windjammer and commerce raider SMS Seeadler wrecked in French Polynesia

SMS Seeadler (Ger: sea eagle) was a three-master windjammer. She was one of the last fighting sailing ships to be used in war when she served as a merchant raider with Imperial Germany in World War I. Built as the US-flagged Pass of Balmaha, she was captured by the German submarine SM U-36, and in 1916 converted to a commerce raider. As Seeadler she had a successful raiding career, capturing and sinking 15 ships in 225 days until she was wrecked, in September 1917, in French Polynesia.



Pass of Balmaha
The ship was launched as Pass of Balmaha by Robert Duncan & Company, Port Glasgow, Scotland, on 9 August 1888 as a 1,571 GRT steel-hulled ship-rigged sailing vessel. She was 245 feet (75 m) long, 39 feet (12 m) in beam and with a depth of 23 feet (7.0 m). Delivered in the following month to the ownership of David R Clark, a partner in Gibson & Clark, Glasgow, she was registered at that port with Official Number 95087 and signal letters KTRP.

In February 1908, Pass of Balmaha was sold at Leith by Gibson & Clark for £5,500. By 1910, she was owned by Ship Pass of Balmaha Co Ltd, Montreal, and under the management of George I Dewar, Toronto, though Glasgow remained her port of registry.

It is believed she was later owned by the Harris-Irby Cotton Company, Boston, and sailed under the US flag.

Capture
Pass of Balmaha was captured by U-36 in the North Sea in 1915 under somewhat peculiar circumstances. New York Harbor in June 1915, bound for the Arctic port of Arkhangelsk with a cargo of cotton for Russia. She was intercepted by the British auxiliary cruiser Victorian off the coast of Norway. Victorian's captain led a boarding party to inspect the cargo for contraband. The British captain found reason for suspicion, and ordered Pass of Balmaha to sail to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands for further inspection. A prize crew of an officer and six marines was left aboard to ensure compliance.

The British also ordered the neutral American colours struck and replaced with the British flag, against the will of Pass of Balmaha's Captain Scott, who realised that this would mark the ship as a belligerent. Soon after, U-36 intercepted Pass of Balmaha. To avoid being impounded, Scott hid the British prize crew in the hold and replaced the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes. The commander of the U-36, Captain Ernst Graeff, was not entirely convinced by this ruse and ordered Pass of Balmaha to sail for Cuxhaven for inspection. A German ensign was left aboard. Scott and his crew, resentful of what they perceived as British meddling, kept the British marines locked in the hold.

Pass of Balmaha reached Cuxhaven without major incident, and was boarded by a German inspection party. Captain Scott then revealed the British prize crew to the Germans, who took them prisoner. For their cooperation, the Americans were allowed free passage to a neutral country, but Pass of Balmaha became property of the German Navy.


SMS Seeadler by Christopher Rave

By 1916 the Allies had blockaded German warships in the North Sea, and any commerce raiders that succeeded in breaking out lacked foreign or colonial bases for resupply of coal. This gave rise to the idea of equipping a sailing ship instead, since it would not require coaling.

The Seeadler was equipped with an auxiliary engine, hidden lounges, accommodation for additional crew and prisoners, two hidden 105 mm cannons that could emerge from the deck, two hidden heavy machine guns, and rifles for boarding parties. These weapons were rarely fired, and many of the 15 ships encountered by the Seeadler were sunk with only one single accidental casualty on either side during the entire journey.

Captured ships

Sixteen ships, totaling 30,099 tons, were captured by the Seeadler between 21 December 1916 and 8 September 1917. Unless otherwise noted, all vessels in the list were steamships.


Route of the SMS Seeadler and locations of ships engaged (1–2 North Atlantic, 3–11 Mid-Atlantic, 12–14 Pacific)

• Gladis Royle, 3,268 tons, captured and sunk 9 January 1917.
• Lundy Island, 3,095 tons, captured and sunk on 10 January 1917.
• Charles Gounod, 2,199 tons, French barque captured and sunk on 21 January 1917.
• Perce, 364 tons, schooner captured and sunk on 24 January 1917.
• Antonin, 3,071 tons, French barque captured and sunk on 3 February 1917.
• Buenos Ayres, 1,811 tons, Italian sailing vessel captured and sunk on 9 February 1917.
• Pinmore, 2,431 tons, schooner captured on 19 February 1917 and later sunk after being used to obtain supplies.
• British Yeoman, 1,953 tons, sailing barque captured and sunk on 26 February 1917.
• La Rochefoucauld, 2,200 tons, French barque captured and sunk on 27 February 1917.
• Dupleix, 2,206 tons, French barque captured and sunk on 5 March 1917.
• Horngarth, 3,609 tons, captured and sunk on 11 March 1917.
• Cambronne, 1,833 tons, French barque captured and released 21 March, arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 March 1917.
• A. B. Johnson, 529 tons, United States schooner captured and sunk on 14 June 1917.
• R. C. Slade, 673 tons, United States schooner captured and sunk on 18 June 1917.
• Manila, 731 tons, United States schooner captured and sunk on 8 July 1917.
• Lutece - see above.

The German auxiliary cruiser SMS Seeadler capturing the French Bark Cambronne off the Brazilian coast on March 20, 1917. Depicted by Willy Stöwer.

On 21 December 1916, she sailed under the command of Kapitänleutnant Felix von Luckner. The ship was disguised as a Norwegian wood carrier and succeeded in crossing the British blockading line despite being boarded for an inspection. The crew had been handpicked partly for their ability to speak Norwegian. Over the next 225 days, she captured 15 ships in the Atlantic and Pacific and led the British and US Navies on a merry chase.


Seeadler wrecked

Her journey ended wrecked on a reef at the island of Mopelia 450 km from Tahiti in the Society Islands, part of French Polynesia. Luckner and some crew sailed for Fiji, where they were captured and imprisoned. A French schooner, the Lutece, of 126 tons was captured by the remaining crew on 5 September 1917. They sailed to Easter Island as Fortuna, arriving on 4 October and running aground there, after which they were interned by the Chilean authorities.


Felix Graf von Luckner (9 June 1881 – 13 April 1966), sometimes called in English Count Luckner, was a German nobleman, naval officer, author, and sailor who earned the epithet Der Seeteufel (the Sea Devil), and his crew that of Die Piraten des Kaisers (the Emperor's Pirates), for his exploits in command of the sailing commerce raider SMS Seeadler (Sea Eagle) between 1916 and 1917.


The young Felix von Luckner, a German war hero noted for his long voyage
on the Seeadler during which he captured 14 enemy ships

It was Luckner's habit of successfully waging war without casualties which made him a hero and a legend on both sides.


Model
There is an older Revell plastic kit available


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(1888)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_von_Luckner

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1943 - PT-109's (under command of future US-president Kennedy) collision with japanese Amagiri

PT-109 was a PT boat (patrol torpedo boat) last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy, who became President of the United States in 1960, in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions to save his surviving crew after the sinking of PT-109 made him a war hero, which proved invaluable in his initial run for the House of Representatives eleventh district seat only two years after WWII and later in his run for President in 1960. In his run for the House in 1947, materials about the PT-109 incident were made available and distributed as flyers to a large percentage of the voters in the eleventh district. The PT-109 collision contributed to his long-term back problems and required months of hospitalization at Chelsea Naval hospital.


An official U.S. Navy model

After he became President, the incident became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring a song, books, movies, various television series, collectible objects, scale model replicas, and toys. Interest was revived in May 2002, with the discovery of the wreck by Robert Ballard. PT-109 earned two battle stars during World War II operations.


Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, USNR, (standing at right) with other crewmen on board PT-109, 1943.

PT-109's collision with Amagiri
The engagement occurred in Blackett Strait when a force of 15 PT boats, including LTJG John F. Kennedy's PT-109 were sent to intercept the "Tokyo Express" supply convoy on 2 August. In what National Geographic called a "poorly planned and badly coordinated" attack, 15 boats with 60 available torpedoes went into action. However, of the 30 torpedoes fired by PT boats from four sections, not a single hit was scored.


Map of the events of 2 August 1943

In the battle, only four PT boats (the section leaders) had radar, and they were ordered to return to base after firing their torpedoes on radar bearings. When they left, the remaining boats were virtually blind and without verbal orders, thus leading to more confusion.


Amagiri in 1930

Patrolling just after the section leader had departed for home, PT-109 was run down on a dark moonless night by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, returning from the supply mission. The PT boat had her engines at idle to hide her wake from seaplanes. Conflicting statements have been made as to whether the destroyer captain spotted and steered towards the boat. Members of the destroyer crew believed the collision was not an accident, though other reports suggest Amagiri's captain never realized what happened till after the fact. The captain of PT-109 was future U.S. President John F. Kennedy. His crew was assumed lost by the U.S. Navy, but were found later by Solomon Islander scouts Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blackett_Strait
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Torpedo_Boat_PT-109

 

[Uwek]

2 August 1951 - Schoonerbrig Wilhelm Pieck, renamed training ship Greif commissioned

Greif is a brigantine, owned by the town Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

It was built in 1951 at Warnowwerft, Warnemünde/Rostock with a steel hull. It was launched May 26, 1951 and commissioned August 2, 1951. It was the first steel vessel built after the war at the port, and was christened Wilhelm Pieck for the first president of the German Democratic Republic. In 1990 it would participate in the first German-German sail event. The ship was given to the town of Greifswald and overhauled in Rostock, and given the new-name Greif.

The ship is used as a training ship for maritime youth education. It has participated in Hanse Sail, including Hanse Sail Rostock 2011


Dieses Bild zeigt das Segelschulschiff Greif (ex "Wilhelm Pieck" (DDR)) anlässlich der Hanse Sail 2008.

A planset is available here:
http://www.ship-model-today.de/wilhelm_pieck.htm



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greif_(brigantine)
https://www.sssgreif.de/index.php/das-schiff

 

[Uwek]

Other events on 2 August


1511 – Death of Andrew Barton, Scottish admiral (b. 1466)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Barton_(privateer)

1605 – Death of Richard Leveson, English admiral (b. c. 1570)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leveson_(admiral)

1610 – During Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage, he sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay.

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

1646 – Birth of Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and buccaneer (d. 1715)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_du_Casse

1781 HMS Pelican (24) foundered of Jamaica



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pelican_(1777)

1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.

see yesterdays "Today in Naval History"

1808 - HMS Tigress (12), Lt. Greensword, captured by 16 Danish gunboats, under Lt. Cdr. Ulrich A. Schønheyder, after a short action off Langeland in the Great Belt.

1811 - Boats of Ad. Young's Heligoland squadron HMS Qubec (32), HMS Raven, HMS Redbreast (12), HMS Exertion, HMS Alert (4), and HMS Princess Augusta took four gun-brigs near the island of Nordeney..

1812 - HMS Emulous Sloop (18), William Howe Mulcaster, wrecked Sable Island, Nova Scotia.

1812 - 2 Danish schooners, under Sub Lt. Hans Bodenhoff, forestall an attack on Tromsoe, Norway by HMS Horatio (44), Cptn. Lord George Stuart, but are taken by boats from the frigate after heavy losses on both sides.

1812 - USS Essex (32), Cptn. David Porter, burned British brig Hero and captured a ship Nancy off Newfoundland

1812 – Launch of french Pluton class (sub-class of Temereire class) 74 gun ship Castiglione in Venice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Castiglione_(1812)

1813 - HMS Bacchante (38), Cptn. William Hoste, and HMS Eagle (74) Cptn. Charles Rowley, destroyed the batteries at the harbour at Rovigno. Most of a convoy of 21 ships was scuttled but one gunboat armed with an 18-pounder and two armed trabaccolos laden with salt were captured.

1813 - USS President (44), John Rodgers, captures British bark Lion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Torpedo_Boat_PT-109

1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident

2007 - Russia used the Mir submersibles to perform the first manned descent to the seabed under the Geographic North Pole, to a depth of 4,261 m, to scientifically research the region in relation to the 2001 Russian territorial claim.

The Mir-1 crew: pilot Anatoly Sagalevich; polar explorer Arthur Chilingarov; and Vladimir Gruzdev. The Mir-2 crew were international: Russian pilot Yevgeny Chernyaev; Australian Mike McDowell; Swede Frederik Paulsen.[5]

On the seabed Mir-1 planted a one meter tall rustproof Flag of Russia, made of titanium alloy at OKB "Fakel" in Kaliningrad,[6] and left a time capsule, containing a message for future generations and a flag of United Russia.[7] "If a hundred or a thousand years from now someone goes down to where we were, they will see the Russian flag there," said Chilingarov[8] Soil and water samples of the seabed were taken during the mission.[6] International scepticism regarding the Russian mission was put forward by Peter MacKay, Canada's foreign minister, and Tom Casey, deputy spokesman of the US State Department, who argued that Russian claim of the Arctic has no legal standing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_(submersible)

 

[Uwek]

3 August 1768 - Launch of French César, a 74 gun Ship of the Line, César -class

César was a 74-gun ship of the French Navy. Ordered in the spring of 1767 from the Toulon shipyard, she was launched on 3 August 1768. She saw service in the American War of Independence, and was destroyed in battle during it.

Design
César was a 74-gun ship built according to the standards defined by French shipbuilders in the 1740s. The design aimed to combine good manoeuvrability and armament cost effectively, so as to counter British warships.


Modèle de vaisseau de 74 canons du même type que le César vu par Nicolas Ozanne

Her hull was constructed from oak, while her masts and yards were pine. Elm, linden, poplar and walnut wood was used for the gun carriages, sculptures and carvings. 80 tons of ropes and c. 2,500 m² of sails were made of hemp, with a set of replacement sails stored in the hold. She could operate for several weeks at sea, carrying three months supply of fresh water, supplemented by six months supply of wine. Tens of tons of biscuits, flour, fresh and dried vegetables, meat and salted fish, cheese, oil, vinegar, salt, were also carried, as was live cattle, which would be slaughtered as required.

César carried twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on her lower deck, and thirty 18-pounder guns on her upper deck. In addition, sixteen 8-pounder guns were distributed on the fore and aftcastle. In total César's armament weighed around 215 tons. 6,000 cannonballs, weighing some 67 tons, were carried. There was also around 8 tons of bar, chain and grape shot. 20 tons of gunpowder was embarked, stored in the form of cartridges or in bulk in the depths of the ship. On average, each gun had 50 to 60 cannonballs.

American War of Independence

d'Estaing's squadron (1778-1779)
At the time of the French entry to the American War of Independence, César was under the command of Captain Joseph de Raimondis d'Allons. On 13 April 1778, César sailed from Toulon bound for America, with the 12 ships of the Comte d'Estaing's fleet. The fleet arrived at the mouth of the Delaware River, north of Baltimore, on 8 July and pursued several enemy ships. On 8 August, it forced the straits at New York and entered the mouth of the Connecticut River, where the British forces were anchored. The British burnt seven of their ships and their stores. On 11 August 1778, the César was separated from the squadron by a violent storm at the time when they were about to engage in a battle with the forces of Richard Howe. On 16 August 1778, César battled HMS Iris and then went to shelter in Boston, where she was joined by the other French ships.

In December 1778, after d'Estaing's squadron had transferred to the West Indies, the César took part in the French defeat at the Battle of St. Lucia. On 6 July 1779 César was part of the rear squadron in the hard-fought battle of Grenada against the forces of John Byron. After Estaing's failure to support the Siege of Savannah in October 1779, the César returned to France with the other ships that had arrived on America in 1778 in order to be refitted and to recruit new crew.


The end of the César, by François Aimé Louis Dumoulin.

De Grasse's fleet (1781-1782)
In 1781, the César left for the West Indies under the command of Charles Régis de Coriolis d'Espinouse in the fleet of the Comte de Grasse. On 28 April she was present at the Battle of Fort Royal, attempting to raise the blockade of Martinique. On 24 May César was part of the squadron which covered the French Invasion of Tobago. On 5 September 1781 César was present at the decisive battle of the Chesapeake, which completed the encirclement of the British forces at Yorktown.

In 1782, still with De Grasse's fleet, César sailed to the West Indies and in January took part in the Battle of Saint Kitts. César was then at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782, during which she was totally dismasted and then captured by HMS Centaur. In the night after the battle, a fire broke out in the magazine, causing it to explode. The César was destroyed, killing 400 French sailors and 50 British members of the prize crew. The César was one of the twenty ships lost by the French Navy during the American War of Independence.


The César class or Zélé class included two 74-gun ships of the line designed by Joseph Coulomb. The were a development of his earlier 74-gun ship, the Zélé of 1763.

• César

Builder: Toulon
Launched: 3 August 1768
Fate: Captured and burnt by the British at the Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782

• Destin

Builder: Toulon
Launched: 21 October 1777
Fate: Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793, and burnt by them there in December 1793



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_César_(1768)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/César-class_ship_of_the_line
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/César_(1768)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histo...France_:_les_vaisseaux_de_64,_74_et_80_canons

 

[Uwek]

3 August 1804 - US-ships started bombardement of Tripolis harbour

The United States paid tribute to the Barbary States during the Quasi-War to ensure that American merchant ships were not harassed and seized. In 1801, Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli was dissatisfied that the United States was paying him less than they paid Algiers, and he demanded an immediate payment of $250,000. In response, Thomas Jefferson sent a squadron of frigates to protect American merchant ships in the Mediterranean and to pursue peace with the Barbary States.

The first squadron under the command of Richard Dale in President was instructed to escort merchant ships through the Mediterranean and to negotiate with leaders of the Barbary States. A second squadron was assembled under the command of Richard Valentine Morris in Chesapeake. The performance of Morris's squadron was so poor, however, that he was recalled and subsequently dismissed from the Navy in 1803.


Constitution c. 1803–04

Captain Edward Preble recommissioned Constitution on 13 May 1803 as his flagship and made preparations to command a new squadron for a third blockade attempt. The copper sheathing on her hull needed to be replaced, and Paul Revere supplied the copper sheets necessary for the job. She departed Boston on 14 August, and she encountered an unknown ship in the darkness on 6 September, near the Rock of Gibraltar. Constitution went to general quarters, then ran alongside the unknown ship. Preble hailed her, only to receive a hail in return. He identified his ship as the United States frigate Constitution but received an evasive answer from the other ship. Preble replied: "I am now going to hail you for the last time. If a proper answer is not returned, I will fire a shot into you." The stranger returned, "If you give me a shot, I'll give you a broadside." Preble demanded that the other ship identify herself and the stranger replied, "This is His Britannic Majesty's ship Donegal, 84 guns, Sir Richard Strachan, an English commodore." He then commanded Preble, "Send your boat on board." Preble was now devoid of all patience and exclaimed, "This is United States ship Constitution, 44 guns, Edward Preble, an American commodore, who will be damned before he sends his boat on board of any vessel." And then to his gun crews: "Blow your matches, boys!" Before the incident escalated further, however, a boat arrived from the other ship and a British lieutenant relayed his captain's apologies. The ship was in fact not Donegal but instead HMS Maidstone, a 32-gun frigate. Constitution had come alongside her so quietly that Maidstone had delayed answering with the proper hail while she readied her guns.This act began the strong allegiance between Preble and the officers under his command, known as "Preble's boys", as he had shown that he was willing to defy a presumed ship of the line.

Constitution arrived at Gibraltar on 12 September where Preble waited for the other ships of the squadron. His first order of business was to arrange a treaty with Sultan Slimane of Morocco, who was holding American ships hostage to ensure the return of two vessels that the Americans had captured. Constitution departed and Nautilus departed Gibraltar on 3 October and arrived at Tangiers on the 4th. Adams and New York arrived the next day. With four American warships in his harbor, the Sultan was glad to arrange the transfer of ships between the two nations, and Preble departed with his squadron on 14 October, heading back to Gibraltar.

Battle of Tripoli Harbor

Philadelphia ran aground off Tripoli on 31 October under the command of William Bainbridge while pursuing a Tripoline vessel. The crew was taken prisoner; Philadelphia was refloated by the Tripolines and brought into their harbor. To deprive the Tripolines of their prize, Preble planned to destroy Philadelphia using the captured ship Mastico, which was renamed Intrepid. Intrepid entered Tripoli Harbor on 16 February 1804 under the command of Stephen Decatur, disguised as a merchant ship. Decatur's crew quickly overpowered the Tripoline crew and set Philadelphia ablaze.

Preble withdrew the squadron to Syracuse, Sicily and began planning for a summer attack on Tripoli. He procured a number of smaller gunboats that could move in closer to Tripoli than was feasible for Constitution, given her deep draft. USS Constitution, USS Argus, USS Enterprise, USS Scourge, USS Syren, the six gunboats, and two bomb ketches arrived the morning of 3 August and immediately began operations. Twenty-two Tripoline gunboats met them in the harbor; Constitutionand her squadron severely damaged or destroyed the Tripoline gunboats in a series of attacks over the coming month, taking their crews prisoner. Constitution primarily provided gunfire support, bombarding the shore batteries of Tripoli—yet Karamanli remained firm in his demand for ransom and tribute, despite his losses.

Preble outfitted Intrepid as a "floating volcano" with 100 short tons (91 t) of gunpowder aboard in a final attempt of the season. She was to sail into Tripoli harbor and blow up in the midst of the corsair fleet, close under the walls of the city. Intrepid made her way into the harbor on the evening of 3 September under the command of Richard Somers, but she exploded prematurely, killing Somers and his entire crew of thirteen volunteers.

Constellation and President arrived at Tripoli on the 9th with Samuel Barron in command; Preble was forced to relinquish his command of the squadron to Barron, who was senior in rank. Constitution was ordered to Malta on the 11th for repairs and, while en route, captured two Greek vessels attempting to deliver wheat into Tripoli. On the 12th, a collision with President severely damaged Constitution's bow, stern, and figurehead of Hercules. The collision was attributed to an act of God in the form of a sudden change in wind direction.


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


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Tripoli_Harbor

 

[Uwek]

3 August 1801 - HMS Pomone (44 gun), Cptn. Gower, captured Carriere (44 gun)


Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz during in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock to warrant being taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.




Scale: Unknown. A contemporary full hull model of the La Pomone (1794), a French frigate. Built plank on frame in the style of Prisoner of war work, the model is decked and equipped. Requires masting, re-rigging and restoration of hull and deck fittings.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66537.html#hJ1gPhIB1qF3oJdC.99


No scale. Plan showing the midship section for the Pomone (1794), a 44 gun, Fifth Rate, Frigate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan illustrates the damaged sustained to the hull framing after having been wrecked at St. Aubin's Bay, Jersey. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 582 states that 'Pomone' (1794) arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard on 22 October 1802 and was docked on 10 November 1802. She was taken to pieces on 13 December 1802.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/86660.html#bEHjcFitZ8w7qkbX.99



The British Pomone of 48 guns, in company with Phoenix and Pearl, captured Carrère near Elba on 3 August 1801 after a short fight. She was escorting a small convoy from Porto Ercole to Porto Longone during the Siege of Porto Ferrajo. Pomone lost two men killed and four wounded, of whom two died later. The French casualty list was not initially available.

The Royal Navy took her in as HMS Carrere, but rated at 36 guns. Frederick Lewis Maitland was her first captain. He sailed her to Portsmouth, where she arrived on 24 September 1802.

Carrère was a French frigate that served briefly in the French navy before the British captured her in 1801, naming her HMS Carrere. She seems never to have seen any meaningful active duty after her capture as she was laid up in 1802 and finally sold in 1814.


model of the Le Muiron similar to Carrere


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Pomone_(1787)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carrere_(1801)


Also interesting:




Scale 1:60. A contemporary full hull model of ‘Pomone’ (1805) a 38-gun frigate fifth-rate ship of the line. The model is decked, equipped and partially rigged, and represents a ship measuring 150 feet along the lower deck by 40 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1076 builder’s old measurement. The upper deck was armed with twenty eight 18-pounder guns, eight 9-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 12-pounder guns on the forecastle. It was originally thought that this model depicted the French ‘Pomone’, a 44-gun frigate launched in 1785 and later captured by the British in 1794. However, at this scale, the beam is too great and it is doubtful as to whether any French frigate of this date would have had the rounded forecastle bulkhead. The model dimensions do fit almost exactly the British ‘Pomone’ that was built by Brindley of Frinsburg, Kent, and launched in 1805. This ship spent most of its career off the French Atlantic coast and is credited with the capture of the Neapolitan privateer ‘Lucien Charles’ in 1809, as well as taking part in the action in Rosas Bay in the same year. She was eventually wrecked off the Needles in 1811. This model is complete with a number of interesting features such as the full set of ship’s boats in the waist and on the stern davits, covered hammock netting on the bulwarks, and rather uniquely, the ship is shown ‘in ordinary’ or laid up with the topmasts and bowsprit struck and stored in their lowered position. The model was once in the possession of Sir Edward Reynell Anson (1902-51), 6th Baronet.

 

[Uwek]

3 August 1829 - Launch of french Sphinx class aviso Corvette Sphinx, first french paddle steamer


Sphinx was a paddle steamer, initially rateed as a corvette, of the French Navy, and lead ship of her class. She was the first operational French naval steamer. She took part in the Invasion of Algiers in 1830, pioneering the role of steamers in navies of the mid-19th century, and later took part in the transfer of the Luxor Obelisk from Egypt to Paris.


1/100th Model of the French paddle steamer corvette Sphinx. Made by the model workshop of the Musée de la Marine in 1962.

Career
Sphinx was built in Rochefort on plans by Jean-Baptiste Hubert around a low-pressure Newcomen steam engine purchased from Fawcett, in Liverpool. Indret then used this engine as its template for the locally produced engines that powered the subsequent Sphinx-class avisos.

On 25 May 1830, Sphinx sailed with a French squadron under Admiral Guy-Victor Duperré for the Invasion of Algiers. On 13 June, along with Nageur, she silenced the coastal defences of Sidi Fredj. She then carried the news of the fall of Algiers back to France.


Sphinx towing the barge Louqsorferrying the Louqsor Obelisk to France

In August 1832, under Lieutenant Sarlat, Sphinx sailed to Alexandria to rendezvous there with the barge Louqsor, which was to load the Luxor Obelisk and bring it to Paris. After the complex loading of the obelisk, the ships departed on 1 April 1833. Spinx steamed at 4.5 knots with Louqsor in tow and reached Toulon on 10 May, where she had to spend 20 days in quarantine due to the fear of cholera. The ships arrived at Cherbourg on 12 August 1833.


The Obelisk of Luxor at the centre of the Place de la Concorde

From 1835, Sphinx cruised off Toulon and Algiers, under Lieutenant Baudin.
In 1841, she was in the Mediterranean under Lieutenant Lacheurié, and in 1843 under Lieutenant Guichon de Grandpont.

On 6 July 1845, while under the command of Lieutenant Muterse, Sphinx departed Dellys, bound for Algiers. Due to a navigation error, during a heavy fog she ran aground near Cape Matifu. The steamers Caméléon, Chimère, and Tartare attempted unsuccessfully to aid her. Sphinx became a total loss, though her entire crew was saved.


The wreck of Sphinx was discovered on 25 June 2005 by Max Guérout, of the Groupe de Recherche et d'Archéologie Navale, in four metres of water.
Because she was the French Navy's first steamer, Sphinx has attracted some attention. Models of the ship are on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris as well as at the annex of the Museum in Toulon. A model of her engine can be seen at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Sphinx_(1829)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_Obelisk

 

[Uwek]

3 August 1861 - Construction of first ironclad USS Monitor authorized

Approval
After the United States received word of the construction of Virginia, Congress appropriated $1.5 million on 3 August 1861 to build one or more armored steamships. It also ordered the creation of a board to inquire into the various designs proposed for armored ships. The Union Navy advertised for proposals for "iron-clad steam vessels of war" on 7 August and Welles appointed three senior officers as the Ironclad Board the following day. Their task was to "examine plans for the completion of iron-clad vessels" and consider its costs.



Ericsson originally made no submission to the board, but became involved when Cornelius Bushnell, the sponsor of the proposal that became the armored sloop USS Galena, needed to have his design reviewed by a naval constructor. The board required a guarantee from Bushnell that his ship would float despite the weight of its armor and Cornelius H. DeLamater of New York City recommended that Bushnell consult with his friend Ericsson. The two first met on 9 September and again on the following day, after Ericsson had time to evaluate Galena's design. During this second meeting Ericsson showed Bushnell a model of his own design, the future Monitor, derived from his 1854 design. Bushnell got Ericsson's permission to show the model to Welles, who told Bushnell to show it to the board. Upon review of Ericsson's unusual design, the board was skeptical, concerned that such a vessel would not float, especially in rough seas, and rejected the proposal of a completely iron laden ship. President Lincoln, who had also examined the design, overruled them. Ericsson assured the board his ship would float exclaiming, "The sea shall ride over her and she shall live in it like a duck". On 15 September, after further deliberations, the board accepted Ericsson's proposal. The Ironclad Board evaluated 17 different designs, but recommended only three for procurement on 16 September, including Ericsson's Monitor design.

The three ironclad ships selected differed substantially in design and degree of risk. Monitor was the most innovative design by virtue of its low freeboard, shallow-draft iron hull, and total dependence on steam power. The riskiest element of its design was its rotating gun turret, something that had not previously been tested by any navy. Ericsson's guarantee of delivery in 100 days proved to be decisive in choosing his design despite the risk involved.





General
USS Monitor was an iron-hulled steamship. Built during the American Civil War, she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy.[a] Monitor is most famous for her central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862, where, under the command of Lieutenant John Worden, she fought the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the former steam frigate USS Merrimack) to a standstill. The unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, was quickly duplicated and established the monitor type of warship.

The remainder of the ship was designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson and hurriedly built in Brooklyn in only 101 days. Monitor presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in ship building that caught the attention of the world. The impetus to build Monitor was prompted by the news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship, named Virginia, that could effectively engage the Union ships blockading Hampton Roads and the James River leading to Richmond and ultimately advance on Washington, D.C. and other cities, virtually unchallenged. Before Monitor could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had destroyed the sail frigates USS Cumberland and USS Congress and had run the steam frigate USS Minnesota aground. That night Monitor arrived and the following morning, just as Virginia set to finish off Minnesota, the new Union ironclad confronted the Confederate ship, preventing her from wreaking further destruction on the wooden Union ships. A four-hour battle ensued, both ships pounding the other with close-range cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the first-ever battle fought between two armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare.


Monitor on the James River, Virginia, 1862 Officers on deck (from left to right): Robinson W. Hands, Louis N. Stodder, Albert B. Campbell (seated), William Flye (with binoculars). Note dents in turret from cannon fire. (Photo courtesy U.S. Navy)

After the Confederates were forced to destroy Virginia as they withdrew in early May, Monitor sailed up the James River to support the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. The ship participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff later that month and remained in the area giving support to General McClellan's forces on land until she was ordered to join the blockaders off North Carolina in December. On her way there she foundered while under tow, during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. Monitor's wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged. Her guns, gun turret, engine and other relics are on display at the Mariners' Museum in Newport , Virginia.

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