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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1775 - Launch of HMS Stirling Castle, a 64-gun third rate Worcester-class ship of the line


HMS Stirling Castle was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 June 1775 at Chatham.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Stirling Castle' (1775), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built and fitted at Chatham Dockyard, and launched in June 1775. Initialled by Israel Pownoll [Master Shipwright, chatham Dockyard, 1775-1779].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81143.html#wO1abEMYBj8hJBpw.99


She was wrecked on 5 October 1780 on the Silver Keys, off Cap François, off the coast of Cuba with the loss of most of her crew. As the Massachusetts ship Aurora was sailing from Boston to Port-au-Prince she came upon the wreckage of Stirling Castle and was able to save a midshipman and four seamen


The Worcester-class ships of the line were a class of three 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile proposed (and approved) for 'Worcester' (1769), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker, building at Portsmouth Dockyard, and later for 'Lion' (1777) and 'Sterling Castle' (1775), also 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81193.html#wXUGZDqBFU7lbOtq.99


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Ships
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Ordered: 16 November 1765
Launched: 17 October 1769
Fate: Broken up, 1816

HMS_Stirling_Castle_1780.jpg
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 12 October 1768
Launched: 28 June 1775
Fate: Wrecked, 1780
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Ordered: 12 October 1768
Launched: 3 September 1777
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1837

Lion_and_Dorotea.jpg
An engraving of a painting by Thomas Whitcombe depicting the capture of Spanish frigate Santa Dorotea by HMS Lion on 15 July 1798.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Stirling_Castle_(1775)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-350803;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1778 – Launch of French Annibal, a 74-gun Annibal-class ship of the line, launched


The Annibal was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and was one of the earliest of his works. She was built at Brest in 1778.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard decoration and the name on the counter in a cartouche, the sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Achille (captured 1794), a captured French Third Rate. The plan illustrates the ship as she was taken off prior to being broken up at Plymouth Dockyard in February 1796. Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1801].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80594.html#3o0Az3SvE5ei5LTd.99


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She sailed out to the West Indies and took part in the Battle of Grenada under Lamotte-Picquet.

She was then sent out to the East Indies with Suffren and fought at the battles of Porto Praya, Sadras, Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee in 1782. The following year she fought at the battle of Cuddalore.

She was renamed Achille in 1786 to prevent confusion with the Petit Annibal.

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The French 74-gun AchIlle is pictured on the left, engaging the Brunswick in the Battle of the First of June, 1794, the first naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars. To the right of the Brunswick is the Vengeur, which was sunk during this engagement. The Achille, having been disabled by the Brunswick, was captured by the British and eventually broken up in 1796. Pocock was present at the battle and witnessed the engagement pictured from on board the frigate Pegasus.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/147812.html#iiS7TSHJfhPbTb8c.99


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Achille (left) being dismasted by HMS Brunswick at the Glorious First of June

She served with the French Navy until 1794, when she was captured by the Royal Navy during the battle of the Glorious First of June. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as the third-rate HMS Achille, retaining the French spelling of the name. However, she was in a poor state and was broken up at Plymouth in 1796, just two years after her capture.


The Annibal class was a class of two 74-gun ships of the French Navy. The type was one of the first achievements of Jacques-Noël Sané. His first design - on 24 November 1777 - was for a ship of 166 pieds (176 feet 11 inches) length, but he produced an amended design on 10 January 1779 for the Annibal, and a further amended design on 3 March 1780 for her near-sister Northumberland. Both ships were captured during the Third Battle of Ushant ("Bataille du 13 prairial an II" or "Glorious First of June") on 1 June 1794 off Ushant, and were added to but never commissioned into the British Navy.
Builder: Brest Dockyard
Ordered: 20 February 1778
Launched: 5 October 1778
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 1 June 1794 and renamed HMS Achille, but broken up at Plymouth in February 1796.
Builder: Brest Dockyard
Launched: 3 May 1780
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 1 June 1794 and named HMS Northumberland, but broken up at Plymouth in November 1795.

Northumberland was a 74-gun Annibal class ship of the line of the French Navy.
She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake (5 September 1781), a crucial naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War (Captain Bon-Chrétien, Marquis de Bricqueville), as well as the Battle of the Saintesseven months later, under Captain Saint Cézaire, who was killed in the action. In 1782, she captured the 14-gun sloop HMS Allegiance.
Northumberland was captured during the Glorious First of June in 1794, where she was captained by François-Pierre Étienne. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Northumberland, and was broken up the next year in December 1795


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Annibal_(1779)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annibal-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1778 - Launch of french Hercule, a Scipion class 74-gun French ship of the line built, at Rochefort


Hercule was a Scipion class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort.

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Action of 18 October 1782 between the 74-gun Scipion and the 90-gun HMS London. Oil on canvas, 18th century On display at Toulon naval museum.

Under Captain Jean-Baptiste Turpin du Breuil she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake and under Captain Jean Isaac Chadeau de la Clocheterie in the Battle of the Saintes.
Hercule was razéed in 1794. In May 1795, she was renamed to Hydre.
She was eventually broken up in 1799.


The Scipion class was a class of three 74-gun ships built to a design by François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers, the ingénieur-constructeur en chef at Rochefort Dockyard. These were the shortest 74-gun ships built by France since the 1750s, and they were found to lack stability as a consequence. The third ship - originally the Pluton - was 'girdled' (sheathed) with 32 cm of pine at Rochefort in 1799 to overcome her instability, and the design of two further ships ordered at the same dockyard in 1779 were lengthened.
Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 10 April 1778
Launched: 19 September 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Wrecked in Samana Bay, off San Domingo on 19 October 1782.

The Scipion was a French warship of the 18th century, lead ship of her class.
Scipion took part in the American War of Independence, notably sailing at the rear of the French squadron at the Battle of the Chesapeake.
In the Action of 18 October 1782, under Captain Nicolas Henri de Grimouard, Scipion fought gallantly against two British ships of the line of 90 and 74 guns. Through good sailmanship, she managed to damage HMS London and escape, but was destroyed the next day after she was chased and ran aground.

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 1 April 1778
Launched: 5 October 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Razéed to 50-gun frigate in February to June 1794, and renamed Hydre in May 1795; discarded 1797.

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 10 April 1778
Launched: 5 November 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Renamed Dugommier on 17 December 1797. Taken to pieces at Brest in 1805.

Pluton was a Scipion class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort.
She fought in a series of battles during the American War of Independence, including the battles of Martinique (1780), Fort Royal (1781), Chesapeake (1781), St. Kitts, (1782), and the Saintes (1782).
She was renamed Dugommier in 1797 and seems to have seen little further active service. She was broken up in 1805.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Hercule_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipion-class_ship_of_the_line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chesapeake
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1780 - 13 Royal Navy ships foundered in the great hurricane in the West Indies over 8 days - including HMS Stirling Castle (1775 - 64), HMS Scarborough (1756 - 22) and HMS Victor (1779 - 10)


HMS Stirling Castle was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 June 1775 at Chatham.

She was wrecked on 5 October 1780 on the Silver Keys, off Cap François, off the coast of Cuba with the loss of most of her crew. As the Massachusetts ship Aurora was sailing from Boston to Port-au-Prince she came upon the wreckage of Stirling Castle and was able to save a midshipman and four seamen.

see herefore also post #801
HMS Stirling Castle was launched on 5th October 1775 and wrecked exactly 5 years later on 5th October 1780



HMS Scarborough (1756) was a 22-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 based on French Tygre that foundered in 1780.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines iwht inboard detail and longitudinal half-breadth for building Aldborough (1756), Flamborough (1756), Lively (1756), Scarborough (1756), Kennington (1756) and Mercury (1756), all 20-gun Sixth Rate Sloops. Copies of this plan were sent to the various private shipbuilders for these ships in May and June 1755.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83793.html#MVAPYZGAUwhjY4Z6.99



HMS Victor (1779) was the 14-gun American privateer sloop Hunter that the Royal Navy captured in Penobscot Bay in 1779; she disappeared with all hands in the Great Hurricane of San Domingo on 5 October 1780.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Stirling_Castle_(1775)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-346427;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1781 - Launch of french Pégase, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class


Pégase was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, launched in 1781.

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Dominic Serres - Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782 - Google Art Project

She was captured by the Captain John Jervis on 21 April 1782, in HMS Foudroyant, Jervis was invested Knight of the Order of the Bath for the capture.
Pégase was bought into the Navy and commissioned as the third rate HMS Pegase.
She served as a prison ship in Portsmouth from 1799, and was broken up in 1815.


The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.

The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and name in a cartouche on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pegase (1782), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan shows the ship with the French layout of fittings, and the proposed alterations for fitting her as a British 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80525.html#h48zZrzUAruUw1ze.99

Ships
Builder: Brest Dockyard
Ordered: June 1781
Begun: June 1781
Launched: 5 October 1781
Completed: February 1782
Fate: Captured by HMS Foudroyant in the Bay of Biscay on 21 April 1782 (with 80 men of her crew killed); renamed HMS Pegase; hulked 1794 at Plymouth, until broken up in 1815.
Builder: Lorient Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: August 1781
Launched: 13 March 1782
Completed: June 1782
Fate: Surrendered to the British by her Royalist crew during the Siege of Toulon on 29 September 1793; removed to England at the evacuation of the city; became a hulk in Portsmouth 1796; broken up in 1816.

Puissant was built in 1781-82 to a design by Antoine Groignard as a Pégase class 74-gun ship of the line. Her captain handed her over to the British at Toulon on 29 August 1793. She arrived at Portsmouth on 3 May 1794. She then remained there as an unarmed receiving ship, sheer hulk, and flagship until her sale in 1816.

Builder: Toulon Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 16 February 1782
Completed: August 1782
Fate: Renamed Liberté on 29 September 1792. Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon on 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1808.

The Dictateur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars.

Builder: Toulon Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 6 March 1782
Completed: August 1782
Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.

The Suffisant was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars.

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: July 1781
Launched: 25 May 1782
Completed: January 1783
Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own heated shots, and exploded.

The Alcide was a 74-gun Pégase class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782.
In 1782, she took part in the American war of Independence in De Grasse's fleet.
She took part in the Battle of Hyères, under captain Le Blond Saint-Hilaire. She was the last ship of the French rear when she was becalmed and had to fight HMS Victory, Culloden, and Cumberland. She managed to damage the rigging of Culloden and almost dismasted Victory, but was quickly battered by her overwhelmingly superior opponents. She surrendered to Cumberland at 2h. The frigates Justice and Alceste attempted to take her in tow to safety, but were repelled by gunfire from Victory.
Soon thereafter, a fire broke out, reportedly in her tops or by her own Heated shots. She exploded 30 minutes afterwards with the loss of 300.

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: 13 July 1781
Begun: August 1781
Launched: 24 July 1782
Completed: October 1783
Fate: Captured by the British at the Battle of Cape Noli 14 March 1795; retaken in the Action of 7 October 1795 by de Richery's squadron off Cape St Vincent; sold at Cadiz to Spain in June 1799 in exchange for the Spanish San Sebastián.

Censeur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was briefly captured by the British, but was retaken after a few months and taken back into French service as Révolution. She served until 1799, when she was transferred to the Spanish Navy, but was found to be rotten and was broken up.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Pégase_(1781)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pégase-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1804 - The Battle of Cape Santa Maria


(also known as the "Battle of Cape St Mary"; in Spanish Batalla del Cabo de Santa María) was a naval action of 5 October 1804 that took place off the southern Portuguese coast, in which a British squadron under the command of Commodore Graham Moore attacked a Spanish squadron commanded by Brigadier Don José de Bustamante y Guerra, in time of peace, without declaration of war between the UK and Spain.

Francis_Sartorius_-_Four_frigates_capturing_Spanish_treasure_ships,_5_October_1804.jpg
Four Spanish frigates with a rich shipment from Montevideo headed for Cadiz. The cargo was ultimately destined for France and therefore potentially for use against the British. Four British frigates lay in wait to capture them and the two squadrons met on 5 October. The senior British commander Captain Graham Moore asked the Spanish Admiral to surrender. When he refused, action commenced, and within ten minutes the Spanish ‘Mercedes’ had blown up with the loss of all but one officer and 45 men. Half an hour later the Spanish ships ‘Medea’ and ‘Clara’ both surrendered. The Spanish ‘Fama’ tried to escape but also surrendered after she was chased by the British ‘Lively’. Sartorius has arranged the eight ships of the two opposing squadrons across the canvas in pairs. In the right foreground the ‘Lively fires into the ‘Clara’. Ahead of them is the exploding ‘Mercedes’ with the stern of the British ‘Amphion’ beyond her. To the left and ahead the British ‘Indefatigable’ and Spanish ‘Medea’ on the right are in close action. Beyond them the British ‘Medusa’ and Spanish ‘Fama’ are also firing at each other.

Background
Under the terms of a secret convention Spain had to pay 72 million francs annually to France, until it declared war on Britain. The British had learned of the treaty, and knew it was likely that Spain would declare war soon after the arrival of the treasure ships. Since the British also knew that by law the fleet could only land at Cádiz, as well as its place and approximate time of departure from South America, it was not difficult to position a squadron to intercept it.

Bustamante had set sail from Montevideo on 9 August 1804 with four frigates loaded with gold and silver, as well as much other valuable cargo. On 22 September Vice Admiral Lord Collingwood ordered Captain Graham Moore, commanding the 44-gun frigate HMS Indefatigable, to intercept and detain the Spanish ships, peacefully, if possible.

Moore's ship arrived off Cadiz on 29 September and was joined on 2 October by HMS Lively, and by HMS Medusa and HMS Amphion the day after. In line abreast they patrolled the approaches to Cádiz.

The battle
At dawn on 5 October, the Spanish frigates sighted the coast of Portugal. At 7 a.m. they sighted the four British frigates. Bustamante ordered his ships into line of battle, and within an hour the British came up in line, to windward of the Spaniards and "within pistol-shot".

Moore, the British Commodore, sent Lieutenant Ascott to the Spanish flagship Medea, to explain his orders. Bustamante naturally refused to surrender, and impatient of delays, at 10 a.m. Moore ordered a shot be fired ahead over the bows of Medea. Almost immediately a general exchange of fire broke out. Within ten minutes the magazine of the Mercedes exploded destroying the ship, and killing all but 40 of her 240 crew. Within half an hour the Santa Clara and the Medea had surrendered, and the Fama broke away and trying to flee, the Medusa quickly followed. However, Moore ordered the faster Lively to pursue, capturing the Fama a few hours later. The three frigates were taken to Gibraltar, and then to Gosport, England.

The results
Spain declared war on Great Britain on 14 December 1804, only to suffer a catastrophic defeat less than a year later at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. Napoleon, having crowned himself Emperor on 2 December, gained Spain as an ally in his war against Britain.

In practical terms, the British interception of the four Real Armada frigates represented the end of an era for Bourbon Spain and regular specie shipments from the Spanish Empire's New World mines and mints. The squadron to which Mercedes belonged was the last of its kind that the world would see: a Spanish treasure fleet moving bullion from the New World Viceroyalties to the Iberian kingdoms.

Under the terms of the Cruizers and Convoys Act of 1708 ships captured at sea were "Droits of the Crown" and became the property of their captors, who received the full value of the ships and cargo in prize money. However, since technically Britain and Spain were not at war at the time of the action, the Admiralty Court ruled that the three ships were "Droits of the Admiralty", and all revenues would revert to them.
The four Spanish ships carried a total of 4,286,508 Spanish dollars in silver and gold coin, as well as 150,000 gold ingots, 75 sacks of wool, 1,666 bars of tin, 571 pigs of copper, seal skins and oil, although 1.2 million in silver, half the copper and a quarter of the tin went down with the Mercedes. Still, the remaining ships and cargo were assessed at a value of £900,000 (equivalent to £69,103,000 in 2016).
After much legal argument an ex gratia payment was made amounting to £160,000, of which the four Captains would have received £15,000 each (equivalent to £1,152,000 in 2016).

The Medea was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Iphigenia (later renamed HMS Imperieuse), Santa Clara as HMS Leocadia and the Fama as HMS Fama.

Aftermath
In March 2007 the Florida-based company Odyssey Marine Exploration recovered 17 tons of gold and silver from the Mercedes, insisting that it had been found in international waters and therefore beyond the legal jurisdiction of any one country. The Spanish government branded the Odyssey team "21st century pirates" and in May 2007 launched legal proceedings arguing that the wreck was protected by "sovereign immunity" which prohibits the unauthorized disturbance or commercial exploitation of state-owned naval vessels. In June 2009 the Federal Court in Tampa found against Odyssey and ordered the treasure to be returned to Spain as has been done on 25 February 2012.

Order of battle

Spain
  • Medea 40 gun frigate, Flagship carrying Admiral Bustamante, commanded by Capitán Francisco de Piedrola y Verdugo
  • Fama 34 gun frigate, Capitán Miguel Zapiain y Valladares
  • Mercedes 36 gun frigate, Capitán Jose Manuel De Goicoa y Labart
  • Santa Clara 34 gun frigate, Capitán Aleson y Bueno
Britain

HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, stern board outline with some decoration detail, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Indefatigable (1784), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built and launched at Bucklers Hard by Henry Adams. The ship was fitted at Portsmouth Dockyard between July and November 1784.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81744.html#3Z1Ck13HBS0GKsrR.99


HMS Lively was a 38-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 July 1804 at Woolwich Dockyard, and commissioned later that month. She was the prototype of the Lively class of 18-pounder frigates, designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir William Rule. It was probably the most successful British frigate design of the Napoleonic Wars, to which fifteen more sister ships would be ordered between 1803 and 1812.

The Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy in English, a title of the Virgin Mary) was a Spanish Navy frigate which was sunk by the British off the south coast of Portugal on 5 October 1804 during the Battle of Cape Santa Maria.

HMS Amphion was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars.
Amphion was built by Betts, of Mistleythorn, and was launched on 19 March 1798.

HMS Medusa was a 32-gun 5th rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served in the Napoleonic Wars. Launched on 14 April 1801, she took part in the Action of 5 October 1804 against a Spanish squadron, in the River Plate Expedition in 1807, and made several captures of enemy ships, before being converted to a hospital ship in 1813. She was broken up in 1816.

Fama was a fifth-rate frigate in service with the Spanish and British Royal Navies


In popular fiction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_5_October_1804
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1836 - Lord Melville wrecked


Lord Melville was launched at Canotiere, Quebec, in May 1825. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, and one voyage to Canada with emigrants. She was wrecked in 1836 with some loss of life.

Career
EIC voyage (1827-1828): Captain Robert Brown sailed from The Downs on 2 July 1827, bound for Bengal. Lord Melville arrived at Calcutta on 18 November. Homeward bound, she was at Madras on 15 January 1828. She reached Saint Helena on 12 April, and arrived back at The Downs on 21 June.

Convict voyage #1 (1829): Captain Brown sailed Lord Melville from London on 5 January 1829. She arrived at Port Jackson on 6 May 1829. Shed had embarked 170 male convicts and suffered no deaths en route. The 63rd Regiment of Foot provided the guard detachment.

Convict voyage #2 (1830): Captain Brown sailed Lord Melville from the Downs on 6 June 1830 and arrived at Port Jackson on 22 October. She embarked 176 male convicts and suffered no deaths en route. The 17th Regiment of Foot provided the guard detachment.

Emigrant transport (1832): In 1832 Lord Melville carried working-class emigrants to Canada under the auspices of the Petworth Emigration Scheme. For the voyage her master was a Captain Royal, and the Petworth Scheme's superintendent was William Penfold. She left Portsmouth on 11 April 1832 and arrived at Quebec on 28 May. She carried 173 adults and 136 children under the age of 14.

Fate
Lord Melville, Redpath, master, of Plymouth, was wrecked at Saint Pierre and Miquelon on 5 October 1836 with the loss of four lives.
The entry for Lord Melville in Lloyd's Register for 1836 is marked "LOST".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Melville_(1825_ship)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 October 1850 - Launch of Ville de Paris, a 118 gun Ocean-class Ship of the Line


The Ville de Paris was an Océan class 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Ville-de-paris_sr1850.jpg
The Ville de Paris circa 1854

Her keeled was in Rochefort in 1807 as Marengo. During her construction, she was renamed Ville de Vienne, Comte d'Artois during the Bourbon Restoration, Ville de Vienne again briefly during the Hundred Days and back to Comte d'Artois thereafter. On 9 October 1830, following the July Revolution, she took her name of Ville de Paris. She was finally launched on 5 October 1850.

In 1851, she rejoined Toulon where she served as flagship of the squadron, under captain Charles Pénaud.

On 23 March 1853, she departed Toulon for Greece, leading the First squadron of vice-admiral Régnault de La Susse. She arrived at Athens in March 1853, where La Susse was relieved, and joined with the British squadron under Admiral Dundas at Malta. In June 1853, the Allied fleet arrived at Beşik Bay. On 15 July 1853, Admiral Hamelin took over command of the French squadron. On 22 September 1853, the fleet departed for the Dardanelles, Ville de Paris in tow of the Napoléon. During the operations in the Sea of Marmara, she was towed by other steam ships.

In 1854, the squadron blockaded the Black Sea and protected the Allied lines of supply. Ville de Paris arrived at Odessa on 6 January 1854, taking Russian prisoners captured by other French units, and directing the shelling of the city on 22 March 1854.

In late July 1854, a cholera epidemic broke out in the fleet. On 11 August 1854, the fleet sailed in quarantine. By the end of the month, Ville de Paris had 140 dead.

On 2 September 1854, Saint Arnaud, general Canrobert and their staff came aboard to direct the landing at Eupatoria. Ville de Paris was again taken in tow of Napoléon and the fleet moved to Eupatoria, joining with the British fleet on the 13th. The next day at 8:30 am, the Army landed. Eventually, 60,000 men were landed by 16 September.

Explosion_d'un_obus_russe_sur_la_dunette_du_Ville_de_Paris_1854_devant_Sebastopol.jpg
Explosion of a Russian shell on Ville de Paris.

On 17 October 1854, Ville de Paris launched the bombardment of Sevastopol by signaling "France watches you". Her poop deck was soon struck by a shell and two round shots, killing two and wounding six men. By 7:00 PM, Ville de Paris had received 50 shots in her hull and one hundred in her rigging.
On 14 November 1854, Ville de Paris lost steering during a storm, and had to return to the Bosporus in tow of a steamship. She was repaired in Constantinople, returning to sea on 21 December 1854. She returned to Toulon on 28 March 1855.

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The Ville de Paris among the escadre d'évolution, around 1864.

From July 1857, Ville de Paris was transformed into a steam ship, gaining 5.47 metres in the process. She was launched in May 1858 and recommissioned in August 1858.
In 1870, she was converted into a troopship, her engine removed, and in 1881 she was used as a hulk.

Ville de Paris was sold for scrapping on 2 March 1898.



hhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oc%C3%A9an-class_ship_of_the_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ville-de-Paris_(1850)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 5 October


1679 - Launch of french Précieux 50-guns, later 58 guns (designed and built by Étienne Salicon) at Le Havre – deleted 1694.


1762 - Capture of Manila by British forces under Rear Ad. Samuel Cornish


1767 – Re-Launch of French Actif 74-guns at Brest - Condemned 1783.

Citoyen class Four ships designed by Joseph-Louis Ollivier (three of them rebuilt from earlier 74s)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citoyen-class_ship_of_the_line


1799 - HMS Ferret (12) engaged Spanish privateer.


1805 - HMS Princess Charlotte (38), Cptn. George Tobin, recaptured Cyane off Tobago.

Naïade and Cyane left Martinique on 29 September 1805 provisioned for a cruise of three months. Enseigne de vaisseau Hamon, who had assumed command of Naïade shortly before they sailed, was the senior officer of the pair.
Six days later Princess Charlotte was off Tobago when she sighted them in the distance. The two French vessels were too far away for Princess Charlotte to chase them. Captain George Tobin of Princess Charlotte decided to disguise his vessel as best he could in the hope that he could lure them to approach. He was successful and an engagement ensued.
Eventually, Princess Charlotte succeeded in capturing Cyane, which had been a Royal Navy sloop until the French had captured her in May; Naïade as Tobin put it, "by taking a more prudent Situation and superior sailing, effected her Escape without any apparent Injury."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Junon_(1786)


1813 - Rear Admiral Fremantle commences blockade of Trieste with HMS Milford (74), Cptn. J. D. Markland, HMS Eagle (74) and smaller ships


1861 - Launch of USS Chocura, USS Kennebec and USS Owasco, Unadilla-class gunboats

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Lithograph of a Unadilla-class gunboat, ca. 1861

The Unadilla class was a class of gunboat built for the Union Navy at the outbreak of the American Civil War. Ships of the class were also known as "90-day gunboats" due to their rapid construction. The class was designed to be fully oceangoing while having a light enough draft to be able to operate close inshore, for blockade duty or other operations in shallow waters.
Unadilla-class gunboats took part in many coastal and river operations, most notably as the bulk of the fleet which captured the vital Confederate port of New Orleans in April 1862. As blockade ships, the 23 vessels of the class captured or destroyed no fewer than 146 enemy blockade runners during the war— about 10 percent of the total number of Confederate blockade runners so neutralized.
The Unadilla class was sold off quickly by the Navy at the end of the war, most of them going into merchant service. Little is known about their subsequent careers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chocura_(1861)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kennebec_(1861)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unadilla-class_gunboat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Owasco_(1861)


1863 - Confederate David seriously damages USS New Ironsides with a spar torpedo off Charleston, South Carolina.

Another spar torpedo attack was made by the semi-submersible CSS David on the night of 5 October 1863. The attack was successful, but the damage was minor, and only one man later died of his wounds. New Ironsides remained on station until 6 June 1864 when she returned to Port Royal preparatory to a return to Philadelphia for repairs and a general overhaul. Her masts and rigging were replaced and most of the ship's crew with time remaining on their enlistments were transferred to other ships in the squadron. The ship arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 24 June and was decommissioned six days later to begin her refit

New_ironsides_sails.jpg
USS New Ironsides under steam and sail

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


1865 – Launch of USS Neshaminy (1865)

USS Neshaminy (1865) was a large and powerful 3,850-ton screw frigate with a length of 335 feet that was under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard when she was surveyed by Navy officials who found her construction work to be poor. Construction was halted by the Navy, which eventually sold her for scrap.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Neshaminy_(1865)


1918 - USS Mary Alice (SP 397) is sunk in a collision with USS O-13 (SS 74) in Long Island Sound. There are no casualties.

USS Mary Alice (SP-397) was a United States Navy patrol vessel commissioned in 1917 and sunk in 1918.
Mary Alice was built as the fast, private steam yacht Bernice in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. She was renamed Oneta in 1907 and Mary Alice in 1910.
On 10 August 1917, the U.S. Navy purchased Mary Alice from William J. Connors of Buffalo, New York, for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Mary Alice (SP-397) the same day with Lieutenant, junior grade, Grant Campbell, USNRF, in command.
As a unit of the Naval Coast Defense Reserve, Mary Alice was assigned to the 3rd Naval District. She patrolled Long Island Sound and the approaches to New York Harbor.

Yacht_Mary_Alice.jpg

In early October 1918, Mary Alice, with Captain William A. Gill, President of the U.S. Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey, embarked, served as an escort for the new submarine USS O-13 (Submarine No. 74) in Long Island Sound during O-13's pre-commissioning acceptance trials. On 5 October 1918 while conducting a submerged circular run off Bridgeport, Connecticut, O-13 suddenly rammed Mary Alice amidships and holed her. Mary Alice sank within a few minutes 1,800 yards (1,646 meters) south of Penfield Reef Light with no loss of life, and O‑13 quickly rescued her entire crew from the water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mary_Alice_(SP-397)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_O-13_(SS-74)


1945 - Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz is given a parade in his honor through downtown Washington, D.C. at the end of World War II.

On October 5, 1945, which had been officially designated as "Nimitz Day" in Washington, D.C., Nimitz was personally presented a second Gold Star for the third award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal by President Harry S. Truman "for exceptionally meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June 1944 to August 1945."

1280px-Chester_Nimitz_at_National_Portrait_Gallery_IMG_4591.JPG
Nimitz as he appears at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_W._Nimitz


1948 - SS Himalaya, a British passenger ship launched

SS Himalaya was a British passenger ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, launched in 1948, which operated mainly between Britain and Australia. She was withdrawn from service in 1974 and scrapped the next year.




SS Himalaya photographed by Paolo Monti in Naples, 1962

Himalaya was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers-Armstrongs and launched 5 October 1948. She had an identical hull and machinery to Orient Lines' Orcades (yard no. 950 to Himalaya's 951), though differing in superstructure and internal layout. She began her service on the Tilbury-Bombay-Australia route in 1949 following her departure from the shipbuilding yard in August. During her commission Himalaya underwent a number of improvements the first of which was, although controversial at the time, a funnel cowl to keep the liner's decks clear of debris without interference to the boilers. Following the sale of the Strath Class liners by P&O Himalaya (along with Orcades) was converted to allow the transportation of tourist class passengers only.

Himalaya-02.jpg

The S.S. Himalaya was also where part off the book The City and the Stars was written by Arthur C. Clark in a travel to Sydney between 1954 and 1955 as said at the end of the book.

Himalaya arrived at Sydney on 30 October 1974 on her final commercial voyage. She was sold to Tong Cheng Steel Manufacturing Co. Ltd, and scrapped in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1975.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Himalaya
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 October 1641 - Death of Matthijs Quast, Dutch explorer - He started in 1639 an expedition together with Abel Tasman


Matthijs Quast (died October 6, 1641) was a Dutch explorer in the seventeenth century. He had made several voyages for the VOC to Japan, China and Siam.

Pacific Expedition
Matthijs Quast has become known for an unsuccessful expedition to the Pacific.

In the early seventeenth century rumours abounded that two islands could be found in the Pacific east of Japan. These islands were said to be very rich, and were therefore called Rica de Oro (Rich in Gold) and Rica de Plata (Rich in Silver). The VOC, urged by one of its merchants in Japan, Willem Verstegen, wanted to try to find these islands.

Matthijs Quast was chosen to lead this expedition. He was to go to the area by way of the Philippines, and should also explore the areas north of China, in particular Korea and Tartary (Siberia). He was given two small ships. Quast himself sailed on the Engel (Angel), commanded by Lucas Albertsen, while second-in-command Abel Tasman was commander of the Gracht (Canal).

Quast left Batavia on 2 June 1639, and reached the open ocean from Luzon on 10 July. For several months he crisscrossed the part of the ocean where the islands were supposed to be. Quast was very eager to find the islands, as can be seen from the fact that not only he raised the bonus for the first person to sight land, but also installed severe punishments for falling asleep on watch: one month's pay and fifty lashings for the first offence, double that amount for the second, and death penalty for the third. It was all to no avail, no lands of gold and silver were found.

On 25 October Quast abandoned his search. His ships were in a rather bad shape at the start of the expedition (the VOC would use its good ships for trading voyages with sure profit, not for expeditions like Quast's), and were getting even worse. The crew, which had not had fresh food for a long time, also was decimated by illness. Because of this, Quast found it wise not to go to Tartary as his original orders were, but to depart for Formosa immediately. By the time he reached Fort Zeelandia, on 24 November, 41 of his 90 men had died.

The expedition was not successful since the area he chose is a large stretch of open water. His farthest north was 42° (the latitude of southern Hokaido) and farthest west was 177° (almost to the international date line). The Bonin Islands had been discovered, and the coasts of Japan mapped in more detail than before, but that was all. No trading possibilities or other things that would interest the VOC had been found. The VOC sent out a second expedition, led by Maarten Gerritsz Vries, to the same region. De Vries discovered Yeso (Hokkaidō), Sakhalin and the southernmost of the Kuril Islands. Tasman would later make two famous voyages to the seas around Australia. He died at the age of 75

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthijs_Quast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Tasman
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 October 1774 – Launch of HMS Vigilant, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line


HMS Vigilant was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 October 1774 at Bucklers Hard.

By 1779 she had been deemed unseaworthy by the navy. She was stripped of her sails and used as a floating battery to support the amphibious landing of British Army troops on Port Royal Island, South Carolina prior to the Battle of Beaufort. From 1799 she served as a prison ship, and was broken up in 1816.

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Scale: 1:48. Plans showing the body plan, stern board decoration, sheer lines with decoration detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Vigilant' (1774), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built by Messrs Henry and Anthony Adams at Bucklers Hard.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81204.html#jJURYjEEViOTHVxo.99


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

1280px-HMS_Diadem_at_capture_of_Good_Hope-Thomas_Whitcombe.jpg
HMS Diadem at the capture of the cape Good Hope

Length:
  • 159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
  • 131 ft 0 in (39.93 m) (keel)
Beam: 44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Complement: 500 officers and men (491 from 1794)
Armament:
  • 64 guns:
  • Gundeck: 26 × 24 pounders
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

Ships
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 16 November 1765
Laid down: January 1767
Launched: 4 December 1770
Completed: 31 January 1771
Fate: Sold to be broken up at Plymouth, 26 March 1828
Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 10 September 1767
Laid down: May 1768
Launched: 18 April 1772
Completed: 9 May 1778
Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth, January 1818
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 9 June 1768
Laid down: October 1768
Launched: 31 August 1772
Completed: July 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Fate: Wrecked in the Savannah River, 15 February 1780
Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 30 November 1769
Laid down: January 1770
Launched: 17 December 1774
Completed: 25 April 1776
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, June 1802
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 30 November 1769
Laid down: 9 September 1772
Launched: 26 November 1776
Completed: 27 February 1778
Fate: Broken up at Bermuda, April 1821
Builder: Henry & Anthony Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 14 January 1771
Laid down: February 1771
Launched: 6 October 1774
Completed: 11 July 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth , April 1816
Builder: John & William Wells, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 14 January 1771
Laid down: April 1771
Launched: 12 May 1774
Completed: 30 July 1776 at Woolwich Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, October 1812
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 18 June 1771
Laid down: October 1771
Launched: 5 August 1777
Completed: 29 March 1778
Fate: Broken up, 1807
Capture_of_Pomona.jpg
Capture of the Pomona by Anson & Arethusa off Havannah, 23 Aug 1806

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 24 April 1773
Laid down: January 1774
Launched: 4 September 1781
Completed: 15 October 1781
Fate: Wrecked in Mounts Bay, 29 December 1807
Builder: Sheerness Dockyard
Ordered: 1 December 1773
Laid down: January 1776
Launched: 27 April 1782
Completed: 24 July 1782
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, September 1827
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 16 October 1775
Laid down: 23 August 1777
Launched: 14 October 1780
Completed: 29 December 1780 at Woolwich Dockyard.
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, July 1813
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 25 July 1776
Laid down: 20 October 1777
Launched: 8 May 1781
Completed: 29 June 1781
Fate: Sold to be broken up, 30 May 1832
Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes
Ordered: 5 February 1777
Laid down: 12 January 1778
Launched: 28 November 1780
Completed: 15 February 1781 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
Fate: Wrecked off Ushant, 10 March 1800
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 5 December 1777
Laid down: 2 November 1778
Launched: 19 December 1782
Completed: 19 July 1783
Fate: Broken up at Plymouth, September 1832
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 5 August 1779
Laid down: May 1780
Launched: 8 October 1782
Completed: 19 December 1782 at Woolwich Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, October 1816



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vigilant_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrepid-class_ship_of_the_line
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 October 1779 - The Action of 6 October 1779

was a minor but famous and furious naval engagement that took part in the early stages of the war between Britain and France in the American Revolutionary War between the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Quebec and the frigate Surveillante of the French Navy. The battle ended in a French victory when Quebec was destroyed by an explosion.

1280px-Battle_frigates_surveillante_quebec.jpg
Artist Auguste-Louis Rossel de Cercy Description Battle between the French frigate Surveillante and the British frigate Quebec, 6 october 1779 Current location Musée national de la Marine

Background

Captain George Farmer by Charles Grignion the Younger

France along with Spain joined on the side of the Americans and war was declared between France and Britain. Britain did not attempt a close blockade of French ports, rather a screen of frigates kept a vigil while the ships of the line stayed at anchor at places like Torbay and Spithead. One of those frigates, operating off Guernsey, was the thirty-two gun, twelve-pounder frigate HMS Quebec under Captain George Farmer. Quebec had run aground on a submerged rock and had to throw excess weight overboard to refloat her, sacrificing his 12-pound cannon. When repaired in Portsmouth there were no replacements at the time, so ship and crew went back out on station armed with only nine pounders.

On 6 October, Quebec working with the cutter HMS Rambler of ten guns spotted a frigate and a cutter. By 8:00 am they were found to be the French Iphigénie-class, 32-gun Surveillante, under captain Couëdic de Kergoaler and the cutter L'Expedition.


Charles du Couëdic at Brest Musée national de Marine

Engagement
Quebec cleared for action and by 8:30 in the light wind the French frigate had opened fire. Within an hour Quebec opened fire after she became parallel with Surveillante. Initially Quebec had the upper hand but Surveillante matched Quebec's every move, and from 10 am until 1 pm both sides battered each other furiously. Soon casualties and damages to the respective ships began to take their toll. Farmer was wounded as was the first lieutenant who had to have his arm amputated after part of it was shot away and remarkably soon went back to duty. Couëdic was wounded twice within two hours but not seriously when all of Surveillante's masts and rigging progressively crashed down. Quebec seeing an opportunity was about to finish the French ship but her severely damaged and weakened masts all came down within a space of a half an hour. Quebec's main and foremasts went over the disengaged side, but the mizzen mast came down on the engagement side blocking many of the gunports with the sails and rigging.

The ships drifted together with Surveillante's bowsprit becoming entangled in the wreckage of Quebec's mizzen mast. Quebec's gun captains kept up her rate of fire by shooting through the wreckage. Couëdic saw his opportunity to board and take Quebec but they were repulsed with heavy losses including Couëdic who had now an additional third wound.

1280px-Surveillante_contre_hms_quebec.gif
Another painting of the action by Rossel de Cercy

By now a stalemate had ensued; both sides' priority was now taken to sorting the damage and casualties were heavy. However, a turn of events began: a fire had begun on Quebec's mangled and tangled sails covering the gun ports, as a result of cannon fire. The fire soon spread out of control and soon took a hold of Surveillante. Couëdic though managed to break free of Quebec by chopping off the wreckage that entangled both ships, and the fire on the French ship was brought under control. However, on Quebec the situation was serious; the fire had spread within the ship itself and had become totally uncontrollable. Farmer ordered the magazine to be flooded but this was now futile, and by 6 pm the fire reached the magazine. British sailors jumped into the water as some knew the inevitable would happen. Farmer ordered the ship to be abandoned and panic ensued. Within moments Quebec exploded taking whatever was left of her complement including Farmer himself. Surveillante managed to be out of harm's way but was so badly shot up the vessel did not have a boat that was seaworthy and could only throw ropes to those sailors (those that could swim) that managed to get close to her.

1280px-Quebec_Surveillante.jpg

The cutters had fought their own separate battle and they too had battered themselves into submission. When Quebec exploded the task of rescuing survivors became a priority; the French cutter L'Expedition broke off the engagement and helped as best she could. The British cutter Rambler had her sails and rigging so badly damaged she was unable to pursue or even intervene; she sent out a boat instead to help.

Aftermath
One of the difficulties in rescuing the crew was the heavy swell as well as the light wind. Rambler's boat saved a master's mate, two midshipmen and fourteen sailors, while Surveillante saved the First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant of marines, the surgeon and 36 of the crew. 13 more were saved by a passing Russian ship.

The damage to Surveillante was severe, her hull was leaking and had 30 killed and 85 wounded. British and French sailors then had to work together to keep her afloat, and in that they were successful. She returned to Brest the next day under a jury rig. Couëdic and the rest of the French crew treated the surviving British as castaways found at sea, not as prisoners of war, seeing them repatriated without parole or exchange. Couëdic died of his wounds in January 1780, and was admired for his courage and compassion by both the French and the British. Surveillante took nearly a year for repairs to be complete and went on to fight in American waters and even brought news of the peace in Paris in company with the British frigate Medea in the summer of 1783.

Art
Numerous paintings and drawings of the battle were made, notably by Auguste-Louis Rossel de Cercy (a key exhibit of the Musée national de la Marine in Paris), by George Carter (of which a print is dedicated to George III, the King of England) and by Robert Dodd.

Engagement_between_Quebec_&_Surveillante.jpg 1280px-Antoine_Roux_COMBAT_DE_LA_SURVELLANTE_CONTRE_LE_KEBECK.jpg Surveillante_vs_Quebec.jpg


Surveillante was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. She took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, where she became famous for her battle with HMS Quebec; in 1783, she brought the news that the war was over to America. She later took part in the French Revolutionary Wars, and was eventually scuttled during the Expédition d'Irlande after sustaining severe damage in a storm. The wreck was found in 1979 and is now a memorial.

Career
Early career
Surveillante was laid down in August 1777 in Lorient as the second frigate of the Iphigénie class, a series of 32-gun frigates carrying 12-pounders designed by Léon Guignace. She was launched on 26 March 1778, and commissioned in May. The very same month, she was refitted as to upgrade her hull with copper sheathing, which was being gradually introduced in the French Navy. In June 1778, Surveillante was part of a squadron of five French frigates that were seeking to retaliate against the British for their capture of three French vessels earlier that month, all before any declaration of war. On 24 June, off Ushant, the French encountered HMS Folkestone, an 8-gun cutter. Folkestone then surrendered to Surveillante. The French took Folkestone into service under her existing name.

After her refit, Surveillante took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, capturing HMS Spitfire on 19 April 1779.

End of the American war of Independence
On 19 February 1781, Surveillante, along with the 64-gun Éveillé, her sister-ship Gentille and the cutter Guèpe, captured HMS Romulus in Chesapeake Bay.

In June 1782 Surveillante captured the English merchant vessel Rose. She served as a cartel before being decommissioned at Morlaix in November 1784. In September Surveillante and Ariel captured the merchant vessel Grand Duc off the coast of Spain. The French navy briefly took her into service before decommissioning, striking off and selling her for £t 72,489 at Brest in 1783.

In summer 1783, along with the British frigate Medea, she sailed to America to announce the Peace of Paris that ended the war between France and Great Britain.

In late 1793, under Captain Tréhouart-Beaulieu, she ferried Rear-Admiral Joseph Cambis from New York City to Lorient, as well as other passagers and despatches.

Loss
During the French Revolutionary Wars, she captured the packet ship Antelope in 1794. Surveillante participated in the Croisière du Grand Hiver, an unsuccessful sortie by the French fleet at Brest on 24 December 1794.

She then took part to the Expédition d'Irlande in December 1796. Badly damaged in the tempest and not seaworthy enough to return to France, she was scuttled in Bantry Bay in County Cork, Ireland.

The Iphigénie class was a group of nine 32-gun/12-pounder frigates of the French Navy, built during the late 1770s at Lorient (2 ships) and Saint Malo (7 ships). They were designed by Léon Guignace. The seven built at Saint Malo were initially numbered Nos. 1 – 7 respectively, and not given names until October 1777 (for Nos 1 – 4) and the start of 1778 (Nos. 5 – 7); all seven were captured by the British Navy between 1779 and the end of 1800. Of the two built at Lorient, the Spanish captured one, and a storm wrecked the other.


HMS Quebec (1760) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1760 and blown up in action with French in 1779.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Alarm (1758), Aeolus (1758), Montreal (1761), Niger (1759), Quebec (1760), Stag (1758), and Winchelsea (1764), all 32-gun Fifth Rate Frigates. The plan includes alterations, dated 1769, to the main channels and deadeyes.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82884.html#WXu1XxtrC46Jt6Sp.99


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_October_1779
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Surveillante_(1778)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-341358;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=Q
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 October 1786 - Launch of HMS Bellerophon , a 74 gun Arrogant-class


HMS Bellerophon was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1786, she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. Known to sailors as the "Billy Ruffian", she fought in three fleet actions, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar, and was the ship aboard which Napoleon finally surrendered, ending 22 years of nearly continuous war with France.

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Napoleon surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of the 'Bellerophon', 74 guns, on 15 July 1815. They sailed into Plymouth Sound on Wednesday 26 July where a great many people rowed out to see Napoleon while he remained there, detained on board. The scene in this painting is set at 6.30 pm, when Napoleon usually appeared in the gangway to take the air. Contemporary accounts indicate that he obligingly posed for the boats of curious sightseers, including one naval officer who observed that the ex-emperor, dressed in a green coat with red collar and cuffs and gold epaulettes, looked at them with an opera glass for five minutes. Having stayed good-naturedly long enough to satisfy the curiosity of the ladies on this occasion, he sat down to a writing table and they saw no more of him. In the foreground to the right is a cutter, in port-quarter view, reaching towards the'Bellerophon'. It is full of people with a blue ensign at the peak. Also in the foreground, just left of centre, is a rowing boat, in starboard-bow view, full of people sightseeing. Beyond her and right across the harbour a crowd of boats and sailing craft surround the 'Bellerophon', which is in starboard-broadside view in the rear centre distance. Napoleon can be seen standing in the gangway. Two frigates accompanied the 'Bellerophon' into Plymouth harbour, the 'Eurotas' and the 'Liffey'. One is visible in the right background in starboard-quarter view and the other in the left background in starboard-broadside view. The east side of the harbour is beyond. In the foreground the artist has shown the variety of people and small craft who went out to look at Napoleon, and how popular this outing was with the gentlefolk of Plymouth. There are women in straw bonnets, men in top hats and military gentlemen in crimson jackets. The artist has also portrayed ordinary sailors in the rigging. On 4 August the 'Bellerophon' was ordered to sea, and on 7 August Napoleon was transferred to the 'Northumberland', which immediately sailed for St Helena. The artist came from an English family of painters of French descent who arrived in England in the wake of the French Revolution. He enrolled in 1796 at the Royal Academy Schools and from 1800 exhibited oils at the Academy. He also became a member of the Society of Painters in Water-colours. He continued to paint and teach in both media, producing principally landscapes but also figure and subject pictures. He co-founded the Society for the Study of Epic and Pastoral Design in 1808 with his brother Alfred, which became the Chalon Sketching Society. There, incidents or phrases from the Bible, Shakespeare, Classical literature and English poetry were set as themes for the members' drawings. Chalon was elected ARA in 1827 and RA in 1841. See also BHC2876.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/14700.html#hEitwr7is5k2jAH0.99


Built at Frindsbury, near Rochester in Kent, Bellerophon was initially laid up in ordinary, briefly being commissioned during the Spanish and Russian Armaments. She entered service with the Channel Fleet on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and took part in the Glorious First of June in 1794, the first of several fleet actions of the wars. Bellerophon narrowly escaped being captured by the French in 1795, when her squadron was nearly overrun by a powerful French fleet, but the bold actions of the squadron's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, caused the French to retreat. She played a minor role in efforts to intercept a French invasion force bound for Ireland in 1797, and then joined the Mediterranean Fleet under Sir John Jervis. Detached to reinforce Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson's fleet in 1798, she took part in the decisive defeat of a French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. She then returned to England and went out to the West Indies, where she spent the Peace of Amiens on cruises and convoy escort duty between the Caribbean and North America.

Bellerophon returned to European waters with the resumption of the wars with France, joining a fleet under Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood blockading Cadiz. The reinforced fleet, by then commanded by Horatio Nelson, engaged the combined Franco-Spanish fleet when it emerged from port. At the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October Bellerophon fought a bitter engagement against Spanish and French ships, sustaining heavy casualties including the death of her captain, John Cooke. After repairs Bellerophon was employed blockading the enemy fleets in the Channel and the North Sea. She plied the waters of the Baltic Sea in 1809, making attacks on Russian shipping, and by 1810 was off the French coast again, blockading their ports. She went out to North America as a convoy escort between 1813 and 1814, and in 1815 was assigned to blockade the French Atlantic port of Rochefort. In July 1815, defeated at Waterloo and finding escape to America barred by the blockading Bellerophon, Napoleon came aboard "the ship that had dogged his steps for twenty years" (according to maritime historian David Cordingly) to finally surrender to the British. It was Bellerophon's last seagoing service. She was paid off and converted to a prison ship in 1815, and was renamed Captivity in 1824 to free the name for another ship. Moved to Plymouth in 1826, she continued in service until 1834, when the last convicts left. The Admiralty ordered her to be sold in 1836, and she was broken up.

Bellerophon's long and distinguished career has been recorded in literature and folk songs, commemorating the achievements of the "Billy Ruffian".

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Transferement de Bonaparte du Bellerophon on board du Northumberland le 8 Aout 1815 (PAF7994)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/102821.html#XosDpo28915KWPG8.99

Construction and commissioning
Bellerophon was ordered from the commercial shipbuilder Edward Greaves and Company, of Frindsbury in Kent, on 11 January 1782 to a modified design originally developed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir Thomas Slade. She was one of ten ships built to the modified Arrogant-class design, originally developed by Slade in 1758 and used to build two ships, HMS Arrogant and HMS Cornwall. The design was resurrected and slightly altered in 1774, and approved by the Admiralty on 25 August that year. The keel was laid down at Frindsbury in May 1782. Measuring 168 ft (51 m) on the gundeck and 138 ft (42 m) on the keel, she had a beam of 46 ft 10.5 in (14.288 m), measured 1,612 78⁄94 tons burthen and mounted 74 guns. This armament consisted of twenty-eight 32-pounder guns on her lower gundeck, twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the upper gundeck, fourteen 9-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and four 9-pounder guns on the forecastle.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Cornwall (1761), Arrogant (1761), and Kent (1762), and later for Defence (1763), Edgar (1779), Goliath (1781), Vanguard (1787), Excellent (1787), Saturn (1786), Elephant (1786), Illustrious (1789), Bellerophon (1786), Zealous (1785), and Audacious (1785), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80933.html#xiFyB1oBhtywqStP.99

The ship was named Bellerophon, a decision that had been arrived at by at least April 1782, when it was entered into the minutes of the Surveyor's Office. The First Lord of the Admiralty at the time, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, had apparently selected the name from Lemprière's Classical Dictionary, which he kept on his desk. The recently ordered 74-gun ship was thereafter to be named after the Greek warrior Bellerophon who rode the winged horse Pegasus and slew the monster Chimera. The pronunciation proved difficult for the ordinary sailors of the period, and she was widely known by variants, most commonly "Billy Ruffian" or "Billy Ruff'n", although "Belly Ruff One" appears in a satirical 1810 print by Thomas Rowlandson, and "Bellyruffron" in the novel Poor Jack by Frederick Marryat. She was decorated with a figurehead of Bellerophon.

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Anonymous drawing, c. 1786, of Bellerophon on the stocks at Frindsbury, prior to being launched

By the time Bellerophon was launched, there was no pressing need for new warships. The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 brought the American War of Independence to an end while Bellerophon was still under construction. Though Greaves had been contracted to have her ready for launching by April 1784, she spent another two years on the slipway, probably because the Navy Board ordered construction work to be delayed to allow her timber to be seasoned, a luxury available now that there were no pressing military needs. When the launch came, it was delayed several times, finally taking place during a period of heavy autumn storms in October 1786. She was launched with little ceremony on 7 October 1786, by Commissioner Charles Proby, of Chatham Dockyard. She was then towed across the River Medway and anchored off Chatham Dockyard. She was taken into the dry dock there on 7 March 1787, where her hull was fitted with copper sheathing, and she was fitted for the Ordinary. Her final costs came to £30,232.14.4d paid to Greaves for building her, and a further £8,376.15.2d spent on fitting her for service.

Laid up at Chatham during the years of peace, Bellerophon was not commissioned until July 1790, when the crisis known as the Spanish Armament broke out. As war with Spain threatened, warships lying in ordinary began to be commissioned and fitted for sea. Bellerophon's first commander, Captain Thomas Pasley, arrived on 19 July and began the process of preparing her for service. After a month spent fitting out the ship with guns, masts, stores and rigging, and recruiting a crew, Pasley gave the orders for his crew to slip the moorings on 16 August, and Bellerophonmade her way down the Medway to the fleet anchorage at the Nore.


Sir Thomas Pasley, depicted as a rear-admiral in a 1795 portrait by Lemuel Francis Abbott. Bellerophon's first commander, he is shown wearing the Naval Gold Medal he won while commanding her.

From the Nore, Bellerophon proceeded to the Downs and joined the fleet stationed there. She spent three weeks in the roadstead, exercising her guns, before moving to Spithead. The diplomatic crisis with Spain had largely abated by October 1790, and Bellerophon was sent to Sheerness in late November. She remained in commission, still under Pasley, during the Russian Armament in 1791, but when this period of tension also passed without breaking into open war, Bellerophon was sent back to Chatham and paid off there on 9 September 1791.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Bellona' (1760), 'Dragon' (1760), and 'Superb' (1760), 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, and with alterations for the Arrogant class (1758): 'Arrogant' (1761); 'Cornwall' (1761), 'Defence' (1763), 'Kent' (1762), 'Edgar' (1779), 'Goliath' (1781), 'Vanguard' (1787), 'Excellent' (1787), 'Saturn' (1786), 'Zealous' (1785), 'Elephant' (1786), 'Audacious' (1785), and 'Illustrious' (1789) all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, and with further alterations for 'Monarch' (1765); 'Magnificent' (1766), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers of the Monarch class (1760), although this plan implies they were originally to be of the Arrogant class.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81150.html#GKjpJ5MpRXxmeJyB.99


See the long and intensive career of the ship on wikipedia

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A 1799 depiction of the Battle of the Nile by Thomas Whitcombe. The Orient is on fire, and visible under her stern, and drifting clear of the burning ship, is the dismasted Bellerophon.


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

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

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



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bellerophon_(1786)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogant-class_ship_of_the_line
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 October 1986 - Soviet submarine K-219 sunk by explosion and fire caused by seawater leak in missile tube (some sources date it 3.rd October) - film: Hostile Waters


K-219 was a Project 667A Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name Yankee I) of the Soviet Navy. It carried 16 (later 15) SS-N-6liquid-fuel missiles powered by UDMH with IRFNA, equipped with an estimated 34 nuclear warheads.

K-219 was involved in what has become one of the most controversial submarine incidents during the Cold War.

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US Navy photo of K-219 on the surface after suffering a fire in a missile tube

The incident
Preamble

On Friday 3 October 1986, while on an otherwise routine Cold War nuclear deterrence patrol in the North Atlantic 1,090 kilometres (680 mi) northeast of Bermuda, the 15-year-old K-219 suffered an explosion and fire in a missile tube. The seal in a missile hatch cover failed, allowing saltwater to leak into the missile tube and react with residue from the missile's liquid fuel. Though there was no official announcement, a published source (citing no sources) said the Soviet Union claimed that the leak was caused by a collision with the submarine USS Augusta. Augusta was certainly operating in proximity, but both the United States Navy and the commander of K-219, Captain Second Rank Igor Britanov, deny that a collision took place. K-219 had previously experienced a similar casualty; one of her missile tubes was already disabled and welded shut, having been permanently sealed after an explosion caused by reaction between seawater leaking into the silo and missile fuel residue.

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Location of the incident

The authors of the book Hostile Waters reconstructed the incident from descriptions by the survivors, ships' logs, the official investigations, and participants both ashore and afloat from the Soviet and the American sides. The result was a novelized version of events

Event
Shortly after 0530 Moscow time, seawater leaking into silo six of K-219 reacted with missile fuel, producing chlorine and nitrogen dioxide gases and sufficient heat to explosively decompose additional fuming nitric acid to produce more nitrogen dioxide gas. K-219 weapons officer Alexander Petrachkov attempted to cope with this by disengaging the hatch cover and venting the missile tube to the sea. Shortly after 0532, an explosion occurred in silo six.

An article in Undersea warfare by Captain First Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin, Russian Navy – K-219's previous XO (executive officer) – and Lieutenant Commander Wayne Grasdock, USN described the explosion occurrence as follows:

At 0514, the BCh-2 officer and the hold machinist/engineer in compartment IV (the forward missile compartment) discovered water dripping from under the plug of missile tube No. 6 (the third tube from the bow on the port side). During precompression of the plug, the drips turned into a stream. The BCh-2 officer reported water in missile tube No. 6, and at 0525, the captain ordered an ascent to a safe depth (46 meters) while a pump was started in an attempt to dry out missile tube No. 6. At 0532, brown clouds of oxidant began issuing from under the missile-tube plug, and the BCh-2 officer declared an accident alert in the compartment and reported the situation to the GKP (main control post). Although personnel assigned to other compartments left the space, nine people remained in compartment IV. The captain declared an accident alert. It took the crew no more than one minute to carry out initial damage control measures, which included hermetically sealing all compartments. Five minutes later, at 0538, an explosion occurred in missile tube No. 6.​
Two sailors were killed outright in the explosion, and a third died soon afterward from toxic gas poisoning. Through a breach in the hull, the vessel immediately started taking on sea water, quickly sinking from its original depth of 40 metres (130 ft) to eventually reach a depth in excess of 300 metres (980 ft). Sealing of all of the compartments and full engagement of the sea water pumps in the stricken compartments enabled the depth to be stabilised.

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Silhouette of soviet Yankee-I class ballistic missile submarine (project 667A "Navaga").

25 sailors were trapped in a sealed section, and it was only after a conference with his incident specialists that the Captain allowed the Chief Engineer to open the hatch and save the 25 lives. It could be seen from instruments that although the nuclear reactor should have automatically shut down, it was not. Lt. Nikolai Belikov, one of the reactor control officers, entered the reactor compartment but ran out of oxygen after turning just one of the four rod assemblies on the first reactor.[9] Twenty-year-old enlisted seaman Sergei Preminin then volunteered to shut down the reactor, to be enabled by operating under instruction from the Chief Engineer. Working with a full-face gas mask, he successfully shut down the reactor. A large fire had developed within the compartment, raising the pressure. When Preminin tried to reach his comrades on the other side of a door, the pressure difference prevented him from opening it, and he subsequently died of asphyxiation in the reactor compartment.

In a nuclear safe condition, and with sufficient stability to allow it to surface, Captain Britanov surfaced K-219 on battery power alone. He was then ordered to have the ship towed by a Soviet freighter back to her home port of Gadzhiyevo, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) away. Although a towline was attached, towing attempts were unsuccessful, and after subsequent poison gas leaks into the final aft compartments and against orders, Britanov ordered the crew to evacuate onto the towing ship, but remained aboard K-219 himself.

Displeased with Britanov's inability to repair his submarine and continue his patrol, Moscow ordered Valery Pshenichny, K-219’s security officer, to assume command, transfer the surviving crew back to the submarine, and return to duty. Before those orders could be carried out the flooding reached a point beyond recovery and on 6 October 1986 the K-219 sank to the bottom of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain at a depth of about 6,000 m (18,000 ft). Britanov abandoned ship shortly before the sinking. K-219's full complement of nuclear weapons was lost along with the vessel.

Aftermath
In 1988, the Soviet hydrographic research ship Keldysh positioned itself over the wreck of K-219, and found the submarine sitting upright on the sandy bottom. It had broken in two, aft of the conning tower. Several missile silo hatches had been forced open, and the missiles, along with the nuclear warheads they contained, were gone.

Preminin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star for his bravery in securing the reactors. Britanov was charged with negligence, sabotage, and treason. He was never imprisoned, but waited for his trial in Sverdlovsk. On 30 May 1987, Defense Minister Sergey Sokolov was dismissed as a result of the Mathias Rust incident two days earlier, and replaced by Dmitry Yazov; the charges against Britanov were subsequently dismissed.


Hostile Waters film


In 1997, the British BBC television film Hostile Waters, co-produced with HBO and starring Rutger Hauer, Martin Sheen, and Max von Sydow, was released in the United States by Warner Bros. It was based on the book by the same name, which claimed to describe the loss of K-219. In 2001, Captain Britanov filed suit, claiming Warner Bros. did not seek or get his permission to use his story or his character, and that the film did not portray the events accurately and made him look incompetent. After three years of hearing, the court ruled in Britanov's favor. Russian media reported that the filmmaker paid a settlement totaling under $100,000.

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After the release of the movie, The U.S. Navy issued the following statement regarding both the book and the movie:

The United States Navy normally does not comment on submarine operations, but in the [sic] case, because the scenario is so outrageous, the Navy is compelled to respond. The United States Navy categorically denies that any U.S. submarine collided with the Soviet Yankee Class submarine K-219 or that the Navy had anything to do with the cause of the casualty that resulted in the loss of the Soviet Yankee-class submarine.​
An article on the U.S. Navy's website posted by Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin (former XO of K-219) and Lieutenant Commander Wayne Grasdock denied any collision between K-219 and Augusta. Captain Britanov also denies a collision, and he has stated that he was not asked to be a guest speaker at Russian functions, because he refuses to follow the Russian government's interpretation of the K-219incident.

In a BBC interview recorded in February 2013, Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Chernavin, the C-in-C of the Soviet Navy at the time of the K-219 incident, says the accident was caused by a malfunction in a missile tube, and makes no mention of a collision with an American submarine. The interview was conducted for the BBC2 series The Silent War.


The Yankee class was a class of Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarines that was constructed from 1967 onward. 34 units were produced under Project 667A Navaga (after the fish) and Project 667AU Nalim ("burbot"). 24 were built at Severodvinsk for the Northern Fleet while the remaining 10 built in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye for the Pacific Fleet. Two Northern Fleet units were transferred to the Pacific. The lead unit K-137 Leninets, receiving its honorific name 11 April 1970, two and one half years after being commissioned.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-219
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_Waters_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee-class_submarine
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 6 October


1706 – Launch of french Magnanime, 72 guns designed and built by Étienne Hubac, at Brest – wrecked 1712

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2102


1762 – Seven Years' War: Conclusion of the Battle of Manila between Britain and Spain, which resulted in the British occupation of Manila for the rest of the war.

The Battle of Manila (Filipino: Labanan sa Maynila, Spanish: Batalla de Manila) was fought during the Seven Years' War, from 24 September 1762 to 6 October 1762, between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain in and around Manila, the capital of the Philippines, a Spanish colony at that time. The British won, leading to a twenty-month occupation of Manila.

1920px-Map_of_British_Conquest_of_Manila_1762.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1762)


1943 - During the Battle of Vella Lavella, USS OBannon (DD 450), USS Chevalier (DD 451), and USS Selfridge (DD 357) intercept nine Japanese destroyers en route to Rabaul after evacuating their garrison on Vella Lavella Island. The Japanese escape northbound but the destroyer Yugumo is sunk. All of the U.S. destroyers suffer damage, with Chevalier being scuttled by USS LaVallette (DD 488) after being hit earlier by Yugumo.

Yūgumo (夕雲, "Evening Clouds") was the lead ship of her class of destroyer built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

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sistership Naganami in June 1942

Yūgumo participated in the battles of Midway, the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands. The destroyer made troop transport runs to Guadalcanal 7 and 10 November 1942. She then made troop transport run to Buna, Papua New Guinea on 17 and 22 November. The ship then performed troop evacuation runs to Guadalcanal on 1 and 4 February 1943. 3 days later, Yūgumo took part in a troop evacuation run to the Russell Islands. The destroyer made Troop transport runs to Kolombangara on 1 and 5 April.

On 29 July, Yūgumo evacuated 479 soldiers from Kiska. She performed a troop evacuation run to Kolombangara 2 October 1943. On the night of 6–7 October 1943, Yūgumo was on a troop evacuation run to Vella Lavella. In the Battle of Vella Lavella, she charged U.S. destroyers, irreparably damaging USS Chevalier with a torpedo. She was sunk in turn by gunfire and at least one torpedo from Chevalier and USS Selfridge, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Vella Lavella (07°33′S 156°14′ECoordinates:
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07°33′S 156°14′E), with 138 killed. U.S. PT boats rescued 78 survivors and another 25 reached friendly lines in an abandoned U.S. lifeboat, but Commander Osako was killed in action.


USS Chevalier (DD-451), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Chevalier.

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USS Chevalier (DD-451) off Boston in October 1942

On 6 October 1943 Chevalier, O'Bannon, and USS Selfridge intercepted nine Japanese destroyers and destroyer transports attempting to evacuate troops from Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. Although greatly outnumbered, the American destroyers attacked. After firing half of their torpedoes and scoring several hits with gunfire, the group continued to steam into the line of fire of enemy torpedoes in order to keep their own guns bearing. At approximately 22:05 Chevalier was struck on the port bow by an enemy torpedo which tore her bow off to the bridge, throwing the ship entirely out of control. The destroyer O'Bannon which was following Chevalier could not avoid the damaged destroyer and rammed her in the after engine room, flooding that space and stopping Chevalier's port shaft. While making preparations to abandon ship, Chevalier's skipper ordered the torpedoes in her tubes to be fired at the Japanese destroyer Yūgumo. The burning Japanese ship blew up soon after. By 23:26 it was apparent that Chevalier could not be saved and the order was given to abandon ship. Her crew was picked up by O'Bannon's boats, and Chevalier was sunk the following day by a torpedo from the USS La Vallette. Her severed bow was located about a mile to the west and was sunk with depth charges. Chevalier lost 54 killed, and suffered 36 wounded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Yūgumo_(1941)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yūgumo-class_destroyer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chevalier_(DD-451)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-class_destroyer


1958 - USS Seawolf (SSN 575) completes a record submerged run of 60 days, logging more than 13,700 nautical miles.

USS Seawolf (SSN-575), a unique submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seawolf, the second nuclear submarine, and the only US submarine built with a liquid metal cooled (sodium) nuclear reactor known as the Submarine Intermediate Reactor (SIR) or Liquid Metal Fast Reactor (LMFR), later designated S2G. Her overall design was a variant of Nautilus, but with numerous detail changes, such as a conning tower, stepped sail, and the AN/SQS-51 active sonar mounted in the top portion of the bow instead of further below. This sonar arrangement resulted in an unusual bow shape above the water for a U.S. submarine. Her distinctive reactor was later replaced with a standard pressurized water reactor, the replacement process lasting from 12 December 1958 to 30 September 1960.

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The U.S. Navy submarine USS Seawolf (SSN-575) departing San Francisco Bay in August 1977. The Golden Gate Bridge is in the background.

Seawolf submerged on 7 August and did not surface again until 6 October. During this period, she logged over 13,700 nautical miles (25,400 km). She received the Navy Unit Commendation for demonstrating the ability of the nuclear-powered submarine to remain independent of the atmosphere for the period of a normal war patrol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575)


1962 - USS Bainbridge (DLGN 25), the first nuclear-powered frigate, is commissioned. In 1964, she is part of Operation Sea Orbit, the first nuclear-powered task group to go on a world cruise without refueling.

USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25/CGN-25) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy, the only ship of her class. Named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, she was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. With her original hull classification symbol of DLGN (nuclear-powered guided missile destroyer leader, called a "frigate" at the time), she was the first nuclear-powered destroyer-type ship in the US Navy, and shared her name with the lead ship of the first US Navy destroyer class, the Bainbridge-class destroyers.

Bainbridge was re-designated as a guided missile cruiser in 1975. She was commissioned in 1962, and served for over 30 years in the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, and Middle East before being decommissioned in 1996.

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USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) in September 1962.

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Operation "Sea Orbit" – Bainbridge (top), Long Beach (center) and Enterprise (bottom) in 1964

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bainbridge_(CGN-25)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 October 1403 – Battle of Modon / Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet.


The Battle of Modon was fought on 7 October 1403 between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and of the Republic of Genoa, then under French control, commanded by the French marshal Jean Le Maingre, better known as Boucicaut. One of the last clashes in the Venetian–Genoese wars, the battle ended in a decisive Venetian victory.

Background
Further information: Venetian–Genoese wars
Tensions between the Republic of Venice and its old rival, the Republic of Genoa, rose again in 1402, as reports came in of Genoese pirates attacking Venetian merchant shipping. The Venetians authorized the captain-general of the Sea, Carlo Zeno, to mobilize the fleet and take measures to combat Genoese piracy.

In April 1403, a Genoese fleet of nine galleys, seven round ships, a galleass, and a horse transport, had sailed from Genoa under the command of the French Marshal Boucicaut, and made for Cyprus, to strengthen Genoese influence there. On its way, the fleet passed by the Venetian outpost of Modon in southwestern Greece, but no hostilities took place, and Boucicaut led his fleet on to Cyprus. After carrying out his mission there, the French commander, a "fervent crusader", launched attacks on Muslim cities on the Levantine coast. Among others, Beirut was sacked, an event which angered the Venetians further since most of the booty the Genoese took there actually belonged to Venetian merchants. In September, Boucicaut, at the head of eleven galleys and two transport cogs, set sail for the return journey.

Battle
The Genoese fleet arrived at Modon on 4 October, only to find a Venetian fleet of eleven galleys and two round ships waiting for them. Anticipating a battle, Zeno moved his ships out into the bay, while the Genoese anchored at the offshore island of Sapienza. In the early morning of 7 October the Genoese started to sail north, but were pursued by the Venetians. The ensuing battle was hard-fought, particularly between the flagships of the two opposing fleets, which closed on one another and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The battle was decided by the Venetian round ship Pisana, which captured three Genoese galleys, leading Boucicaut to break off and retreat. The Genoese had 600 casualties, and a further 300 as prisoners of war aboard the three captured vessels, while the Venetians suffered 153 wounded.

Aftermath
The internal instability of Genoa meant that this was the last major challenge offered by the Genoese to Venetian maritime hegemony and its dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would be soon shaken, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Modon_(1403)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Zeno
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 October 1571 - Battle of Lepanto - Part I


The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 where a fleet of the Holy League, led by the Venetian Republic and the Spanish Empire, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto (the Venetian name of ancient Naupactus Ναύπακτος, Ottoman İnebahtı) when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily. The Holy League was a coalition of European Catholic maritime states which were arranged by Pope Pius V and led by John of Austria. The league was largely financed by Philip II of Spain, and the Venetian Republic was the main contributor of ships.

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The Battle of Lepanto, unknown artist, late 16th century

In the history of naval warfare, Lepanto marks the last major engagement in the Western world to be fought almost entirely between rowing vessels, namely the galleys and galeasses which were the direct descendants of ancient trireme warships. The battle was in essence an "infantry battle on floating platforms". It was the largest naval battle in Western history since classical antiquity, involving more than 400 warships. Over the following decades, the increasing importance of the galleon and the line of battle tactic would displace the galley as the major warship of its era, marking the beginning of the "Age of Sail".

The victory of the Holy League is of great importance in the history of Europe and of the Ottoman Empire, marking the turning-point of Ottoman military expansion into the Mediterranean, although the Ottoman wars in Europe would continue for another century. It has long been compared to the Battle of Salamis, both for tactical parallels and for its crucial importance in the defense of Europe against imperial expansion. It was also of great symbolic importance in a period when Europe was torn by its own wars of religion following the Protestant Reformation, strengthening the position of Philip II of Spain as the "Most Catholic King" and defender of Christendom against Muslim incursion

Background
Main articles: Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) and Holy League (1571)
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The banner of the Holy League, flown by John of Austria on his flagship Real. It is made of blue damask interwoven with gold thread, of a length of 7.3 m and a width of 4.4 m at the hoist. It displays the crucified Christ above the coats of arms of Pius V, of Venice, of Charles V, and of John of Austria. The coats of arms are linked by chains symbolizing the alliance.

The Christian coalition had been promoted by Pope Pius V to rescue the Venetian colony of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus, which was being besieged by the Turks in early 1571 subsequent to the fall of Nicosia and other Venetian possessions in Cyprus in the course of 1570. On 1 August the Venetians had surrendered after being reassured that they could leave Cyprus freely. However, the Ottoman commander, Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha, who had lost some 50,000 men in the siege,[16] broke his word, imprisoning the Venetians. On 17 August Marco Antonio Bragadin was flayed alive and his corpse hung on Mustafa's galley together with the heads of the Venetian commanders, Astorre Baglioni, Alvise Martinengo and Gianantonio Querini.

The members of the Holy League were the Republic of Venice, the Spanish Empire (including the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdoms of Sicily and Sardinia as part of the Spanish possessions), the Papal States, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchies of Savoy, Urbino and Tuscany, the Knights Hospitaller and others.

The banner for the fleet, blessed by the Pope, reached the Kingdom of Naples (then ruled by the King of Spain) on 14 August 1571. There, in the Basilica of Santa Chiara, it was solemnly consigned to John of Austria, who had been named leader of the coalition after long discussions among the allies. The fleet moved to Sicily and, leaving Messina, reached (after several stops) the port of Viscardo in Cephalonia, where news arrived of the fall of Famagusta and of the torture inflicted by the Turks on the Venetian commander of the fortress, Marco Antonio Bragadin.

All members of the alliance viewed the Ottoman navy as a significant threat, both to the security of maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea and to the security of continental Europe itself. Spain was the largest financial contributor, though the Spaniards preferred to preserve most of their galleys for Spain's own wars against the nearby sultanates of the Barbary Coast rather than expend its naval strength for the benefit of Venice. The combined Christian fleet was placed under the command of John of Austria (Don Juan de Austria) with Marcantonio Colonna as his principal deputy. The various Christian contingents met the main force, that of Venice (under Sebastiano Venier, later Doge of Venice), in July and August 1571 at Messina, Sicily. John of Austria arrived on 23 August.

Deployment and order of battle
See Battle of Lepanto order of battle for a detailed list of ships and commanders involved in the battle.

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Order of battle of the two fleets, with an allegory of the three powers of the Holy League in the foreground, fresco by Giorgio Vasari (1572, Sala Regia).

The Christian fleet consisted of 206 galleys and six galleasses (large new galleys, developed by the Venetians, that carried substantial artillery) and was commanded by Spanish Adm. Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, and half-brother of Philip II of Spain, supported by the Spanish commanders Don Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga and Don Álvaro de Bazán, and Genoan commander Gianandrea Doria. The Republic of Venice contributed 109 galleys and six galleasses, 49 galleys came from the Spanish Empire (including 26 from the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sicily and other Italian territories), 27 galleys of the Genoese fleet, seven galleys from the Papal States, five galleys from the Order of Saint Stephen and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, three galleys each from the Duchy of Savoy and the Knights of Malta and some privately owned galleys in Spanish service. This fleet of the Christian alliance was manned by 40,000 sailors and oarsmen. In addition, it carried approximately 20,000 fighting troops: 7,000 Spanish regular infantry of excellent quality, 7,000 Germans and Croats, 6,000 Italian mercenaries in Spanish pay, all good troops, in addition to 5,000 professional Venetian soldiers. Also, Venetian oarsmen were mainly free citizens and able to bear arms, adding to the fighting power of their ship, whereas convicts were used to row many of the galleys in other Holy League squadrons. Free oarsmen were generally acknowledged to be superior, but were gradually replaced in all galley fleets (including those of Venice from 1549) during the 16th century by cheaper slaves, convicts and prisoners-of-war owing to rapidly rising costs.

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Depiction of the Ottoman Navy, detail from the painting by Tommaso Dolabella (1632)

Ali Pasha, the Ottoman admiral (Kapudan-i Derya), supported by the corsairs Mehmed Siroco (natively Mehmed Şuluk) of Alexandria and Uluç Ali, commanded an Ottoman force of 222 war galleys, 56 galliots and some smaller vessels. The Turks had skilled and experienced crews of sailors but were significantly deficient in their elite corps of Janissaries. The number of oarsmen was about 37,000, virtually all of them slaves,[29] many of them Christians who had been captured in previous conquests and engagements. The Ottoman galleys were manned by 13,000 experienced sailors—generally drawn from the maritime nations of the Ottoman Empire—mainly Berbers, Greeks, Syrians and Egyptians—and 34,000 soldiers.

An advantage for the Christians was the numerical superiority in guns and cannon aboard their ships, as well as the superior quality of the Spanish infantry. It is estimated that the Christians had 1,815 guns, while the Turks had only 750 with insufficient ammunition. The Christians embarked with their much improved arquebusier and musketeer forces, while the Ottomans trusted in their greatly feared composite bowmen.

The Christian fleet started from Messina on 16 September, crossing the Adriatic and creeping along the coast, arriving at the group of rocky islets lying just north of the opening of the Gulf of Corinth on 6 October. Serious conflict had broken out between Venetian and Spanish soldiers, and Venier enraged Don Juan by hanging a Spanish soldier for impudence. Despite bad weather, the Christian ships sailed south and, on 6 October, reached the port of Sami, Cephalonia (then also called Val d'Alessandria), where they remained for a while.

Early on 7 October they sailed toward the Gulf of Patras, where they encountered the Ottoman fleet. While neither fleet had immediate strategic resources or objectives in the gulf, both chose to engage. The Ottoman fleet had an express order from the Sultan to fight, and John of Austria found it necessary to attack in order to maintain the integrity of the expedition in the face of personal and political disagreements within the Holy League. On the morning of 7 October, after the decision to offer battle was made, the Christian fleet formed up in four divisions in a north-south line:

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One of the Venetian Galleasses at Lepanto (1851 drawing, after a 1570s painting).

Two galleasses, which had side-mounted cannon, were positioned in front of each main division for the purpose, according to Miguel de Cervantes (who served on the galley Marquesa during the battle), of preventing the Turks from sneaking in small boats and sapping, sabotaging or boarding the Christian vessels. This reserve division consisted of 38 galleys—30 behind the Centre Division and four behind each wing. A scouting group was formed, from two Right Wing and six Reserve Division galleys. As the Christian fleet was slowly turning around Point Scropha, Doria's Right Division, at the offshore side, was delayed at the start of the battle and the Right's galleasses did not get into position.

The Ottoman fleet consisted of 57 galleys and two galliots on its right under Mehmed Siroco, 61 galleys and 32 galliots in the center under Ali Pasha in the Sultana and about 63 galleys and 30 galliots in the south offshore under Uluç Ali. A small reserve consisted of eight galleys, 22 galliots and 64 fustas, behind the center body. Ali Pasha is supposed to have told his Christian galley slaves, "If I win the battle, I promise you your liberty. If the day is yours, then God has given it to you." John of Austria, more laconically, warned his crew, "There is no paradise for cowards."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_(1571)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_order_of_battle
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 October 1571 - Battle of Lepanto - Part II


The Order of battle during the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571 in which the Holy League deployed 6 galleasses and 206 galleys, while the Ottoman forces numbered 216 galleys and 56 galliots can be found with detailed listing of all vessels on this page:

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

Battle
The lookout on the Real sighted the Turkish van at dawn of 7 October. Don Juan called a council of war and decided to offer battle. He travelled through his fleet in a swift sailing vessel, exhorting his officers and men to do their utmost. The Sacrament was administered to all, the galley slaves were freed from their chains, and the standard of the Holy League was raised to the truck of the flagship.

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Plan of the Battle (formation of the fleets just before contact)

The wind was at first against the Christians, and it was feared that the Turks would be able to make contact before a line of battle could be formed. But around noon, shortly before contact, the wind shifted to favour the Christians, enabling most of the squadrons to reach their assigned position before contact. Four galeasses stationed in front of the Christian battle line opened fire at close quarters at the foremost Turkish galleys, confusing their battle array in the crucial moment of contact. Around noon, first contact was made between the squadrons of Barbarigo's and Sirocco, close to the northern shore of the Gulf. Barbarigo had attempted to stay so close to the shore as to prevent Sirocco from surrounding him, but Sirocco, knowing the depth of the waters, managed to still insert galleys between Barbarigo's line and the coast. In the ensuing mêlée, the ships came so close to each other as to form an almost continuous platform of hand-to-hand fighting in which both leaders were killed. The Christian galley slaves freed from the Turkish ships were supplied with arms and joined in the fighting, turning the battle in favour of the Christian side.

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Fresco in the Vatican's Gallery of Maps

Meanwhile, the centers clashed with such force that Ali Pasha's galley drove into the Real as far as the fourth rowing bench, and hand-to-hand fighting commenced around the two flagships, between the Spanish tercio infantry and the Turkish janissaries. When the Real was nearly taken, Colonna came alongside with the bow of his galley and mounted a counter-attack. With the help of Colonna, the Turks were pushed off the Real and the Turkish flagship was boarded and swept. The entire crew of Ali Pasha's flagship was killed, including Ali Pasha himself. The banner of the Holy League was hoisted on the captured ship, breaking the morale of the Turkish galleys nearby. After two hours of fighting, the Turks were beaten left and center, although fighting continued for another two hours. A flag taken at Lepanto by the Knights of Saint Stephen, said to be the standard of the Turkish commander, is still on display, in the Church of the seat of the Order in Pisa.

On the Christian right, the situation was different, as Doria continued sailing towards the south instead of taking his assigned position. He would explain his conduct after the battle by saying that he was trying to prevent an enveloping maneuver by the Turkish left. But Doria's captains were enraged, interpreting their commander's signals as a sign of treachery. When Doria had opened a wide gap with the Christian center, Uluç Ali swung around and fell on Colonna's southern flank, with Doria too far away to interfere. Ali attacked a group of some fifteen galleys around the flagship of the Knights of Malta, threatening to break into the Christian center and still turn the tide of the battle. This was prevented by the arrival of the reserve squadron of Santa Cruz. Uluç Ali was forced to retreat, escaping the battle with the captured flag of the Knights of Malta.

Isolated fighting continued until the evening. Even after the battle had clearly turned against the Turks, groups of janissaries kept fighting to the last. It is said that at some point the Janissaries ran out of weapons and started throwing oranges and lemons at their Christian adversaries, leading to awkward scenes of laughter among the general misery of battle.[8] At the end of the battle, the Christians had taken 117 galleys and 20 galliots, and sunk or destroyed some 50 other ships. Around ten thousand Turks were taken prisoner, and many thousands of Christian slaves were rescued. The Christian side suffered around 7,500 deaths, the Turkish side about 30,000.

Aftermath
Further information: Territorial evolution of the Ottoman Empire

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The Victors of Lepanto, John of Austria, Marcantonio Colonna and Sebastiano Venier(anonymous oil painting, c. 1575, formerly in Ambras Castle, now Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

The engagement was a significant defeat for the Ottomans, who had not lost a major naval battle since the fifteenth century. However, the Holy League failed to capitalize on the victory, and while the Ottoman defeat has often been cited as the historical turning-point initiating the eventual stagnation of Ottoman territorial expansion, this was by no means an immediate consequence; even though the Christian victory at Lepanto confirmed the de factodivision of the Mediterranean, with the eastern half under firm Ottoman control and the western under the Habsburgs and their Italian allies, halting the Ottoman encroachment on Italian territories, the Holy League did not regain any territories that had been lost to the Ottomans prior to Lepanto.

The Ottomans were quick to rebuild their navy. By 1572, about six months after the defeat, more than 150 galleys, 8 galleasses, and in total 250 ships had been built, including eight of the largest capital ships ever seen in the Mediterranean. With this new fleet the Ottoman Empire was able to reassert its supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sultan Selim II's Chief Minister, the Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokullu, even boasted to the Venetian emissary Marcantonio Barbaro that the Christian triumph at Lepanto caused no lasting harm to the Ottoman Empire, while the capture of Cyprus by the Ottomans in the same year was a significant blow, saying that:

You come to see how we bear our misfortune. But I would have you know the difference between your loss and ours. In wresting Cyprus from you, we deprived you of an arm; in defeating our fleet, you have only shaved our beard. An arm when cut off cannot grow again; but a shorn beard will grow all the better for the razor.​
In 1572, the allied Christian fleet resumed operations and faced a renewed Ottoman navy of 200 vessels under Kılıç Ali Pasha, but the Ottoman commander actively avoided engaging the allied fleet and headed for the safety of the fortress of Modon. The arrival of the Spanish squadron of 55 ships evened the numbers on both sides and opened the opportunity for a decisive blow, but friction among the Christian leaders and the reluctance of Don Juan squandered the opportunity.

Pius V died on 1 May 1572. The diverging interests of the League members began to show, and the alliance began to unravel. In 1573, the Holy League fleet failed to sail altogether; instead, Don Juan attacked and took Tunis, only for it to be retaken by the Ottomans in 1574. Venice, fearing the loss of her Dalmatian possessions and a possible invasion of Friuli, and eager to cut her losses and resume the trade with the Ottoman Empire, initiated unilateral negotiations with the Porte.

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Jacopo Ligozzi, The Return of the Knights of Saint Stephen from the Battle of Lepanto (c. 1610, Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa)

The Holy League was disbanded with the peace treaty of 7 March 1573, which concluded the War of Cyprus. Venice was forced to accept loser's terms in spite of the victory at Lepanto. Cyprus was formally ceded to the Ottoman Empire, and Venice agreed to pay an indemnity of 300,000 ducats. In addition, the border between the two powers in Dalmatia was modified by the Turkish occupation of small but important parts of the hinterland that included the most fertile agricultural areas near the cities, with adverse effects on the economy of the Venetian cities in Dalmatia. Peace would hold between the two states until the Cretan War of 1645.

In 1574, the Ottomans retook the strategic city of Tunis from the Spanish-supported Hafsid dynasty, which had been re-installed after John of Austria's forces reconquered the city from the Ottomans the year before. Thanks to the long-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance, the Ottomans were able to resume naval activity in the western Mediterranean. In 1576, the Ottomans assisted in Abdul Malik's capture of Fez – this reinforced the Ottoman indirect conquests in Morocco that had begun under Suleiman the Magnificent. The establishment of Ottoman suzerainty over the area placed the entire southern coast of the Mediterranean from the Straits of Gibraltar to Greece under Ottoman authority, with the exceptions of the Spanish-controlled trading city of Oran and strategic settlements such as Melilla and Ceuta. But after 1580, the Ottoman Empire could no longer compete with the advances in European naval technology, especially the development of the galleon and line of battle tactics used in the Spanish Navy. Spanish success in the Mediterranean continued into the first half of the 17th century. Spanish ships attacked the Anatolian coast, defeating larger Ottoman fleets at the Battle of Cape Celidonia and the Battle of Cape Corvo. Larache and La Mamora, in the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of Alhucemas, in the Mediterranean, were taken (although Larache and La Mamora were lost again later in the 17th century). Ottoman expansion in the 17th century shifted to land war with Austria on one hand, culminating in the Great Turkish War of 1683–1699, and to the war with Safavid Persia on the other.

Legacy
Commemoration


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Battle of Lepanto by Martin Rota, 1572 print, Venice

The Holy League credited the victory to the Virgin Mary, whose intercession with God they had implored for victory through the use of the Rosary. Andrea Doria had kept a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe given to him by King Philip II of Spain in his ship's state room. Pope Pius V instituted a new Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated by the Catholic Church as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Dominican friar Juan Lopez in his 1584 book on the rosary states that the feast of the rosary was offered "in memory and in perpetual gratitude of the miraculous victory that the Lord gave to his Christian people that day against the Turkish armada".

A piece of commemorative music composed after the victory is the motet Canticum Moysis (Song of Moses Exodus 15) Pro victoria navali contra Turcas by the Spanish composer based in Rome Fernando de las Infantas. The other piece of music is Jacobus de Kerle "Cantio octo vocum de sacro foedere contra Turcas" 1572 (Song in Eight Voices on the Holy League Against the Turks), in the opinion of Pettitt (2006) an "exuberantly militaristic" piece celebrating the victory. There were celebrations and festivities with triumphs and pageants at Rome and Venice with Turkish slaves in chains.

Spanish poet Fernando de Herrera wrote the poem "Canción en alabanza de la divina majestad por la victoria del Señor Don Juan" in 1572. King James VI of Scotland published in 1591 a poem of about 1,000 lines celebrating this Christian victory.

Paintings

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Felipe II offers Prince Fernando to Victory by Titian, c. 1572–1575, Museo del Prado, Madrid

There are many pictorial representations of the battle. Prints of the order of battle appeared in Venice and Rome in 1571, and numerous paintings were commissioned, including one in the Doge's Palace, Venice, by Andrea Vicentino on the walls of the Sala dello Scrutinio, which replaced Tintoretto's Victory of Lepanto, destroyed by fire in 1577. Titian painted the battle in the background of an allegorical work showing Philip II of Spain holding his infant son, Don Fernando, his male heir born shortly after the victory, on 4 December 1571. An angel descends from heaven bearing a palm branch with a motto for Fernando, who is held up by Philip: "Majora tibi" (may you achieve greater deeds; Fernando died as a child, in 1578).

The Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto (c. 1572, oil on canvas, 169 x 137 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice) is a painting by Paolo Veronese. The lower half of the painting shows the events of the battle, whilst at the top a female personification of Venice is presented to the Virgin Mary, with Saint Roch, Saint Peter, Saint Justina, Saint Mark and a group of angels in attendance.

A painting by Wenceslas Cobergher, dated to the end of the 16th century, now in San Domenico Maggiore, shows what is interpreted as a victory procession in Rome on the return of admiral Colonna. On the stairs of Saint Peter's Basilica, Pius V is visible in front of a kneeling figure, identified as Marcantonio Colonna returning the standard of the Holy League to the pope. On high is the Madonna and child with victory palms.

Tommaso Dolabella painted his The Battle of Lepanto in c. 1625–1630 on the commission of Stanisław Lubomirski, commander of the Polish left wing in the Battle of Khotyn (1621). The monumental painting (3.05 m × 6.35 m) combines the Polish victory procession following this battle with the backdrop of the Battle of Lepanto. It was later owned by the Dominicans of Poznań and since 1927 has been on display in Wawel Castle, Cracow.

The Battle of Lepanto by Juan Luna (1887) is displayed at the Spanish Senate in Madrid.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 October 1785 – Launch of Commerce de Marseille, a 74 gun Téméraire class of the French Navy.


Commerce de Marseille was a Téméraire class of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseauxdonation from Marseille.

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Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Commerce de Marseille (1785), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

She was renamed Lys in July 1786 and Tricolore in October 1792. She was one of the ships in Toulon when the city was surrendered to the protection of a British force under Admiral Lord Hood in August 1793. Tricolore was subsequently burnt by the British in their withdrawal from the port in December that year.

Builder: Toulon shipyard
Ordered: 1784
Laid down: September 1784
Launched: 7 October 1785
Completed: September 1787
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy at Toulon in August 1793, then destroyed during the Siege of Toulon in December 1793.


Do not mix it up with the 118 gun ship with the same name!
The Commerce de Marseille was a 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of the Océan class. She was funded by a don des vaisseauxdonation from chamber of commerce of Marseille.

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1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille On display at Marseille maritime museum

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Scale model of an Océan-class ship, including the inner disposition of the lower decks, on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

Built on state-of-the-art plans by Sané, she was dubbed the "finest ship of the century". Her construction was difficult because of a lack of wood, and soon after her completion, she was disarmed, in March 1791.

Commerce de Marseille came under British control during the Siege of Toulon. When the city fell to the French, she evacuated the harbour for Portsmouth. She was briefly used as a store-ship, but on a journey to the Caribbean, in 1795, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to limp back to Portsmouth. She remained there as a hulk until she was broken up in 1856.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Commerce_de_Marseille_(1785)
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 October 1795 - Battle of the Levant Convoy / Action of 7 October 1795


The Battle of the Levant Convoy was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 7 October 1795. During the battle, a powerful French squadron surprised a valuable British convoy from the Levant off Cape St Vincent on the coast of Portugal. The convoy was weakly defended, and although the small escort squadron tried to drive the French back, they were outmatched. In the ensuing action one of the British ships of the line and almost the entire convoy was overrun and captured. The French commander, Commodore Joseph de Richery, then retired to the neutral Spanish port of Cádiz, where he came under blockade.

The annual British Levant convoy was a mercantile operation in which valuable merchant shipping from ports across the Eastern Mediterranean gathered together for security under escort to Britain by Royal Navy warships. In 1795, this escort comprised three ships of the line, one in a poor state of repair, and several frigates under the command of Commodore Thomas Taylor. Taylor split the convoy, sailing in two separate divisions. On 7 October a French squadron under Richery, sent from Toulon to attack the Newfoundland fisheries, encountered Taylor's division of the convoy.

Taylor attempted to hold off Richery for long enough for the merchant ships to scatter and escape, but one of his ships, HMS Censeur lost a top-mast as he formed a line of battle and was rapidly overwhelmed by the French. With his line broken and frigates seizing the merchant ships unopposed, Taylor turned away from the battle and withdrew, leaving the convoy to its fate. Only one ship survived. Richery took his prizes to Cádiz in Southern Spain, where he was subject to a blockade by a British squadron under Rear-Admiral Robert Mann. Nearly a year later he escaped with the help of the Spanish to inflict severe damage on the fishing fleets off Maritime Canada.

Background
Main article: Richery's expedition
The French Navy in the Atlantic had suffered severe losses in a series of defeats during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly at the Glorious First of June in 1794 and during the Croisière du Grand Hiver the following winter. In June 1795 three more ships were lost in the defeat at the Battle of Groix. Requests for reinforcements were sent to the Mediterranean Fleet, which had suffered its own severe losses at the Siege of Toulon in 1793, and later at the Battle of Genoa and the Battle of the Hyères Islands in the spring and summer of 1795. The commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-amiral Pierre Martin acceded to the request, preparing a squadron of six ships of the line and three frigates under Contre-amiral Joseph de Richery to reinforce the Brest fleet.

This force was under orders to sail across the Atlantic, unite with French naval units in the Caribbean to land an army in Saint-Domingue and attack shipping at Jamaica. It was then to sail north to attack the important cod fisheries off Newfoundland and Maritime Canada, before returning to France via the Azores to unite with the fleet at Brest. Martin was wary of the British Mediterranean Fleet, which had so recently inflicted defeats on his own force, but the British commander Admiral William Hotham had kept the blockade of Toulon loose, based at his anchorage at San Fiorenzo, and Richery was able to escape into the Ligurian Sea without being observed on 14 September. Martin also knew that the annual British merchant convoy from the Levant was due to pass westwards on its way to the Straits of Gibraltar, and several weeks later sent out a second squadron, under Commodore Honoré Ganteaume, in search of it.

Martin was unaware that the convoy had sailed earlier than anticipated, reaching Gibraltar ahead of Richery and long before Ganteaume even sailed. At Gibraltar the 63-ship convoy met with its escort provided from Hotham's fleet. This force was led by Commodore Thomas Taylor in 74-gun HMS Fortitude, accompanied by HMS Bedford and HMS Censeur as well as the frigates HMS Argo, HMS Juno, HMS Lutine and the fireship HMS Tisiphone. Censeur, under the command of Captain John Gore, was not fit for service; the ship had been a French warship captured off Genoa in March and was still in a poor state of repair, armed en flute and carrying only jury masts. (Jury rigging is both a noun and a verb describing makeshift repairs made with only the tools and materials at hand. Its origin lies in such efforts done on boats and ships, characteristically sail powered to begin with. After a dismasting, a replacement mast and if necessary yard would be fashioned and stayed to allow a craft to resume making way.)

Richery's encounter
Taylor's convoy sailed from Gibraltar on 25 September, progressing slowly westwards into the Atlantic. The following day Taylor split his force, sending 32 merchant ships with Argo and Juno, while he took 31 merchant ships along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts with his main force. By the morning of 7 October the convoy was passing slowly around Cape St Vincent, 144 nautical miles (267 km) offshore with land to the southeast. At 09:30 sails were sighted to the northeast and Thomas rapidly realised that they were an enemy force. Issuing hasty orders to his squadron to establish a short line of battle, he formed up with Fortitude in the lead, followed by Bedford and Censeur, supported by Lutine and Tisiphone. The convoy was ordered to scatter.

Richery bore down on Taylor's small squadron, sending his frigates Embuscade, Félicité and Friponne to attack the fleeing merchant ships.[8] Taylor hoped to hold the French off for long enough to allow the convoy to escape, but the frigates simply evaded the line. In addition, the damaged Censeur was unable to hold station and at 13:00 the jury top-foremast collapsed over the side forcing Gore to fall back, away from Taylor's other ships. Taylor discussed the situation with his officers and Captain Augustus Montgomery on Bedford, reaching agreement to withdraw. Fortitude and Bedford then pulled away from the French in formation, leaving Censeur behind.

At 13:50 the leading French ships opened fire on Censeur, Gore returning fire, distantly assisted by the stern-chaser guns on Fortitude and Bedford, Taylor and Montgomery having their gunners smash holes in their ships' sterns to fit the cannon. Richery's squadron bore down on the retreating British line, firing at the masts on Censeur and bringing down both remaining topmasts in quick succession. Gore had not been expected to engage in action in his damaged ship and so there was little gunpowder on board. By 14:30 it had all been consumed and, abandoned by Taylor, Gore struck his colours and surrendered to three of the French ships. Richery's leading ships now engaged Lutine, Captain William Haggitt briefly returning fire as he pulled away. With Censeur secured and his frigates amid the merchant ships, Richery called off pursuit and allowed Taylor to retreat.

Aftermath
Unprotected, the Levant convoy was destroyed. Richery's frigates captured all but one of the British merchant vessels, 30 ships. Gathering his prizes, the French admiral turned back towards the Spanish coast, eventually anchoring in the neutral but friendly Spanish fleet base of Cádiz. Due to treaties in place at the time, only three of Richery's ships could dock at Cádiz itself, the rest anchoring in the less sheltered port of Rota. There he was trapped; Hotham had learned on 22 September that Richery was at sea, and on 5 October had dispatched a squadron of six ships of the line and two frigates in pursuit under Rear-Admiral Robert Mann. As Richery had a three week start, Mann arrived off Cádiz far too late to intercede in the action, but did find Richery only recently anchored in the harbour.[10] Following his orders to pursue the French, Mann established a blockade of Cádiz awaiting Richery's return to sea. The Argo convoy, under Captain Richard Burgess proceeded unchallenged and reached Britain intact. Historian William Laird Clowes laid blame for the destruction of the convoy on Hotham, stating that his behaviour "offers additional proof of that officer's unfitness for the very important command with which he had been entrusted." This was not the first time the Levant convoy had been targeted by the French Navy; 102 years earlier during the Nine Years' War a much larger Levant convoy had been overrun and destroyed by the French in the same waters, at the Battle of Lagos.

The blockade was to last ten months, during which Richery was unable to find an opportunity to escape Mann's watch on the approaches to the Spanish port. His ships were battered by winter storms, and on 17 December Victoire, Duquesne and Révolution were all blown on shore and badly damaged. They required extensive repairs in the Cádiz dockyards before they were ready for sea once more. The French were eventually released by diplomatic means; in the spring of 1796 the French Republic and the Kingdom of Spain had begun negotiations on an alliance against Britain, which was eventually signed at the Treaty of San Ildefonso on 19 August. As a gesture of good will, the Spanish fleet at Cádiz under Admiral Juan de Lángara agreed to escort Richery out of the harbour with sufficient force to dissuade an attack by Mann. Lángara took 20 ships of the line and 14 other vessels to sea on 4 August, accompanied by Richery's ten warships. They found the approaches to Cádiz empty; Mann had retired from the blockade on 29 July under orders from Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis.

Lángara sent Richery 300 nautical miles (560 km) westwards with a large escort under Rear-Admiral José Solano y Bote, the French admiral then separating and fulfilling his original mission to attack the fisheries of Maritime Canada. During September he burned fishing fleets and coastal communities across Newfoundland and Labrador before returning to France unimpeded, having captured or destroyed more than a hundred British merchant ships during his operation.

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Censeur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was briefly captured by the British, but was retaken after a few months and taken back into French service as Révolution. She served until 1799, when she was transferred to the Spanish Navy, but was found to be rotten and was broken up.

HMS Fortitude was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by John Randall & Co. and launched on 23 March 1780 at Rotherhithe.


Battle of Dogger Bank
Under Captain Richard Bickerton, Fortitude served in the English Channel. In April 1781 she participated in the second relief of Gibraltar. In May 1781, during the Fourth Anglo–Dutch War, Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker's shifted his flag from HMS Victory to Fortitude. On 5 August, Fortitude fought in the Battle of Dogger Bank as Parker's flagship. After a desperate, bloody battle in which neither combatant gained any advantage, both sides drew off.

HMS Bedford was a Royal Navy 74-gun third rate of the Royal Oak.class. This ship of the line was launched on 27 October 1775 at Woolwich.

HMS Argo was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1781 from Howdon Dock. The French captured her in 1783, but 36 hours later the British recaptured her. She then distinguished herself in the French Revolutionary Wars by capturing several prizes, though she did not participate in any major actions. She also served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was sold in 1816.

HMS Juno was a Royal Navy 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Lutine was a frigate which served in both the French Navy and the Royal Navy. She was launched by the French in 1779. The ship passed to British control in 1793 and was taken into service as HMS Lutine. She sank among the West Frisian Islands during a storm in 1799.
She was built as a French Magicienne-class frigate with 32 guns, and was launched at Toulon in 1779. During the French Revolution, Lutine came under French Royalist control. On 18 December 1793, she was one of sixteen ships handed over to a British fleet at the end of the Siege of Toulon, to prevent her being captured by the French Republicans. In 1795, she was rebuilt by the British as a fifth-rate frigate with 38 guns. She served thereafter in the North Sea, where she was part of the blockade of Amsterdam.
Lutine sank during a storm at Vlieland in the West Frisian Islands on 9 October 1799, whilst carrying a large shipment of gold. Shifting sandbanks disrupted salvage attempts, and the majority of the cargo has never been recovered. Lloyd's of London has preserved her salvaged bell – the Lutine Bell – which is now used for ceremonial purposes at their headquarters in London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Levant_Convoy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fortitude_(1780)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bedford_(1775)
 
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