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

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1869 – Launch of HMS Volage, a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s.


HMS Volage was a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. She spent most of her first commission assigned to the Flying Squadron circumnavigating the world and later carried a party of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the transit of Venus in 1874. The ship was then assigned as the senior officer's ship in South American waters until she was transferred to the Training Squadron during the 1880s. Volage was paid off in 1899 and sold for scrap in 1904.


Circa 1892 photograph of HMS Volage, lead ship of the class

Description
Volage was 270 feet (82.3 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 42 feet 1 inch (12.8 m). Forward the ship had a draught of 16 feet 5 inches (5.0 m), but aft she drew 21 ft 5 in (6.5 m). Volage displaced 3,078 long tons (3,127 t) and had a burthen of 2,322 tons. Her iron hull was covered by a 3-inch (76 mm) layer of oak that was sheathed with copper from the waterline down to prevent biofouling. Watertight transverse bulkheads subdivided the hull. Her crew consisted of 340 officers and enlisted men. The ship was nicknamed Vollidge by her crew.

The ship had one 2-cylinder trunk engine made by John Penn & Sons driving a single 19-foot (5.8 m) propeller. Five rectangular boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 30 psi (207 kPa; 2 kgf/cm2). The engine produced a total of 4,530 indicated horsepower (3,380 kW) which gave Volage a maximum speed of 15.3 knots (28.3 km/h; 17.6 mph). The ship carried 420 long tons (430 t) of coal, enough to steam 1,850 nautical miles (3,430 km; 2,130 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Volage was ship rigged and had a sail area of 16,593 square feet (1,542 m2). The lower masts were made of iron, but the other masts were wood. The ship's best speed under sail alone was 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). Her funnel was semi-retractable to reduce wind resistance and her propeller could be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail.

The ship was initially armed with a mix of 7-inch and 64-pounder 64 cwt rifled muzzle-loading guns. The six 7-inch (178 mm) guns and two of the four 64-pounders were mounted on the broadside while the other two were mounted on the forecastle and poop deck as chase guns. The 7-inch guns were replaced in 1873 and the ship was rearmed with a total of eighteen 64-pounders. In 1880, ten BL 6-inch 80-pounder breech-loading guns replaced all the broadside weapons. Two carriages for 14-inch (356 mm) torpedoes were added as well.

Scale: 1:48. A half block model of the starboard side of the 10-gun single-screw, steam corvette HMS Volage (1869), made entirely in wood and painted in realistic colours. The hull is painted to resemble oxidised coppering below the waterline, and black above. The hull has a clipper bow. Fittings include decorated trail boards, single row of portholes, stump bowsprit, foremast and mainmast, a stump funnel painted ochre, rudder, and stern gallery windows. The propeller and figurehead are currently missing. The model is displayed on a rectangular wooden backboard painted duck-egg blue with frame edges (left-hand edge currently missing). Handwritten on backboard ‘HMS Volage. Built by The Thames Iron Works - Shipbuilding, Engineering & Dry Dock Comp. Blackwall London for Her Britannic Majesty’. On plaque ‘272 Volage corvette - 1869. An iron-built unarmoured ship built at Blackwall served for many years in The Training Squadron. Sold in 1904. Original armament: - 67in and 4 6in M.L. Second armament 18 6in M.L. Final armament 10 6in B.L. and 2 6in M.L. Dimensions Length 270ft Beam 42ft Displacement 3320 Tons Speed 15 knots’.

Service
HMS Volage was laid down in September 1867 and launched on 27 February 1869. The ship was completed in March 1870 at a total cost of £132,817. Of this, £91,817 was spent on her hull and £41,000 on her machinery. Volage was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet under the command of Captain Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, Bt. However, by the end of 1870, she was transferred to the Flying Squadron which circumnavigated the world. The ship returned to England at the end of 1872 and was given a lengthy refit. Volage recommissioned in 1874 to ferry an expedition of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the transit of Venus. She grounded on an uncharted shoal there without damage. The following year, the ship was assigned as the senior officer's ship for the South American side of the South Atlantic. Volage was ordered home in 1879 where she was refitted, rearmed and her boilers were replaced. The ship was assigned to the Training Squadron in the 1880s until it was disbanded in 1899. Volagewas then paid off and sold for scrap on 17 May 1904.

HMS Volage (1869) - Wikipedia

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Volage-class corvette - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1916 - SS Maloja was an M-class passenger steamship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company was sunk by a mine in the English Channel off Dover with the loss of 155 lives


SS Maloja was an M-class passenger steamship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. She was completed in 1911 and worked a regular route between Great Britain and India. In 1916 in the First World War she was sunk by a mine in the English Channel off Dover with the loss of 155 lives.


Peninsula and Oriental line steamer Maloja

Building
Maloja was one of P&O's M-class passenger liners, the first of which had been RMS Moldavia which was completed in 1903. Harland and Wolff Ltd built Maloja, completing her in 1911. She had twin screws driven by twin quadruple expansion engines that were rated at 1,164 NHP and gave her a speed of 19 knots (35 km/h). She had capacity for 670 passengers plus a quantity of cargo.

Loss


HMHS Dieppe treated over 100 of Maloja's survivors

At 1500 hrs Saturday 26 February 1916[4] Maloja sailed from Tilbury for Bombay carrying 122 passengers (less than a fifth of her capacity) and a general cargo. Her passengers were a mixture of military and government personnel, and civilians including women and children.[4] Following normal P&O practice, her complement of 301 comprised British officers and Lascar crew.

On the morning of Sunday 27 February Maloja approached the Strait of Dover at full speed and overtook a Canadian collier, Empress of Fort William. Under wartime conditions each ship would have to be examined by a patrol boat before being allowed to proceed.

The German Type UC I submarine SM UC-6 had recently mined the strait. At about 1030 hrs Maloja was about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off Dover when her starboard quarter[4] struck one of UC-6's mines. There was a large explosion, and the bulkheads of the second saloon were blown in. Empress of Fort William was still in sight and immediately went full ahead to assist, but while still 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) astern the collier also struck one of UC-6's mines and began to sink.

As a precaution against enemy attack, Maloja was steaming with her lifeboats already swung out on their davits so that they could be lowered more quickly. Her Master, Captain C.D. Irving, RNR, immediately had her engines stopped and then put astern to stop her so that her boats could be lowered. She also sounded her whistle as a signal to prepare to abandon ship.

Irving then tried to order her engines be stopped again for the ship to be evacuated, but flooding in her engine room prevented the engines from being stopped and she started to make way astern at about 8 to 9 knots (15 to 17 km/h). She also developed a list to starboard which steepened to 75 degrees. Passengers started to board the starboard lifeboats but the ship's speed and list prevented all but three or four of them from being launched.

Small vessels headed to assist her including the Port of Dover tugs Lady Brassey and Lady Crundall, trawlers, dredgers and a destroyer. As Maloja steamed astern and unable to stop, the rescue vessels were unable to get alongside to take off survivors. A heavy sea was running and the hundreds who crowded her decks could only don a cork lifejacket, jump overboard and try to swim clear. A number of her rafts either were launched or floated clear, and some of her survivors managed to board them. Maloja sank 24 minutes after being mined, followed by Empress of Fort William which sank about 40 minutes after being mined.

Many of the deaths were from hypothermia, either in the water or after being rescued. Most of the people who survived were recovered from the water.[6] Several survivors, including Captain Irving, had been immersed for half an hour. The Second Officer, Lieutenant C Vincent, was in the water for an hour but survived.[4] The small vessels taking part in the rescue took many of the survivors to the hospital ships Dieppe and St David. Others were brought ashore and Royal Navy ambulances took them to the Lord Warden Hotel. Survivors were later taken by special train to London Victoria.

At about 1130 hrs vessels started to bring bodies ashore. The chief constable of Kent took charge of the dead and designated the Market Hall below Dover Museum as a temporary mortuary. 45 bodies were recovered but about another 100 people were unaccounted for.

SS Maloja - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1942 - Seaplane tender USS Langley (AV 3), carrying 32 U.S. Army Air Force P-40 aircraft for the defense of Java, is bombed by Japanese naval land attack planes 75 miles south of Tjilatjap, Java. Due to the damage, Langley is shelled and torpedoed by USS Whipple (DD 217).


USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), and also the US Navy's first turbo-electric-powered ship. Conversion of another collier was planned but canceled when the Washington Naval Treaty required the cancellation of the partially built Lexington-class battlecruisers Lexington and Saratoga, freeing up their hulls for conversion to the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga. Langley was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American aviation pioneer. Following another conversion to a seaplane tender, Langley fought in World War II. On 27 February 1942, she was attacked by nine twin-engine Japanese bombers of the Japanese 21st and 23rd Naval Air Flotillas[2] and so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled by her escorts.


USS Langley underway, 1927

Service history
Collier
President William H. Taft attended the ceremony when Jupiter's keel was laid down on 18 October 1911 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. She was launched on 14 August 1912 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas F. Ruhm; and commissioned on 7 April 1913 under Commander Joseph M. Reeves.[4] Her sister ships were Cyclops, which disappeared without a trace in World War I, Proteus, and Nereus, which disappeared on the same route as Cyclops in World War II.


Jupiter 16 October 1913, the collier, before conversion to Langley, the aircraft carrier.

After successfully passing her trials as the first turbo-electric-powered ship of the US Navy, Jupiter embarked a United States Marine Corps detachment at San Francisco, California, and reported to the Pacific Fleet at Mazatlán Mexico on 27 April 1914, bolstering US naval strength on the Mexican Pacific coast in the tense days of the Veracruz crisis. She remained on the Pacific coast until she departed for Philadelphia on 10 October. En route, the collier steamed through the Panama Canal on Columbus Day, the first vessel to transit it from west to east.

Prior to America's entry into World War I, she cruised the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexicoattached to the Atlantic Fleet Auxiliary Division. The ship arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on 6 April 1917, and, assigned to the Naval Overseas Transport Service, interrupted her coalingoperations by two cargo voyages to France in June 1917 and November 1918. The first voyage transported a naval aviation detachment of 7 officers and 122 men to England. It was the first US aviation detachment to arrive in Europe and was commanded by Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting, who became Langley's first executive officer five years later. Jupiter was back in Norfolk on 23 January 1919 whence she sailed for Brest, France on 8 March for coaling duty in European waters to expedite the return of victorious veterans to the United States. Upon reaching Norfolk on 17 August, the ship was transferred to the West Coast. Her conversion to an aircraft carrier was authorized on 11 July 1919, and she sailed to Hampton Roads, Virginia on 12 December, where she decommissioned on 24 March 1920.

Aircraft carrier


Langley being converted from a collier to an aircraft carrier at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1921.


Langley at Puget Sound Navy Yard, immediately opposite Saratoga (with black stripe on funnel) and Lexington in 1929

Jupiter was converted into the first US aircraft carrier at the Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia, for the purpose of conducting experiments in the new idea of seaborne aviation. On 11 April 1920, she was renamed Langley in honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American astronomer, physicist, aeronautics pioneer and aircraft engineer, and she was given the hull number CV-1. She recommissioned on 20 March 1922 with Commander Kenneth Whiting in command.

As the first American aircraft carrier, Langley was the scene of several seminal events in US naval aviation. On 17 October 1922, Lt. Virgil C. Griffin piloted the first plane—a Vought VE-7—launched from her decks. Though this was not the first time an airplane had taken off from a ship, and though Langley was not the first ship with an installed flight deck, this one launching was of monumental importance to the modern US Navy. The era of the aircraft carrier was born introducing into the navy what was to become the vanguard of its forces in the future. With Langley underway nine days later, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier made the first landing in an Aeromarine 39B. On 18 November, Commander Whiting was the first aviator to be catapulted from a carrier's deck.

An unusual feature of Langley was provision for a carrier pigeon house on the stern between the 5” guns. Pigeons had been carried aboard seaplanes for message transport since World War I, and were to be carried on aircraft operated from Langley. The pigeons were trained at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard while Langley was undergoing conversion. As long as the pigeons were released a few at a time for exercise, they returned to the ship; but when the whole flock was released while Langley was anchored off Tangier Island, the pigeons flew south and roosted in the cranes of the Norfolk shipyard. The pigeons never went to sea again and the former pigeon house became the executive officer's quarters; but the early plans for conversion of Lexington and Saratoga included a compartment for pigeons.

By 15 January 1923, Langley had begun flight operations and tests in the Caribbean Sea for carrier landings. In June, she steamed to Washington, D.C., to give a demonstration at a flying exhibition before civil and military dignitaries. She arrived at Norfolk on 13 June, and commenced training along the Atlantic coast and Caribbean which carried her through the end of the year. In 1924, Langley participated in more maneuvers and exhibitions, and spent the summer at Norfolk for repairs and alterations, she departed for the west coast late in the year and arrived in San Diego, California on 29 November to join the Pacific Battle Fleet.

In 1927, Langley was at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. For the next 12 years, she operated off the California coast and Hawaii engaged in training fleet units, experimentation, pilot training, and tactical-fleet problems. Langley was featured in the 1929 silent film about naval aviation The Flying Fleet.

Seaplane tender

Langley after conversion to a seaplane tender, 1937

On 25 October 1936, she put into Mare Island Navy Yard, California for overhaul and conversion to a seaplane tender. Though her career as a carrier had ended, her well-trained pilots had proved invaluable to the next two carriers, Lexington and Saratoga (commissioned on 14 December and 16 November 1927, respectively).

Langley completed conversion on 26 February 1937 and was assigned hull number AV-3on 11 April. She was assigned to the Aircraft Scouting Force and commenced her tending operations out of Seattle, Washington, Sitka, Alaska, Pearl Harbor, and San Diego, California. She departed for a brief deployment with the Atlantic Fleet from 1 February-10 July 1939, and then steamed to assume duties with the Pacific Fleet at Manila arriving on 24 September.

World War II
On the entry of the US into World War II, Langley was anchored off Cavite, Philippines. On 8 December, following the invasion of the Philippines by Japan, she departed Cavite for Balikpapan, in the Dutch East Indies. As Japanese advances continued, Langley departed for Australia, arriving in Darwin on 1 January 1942. She then became part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval forces. Until 11 January, Langley assisted the Royal Australian Air Force in running anti-submarine patrols out of Darwin.

Langley went to Fremantle, Australia to pick up Allied aircraft and transport them to Southeast Asia. Carrying 32 P-40 fighters belonging to the Far East Air Force's 13th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional). At Fremantle Langley and Sea Witch, loaded with crated P-40s, joined a convoy designated MS.5 that had arrived from Melbourne composed of the United States Army Transport Willard A. Holbrook and the Australian transports Duntroon and Katoomba escorted by Phoenix departed Fremantle on 22 February. Langley and Sea Witch left the convoy five days later to deliver the planes to Tjilatjap (Cilacap), Java.


Langley scuttled via torpedo on 27 February 1942 off Java

In the early hours of 27 February, Langley rendezvoused with her anti-submarine screen, the destroyers Whipple and Edsall. Early that morning, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft located the formation. At 11:40, about 75 mi (121 km) south of Tjilatjap, the seaplane tender, along with Edsall and Whipple came under attack by sixteen (16) Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's Takao Kōkūtai, led by Lieutenant Jiro Adachi, flying out of Denpasar airfield on Bali, and escorted by fifteen (15) A6M Reisen fighters. Rather than dropping all their bombs at once, the Japanese bombers attacked releasing partial salvos. Since they were level bombing from medium altitude, Langley was able to alter helm when the bombs were released and evade the first and second bombing passes, but the bombers altered their tactics on the third pass and bracketed the directions Langley could turn. As a result, Langley took five hits from a mix of 250 and 60 kilograms (550 and 130 pounds) bombs as well as three near misses, with 16 crewmen killed. The topside burst into flames, steering was impaired, and the ship developed a 10° list to port. Unable to negotiate the narrow mouth of Tjilatjap harbor, Langley went dead in the water, as her engine room flooded. At 13:32, the order to abandon ship was passed. The escorting destroyers fired nine 4-inch (100 mm) shells and two torpedoes into Langley's hull, to ensure she didn't fall into enemy hands, and she sank. (Her approximate scuttle coordinates are: S 8° 51′ 04.20″ × E 109° 02′ 02.56″ Ap) After being transferred to Pecos, many of her crew were lost when Pecos was sunk en route to Australia. Thirty-one of the thirty-three pilots assigned to the 13th Pursuit Squadron being transported by Langley were lost with Edsall when she was sunk on the same day while responding to the distress calls of Pecos.

USS Langley (CV-1) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1942 – Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea begins, where the 14-ship Allied forces (American, Dutch, British and Australian) attempt to stop the 28-ship Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies colony of Java. The Japanese, during battles over three days, decimates the Allied forces, sinking at least 11 ships, killing more than 3,370 and taking nearly 1,500 prisoners.


Bombs from a Japanese aircraft falling near the Dutch light cruiser Java in the Gaspar Strait east of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, on 15 February 1942.

The Battle of the Java Sea (Indonesian: Pertempuran Laut Jawa, Japanese: スラバヤ沖海戦, translit. Surabaya oki kaisen, lit. 'Battle off Surabaya in open sea') was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II.

Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy, on 27 February 1942, and in secondary actions over successive days. The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) Strike Force commander— Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman—was killed. The aftermath of the battle included several smaller actions around Java, including the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait. These defeats led to Japanese occupation of the entire Netherlands East Indies.

Background
The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies progressed at a rapid pace as they advanced from their Palau Islands colony and captured bases in Sarawak and the southern Philippines. They seized bases in eastern Borneo[5][6] and in northern Celebes while troop convoys, screened by destroyers and cruisers with air support provided by swarms of fighters operating from captured bases, steamed southward through the Makassar Strait and into the Molucca Sea. To oppose these invading forces was a small force, consisting of Dutch, American, British and Australian warships—many of them of World War I vintage—initially under the command of Admiral Thomas C. Hart.

On 23 January 1942, a force of four American destroyers attacked a Japanese invasion convoy in Makassar Strait as it approached Balikpapan in Borneo. On 13 February, the Allies fought unsuccessfully—in the Battle of Palembang—to prevent the Japanese from capturing the major oil port in eastern Sumatra. On the night of 19/20 February, an Allied force attacked the Eastern Invasion Force off Bali in the Battle of Badung Strait. Also on 19 February, the Japanese made two air raids on Darwin, on the Australia mainland, one from carrier based planes and the other by land based planes. The destruction of Darwin rendered it useless as a supply and naval base to support operations in the East Indies.

Shortly before the battle commenced, the odds were not good for the Allied forces. They lacked cohesion (ships came from four separate navies) and were demoralized by constant air attacks and a general sentiment that the Japanese were unbeatable. In addition, the coordination between Allied navies and air forces was poor.

Battle


A formation of Japanese twin engined land based bombers taking anti-aircraft fire whilst attacking ships in the Java Sea; seen from the Australian cruiser HMAS Hobart.


HNLMS De Ruyter at anchor in February 1942, shortly before the battle.


Japanese cruiser Haguro (pictured) sank HNLMS De Ruyter, killing Admiral Karel Doorman.

The Japanese amphibious forces gathered to strike at Java, and on 27 February 1942, the main Allied naval force, under Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy of the Eastern Invasion Force approaching from the Makassar Strait. The Eastern Strike Force, as it was known, consisted of two heavy cruisers (HMS Exeter and USS Houston), three light cruisers (Doorman's flagship HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), and nine destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Encounter, HMS Jupiter, HNLMS Kortenaer, HNLMS Witte de With, USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford, and USS Paul Jones).

The Japanese task force protecting the convoy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Takeo Takagi, consisted of two heavy (Nachi and Haguro) and two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsū) and 14 destroyers (Yūdachi, Samidare, Murasame, Harusame, Minegumo, Asagumo, Yukikaze, Tokitsukaze, Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Yamakaze, Kawakaze, Sazanami, and Ushio) including the 4th Destroyer Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8-inch (203 mm) guns each, and superb torpedoes. By comparison, Exeter was armed only with six 8-inch guns and only six of Houston's nine 8-inch guns remained operable after her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.

The Allied force engaged the Japanese in the Java Sea, and the battle raged intermittently from mid-afternoon to midnight as the Allies tried to reach and attack the troop transports of the Java invasion fleet, but they were repulsed by superior firepower. The Allies had local air superiority during the daylight hours, because Japanese air power could not reach the fleet in the bad weather. The weather also hindered communications, making cooperation between the many Allied parties involved—in reconnaissance, air cover and fleet headquarters—even worse than it already was. The Japanese also jammed the radio frequencies. Exeter was the only ship in the battle equipped with radar, an emerging technology at the time.

The battle consisted of a series of attempts over a seven-hour period by Doorman's Combined Striking Force to reach and attack the invasion convoy; each was rebuffed by the escort force with heavy losses being inflicted on the Allies.

The fleets sighted each other at about 16:00 on 27 February and closed to firing range, opening fire at 16:16. Both sides exhibited poor gunnery and torpedo skills during this phase of the battle. Despite her recent refit (with the addition of modern Type 284 gunnery control radar), Exeter's shells did not come close to the Japanese ships, while Houston only managed to achieve a straddle on one of the opposing cruisers. The only notable result of the initial gunnery exchange was Exeter being critically damaged by a hit in the boiler room from an 8-inch shell. The ship then limped away to Surabaya, escorted by Witte de With.

The Japanese launched two huge torpedo salvoes, consisting of 92 torpedoes in all, but scored only one hit, on Kortenaer. She was struck by a Long Lance, broke in two and sank rapidly after the hit.

Electra—covering Exeter—engaged in a duel with Jintsū and Asagumo, scoring several hits but suffering severe damage to her superstructure. After a serious fire started on Electra and her remaining turret ran out of ammunition, abandon ship was ordered. On the Japanese side, only Asagumo was forced to retire because of damage.

The Allied fleet broke off and turned away around 18:00, covered by a smoke screen laid by the four destroyers of U.S Destroyer Division 58 (DesDiv 58). They also launched a torpedo attack but at too long a range to be effective. Doorman's force turned south toward the Java coast, then west and north as night fell in an attempt to evade the Japanese escort group and fall on the convoy. It was at this point the ships of DesDiv 58—their torpedoes expended—left on their own initiative to return to Surabaya.

Shortly after, at 21:25, Jupiter ran onto a mine and was sunk, while about 20 minutes later, the fleet passed where Kortenaer had sunk earlier, and Encounter was detached to pick up survivors.

Doorman's command, now reduced to four cruisers, again encountered the Japanese escort group at 23:00; both columns exchanged fire in the darkness at long range, until De Ruyter and Java were sunk by one devastating torpedo salvo. Doorman and most of his crew went down with De Ruyter; only 111 were saved from both ships.

Only the cruisers Perth and Houston remained; low on fuel and ammunition, and following Doorman's last instructions, the two ships retired, arriving at Tanjung Priok on 28 February.

Although the Allied fleet did not reach the invasion fleet, the battle did give the defenders of Java a one-day respite.

Battle of the Java Sea - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1942 - HNLMS De Ruyter was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942.
345 of the crew were killed.


HNLMS De Ruyter (Dutch: Hr.Ms. De Ruyter) was a unique light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was originally designed as a 5,000-long-ton (5,100 t) ship with a lighter armament due to financial problems and the pacifist movement. Later in the design stage, an extra gun turret was added and the armor was improved. She was the seventh ship of the Dutch Navy to be named after Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter.

De Ruyter was laid down on 16 September 1933 at the Wilton-Fijenoord dockyard in Schiedam and commissioned on 3 October 1936, commanded by Captain A. C. van der Sande Lacoste. She was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942.



Design
De Ruyter was designed during the Great Depression, which, in addition to being a period of economical depression, was also a period in which pacifism was widespread in the Netherlands. For these reasons, the design was officially called a flottieljeleider (flotilla leader) instead of a cruiser, and every effort was made to cut costs.

Its function was to aid the two existing cruisers of the Java class in the defence of the Dutch East Indies; the idea was that with three cruisers, there would always be two cruisers available, even if one cruiser had to be repaired.

However, due to the cost-cutting policy that went into her design, De Ruyter was not quite up to her task. Her main battery (7 × 150 mm guns) was underpowered in comparison to other light cruisers of the time (for example the British Leander class), and the class had inadequate armour as well and lacked long range anti-aircraft guns. However, her fire control system was excellent.

Service history
During World War II, De Ruyter saw repeated action in the Dutch East Indies in fruitless attempts to ward off the Japanese invasion. She was damaged by air attack in the battle of Bali Sea on 4 February 1942, but not seriously. She fought in the battle of Badung Strait on 18 February.


A port side view of De Ruyter at anchor, shortly before her loss in the Battle of the Java Sea.

In the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February, De Ruyter was the flagship of the Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, with his flag captain Eugène Lacomblé (who had previously served on board the ship as a lieutenant). Off the north coast off Java on the evening of the 27th the remains of the ABDA fleet was surprised by the Japanese heavy cruisers Nachiand Haguro. Several minutes after the Dutch cruiser Java had been torpedoed and sunk, De Ruyter was hit by a single Type 93 torpedo fired by Haguro at about 23:40 and was set on fire; the torpedo also disabled the ship's electrical systems and left the crew unable to combat the fire or the flooding. The De Ruyter sank at about 02:30 the next morning with the loss of 367 men, including Admiral Doorman and Captain Lacomblé.

Wreck
The wreck of De Ruyter was discovered by specialist wreck divers on 1 December 2002 and declared a war grave, with the ship's two bells—one now in the Kloosterkerk in the Hague—being recovered. The wreck of HNLMS Java, was also found the same day by the same divers. The same dive group then found HNLMS Kortenaer on 12 August 2004.

In 2016 it was discovered that the wrecks of De Ruyter and Java, and much of Kortenaer had disappeared from the seabed, although their imprints on the ocean floor remained. Over 100 ships and submarines of various countries sank during the war in the seas around Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia; many are designated as war graves. There is known to be illegal scavenging of these wrecks, often using explosives; the Netherlands Defence Ministry suggested that De Ruyter, Java, and Kortenaer may have been illegally salvaged. In February 2017 a report was issued confirming the salvaging of the three wrecks.

HNLMS De Ruyter (1935) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1942 - HNLMS Java was sunk during the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942.
512 of the crew were killed.


HNLMS Java (Dutch: Hr.Ms. Java) was a Java-class cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was sunk during the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942.

Java before reconstruction

Service history
The ship was built by the Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde in Flushing and laid down on 31 May 1916. The ship was launched on 6 August 1921, and commissioned on 1 May 1925

Later that year on 14 October Java left the Netherlands for a journey to the Dutch East Indies. She arrived in Tanjung Priok on 7 December that year.

On 29 July 1929 Java, the destroyers De Ruyter and Evertsen, and the submarines K II and K VII left Surabaya and steamed to Tanjung Priok. There the ships waited for the royal yacht Maha Chakri of the King of Siam and the destroyer Phra Ruang. After this the ships, without the submarines, visited Bangka, Belitung, Riau, Lingga Islands, Belawan and Deli. On 28 August that year they returned to Tanjung Priok.

On 31 August that year she participated in a fleet review at Tanjung Priok. The review was held in honor of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who was born that day. Other ships that participated in the review where the destroyers De Ruyterand Evertsen.

On 23 August 1936 Java, her sister ship Sumatra and the destroyers Van Galen, Witte de With and Piet Hein were present at the fleet days held at Surabaya. Later that year on 13 November she and her sister and the destroyers Evertsen, Witte de With and Piet Hein made a fleet visit to Singapore. Before the visit they had practised in the South China Sea.

While returning to the Netherlands she was sent to Gibraltar where she performed convoy duties during the Spanish Civil War in the Strait of Gibraltar from 1 April to 5 May 1937.

After seven months of refit in the Netherlands she left for the Dutch East Indies on 4 May 1938. Along the way she performed convoy duties in the Strait of Gibraltar from 10 to 13 May and on 25 June that year she arrived in Tanjung Priok. On 13 October that year she collided with Piet Hein in the Sunda Strait. Java had to be repaired at Surabaya.

World War II


HNLMS Java in 1939, after her reconstruction

As the war with Japan began in December 1941, Java performed convoy duties in conjunction with British forces. On 15 February 1942, the force which Java was a part of was attacked by "Kate" bombers from the carrier Ryūjō although no damage was sustained.

On 19 February, the ABDA naval forces sailed to Bali to attempt to disrupt Japanese landings there, and the Java took part in the Battle of Badung Strait. In this action, fire was exchanged with the Japanese but the Java took no damage. The Japanese successfully captured Bali while severely damaging the Dutch cruiser Tromp and a Dutch destroyer, and sinking the Piet Hein.

On 27 February 1942 Java took part in the Battle of the Java Sea. During the evening phase of that battle she was struck by a Long Lance torpedo fired from the Japanese cruiser Nachi. The torpedo detonated an aft magazine and blew the stern off the ship, causing flooding in the aft engine room and setting fire to the anti-aircraft deck. As the ship took on a heavy list to port, the flooding caused the electrical equipment to shut down. The crew abandoned ship and the Java sank about fifteen minutes after being struck by the torpedo. 512 of her crew lost their lives in the sinking.

Wreck
The wreck of Java was discovered by a specialist wreck diving expedition on 1 December 2002, laying on its starboard side at a depth of 69 metres (226 ft).[8] The wreck of her consort HNLMS De Ruyter which was sunk at the same time (as Java) was also discovered on 1 December 2002, whilst HNLMS Kortenaer, sunk during the late afternoon of the 27th February 1942, was discovered by the same group in August 2004.

On 15 November 2016 the Dutch Ministry of Defence reported the disappearance of the wreck of Java, along with the wrecks of the De Ruyter and parts of the Kortenaer. The Royal Netherlands navy announced that they will launch an investigation, suspecting illegal salvage. In February 2017 a report was issued confirming the salvaging of the three wrecks

HNLMS Java (1921) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 1945 – Launch of HMCS Bonaventure, a Majestic-class aircraft carrier, the third and last aircraft carrier in service with Canada's armed forces.
The aircraft carrier was initially ordered for construction by Britain's Royal Navy as HMS Powerful during the Second World War.


HMCS Bonaventure was a Majestic-class aircraft carrier, the third and last aircraft carrier in service with Canada's armed forces. The aircraft carrier was initially ordered for construction by Britain's Royal Navy as HMS Powerful during the Second World War. Following the end of the war, construction on the ship was halted and it was not until 1952 that work began once again, this time to an altered design for the Royal Canadian Navy. The ship entered service in 1957 renamed Bonaventure and, until the vessel's decommissioning in 1970, was involved in major NATO fleet-at-sea patrols and naval exercises and participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis. During her career Bonaventure carried three hull identification numbers, RML 22, RRSM 22 and CVL 22. Following her decommissioning Bonaventure was sold for scrap and broken up in Taiwan.



Description
Initially laid down as HMS Powerful as part of the second batch of the Colossus class during the Second World War, the vessel's construction was halted following the end of the war and the constructed hull was laid up. Powerful was purchased by the Royal Canadian Navy in 1952 and the hull was taken to the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland to be completed to a modernized design of the Majestic subclass. The ship measured 704 feet (214.6 m) long overall with a maximum beam of 128 feet (39 m) and a draught of 25 feet (7.6 m). The vessel had a standard displacement of 16,000 long tons (16,257 t) and 20,000 long tons (20,321 t) at full load. Bonaventure was propelled by two geared steam turbines driving two shafts powered by steam from four Admiralty 3-drum boilers rated at 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW). The steam pressure of the engines were rated at 300 lbf/in2 (2,100 kPa; 21 kgf/cm2). The aircraft carrier had a maximum speed of 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph) and carried 3,200 long tons (3,251 t) of fuel oil.

The ship had a complement of 1,370 officers and ratings. For additional protection to the magazines, mantlets were placed over them. The aircraft carrier was armed with four twin-mounted 3-inch (76 mm)/50 calibre Mk 33 guns and four single 3-pounder (1.4 kg) saluting guns. The American 3-inch/50 calibre guns were chosen over 40 mm guns. Bonaventure had a distinct appearance compared to her sister ships as she had a tall lattice mast, raked funnel and large sponson where the 3-inch guns were situated. Adding to her distinct appearance, was that Bonaventure was completed with United States Navy radar, specifically the SPS-8A height finder and the SPS-12 air search radar.

Aircraft


Banshees overflying Bonaventure in the late 1950s

As part of the modernized design, Bonaventure was equipped with three relatively new technologies in relation to her air complement. The Majestic subclass' design allowed for heavier aircraft, those up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) landing at 87 knots (161 km/h; 100 mph), to be launched and recovered. Bonaventure improved on that limit, able to land aircraft of up to 24,000 pounds (11,000 kg). The aircraft lifts were enlarged to 54 by 34 feet (16 m × 10 m) in order to accommodate larger aircraft. The new design also incorporated an angled flight deck, steam catapults, and optical landing system. The angled flight deck increased the carrier's landing area without limiting space for aircraft parking and allowed for the removal of antiquated crash barriers.

During her service life, Bonaventure carried five squadrons. The aircraft carrier's initial air group was composed of sixteen McDonnell F2H Banshee jet fighters and eight Grumman CS2F Tracker anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. The Banshee, flown by VF 870 and VF 871, and Tracker, operated by VS 880 and VS 881, were flown from Bonaventure, along with Sikorsky HO4S ASW helicopters operated by HS 50.

The Banshees were a tight fit, with Bonaventure barely able to accommodate them. The Trackers did not become fully operational aboard until 1959. Despite this, Bonaventure conducted sustained around-the-clock operations, keeping four Trackers and two HO4Ss in the air at all times, while monitoring an area of 200 square nautical miles (690 km2). The HO4Ss were equipped with dipping sonar and, beginning in 1958, Mark 43 torpedoes. The Banshees were retired in 1962 but were not replaced. The ship's role then changed to one of pure ASW and the air wing was modified, dropping the fighters but keeping the eight Trackers, and increasing the number of HO4Ss to fourteen. In 1963, the aircraft carrier began a refit in order to allow her operate the new Sikorsky CHSS-2 Sea King helicopters, which had been ordered to replace the HO4Ss. When Bonaventure was retired, her former aircraft continued to operate from shore installations, including CFB Shearwater.

History
Construction and acquisition


Two aircraft carriers under construction during the Second World War, Magnificent and Powerful, both of which would end up in Canadian service postwar

The British government ordered a second hull constructed of what would become the Majestic class on 16 October 1942 once a dock opened at Harland & Wolff's shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The aircraft carrier's keel was laid down on 21 November 1943 with the yard number1229 and the British Admiralty chose the name Powerful for the ship. Powerful was launched on 27 February 1945. Work was suspended in May 1946 following the end of the Second World War, and the hull was laid up incomplete at Belfast.

In 1952, the Royal Canadian Navy was looking to replace their existing aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent. On 23 April, the Canadian government authorized the expenditure of $21 million to acquire Powerful. The Royal Canadian Navy had also been offered a Hermes-classaircraft carrier by the United Kingdom but found it too costly and two Essex-class aircraft carriers on loan from the United States Navy, also considered too costly. The choice of Powerful was made due to cost considerations as well as financial support for the United Kingdom. Agreement on the purchase of Powerful was reached on 29 November but was back-dated to 12 July. Work on Powerful resumed, this time to a modernized design incorporating recent carrier operation developments, such as the angled flight deck and steam catapults. The design changes cost a further $10 million. Other changes that were incorporated were American radar and armament. Construction was completed on 17 January 1957, and the vessel was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy at Belfast, renamed Bonaventure with Captain H.V. Gross in command. The vessel was christened by the wife of the Canadian Minister of National Defence, Ralph Campney.


HMCS Bonaventure from the stern, photo taken in October 1957

HMCS Bonaventure - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
27 February 2004 - SuperFerry 14 – an Islamist terrorist attack resulted in the sinking of the ferry SuperFerry 14 and the deaths of 116 people in the Philippines. It is regarded as the World's deadliest terrorist attack at sea.


The 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing on February 27, 2004, was a terrorist attack that resulted in the sinking of the ferry SuperFerry 14 and the deaths of 116 people in the Philippines' deadliest terrorist attack and the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea. Six children less than five years old, and nine children between six and 16 years of age were among the dead or missing, including six students on a championship team sent by schools in northern Mindanao to compete in a journalism contest.



Bombing
On the night of February 27, the 10,192-ton ferry sailed out of Manila for Cagayan de Oro City via Bacolod City and Iloilo City with 899 recorded passengers and crew aboard.[4] A television set containing a 3.6-kilogram (8-pound) TNT bomb had been placed on board in the lower, more-crowded decks.

An hour after its 11 p.m. sailing, just off either El Fraile or Corregidor Island an explosion tore through the vessel, starting a fire that engulfed the ship and caused the confirmed deaths of 63 people while another 53 were recorded as missing and presumed dead. Captain Ceferino Manzo issued the order to abandon ship at about 1:30 a.m. As the fire spread across the vessel most of the survivors jumped into the sea or boarded rescue boats and, by February 29, officials had accounted for 565 of the 744 recorded passengers and all but two of the 155 crew members.

In the days following the blast, the recovery of the dead and missing, calculated at around 180 on February 29, would be slow. Officials stated the missing may have been trapped inside the blazing ferry, have drowned in Manila Bay and that others may have been picked up by fishing boats. The recovery of bodies would take several months, with only four bodies recovered by Coast Guard divers from the half-submerged ferry in the first week, despite it having been towed to shallower waters near Mariveles town, west of Manila. At least another 12 bodies, some displaying blast injuries, were recovered by divers in the days up until the 7th. Eventually, 63 bodies would be recovered while another 53 would remain missing, presumed dead.

Investigation
Despite claims from various terrorist groups, the blast was initially thought to have been an accident, caused by a gas explosion, and sabotage was ruled out initially.

However, at the marine board of inquiry hearing in late March 2004, a safety supervisor with the ship's owner, WG&A, testified that about 150 survivors told him an explosion took place in the tourist section around the general area of bunk 51. The Captain of the ferry, Ceferino Manzo, testified in the same hearing that the entire tourist section was engulfed in "thick black smoke [that] smelled like gunpowder." After divers righted the ferry, five months after it sank, they found evidence of a bomb blast. A man named Redondo Cain Dellosa, a Rajah Sulaiman Movement member, confessed to planting a bomb, triggered by a timing device, on board for the Abu Sayyaf group.[5] He held a ticket on the ferry for bunk 51B, where the bomb was placed, and disembarked before the ship's departure.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced on October 11, 2004, that investigators had concluded that the explosion had been caused by a bomb. She said six suspects had been arrested in connection with the bombing and that the masterminds, Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman, were still at large. It was believed that Abu Sayyaf bombed Superferry 14 because the company that owned it, WG&A, did not comply with a letter demanding $1 million in protection money.

Arrest and deportation
Ruben Omar Pestano Lavilla, Jr., a listed terrorist of U.S. State Department, and founder of Philippine terror group Rajah Sulaiman Movement, was arrested in Bahrain on July 24, 2008. Anti-Terrorism Council Chairman Eduardo Ermita announced Lavilla, the alleged mastermind of the Superferry 14 bombing, was deported from Bahrain to the Philippines on August 30. Included in the sanctioned list of the United Nations Security Council, the RSM leader is also implicated in the February 14, 2005 bombings at Glorietta, and has pending murder case before the Makati City Regional Trial Court for the bombings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_SuperFerry_14_bombing

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 27 February


1748 HMS Lizard (14) wrecked on the Scilly Isles

HMS Lizard (1744) was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1744 and wrecked on 27 February 1747 (Some sources give 1748 but 1747 did not start on 1 January)

Merlin-class sloop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1835 HMS Firefly Schooner (5), Lt. John M'Donnell, wrecked on reef near Belize.

HMS Firefly (1828), a schooner wrecked on 27 February 1835 on the Northern Triangles, off Belize with the loss of thirteen of her 23 crew.


1869 – Launch of French Flore, 25, at Rochefort. Sail frigate converted to steam on the stocks while building


1870 – The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.



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


1892 – Launch of HMS Repulse was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy

HMS Repulse was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Assigned to the Channel Fleet, where she often served as a flagship, after commissioning in 1894, the ship participated in a series of annual manoeuvres, and the Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review during the rest of the decade. Repulse was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1902 and remained there until December 1903, when she returned home for an extensive refit. After its completion in 1905, Repulse was assigned to the Reserve Fleet until she was sold for scrap in 1911.

HMS Repulse (1892) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1928 - Pilot Cmdr. Theodore G. Ellyson (Naval Aviator No. 1) and crewmembers Lt. Cmdr. Hugo Schmidt and Lt. Roger S. Ransehousen died when their XOL-7 observation amphibian, BuNo A-7335, crashed into the Chesapeake Bay while en route from NAS Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Annapolis, Maryland.

Theodore Gordon Ellyson, USN (27 February 1885 – 27 February 1928), nicknamed "Spuds", was the first United States Navyofficer designated as an aviator ("Naval Aviator No. 1"). Ellyson served in the experimental development of aviation in the years before and after World War I. He also spent several years before the war as part of the Navy's new submarine service. A recipient of the Navy Cross for his antisubmarine service in World War I, Ellyson died in 1928 when his aircraft crashed over the Chesapeake Bay.



Commander Ellyson was killed on 27 February 1928, his 43rd birthday, in the crash of a Loening OL-7 aircraft in the lower Chesapeake Bay while on a night flight from Norfolk, Virginia, to Annapolis, Maryland. His body washed ashore and was recovered in April 1928. He was buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery, in Annapolis.

The Loening OL, also known as the Loening Amphibian, was an American two-seat amphibious biplane built by Loening for the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy.


U.S. Navy Loening OL-1A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_G._Ellyson

Loening OL - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1941 - The Action of 27 February 1941 was a single ship action between a New Zealand cruiser and an Italian auxiliary cruiser.

The Action of 27 February 1941 was a single ship action between a New Zealand cruiser and an Italian auxiliary cruiser. It began when HMNZS Leander ordered a flagless freighter to stop for an inspection. Instead of complying, the freighter, Ramb I, raised the Italian colours and engaged the cruiser, Leander sinking Ramb I shortly after. Most of the Italian crew were rescued and taken to Addu Atoll, then Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Leander patrolled southwards, to investigate more reports of commerce raiders.


HMNZS Leander

Action of 27 February 1941 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1942 Tembien – On 27 February 1942 the Italian steamer Tembien, carrying 498 British POWs in addition to 137 Italian and 20 German troops and crew, was torpedoed and sunk by HMS Upholder off Tripoli. 419 POWs, 68 Italians and 10 Germans were lost.

HMS Upholder (P37) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1944 - Three US Navy submarines sink three Japanese cargo ships: Grayback (SS 208) sinks Ceylon Maru in the East China Sea; Cod (SS 244) sinks Taisoku Maru west of Halmahera while Trout (SS 202) sinks Aki Maru.


1945 - Submarine USS Scabbardfish (SS 397) sinks Japanese guardboat No. 6 Kikau Maru, 100 miles northeast of Keelung, Formosa, while USS Blenny (SS 324) attacks a Japanese convoy off French Indochina and sinks merchant tanker Amato Maru off Cape Padaran.


1945 - Land-based patrol aircraft from VPB 112, along with others from three British vessels, HMS Labaun and HMS Loch Fada and HMS Wild Goose, sink German submarine U 327 in the English Channel.

 

[Jimsky]

27 February 2004 - SuperFerry 14 – an Islamist terrorist attack resulted in the sinking of the ferry SuperFerry 14 and the deaths of 116 people in the Philippines. It is regarded as the World's deadliest terrorist attack at sea.

At first, I put 'like' but then I realize: How could you like it? This is horrible...so sad

 

[Uwek]

At first, I put 'like' but then I realize: How could you like it? This is horrible...so sad

You are right. It is very often the case, that I am showing events, in which hundreds or even thousands of people lost their life.....in wars, in storms or even in this case because of a terror attack.
With a like, everybody will understand, that you do not like the event by itself, but you like that is posted.
It is important, to see, that the sea and the humans can be also very disastrous . The sea can be terrible and is not every time a friend

 

[Jimsky]

The sea can be terrible and is not every time a friend

the same philosophy can be applied to regular roads. Just look at how many accidents (some of them are fatal) happened every day on the roads no matter where you leave.

 

[Norway]

Uwe, I do not know if this is the thread you told about a Norwegian freeman who had collided with a tanker
Today during raising

 

[Uwek]

Uwe, I do not know if this is the thread you told about a Norwegian frigate who had collided with a tanker
Today day during raising
View attachment 79799View attachment 79800View attachment 79801View attachment 79802View attachment 79803View attachment 79804View attachment 79805View attachment 79806

Many thanks for the info.....it was not here, but in the „general topics“ area - please be so kind to post this info also there......many thanks - impressive cranes doing the salvage

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1758 - HMS Monmouth (64), Cptn. Arthur Gardiner (Killed in Action), and HMS Swiftsure (70), Cptn. Stanhope, took Foudroyant (80) off Toulon.


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


Capture of the Foudroyant by the British Monmouth, 28 February 1758. Painting by Francis Swaine, 1725–1782.
The 'Foudroyant' was a large and new 80-gun French flagship of a squadron under Admiral Duquesne. On 28 February 1758 she was on her way to relieve the French Commodore, de la Clue, at Cartagena when she was intercepted by Admiral Osborn with three British ships of the line, the 'Monmouth' and 'Hampton Court', both 64 guns, and the 'Swiftsure', 70 guns. The 'Monmouth' was the first of the separated British squadron to engage the 'Foudroyant', despite the disparity in force between the ships. The action began at 8.00 pm and at about 9.30 pm, the 'Monmouth's' commander, Captain Arthur Gardiner, was hit in the forehead by a piece of grape-shot. He was carried below and Lieutenant Robert Carkett assumed command. Shortly afterwards, the 'Monmouth' lost her mizzen, followed by the 'Foudroyant', which also lost her mainmast. By midnight, the Frenchman's fire had almost ceased and, on the arrival of the 'Swiftsure', which fired one broadside into her, she struck. The 'Monmouth' was unable to take possession of the 'Foudroyant' herself, since none of her boats would float and Captain Gardiner subsequently died from his wounds. 'Foudroyant' was taken into the Royal Navy after capture and during her working life was considered to be its finest two-decker. Several other ships were later named after her. The principal ships are shown in the moonlit path of the night action. The 'Foudroyant', in port-broadside view, is on the left of the picture, her main and mizzen mast gone and still firing at the 'Monmouth'. The latter, in the centre of the picture, also in port-bow view, and with her mizzen mast gone, is firing her starboard broadside. On her port bow, in the water, is what is probably her mizzen spars, and in the right background the 'Swiftsure' and 'Hampton Court' are overhauling the combatants. The artist was a painter and draughtsman who worked as a Navy Office messenger in 1735. He was practising as a marine painter by the late 1740s, and regularly exhibited in the Free and Incorporated Societies of Artists from 1761. His work was an interpretation of ideas made popular in England by Willem van de Velde the Younger's, but shows an informed knowledge of English shipping. The painting is signed but not dated.

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



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

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


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

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


HMS Foudroyant towing the Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 30 April 1782 by Dominic Serres

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

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

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


HMS Monmouth was a 66-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and was likely named for James, Duke of Monmouth. She served from 1667 to 1767, winning ten battle honours over a century of active service. She was rebuilt a total of three times during her career—each time effectively becoming a completely new ship.



She was built at Chatham Dockyard in 1667 by Phineas Pett II—seeing action whilst still in the Thames, during the Raid on the Medway, and fought at the Battle of Solebay in 1672, shortly followed by the Battle of Texel in 1673. She fought at the Battle of Barfleur in 1692. Monmouth underwent her first rebuild at Woolwich Dockyard in 1700, remaining a 66-gun ship. She fought at the Battle of Vigo Bay in 1702 under Admiral John Baker who was also captain at the Capture of Gibraltar and the Battle of Málaga in 1704.

In 1707, she had belonged to Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet. She saw action during the unsuccessful Battle of Toulon and was present during the great naval disaster off the Isles of Scilly when Shovell and four of his ships (Association, Firebrand, Romney and Eagle) were lost, claiming the lives of nearly 2,000 sailors. Monmouth suffered little to no damage and finally managed to reach Portsmouth.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and a basic superimposed longitudinal half-breadth for Revenge (1742) and Monmouth (1742), both 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan includes a table of dimensions.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines (faint) with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth with deck detail for Monmouth (1742), a 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker, built at Deptford.

Her second rebuild was carried out at Portsmouth Dockyard, where she was increased to a 70-gun ship built according to the 1706 Establishment, and relaunched on 3 June 1718. On 7 September 1739 Monmouth was ordered to be taken to pieces and rebuilt for what was to be the final time at Deptford according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment. She was relaunched on 6 September 1742.

In 1747, she fought at Finisterre and Ushant. On 2 March 1747 Monmouth, Captain Henry Harrison, brought into Plymouth a French privateer of 20 carriage guns and eight swivel guns. The privateer was the Comte de Maurepas and capturing her required a chase of three days. At about the same time Monmouth captured the privateer Queen of Hungary.

In 1758 Monmouth captured the larger French ship Foudroyant. After Monmouth's captain was severely wounded and taken below, the two ship's lieutenants fought the vessel. Lt Hammick was the captain of the main gundeck and a poem was composed by the ship's company which ran: "Whilst gallant Hammick points his guns with care, not one random shot he fires in the air....etc." The captain of the Foudroyant, after surrendering his ship to the Monmouth, preferred to hand his sword to the two lieutenants for whom he had the greatest admiration. In a small twist of fate, the Foudroyant was later to be commanded by Nelson - who was a cousin of Lt Hammick.

Monmouth was also present at Belle Île in 1761.

After a hundred years of service, she was finally broken up in 1767; a newspaper of the time gave her epitaph as

“	There was no ship she ever chased that she did not overtake: there was no enemy she ever fought that she did not capture.

HMS Swiftsure was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1755 and in active service during the Seven Years' War. After a distinguished career at sea she was decommissioned in 1763 and sold into private hands ten years later.



Construction
Swiftsure was built at Deptford Dockyard to the specifications of the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 25 May 1750.


Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for a 70-gun Second Rate, two-decker, resolved on 5 and 8 July, and 5 August 1745 by Sir John Norris and other flag officers and gentlemen appointed to settle a new establishement for building ships of the Royal Navy. Later used for 'Grafton' (1750), 'Somerset' (1748), 'Northumberland' (1750), 'Orford' (1749), 'Swiftsure' (1750), 'Vanguard' (1748), and 'Buckingham' (1751), all 70-gun (later 68-gun) Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by Joseph Allin/Allen [Master Shipwright, Deptford Dockyard, 1742-1746], John Ward [Master Shipwright Chatham Dockyard, 1732-1752], Peirson Lock [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1742-1755 (died)], John Holland [Master Shipwright, Woolwich Dockyard, 1742-1746], and John Pooke [Master Shipwright, Sheerness Dockyard, 1742-1751].

Naval service
Swiftsure was commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1755, under Captain Augustus Keppel. In 1756 her command was transferred to Captain Matthew Buckle, and she was assigned first to the fleet under Admiral Henry Osborn, and then to that of Edward Boscawen. In company with HMS Monmouth she engaged and captured the French ship of the line Le Foudroyant in 1758. In 1759 she was again with Admiral Boscawen at Lagos, and at Quiberon Bay later that year, and at the capture of Belle Îlein 1761.

She was sold on 2 June 1773.

HMS Foudroyant (1758) - Wikipedia

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HMS Monmouth (1667) - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

HMS Swiftsure (1750) - Wikipedia

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https://collectio

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1758 - HMS Montagu and HMS Monarch (74), Cptn. John Montagu, drove ashore French Oriflamme (50) near Cape de Gato


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



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


French career

The oriflamme of the Capetian dynasty.

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

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

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

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

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

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


HMS Montagu was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard to the standard draught for 60-gun ships as specified by the 1745 Establishment, amended in 1750, and launched on 15 September 1757.



On 31 January 1759 Montagu and Deptford chased a French privateer that Montague captured the next day. The privateer was Marquis de Martigny, of Granville. She had a crew of 104 men under the command of M. Le Crouse, and was armed with twenty 6-pounder guns.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for building the Montague (1757), a 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. This replaced the previous ship called Montague (1714). The plan includes alterations to the quarterdeck ports and bulkheads dated 17 June 1751.

Then on 15 February, Montagu captured the French privateer cutter Hardi Mendicant, of Dunkirk. Hardi Mendicant had a crew of 60 men under the command of M. Jean Meuleauer, and was armed with eight 6-pounder guns.

Montague served until 1774, when she was sunk to form part of a breakwater.


The Monarch was originally the 74-gun ship of the line Monarque of the French Navy launched in March 1747. Captured on 14 October 1747, she was taken into Royal Navy service as the third rate HMS Monarch.



Monarque was built during the War of the Austrian Succession at Brest to a design by Blaise Ollivier, but lasted only a few months in French service. She was captured by the British just three months after being completed, one of several prizes taken by Sir Edward Hawke's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Brought into the Royal Navy, she was used for the rest of the War of the Austrian Succession as a guardship and to carry troops. She saw service during the Seven Years' War, forming part of fleets sent to North America and the Mediterranean under Hawke, Boscawen and Osborn, and being commanded at one stage by future admiral George Rodney.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration detail and name in a cartouche, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Monarch' (1747), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off prior to fitting as a 74-gun Third Rate two-decker. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 54, states that 'Monarch' arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 October 1747 and was docked on 2 June 1748. She was undocked on 3 June 1748 having been surveyed. The Admiralty Order dated 25 November 1747 to survey the ship was cancelled on 5 July 1748. A new Admiralty Order dated 8 July 1748 was sent to survey and cost the repairs. She was re-docked on 13 December 1748 and undocked on 28 March 1749 having undergone small repairs and being fitted.

Monarch was the scene of the execution of Admiral Sir John Byng, who had been sentenced to death for failing to do his utmost during the Battle of Minorca (1756), and was shot on Monarch's quarterdeck on 14 March 1757. Monarch went out to the Mediterranean during the last years of the Seven Years' War, and played a role in the British victory at the Battle of Cartagena. She returned home and was reduced to harbour service, and was finally sold for breaking up in 1760.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the stern board with one half illustrating the decoration detail, the starboard quarter gallery with decoration, and the figurehead for 'Monarch' (1747), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off prior to fitting as a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 54, states that 'Monarch' arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 October 1747 and was docked on 2 June 1748. She was undocked on 3 June 1748 having been surveyed. The Admiralty Order dated 25 November 1747 to survey the ship was cancelled on 5 July 1748. A new Admiralty Order dated 8 July 1748 was sent to survey and cost the repairs. She was re-docked on 13 December 1748 and undocked on 28 March 1749 having undergone small repairs and being fitted.

French ship Oriflamme (1744) - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Monarch_(1747)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

HMS Montagu (1757) - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1760 - Battle of Bishops Court
British squadron, under Cptn. Elliot, defeated a French squadron, under François Thurot (Killed in Action), off the Isle of Man.


The Battle of Bishops Court, also known as The Defeat of Thurot, was a naval engagement that took place 28 February 1760, during the Seven Years' War, between three British ships and three French ships. The French force under famed commander François Thurot were brought to battle in the Irish sea between the Isle of Man and the coast of Ireland at 9 am. After a close-fought action, Thurot's force was battered into submission, with his ships dismasted and reduced to a sinking condition. Thurot was shot through the heart and died during the action. The British took all three French ships, completing victory.


The Gallant Action off the Isle of Man where the brave Captain Elliott defeated Thurot 28th of February 1760'.



Background
Further information: Battle of Carrickfergus (1760)
Between 21–26 February 1760, under the command of the Privateer François Thurot, a force consisting of the ships Maréchal de Belle-Isle, Terpsichore and Blonde arrived off the coast of Ireland. They landed 600 French troops and overwhelmed the small garrison of Carrickfergus in Ireland and captured its castle.[5] Thurot held the town for five days but in the face of large numbers of local militia under General Strode, and the appearance of a Royal Navy squadron off the coast, Thurot re-embarked his force and departed the town.

Knowing where Thurot was, the British soon came to action. The port of Liverpool, which had improved its defences when news of Thurot's likely intentions emerged the previous autumn, called in reinforcements, and more Royal Navy ships were dispatched from Portsmouth and Plymouth. In January, two extra Royal Navy frigates, HMS Pallas under Captain Clements and HMS Brilliantunder Captain Logie had already been ordered to join the defensive force in the Irish Sea, and were then at the port of Kinsale. The alarm reached them on 24 February, and they set out within hours, in company with HMS Æolus (Captain John Elliott, who commanded the squadron). They passed Dublin on the morning of 26 February, but bad weather prevented them from entering Belfast Lough that evening. Thurot took advantage of this and escaped.

Action
On the night of 27–28 February the Royal Navy squadron, having perhaps heard local claims that the next target of the raiders was to be Whitehaven in Cumberland, headed south-east to round the Mull of Galloway in southern Scotland. There they caught sight of the three French frigates, anchored at the entrance of Luce Bay. To avoid being trapped in the bay, Thurot's squadron set sail for the south-east, towards the Isle of Man.[2] Elliot in Æolus, the leader of the British squadron, caught up with the Maréchal de Belle-Isle around sunrise and battle began, within sight of the Mull of Galloway and Jurby Head on Isle of Man.

After the first broadsides, Thurot tried to grapple Æolus so he could use his troops to board. All he achieved, however, was the loss of his bowsprit and many men on deck from British small-arms fire. Æolus fired a second broadside and, neatly, fell back so that the other two Royal Navy vessels could also fire at the Belle-Isle.[6]

Æolus resumed the fight; Captain Thurot with great bravery having lost one of his arms rejected the proposal of some of his officers to surrender. When told that water was fast rising through a hole pierced by a ball from the Æolus, said, Never mind it, go on, but then he fell by a grape shot through his chest. Lieutenant Forbes of the Æolus, perceiving the Bellisle's deck to have been adequately thinned of men, as most remaining were below in great confusion, jumped into her with about twenty five sailors and marines and struck the colors with his own hand.

Meanwhile, Pallas and Brilliant went to deal with the remaining French vessels, one of which, Terpsichore under Captain Dessauaudais attempted to escape but was easily caught by Pallas, overhauled and captured. Brilliant then overhauled and captured the thirty six gun Blonde under Captain La Kayce which had 400 men.

At some point Thurot's corpse was thrown overboard with many others, but was retrieved and brought ashore by the British. With this last capture, Elliot had gained a complete victory.

Aftermath


Scene of Ramsey Bay after the battle – by Richard Wright

As well as the loss of three frigates the French casualties were high; 300 all told, many of them soldiers with another 1,000 captured. The French prisoners were so numerous that Elliot had to use a snow in Whitehaven to carry them to Carrickfergus. British casualties were trifling Aeolus had 4 killed, 15 wounded; Pallas 1 killed, 5 wounded and Brilliant with 11 wounded.

Elliot had thirty French officers, who he took to Plymouth. The other French prisoners were brought to Ramsey, and then to Belfast, where they arrived on March 2. On May 10, they were freed and transported to France. The three victorious British captains were unanimously voted the thanks of the Irish House of Commons and the Blonde and Terpsichore were purchased into the Royal Navy.

Thurot was buried with full honours in the churchyard of Kirkmaiden, at the expense of the local lord, Sir William Maxwell, who also served as chief mourner. The artist, Richard Wright, witnessed the battle and produced paintings showing the action[7] and the aftermath, which were both made into engravings. Ballads were written about the battle, and a biography of Thurot by the Reverend John Francis Durand was in the shops by June, in two editions priced at 1s or 6½d. Despite the author's claims to have known Thurot for years, the work consisted mostly of old news stories and outright fabrications.

A memorial to the battle, called Mount Æolus, consisting of two cannons and the bowsprit of the Belle-Isle, which washed ashore on the Manx coast near Bishopscourt, was built in the grounds of Bishopscourt, Isle of Man. The wooden bowsprit was later replaced by an inscribed stone pillar.



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1778 – Launch of French Courageuse, a 12-pounder Concorde class frigate of the French Navy


Courageuse was a 12-pounder Concorde class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1778. The British captured her in 1799 and thereafter used her as a receiving ship or prison hulk at Malta before breaking her up in 1802.



Career
In 1790, under Captain de Grasse-Briançon, Courageuse was part of the Toulon squadron under Vice-admiral de Poute de Nieuil. From 2 August, she ferried troops and civil commissioners to Corsica, and cruised in the area before making a port call to Ajaccio and eventually returning to Toulon on 30 October.

In 1792, under Captain de La Croix de Saint-Vallier, Courageuse sailed off Smyrna, Saloniki and Tripoli, returning to Smyrna on 6 December. In January 1793, she escorted a convoy to Marseille, and from there returned to Toulon, arriving on 12 May.

Courageuse took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver in the winter of 1794-1795, under Captain Dalbarade. She was part of the naval division under Rear-admiral Renaudin, which arrived in Toulon on 2 April 1795.

In the summer of 1795, she was part of the station of the Gulf of Roses, under Lieutenant Pourquier, supporting the Army of the Pyrenees in the Siege of Roses. On 9 July, she defended herself against a Spanish squadron, composed of 16 gunboats, supported by three frigates and two ships of the line. Courageuse, supported by artillery fire from French-held forts, successfully fended off the attack.

In the fleet of Toulon, Courageuse took part in the Mediterranean campaign of 1798; after the Battle of the Nile, she was armed en flûte and ferried supplies for the French Army in Egypt and Syria.

Under Captain Trullet, Courageuse was part of the Syrian naval station under Rear-admiral Perrée. She ferried artillery and ammunition of the French Army besieging Acre; on 9 April 1799, she captured the British gunboat Foudre.

HMS Centaur captured Courageuse in the Action of 18 June 1799.

Fate
French sources report that Courageuse was used as a prison hulk for French prisoners at Port Mahon.

British sources report that the British commissioned HMS Courageuse under Commander John Richards. She served as a receiving ship until at least 1803. Alternatively, served as a receiving or prison ship at Malta where she was broken up in 1802.

Note
A few weeks after Centaur captured Courqageuse, HMS Alcmene captured the French privateer Courageux near the Azores. She may have come into Gibraltar and have been taken into service as HMS Lutine. She was sold for breaking up at the Peace of Amiens. The coincidence of two prizes with almost identical names being at the same place at the same time and both being taken into the Royal Navy in the theatre has resulted in some confusion of the vessels. The capture on 29 March 1800 of a Courageux that was taken into Minorca, and the existence in 1800 of a French naval brig at Toulon named Courageux only adds to the confusion.


An image of the French frigate Hermione in combat by Auguste Louis de Rossel de Cercy.

The Concorde class was a type of 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed by Henri Chevillard,[a][3] carrying 12-pounder long guns as their main armament. Three ships of this type were built between 1778 and 1779, and served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.

The class is noteworthy for comprising a fourth unit, Hermione (2014), laid down in 1997 and launched in 2014; she is a replica ship of Hermione (1779), famous for ferrying General Lafayette and for her role in the Naval battle of Louisbourg under the command of Lieutenant de Latouche, who would rise to become Vice-admiral Latouche-Tréville.

Ships

• Concorde

Builder: Rochefort
Begun: April 1777
Launched: 3 September 1777
Completed: January 1778
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 15 February 1783. Sold on 21 February 1811.

• Courageuse

Builder: Rochefort
Begun: September 1777
Launched: 28 February 1778
Completed: April 1778
Fate: Captured by HMS Centaur in the Action of 18 June 1799

• Hermione

Builder: Rochefort
Begun: March 1778
Launched: 28 April 1779
Completed: June 1779
Fate: Ran aground and wrecked due to a navigation error of her pilot at Croisic on 20 September 1793[4]

• Hermione

Builder: Rochefort
Begun: 1997
Launched: 2012


To get more information about the shipsclass and the Hermione we recommend the planset review

HERMIONE
12-Pdr frigate of the American War of Independence 1779-1793
in scale 1:48
by Jean Claude Lemineur with assistance by Patrick Villiers

Planset review - HERMIONE - 12-Pdr frigate of the American War of Independence 1779-1793" in scale 1:48 by JC Lemineur

PLanset Review: HERMIONE 12-Pdr frigate of the American War of Independence 1779-1793 in scale 1:48 by Jean Claude Lemineur with assistance by Patrick Villiers Translated by François Fougerat This monographie is available from ancre in different languages, which can be choosen -...

shipsofscale.com

and

the book review

L´HERMIONE / HERMIONE
Lafayette and La Touche-Treville, two men and a frigate serving American Independence
A study accompanied by historical documents from 1764 to 1793

Book review - Book Review: "L´HERMIONE - Lafayette and La Touche-Treville, two men and a frigate serving American Independence" by Patrick Villiers

Book Review: L´HERMIONE / HERMIONE Lafayette and La Touche-Treville, two men and a frigate serving American Independence A study accompanied by historical documents from 1764 to 1793 by Patrick Villiers with particpation of J.C. Lemineur Translated by Francois Fougerat available from...

shipsofscale.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Courageuse_(1778)

Concorde-class frigate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1797 - HMS Terpsichore (32), Cptn. Sir Richard Bowen, engaged Santissima Trinidad (136) damaged at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent


HMS Terpsichore was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, in a career that spanned forty-five years.

Terpsichore was launched in 1785, but was not prepared for active service until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She was initially sent to serve in the West Indies where in 1794 Captain Richard Bowen took command. Bowen commanded Terpsichore until his death in 1797, and several of her most memorable exploits occurred during his captaincy. Terpsichore served mostly in the Mediterranean, capturing three frigates, and in 1797 went as far as to attack the damaged Spanish first rate Santísima Trinidad, as she limped away from the Battle of Cape St Vincent. The Santísima Trinidad mounted 136 guns to Terpsichore's 32, and was the largest warship in the world at time. Terpsichore inflicted several casualties, before abandoning the attack. Terpsichore passed through several commanders after Bowen's death at Tenerife, and went out to the East Indies, where her last commander was Captain William Augustus Montagu. Montagu fought an action with a large French frigate in 1808, and though he was able to outfight her, he was not able to capture her. Terpsichore returned to Britain the following year, and spent the last years of the war laid up in ordinary. She survived in this state until 1830, when she was broken up.


Capture of the Mahonesa by HMS Terpsichore Octr. 13th 1796 (Print) (PAD5511)

Construction and commissioning
Terpsichore was ordered from James Betts, of Mistleythorn on 29 July 1782 and laid down there in November that year. She was launched on 29 July 1785 and completed between 31 January and November 1786, at a cost of £8,295.18.3d, with a further £104.15.2d spent on her boats, plus £4,025 for fitting out and coppering. The war with America was over by the time she was ready for service, and with no immediate use for her with the draw-down of the navy, Terpsichore was placed in ordinary at Chatham


Model of the Santísima Trinidad at the Museo Naval de Madrid


Santísima Trinidad
Bowen was at Gibraltar when news of Jervis's victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent arrived. He immediately set out to join the fleet, and having fallen in with several other British frigates, including HMS Emerald, came across the Spanish first rate Santísima Trinidad. The Spanish ship was flying the Union Jack above her own colours, indicating that she was in the hands of a British prize-crew, but the bad weather meant no meaningful exchange could take place between the frigates and the Spanish vessel, and it was suspected that the British colours were being used as a ruse de guerre. After the frigates lost sight of the ship in bad weather, Bowen hurried to report the sighting to Jervis. While returning to his station he again fell in with the Santísima Trinidad, and determined to see if she would surrender to him. He opened fire on the massive Spanish vessel, at the time the world's largest warship, carrying 136-guns on four decks, over a hundred more guns than the Terpsichore. The Spanish ship resisted Bowen's fire, and he broke off the attack. It was later discovered that Bowen's attack had killed nine men, and left a number of others badly wounded.

HMS Terpsichore (1785) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 February 1799 - Action of 28 February 1799
HMS Sybille (44), Cptn. Edward Cooke (Killed in Action) captured French frigate Forte, Cptn. Beaulieu-Leloup, off Bengal River

The Action of 28 February 1799 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off the mouth of the Hooghly River in the Bay of Bengal between the French frigate Forte and the Royal Navy frigate HMS Sybille. Forte was an exceptionally large and powerful ship engaged on a commerce raiding operation against British merchant shipping off the port of Calcutta in British India. To eliminate this threat, Sybille was sent from Madras in pursuit. Acting on information from released prisoners, Edward Cooke, captain of Sybille, was sailing off Balasore when distant gunfire alerted him to the presence of Forte on the evening of 28 February. The French frigate was discovered at anchor in the sandbanks at the mouth of the Hooghly with two recently captured British merchant ships.


Capture of 'La Forte', 28 February 1799 (Print) (PAD5620)

For unclear reasons the French captain Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu did not properly prepare Forte to receive the attack from Cooke's frigate and he was consequently killed in the first raking broadside from the British ship. Forte's crew continued to resist for more than two hours, only surrendering when their ship had been reduced to a battered wreck and more than a third of the crew killed or wounded. British losses by contrast were light, although Cooke had been struck by grape shot during the height of the action and suffered a lingering death three months later from his wounds. The captured merchant ships subsequently escaped under their French prize crews while Cooke's executive officer Lieutenant Lucius Hardyman repaired Sybille and Forte. Hardyman took both ships into Calcutta, where Forte was commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name, although the frigate was accidentally wrecked in the Red Sea two years later.

Background
In the spring of 1796 the Royal Navy enjoyed naval supremacy in the East Indies, the French Navy presence limited to two frigates loosely blockaded in Port Louis on Île de France. In April 1796 reinforcements were sent from Rochefort comprising four frigates commanded by Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey. The squadron avoided the blockade and arrived at Île de France in July and sailed eastwards during the summer, intending to raid British trading ports in the East Indies. On 9 September the squadron was intercepted and driven off by a British squadron off the northeastern coast of Sumatra, sheltering in Batavia over the winter. In January Sercey sailed once more, encountering on 28 January in the Bali Strait a fleet of six East Indiamen bound to China from Colombo. In the ensuing Bali Strait Incident the British commander managed to deceive Sercey into believing that the fleet was made up of warships, the French admiral retreating back to Île de France.

Sercey's flagship during these operations was the 40-gun frigate Forte. Forte, commanded by the elderly Captain Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu, had been built in 1794 based on the hull and frame of a ship of the line: the frigate weighed 1,400 tons bm, the largest purpose-built frigate at sea. The main battery of Forte consisted of 28 24-pounder long guns, only the second frigate ever built (after Pomone) which could manage such a heavy armament. This was augmented by fourteen 8-pounder long guns on the upper deck and eight 36-pounder carronades on the quarterdeck, totaling 52 heavy cannon complemented by eight 1-pounder swivel guns. Uniquely, the sides of the ship were lined with cork matting to prevent splinters while the more common precaution had been taken of stringing netting over the deck to protect the crew from falling debris. The ship was however weakened by an ill-disciplined crew, and Sercey had expressed doubts about the ability of the aged Beaulieu.

After Sercey returned to Île de France his squadron broke up. Four ships were sent back to France in 1797 and 1798 as Île de France could no longer supply repairs, manpower or provisions in support of Sercey. This dispersal of the squadron was encouraged by the Colonial Assembly of Île de France and Governor Malartic neither of whom were well-disposed to the Directory then ruling France. With his remaining crews becoming rebellious, Sercey sent Forte and Prudente on a commerce raiding operation during the autumn of 1798, during which they achieved some success in the Bay of Bengal. By the time this force returned to Île de France Sercey had sailed to Batavia, leaving instructions for Forte and Prudente to follow him. Malartic countermanded this order, seizing Prudente and selling the frigate to a privateer concern and ordering Forte to operate independently in the Bay of Bengal in the autumn of 1798. Sercey was furious, but could do nothing to alter Malartic's arrangements.

At the start of 1799 the Bay of Bengal was largely undefended. The British naval commander, Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier, had taken most of his ships westwards to the Red Sea to participate in opposition to Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt, leaving only a single frigate to protect trade shipping in the region. This ship was the 40-gun HMS Sybille, a large, powerful ship captured from the French at the Battle of Mykonos in 1794. Weighing more than 1,000 tons bm and with a maindeck battery of 28 18-pounder long guns supplemented by six 9-pounder long guns and fourteen 32-pounder cannonades, Sybille was a formidable ship, but significantly weaker than the massive Forte. Many of Sybille's crew had fallen ill while the ship had been stationed at Calcutta, leaving her undermanned. To compensate, the crew had been augmented by a detachment from the frigate HMS Fox and soldiers from the Scotch Brigade. In command was Captain Edward Cooke, who had distinguished himself early in the war by negotiating the surrender of the French Mediterranean port city of Toulon in 1793. This action, under threat of execution by the Republican faction in the city, led to the Siege of Toulon and the destruction of almost half of the French Mediterranean Fleet. In January 1798 Cooke and Sybille had participated in the successful Raid on Manila.

Battle
Forte's raiding cruise initially proved devastating. The usual raiding season had passed, and the shipping transiting the mouth of the Hooghly River was unprepared for Beaulieu's assault. In rapid succession Forte seized the local-trading country ships Recovery, Yarmouth, Chance and Surprise. Beaulieu was forced to send 143 sailors away as prize crews, reducing the complement on Forte by a quarter. Beaulieu had also only just missed a major convoy from the Cape Colony, escorted only by HMS Sceptre. The Canton East Indiamen Endeavour and Lord Mornington were taken off Balasore on 28 February, after coming under fire from Forte's bow chasers. The gunfire attracted the attention of Sybille, which was returning to Calcutta after transporting Lord Mornington, Governor-General of India, to Madras. Sybille had sailed on 19 February with instructions to search for Forte. On 23 February Cooke had encountered a cartel sent to Madras by Beaulieu and brought the ship into Balasore on 26 February. At 20:30, while sailing to the southeast, flashes were seen on the northeast horizon. Although this was initially dismissed as lightning, it continued until 21:00, convincing Cooke that it had another cause. Turning to the northeast, he took Sybille to investigate.

At 21:30 Forte and the captured merchant ships were visible from Sybille, Forte brilliantly illuminated in the tropical night. Cooke brought Sybille westwards in order to take the weather gage before wearing and bearing down on the French ship, under a light wind from the southwest. Despite the illumination on the French ship, Sybille's sails were clearly identified on Forte but Beaulieu gave no orders to prepare for action: he seems to have thought that the sails belonged to an approaching East Indiaman despite the concerns of his officers, or that he wished to lure Sybille close enough to ensure its defeat in the coming engagement.

At approximately midnight Forte slowly moved to the lee of Sybille, firing a small broadside at long range at the British ship's bow, accompanied by scattered fire from the French prize crews on the merchant ships. Apart from damage to the jib, Sibylle remained unharmed, advancing silently and in darkness. French fire continued with little effect, allowing Cooke to bring Sybille within 25 yards (23 m) of the stern of Forte at 12:45 and fire a raking broadside, followed by a second as the British ship pulled alongside the French frigate. The cannon were complemented by musketry from the soldiers aboard, which swept the exposed deck of Forte. The damage to the French ship was catastrophic: guns were smashed from their carriages and dozens of men killed and more wounded, the dead including Beaulieu and his first lieutenant.

Despite their losses the French survivors returned to the remaining guns, although most of their first broadside scattered into the sea, and at least some of their shot was misdirected towards the merchant ships. The French gunners aimed too high however, most of their shot tearing through the rigging of Sybille while the British broadsides slammed into the hull of Forte. This problem was partly attributed to the French gun quoins which had been replaned three days earlier, exacerbated by the lack of suitable gun crews which meant that many of the upperdeck guns were unmanned. The French gunners were also more used to firing warning shots at distant merchant ships and may not have realised that their guns needed to be depressed for combat at point blank range.

For the next hour and a half the frigates poured shot into one another at close range, until Cooke was struck by grape shot at 01:30 on 1 March, replaced by his first lieutenant Lucius Hardyman. For another hour the action continued, French fire gradually slackening until it stopped completely at 02:30, by which time only four French guns remained operational. Hardyman hailed to ask whether Forte had surrendered but the French did not reply and he ordered another broadside. A second hail also brought no response but sailors were seen attempting to repair the rigging on Forte. Concerned that the French were attempting to escape, Hardyman concentrated his fire on the masts of Forte, bringing them crashing down one by one until at 03:00 Forte was completely dismasted. With all resistance ended, British merchant prisoners on board Forte emerged from below decks and hailed Sybille, requesting a boat be sent across so that British Lieutenant Nicholas Manger could formally take the surrender of the French ship.



Aftermath
Damage to Forte was extensive. The stern and side facing Sybille had been beaten in by gunfire as more than 300 shot holes combined to form gaping holes in hull above the waterline. As well as the masts the bulkheads had been smashed apart and all deck furniture blasted to splinters. 65 of the crew had been killed, including Captain Beaulieu, and approximately 80 wounded, more than a third of the crew listed as casualties; many of the wounded later died from the effects of amputation. Damages to Sybille were considerably lighter: only six shot had struck the hull in the entire battle: one gun was dismounted, but the worst damage was to Cooke's cabin where a round shot had destroyed most of his furniture. In addition, most of the damage to the masts and rigging proved superficial. Just five crew were killed outright, with another 17 wounded, the latter including Cooke. The British captain had been struck in the left arm, the shot exiting near his spine, with additional injuries to the chest and right arm. He eventually died after a long and agonising deterioration at Calcutta on 25 May 1799 and was buried under a monument with full military honours. A memorial was subsequently placed in Westminster Abbey in his memory.

In the initial aftermath of victory, Hardyman attempted to lure the captured merchant ships close to Sybille by raising the French tricolor over the British ensign. Lord Mornington took the bait and closed with the British ship. However when Sybille gave chase the prizes fled, the fatigued British crew unable to effectively pursue after losing their damaged cross-jack yard. Forte had lost its anchors in the battle and was consequently lashed to Sybille. Repairs to the combatants took two days, particularly the fitting of jury masts on Forte, before Hardyman was comfortable making the journey up the Hooghly to Calcutta for more permanent repairs. Hardyman was commended for the victory, promoted to commander and then later post captain. Forte was subsequently taken into service in the Royal Navy under the same name as a 44-gun fifth rate frigate with Hardyman in command. Forte continued in service in the Indian Ocean under Hardyman until June 1801, when the frigate was wrecked on the Arabian Red Sea coast near Jeddah. Nearly five decades after the battle, the Admiralty recognised the action with the clasp "SYBILLE 28 FEBRUARY 1799" attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.

The battle has been considered by British historians as an unusual engagement marked by extremely disciplined fire from Sybille, the product of unusually extensive gunnery training by Cooke and complemented by the musket fire of the soldiers which affected the accuracy of the French gunners. Naval historian William James wrote that "the action of the Sibylle [sic] and Forte was gallantly fought on both sides, but skilfully fought on one side only; the weaker side, and, by the due exercise of that skill, the one which was ultimately successful.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_28_February_1799

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