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

6th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 5 March 1800 – 36-gun frigate HMS Phoebe captures the 22-gun privateer Heureux Heureux was a 22-gun French privateer brig that the British captured in 1800. She served with the Royal Navy as the 22-gun post ship HMS Heureux. She...

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1780 – Launch of French Vénus, a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.
The Vénus was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.
She was launched in Saint-Malo in 1780. Her main duties were escorting convoys between Île de Ré, Nantes and Brest. In this capacity, she captured a British privateer on 16 June.
She was wrecked on 5 August 1781 near Glénan Islands, off Concarneau, when she ran aground due to a navigation error of the pilot. The crew was saved, but in spite of efforts to refloat her, she became a total loss.

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

1787 – Launch of HMS Vanguard, a 74-gun Arrogant-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS Vanguard was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 March 1787 at Deptford. She was the sixth vessel to bear the name.
In December 1797, Captain Edward Berry was appointed flag captain, flying Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson's flag.

Victory, Captain, Agamemnon, Vanguard & Elephant (Print) (PAD5986)


1808, March 6–8 – HMS San Fiorenzo captures French frigate Piémontaise
The Piémontaise was a 40-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. She served as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean until her capture in March 1808. She then served with the British Royal Navy in the East Indies until she was broken up in Britain in 1813.

HMS St Fiorenzo capturing Piémontaise on 9 March 1808

San Fiorenzo (far left) and Nymphe (second from right) capture Résistance and Constance, 9 March 1797. Oil painting by Nicholas Pocock.


1809 – Launch of HMS Malacca, an Apollo-class frigate of the Royal Navy that the Admiralty ordered from the British East India Company to be built at Prince of Wales Island (Penang), under the name Penang.
HMS Malacca was an Apollo-class frigate of the Royal Navy that the Admiralty ordered from the British East India Company to be built at Prince of Wales Island (Penang), under the name Penang. Prior to her launch in 1809 the Admiralty changed her name to Malacca, but she sailed to England in 1810 as Penang. The Navy commissioned her as Malacca in 1810 and sent her out to the East Indies. She had a brief career there, participating in one small punitive expedition, before she was paid-off in 1815 and broken up in 1816.

1836, March 6 – Texas schooner Liberty captures the Mexican schooner Pelicano
The Texas schooner Liberty was one of the four schooners of the First Texas Navy (1836–1838). She served in the Texas Navy for only about 6 months, capturing the Mexican brig Pelicano loaded with weapons for their army in Texas. Later that year, she sailed to New Orleans accompanying the wounded Sam Houston, where she was repaired. Texas was unable to pay for the repairs and the ship was sold in June, 1836, to pay for the cost of the repairs. This left the Texas Navy with only three ships.

1874 – Launch of The corbeta (corvette) ARA Uruguay, built in England, is the largest ship afloat of its age in the Armada de la República Argentina (Argentine Navy)
The corbeta (corvette) ARA Uruguay, built in England, is the largest ship afloat of its age in the Armada de la República Argentina (Argentine Navy), with more than 140 years passed since its commissioning in September 1874. The last of the legendary squadron of President Sarmiento, the Uruguay took part in revolutions, ransoms, expeditions, rescues, and was even floating headquarters of the Navy School. During its operational history 1874–1926 the Uruguay has served as a gunboat, school ship, expedition support ship, Antarctic rescue ship, fisheries base supply ship, and hydrographic survey vessel, and is now a museum ship in Buenos Aires. This ship may be the oldest in South America having been built in 1874 at Laird Bros. (now Cammell Laird) shipyard of Birkenhead, England, at a cost of £32,000. This ship is rigged to a barque sailplan (three masts, two of which have cross spars). The ship's steel hull is lined in teak.
The ship's namesake is an earlier Argentine Navy schooner, a seven-gun combatant in the Battle of Juncal, 1827.

1938 - spanish Canarias-class heavy cruiser Baleares sunk by the Lepanto - 765 seamen died.
Baleares was a Canarias-class heavy cruiser of the Spanish Navy. The two ships of the class were built upon a British design and were a modified version of the Royal Navy′s County class. Baleares was constructed in Spain by the Vickers-Armstrongs subsidiary Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, and saw service during the Spanish Civil War, when she was torpedoed and sunk by destroyers of the Spanish Republican Navy during the Battle of Cape Palos.

1940 – Launch of French Jean Bart, a French battleship of World War II, named for the 17th-century seaman, privateer, and corsair Jean Bart.
Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II, named for the 17th-century seaman, privateer, and corsair Jean Bart. She was the second Richelieu-class battleship. Derived from the Dunkerque class, Jean Bart (and her sister ship Richelieu) were designed to fight the new battleships of the Italian Navy. Their speed, shielding, armament, and overall technology were state of the art, but they had a rather unusual main battery armament arrangement, with two 4-gun turrets forward and none aft.
Jean Bart was incomplete when France surrendered to Germany in June 1940. She sailed from Saint-Nazaire to Casablanca just before the Armistice. She was sunk in harbour in 1942. After the war she was re-floated, completed with an updated anti-aircraft battery, and entered service in 1955. She had a very short career: Jean Bart was put into reserve in 1957, decommissioned in 1961, and scrapped in 1969.

Jean Bart in the harbor of Casablanca, photographed by a plane from USS Ranger. Turret number two was not yet operational.


1943 - Battle of Blackett Strait - an American task force intercepts 2 Japanese destroyers and sinks them both.
The Battle of Blackett Strait (Japanese: ビラ・スタンモーア夜戦 Battle of Vila-Stanmore) was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on 6 March 1943 in the Blackett Strait, between Kolombangara islands and Arundel Island in the Solomon Islands.

1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds, killing 193.
MS Herald of Free Enterprise was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

7th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 6 March 1874 – Launch of The corbeta (corvette) ARA Uruguay, built in England, is the largest ship afloat of its age in the Armada de la República Argentina (Argentine Navy) The corbeta (corvette) ARA Uruguay, built in England, is the...

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1665 - HMS London (76) blew up in an accident and sank in the Thames estuary.
London was a 76-gun second-rate ship of the line in the Navy of the Commonwealth of England, originally built at Chatham Dockyard by shipwright John Taylor, and launched in June 1656. She gained fame as one of the ships that escorted Charles IIfrom Holland back to England during the English Restoration, carrying Charles' younger brother James Duke of York, and commanded by Captain John Lawson.
London was accidentally blown up in 1665 and sank in the Thames Estuary.[2] According to Samuel Pepys 300 of her crew were killed, 24 were blown clear and survived, including one woman. Lawson was not aboard at the time of the explosion but many of his relatives were killed.

The wreck of London

1757 – Launch of HMS Princess Amelia, an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS Princess Amelia was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Woolwich Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 7 March 1757.
She participated in the 1781 Battle of Dogger Bank under the command of Captain Macartney with reduced masts and guns.
Princess Amelia was lent to the Board of Customs in November 1788, and thereby deleted from the Navy List. She arrived at Sheerness on 24 March 1818 from Stangate Creek. The Admiralty then sold her on 11 June 1818 to a Mr. Snooks for £2,610.

1765 – Launch of The San Zaccharia, a 64-gun ship of the line of the Navy of the Order of Saint John of Malta, later brought into French service as the Dégo.
The San Zaccharia was a 64-gun ship of the line of the Navy of the Order of Saint John of Malta, later brought into French service as the Dégo.

A model of an 18th-century third-rate of the Order of Saint John, similar to the San Zaccharia


1765 Launch of Artésien (“Artesian”), a 64-gun ship of the line
Artésien (“Artesian”) was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Artois.
Artésien was built in 1765 as a part of a series of twelve ships of the line began by Choiseul to compensate for the losses endured by the French Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War. She was paid by the province of Artois and Flander, and named in its honour, according to the practice of the time.
Artésien took part in the American revolutionary war under Suffren, departing in 1781. Off Cape Verde, Artésien detected an English squadron, resulting in the Battle of Porto Praya.
Artésien was decommissioned in 1785 and used as a shear hulk.
A fine 1/28th scale model was used to instruct Louis XVI in naval studies. The model is now on display at the Musée de la Marine.

1778 - Continental frigate USS Randolph (32) explodes while attacking HMS Yarmouth (64) off the coast of Barbados, killing all but four of her 315 crew.
On the afternoon of 7 March, Randolph's lookouts spotted sail on the horizon. At 21:00 that evening, that ship, now flying British colors, came up on the Randolph as the largest ship in the convoy, and demanded they hoist their colors. The Randolph then hoisted American colors and fired a broadside into the British ship, mistakenly believing the ship to be a large sloop. The stranger turned out to be the British 64-gun ship of the line, HMS Yarmouth.
As a 64-gun, two-deck line-of-battle ship, Yarmouth had double the number of guns as Randolph. Yarmouth's guns were also significantly heavier, mounting 32 pound cannons on her main deck, 18 pounder guns on her upper deck and 9 pounder guns on her quarterdeck and forecastle, giving her almost five times the weight of shot that Randolph could fire. The Randolph and General Moultrie engaged Yarmouth until the Randolph's magazine exploded with a blinding flash. The Yarmouth was struck with burning debris up to six feet long, which significantly damaged her sails and rigging as well as killing five, and wounding twelve.
The damage caused to Yarmouth's sails and rigging prevented her from pursuing the remaining South Carolina ships which slipped away in the darkness.
The loss of the Randolph resulted in the deaths of 311 of her crew, including Capt. Nicholas Biddle, with 4 survivors.

The first USS Randolph was a 32-gun frigate in the Continental Navy named for Peyton Randolph.

HMS Yarmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard. She was previously ordered to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals for modifications to the 1719 Establishment, but the Admiralty had very quickly concluded that these were too small, and as an experiment in 1742 authorised an addition of 6ft to the planned length, and the Yarmouth was re-ordered to the enlarged design in June 1742. She was built at Deptford, where the Admiralty felt they could best observe the effectiveness of the added size, and launched on 8 March 1745.

1780 – Launch of HMS Inflexible, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,
HMS Inflexible was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 7 March 1780 at Harwich.

1810 - Death of Cuthbert Collingwood
Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26 September 1748 – 7 March 1810) was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as Nelson's successor in commands



1860 – Launch of HMS Howe, a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Howe was built as a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She and her sister HMS Victoria were the first and only British three-decker ships of the line to be designed from the start for screw propulsion, but the Howe was never completed for sea service (and never served under her original name). During the 1860s, the first ironclad battleships gradually made unarmoured two- and three-deckers obsolete.

The former HMS Howe as the school ship HMS Impregnable in the 1890s.

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 120-gun three-decked ship HMS ‘Howe’ (1860) mounted on its original wooden baseboard. It is complete with stump masts and bowsprit, two shortened funnels, a full set of guns mounted through their ports and a half bust gold-painted figurehead on the bow. The hull is finished in the traditional black and white striped colour scheme, with a coppered bottom, and a single screw mounted at the stern.


1864 – Launch of HMS Zealous, one of the three ships (the others being HMS Royal Alfred and HMS Repulse) forming the second group of wooden steam battleships selected in 1860 for conversion to ironclads
HMS Zealous was one of the three ships (the others being HMS Royal Alfred and HMS Repulse) forming the second group of wooden steam battleships selected in 1860 for conversion to ironclads. This was done in response to the perceived threat to Britain offered by the large French ironclad building programme. The ship was ordered to the West Coast of Canada after she was completed to represent British interests in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Zealous became the flagship for the Pacific Station for six years until she was relieved in 1872. She was refitted upon her arrival and subsequently became the guard ship at Southampton until she was paid off in 1875. The ship was in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1886.

HMS Zealous at Esquimalt with her sails set.


1901 – Launch of Duchesse Anne (formerly called Großherzogin Elisabeth), the last remaining full-rigged ship under French flag.
Duchesse Anne (formerly called Großherzogin Elisabeth) is the last remaining full-rigged ship under French flag. She was built in 1901 with a steel hull by the yard of Joh. C. Tecklenborg of Bremerhaven-Geestemünde (Germany) according to plans drawn by Georg W. Claussen. The mainmast is 48 m tall and 25 sails were rigged. She was used as a training ship for young aspiring sailors in the German merchant marine.

Sailing as Großherzogin Elisabethin 1913


1908 – Launch of SMS Nassau, the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial German Navy,
SMS Nassau was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial German Navy, a response to the launching of the British battleship HMS Dreadnought. Nassau was laid down on 22 July 1907 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven, and launched less than a year later on 7 March 1908, approximately 25 months after Dreadnought. She was the lead ship of her classof four battleships, which included Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen.

Nassau, very early in her career

Nassau and the rest of the I Battle Squadron in Kiel before the war


1941 – Günther Prien and the crew of German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappear without a trace.
German submarine U-47 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Germany's navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. She was laid down on 25 February 1937 at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerftin Kiel as yard number 582 and went into service on 17 December 1938 under the command of Günther Prien.
During U-47's career, she sank a total of 31 enemy vessels and damaged eight more, including the British battleship HMS Royal Oak on 14 October 1939. U-47 ranks as one of the most successful German U-boats of World War II.

A model of U-47 viewed from the side

1989 – Launch of Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru), a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name
Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru) is a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name. She is 110.09 m (361.2 ft) overall, with a beam of 13.80 m (45.3 ft) and a depth of 10.70 m (35.1 ft). She is assessed as 2,556 GT. Propulsion is by two 4-cylinder diesel engines and a total of 2,760 m2 (29,700 sq ft) of sails. The engines have a total power of 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) and can propel the ship at a maximum of 14.1 kn (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph), with a normal service maximum of 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph). Kaiwo Maru has a range of 9,800 nmi (18,100 km; 11,300 mi). The four masts are the fore mast, main mast, mizzen mast and jigger mast. The main mast is 43.50 m (142.7 ft). Her complement is 199

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

8th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 7 March 1989 – Launch of Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru), a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru) is a Japanese four-masted training barque...

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1726 – Birth of Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, English admiral and politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1799)
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, KG (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a British naval officer. After serving throughout the War of the Austrian Succession, he gained a reputation for his role in amphibious operations against the French coast as part of Britain's policy of naval descents during the Seven Years' War. He also took part, as a naval captain, in the decisive British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.



1745 – Launch of HMS Yarmouth, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard.
HMS Yarmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard. She was previously ordered to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals for modifications to the 1719 Establishment, but the Admiralty had very quickly concluded that these were too small, and as an experiment in 1742 authorised an addition of 6ft to the planned length, and the Yarmouth was re-ordered to the enlarged design in June 1742. She was built at Deptford, where the Admiralty felt they could best observe the effectiveness of the added size, and launched on 8 March 1745.
Commissioned in February 1745 under Captain Roger Martin. In 1747 under Captain Piercy Brett she was one of George Anson's squadron at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. In 1781, Yarmouth was reduced in armament to become a 60-gun ship. She remained in this role until 1811, when she was broken up

Scale: 1:60. A full hull model of the Yarmouth, a 70-gun, two-decker ship of the line (1745), built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. The standing rigging is original.


1757 – Launch of HMS Rose, a 20-gun Seaford-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy, built in Hull,
HMS Rose was a 20-gun (Seaford-class) sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy, built in Hull, England in 1757. Her activities in suppressing smuggling in the colony of Rhode Island provoked the formation of what became the Continental Navy, precursor of the modern United States Navy. She was based at the North American station in the West Indies and then used in the American Revolutionary War. She was scuttled in the harbor of Savannah, Georgia in 1779. A replica was built in 1970, then modified to match HMS Surprise, and used in two films, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Replica HMS Rose off Massachusetts in 1971, the hull painted as her namesake

1795 - Action of 8 March 1795
The Action of 8 March 1795 was a minor naval engagement in the Mediterranean theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars. The action was part of series of battles fought in the spring of 1795 between British and French fleets for control of the Ligurian Sea and thus the blockade of the French naval base of Toulon. The engagement was the first significant action of the year and was fought principally between the damaged British 74-gun ship of the line HMS Berwick and the French 32-gun frigate Alceste, with the later assistance of the frigate Vestale and the 74-gun Duquesne, distantly supported by the rest of the French Mediterranean Fleet.


1795 - Action of 8 March 1795 - captured HMS Berwick
HMS Berwick was a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade. She fought the French at the Battle of Ushant (1778) and the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781). The French captured her in the Action of 8 March 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars and she served with them with some success then and at the start of the Napoleonic Wars until the British recaptured her at the Battle of Trafalgar. Berwicksank shortly thereafter in a storm.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard decoration and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Berwick (1775), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as built at Portsmouth Dockyard.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the internal and external profile of works illustrating the knees, beams and external planking from the main wales and above for Berwick (1775), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. It is unknown when this plan was drawn.


1796 - HMS Orpheus (32) engaged Banda batteries: Banda Isles taken.
HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate Amazon-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.

1806 - Boats of HMS Egyptienne (40), Cptn. Charles Paget, cut out French privateer frigate Alcide from the harbour of Muros. Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns.
Égyptienne was a French frigate launched at Toulon in 1799. Her first service was in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which the British captured her at Alexandria. She famously carried the Rosetta Stone to Woolwich, and then the Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as the 40-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne. She served in a number of single-ship actions before being reduced to harbour service in 1807, and was sold for breaking in 1817.

Portrait of Égyptienne by Jean-Jacques Baugean

Planset review - L'EGYPTIENNE - french 24-prd frigate - 1799" in scale 1:48 by Gerard Delacroix

Planset Review: L'EGYPTIENNE 24-prd French frigate - 1799 in scale 1:48 by Gerard Delacroix alias our member @G. DELACROIX Brand new release, just some days ago published and already on my desk - many thanks to Gerard for the fast and safe postage. This very comprehensive and detailed...

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1808 - HMS San Fiorenzo (38), Cptn. George Nicholas Hardinge (Killed in Action), captured Piemontaise (50), Cptn. Epron, in the Gulf of Mannar
The Piémontaise was a 40-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. She served as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean until her capture in March 1808. She then served with the British Royal Navy in the East Indies until she was broken up in Britain in 1813.

HMS St Fiorenzo and Piémontaise.


1841 – Launch of French Andromaque, a Surveillante class sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy
The Surveillante class was a type of sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed in 1823 by Mathurin-François Boucher.
One of the main innovations with respect to previous design was the disappearance of the gangways, which provided a flush deck capable of harbouring a complete second battery. With the standardisation on the 30-pounder calibre for all naval ordnance that occurred in the 1820s, this design allowed for a frigate throwing a 900-pound broadside, thrice the firepower of the 40-gun Pallas class that constituted the majority of the frigate forces during the Empire, and comparable to that of a 74-gun.
By far the best-known ship of the class is Belle Poule, which achieved fame when she transported the ashes of Napoléon back to France in the so-called Retour des cendres; for this occasion, she was painted all black, a colour scheme that she retained later in her career, but which is uncharacteristic of the ships of this type.

Belle Poule model

1861 - The Battle of Hampton Roads - Day 1 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and USS Congress
The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (or Virginia) or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.

Chromolithograph depicting the Battle of Hampton Roads.

Congress's magazine explodes

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

9th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 7 March 1989 – Launch of Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru), a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name Kaiwo Maru (海王丸 Kaiō-Maru) is a Japanese four-masted training barque...

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1746 – Launch of french Conquérant, a Citoyen class 74-gun ships of the line all built at Brest Naval Dockyard
The Conquérant was originally launched in 1746 on a design by François Coulomb the Younger. She was taken out of service in March 1764 & rebuilt at Brest as a Citoyen class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

1765 – Launch of HMS Invincible, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford.
HMS Invincible was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1765 at Deptford. Invincible was built during a period of peace to replace ships worn out in the recently concluded Seven Years' War. The ship went on to serve in the American War of Independence, fighting at the battles of Cape St Vincent in 1780, and under the command of Captain Charles Saxton, the Battles of the Chesapeake in 1781 and St Kitts in 1782.

1778 - HMS Ariadne (20), Cptn. Pringle, and HMS Ceres (18), Cptn. Dacres, took American frigate USS Alfred (20) off the Bahamas. Her consort USS Raleigh escaped.
On 9 March 1778, near Barbados, Ariadne and Ceres encountered two vessels belonging to the Continental Navy, Raleigh and Alfred. When the American ships attempted to flee, Alfred fell behind her faster consort. Shortly after noon the British men-of-war caught up with Alfred and forced her to surrender after a half an hour's battle. Her captors described Alfred as being of 300 tons and 180 men, and under the command of Elisha Hinsman
HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.

1796 Boats of HMS Barfleur (98), HMS Egmont (74), HMS Bombay Castle (74) with two other 74s, brought out the captured British frigate Nemesis (28), French ship-corvette Sardine (18) and brig-corvette Postillon from the neutral port of Tunis.
On 9 March 1796, Nemesis was anchored in the neutral harbour of Tunis, together with Sardine, under the command of Enseigne de vaisseu Icard (acting), and Postillon. The British sent a squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave to recapture Nemesis. Boats from Egmont, Barfleur and Bombay Castle attacked the French ships and captured all three. The squadron also included Zealous, Tartar, and the cutter Fox. The British took the three men who had defected from Nemesis to Sardine and hanged them.
Admiral Jervis sent Nemesis, Sardine, and Postillon to Ajaccio. (Lloyd's List reported that Barfleur escorted Nemesis and Sardine to San Fiorenzo. He had Postillon repaired and painted before selling her to Sir Gilbert Elliot the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, for onward transfer to the Dey of the Regency of Algiers. Nemesis returned to British service, and Sardine was brought into the Royal Navy.

Model of HMS Egmont, 74-gun ship, 3rd rate, launched 1768.


1810 - The Purísima Concepción, a Spanish first-rate ship of the line of the Kingdom of Spain's Armada Real in service since 1779, wrecked 1810
The Purísima Concepción, was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line of the Kingdom of Spain's Armada Real in service between 1779 and 1810.

1810 - Spanish Montañés, a 74 gun third-rate Spanish ship of the line, lost in heavy storm
The Montañés was a 74 gun third-rate Spanish ship of the line. The name ship of her class, she was built in the Ferrol shipyards and paid for by the people of Cantabria. She was built following José Romero y Fernández de Landa's system as part of the San Ildefonso class, though her were amended by Retamosa to refine her buoyancy. She was launched in May 1794 and entered service the following year. With 2400 copper plates on her hull, she was much faster than other ships of the same era, reaching 14 (rather than the average 10) knots downwind and 10 (rather than 8) knots upwind.
In 1795 she fought a French force of 8 ships of the line (including one three-decker) and 2 frigates single-handed in the bay of San Feliu de Guíxols - thanks to her superior speed, the Montañés managed to get within range of a coastal artillery battery, forcing the French to break off the chase.
In June 1805 she was put under the command of Francisco Alcedo and made part of Alcalá Galdiano's division, defending Cadiz from a possible British attack. At the battle of Trafalgarshe was assigned to the second division of Gravina's squadron. Both Alcedo and his deputy Antonio Castaños were killed (with the ship's command passing to lieutenant Joaquín Gutiérrez de Rubalcava), but overall the ship lost only 20 dead and 29 wounded and was able to recapture the Santa Ana and Neptuno after their capture by the British. The Montañés returned to Cadiz on the night of 21 October 1805.
Now commanded by José Quevedo, on 14 July 1808 the Montañés took part in the capture of the Rosily Squadron at Cadiz. She also made several voyages to the Canary Islands, Balearics and Havana before being lost in a heavy storm on 10 March 1810.

1895 - Reina Regente – the cruiser sank in a storm on 9 March 1895, with the loss of all 420 crew.
Reina Regente was a Reina Regente-class protected cruiser of the Spanish Navy. Entering service in 1888, she was lost in 1895 during a storm in the Gulf of Cádiz while she was travelling from Tangier, Morocco to Cádiz, Spain.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

10th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 9 March 1804 – French privateer Grande Decide captures British merchantman Caldicot Castle Caldicot Castle (or Caldecot Castle), was built in 1794 at Caldicot, Wales. The French captured her twice, and she survived the perils of the...

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241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
The Battle of the Aegates (Italian Battaglia delle Isole Egadi) was fought off the Aegadian Islands, off the western coast of the island of Sicily on 10 March 241 BC. It was the final naval battle fought between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republicduring the First Punic War. The better-trained Roman fleet[1] defeated a hastily raised, undermanned and ill-trained Punic fleet, which was a decisive Roman victory as Carthage sued for peace, resulting in the Peace of Lutatius leading to Carthage surrendering Sicily and some adjoining islands to Rome.

The Activity if Romans under Consul Lutatius Catulus to blockade Carthaginian strongholds of Drepana, Eryx and Lilybaeum in 241 BC during the First Punic War in Western Sicily. Carthage sent a fleet to lift the blockade. Romn won the ensuing naval battle, and Carthage sued for Peace.


1668 – Launch of HMS Charles, a 96-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Christopher Pett at Deptford Dockyard until his death in March 1668, then completed by Jonas Shish after being launched in the same month
HMS Charles was a 96-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Christopher Pett at Deptford Dockyard until his death in March 1668, then completed by Jonas Shish after being launched in the same month. Her name was formally Charles the Second, but she was known simply as Charles, particularly after 1673 when the contemporary Royal Charles was launched.

1704 – Launch of HMS Newcastle, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard
HMS Newcastle was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 10 March 1704.

1705 - Battle of Cabrita Point
A French squadron of 14 ships, under Rear Admiral Jean-Bernard Desjeans, blockading Gibraltar engaged by a combined British, Dutch and Portugese fleet, under Sir John Leake, off Marbella. HMS Revenge (70), Sir Thomas Dilkes, took Arrogant (60) and two more French line-of-battle ships were taken and two driven ashore where they were burnt.
The Battle of Cabrita Point, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Marbella, was a naval battle that took place while a combined Spanish-French force besieged Gibraltar on 10 March 1705 (21 March 1705 in the New Calendar) during the War of Spanish Succession.
The battle was an allied victory (English, Portuguese and Dutch) which effectively ended the Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar.

Attack of Gibraltar by the Baron de Pointis' fleet


1781 – Launch of HMS Dolphin, a 44-gun fifth rate ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1781
HMS Dolphin was a 44-gun fifth rate ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1781. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she carried her armament on two decks and had a main battery of 18-pound long guns. She made an appearance at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781. The rest of her 36-year career was uneventful, much of it being spent as a transport or hospital ship, armed only with twenty or twenty-four, 9-pounders. She was broken up at Portsmouth in 1817.

1783 - The last naval action of the American Revolution takes place when the Continental frigate USS Alliance, commanded by Capt. John Barry, battles HMS Sybil south of Cape Canaveral, Fla. Sybil is damaged in the fight and returns to the two warships that did not join in the battle.
HMS Sibyl was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The Sibyl was first commissioned in October 1778 under the command of Captain Thomas Pasley.
In 1783 Sibyl, Captain Vashon, was in company with HMS Alarm and Tobago when they encountered the American frigate Alliance, which was escorting USS Duc de Lauzun. An inconclusive engagement developed between Sibyl and Alliance that proved to be the last battle of the American Revolutionary War. Alarm and Tobago neither participated in the engagement nor captured Duc de Lauzun. Sibyl was renamed Garland in 1795.

1796 - HMS Phaeton (38), Cptn. Hon. Robert Stopford, captured Bonne Citoyenne (20) off Cape Finisterre
Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy launched in 1794, the name ship of a four-vessel class. She was part of the French fleet active in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796, commissioning her as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne.
Under British command she served in the Mediterranean, including at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. She was taken out of service in 1803 but returned following refitting in 1808, then serving in the Atlantic. Her most famous action was the capture of the much larger French frigate Furieuse on 6 July 1809, for which her crew earned the Naval General Service Medal. The later part of her career was spent in South America. Her design was used as the basis for the Hermes-class post ships. She was laid up in 1815, and sold in 1819.

1800 - HMS Repulse (64), Cptn. John Alms, struck at sunken rock off Ushant.
HMS Repulse was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 November 1780 at East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.
Loss
On 10 March 1800, having been driven off course by heavy weather, Repulse struck a submerged rock and began taking on water. The crew eventually abandoned the ship somewhere in the vicinity of the [[Cap Sizun]], on the Pointe de Penharn from where the majority of the survivors were taken away as prisoners of war. The first lieutenant took a number of men in Repulse's large cutter, and headed for England instead, arriving at Guernsey on 16 March.

1804 – Launch of HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher), a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King
HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King and launched in 1804 at Dover. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, first in the Caribbean and then in the Mediterranean before being broken up in 1816.

1814 – Launch of HMS Conway as the lead ship of her class.
HMS Conway was launched in 1814 as the lead ship of her class. The Navy sold her in 1825 and she became the merchantman Toward Castle, and then a whaler. She was lost in 1838 off Baja California while well into her third whaling voyage.

1868 – Launch of HNLMS Buffel is a 19th-century ironclad ram ship.
HNLMS Buffel is a 19th-century ironclad ram ship. She was one of the main attractions of the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, also known as the Prince Hendrik Museum, named after its founder, Prince Henry (Hendrik) "The Navigator", who had a naval career and established the basis of the museum back in 1874. In October 2013 the ship moved to Hellevoetsluis and is again open for public.

HNLMS Buffel in 2008


1895 – Launch of Russian Standart, an Imperial Russian yacht serving Emperor Nicholas II and his family, being in her time (late 19th/early 20th century) the largest Imperial Yacht afloat.
The Standart was an Imperial Russian yacht serving Emperor Nicholas II and his family, being in her time (late 19th/early 20th century) the largest Imperial Yacht afloat. After the Russian Revolution the ship was placed in drydock until 1936, when she was converted to a minelayer. During World War II, she participated in the defence of Leningrad.

Standart arriving at Yalta, The Crimea


1917 – German auxiliary cruiser SMS Möwe sinks New Zealand freighter Otaki but is seriously damaged
The Action of 10 March 1917 was a single-ship action during the First World War fought between the Imperial German Navy merchant raider SMS Möwe, and the armed New Zealand Shipping Company cargo ship SS Otaki. Although Otaki was sunk, Möwe was badly damaged.

Model of the SMS Möwe

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

11th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 10 March 1804 – Launch of HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher), a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King and...

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1635 – Launch of Leopard, a 34-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Navy, built by Peter Pett I at Woolwich
Leopard was a 34-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Navy, built by Peter Pett I at Woolwich and launched in 1635.
During the First Anglo-Dutch War, Leopard was captured by the Eendracht of the Dutch Republic at the Battle of Leghorn on 3 March 1653, with the loss of 70 men killed and 54 wounded. In Dutch service she was renamed Luipaard.

1727 - The Action of 11 March 1727 was a minor naval engagement of the Anglo-Spanish War.
On 11 March the brand new Spanish 46-gun fifth-rate warship Nuestra Senora Del Rosario was out on sea trials after just being fully completed. The ship was on a journey bound from Santander to Cadiz. Meanwhile, HMS Royal Oak detached on a cruise with HMS Canterbury from the main body of a Royal Naval squadron reinforcing Gibraltar from a Spanish siege.
They sighted the Spanish frigate near the port of Cadiz and gave chase. Soon Royal Oak caught up, and after a few broadsides the Spanish warship soon surrendered. Canterbury was not able to get up till just as the Spanish surrendered. The prize was carried with the rest of the squadron, which managed to slip past the besieging Spanish forces to relieve Gibraltar on the 13 March.

1756 - HMS Warwick, a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, captured by three french ships
HMS Warwick was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1719 Establishment at Plymouth by P. Lock.[2] The keel was laid down on 1 April 1730, and the ship was launched on 25 October 1733, and completed on 24 August 1734.

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Warwick (1733), a 1719 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker as built at Plymouth Dockyard.


1758 – Launch of HMS Venus (renamed HMS Heroine in 1809), the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy.
HMS Venus (renamed HMS Heroine in 1809) was the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until 1809. She was reduced from 36 guns to 32 guns in 1792. She was sold in 1822.

Action between HMS Venus (left) and French frigate La Sémillante, 27 May 1793.


1784 – Launch of spanish Bahama, a 74-gun ship of the line of the Spanish Navy
Bahama was a 74-gun ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. She was built in Havana on plans originally drawn by Ignacio Mullan for the 64-gun San Pedro de Alcantara, completed as a project of Gautier. She was later rebuilt as a 74-gun.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard outline, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Bahama (captured 1805), a captured Spanish Third Rate, two-decker. The plan illustrates her as taken off at Chatham Dockyard prior to being broken up. Signed by George Parkin [Master Shipwright, Chatham Dockyard, 1813-1830].


1813 - Battle of Suriname River
HMS Coquette and the American privateer General Armstrong have an inconclusive engagement
11 March 1813, under the command of Guy R. Champlin, General Armstrong was in the mouth of the suriname River when she encountered a vessel that she presumed to be a British privateer. This ship was, in fact, the British sloop HMS Coquette. The ensuing battle caused a lot of damage to the General Armstrong. Champlin was injured and threatened to blow up the ship if his crew surrendered. General Armstrong managed to escape.
In his log-book Champlin wrote: "In this action we had six men killed and sixteen wounded, and all the halyards of the headsails shot away; the fore-mast and bowsprit one quarter cut through, and all the fore and main shrouds but one shot away; both mainstays and running rigging cut to pieces; a great number of shot through our sails, and several between wind and water, which caused our vessel to leak. There were also a number of shot in our hull."
General Armstrong returned to the US and arrived in Charleston 4 April. The shareholders of the General Armstrong awarded Champlin a sword in recognition of his saving the General Armstrong.

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


1815 – Launch of HMS St Vincent, a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Devonport Dockyard
HMS St Vincent was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1810 at Devonport Dockyard and launched on 11 March 1815
Service
She was one of class of three, and the only one to see active service, though she was not put into commission until 1829, when she became the flagship of William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, under Northesk's flag captain, Edward Hawker, at Devonport (aka Plymouth-Dock) Dockyard. After paying-off in April 1830 she was recommissioned the following month and was made flagship at Portsmouth Dockyard. From 1831 until 1834 she served in the Mediterranean. Placed on harbour service at Portsmouth in 1841, she joined the Experimental Squadron in 1846. From May 1847 until April 1849 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, commanding the Channel Fleet.

1841 - the British passenger liner President, with 136 passengers and crew and an extensive cargo manifest, encountered a gale.
She was seen on her second day out laboring in heavy seas in a dangerous area between Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank and was not seen again.
SS President was a British passenger liner that was the largest ship in the world when she was commissioned in 1840, and the first steamship to founder on the transatlantic run when she was lost at sea with all 136 on board in March 1841. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1840 to 1845. The ship's owner, the British and American Steam Navigation Company, collapsed as a result of the disappearance.
On 11 March 1841, President cleared New York bound for Liverpool on her third eastbound voyage. She was overloaded with cargo to compensate for her roll. President was last seen the next day struggling in a gale. Her disappearance was major news for several months and even Queen Victoria followed the story.

1899 – Launch of HMS Glory, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class.
HMS Glory was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Glory and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Glory was laid down in December 1896, launched in March 1899, and commissioned into the fleet in November 1900.

1914 - HMS Boscawan, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, renamed Wellesley, was destroyed by fire and sank at her moorings on the River Tyne at North Shields.
HMS Boscawan was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 April 1844 at Woolwich Dockyard. She was originally ordered and begun as a 74-gun ship, but an Admiralty order dated 3 March 1834 required that she be reworked to Sir William Symonds' design. She was named for Admiral Edward Boscawen.

1915 - HMS Bayano – The naval auxiliary was with the 10th Cruiser Squadron when she was torpedoed by SM U-27 off Corsewall Point, near Stranraer, Schotland.
She sank within minutes killing 196 of its crew. Only 26 men survived.
HMS Bayano, built in 1913, was originally a banana boat for the Elders & Fyffes line. At the outbreak of World War I it was drafted into the Royal Navy on 21 November 1914 as an armed merchant auxiliary cruiser. On 11 March 1915, it was torpedoed by SM U-27 and sank within minutes killing around 200 of its crew. Twenty-six survivors were pulled from the water.

1926 – Launch of HMS Cornwall, pennant number 56, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s.
HMS Cornwall, pennant number 56, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. The ship spent most of her pre-World War II career assigned to the China Station. Shortly after the war began in August 1939, she was assigned to search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean. Cornwall was transferred to the South Atlantic in late 1939 where she escorted convoys before returning to the Indian Ocean in 1941. She then sank the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin in May. After the start of the Pacific War in December 1941, she began escorting convoys until she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March 1942. The ship was sunk on 5 April by dive bombers from three Japanese aircraft carriers during the Indian Ocean Raid.

1935 – Launch of HNLMS De Ruyter (Dutch: Hr.Ms. De Ruyter), a unique light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
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.

1944 - french Redoutable, the lead ship of the Redoutable-class submarines of the French Navy launched in 1928 at Cherbourg, sunk by Allied aircraft.
Redoutable was the lead ship of the Redoutable-class submarines of the French Navy launched in 1928 at Cherbourg, France. It participated in the Second World War, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to 1940, then on the side of the Axis for the rest of the war. She was scuttled by the French on 27 November 1942 to prevent her capture by the Germans during their advance on Toulon, but was then refloated by the Italians in 1943. On 11 March 1944 she was sunk by bombs from Allied aircraft.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

12th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 11 March 1914 - HMS Boscawan, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, renamed Wellesley, was destroyed by fire and sank at her moorings on the River Tyne at North Shields. HMS Boscawan was a 70-gun third rate ship of...

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1781 – Launch of HMS Assistance, a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Assistance was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was launched during the American War of Independence and spent most of her career serving in American waters, particularly off Halifax and Newfoundland. Assistance was the flagship of several of the commanders of the station. She was in service at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars, and was wrecked off Dunkirk in 1801.

1795 – Launch of French Impatiente, a Romaine class frigate of the French Navy.
The Impatiente was a Romaine class frigate of the French Navy.
She took part in the Expédition d'Irlande, where she was wrecked on 29 December 1796. Only 7 survived, and 420 were lost.

1809 - HMS Topaze (38), Cptn. A. J. Griffiths, engaged Danae and Flora.
The British presence in the Adriatic was greatly strengthened in 1809 with the arrival of the frigates HMS Amphion under William Hoste and HMS Belle Poule under James Brisbane. These reinforcements made an immediate impact with a series of raids in the Dalmatian and Ionian islands. In February Belle Poule captured the Var off Valona; the French responded by despatching the frigates Danaé and Flore from Toulon. HMS Topaze attacked these frigates as they arrived, but were able to reach Corfu before sailing north to augment French defences in the Adriatic.

1835 - George III was a British penal transportation convict ship that was shipwrecked with heavy loss of life during its last voyage when she was transporting convicts from England to the Australian Colonies.
George III was a British penal transportation convict ship that was shipwrecked with heavy loss of life during its last voyage when she was transporting convicts from England to the Australian Colonies. She was a full rigged ship of 394 tons on measurements of 114 feet length, 28 feet 3 inches beam, built at Deptford in 1810. The ship was acquired by J. Heathorn and J. Poore in the mid-1830s. She was registered at the Port of London.

The Wreck of HMS George III, by Knud Bull


1846 – Launch of HMS Constance, a 50-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy
HMS Constance was a 50-gun Constance-class fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1846. She had a tonnage of 2,132 and was designed with a V-shaped hull by Sir William Symonds. She was also one of the last class of frigates designed by him.

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull rigged model of HMS Constance(1846), a frigate of 50 guns.


1872 – Launch of HMS Rupert, a breastwork monitor of the Victorian Royal Navy, whose principal weapon was designed to be her ram.

1902 – Launch of French cruiser Condé, one of five Gloire-class armored cruisers built for the French Navy

1907 - Iéna – On 12 March 1907, while in drydock in the Missiessy Basin at Toulon, the French battleship suffered a series of internal explosions in her magazine.
The first explosion was caused by Powder B, a nitrocellulose-based propellant in the ammunition, which tended to become unstable with age, and self-ignite. The explosion killed 120 people including two civilians hit by fragments in the suburb of Le Pont Du Las.
Iéna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy. The ship's keel was laid in 1898 and she was completed four years later. Her design was derived from the preceding Charlemagne-class battleships with a heavier secondary battery and thicker armour. She retained the tumblehome characteristic of all large French warships of this period that caused stability issues. Upon completion Iena was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and remained there for the duration of her career. She participated in the annual fleet manoeuvers and made many visits to French ports in the Mediterranean.
While docked for repairs, Iéna was gutted on 12 March 1907 by a magazine explosion caused by the decomposition of well-aged Poudre B propellant. While it was possible to repair her, the ship was not thought worth the time or expense. Her hulk was used as a gunnery target before it was sold for scrap in 1912.

1910 – Launch of Georgios Averof (Greek: Θ/Κ Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ), a modified Pisa-class armored cruiser built in Italy for the Royal Hellenic Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
Georgios Averof (Greek: Θ/Κ Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ) is a modified Pisa-class armored cruiser built in Italy for the Royal Hellenic Navyin the first decade of the 20th century. The ship served as the Greek flagship during most of the first half of the century. Although popularly known as a battleship (θωρηκτό) in Greek, she is in fact an armored cruiser (θωρακισμένο καταδρομικό), the only ship of this type still in existence.

1934 - The Tomozuru Incident - torpedo boat capsized in a storm, shortly after its completion. 100 of the 113 man on board died
Tomozuru (友鶴) was one of four Chidori-class torpedo boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). It capsized in a storm on 12 March 1934, shortly after its completion. This incident forced the IJN to review the stability of all recently completed, under construction and planned ships. It was salvaged and put back into service after extensive modifications. During World War II, the Tomozuru fought in the Battle of the Philippines and in the Dutch East Indies campaign as an escort, and it continued to play that role for the rest of the war.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

13th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 13 March 1653 - Death of Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam – buried 13 March 1653, Weesp) Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam – buried 13 March 1653, Weesp) was a Dutch designer, draughtsman, and painter, most famous for...

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1653 - Death of Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam – buried 13 March 1653, Weesp)
Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam – buried 13 March 1653, Weesp) was a Dutch designer, draughtsman, and painter, most famous for his marine paintings.
Life
Born in Rotterdam, de Vlieger moved in 1634 to Delft, where he joined the Guild of Saint Luke, and then to Amsterdam in 1638, though he maintained a house in Rotterdam until 1650 when he moved to Weesp, a small town on the outskirts of Amsterdam. In the 1630s and 1640s he was one of the best-known Dutch maritime painters. He moved away from the monochrome style of Jan Porcellis and Willem van de Velde, the elder towards a more realistic use of colour, with highly detailed and accurate representations of rigging and ship construction. He painted ships in harbour and at sea as well as storms and shipwrecks.
In addition to painting, he designed tapestries, etchings, stained glass windows for the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, and the organ screen for the St. Laurenskerk in Rotterdam.

1665 – Launch of french Thérèse, a 58-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
The Thérèse was a 58-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was designed and built by François Pomet in Toulon Dockyard between 1662 and 1665, and was classed as a vaisseau de troisième rang (ship of the third rank). She was part of a French relief effort to Candia during a siege by the Ottomans and was sunk on 24 June 1669 after an explosion in her powder magazine. At the time she was a flagship of the expedition.

1697 – Launch of HMS Kingston, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Frame in Hull
HMS Kingston was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Frame in Hull and launched on 13 March 1697. She had an eventful career, taking part in numerous engagements.

1703 – Launch of HMS Antelope, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Rotherhithe
HMS Antelope was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Rotherhithe on 13 March 1703. She was rebuilt once during her career, and served in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.
Orders were issued on 9 January 1738 for Antelope to be taken to pieces and rebuilt according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich, from where she was relaunched on 27 January 1741.

1761 - HMS Vengeance (28), Cptn. Gamaliel Nightingale, took Entreprenant (26).

The Desperate action between the Terrible and Vengeance Dec 1757 (Print) (PAD8334)


1780 - HMS Alexander (74) and HMS Courageux (74), Cptn. Charles Feilding, took french Monsieur.
HMS Alexander was a 74-gun third-rate of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Deptford Dockyard on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819. She was named after Alexander the Great.

1795 - HMS Lively (32), Cptn. George Burlton, captured Tourterelle (28), Cptn. Guillaume S. A. Montalan, off Ushant

1795 - Battle of Genoa
The Battle of Genoa (also known as the Battle of Cape Noli and in French as Bataille de Gênes) was a naval battle fought between French and allied Anglo-Neapolitan forces on 14 March 1795 in the Gulf of Genoa, a large bay in the Ligurian Sea off the coast of the Republic of Genoa, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French fleet was led by Contre-amiral Pierre Martin and comprised 14 (later 13) ships of the line while the British Royal Navy and Neapolitan fleet, under Vice-Admiral William Hotham mustered 13 ships of the line. The battle ended with a minor British-Neapolitan victory and the capture of two French ships.

"The 'Agamemnon' engaging the Ça Ira', 13 March 1795". Nicholas Pocock, 1810. NMM

Model of Couronne, on display at the Château de Brest.


1797 – Launch of HMS Hydra, a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, armed with a main battery of twenty-eight 18-pounder guns.
HMS Hydra launched in 1797 was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, armed with a main battery of twenty-eight 18-pounder guns.
She was built to the design of the captured French frigate Melpomene (taken in 1794).

13 March 1806 - The Action of 13 March 1806 was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought when a British and a French squadron met unexpectedly in the mid-Atlantic.
The Action of 13 March 1806 was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought when a British and a French squadron met unexpectedly in the mid-Atlantic. Neither force was aware of the presence of the other prior to the encounter and were participating in separate campaigns. The British squadron consisted of seven ships of the line accompanied by associated frigates, led by Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, were tasked with hunting down and destroying the French squadron of Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, which had departed Brest for raiding operations in the South Atlantic in December 1805, at the start of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. The French force consisted of one ship of the line and one frigate, all that remained of Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois' squadron that had sailed for the Indian Ocean in March 1803 during the Peace of Amiens. Linois raided British shipping lanes and harbours across the region, achieving limited success against undefended merchant ships but repeatedly withdrawing in the face of determined opposition, most notably at the Battle of Pulo Aura in February 1804. With his stores almost exhausted and the French ports east of the Cape of Good Hope that could have offered him replenishment eliminated, Linois decided to return to France in January 1806, and by March was inadvertently sailing across the cruising ground of Warren's squadron.

The London Man of War capturing the Marengo Admiral Linois, 13 March 1806 (Print) (PAD5761)


1811 - Battle of Lissa (1811) - Part I
Cptn. William Hoste with 3 frigates and one 22 gun ship defeated a Franco-Venetian squadron of 6 frigates and 6 smaller vessels under Bernard Dubourdieu
The Battle of Lissa (sometimes called the Battle of Vis; French: Bataille de Lissa; Italian: Battaglia di Lissa; Croatian: Viška bitka) was a naval action fought between a British frigate squadron and a larger squadron of French and Italian frigates and smaller ships on 13 March 1811 during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was fought in the Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important island of Lissa (also known as Vis), from which the British squadron had been disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic. The French needed to control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian Provinces, and consequently dispatched an invasion force in March 1811 consisting of six frigates, numerous smaller craft and a battalion of Italian soldiers.

Battle of Lissa, 13 March 1811 painting by Nicholas Pocock


1895 – Launch of Emperador Carlos V, an armored cruiser of the Spanish Navy
Emperador Carlos V was an armored cruiser of the Spanish Navy which served in the Spanish fleet from 1898 to 1933.

1943 - RMS Empress of Canada – the British troopship Empress of Canada, en route from Durban, South Africa to Takoradi carrying Italian prisoners of war along with Polish and Greek refugees, was torpedoed and sunk by the Leonardo da Vinci about 400 nautical miles (740 km) south of Cape Palmas off the coast of Africa.
Of about 1,800 people aboard 392 were killed. Nearly half of the deaths reported were Italian prisoners.
RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner built in 1920 for the Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. This ship—the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Canada—regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1939.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

14th of March

some of the events you will find here,
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Naval/Maritime History - 27th of August - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 13 March 1811 - Battle of Lissa (1811) - Part III - captured and destroyed ships Corona was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the Italian Navy. The French built her in Venice in 1807 for the Venetian Navy. The British captured Corona...

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1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757)[1] was a Royal Navy officer who was notoriously court-martialledand executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to vice-admiral in 1747. He also served as Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland Colony in 1742, Commander-in-Chief, Leith, 1745 to 1746 and was a member of parliament from 1751 until his death.

The Shooting of Admiral Byng, artist unknown


1795 - Révolutionnaire, a xebec that the French Navy commissioned in October 1793 and renamed Téméraire in 1794, was captured by HMS Dido in the Mediterranean.
Révolutionnaire was a xebec that the French Navy commissioned in October 1793 and renamed Téméraire in 1794. HMS Dido captured her in the Mediterranean in 1795. She served for some time as HMS Temeraire until the Royal Navy changed her name to HMS Transfer. She was sold in 1803.
The French navy commissioned Révolutionnaire in October 1793 and renamed her Téméraire in 1794. Dido captured her in the Mediterranean on 14 March 1795. In May (probably on 30 May), i.e., after her capture, the French Navy underwent a mass renaming exercise and Téméraire was renamed Tympan. However, the French Navy then struck her at Toulon at end-1795.

typical Squared-rigged xebec of the 1780-1815 period


1797 – Launch of HMS Acasta, a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate
HMS Acasta was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as the War of 1812. Although she never took part in any notable single-ship actions nor saw action in a major battle though she was at the Battle of San Domingo, she captured numerous prizes and rid the seas of many Spanish, French and American privateers. She was finally broken up in 1821.

1797 – Launch of HMS Ethalion, a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Ethalion was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Joseph Graham of Harwich and launched on 14 March 1797. In her brief career before she was wrecked in 1799 on the French coast, she participated in a major battle and in the capture of two privateers and a rich prize.

"HMS Ethalion in action with the Spanish frigate Thetisoff Cape Finisterre, 16th October 1799", Thomas Whitcombe, 1800


1831 – Launch of HMS Calcutta, an 84-gun second-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, built in teak to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings, in Bombay.
HMS Calcutta was an 84-gun second-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, built in teak to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings and launched on 14 March 1831 in Bombay. She was the only ship ever built to her draught. She carried her complement of smooth-bore, muzzle-loading guns on two gundecks. Her complement was 720 men (38 officers, 69 petty officers, 403 seamen, 60 boys and 150 marines)

The hulks of HMS Calcutta (right) and HMS Cambridge(left) in Portsmouth Dockyard, c.1890

1862 – Launch of SMS Kaiser Max, the lead ship of the Kaiser Max class of armored frigates built for the Austrian Navy in the 1860s.
SMS Kaiser Max was the lead ship of the Kaiser Max class of armored frigates built for the Austrian Navy in the 1860s. Her keel was laid in October 1861 at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard; she was launched in March 1862, and was completed in 1863. She carried her main battery—composed of sixteen 48-pounder guns and fifteen 24-pounders—in a traditional broadsidearrangement, protected by an armored belt that was 110 mm (4.3 in) thick.
Kaiser Max saw action at the Battle of Lissa in July 1866. She engaged the Italian coastal defense ship Palestro, which later exploded and sank after sustaining heavy Austrian fire. Kaiser Max emerged from the battle largely unscathed, save for minor damage to her funnel and rigging inflicted by the armored frigate Re d'Italia. After the war, Kaiser Max was modernized slightly in 1867 to correct her poor seakeeping and improve her armament, but she was nevertheless rapidly outpaced by naval developments in the 1860s and 1870s. Obsolescent by 1873, Kaiser Max was officially "rebuilt", though in actuality she was broken up for scrap, with only her armor plate, parts of her machinery, and other miscellaneous parts being reused in the new Kaiser Max.

Illustration of Kaiser Max c. 1866


1886 - SS Oregon sank after a collision with a schooner 18 nautical miles (33 km) East of Long Island, New York
The Oregon was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1884. She was sold to the Cunard Line after a few voyages and continued to improve her passage times for her new owner. In 1885, Oregon was chartered to the Royal Navy as an auxiliary cruiser, and her success in this role resulted in the Admiralty subsidizing suitable ships for quick conversion in the event of a crisis. She returned to Cunard service in November 1885 and four months later collided with a schooner while approaching New York. All persons on board were rescued before Oregon sank. Her wreck, 18 miles east of Long Island, remains a popular diving site.

SS Oregon sinking in 1886 after collision. Depicted in 1902 painting by Antonio Jacobsen.


1915 - The Battle of Más a Tierra was a First World War sea battle fought, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra, between a British squadron and a German light cruiser.
The Battle of Más a Tierra was a First World War sea battle fought on 14 March 1915, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra, between a British squadron and a German light cruiser.The battle saw the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron destroyed, when SMS Dresden was cornered and sunk in Cumberland Bay.

SMS Dresden transiting the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

15th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 13 March 1811 - Battle of Lissa (1811) - Part III - captured and destroyed ships Corona was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the Italian Navy. The French built her in Venice in 1807 for the Venetian Navy. The British captured Corona...

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1652 – Launch of HMS Ruby, a 40-gun frigate of the Commonwealth of England, built by Peter Pett at Deptford
1652 – Launch of HMS Diamond, a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Peter Pett at Deptford Dockyard

1703 – Launch of HMS Leopard, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe
1703 - Launch of HMS Panther, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard
HMS Leopard was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe and launched on 15 March 1703.
Leopard underwent a rebuild according to the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich, and was relaunched on 18 April 1721. Leopard served until 1739, when she was broken up.

1759 – Launch of HMS Hercules, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford Dockyard.
HMS Hercules was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 March 1759 at Deptford Dockyard.
The ship took part in the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782 against a French fleet, where she suffered six killed and 18 wounded. She was the third ship in the part of the British line of battle which broke the enemy's line astern of the French flagship Ville de Paris.
She was sold out of the service in 1784.

Model of a 74-gun ship, third rate, circa 1760. Thought to be either HMS Hercules or HMS Thunderer from 1760.

1843 - schooner USS Grampus have foundered in a gale off Charleston, South Carolina with all hands.
USS Grampus was a schooner in the United States Navy. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's Dolphin.
Grampus was built at the Washington Navy Yard under the supervision of naval constructor William Doughty, based on a design by Henry Eckford. Her 73 ft (22 m) keel was laid down in 1820. She was launched in early August 1821. The need to suppress piracy and to maintain ships to catch slavers led to the building of five such schooners, the largest of which was Grampus. This was the first building program undertaken by the Navy since the War of 1812.

1860 – Launch of french Masséna, a 90-gun Suffren-class Ship of the line of the French Navy

Straight walls of an arsenal model of Suffren, with the lower long 30-pounder battery, the upper short 30-pounder battery, and the 30-pounder carronades on the deck


1888 – Launch of SS City of New York, a British built passenger liner of the Inman Line, that was designed to be the largest and fastest liner on the Atlantic.
City of New York was a British built passenger liner of the Inman Line that was designed to be the largest and fastest liner on the Atlantic. When she entered service in August 1888, she was the first twin screw express liner and while she did not achieve the westbound Blue Riband, she ultimately held the eastbound record from August 1892 to May 1893 at a speed of 20.11 knots. City of New York and her sister City of Paris are considered especially beautiful ships and throughout their careers were rivals to the White Star Teutonic and Majestic. In February 1893, the Inman Line was merged into the American Line and by act of Congress, the renamed New York was transferred to the US flag. Beginning in the mid-1890s, New York and Pariswere paired with St Louis and St Paul to form one of the premier Atlantic services. New York continued with the American Line until 1920 and was broken for scrap in 1923. She served the US Navy as Harvard during the Spanish–American War and Plattsburg in World War I. She is also remembered for nearly colliding with the RMS Titanic as the latter ship began her doomed maiden voyage in 1912.

1889 - A typhoon strikes Apia, Samoa, where American, German and British ships are protecting their national interests.
The typhoon drives USS Trenton, USS Vandalia, and USS Nipsic ashore, killing 51 crew members,
and sinks all three German ships, the SMS Olga, SMS Eber and SMS Adler with the loss of 150 crew.
The 1889 Apia cyclone was a tropical cyclone in the South Pacific Ocean, which swept across Apia, Samoa on March 15, 1889, during the Samoan crisis. The effect on shipping in the harbour was devastating, largely because of what has been described as 'an error of judgement that will forever remain a paradox in human psychology' .

Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa soon after the storm. The view looks northwestward, with the shattered bow of the German gunboat Eber on the beach in the foreground. The stern of USS Trenton is at right, with the sunken USS Vandalia alongside. The German gunboat SMS Adler is on her side in the center distance. Trenton 's starboard quarter gallery has been largely ripped away.

1909 – Launch of HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën, a Royal Netherlands Navy coastal defence ship in service from 1910 until 1942.
It was a small cruiser-sized warship that sacrificed speed and range for armor and armament.
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën was a Royal Netherlands Navy coastal defence ship in service from 1910 until 1942. It was a small cruiser-sized warship that sacrificed speed and range for armor and armament. She was armed with two 283 mm, four 150 mm, ten 75 mm, four 37 mm guns, in addition to a 75 mm mortar. She was 101.5 metres (333 ft) long, had a beam of 17.1 metres (56 ft) and a draft of 6.15 metres (20.2 ft), and displaced 6,530 tons. She had a crew of 448 and was able to reach 16 knots.

1931 – SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 on board.
SS Viking was a wooden-hulled sealing ship made famous by its role in the 1931 film The Viking. During her use in the seal hunt in Newfoundland, the ship was commissioned by the film crew. During production, an explosion destroyed the ship, resulting in the largest loss of life of a film production crew in film history.

Fridtjof Nansen (left) and Captain Axel Krefting, sitting on just shot polar bear with the Viking in the background (One of the pictures from a journey with sealers to Vestisen during the period March to July 1882).

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

16th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 15 March 1708 - french Salisbury, ex HMS Salisbury, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line, was recaptured by HMS Leopard HMS Salisbury was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard and James Herring at...

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1781 - Battle of Cape Henry.
A British squadron of 8 ships, under Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, engaged a French squadron of 7 ships, under Cptn. Des Touches.
The Battle of Cape Henry was a naval battle in the American War of Independence which took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 16 March 1781 between a British squadron led by Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot and a French fleet under Admiral Charles René Dominique Sochet, Chevalier Destouches. Destouches, based in Newport, Rhode Island, had sailed for the Chesapeake as part of a joint operation with the Continental Army to oppose the British army of Brigadier General Benedict Arnoldthat was active in Virginia.
Admiral Destouches was asked by General George Washington to take his fleet to the Chesapeake to support military operations against Arnold by the Marquis de Lafayette. Sailing on 8 March, he was followed two days later by Admiral Arbuthnot, who sailed from eastern Long Island. Arbuthnot's fleet outsailed that of Destouches, reaching the Virginia Capes just ahead of Destouches on 16 March. After manoeuvring for several hours, the battle was joined, and both fleets suffered some damage and casualties without losing any ships. However, Arbuthnot was positioned to enter the Chesapeake as the fleets disengaged, frustrating Destouches' objective. Destouches returned to Newport, while Arbuthnot protected the bay for the arrival of additional land troops to reinforce General Arnold.


1782 – Anglo-Spanish War (1779): Action of 16 March 1782
HMS Success (32), Cptn. Charles Maurice Pole, took Spanish frigate Santa Catalina (34), Don Jacen, off Cape Spartel.
She was set her on fire when other enemy ships closed.
The Action of 16 March 1782 was a minor naval engagement between a British Royal Naval frigate HMS Success and a Spanish frigate Santa Catalina in the Strait of Gibraltar during the American War of Independence.

1801 - HMS Invincible – the third-rate was damaged in a storm and driven onto a sandbar off the coast of Norfolk. The following day Invincible drifted off the sandbar and sank in deep water. Over 400 crew were lost; 196 saved.
HMS Invincible was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1765 at Deptford. Invincible was built during a period of peace to replace ships worn out in the recently concluded Seven Years' War. The ship went on to serve in the American War of Independence, fighting at the battles of Cape St Vincent in 1780, and under the command of Captain Charles Saxton, the Battles of the Chesapeake in 1781 and St Kitts in 1782.
She survived the cull of the Navy during the next period of peace, and was present, under the command of Thomas Pakenham, at the Glorious First of June in 1794, where she was badly damaged and lost fourteen men, and, under the command of William Cayley, the Invasion of Trinidad (1797), which resulted in the transfer of Trinidad from the Spanish

1839 – Launch of HMS Indus, an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth Dockyard.
HMS Indus was an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 March 1839 at Portsmouth Dockyard.

1842 - Driver-class wooden paddle sloop HMS Driver starts the first global circumnavigation by a steamship in England, she arrived back in England on 14 May 1847
HMS Driver was a Driver-class wooden paddle sloop of the Royal Navy. She is credited with the first global circumnavigation by a steamship when she arrived back in England on 14 May 1847.

1915 – Launch of USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), the lead ship of the Pennsylvania class of super-dreadnought battleships
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of the Pennsylvania class of super-dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1910s. The Pennsylvanias were part of the standard-type battleship series, and marked an incremental improvement over the preceding Nevada class, carrying an extra pair of 14-inch (360 mm) guns for a total of twelve guns. Named for the state of Pennsylvania, she was laid down at the Newport Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in October 1913, was launched in March 1915, and was commissioned in June 1916. Equipped with an oil-burning propulsion system, Pennsylvania was not sent to European waters during World War I, since the necessary fuel oil was not as readily available as coal. Instead, she remained in American waters and took part in training exercises; in 1918, she escorted President Woodrow Wilson to France to take part in peace negotiations.

1917 - Action of 16 March 1917
HMS Achilles fought and sank the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Leopard,
The Action of 16 March 1917 was a naval engagement in which the British armed boarding steamer Dundee and the Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Achilles fought and sank the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Leopard, which sank with all 319 hands and the six men of a British boarding party.

Photograph of British armoured cruiser HMS Achilles.


personal info by Uwe - I was born in this town, so the 16th March 1945 is for us a special day - no naval event, but.....
1945 – Ninety percent of the city Würzburg, Germany was destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in around 5,000 deaths.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

17th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 16 March 1839 – Launch of HMS Indus, an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth Dockyard. HMS Indus was an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 March 1839...

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1713 – Re-Launch of HMS Orford, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,
HMS Orford was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford in 1698. She carried twenty-two 24-pounder guns and four (18-pounder) culverins on the lower deck; twenty-six 12-pounder guns on the upper deck; fourteen (5-pounder) sakers on the quarter-deck and forecastle; and four 3-pounder guns on the poop or roundhouse.

1757 – Launch of French Centaure, 74 at Toulon, designed by Joseph Marie Blaise Coulomb) – captured by the British in the Battle of Lagos in August 1759 and added to the RN as HMS Centaur, wrecked off Newfoundland in 1782
Centaure was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched at Toulon in 1757. She was designed by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb and named on 25 October 1755, and built under his supervision at Toulon. In French service she carried 74 cannon, comprising: 28 x 36-pounders on the lower deck, 30 x 18-pounders on the upper deck, 10 x 8-pounders on the quarterdeck, 6 x 8-pounders on the forecastle.
The Royal Navy captured Centaure at the Battle of Lagos on 18 August 1759, and commissioned her as the third-rate HMS Centaur.

HMS Centaur chasing the Vaillant and Amethyste, January 1760 (BHC0403)


1794 – Launch of Spanish Monarca, 74 at Ferrol - Captured by Britain at the Battle of Trafalgar and wrecked in storm, 23 October 1805
The Monarca was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. She was ordered by a royal order of 28 September 1791, built in the Reales Astilleros de Esteiro shipyard and launched on 17 March 1794. Designed by Romero Landa and belonging to the Montañés-class (a subset or modification of the San Ildefonsino class), her main guns were distributed along two complete decks, with 28 24-pounder in her first battery (lower deck) and 30 18-pounders in her second battery (upper deck). Additionally she had 12 8-pounders on her quarterdeck and four 8-pounders on her forecastle.

1795 - HMS Illustrious, which lost main and mizzenmasts during the Battle of Genoa three days earlier, sunk in storm
HMS Illustrious was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 7 July 1789 at Bucklers Hard. She participated in the Battle of Genoa after which she was wrecked.

Illustrious (1789). Models made by A.W. Curtis. Buckler's Hard Maritime Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire, United Kingdom.


1800 - HMS Queen Charlotte – a British 100-gun first-rate ship of the line that, on 17 March 1800, while serving as flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, was reconnoitering the Tuscan island of Capraia when she caught fire. She exploded and sank, killing 673 officers and men.
HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham. She was built to the draught of Royal George designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament.
In 1794 Queen Charlotte was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 she took part in the Battle of Groix.

1816 - The steamship Élise was the first steamship to cross the English Channel from Newhaven to Le Havre
The Élise was the first steamship to cross the English Channel.
The ship was constructed in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1814, originally named Margery or „Marjory“ . In 1815, Frenchman Pierre Andriel purchased her, and renamed her Élise. Andriel intended to accomplish a spectacular crossing of the Channel to convince public opinion that steam ships could be ocean-worthy.

1864 - The naval Battle of Jasmund (also known as the Battle of Rügen) took place between elements of the Danish and Prussian during the Second Schleswig War.
The Danish Blockade Squadron in the eastern part of the Baltic, composed of the Ship-of-the-line Skjold, the frigate Sjaelland and the corvettes Hejmdal and Thor, under Rear Ad. Carl E. van Dockum, fire at and drive away the Prussian frigate Arcona, the corvette Nymphe, the paddle steamer Loreley and 5 steam gunboats, under Kapitän zur See Jachmann, off Swinemünde.
The naval Battle of Jasmund (also known as the Battle of Rügen) took place between elements of the Danish and Prussian navies on 17 March 1864 during the Second Schleswig War. The action took place east of the Jasmund peninsula on the Prussian island of Rügen, during a Prussian attempt to weaken the Danish blockade in the Baltic Sea. The Prussian squadron, commanded by Eduard von Jachmann, sortied with a screw frigate, a screw corvette, a paddle steamer, and six gunboats to attack the Danish squadron blockading the eastern Prussian coast. The Danish force was commanded by Edvard van Dockum, and it consisted of one screw frigate, one ship of the line, and two steam corvettes. In an action lasting two hours, the superior Danish squadron forced the Prussians to withdraw, both sides suffering damage and light casualties. The Danish victory was compounded by the arrival of further warships after the battle, which cemented the blockade. The outcome of the battle, and the naval war in the Baltic as a whole, was irrelevant to the outcome of the war, however, as the Prussian and Austrian armies decisively defeated the Danes on land, forcing them to surrender.

Sjælland (right) engaging with the paddlewheel steamer Loreley and the corvette Nymphe. Painting by Alex Kircher.


1883 – Launch of Lepanto, an Italian ironclad battleship built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy), the second and last ship of the Italia class.
Lepanto was an Italian ironclad battleship built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy), the second and last ship of the Italia class. Lepanto was laid down in November 1876, launched in March 1883, and completed in August 1887. She was armed with a main battery of four 17 in (432 mm) guns mounted in a central barbette and was capable of a top speed of 17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph). Unlike other capital ships of the era, Lepanto had an armored deck rather than the more typical belt armor.

1891 - Mediterranean Sea, Bay of Gibraltar: the America bound steamer "SS Utopia" slammed in heavy weather into the iron-plated British battleship "HMS Amson" and sank; 576 people died
Utopia – Collided with HMS Anson while trying to enter the Bay of Gibraltar on 17 March 1891. She sank in minutes, killing 562 passengers and crew. Two rescuers from HMS Immortalité also drowned; 318 survivors were rescued.

Sketch of the sinking of Utopia by a witness, Ms. Georgina Smith


1930 – Launch of Gertrude L. Thebaud, an American fishing and racing schooner built and launched in Essex, Massachusetts in 1930.
Gertrude L. Thebaud was an American fishing and racing schooner built and launched in Essex, Massachusetts in 1930. A celebrated racing competitor of the Canadian Bluenose, it was designed by Frank Paine and built by Arthur D. Story for Louis A. Thebaud, and named for his wife, Gertrude Thebaud. In their first meeting at Gloucester, Massachusetts in October 1930, Gertrude L. Thebaud bested Bluenose 2-0 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup. However, in 1931, two races to none, and again in 1938, three races to two, Bluenose defeated Gertrude L. Thebaud to remain the undefeated holder of the International Fisherman's Trophy. During World War II, the schooner saw service with the United States Coast Guard. The vessel sank in 1948 off the coast of Venezuela.

Pennants flying on the fishing schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud, off Gloucester

1927 – Launch of HMAS Australia (I84/D84/C01), a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN)
HMAS Australia (I84/D84/C01) was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN in 1924, Australia was laid downin Scotland in 1925, and entered service in 1928. Apart from an exchange deployment to the Mediterranean from 1934 to 1936, during which she became involved in the planned British response to the Abyssinia Crisis, Australia operated in local and South-West Pacific waters until World War II began.

1938 – Launch of HMS Belfast, a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy.
HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum.

HMS Belfast at her London berth, painted in Admiralty pattern Disruptive Camouflage


1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
The 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, or the Palomares incident, occurred on 17 January 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard.

The B28RI nuclear bomb, recovered from 2,850 feet (870 m) of water, on the deck of the USS Petrel.

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

18th of March

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 17 March 1938 – Launch of HMS Belfast, a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the...

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1748 - The Action of 18 March 1748
The Action of 18 March 1748 was a naval engagement during the War of Jenkins' Ear in which a fleet of six Royal Naval vessels captured a number of merchantman in a successful engagement against a Spanish convoy escorted by nine ships of the line and frigates.
Battle
Six British warships were patrolling off Cape St Vincent under the command of Captain Thomas Cotes.
They ranged in size from the 70-gun HMS Edinburgh, under Cotes's command,
through the 60-gun Eagle, Windsor, and Princess Louisa,
to the 24-gun Inverness and the frigate Gax.
Lookouts sighted a Spanish convoy, and Cotes pursued it. The British caught up with the tail end of the convoy and an action ensued.
The escorting Spanish ships of the line were
Soberbio (74), Leon (74), Oriente (70), Colorado (70), Brillante (64), Pastora (64), Rosario (60), Xavier (54) and Galga (54).
Three register ships, from Cadiz to Vera Cruz, and two others for Carthagena, were intercepted and captured out of a Spanish fleet of 17 merchantmen, under a convoy of nine ships of the line. The rest of the convoy managed to escape under cover of darkness with their escorting ships.

1757 - HMS Greenwich (50), Cptn. Robert Rodham, taken by French Squadron of 8 large vessels off Cape Cabron.
HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession, and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, during which she was captured by the French and taken into their service under the same name. She was wrecked shortly afterwards.
Built at Lepe, Greenwich was one of a number of 50-gun ships designed to the dimensions laid down in the 1745 Establishment. She had only three British commanders during her career with the Royal Navy. Her first, John Montagu, commanded her during the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, after which she was surveyed and probably laid up. She was returned to active service under William Holburne with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, though he was soon succeeded by Robert Roddam. Roddam took her out to the Caribbean, where in 1757 he fell in with a French squadron under Joseph de Bauffremont. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Roddam fought his ship for 12 hours before surrendering her.
Taken into French service, Greenwich formed part of a squadron under Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, which was attacked by a much smaller force of three British ships at the Battle of Cap-Français. The two sides inflicted heavy damage on each other before breaking off, with Greenwich having been left considerably leaky. She underwent some repairs before escorting a convoy to France. The escorting force was caught in a gale in January 1758, and three ships were driven aground and wrecked, Greenwich among them.

1776 – Launch of HMS Vulture, a 14 to 16-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched for the Royal Navy
HMS Vulture was a 14 to 16-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched for the Royal Navy on 18 March 1776. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, before the Navy sold her in 1802. Vulture is perhaps best known for being the warship to which Benedict Arnold fled on the Hudson River in 1780 after unsuccessfully trying to betray the Continental Army's fortress at West Point, New York to the British.

1781 - the sloop USS Saratoga was lost with all hands during a gale off the Bahamas.
USS Saratoga was a sloop in the Continental Navy. She was the first ship to honor the historic Battle of Saratoga. Having disappeared in 1781, her fate remains a mystery.
Saratoga was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Warton and Humphries. She was begun in December 1779 and launched on 10 April 1780. She weighed 150 tons, was 68’ long with a beam of 25'4" and a depth of hold of 12'. Her complement was 86 with an armament of sixteen 9-pounders and two 4-pounders.

1786 – Launch of French Modeste, a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Magicienne class
HMS Modeste was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been a ship of the French Navy under the name Modeste. Launched in France in 1786, she served during the first actions of the French Revolutionary Wars until being captured while in harbour at Genoa, in circumstances disputed by the French and British, and which created a diplomatic incident. Taken into British service she spent the rest of the French Revolutionary and most of the Napoleonic Wars under the white ensign. She served with distinction in the East Indies, capturing several privateers and enemy vessels, including the French corvette Iéna. She also saw service in a variety of roles, as a troopship, a receiving ship, and a floating battery, until finally being broken up in 1814, as the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close.

1794 – Launch of HMS Apollo, the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Apollo, the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars, but her career ended after just four years in service when she was wrecked on the Haak sands off the Dutch coast.

The Apollo frigate going before the wind

Scale: 1:48. A model of one of the nine ships of the 'Artois/Apollo' class of 38-gun frigates designed by Sir John Henslow and built between 1793 and 1795. Seven were built conventionally in private shipyards and two more were constructed experimentally in fir in the Royal Dock


1893 – Launch of French Amiral Charner, an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s, the name ship of her class.
Amiral Charner was an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s, the name ship of her class. She spent most of her career in the Mediterranean, although she was sent to China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900–01. The ship was assigned to the International Squadron off the island of Crete during 1897-1898 revolt there and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 to protect French interests and citizens. Amiral Charner spent most of the first decade of the 20th century as a training ship or in reserve. The ship was recommissioned when World War I began in 1914 and escorted convoys for several months before she was assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean to blockade the Ottoman-controlled coast. During this time, she helped to rescue several thousand Armenians from Syria during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Amiral Charner was sunk in early 1916 by a German submarine, with only a single survivor rescued.

1915 – Launch of HMS Malaya, a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class battleship ordered in 1913 and commissioned in 1916.
HMS Malaya was a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class battleship ordered in 1913 and commissioned in 1916. Shortly after commissioning she fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet. Other than that battle, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during the First World War mostly consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

1915 – World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.
Battle of 18 March
The event that decided the battle took place on the night of 18 March when the Ottoman minelayer Nusret laid a line of mines in front of the Kephez minefield, across the head of Eren Köy Bay, a wide bay along the Asian shore just inside the entrance to the straits. The Ottomans had noticed the British ships turned to starboard into the bay when withdrawing. The new row of 20 mines ran parallel to the shore, were moored at fifteen m (49.2 ft) and spaced about 100 yd (91 m) apart. The clear water meant that the mines could have been seen through the water by reconnaissance aircraft. The British plan for 18 March was to silence the defences guarding the first five minefields, which would be cleared overnight by the minesweepers. The next day the remaining defences around the Narrows would be defeated and the last five minefields would be cleared. The operation went ahead with the British and French ignorant of the recent additions to the Ottoman minefields. The battleships were arranged in three lines, two British and one French, with supporting ships on the flanks and two ships in reserve.

HMS Irresistible abandoned and sinking.


1918 - Launch of SS Faith, the first concrete ship
The SS Faith was the first concrete ship built in the United States. It was constructed by the San Francisco Shipbuilding Company in 1918 owned by William Leslie Comyn. It cost $750,000.

1945 - The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of the Second World War fought on 18 March 1945, in the Gulf of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of the Second World War fought on 18 March 1945, in the Gulf of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea. A Kriegsmarine flotilla of two torpedo boats and one destroyer was conducting an offensive mine laying operation when it was intercepted by a British Royal Navy force. The British destroyers HMS Lookout and Meteor sank two of the German ships and severely damaged the third; it was the last German naval surface action of the war.

 

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19th of March

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 18 March 1967 - Great Britain, Scilly Isles: the 1,000 feet long supertanker "Torrey Canyon", owned by the Barracuda Tanker Company of Bermuda, with a load of 120,000 tons of crude oil from Kuwait ran into Pollard Rocks and broke apart...

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1279 - Battle of Yamen - Yuan Dynasty defeats Song Dynasty
The naval Battle of Yamen (simplified Chinese: 崖门战役; traditional Chinese: 厓門戰役) (also known as the Naval Battle of Mount Ya; simplified Chinese: 崖山海战; traditional Chinese: 厓山海戰) took place on 19 March 1279 and is considered to be the last standof the Song dynasty against the invading Mongol Yuan dynasty. Although outnumbered 10:1, the Yuan navy delivered a crushing tactical and strategic victory, destroying the Song.
Today, the battle site is located at Yamen, in Xinhui County, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China.

A park in commemoration of the battle in Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong


1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687) was a 17th century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.

Painting by Theodore Gudin titled La Salle's Expedition to Louisiana in 1684. The ship on the left is La Belle, in the middle is Le Joly, and L'Aimableis to the right. They are at the entrance to Matagorda Bay


1745 – Launch of French Embuscade, (one-off 38-gun design by Pierre Chaillé, with 26 x 8-pounder and 12 x 4-pounder guns) at Le Havre – captured by British Navy in May 1746, becoming HMS Ambuscade.
HMS Ambuscade was a 40-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had formerly been the French ship Embuscade, captured in 1746.
Embuscade was a one-off 38-gun design by Pierre Chaillé, with 26 × 8-pounder and 12 × 4-pounder guns and was launched at Le Havre on 19 March 1745. She was captured in the English Channel by HMS Defiance on 21 April 1746.

1747 – Launch of HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession, and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, during which she was captured by the French and taken into their service under the same name. She was wrecked shortly afterwards.

1760 – Launch of HMS Thunderer, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Woolwich
HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1760 at Woolwich. She earned a battle honour in a single-ship action off Cadiz with the French ship Achille (64 guns) in 1761, during the Seven Years' War.

1779 - HMS Arethusa (32), Cptn. Samuel Marshall, wrecked off Ushant
Aréthuse was a French frigate, launched in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1759 and became the fifth-rate HMS Arethusa. She remained in Royal Navy service for twenty years until she was wrecked after being badly damaged in battle.

1779 - cutter HMS Drake was registered and established as a sloop
HMS Drake was a 14-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was bought from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. At one stage she assisted an attack on a French-held island, an expedition commanded by a young Horatio Nelson. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Drake spent most of her time in Caribbean waters, until being declared unfit for service in 1800 and deleted from the navy lists.
Drake continued in the navy until being deleted from the lists by Admiralty order on 3 July 1800. She was subsequently condemned at Jamaica as unfit for service.

1790 - HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island.
HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island.

1798 – Launch of HMS Superb, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the fourth vessel to bear the name
HMS Superb was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the fourth vessel to bear the name. She was launched on 19 March 1798 from Northfleet, and was eventually broken up in 1826. Superb is mostly associated with Richard Goodwin Keats who commanded her as captain from 1801 until his promotion in 1806. She also served as his flagship from early 1808 until she was paid off in 1809.

1799 - the Spanish naval brig Vencejo, which was built c.1797, probably at Port Mahon, was captured by the British
HMS Vincejo (or Vencejo or Vencego, or informally as Vincey Joe), was the Spanish naval brig Vencejo, which was built c.1797, probably at Port Mahon, and that the British captured in 1799. The Royal Navy took her into service and she served in the Mediterranean where she captured a privateer and a French naval brig during the French Revolutionary Wars. After the start of the Napoleonic Wars, the French captured Vencejo in Quiberon Bay in 1804. The French Navy took her into service as Victorine, but then sold her in January 1805. She then served as the French privateer Comte de Regnaud until the British recaptured her in 1810. The Royal Navy did not take her back into service.

1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
The Georgiana was a steamer belonging to the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Reputed to be the "most powerful" cruiser in the Confederate fleet, she was never used in battle. On her maiden voyage from Scotland, where she was built, she encountered Union Navy ships engaged in a blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, and was heavily damaged before being scuttled by her captain. The wreck was discovered in 1965 and lies in the shallow waters of Charleston's harbor.
Due to the secrecy surrounding the vessel's construction, loading and sailing, there has been much speculation about her intended role, whether as a cruiser, merchantman, or privateer.

Crewmembers of USS Wissahickon by the ship's 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren gun.


1870 – Launch of HMS Hotspur, a Victorian Royal Navy ironclad ram – a warship armed with guns but whose primary weapon was a ram.
HMS Hotspur was a Victorian Royal Navy ironclad ram – a warship armed with guns but whose primary weapon was a ram.

1874 – Launch of SMS Kaiser, the lead ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship.
SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship. Named for the title "Kaiser" (German: Emperor), held by the leader of the then newly created German Empire, the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1871. The ship was launched in March 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet in February 1875. Kaiser mounted a main battery of eight 26 cm (10 in) guns in a central battery amidships.

SMS Kaiser in Constantinople


1917 - Danton – She was torpedoed by U-64, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Robert Moraht, south-west of Sardinia.
The battleship was bound for the Greek island of Corfu to join the Allied blockade of the Strait of Otranto. The ship sank in 45 minutes. 806 men were rescued by the destroyer Massue, but 296, including Captain Delage, went down with the ship
Danton was a semi-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy and the lead ship of her class. She was a technological leap in battleship development for the French Navy, as she was the first ship in the fleet with turbine engines. However, like all battleships of her type, she was completed after the Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought, and as such she was outclassed before she was even commissioned.

Arsenal model of Danton, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.


1918 - SS Linz – the Austro-Hungarian steamship struck a mine and quickly sank off Shëngjin, Albania.
970 to 1,003 people (including 413 Italian POWs) were registered as being aboard, but sources stated that also hundreds of unregistered Austro-Hungarian soldiers on leave had boarded her. At least 685 were lost. Other sources put the number of dead from more than 700 to more than 1,000.
SS Linz was an Austro-Hungarian Ocean Liner that hit a mine in the Adriatic Sea 4 miles northwest of the Cape of Rodon, while she was travelling from Fiume, Croatia to Durazzo, Albaniaunder command of Captain Tonello Hugo.

1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew.
Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power. She was the most heavily damaged US carrier to survive the war.
USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy, and the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. She was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, becoming the most heavily damaged United States aircraft carrier to survive the war. Movie footage of the actual attack was included in the 1949 film Task Force starring Gary Cooper.

 

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20th of March

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 18 March 1967 - Great Britain, Scilly Isles: the 1,000 feet long supertanker "Torrey Canyon", owned by the Barracuda Tanker Company of Bermuda, with a load of 120,000 tons of crude oil from Kuwait ran into Pollard Rocks and broke apart...

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1744 – Launch of HMS Merlin, a 10-gun snow-rigged sloop-of-war, the first of 21 Royal Navy vessels in the Merlin class.
HMS Merlin was a 10-gun snow-rigged sloop-of-war, the first of 21 Royal Navy vessels in the Merlin class. Launched in 1744, she was the first Royal Navy sloop to carry the new 6-pounder cannons, in place of the 3-pounder guns on predecessor craft. As a fast and comparatively heavily-armed vessel, she saw active service against French privateers during the War of the Austrian Succession, capturing five enemy vessels during her four years at sea. She was also present for the Battle of Saint-Louis-du-Sud in 1748 but was too small to play a truly active role in bombarding the fort.
The sloop was decommissioned at the end of the War, and declared surplus to Admiralty needs in July 1748. She was sold out of Navy service at Plymouth Dockyard on 16 November 1748.

1780 – Launch of French Invincible, 110 at Rochefort
1780 - Launch of French Royal-Louis, 110 at Brest
Invincible was a first-rate ship of the line of the French Royal Navy.

1809 Boats of HMS Arethusa (38), Cptn. Robert Mends, destroyed batteries at Baigno and Paissance.
HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781. She served in three wars and made a number of notable captures before she was broken up in 1815.

1888 – Launch of HMS Melita, a Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns
HMS Melita was a Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns. She was the only significant Royal Navy warship ever to be built in Malta Dockyard, hence the name, which is the Latin name for the island. She was renamed HMS Ringdove in 1915 and sold as a salvage vessel to Falmouth Docks Board in 1920, when her name was changed to Ringdove's Aid. She was sold again in 1927 to the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association, who changed her name to Restorer, and she was finally broken up in 1937, 54 years after her keel was laid.

1909 – Launch of SMS Von der Tann , the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine, as well as Germany's first major turbine-powered warship.
SMS Von der Tann was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine, as well as Germany's first major turbine-powered warship. At the time of her construction, Von der Tann was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). She was designed in response to the British Invincible class. While the German design had slightly lighter guns—28 cm (11 in), compared to the 30.5 cm (12 in) Mark X mounted on the British ships—Von der Tann was faster and significantly better-armored. She set the precedent of German battlecruisers carrying much heavier armor than their British equivalents, albeit at the cost of smaller guns.
Von der Tann participated in a number of fleet actions during the First World War, including several bombardments of the English coast. She was present at the Battle of Jutland, where she destroyed the British battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable in the opening minutes of the engagement. Von der Tann was hit several times by large-caliber shells during the battle, and at one point in the engagement, the ship had all of her main battery guns out of action either due to damage or malfunction. Nevertheless, the damage was quickly repaired and the ship returned to the fleet in two months.
Following the end of the war in November 1918, Von der Tann, along with most of the High Seas Fleet, was interned at Scapa Flowpending a decision by the Allies as to the fate of the fleet. The ship met her end in 1919 when German caretaker crews scuttled their ships to prevent their division among Allied navies. The wreck was raised in 1930, and scrapped at Rosyth from 1931 to 1934.

The German battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann at anchor. The photo was probably taken during Von der Tann´s cruise to South America in 1911.


1912 – Launch of HMS Queen Mary, the last battlecruiser built by the Royal Navy before World War I.
HMS Queen Mary was the last battlecruiser built by the Royal Navy before World War I. The sole member of her class, Queen Maryshared many features with the Lion-class battlecruisers, including her eight 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns. She was completed in 1913 and participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight as part of the Grand Fleet in 1914. Like most of the modern British battlecruisers, she never left the North Sea during the war. As part of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, she attempted to intercept a German force that bombarded the North Sea coast of England in December 1914, but was unsuccessful. She was refitting in early 1915 and missed the Battle of Dogger Bank in January, but participated in the largest fleet action of the war, the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916. She was hit twice by the German battlecruiser Derfflinger during the early part of the battle and her magazines exploded shortly afterwards, sinking the ship.

1912 - Koombana – disappeared on 20 March 1912 north of Port Hedland, Western Australia, in a tropical cyclone with the loss of about 76 passengers and 74 crew.
SS Koombana was a late Edwardian-era passenger, cargo and mail carrying steamship. From March 1909 to March 1912, she operated coastal liner services between Fremantle, Western Australia and various ports in the northwest of that State. She is best known for disappearing at an unknown location north of Port Hedland, Western Australia, during a tropical cyclone on 20 March 1912, killing 74 passengers and 76 crew; in total, 150 people died.

1920 – Launch of USS Maryland (BB-46), also known as "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" to her crewmates, was a Colorado-class battleship.
USS Maryland (BB-46), also known as "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" to her crewmates, was a Colorado-class battleship. She was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. She was commissioned in 1921, and serving as the flagship of the fleet, cruised to Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

1922 - USS Jupiter (Fuel Ship #3) is recommissioned as USS Langley (CV 1), the Navy's first aircraft carrier.
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 and so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled by her escorts.

USS Langley underway, 1927

 

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21st of March

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 20 March 1780 – Launch of French Invincible, 110 at Rochefort And 20 March 1780 - Launch of French Royal-Louis, 110 at Brest Invincible was a first-rate ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. sistership Royal-Louis Detail of...

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1666 – Launch of Sweepstakes
Charles Galley was an early galley-frigate with a bank of sweeps above the waterline, the last of these types (Royal Anne Galley) being launched in 1709.
Vessels of 1665 Programme:
Little Victory – launched 1665
Sweepstakes – launched 21 March 1666
Falcon – launched 1666

1776 – Launch of HMS Galatea, a 20-gun Sphinx-class sixth-rate post-ship of the Royal Navy.
HMS Galatea was a 20-gun Sphinx-class sixth-rate post-ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence.
In 1776, the ship was sent to North America under the command of Captain Thomas Jordan with a crew of 200. She took part in the capture of 30 American ships. An American naval squadron led by Samuel Elbert attacked the ship near St. Simons Island in what became known as the Frederica naval action. Although the Americans captured her other three escort ships, Galatea's crew ran her aground and managed to escape without being captured.

The American privateer Gustavus Conyngham was captured and held aboard the Galatea. By his own report he was kept in irons until he reached prison, and was given no more than a “cold plank as my bed, a stone for a pillow”. Additionally, he was not fed properly, causing him to lose fifty pounds while imprisoned on the ship en route to his English prison.
She was broken up in April 1783.

1800 - HMS Peterel (16), Francis William Austen, drove 2 armed vessels ashore and captured Ligurienne (16) in the Bay of Marseilles
HMS Peterel (or Peterell) was a 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and was in active service until 1811. Her most famous action was the capture of the French brig Ligurienne when shortly after Peterel captured two merchant ships and sent them off with prize crews, three French ships attacked her. She drove two on shore and captured the largest, the 14-gun Ligurienne. The Navy converted Peterel to a receiving ship at Plymouth in 1811 and sold her in 1827.

Battle between Ligurienne and HMS Peterel, 30 Ventôse an VIII (21 March 1800). Aquatint by Antoine Roux.


1804 – French privateer Blonde captures and sinks HMS Wolverine.
HMS Wolverine (or Wolverene, or Woolverene), was a Royal Navy 14-gun brig-sloop, formerly the civilian collier Rattler that the Admiralty purchased in 1798 and converted into a brig sloop, but armed experimentally. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and participated in one action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. A French privateer captured and sank Wolverine on 21 March 1804 whilst she was on convoy duty.
Blonde's captain was François Aregnaudeau. He was captain of the privateer Duc de Dantzig, when she disappeared in 1812.

1804 - The brig USS Syren (Siren), commanded by Lt. Charles Stewart, captures the Tripolitan brig Transfer off the coast of Tripoli, renaming it Scourge after being taken into US Navy service.

1818 – Launch of French Neptune, an 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané.
The Neptune was an 80-gun Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané.
Started in 1810, briefly renamed Brabançon during the Hundred Days and launched in 1818, after the Bourbon Restoration, she remained without commission until 1839.
She was part of a squadron under Admiral Hugon, along with Montebello and Andromaque.
She was struck in 1858 and used as a prison ship in Toulon harbour between 1865 and 1868.

The Robuste, sister-ship of the Neptune


1848 – Launch of HMS Reynard, an 8-gun screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was conducted anti-piracy work in Chinese waters and was wrecked on the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851.
HMS Reynard was an 8-gun screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1848, conducted anti-piracy work in Chinese waters and was wrecked on the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851.

The original plans of Reynard


1882 – Launch of The fourth HMS Colossus, a Colossus class second-class British battleship
The fourth HMS Colossus was a Colossus class second-class British battleship, launched in 1882 and commissioned in 1886. She had a displacement of 9,520 tons, and an armament of 4 × 12-inch breechloaders, 5 × 6-inch guns and had a respectable speed of 15.5 knots.
She was one of the first, if not the first, modern battleship. She had several features which would be standard for all gun warships up to the Second World War including all steel construction, a main battery of breech loading major caliber guns (ie. 10 inches or greater) mounted in turrets and was propelled only by steam engines instead of a combination of steam and sails - as was common in the mid-19th century.

1886 – Launch of Vesuvio, a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1880s
Vesuvio was a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1880s. She was the third member of the Etna class, which included three sister ships. Named for the volcano Mount Vesuvius, the ship's keel was laid down in July 1883. She was launched in March 1886 and was commissioned into the fleet in March 1888. She was armed with a main battery of two 10-inch (254 mm) and six 6-inch (152 mm) guns, and could steam at a speed of around 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Her career was relatively uneventful; the only significant action in which she took part was the campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. She was stricken from the naval register in May 1911 and sold for scrap in 1915.

1901 – Launch of HMS Duncan, the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships.
HMS Duncan was the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Duncan and her sister shipswere capable of steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Duncan was built between her keel laying in July 1899 and her completion in October 1903.

1901 - Launch of RRS Discovery, a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built for Antarctic research
RRS Discovery is a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built for Antarctic research, and launched in 1901. She was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Its first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, and highly successful, journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. After service as a merchant ship before and during the First World War, Discovery was taken into the service of the British government in 1923 to carry out scientific research in the Southern Ocean, becoming the first Royal Research Ship. The ship undertook a two-year expedition - the Discovery Investigations - recording valuable information on the oceans, marine life and being the first scientific investigation into whale populations. From 1929 to 1931 Discovery served as the base for the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition under Douglas Mawson, a major scientific and territorial quest in what is now the Australian Antarctic Territory.

RRS Discovery, in Dundee in 2009.


1912 – Launch of SMS Tegetthoff (His Majesty's Ship Tegetthoff), the second of four Tegetthoff-class dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy
SMS Tegetthoff (His Majesty's Ship Tegetthoff) was the second of four Tegetthoff-class dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Tegetthoff was named for the 19th-century Austrian Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, most notable for defeating the Italian Regia Marina at the Battle of Lissa in 1866. the ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 30.5 cm (12.0 in) guns in four triple turrets. Constructed shortly before World War I, she was built at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste, where she was laid down in September 1910 and launched in March 1912.

Model of Viribus Unitis in the Museum of Military History, Vienna


1942 – Launch of RV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanographic researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research.
RV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanographic researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research. It was severely damaged in 1996, and was planned to undergo a complete refurbishment in 2009-2011. The ship is named after the Greek mythological figure Calypso.

2003 – Launch of RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2), a transatlantic ocean liner.
RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2) is a transatlantic ocean liner. She is the largest ocean liner ever built, having served as the flagship of the Cunard Line since succeeding the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2004.[10] As of 2019, Queen Mary 2 is the only passenger ship operating as an ocean liner.

Queen Mary 2 passing through the Suez Canal, 2 April 2009.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

22nd of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 21 March 1901 – Launch of HMS Duncan, the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships. HMS Duncan was the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships. Built to...

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1185 - Battle of Yashima - Battle off the coast of Shikoku
The naval Battle of Yashima took place on March 22, 1185. Following a long string of defeats, the Taira clan retreated to Yashima, today's Takamatsu, just off the coast of Shikoku. Here they had a fortress, and an improvised palace for Emperor Antoku and the imperial regalia, which they had taken earlier in the war.

Nasu no Yoichi firing his famous shot at a fan atop the mast of a Taira ship. From a hanging scroll, Watanabe Museum, Tottori Prefecture, Japan.


1783 – Launch of HMS Rattler, a 16-gun Echo-class sloop of the Royal Navy.
HMS Rattler was a 16-gun Echo-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Launched in March 1783, she saw service in the Leeward Islandsand Nova Scotia before being paid off in 1792 and sold to whaling company Samuel Enderby & Sons. She made two voyages as a whaler and two as a slave ship before she was condemned in the Americas as unseaworthy in 1802.

1808 - HMS Aigle (36), Cptn. George Wolfe, engaged off Ile de Croix by batteries forced 1 of 2 frigates, Furieuse (40), ashore.
Action off Groix
Aigle was in action again on 22 March 1808 against two large, French frigates; Italienne of 40 guns and the 38-gun Sirene. A squadron comprising Aigle, the 32-gun frigate Narcissus, the two seventy-fours Impétueux and Saturn, and two or three smaller vessels were anchored between the Glénan islands, whilst being resupplied by a transport convoy. At 15:45, two French frigates to the south-east were simultaneously seen from Aigle's masthead and by the British schooner Cuckoo, which was stationed midway between the squadron and the island of Groix. Aigle immediately gave chase, and coming within hailing distance at 19:30, Wolfe directed Cuckoo to relay to Impétueux and Narcissus, now following two miles behind, his intention to cut off the French ships by sailing between Groix and the mainland.

outboard works, expansion of This is Aigle (1801). NMM, Progress Book, volume 6, folio 314, states that 'Aigle' was at Plymouth Dockyard between January 1804 and May 1805; again between July and August 1805; again from October to November 1807; and again between December 1809 and February 1810 for defects to be rectified.


1808 - Battle of Zealand Point
The Battle of Zealand Point was a naval battle of the English Wars and the Gunboat War. Ships of the Danish and British navies fought off Zealand Point on 22 March 1808; the battle was a British victory.

A model of this ship hangs in da:Odden Kirke, near the scene of the battle


1810 - Start of campaign by HMS Magnificent (74), Cptn. G. Eyre, HMS Montagu (74), Cptn. Moubray, HMS Belle Poule (38), Cptn. James Brisbane, HMS Leonidas (36), Cptn. Anselm John Griffiths, and HMS Imogene (16), William Stephens, which captured Santa Maura.
The British, having decided to capture the island of Saint Maura, north of Corfu, Commander William Stephens and Imogen became part of a squadron that also included Magnificent, under the command of Captain George Eyre, who was the naval commander, Belle Poule, three gunboats, and five transports carrying troops. When the squadron arrived on 21 March 1810, Eyre ordered Stephens to take the gunboats and to anchor as close to shore as possible to cover the landing of the troops and to silence two small shore batteries there. The next day the operations began. The batteries fired on Imogen and the gunboats, but were soon silenced. Stephens went ashore and was wounded in the foot storming the redoubts that protected the citadel. Even so, on 25 March he sailed with Imogen, Belle Poule, and the gunboats to the north of the island to prevent the enemy from landing reinforcements. The citadel finally capitulated on 15 April. The only casualty on Imogen was Stephens.

1810 – Launch of HMS Decoy, she participated in the capture of several small French privateers,
1814 - Exactly 4 years later HMS Decoy was taken by the French while grounded off Calais
HMS Decoy was launched in 1810. She participated in the capture of several small French privateers, captured or recaptured a number of merchant vessels, and captured a number of smuggling vessels. The French captured her in 1814.

1813 - 74-gun ship of the line HMS Captain, in harbour service, caught fire in the Hamoaze, Plymouth and sank the next day after burning to the waterline.
HMS Captain was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 November 1787 at Limehouse. She served during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Warsbefore being placed in harbour service in 1799. An accident caused her to burn and founder in 1813. Later that year she was raised and broken up.

Drawing with grey wash entitled "St Vincent. Nelson in the Captain engaging "Santissima Trinidad", "San Josef". The medium includes pen and black ink and is heightened with white. The drawing is signed and dated by the artist.

HMS Captain capturing the San Nicolas and the San Josef at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797


1820 - Commodore Stephen Decatur was mortally wounded in a duel with Capt. James Barron at Bladensburg, Md.,
over criticism Decatur had when Barron lost his ship, USS Chesapeake, to HMS Leopard in 1807.
Stephen Decatur Jr. (January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was a United States naval officer and commodore. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland in Worcester County, the son of a U.S. naval officer who served during the American Revolution. His father, Stephen Decatur Sr., was a commodore in the U.S. Navy, and brought the younger Stephen into the world of ships and sailing early on. Shortly after attending college, Decatur followed in his father's footsteps and joined the U.S. Navy at the age of nineteen as a midshipman.

Decatur Boarding the Tripolitan Gunboat, by Dennis Malone Carter


1900 – Launch of SMS Prinz Heinrich, a unique German armored cruiser built at the turn of the 20th century for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), named after Kaiser Wilhelm II's younger brother Prince Heinrich.
SMS Prinz Heinrich was a unique German armored cruiser built at the turn of the 20th century for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), named after Kaiser Wilhelm II's younger brother Prince Heinrich. The second vessel of that type built in Germany, Prinz Heinrich was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel, being laid down in December 1898, launched in March 1900, and commissioned in March 1902. Prinz Heinrich's design was a modification of the previous armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck, and traded a smaller main battery and thinner armor for higher speed. All subsequent German armored cruisers were incremental developments of Prinz Heinrich.

Prinz Heinrich in port in 1902, probably while fitting-out


1911 – Launch of SMS Kaiser, the lead ship of the Kaiser class of battleships of the Imperial German Navy.
SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the Kaiser class of battleships of the Imperial German Navy. Kaiser was built by the Imperial Dockyard at Kiel, launched on 22 March 1911 and commissioned on 1 August 1912. The ship was equipped with ten 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in five twin turrets, and had a top speed of 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph). Kaiser was assigned to the III Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of World War I.

1942 - Second Battle of Sirte
Italian fleet obstacles a British convoy to Malta, hit escorts, but failed to sink the cargo ships. Delay of the convoy led to the loss of four freighters by air attack
The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in which the escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta frustrated a much more powerful Regia Marina (Italian Navy) squadron. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships escorted by four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser, and 17 destroyers. The Italian force comprised a battleship, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers. Despite the initial British success at warding off the Italian squadron, the battle delayed the convoy's planned arrival before dawn, which exposed it to intense air attacks that sank all four merchant ships and one of the escorting destroyers in the following days. The battle occurred on 22 March 1942 in the Mediterranean, north of the Gulf of Sidra and southeast of Malta, during the Second World War.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

23rd of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 21 March 1901 – Launch of HMS Duncan, the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships. HMS Duncan was the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships. Built to...

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1745 – Launch of HMS Gloucester, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1740s
HMS Gloucester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1740s. She participated in the 1740–48 War of the Austrian Succession, capturing four French privateers. The ship was broken up in 1764.

1762 – Launch of HMS Kent, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Deptford Dockyard.
HMS Kent was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 March 1762 at Deptford Dockyard.
In 1774, a chest containing perhaps as much as 400 lb (181.4 kg) of gunpowder exploded during saluting, killing eleven and injuring dozens more, and causing the marine drummer sitting on the chest to be blown overboard. The marine reportedly suffered no injuries as a result.
She was sold out of the service in 1784.

ventilator (ZAZ6814) of 'Defence' (sistership)


1780 – Launch of HMS Fortitude, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by John Randall & Co., at Rotherhithe.

1794 – Launch of French HMS Donegal, launched as Barra, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
She was renamed Pégase in October 1795, and Hoche in December 1797. The British Royal Navy captured her on 12 October 1798 and recommissioned her as HMS Donegal.
HMS Donegal was launched in 1794 as Barra, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Pégase in October 1795, and Hoche in December 1797. The British Royal Navy captured her on 12 October 1798 and recommissioned her as HMS Donegal.

'Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806' by Nicholas Pocock. HMS Donegal is on the left of the painting, engaging the Jupiter

HMS Donegal (PAH0760)


1796 – Launch of French Loire, a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.
Loire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured following the Battle of Tory Island by a Royal Navy frigate squadron and subsequently taken into British service as HMS Loire.

Capture of Loire


1815 - USS Hornet captures HMS Penguin
HMS Penguin was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1813. In 1815 USS Hornet captured Penguin in a battle that took place after the end of the War of 1812. Hornet then scuttled Penguin as she was too damaged to merit keeping.

The action between USS Hornet and HMS Penguin


1848 – The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
John Wickliffe was the first ship to arrive carrying Scottish settlers, including Otago settlement founder Captain William Cargill, in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. The ship was named after a reformer, John Wycliffe.
Departing with 97 passengers from Gravesend, near London, on 22 November 1847, and from Portsmouth on 14 December 1847, she arrived at Port Chalmers on 23 March 1848. 23 March is now observed as Otago Anniversary Day, although the anniversary actually celebrates the establishment of the Otago provincial government on the same day in 1852. Her sister ship, Philip Laing, arrived three weeks later on 15 April.

Complete passenger list of the John Wickcliffe


1853 – Launch of HMS St Jean d'Acre, the Royal Navy's first 101 gun screw two-decker line-of-battle ship.

HMS St Jean d'Acre


1902 – Launch of Adolphe, a sailing ship that was wrecked at the mouth of the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia, in 1904
The Adolphe was a sailing ship that was wrecked at the mouth of the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia, in 1904. The ship is now the most prominent of several wrecks on what is now the Stockton breakwall, which protects Newcastle harbour. The rescue of the ship’s crew has gone down in local maritime history as one of the most remarkable in local waters.

The wreck of the Adolphe on Stockton breakwall


1906 – Launch of SMS Scharnhorst ("His Majesty's Ship Scharnhorst"), an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany.
SMS Scharnhorst ("His Majesty's Ship Scharnhorst")[a] was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which included SMS Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding Roon class; they were equipped with a greater number of main guns and were capable of a higher top speed. The ship was named after the Prussian military reformer General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and commissioned into service on 24 October 1907.

1911 - The passenger ship SS Yongala sank off Cape Bowling Green, Queensland, Australia - All 122 aboard were lost,
The passenger ship SS Yongala sank off Cape Bowling Green, Queensland, Australia on 23 March 1911. En route from Melbourneto Cairns she steamed into a cyclone and sank south of Townsville. All 122 aboard were lost, and traces of the ship were not found until days later, when cargo and wreckage began to wash ashore at Cape Bowling Green and at Cleveland Bay. It was believed that the hull of the ship had been ripped open by a submerged rock. The wreck, which has become a tourist attraction and dive site, was not found until 1958.

Postcard of SS Yongala from c. 1905


1921 – Launch of STS Sedov (Russian: Седов), formerly Magdalene Vinnen II (1921–1936) and Kommodore Johnsen (–1948), a four-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation.
STS Sedov (Russian: Седов), formerly Magdalene Vinnen II (1921–1936) and Kommodore Johnsen (–1948), is a four-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation. Originally built as a German cargo ship, Sedov is today a sail training vessel, training cadets from the universities of Murmansk, Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk. She participates regularly in the big maritime international events as a privileged host and has also been a regular participant in The Tall Ships' Races.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

24th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 23 March 1745 – Launch of HMS Gloucester, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1740s HMS Gloucester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1740s. She participated in...

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1607 – Birth of Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. He was one of the most skilled admirals in history, most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably being the Raid on the Medway. The pious De Ruyter was very much loved by his sailors and soldiers; from them his most significant nickname derived: Bestevaêr (older Dutch for 'grandfather'.)

1693 - Birth - and
24 March 1776 - Death of John Harrison, English clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer
John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.

Grasshopper escapement


1796 – Launch of HMS York, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
HMS York was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 March 1796. She served briefly in the West Indies where she captured numerous small vessels. She was wrecked in 1804.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile with one waterline, and basic longitudinal half-breadth for converting York (purchased 1795), an East India Company ship, to a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan still refers to the ship under her East India Company name of Royal Admiral. The body plan and half-breadth are in faint pencil.


1800 - Launch of French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, the later HMS Implacable, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Implacable was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800.

The Russian ship Vsevolod burning, after the action with the Implacable and Centaur, destroyed in the presence of the Russian Fleet near Rogerwick bay on 26 August 1808.

1806 - HMS Reindeer (18), John Fyffe, engaged Voltigeur (16), Jacques Saint-Cricq, and Phaeton (16), Louis-Henri Freycinet-Saulce.
On 24 March 1806, off Puerto Rico, Reindeer encountered two French brigs, Phaéton and Voltigeur, each of sixteen 6-pounder guns. The vessels exchanged fire for some four hours. Reindeer succeeded in damaging the French brigs before they escaped; Reindeer too had some damage but no casualties. Two days later Pique captured the two French brigs. Phaéton, under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Saulces de Freycinet, was sailing to the Antilles when she was captured near Santo Domingo. The Admiralty took Phaeton into British service as Mignonne and Voltigeur as Pelican.

U.S. Marines aboard USS Wasp engage the HMS Reindeer from the 1945 painting by American artist, Staff Sgt. John F. Clymer, on display at the U.S. National Museum of the Marine Corps


1860 – Launch of HMS Frederick William, an 86-gun screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Frederick William was an 86-gun screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Queen (1839), a 110-gun First Rate, three-decker. The plan Algiers (cancelled 1840), and initially for the original designs of Windsor Castle (1858) when first ordered as Victoria, and Frederick William (1860), when first ordered as Royal Frederick (previously named Royal Sovereign until April 1839).


1878 –The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
HMS Eurydice – On 24 March 1878, the training ship Eurydice was caught in a heavy snow storm off the Isle of Wight, capsized, and sank. Two of the ship's 378 crew and trainees survived; most of those who were not carried down with the ship died of exposure in the freezing waters.
HMS Eurydice was a 26-gun Royal Navy corvette which was the victim of one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters when she sank in 1878.

1898 - Launch of USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, and also of her sistership USS Kentucky (BB 6)
USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, was a United States Navy ship, named after the sloop-of-war Kearsarge. Her keel was laid down by the Newport Shipbuilding Company of Virginia, on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Rear Admiral Herbert Winslow, and commissioned on 20 February 1900.
Between 1903 and 1907 Kearsarge served in the North Atlantic Fleet, and from 1907 to 1909 she sailed as part of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 she was decommissioned for modernization, which was finished in 1911. In 1915 she served in the Atlantic, and between 1916 and 1919 she served as a training ship. She was converted into a crane ship in 1920, renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, and sold for scrap in 1955. She was the only United States Navy battleship to not be named after a state.

1916 - the French passenger ferry Sussex was sailing from Folkestone to Dieppe when she was torpedoed by SM UB-29.
She was severely damaged with her entire bow forward of her bridge blown off. Some of her lifeboats were launched, but at least two capsized and many passengers were drowned. Of 53 crew and 325 passengers at least 50 were killed, but a figure of between 80 and 100 is also suggested. Sussex remained afloat and was eventually towed stern-first into Boulogne harbour.
Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry, built in 1896 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). After the LBSCR came to a co-operation agreement with the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, she transferred to their fleet under a French flag. Sussex became the focus of an international incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-Boat in 1916. After the war she was repaired and sold to Greece in 1919, being renamed Aghia Sophia. Following a fire in 1921, the ship was scrapped.

Sussex at Boulogne after being torpedoed in March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack.


1925 – Launch of SS Admiral Nakhimov (Russian: Адмирал Нахимов), originally named SS Berlin, a passenger liner of the German Weimar Republic later converted to a hospital ship, then a Soviet passenger ship.
SS Admiral Nakhimov (Russian: Адмирал Нахимов), launched in March 1925 and originally named SS Berlin, was a passenger liner of the German Weimar Republic later converted to a hospital ship, then a Soviet passenger ship. On 31 August 1986, Admiral Nakhimov collided with the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Tsemes Bay, near the port of Novorossiysk, Russian SFSR, and quickly sank. In total, 423 of the 1,234 people on board died.

1989 - Alaska, Prince William Sound: 210,000 ton oil tanker "Exxon Valdez" ran onto a reef
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) west of Tatitlek, Alaska, at 12:04 am. local time and spilled 10.8 million US gallons (260,000 bbl) (or 37,000 metric tonnes) of crude oil over the next few days. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters. The Valdez spill is the second largest in US waters, after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in terms of volume released. Prince William Sound's remote location, accessible only by helicopter, plane, or boat, made government and industry response efforts difficult and severely taxed existing response plans. The region is a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals and seabirds. The oil, originally extracted at the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, eventually impacted 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of coastline, of which 200 miles (320 km) were heavily or moderately oiled with an obvious impact.

Three days after Exxon Valdez ran aground

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

25th of March

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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 24 March 1747 – Launch of French Intrépide 74 at Brest - burnt by accident in July 1781 The Intrépide was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was of three ships of the Monarque class, all launched in 1747, the others...

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1708 - Launch of HMS Ruby, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment,
HMS Ruby was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment, and launched on 25 March 1708.

1708 - Launch of HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin according to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard,
HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin according to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard, and launched on 25 March 1708. Resolution was wrecked in 1711.

1745 – Birth of John Barry (naval officer), American naval officer and father of the American navy (d. 1803)
John Barry (March 25, 1745 – September 13, 1803) was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary Warand later in the United States Navy. He came to be widely credited as "The Father of the American Navy" (and shares that moniker with John Paul Jones and John Adams) and was appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775. He was the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.
After the war, he became the first commissioned U.S. naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.



1795 - HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy, recaptured from the French
HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Built at Dover, Kent, Speedy spent most of the interwar years serving off the British coast. Transferred to the Mediterranean after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, she spent the rest of her career there under a number of notable commanders, winning fame for herself in various engagements and often against heavy odds. Her first commander in the Mediterranean, Charles Cunningham, served with distinction with several squadrons, assisting in the capture of several war prizes, such as the French frigates Modeste and Impérieuse. His successor, George Cockburn, impressed his superiors with his dogged devotion to duty. Speedy's next commander, George Eyre, had the misfortune to lose her to a superior French force on 9 June 1794.
She was soon retaken, and re-entered service under Hugh Downman, who captured a number of privateers between 1795 and 1799 and fought off an attack by the large French privateer Papillon on 3 February 1798. His successor, Jahleel Brenton, fought a number of actions against Spanish forces off Gibraltar. Her last captain, Lord Cochrane, forced the surrender of a much larger Spanish warship, the Gamo. Speedy was finally captured by a powerful French squadron in 1801 and donated to the Papal Navy by Napoleon the following year. She spent five years with them under the name San Paolo, but was struck around 1806.

1802 Treaty of Amiens signed, ending French Revolutionary Wars.
The Treaty of Amiens (French: la paix d'Amiens) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 (4 Germinal X in the French Revolutionary calendar) by Joseph Bonaparte and Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace." The consequent peace lasted only one year (18 May 1803) and was the only period of general peace in Europe between 1793 and 1814.
Under the treaty, Britain recognised the French Republic. Together with the Treaty of Lunéville (1801), the Treaty of Amiens marked the end of the Second Coalition, which had waged war against Revolutionary France since 1798.

1804 - HMS Magnificent (74), Cptn. W. H. Jervis, wrecked near the Pierres Noires, Brest.
HMS Magnificent was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 September 1766 at Deptford Dockyard. She was one of the Ramillies-class built to update the Navy and replace ships lost following the Seven Years' War. She served through two wars before her loss during blockade duty off the French coast.

1804, March 25 or 28 – HMS Hippomenes captures French privateer Egyptienne
On 23 March 1804, the British 18-gun sloop Osprey gave chase to four ships that turned out to be a frigate and three merchant ships. Osprey badly damaged the frigate Egyptienne in a close, 80-minute action near Barbados before Egyptienne used her superior speed to escape. Osprey lost one man killed and 16 wounded in the action and her hull and rigging were badly damaged.
On the 25th, Osprey and the British 18-gun sloop Hippomenes recaptured the Reliance, one of several prizes that Egyptienne had taken. From the prize master the British found out the identity of the vessel that Osprey had fought.
On 25 March 1804 or 27 March 1804 Hippomenes captured the damaged Egyptienne after a 54-hour chase followed by a three-hour, 20-minute single-ship action. Egyptienne was under the command of M. Placiard and had a crew of 255 men. After Hippomenses captured Egyptienne, the British found out that she had lost eight men killed and 19 wounded in the fight with Osprey. Hippomenes had only one man slightly wounded.
The British took Egyptienne into service as HMS Antigua as there was already an Egyptienne in the Royal Navy. Because Egyptienne was twenty-five years old, and battered, the Navy decided against sending her to sea again. Lieutenant James Middleton commissioned her in December 1808 and commanded her until 1815. From December 1808 Antigua served as a prison hulk until scrapped in 1816.

1808 - HMS Electra Sloop (16), G. Trollope, wrecked on a reef at the entrance of Port Augusta, Sicily.
HMS Electra was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in 1806. She wrecked off Port Augusta, Sicily, on 25 March 1808. The Navy was able to salve her, but then had her broken up at Malta later that year.

Electra was returning to Port Augusta with payroll for the troops on Sicily. As she was working her way into the bay at 8a.m. she hit the outer edge of a reef. By mid-afternoon all efforts to save her had failed and she was awash. The decision was made to abandon her. The subsequent court martial faulted Trollope for having tried to enter an unfamiliar port without calling for a pilot and for failing to use a lead. The court martial ordered that Trollope be put at the bottom of the list of Commanders. The court martial also reprimanded Lieutenant Richard Connelly for having left the deck while Electra was on the reef.

1872 – Launch of HMS Thunderer, one of two Devastation-class ironclad turret ships
HMS Thunderer was one of two Devastation-class ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s. She suffered two serious accidents before the decade was out and gained a reputation as an unlucky ship for several years afterward. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1878 and was reduced to reserve in 1881 before being recommissioned in 1885. Thunderer returned home in 1887 and was again placed in reserve. She rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1891, but was forced to return to the UK by boiler problems the following year. The ship became a coast guard ship in Wales in 1895 and was again placed in reserve in 1900. Thunderer was taken out of service in 1907 and sold for scrap in 1909.

1893 - Glückauf was a German ship that represented a major step forward in oil tanker design.
"When the Glückauf sailed from the Tyne on 10 July 1886 she was the first ocean going tanker with oil to her skin".
The vessel was in use from 1886 to 25 March 1893, when it ran aground at Fire Island in New York.
Glückauf was a German ship that represented a major step forward in oil tanker design. "When the Glückauf sailed from the Tyne on 10 July 1886 she was the first ocean going tanker with oil to her skin". The vessel was in use from 1886 to 25 March 1893, when it ran aground at Fire Island in New York.

1941 - SS Britannia, a British steam passenger ship, was sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Thor with the loss of 122 crew and 127 passengers.
SS Britannia was a British steam passenger ship which was sunk by a German merchant raider during the Second World War.