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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel.
(It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)



The Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, lit. 'Great and Most Fortunate Navy') was a Habsburg Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from Corunna in late May 1588, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. Medina Sidonia was an aristocrat without naval command experience but was made commander by King Philip II. The aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and her establishment of Protestantism in England, to stop English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and to stop the harm caused by English and Dutch privateering ships that interfered with Spanish interests in America.

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English ships sailed from Plymouth to attack the Armada and were faster and more manoeuvrable than the larger Spanish Galleons, enabling them to fire on the Armada without loss as it sailed east off the south coast of England. Armada could have anchored in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland and occupied the Isle of Wight, but Medina Sidonia was under orders from King Philip II to meet up with the Duke of Parma's forces in The Netherlands so England could be invaded by Parma's soldiers and other soldiers carried in ships of the Armada. English guns damaged the Armada and a Spanish ship was captured by Sir Francis Drake in the English Channel.

The Armada anchored off Calais. While awaiting communications from Duke of Parma, the Armada was scattered by an English fireship night attack and abandoned its rendezvous with Parma's army, that was blockaded in harbour by Dutch flyboats. In the ensuing Battle of Gravelines, the Spanish fleet was further damaged and was in risk of running aground on the Dutch coast when the wind changed. The Armada, driven by southwest winds, withdrew north, with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England. On return to Spain round the north of Scotland and south around Ireland, the Armada was disrupted further by storms. A large number of ships were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland and more than a third of the initial 130 ships failed to return.[26] As Martin and Parker explain, "Philip II attempted to invade England, but his plans miscarried. This was due to his own mismanagement, including appointing an aristocrat without naval experience as commander of the Armada, unfortunate weather, and the opposition of the English and their Dutch allies including the use of fire-ships sailed into the anchored Armada.".

The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The following year, England organised a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, the English Armada, sometimes called the "counter-Armada of 1589".


Etymology
The word armada is from the Spanish: armada, which is cognate with English army. Originally from the Latin: armāta, the past participle of armāre, 'to arm', used in Romance languages as a noun for armed force, army, navy, fleet. Armada Española is still the Spanish term for the modern Spanish Navy. Armada (originally from its armadas) was also the Portuguese traditional term (now alternative, but in common use) of the Portuguese Navy.

History
Background

Henry VIII began the English Reformation as a political exercise over his desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Over time, it became increasingly aligned with the Protestant reformation taking place in Europe, especially during the reign of Henry's son, Edward VI. Edward died childless and his half-sister, Mary I, ascended the throne. A devout Catholic, Mary, with her co-monarch and husband, Philip II of Spain, began to reassert Roman influence over church affairs. Her attempts led to more than 260 people being burned at the stake, earning her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'.


Philip II of Spain c. 1580, National Portrait Gallery, London

Mary's death in 1558 led to her half-sister, Elizabeth I, taking the throne. Unlike Mary, Elizabeth was firmly in the reformist camp, and quickly reimplemented many of Edward's reforms. Philip, no longer co-monarch, deemed Elizabeth a heretic and illegitimate ruler of England. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Henry had never officially divorced Catherine, making Elizabeth illegitimate. It is alleged that Phillip supported plots to have Elizabeth overthrown in favour of her Catholic cousin and heir presumptive, Mary, Queen of Scots. These plans were thwarted when Elizabeth had the Queen of Scots imprisoned and executed in 1587. Elizabeth retaliated against Philip by supporting the Dutch revoltagainst Spain, as well as funding privateers to raid Spanish ships across the Atlantic.

In retaliation, Philip planned an expedition to invade England in order to overthrow Elizabeth and, if the Armada was not entirely successful, at least negotiate freedom of worship for Catholics and financial compensation for war in the Low Countries.[30] Through this endeavor, English material support for the United Provinces, the part of the Low Countries that had successfully seceded from Spanish rule, and English attacks on Spanish trade and settlements in the New World would end. The King was supported by Pope Sixtus V, who treated the invasion as a crusade, with the promise of a subsidy should the Armada make land.

A raid on Cádiz, led by Francis Drake in April 1587, had captured or destroyed about 30 ships and great quantities of supplies, setting preparations back by a year. Philip initially favoured a triple attack, starting with a diversionary raid on Scotland, while the main Armada would capture the Isle of Wight, or Southampton, to establish a safe anchorage in the Solent. The Duke of Parma would then follow with a large army from the Low Countries crossing the English Channel. Parma was uneasy about mounting such an invasion without any possibility of surprise. The appointed commander of the Armada was the highly experienced Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz, but he died in February 1588, and the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a high-born courtier, took his place. While a competent soldier and distinguished administrator, Medina Sidonia had no naval experience. He wrote to Philip expressing grave doubts about the planned campaign, but his message was prevented from reaching the King by courtiers on the grounds that God would ensure the Armada's success.

Planned invasion of England
See also: List of ships of the Spanish Armada
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Route taken by the Spanish Armada

Prior to the undertaking, Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip II of Spain to collect crusade taxes and granted his men indulgences. The blessing of the Armada's banner on 25 April 1588 was similar to the ceremony used prior to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

On 28 May 1588,
the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel. The fleet was composed of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, and bore 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. The full body of the fleet took two days to leave port. It included 28 purpose-built warships, of which 20 were galleons, four galleys and four (Neapolitan) galleasses. The remainder of the heavy vessels were mostly armed carracks and hulks together with 34 light ships.

In the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000 soldiers awaited the arrival of the Armada, the plan being to use the cover of the warships to convey the army on barges to a place near London. In all, 55,000 men were to have been mustered, a huge army for that time. On the day the Armada set sail, Elizabeth's ambassador in the Netherlands, Valentine Dale, met Parma's representatives in peace negotiations. The English made a vain effort to intercept the Armada in the Bay of Biscay. On 6 July negotiations were abandoned and the English fleet stood prepared, if ill-supplied, at Plymouth, awaiting news of Spanish movements. The English fleet outnumbered the Spanish, 200 ships to 130,[37] while the Spanish fleet outgunned the English. The Spanish available firepower was 50 percent more than that of the English.[38] The English fleet consisted of the 34 ships of the Royal Fleet, 21 of which were galleons of 200 to 400 tons, and 163 other ships, 30 of which were of 200 to 400 tons and carried up to 42 guns each. Twelve of the ships were privateers owned by Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake.


Signal station built in 1588, above the Devon village of Culmstock, to warn when the Armada was sighted

The Armada was delayed by bad weather. Storms in the Bay of Biscay forced four galleys and one galleon to turn back, and other ships had to put in for repairs, leaving only about 124 ships to actually make it to the English Channel. Nearly half the fleet were not built as warships and were used for duties such as scouting and dispatch work, or for carrying supplies, animals, and troops.

The fleet was sighted in England on 19 July, when it appeared off The Lizard in Cornwall. The news was conveyed to London by a system of beacons that had been constructed all the way along the south coast. On 19 July, the English fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour by the incoming tide. The Spanish convened a council of war, where it was proposed to ride into the harbour on the tide and incapacitate the defending ships at anchor. From Plymouth Harbour the Spanish would attack England, but Philip II explicitly forbidden Medina Sidonia to act, leaving the Armada to sail on to the east and toward the Isle of Wight. As the tide turned, 55 English ships set out to confront the Armada from Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, with Sir Francis Drake as Vice Admiral. The rear admiral was Sir John Hawkins.

..... please read about the further process in wikipedia .....

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English fireships are launched at the Spanish armada off Calais


List of ships of the Spanish Armada
The armada that attempted to escort an army from Flanders and integrate the Habsburg Spanish invasion of England in 1588, was divided into ten "squadrons" (escuadras) The twenty galleons in the Squadrons of Portugal and of Castile, together with the four galleasses from Naples, constituted the only purpose-built warships (apart from the four galleys, which proved ineffective in the Atlantic waters and soon departed for safety in French ports); the rest of the Armada comprised armed merchantmen (mostly carracks) and various ancillary vessels including urcas (storeships, termed "hulks"), zabras and pataches, pinnaces, and (not included in the formal count) caravels. The division into squadrons was for administrative purposes only; upon sailing, the Armada could not keep to a formal order, and most ships sailed independently from the rest of their squadron.
This list is compiled by a survey drawn up by Medina Sidonia on the Armada's departure from Lisbon on 9 May 1588 and sent to Felipe II; it was then published and quickly became available to the English. The numbers of sailors and soldiers mentioned below are as given in the same survey and thus also relate to this date.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Spanish_Armada
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1672 - Battle of Solebay - A Dutch fleet of 75 ships, under Lt.-Admirals Michiel de Ruyter, Adriaen Banckert and Willem Joseph van Ghent, surprised an Anglo-French fleet of 93 ships, under The Duke of York and Vice-Admiral Comte Jean II d'Estrées, at anchor in Solebay.
HMS Royal James (102) was destroyed by a fireship and the Earl of Sandwich was drowned. HMS Royal Katherine (84), Cptn. John Chichely, struck but was recaptured. The Dutch Jozua was destroyed, Stavoren was captured, and a third ship blew up.



The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The battle ended inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.

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The battle
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Overview of the battle by Van de Velde

A fleet of 75 ships, 20,738 men and 4,484 cannon of the United Provinces, commanded by Lieutenant-Admirals Michiel de Ruyter, Adriaen Banckert and Willem Joseph van Ghent, surprised a joint Anglo-French fleet of 93 ships, 34,496 men and 6,018 cannon at anchor in Solebay (nowadays Sole Bay), near Southwold in Suffolk, on the east coast of England.

The Duke of York and Vice-Admiral Comte Jean II d'Estrées planned to blockade the Dutch in their home ports and deny the North Sea to Dutch shipping. The Dutch had hoped to repeat the success of the Raid on the Medway and a frigate squadron under Van Ghent sailed up the Thames in May but discovered that Sheerness Fort was now too well prepared to pass. The Dutch main fleet came too late, mainly due to coordination problems between the five Dutch admiralties, to prevent a joining of the English and French fleets. It followed the Allied fleet to the north, which, unaware of this, put in at Solebay to refit. On 7 June the Allies were caught by surprise and got into disarray when the Dutch fleet, having the weather gauge, suddenly appeared on the horizon in the early morning. The French fleet, whether through accident or design, steered south followed by Banckert's fifteen ships and limited its action to long-distance fire. Nevertheless, the Superbe was heavily damaged and des Rabesnières killed by fire from Enno Doedes Star's Groningen; total French casualties were about 450.


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French flagship Saint-Philippe at the Battle of Solebay

This left the Dutch van and centre to fight it out with the English, and the latter were hard pressed, as they had great difficulty to beat upwind to bring ships out. The Duke of York had to move his flag twice, finally to London, as his flagships Prince and St Michael were taken out of action. The Prince was crippled by De Ruyter's flagship De Zeven Provinciën in a two hours' duel. De Ruyter was accompanied by the representative of the States-General of the Netherlands, Cornelis de Witt (the brother of Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt) who bravely remained seated on the main deck, although half of his guard of honour standing next to him was killed or wounded.

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A panoramic view of the battle of Solebay, the opening battle of the third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74). The Dutch fleet, under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, pre-emptively surprised the combined English and French fleets as they lay at anchor in Southwold Bay (Solebay) on the eastern English coast. After a fiercely contested battle, in which Admiral Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich’s flagship ‘Royal James’ was burnt, the Dutch were driven off, but not before the Allied fleet was so mauled that it was impossible to attempt the projected landing in Holland. This drawing was made from the English side and shows mostly lee broadside views of the English ships close-hauled on the starboard tack. In the right middle distance a ship flying a flag at the mizzen is presumably the ‘Charles’, commanded by Admiral Sir John Harman. The central vessel, with a flag at the fore, is presumably Sir Edward Spragge’s ‘London’. Van de Velde has mistakenly shown both these vessels flying pendants at the main, in the Dutch manner: it is unlikely that he would have made such an error had he been in England longer when he made the drawing. In the left middle distance is a ship with flags at each masthead, surely the Duke of York in the ‘Royal Prince’. Above the smoke beyond can be seen De Ruyter’s flag and pendant, and at the extreme left, a vessel with a dark flag at the main: presumably Sandwich in the ‘Royal James’. The left half of the drawing is very close to the composition of Van de Velde’s painting of the Battle of Solebay in the Rijksmuseum (2483)

Lieutenant-Admiral Aert Jansse van Nes on the Eendracht first duelled Vice-Admiral Edward Spragge on HMS London and then was attacked by HMS Royal Katherine. The latter ship was then so heavily damaged that Captain John Chichely struck her flag and was taken prisoner; the Dutch prize crew however got drunk on the brandy found and allowed the ship to be later recaptured by the English.

The flagship of Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, HMS Royal James, was first fiercely engaged by Lieutenant-Admiral Van Ghent, who in 1667 had executed the Raid on the Medway, on Dolfijn. Van Ghent was however killed by shrapnel. Then captain Jan van Brakel made his Groot Hollandia attach to the Royal James, incessantly pounding the hull of that ship for over an hour and bringing her into such a condition that Lord Sandwich considered to strike his flag but decided against it because it was beneath his honour to surrender to a mere captain of low birth. He then ordered sloops from other ships to board the Groot Hollandia; his upper deck soon swarming with Englishmen Van Brakel was forced to cut the lines and retreat between friendly vessels to drive the boarding teams off. The Royal James now drifted away, sinking, and was attacked by several fire ships. She sank two, but a third, Vrede, commanded by Jan Daniëlszoon van den Rijn, its approach shielded by Vice-Admiral Isaac Sweers's Oliphant, set her on fire. She burnt with great loss of life; Sandwich himself and his son-in-law Philip Carteret drowned trying to escape when his sloop collapsed under the weight of panicked sailors jumping in; his body washed ashore, only recognisable by the scorched clothing still showing the shield of the Order of the Garter.

During the battle the wind shifted, giving the English the weather gauge, and in the late afternoon the Dutch withdrew.

Losses were heavy on both sides: one Dutch ship, the Jozua, was destroyed and another, the Stavoren, captured, a third Dutch ship had an accident during repairs immediately after the battle and blew up. The battle ended inconclusively at sunset. Both sides claimed victory, the Dutch with the more justification as the English-French plan to blockade the Dutch was abandoned.

The fleets met again at the Battle of Schooneveld in 1673.

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"The Burning of the Royal James at the Battle of Solebay, 7 June 1672" by Willem van de Velde the younger. De Ruyter's flagship De Zeven Provinciën is shown in the left background in close combat with the Vice-Admiral of the Blue, Sir Joseph Jordan on Royal Sovereign. The ship to the right of the burning Royal James is that of Vice-Admiral Johan de Liefde.


Ship list
a detailed listing with all ships on both sides can be found at wikipedia and threedecks ......



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Solebay
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=50
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1672 - Battle of Solebay - 102-gun ship of the line HMS Royal James (1671) lost, appr. 700 of the crew lost their life


HMS Royal James was a 102-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Anthony Deane at Portsmouth Dockyard at a cost of £24,000, and launched on 31 March 1671.

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The ‘Royal James’, 100 guns, was built in 1675, renamed Victory in 1691 and rebuilt 1695. Her predecessor of the same name had been burnt at the battle of Solebay in 1672

She was the first Royal Navy vessel to be assembled using iron as a part of her frame, rather than merely in bolts and nails. Her shipwright, Sir Anthony Deane modified the vessel's plans to include U-shaped iron bars to secure the planking of the hull, despite stern disapproval from Admiralty's representative, the Clerk of the Acts Samuel Pepys. Deane defended his actions by claiming there was a shortage of usable wood. His defence was personally reviewed by the King, Charles II, who upheld the use of iron. However, the innovation was not repeated in other Royal Navy vessels until adoption of the 1719 Establishment nearly fifty years later.

Royal James was also one of only three Royal Navy ships to be equipped with the Rupertinoe naval gun. She fought at the Battle of Solebay on 7 June 1672 (28 May 1672 O.S.) as Admiral Edward Montagu's flagship. She was attacked by first Dolfijn, and then Groot Hollandia, before finally coming under attack by Dutch fireships.

Royal James was destroyed by the fire and sank. Montagu died, although the ship's Captain, Richard Haddock, survived and went on to hold a distinguished career in the Navy. She had seen barely four months service.


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This is a ship portrait, viewed from the port broadside. The ‘Royal James’ is depicted grappling with Van Rijn’s fireship, the ‘Vrede.’ On the right is the fore part of the ‘Olifant’, Sweers’ flagship. In the foreground, the fireship’s crew is pictured escaping in a boat. Aert van Nes is depicted in his ship in the left distance. This is a sketch for one of the many versions of the burning of the ‘Royal James’ and perhaps one of the first, since it is lightly done and has a number of visible corrections

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Sole-Bay Fight 1672... engagement... between the British and Dutch Fleets in Southwold Bay, May 28th 1672. This view represents the Royal James encountered by a fireship and the entire squadron under van Ghent which occasioned her being blown up with... Earl of Sandwich and 600 of her crew (PAF4525)

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The Battle of Solebay was a popular theme in the genre of the historic seascape in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In his composition Peter Monamy (1681-1749) plays out the entire scope of the drama and action of the first battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-74. On 28 May 1672 ninety-eight ships of the Anglo-French fleet under James, Duke of York, and 75 ships under Admiral de Ruyter engaged in a fight both parties later claimed to have won. One Dutch success was the destruction of the 100-gun ‘Royal James’ by fireships, but their fleet finally had to withdraw. Monamy divides the picture space into a dark foreground zone, where sailors on two small rowing boats are locked in close combat shooting each other with pistols amidst floating wreckage, and a more theatrically lit background. Here, the tall three-masters are firing their guns at one another, wrapping the scene in clouds of smoke that blur the horizon and mingle with the sky thereby locking the vessels together in the fight. The burning wreck of the ‘Royal James’ itself is depicted in dark silhouette and shifted to the right of the composition. The painting is signed. Peter Monamy was one of the first English artists to continue the tradition of Willem van de Velde the Younger’s marine painting into the 18th century and his work is representative of the early British school of maritime art, which still shows the overwhelming influence of the Dutch style. Monamy was self-taught, but may have worked in van de Velde’s studio in Greenwich


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Scale 1:54. A contemporary full hull model of a 90 to 94-gun three-decker (circa 1670), built partially plank on frame in the Navy Board style. It is rather unusual in that very little of the hull is planked, the deck beams are left unplanked and the stern and quarter galleries are in frame only. The bulwark screens, above the upper wales, have been decorated and are complete with wreathed gunports. At this rather unusual scale, it represents a ship measuring 163 feet along the gun deck by 44 feet in the beam and an approximate tonnage of 1230 burden. Although probably a design for a three-decker of 1670, the model agrees in many respects with a ship whose plans appear in Sir Anthony Deane’s ‘Doctrine of Naval Architecture’ of 1670. The very unusual feature of the three lower wales instead of the normal two appears in Deane’s drawing. His first three-decker was the Royal James of 1671, although this model probably represents a slightly smaller ship and it has been associated with the St Andrew of 1670



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1708 - Wager's Action
British squadron, under Charles Wager, of HMS Expedition (70), HMS Kingston (60), HMS Portland (50) and HMS Vulture fireship (8) engaged Spanish treasure fleet, under José Fernández de Santillán , of eleven merchant ships (some armed), and seven escorting warships San José (64), San Joaquín (64), Santa Cruz (44), Concepción (40), Carmen (24), French Le Mieta (34) and French Saint Sprit (32) off Cartagena.
San José blew up, Santa Cruz was taken and Concepción beached itself on Baru Island where the crew set the ship alight. The rest escaped



Wager's Action was a naval confrontation on 8 June 1708 N.S (28 May O.S.), between a British squadron under Charles Wager and the Spanish treasure fleet, as part of the War of Spanish Succession.

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Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708 (O.S.). Oil by Samuel Scott.
Explosion of San José during Wager's Action. Oil on canvas by Samuel Scott

Background
In the spring of 1708 Charles Wager was on an expedition in the Caribbean with a squadron of four ships:
In April the squadron took in supplies on the small island of Pequeña Barú, part of the Rosario Islands, just 30 miles away from Cartagena. Here the Spanish were aware of their presence, and the governor of Cartagena sent warnings to the Spanish fleet, which was anchored in Portobelo.

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HMS Expedition

Nevertheless, the commander of the treasure fleet, José Fernández de Santillán, decided to sail from Portobelo to Cartagena on 28 May. He could not wait much longer as the hurricane season was approaching and the rest of the fleet, plus their escort under Jean Du Casse were waiting in Havana and threatened to leave without him.

The Spanish fleet was composed of fourteen merchant ships, a hulk lightly armed and three escorting warships:
  • San José (64 guns), Capitan José Fernández de Santillán
  • San Joaquín (64 guns), Capitan Villanueva
  • Santa Cruz (44 guns), Capitan de la Rosa
The gold and silver was concentrated on the 3 largest vessels. The San José had 7 to 11 million pesos on board, and the San Joaquín 5 million.[citation needed] The Santa Cruz had the rest, only a fraction of the other two ships.

Battle
The Spanish fleet reached Isla de Barú on the evening of 7 June and anchored there. The next day there was very little wind, and around 3 p.m. they noticed Wager's squadron approaching. The Spanish took up defensive positions, but the English knew they had to attack the largest ships, because they had the most money on board.

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Charles Wager's Engagement with the Fleet of Spanish Men of War and Galleons off of Cartagena on 28th of May 1708

The Kingston attacked the San Joaquín around 5 p.m. which, after two hours of battle, escaped into the night with the help of the Concepción.

The Expedition attacked the San José and approached the vessel with the clear intention of boarding the ship. Around 7 p.m., after an hour and a half of fierce fighting and with only 60 meters between the two ships, the San José suddenly blew up. The ship sank immediately, taking its precious cargo and almost the entire crew to the bottom of the sea. There were only 11 survivors out of the 600 crew and passengers on board.

By now it was dark, but there was a full moon and Wager succeeded in finding the Santa Cruz at 2 a.m. After a brief fight, which left 14 English and 90 Spanish dead, the Santa Cruz was taken; however, she had no government treasure in her - only 13 chests of pieces of eight and 14 pigs of silver which seem to have been private property.

At dawn, the English discovered the San Joaquín, and Wager ordered the Kingston and Portland to capture the ship. After a few salvos, however, the San Joaquín successfully made away towards Cartagena harbour, and the English dared not follow and face the guns of the Cartagena forts.

The rest of the Spanish fleet also reached Cartagena safely, with the exception of the Concepción which, cornered by the English, beached itself on Baru Island where the crew set the ship alight.

Aftermath
The English destroyed three Spanish ships and prevented the Spanish fleet from transporting the gold and silver to Europe and funding the Franco-Spanish war effort. Though Charles Wager became a rich man, he was disappointed with the loot because it could have been many times larger if they had captured the San Joaquín. Captains Bridges and Windsor were court-martialled for this failure.

Legacy
See also: Spanish galleon San José
The estimated $1bn (£662m) treasure of the San José, which is still on the bottom of the ocean but located in 2015, is estimated to be worth about 4 billion US dollars based on the speculation that it likely had 7 million Spanish pesos in registered gold on board at the time of its sinking, similar to its surviving sister ship, the San Joaquín. The San José is called the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks".

A group of investors from the United States called Glocca Mora Co. operating under the name 'Sea Search Armada' (SSA) claim to have found the ship off the coast of Colombia in 1981, but Colombia refused to sign a 65%/35% share offer and refused SSA permission to conduct full salvage operations at the shipwreck site. The Colombian parliament then passed a law giving the state the right to all of the treasure, leaving SSA with a 5% finder's fee, which was to be taxed at 45%. SSA sued Colombia in its own courts in 1989. The legal dispute over the rights to the treasure took a turn in July 2007 when the Supreme Court of Colombia concluded that any treasure recovered would be split equally between the Colombian government and the explorers. Sea Search Armada subsequently sued in US courts, but that case was dismissed twice, in 2011 and 2015 on technical grounds, and the US court declared the galleon property of the Colombian state. The Colombian government has not verified its existence at the stated coordinates.

On 27 November 2015, the galleon San José was found by the Colombian Navy though the discovery was not announced by the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, until 5 December. The discovery was made using a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle. The identity of the shipwreck is in no doubt. From the dive photographs, Colombian marine archaeologists have identified the San José by her unique bronze cannons engraved with dolphins. Colombia has claimed the galleon as part of its submerged patrimony and has classified the information regarding the location of the galleon as a state secret.


San José was a 64-gun, 3-masted galleon of the Spanish Navy. It was launched in 1698, and sank in battle off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia in 1708 while laden with gold, silver and emeralds worth about US$17 billion as of 2018. The sunken ship was located by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in November 2015.

In July 2017 it was announced that a salvage operation would go ahead.

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Career
San José was designed by Francisco Antonio Garrote and built by Pedro de Aróstegui at the shipyard at Mapil, Usurbil, Spain. Construction started in 1697 and ended in 1698. They built twin ships simultaneously and named them San José and San Joaquín.

San José and San Joaquín were part of the Spanish treasure fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession, under General José Fernández de Santillán, the Count of Casa Alegre. On its final voyage, San José sailed as the flagship of a treasure fleet composed of three Spanish warships and 14 merchant vessels sailing from Portobelo, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia. On 8 June 1708, the fleet encountered a British squadron near Barú, leading to a battle known as Wager's Action. During the battle, the powder magazines of San José detonated, destroying the ship with most of her crew and the gold, silver, emeralds and jewellery collected in the South American colonies to finance the Spanish king's war effort. Of the 600 people aboard, only eleven survived.

Search and discovery

Spanish gold 4-doubloon coin (8 escudos). 27.07 grams, 91.70% purity

San José, is estimated to be worth about $1 billion (£662m) as of 2012, based on the speculation that it had up to 11 million 4-doubloons (11 million 8 escudos gold coins; 11 million coins of 27g of 92% gold totaling 8.8 million troy ounces AGW or $11.5 billion) and many silver coins on board at the time of its sinking, similar to its surviving sister ship, San Joaquín. The silver and gold are from the mines of Potosí, Bolivia. San José is called the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks".

A group of investors from the United States called Glocca Mora Co. operating under the name 'Sea Search Armada' (SSA) claim to have found the ship off the coast of Colombia in 1981, but Colombia refused to sign a 65%/35% share offer and refused SSA permission to conduct full salvage operations at the shipwreck site. The Colombian parliament then passed a law giving the state the right to all of the treasure, leaving SSA with a 5% finder's fee, which was to be taxed at 45%. SSA sued Colombia in its own courts in 1989. In July 2007 the Supreme Court of Colombia concluded that any treasure recovered would be split equally between the Colombian government and the explorers. Sea Search Armada subsequently sued in United States courts, but the case was dismissed twice, in 2011 and 2015 on technical grounds, and the galleon declared the property of the Colombian state. The Colombian government declined to verify that the galleon was at the coordinates stated in the case.

On 27 November 2015, the galleon San José was found by the Colombian Navy though the discovery was not announced by the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, until 5 December. The discovery was made using a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle. From the dive photographs, Colombian marine archaeologists have identified San José by her bronze guns engraved with dolphins. Colombia has claimed the galleon as part of its submerged patrimony, thus it is constitutionally obliged to protect and preserve the ship and all its sunken contents. The Government of Colombia has classified the information regarding the location of the galleon as a state secret.

Conservation

Logo of the ICANH

The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, a government agency ascribed to the Ministry of Culture, is in charge of overseeing all archeological sites in Colombia. The director of the ICANH, Ernesto Montenegro, has stated that soil, and sea depth studies are being carried out in order to examine the methods of extraction of the ship's contents. Then Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, has also stated that a museum will be constructed in Cartagena to host some of the contents of the galleon.

On 16 December 2015, the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia requested that the State, and the rest of the parties involved, be responsible for keeping thorough archives regarding the exploration and intervention of the galleon, requesting that the archives be turned in to the Ministry of Culture which is the governmental entity responsible of the underwater cultural heritage. The Inspector General also requested that a representative sum of the coins, ingots, and gemstones, which are not considered to be cultural patrimony under the concept of repetition, must be given to the central bank, Banco de la República, for preservation.

The Minister of Culture, Mariana Garcés Córdoba, stated that 2016 will be "a year of exploration, not extraction". According to the Minister, Colombia sees the discovery as a project of investigation that implies the creation of laboratories that will include the entailment of specialists from different work areas, in order to properly study the shipwreck and its contents.


Admiral Sir Charles Wager PC (24 February 1666 – 24 May 1743) was First Lord of the Admiralty between 1733 and 1742. Despite heroic active service and steadfast administration and diplomatic service, Wager can be criticized for his failure to deal with an acute manning problem. However, in reality the Royal Navy's numerical preponderance over other navies was greater than at any other time in the century, and its dockyard facilities, overseas bases (Wager was much involved in the development of new bases in the Caribbean), victualling organization, and central co-ordination were by far the most elaborate and advanced. Although British warship design was inferior to French in some respects, the real problem was an insufficiency of the versatile and seaworthy 60-gun ships, a class that Wager's Admiralty had chosen to augment during the 1730s but, as wartime experience would show, not aggressively enough.

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https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=323
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Portland_(1693)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1774 – Launch of the fourth HMS Diamond, a modified Lowestoffe-class fifth-rate frigate
ordered on 25 December 1770 as one of five fifth-rate frigates of 32 guns each contained in the emergency frigate-building programme inaugurated when the likelihood of war with Spain arose over the ownership of the Falkland Islands



The fourth HMS Diamond was a Modified Lowestoffe-class fifth-rate frigate, ordered on 25 December 1770 as one of five fifth-rate frigates of 32 guns each contained in the emergency frigate-building programme inaugurated when the likelihood of war with Spain arose over the ownership of the Falkland Islands (eight sixth-rate frigates of 28 guns each were ordered at the same time). Sir Thomas Slade's design for the Lowestoffe was approved, but was revised to produce a more rounded midships section; the amended design was approved on 3 January 1771 by Hawke's outgoing Admiralty Board, just before it was replaced. The contract to build the Diamond was awarded to Hodgson & Co at Hull, the keel being laid in May 1771, and the frigate was launched 28 May 1774, at a cost of £11,506.9.1d. She sailed from Hull on 13 June 1774 for Chatham Dockyard, where she remained for nearly two years before she was completed and fitted out to the Navy Board's needs (for £4,169.8.6d) in February to May 1776.

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Diamond was first commissioned in February 1776 under Captain Charles Fielding. On completion, she sailed for North America on 20 July 1776.

On 21 October 1778, Diamond and the brig Diligent stopped the brig Recovery at 42°17′N 69°00′W. Recovery was sailing from Portsmouth to Charles Town with a cargo of lumber, and her captors sent her into New York.

Fate
Diamond was paid off into ordinary in 1779, but after being coppered she was recommissioned in November 1779 under Captain William Forster, and sailed for Jamaica on 13 April 1780. Diamond was finally paid off in August 1783 and was sold at Plymouth (for £405) on 30 December 1784.

j6078.jpg
Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with modifications to decks and sten timbers, longitudinal half breadth both for Diamond (1774), Orpheus (1774)both 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates. Annotation, top right: "A Copy of this Draught was given to Messers Bernard & Turner of Harwich, for building the Orpheus, 18th Jan 1771. Anotherwas given to Mr Hodgson of Hull for Building the Diamond 22nd March 1771." front "N.B. Head & Bowspirit as described in Red are as the Diamond was fitted." front pencil "N.B. Stern Timbers to be carried at to the Red spotted lines.
"

j6077.jpg
Scale 1:48. Plan showing the midship, fore and aft framing proposed and approved for Diamond (1774), Orpheus (1774), both 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates. Annotation in top right: "N.B. All the Timbers in the Midship Room to be Sided as expressed in Figures." "A Copy was sent to Messers Bernard & Co at Harwich for the orpheus 14th June 1771. Another to Mr Hodgson at Hull for the Diamond 16th June 1771."


j6070.jpg
Scale 1:48. Plan showing the stern board outline with detail for fitting the Diamond (1774), a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate. Annotation at top: "A Copy was sent to Mr Hodgson at Hull for fitting the Diamond of 32 Guns, 2nd Nov 1772."



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Diamond_(1774)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Diamond_(1774
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1791 – Launch of French La Pompée, a Téméraire class ship of the French Navy,


HMS Pompee
was a 74-gun ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. Built as La Pompée, a Téméraire class ship of the French Navy, she was handed over to the British at Spithead by French royalists who had fled France[1] after the Siege of Toulon (September-December 1793) by the French Republic, only a few months after being completed. After reaching Great Britain, La Pompée was registered and recommissioned as HMS Pompee and spent the entirety of her active career with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1817.

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Service
During the Siege of Toulon, Captain Poulain, her commanding officer, joined the British. La Pompée fled Toulon when the city fell to the French Republicans and sailed to Britain under the temporary command of Lieutenant John Davie. She arrived at Portsmouth on 3 May 1794, and was registered on the navy list under an Admiralty order dated 29 October 1794.

She commissioned as HMS Pompee under her first commander, Captain Charles Edmund Nugent, in May 1795 and entered service with the Channel Fleet after a period of refitting. From August 1795 she was under Captain James Vashon, and she was later one of the ships involved in the Spithead mutiny in 1797.

Leviathan, Pompee, Anson, Melpomene, and Childers shared in the proceeds of the capture on 10 September of the Tordenshiold.

Under Captain Charles Stirling, she fought at the Battle of Algeciras Bay in 1801. In 1807 the ship, under the command of Captain Richard Dacres served in the Mediterranean squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, as part of the Vice-Admiral Duckworth's Dardanelles Operation and later the Alexandria expedition of 1807.

In late 1808 Pompee was in the Caribbean, captured the brig Pylade on 20 October 1808. She shared with Captain, Amaranthe, and Morne Fortunee in the prize money pool of £772 3s 3d for the capture of Frederickon 30 December 1808. This money was paid in June 1829.

Pompee participated in the capture of Martinique in January 1809. Later, she and Hautpoul took part in an action on 17 April 1809.

In April 1809, a strong French squadron arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands. Pompee was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.

Fate
Pompee was fitted out for service as a prison hulk between September 1810 and January 1811. She was finally broken up at Woolwich in January 1817.

The acquisition of Pompée allowed the British to design a copy of the Téméraire class, the Pompée class.

j2666.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and the name in a cartouche on the stern counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pompee (1794), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard prior to fitting as a 74-gun third Rate, two-decker. Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].



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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for 'Achille' (1798) and 'Superb' (1798), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, based on the 'Pompee' (1793), a captured French Third Rate.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pompee_(1793)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1794 - Atlantic campaign of May 1794 - general


The Atlantic campaign of May 1794 was a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet against the French Navy's Atlantic Fleet, with the aim of preventing the passage of a strategically important French grain convoy travelling from the United States to France. The campaign involved commerce raiding by detached forces and two minor engagements, eventually culminating in the full fleet action of the Glorious First of June 1794, at which both fleets were badly mauled and both Britain and France claimed victory. The French lost seven battleships; the British none, but the battle distracted the British fleet long enough for the French convoy to safely reach port.

By the spring of 1794, the French Republic, under the rule of the National Convention, was at war with all its neighbours. With famine imminent, the French Committee of Public Safety looked to France's colonies and the United States to provide an infusion of grain; this was to be convoyed across the Atlantic during April, May and June, accompanied by a small escort squadron and supported by a second, larger squadron in the Bay of Biscay. However, political upheaval had severely reduced the French Navy's ability to fight coherently and supply shortages had devastated its morale, significantly weakening the fleet. Britain, by contrast, was at a high state of readiness with a well-organised command structure, but was suffering from a severe shortage of trained seamen with which to man its large navy. The French Atlantic Fleet, under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse, was tasked with keeping the British Channel Fleet occupied long enough for the convoy to reach France safely. The Channel Fleet, commanded by Lord Howe, knew of the convoy's passage, and dispatched squadrons to protect British commerce while pursuing Villaret himself with the main body of the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet. For over a week the two battlefleets manoeuvred around one another, Villaret drawing Howe deeper westwards into the Atlantic and away from the convoy. Two partial but inconclusive fleet actions on 28 and 29 May followed, during which Howe seized the weather gage from Villaret, granting him freedom to choose the time and place of his next attack.

The culminating action of the campaign took place over 400 nautical miles (740 km) into the Atlantic, and became known as the Glorious First of June. This final engagement saw Howe use the weather gage to attack Villaret directly while his opponent attempted to fight in a traditional line of battle formation. In the battle, the British fleet inflicted a heavy defeat on the French after a bitterly contested day of fighting. Forcing Villaret to retreat, Howe's force captured seven French battleships, one of which later sank, and inflicted 7,000 casualties on the enemy. Villaret however, claimed strategic success as his delaying tactics had bought enough time for the convoy to reach France safely. The battle was the first in a series of defeats the French Navy suffered during the early years of the war, which bred a defeatist attitude and an unwillingness among the French officer corps to engage the British at sea.

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Background
In the winter of 1793, war and internal disorder had combined with poor weather to leave France facing starvation following the collapse of the harvest. France's ongoing conflict with her neighbours precluded overland imports; the only nation willing and able to sell grain to the National Convention was the United States. Importing food from the Americas was a highly risky venture, as the British Royal Navy—at war with France since early 1793—patrolled much of the Atlantic passage. To provide effective protection for the vessels involved, a plan was agreed between France and the United States to collect the supplies over a period of months and transport them in a single convoy. A gathering point was arranged at Hampton Roads in the Chesapeake Bay.

A squadron commanded by Admiral Pierre Vanstabel was dispatched to Hampton Roads to provide escort. Vanstabel would bring the convoy to the Bay of Biscay, where a second squadron under Joseph-Marie Nielly would reinforce him for the rest of the journey. Together, these officers mustered six ships of the line and numerous smaller craft. The main French battlefleet of 25 ships under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse would cruise the Bay of Biscay in order to challenge the British Channel Fleet if it attempted to intercept the supplies. The convoy's passage was expected to take approximately two months, and it included 117 merchant ships carrying enough food to feed France for a year.

Lord Howe, admiral of the British Channel Fleet, was aware of the convoy's nature and destination long before it left the Chesapeake, and made preparations to block its passage. Sending several small squadrons to protect British commerce crossing the Bay of Biscay, Howe detailed Admiral George Montagu with six battleships to search for the convoy in the south of the Bay while Howe took the main body of the fleet, 26 ships of the line, to patrol near Brest.

May 1794
See also: Order of battle at the Glorious First of June
April 1794 was a month of fevered activity on both sides of the English Channel as Villaret and Howe made their final preparations for the coming campaign. The slow French convoy had departed American waters on 2 April, and British convoys destined for the Empirehad sailed from Portsmouth on 2 May. Howe used his whole force to provide them with protection as far as the Western Approaches, and on 5 May sent the frigates HMS Latona and HMS Phaeton close in to Brest to ascertain the status of the French—they reported that Villaret's battlefleet was still in harbour.

Commerce raiding
Out in the Atlantic, the detached squadrons of Nielly (French) and Montagu (British) were commerce raiding against enemy merchant shipping, but had thus far failed to find the main food convoy. Nielly encountered a British convoy from Newfoundland and took ten ships as prizes—including the convoy escort, the 32-gun frigate HMS Castor. Thomas Troubridge, captain of the Castor, would spend the entire campaign aboard Nielly's flagship Sans Pareil. Montagu also met with some success on 15 May, recapturing the merchant ships Nielly had taken, along with the French corvette Marie-Guiton and accurate intelligence on the direction and size of the French convoy which Montagu immediately passed to Howe.[8] Resuming his patrol in the Mid-Atlantic, Nielly found the convoy from America a few days later, and transferred two of his ships to Vanstabel's escort to augment the convoy's defences. He then returned to the Eastern Atlantic to look for signs of British activity which might pose a threat to its passage. He also dispatched frigates to Villaret, carrying information about the convoy's location and speed.

While Nielly and Montagu searched out at sea, Howe took his fleet on a series of cruises back and forth across the Bay of Biscay in the hope of catching the convoy. Between 5 and 18 May he found nothing and so returned to Brest, where his scouting frigates reported that the French battlefleet had gone. Taking advantage of dense fog, Villaret had sailed the previous day, his ships passing within earshot of the British fleet. The French admiral was on the trail of Nielly's squadron; his intention was to meet both Nielly and the convoy and combine forces; with superior numbers he would then be able to escort the convoy to France in safety. Having eluded Howe and still some days from his planned rendezvous, Villaret gained an unexpected success when he ran across a Dutch convoy of 53 vessels. Its escorts, Alliance and Waakzaamheid, fled at the sight of the approaching French fleet, and Villaret was free to attack the convoy, capturing 20 merchantmen.

Howe's pursuit
Howe realised that the direction of Villaret's departure would take him directly across Admiral Montagu's planned route, and that, should Montagu meet Villaret, the British squadron would be destroyed. Setting all sail in pursuit, Howe followed Villaret into the Atlantic on 20 May. The next day Howe's ships recaptured ten of the lost Dutch merchantmen, but he was forced to burn them since crewing them with British sailors would weaken his own already understrength fleet. Prisoners from these ships gave Howe the information that the French fleet was only a short distance ahead, but that it had been joined by an additional ship from Nielly's squadron as well as several frigates. By now satisfied that Montagu was safely to the southwest, Howe pressed on hoped to bring Villaret to battle within the week. On 23 May however, the British fleet was driven southwards by strong winds and had to slowly work its way north to find the French track again. The detour did however enable him to recapture and destroy four more of Villaret's Dutch prizes.

On the morning of 25 May Howe's pursuit finally bore fruit, when his scouting frigates spotted a lone French ship of the line at 04:00. This ship sighted Howe's force at the same time, and immediately made off in the direction of the French fleet. The fleeing battleship left behind an American merchant ship she had been towing, which when taken reported that the French ship was Audacieux, of Nielly's squadron. Pursuing Audacieux after burning the American prize, the British fleet also overran and burnt two French corvettes, the 20-gun Républicaine and 16-gun Inconnue. Continuing his chase over the next three days, on 28 May Howe's lookouts spotted the French on the eastern horizon slightly to the south, indicating that the French held the weather gage.






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_campaign_of_May_1794
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_at_the_Glorious_First_of_June
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Bretagne_(1766)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Audacieux_(1784)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1794 - Atlantic campaign of May 1794 - The 28th May


28 May


Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe;
mezzotint engraving by R. Dunkarton, after the painting by John Singleton Copley

With his enemy visible from the deck of his flagship by 06:30, Howe recalled his frigates and ordered his fleet to press on all sail in the hope of engaging the rear of the scattered French line. By 10:35 Howe's continued pursuit was making his own battleline ragged, but he pressed on in the belief that Villaret intended to use the weather gage to outrun him and escape. To counter this, Howe ordered his fastest ships into a flying squadron under Admiral Thomas Pasley. This squadron was significantly faster than the majority of the vessels in either fleet and rapidly closed with the French rear. The first shots of the engagement were fired at 14:30 by HMS Russell, commanded by John Willett Payne, which managed some long-distance fire at the rearmost French ships on the opposite tack. Fire was returned by the French but without significant effect. In an attempt to hold off Pasley's squadron, at 17:00 the French first rate110-gun Révolutionnaire exchanged places with the smaller third rates at the rear of the line and engaged the pursuing British van. This manoeuvre was apparently conducted on the initiative of Captain Vandangel of Révolutionnairewithout orders from Admiral Villaret or his political observer Jean Bon Saint-André.

Through a sharp and skilful tack, HMS Bellerophon, one of the slowest ships in the British van, succeeded in bringing the Révolutionnaire to steady action at 18:00. The ships exchanged fire for twenty minutes, the weaker Bellerophontaking severe damage to her rigging, and falling back to be replaced by HMS Marlborough under Captain George Cranfield Berkeley. Marlborough was joined by HMS Russell and HMS Thunderer, and between them they shot away much of the Révolutionnaire's rigging, so that by 19:30 she was unmanageable. HMS Leviathan also joined the action, firing at an unidentified ship ahead of Révolutionnaire. Concerned about Pasley's squadron becoming cut off from the main body of his fleet, Howe recalled them to the British line at 20:00. All complied except the newly arrived HMS Audacious under Captain William Parker. Audacious had engaged Révolutionnaire so closely that she could not safely withdraw, and although her gunnery eventually dismasted her huge opponent, Audacious took severe damage.

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Lord Howe's first partial action with the of the rear of the French Fleet. May 28 1794. With inscription (PAF0009)


It was not until 22:00 that Audacious and Révolutionnaire disentangled themselves and limped apart—their respective fleets now some way off. Audacious's crew later claimed that Révolutionnaire had struck her colours during the engagement, although this has not been corroborated.[20] Parker stated that he did not take possession of Révolutionnaire because he was concerned by the distant sighting of nine French battleships on the horizon. He had spotted a squadron under Commodore Jean-Joseph Castagnier, which was uninvolved in the current campaign and which soon disappeared without participating in any of the subsequent engagements. Audacious's crew made strenuous efforts to repair their ship and rejoin the British fleet during the night, but became disorientated and in the morning Audacious was still only half a mile from her former opponent.

Révolutionnaire had suffered much more severely than Audacious, but survived the encounter without being boarded thanks to a misread signal by Captain Albemarle Bertie of Thunderer, who failed to take possession of the dismasted three-decker when ordered to. During the night Villaret sent reinforcements to rescue Révolutionnaire, and at dawn on 29 May Parker saw that his large opponent was soon to be supported by the undamaged ship of the line Audacieux, the frigate Bellone, and two corvettes. Once more Audacious came under fire from Révolutionnaire, leaving her no option but to flee this superior force. Audacious was chased for half an hour by Bellone and the corvettes, before losing them in a rain squall, and eventually returned to Plymouth on 3 June. Révolutionnaire also escaped pursuit and was taken under tow by Audacieux, who brought her safely to Rochefort several days later. For leaving the battlefleet before the main engagement, Révolutionnaire's captain was subsequently arrested.


Order of Battle during these days
Although the campaign was decided by a final major action, May 1794 saw both fleets at sea with several subordinate squadrons, both admirals conducting a complicated series of convoy, commerce raiding and fleet manoeuvre operations. Numerous merchant ships and small warships were taken or destroyed during the month-long campaign by both sides and there were also two partial fleet engagements as Howe and Villaret made first contact. Both admirals suffered from wilful disobedience by a number of their officers during the battle, as well as confusion in reading signals which caused an uneven series of melees to break out rather than the unified battleline Howe had envisaged when planning the action. Nevertheless, both commanders were highly praised on their return to their home ports and the battle was considered a success by both sides, with only a few dissenters amongst the naval establishments of both nations.

Historians have had great trouble determining the exact dispositions of the French fleet and even more trouble assessing the casualties it suffered in the battle. During The Terror then raging in France, bureaucracy broke down and consequently records were patchy or non-existent. The French Navy was no exception and few ship's logs have survived, making an accurate order of battle difficult to discern. Those estimates which are available are often the work of British naval officers at the battle whose accounts frequently differ. Casualties too are almost impossible to establish exactly. French sources published after the battle give a figure of 3,000, but this number does not include those captured, which amounted to 3,500 alone. British estimates aboard captured ships alone are of 1,500 casualties and most historians agree that total French losses during the month-long campaign were around 7,000, as opposed to the British losses estimated at between 1,100 and 1,500


28 May
British fleet
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French fleet
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The Bretagne was a large 110-gun three-decker French ship of the line, built at Brest, which became famous as the flagship of the Brest Fleet during the American War of Independence. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux grant by the Estates of Brittany.
The Bretagne was one of seventeen ships of the line ordered in 1762 as a result of the Duc de Choiseul’s campaign to raise funds for the navy from the cities and provinces of France. She was completed at Brest in 1766.
She fought at the Battle of Ushant in 1778 as Orvilliers' flagship.

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During the French Revolution she was renamed Révolutionnaire. In May 1794 she fought in the skirmishes before the Battle of the Glorious First of June, dropping to the rear of the French fleet to drive off the pursuing British ships. In action against five or six 74-gun ships she was badly damaged, lost all her masts, and was only saved from capture by confusion among the enemy. She was towed to Rochefort by the battleship Audacieux, escorted by the corvette Unité.
After repairs, the Bretagne took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver, where she was very heavily damaged.
Too damaged by the battle to be repaired, she was broken up between January and May 1796.
A scale model of the Bretagne is on display at Brest naval museum. She is also visible on the painting Vue du port de Brest en 1793 by Jean-François Hue.

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Audacieux was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
Between 1791 and 1793, she was decommissioned in Lorient. She joined active service again in 1793, and the next year, she salvaged the Révolutionnaire, dismasted after the Glorious First of June.
She was eventually broken up in 1803.

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Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Audacieux (1784), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

HMS Audacious was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 July 1785 at Rotherhithe. She was the first ship to bear the name.
She took part in the Battle of the Nile, under Captain Davidge Gould, where she engaged the French ship Conquérant and helped to force her surrender.
She was finally broken up in August 1815.

j2660.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Cornwall (1761), Arrogant (1761), and Kent (1762), and later for Defence (1763), Edgar (1779), Goliath (1781), Vanguard (1787), Excellent (1787), Saturn (1786), Elephant (1786), Illustrious (1789), Bellerophon (1786), Zealous (1785), and Audacious (1785), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_campaign_of_May_1794
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_at_the_Glorious_First_of_June
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Bretagne_(1766)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Audacieux_(1784)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1797 – East Indiaman ship Friendship was launched in Salem, Massachusetts by Enos Briggs's shipyard at Stage Point on the South River for owners Aaron Waite and Jerathmiel Pierce.


Friendship (1797)
The original Friendship was built in Salem, Massachusetts by Enos Briggs's shipyard at Stage Point on the South River for owners Aaron Waite and Jerathmiel Pierce. The Friendship was launched 28 May 1797. It weighed 342 tons and was registered at the customs house on August 18, 1797. The Friendship was 102 feet long and 27 feet 7 inches wide. She regularly recorded speeds of 10 knots and was known to have logged a top speed of 12 knots. The Friendship made fifteen voyages during her career and visited Batavia, India, China, South America, the Caribbean, England, Germany, the Mediterranean and Russia.

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Friendship of Salem at sea.

The Friendship cleared Salem for Canton in August 1797 on her first voyage under the command of Captain Israel Williams, but changed her destination to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Captain Williams had a keen interest in science and was a member of the East India Marine Society. When the ship's supply of water gave out at 22°50′S 21°46′W, he improvised a way to distill water.

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On her third voyage the Friendship was commissioned as letter of marque, an armed trading vessel authorized by congress to seize enemy ships as prizes of war. Although letters of marques were similar to privateers, their primary function was trade so they carried smaller crews. During its career as a letter of marque the Friendship carried thirty men and fourteen guns to fend off French privateers.

Captain William Story of Marblehead served as master of the Friendship from 1801 to 1804. Before he assumed command of the Friendship Story had served as her first officer on her first five voyages. Under his command the Friendship made voyages to Russia, Spain, Italy, China, Sumatra, and Batavia. The Friendship's voyage to Canton, China in 1803 was an exceptionally profitable one. While Story was in China with the Friendship in 1804, the artist Spoilum painted his picture.


Custom House at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site

After the Embargo Act went into effect on December 22, 1807, the "Friendship" returned to Salem from the Mediterranean and did not leave port until it was lifted on March 1, 1809. For two years she sat at the wharf failing to generate any profits for Waite and Pierce. Having sat at the wharf for extended period of time the Friendship was in poor condition when Israel Williams set out for Gotenburg, Sweden. He barely made it to Cape Cod when he was forced to turn back to Salem because the Friendship was Leaking. After she was repaired the Friendship made three voyages to Archangel Russia under Captain John Brookhouse and Captain Edward Stanley. Unfortunately for Stanley, she was captured as a prize of war by HMS Rosamond on September 5, 1812. Stanley did not know that the United States and Great Britain were at War. The Friendship was condemned as a prize of war in the High Court of Admiralty in London on December 7, 1812. Afterwards her fate is unknown because she disappears from the records. A full rigged model of the original Friendship was donated to the Peabody Academy of Science.


Friendship (1830s)
In 1815, Jerathmiel Pierce and Aaron Waite had a second ship with the same name constructed at Portland, Maine. This new Friendship weighed 366 tons and was registered at the customs house in Salem on January 6 of the following year. Three years later she was sold to George Nichols, Ichabod Nichols, Benjamin Pierce, Henry Pierce and Charles Saunders. In 1827 the vessel was purchased by Dudley L. Pickman, Nathaniel Silsbee, William Zachariah Silsbee and Richard F. Stone who employed the vessel in the pepper trade.

Charles Moses Endicott, master, anchored off the Sumatra town of Quallah Battoo in 1831. While Endicott and other officers were ashore engaged in the pepper trade, the first mate ignored the safety precautions the captain had instituted such as limiting the number of Malays allowed on board while loading pepper. Once Malay pirates had the crew distracted, they captured the ship, murdered some of the crew, and looted the cargo. Captain Endicott and the other officers on shore tried to return to the Friendship and render aid to the crew unsuccessfully, but were prevented by the superior number of Malay pirates. Next, they made their way to a nearby roadstead where the American vessels James Monroe, Palmer and Governor Endicott were lying at anchor. Once the captains of these vessels heard Endicott's story they hauled anchor and set sail to recover the Friendship.

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They had hoped to pull alongside the Friendship with the James Monroe and board, but the rescue party was forced to abandon their original plan and board the Friendship with small boats instead when they learned she was inside a dangerous shoal. Captain Endicott returned to Salem July 16, 1831.

Three days after the Friendship arrived in Salem her owners wrote President Andrew Jackson and demanded he take action against the Malay pirates at Quallah Battoo. Jackson dispatched the frigate USS Potomac to punish the pirates. Commodore John Downes departed New York with the frigate Potomac, her Bluejackets and Marines on the First Sumatran Expedition, to avenge the attack on Friendship – which also helped launch the diplomatic career of New Hampshire merchant Edmund Roberts.

The previous service and ultimate fate of this Friendship is unknown, but she is reported as having belonged to Joseph Peabody, a Salem merchant and shipowner who dominated trade between Massachusetts and the Far East for a number of years.[


The Friendship of Salem is a 171-foot replica of a 1797 East Indiaman. It was built in 2000 in the Scarano Brothers Shipyard in Albany, New York. The ship usually operates as a stationary museum ship during most of the year. But it is a fully functioning United States Coast Guard-certified vessel capable of passenger and crew voyages; it makes special sailings during various times of the year. The Friendship of Salem is docked at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, established in 1938 as the first such site in the United States. The site, which includes several structures, artifacts and records, is operated by the National Park Service.

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Friendship of Salem, docked at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site

Construction

The replica of Friendship was commissioned by the National Park Service as The Friendship of Salem. It was built using modern materials and construction methods, while retaining the appearance of the original 18th-century ship. The hull is cold molded with laminated wood and epoxy. The replica's design is based on a model in the collections of the Peabody Essex Museum. The model was built by Thomas Russell, the Friendship's second mate, and Mr. Odell, the Friendship's carpenter, as a gift for Captain William Story's infant son. Russell and Odell made the model during a voyage to China and Sumatra from June 1802 to August 1804. The replica's color scheme was taken from an 1805 painting of the ship by noted marine artist, George Ropes, Jr., who was a nephew of Jerathmiel Peirce (see below). This painting is now in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

Operation

The ship is operated by a volunteer crew under supervision of the National Park Service. The Friendship of Salem sails as an ambassador ship for the Essex National Heritage Area.


 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1803 - Embuscade, a 32 gun fifth rate frigate was captured by HMS Victory, commanded by Captain Samuel Sutton in the Atlantic.
She was restored to the Royal Navy in her old name, the existing Ambuscade being renamed HMS Seine. First captured by the British during the Battle of Tory Island in 1797, recaptured by the Bayonnaise in 1798 to be recaptured by the British again in 1803


HMS Ambuscade
was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built in the Grove Street shipyard of Adams & Barnard at Depford in 1773. The French captured her in 1798 but the British recaptured her in 1803. She was broken up in 1810.

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Ambuscade fighting Bayonnaise, by Jean-François Hue

American Revolution
HMS Prudente captured the "private man of war" Américaine on 26 January 1781. She was armed with 32 guns and carried a crew of 245. HMS Ambuscade shared in the proceeds of the capture.

On 22 June 1779, after a short action, Ambuscade captured the French brig Hélene, which was the former Royal Navy 14-gun sloop HMS Helena. The Royal Navy took her back into service under her original name. Six days later Ambuscade captured the French privateer Prince de Montbray. The privateer was possibly out of Granville and under the command of Captain Boisnard-Maisonneuve.

French Revolutionary Wars
In August 1798 Ambuscade, commanded by Captain Henry Jenkins, with Stag and the hired armed cutter Nimrod captured the chasse maree Francine . Then Ambuscade shared with Phaeton and Stag, in the capture on 20 November of the Hirondelle.

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Combat de la Bayonnaise contre l'Ambuscade, 1798, by Louis-Philippe Crépin

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Combat de la fregate francaise la Bayonnaise centre la fregate anglaise l' Embuscade 14 decemb. 1798 (PAD5616)

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Abordage de l' Ambuscade par la Bayonnais (PAD5615)

On 13 December 1798, Ambuscade captured a French merchantman, Faucon, with a cargo of sugar and coffee bound for Bordeaux.

Disaster struck the following day. Ambuscade was blockading Rochefort, when the smaller French corvette Bayonnaise captured her at the Action of 14 December 1798. The court martial exonerated Captain Henry Jenkins of Ambuscade, though a good case could be made that he exhibited poor leadership and ship handling. The French brought her into service as Embuscade.

Napoleonic Wars
On 28 May 1803, HMS Victory recaptured her. She had a crew of 187 men under the command of capitaine de vaisseau Fradin, and was 30 days out of Cap Francais, bound for Rochefort. The Royal Navy took her back into service as Ambuscade.

In March 1805, she was attached to Sir James Craig's military expedition to Italy. Along with Dragon, Craig's flagship, and Lively, Ambuscade escorted a fleet of transports to Malta.

On 4 March 1807, Ambuscade captured the ship Istria. Unité, Melpomene, Bittern and Weazel (or Weazle) were in company and shared in the prize money.

Fate
Ambuscade was broken up in 1810.

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Pierre Ozanne's depiction of the captured Ambuscade towing the much-damaged Bayonnaise back to harbour; the difference in size between the ships is exaggerated

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Lines & Profile (ZAZ2507)

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lines & profile Date: NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 245, states that 'Andromache' was begun in June 1780 at Adams & Barnard on the River Thames. She was launched 17 Nvoember and sent to Deptford Dockyard for fitting. It is likely to be her as 'Ambuscade' was launched in 1773



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ambuscade_(1773)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1803 - HMS Minotaur (74), HMS Thunderer (74) and HMS Albion (74) captured French frigate Franchise (34) near Brest.


Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but apparently few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.

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French service and capture
She was part of a squadron of three frigates, Concorde under Commodore Jean-François Landolphe, Médée under Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin, and Franchise under Captain Pierre Jurien, with Landolphe as the overall commander, that left Rochefort on 6 March 1799. Eluding the British blockade off Rochefort, the squadron sailed southwards until it reached the coast of West Africa. There Landolphe's ships began an extended commerce raiding operation, inflicting severe damage on the West African trade for the rest of the year. During this time, the squadron captured the Portuguese island of Prince (Príncipe). Eventually the strain of serving in tropical waters told on the ships and all three were forced to undergo an extensive refit in the nearest available allied shipyards, which were located in the Spanish-held River Plate in South America. At Montevideo the squadron assisted the French prisoners that had captured and taken into that port the convict transport Lady Shore, which was carrying them to Australia.

Repairs continued for six months, until Landolphe considered the squadron once again ready to sail in the early summer of 1800. The squadron almost immediately captured off the coast of Brazil the American schooner Espérance (Hope), which they used as an aviso and sent to Cayenne with a prize crew under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Hamon. (At the time, France and the United States had been engaged for two years in the Quasi War.)

During the Action of 4 August 1800, off Rio de Janeiro, HMS Belliqueux captured Concorde and Landolphe, and the East Indiamen Exeter and Bombay Castle captured Médée. On 9 August Franchise encountered the merchantman Wellesley, which was on her way to the Cape, but after an engagement of about an hour, the British ship succeeded in driving off her attacker. Franchise followed Wellesley for two days but then gave up the chase; Franchise managed to return to France, running back through the British blockade.

On 28 May 1803 HMS Minotaur, in company with Thunderer, and later joined by Albion, captured Franchise. Franchise was 33 days out of Port-au-Prince; of the sixteen 9-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle, ten were in her hold. She had a crew of 187 men under the command of Captain Jurien.

Because she had been with Admiral William Cornwallis's fleet, Minotaur had to share the prize money not only with Thunderer and Albion, but also with Aigle, Culloden, Dreadnought, Hazard, Sceptre, Venerable, and possibly others.

sistership
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lines & profile NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 743, states that 'Dedaigneuse' (1801) arrived at Plymouth Dockyard on 20 February 1801, was docked on 29 July 1801 and her copper was replaced. She was undocked on 24 August, and sailed on 9 November 1801 having been fitted

British service
From June to mid-October Franchise was in Plymouth being fitted. She was commissioned in November under Captain Lord John Murray. He then sailed her to the Leeward Islands on 26 February 1804.

With the resumption of the war Admiral James Dacres was appointed second in command on the Jamaica station, serving under Sir John Thomas Duckworth and flying his flag in the Franchise.

On 26 March 1804, Franchise was with a convoy when she sighted a schooner. Dacres ordered Murray to pursue the schooner. By evening Franchise had captured the privateer Petite Harmonie, which was under the command of Citizen Guerel. She was armed with two 4-pounder guns and had a crew of 22 men. Dacres had her destroyed.

Later, Franchise recaptured the schooners Vulture and Polly, and destroyed the privateer schooner Pauline. On 10 June, Franchise captured Harmony.

Then on 13 September, Franchise chased a privateer schooner for eight hours before capturing her. The privateer was Uranie, of three guns and 64 men. She was 13 days out of the city of Santo Domingo but had taken no prizes. Murray reported that "[she] is supposed to be the fastest, sailing Vessel in those Seas." Lastly, on 24 December, Franchise was in company with Pelican when they captured Nostra Senora del Belin.

Franchise was off Curaçao on 24 April 1805 when she sighted a schooner that anchored under the guns of the fort of Port Maria. Franchise sailed in and fired on the schooner and the fort before she could cut her out. The schooner turned out to be a tender to the Dutch frigate Kenau Hasselar. The schooner had a crew of a lieutenant and 35 men, but a number escaped ashore, leaving behind 24 of their wounded compatriots, as well as the surgeon and the lieutenant. Franchise had one man seriously wounded and two men slightly wounded. The schooner was carrying lumber and rice.

On 6 May, Franchise and Elk captured Hazard. Two days later, Fortunee captured the sloop Sally. Franchise was among the vessels that shared in the prize money. Ten days after that, Franchise and Elk captured Globe.

Murray died suddenly aboard ship on 13 July 1805 and Captain Randall M'Donnell replaced him. M'Donnell was captain when on 24 October, Franchise captured Washington. Later that month, Franchise's boats captured the Spanish privateer felucca General Ferrand on 25 October. General Ferrand was armed with one 6-pounder gun, two 4-pounders, swivel guns, and small arms. She was four days out of "Saint Jago" (probably Santiago de Cuba), and had taken no prizes.

Capture of Raposa
In January 1806 Franchise was under the command of Captain Charles Dashwood. He received information that several Spanish vessels had anchored in the Bay of Campeche and he determined to try to cut them out. On the night of 6 January Franchise arrived some five leagues off the town of Campeche and Dashwood had her anchor in four fathoms as the water was too shallow to come any closer. He then sent in three of Franchise's boats under the command of Lieutenants John Fleming and Peter Douglas, his first and third lieutenants, and Lieutenant Mends of the Marines. Because of the distance they had to row, the British were unable to approach closely until 4am, by which time the moon had risen, they had been spotted, and the Spaniards alerted. The Spanish vessels consisted of two naval brigs, one of 20 guns and 180 men, and another of 12 guns and 90 men, a schooner armed with eight guns, and seven gunboats, each armed with two guns. They opened fire on the approaching row boats and might have destroyed the attack had Lieutenant Fleming not led his three boats to the smaller of the brigs and boarded her. After about ten minutes of hand-to-hand fighting, the British had captured her and were sailing her out, pursued by the other Spanish vessels, which continued to fire on them. The British returned fire from their prize and their boats and the Spanish vessels withdrew.

The captured vessel turned out to be the brig Raposa, pierced for 16 guns but mounting only 12, and also carrying some coehorns, swivel guns, and small arms. She had a crew of 90 men, but her captain, Don Joaquin de la Cheva and most of his officers were ashore, with the result that there were only 75 men on aboard. The Spanish suffered five men killed, not including some who drowned when they jumped overboard, and the senior officer on board and 25 men wounded, many mortally. The British had only seven men wounded. Dashwood sent all the Spanish wounded and prisoners ashore under a flag of truce as they could receive better care there. The British took the corvette into service as Raposa. The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund presented each of the three lieutenants with a sword worth £50, and Midshipman Lamb with a sword worth £30.

Franchise captured the Spanish garda costa schooner Carmen, of one gun and 34 men, on 11 June. Eight days later Franchise also captured the Dutch schooner Brutus, of 20 men. Douglas served in the boats at the capture of Carmen, and on board that ship he succeeded in making two prizes, and in driving an armed vessel on shore. In December 1807 prize money was announced for "Proceeds of a Quantity of Cocoa, captured in sundry small Spanish Vessels, Names unknown, on the 19th of June."

Hurricane
In July Veteran, Franchise, and Magicienne were escorting a convoy of 109 West Indiamen back to England. The convoy had cleared the Gulf of Florida when it encountered a hurricane. Twenty merchantmen foundered and Magicienne was so damaged that she could not proceed and instead had to put into Bermuda for repairs. Franchise had lost her fore mast and main-top-mast but Dashwood was still able to rally the surviving merchantmen and bring them back to England.

By mid-summer 1807 Franchise had returned to England. She then sailed to the Baltic where she took part in the Battle of Copenhagen.

By early 1808 Franchise was back in the Channel, still under Dashwood's command. He sailed her for the West Indies on 21 February. Two days later she was 12 leagues south of the Isles of Scilly when she sighted a French lugger privateer hovering around the convoy that Franchise was escorting. The privateer, on capture, turned out to be Hazard, of four guns and a crew of 50, under the command of Francois Blanchet. Hazard was three days out of Granville, Manche, and had not captured anything. Franchise shared the head money with Star.

On 10 November 1808, Franchise, Reindeer, Aurora, Daedalus, and Pert met by chance. The captains got together and decided to capture the town and port of Samaná in order to assist the Spanish patriots that had established a blockade of San Domingo. The town was also the last port of refuge for privateers to the windward of San Domingo and the enemy were in the act of erecting batteries for its protection. The British entered the following day and took possession of the harbour. Captain Charles Dashwood handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations.

During the following week the British captured two French 5-gun privateer schooners. One was the Guerrière, Louis Telin, master, with a crew of 104 men; the other was the Exchange, with a crew of 110. The British also took three merchant vessels, the schooner Dianaand a brig, both laden with fish, and the sloop Brutus, laden with coffee. Reindeer and Pert went on to recapture two vessels, one of them English, that privateers had taken and were trying to bring into Samana.

Early the next year, on 16 January 1809, Franchise captured the French letter of marque Iphigenie after a chase of 30 hours. She was pierced for 18 guns but only carrying six, all of which, together with her anchors, she had thrown overboard during the chase. She and her crew of 26 were sailing from Bayonne, where she had been launched two months earlier, to Guadeloupe with a cargo of naval stores and provisions, with the intent of taking up privateering once in the West Indies. Dashwood, in the hope that the navy might buy her, described Iphigenie as "... coppered, and sails remarkably fast, having been pursued several Times during her Passage".

Sinking of the transport John & Jane
Captain John Allen was appointed to replace Dashwood on 17 February 1809. Allen sailed Franchise to Newfoundland on 18 May 1810. On 9 February 1811 Allen sailed her for the Mediterranean.

It was on the way to the Mediterranean on 21 February that a great tragedy occurred. Franchise and her convoy were in Falmouth Roads on a stormy night when she ran into the transport John & Jane, under the command of Captain Grimbsy, almost cutting her in two. The conditions were too severe to launch boats and the damage to the transport was so complete that almost all aboard her drowned. She was carrying elements of the 11th Regiment of Foot, 197 of whom died, as did 15 women, six children, and six seamen; 20 soldiers and eight seamen survived. Franchise had signaled that she was about to tack and had John & Jane responded with lights the accident might have been averted. Franchise herself suffered little damage and no casualties.

On 1 August 1811 Allen transferred to Rodney. His replacement was Captain Robert Buck.

In 1812 Franchise was still in the Mediterranean. On 2 February she was in the bay of Cagliari where she captured the French privateer Aventurier (or Venturier), pierced for 14 guns but only mounting three. She and her crew of 60 men were 26 days out of Marseilles but had not captured anything.

Captain Thomas Usher replaced Buck in June. On 26 September, Blake and Franchise provided naval support to a land attack, at night, on Tarragona by troops under the command of General Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas, Baron d'Eroles. The attack was successful, and resulted, inter alia, in the capture of several small vessels. The Spanish troops suffered three men killed and eight wounded; the British had no casualties whatsoever. Captain Edward Codrington, of Blake, wrote to Baron d'Eroles and to Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, that the officers and crew declined any prize money from the action, in favour of the Spanish troops, "in admiration of the valour and the discipline which they shewed upon the occasion."

Fate
Franchise was in ordinary at Woolwich in 1815. She was put up for sale at Deptford in January of that year. Anyone wishing to purchase her had to put up a bond of two sureties, for £3000, not to sell or otherwise dispose of the ship. To regain their sureties the purchaser had to break her up within twelve months from the day of sale.

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Patriote (Coquille) class, (40-gun design by Raymond-Antoine Haran, with 28 x 12-pounder and 12 x 6-pounder guns).

Patriote (launched October 1794 at Bayonne) – renamed Coquille on 30 May 1795.
Fidèle (launched 1795 at Bayonne) – renamed Sirène on 30 May 1795.
Franchise, (launched 17 October 1797 at Bayonne) - taken into British Navy on 28 May 1803 as HMS Franchise.
Dédaigneuse, (launched December 1797 at Bayonne) - taken by the British on 28 January 1801, keeping her name.
Thémis, (launched 13 August 1799 at Bayonne).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Franchise_(1797)
arch;authority=vessel-306605;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=D
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1810 - French privateer brig Fantôme, was captured by the british frigate HMS Melampus


HMS
Fantome
was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally a French privateer brig named Fantôme, which the British captured in 1810 and commissioned into British service. Fantome saw extensive action in the War of 1812 until she was lost in a shipwreck at Prospect, Nova Scotia, near Halifax in 1814.

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Construction and French Service
Fantôme was built at St. Malo, France by the noted French privateer captain Robert Surcouf in 1809 as a privately owned corvette brig. On her first voyage the brig sailed to Isle de France (Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean as an armed transport with a license to attack enemy ships. Fantôme was pierced for 20 heavy carronades and carried a crew of 74 men. She made three captures. One was William, Hughes, master, which had been sailing from Belfast to the Brazils. Fantôme took off dollars and goods, but then gave the brig up, which sailed on to Pernambuco.

Capture
The frigate Melampus was in company with the sloop Driver when they captured Fantome in the mid Atlantic on the brig's return voyage from the Indian Ocean on 28 May 1810. The brig was taken to the Halifax Vice admiralty court and condemned in June 1810. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fantome after a refit at the Halifax naval yard for conversion to British service. She was commissioned at Bermuda in 1811 under Commander John Lawrence.

Initial British service
She initially served on the North Sea station. On 12 November 1811 she sailed for Portugal. Fantome detained the Canton, Allen, master, and sent her into Lisbon where she arrived on 19 July 1812.

On 4 December 1812 Fantome sailed for North America.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Fantome (captured 1810), a captured French privateers. The plan illustrates the ship as taken off prior to being fitted as an 18 gun Brig Sloop. Signed Robert John Nelson [Master Shipwright, Deptford Dockyard, 1806-1813]

War of 1812
In February 1813, during the War of 1812, Fantome joined a squadron off the American coast under the command of Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, consisting of the 74-gun ships San Domingo, Marlborough and Dragon, and the frigates Maidstone and Statira. Fantome was among the vessels in the squadron that captured the enemy vessels Gustavus and Staunch on 24 February. Similarly, she shared in the capture of the Christiana (3 March) and Massasoit (14 March). However, prize money was not awarded until May 1818.

On 4 March 1813, Fantome captured and destroyed the American schooner Betsy Ann. She had been sailing from Alexandria to Boston with a cargo of flour. Fantome was among the vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the General Knox on 17 March.

Operations in Chesapeake Bay
Main article: Battle of Rappahannock River
On 3 April 1813 five enemy armed vessels were sighted in Chesapeake Bay off the Rappahannock River and Maidstone, Statira, Fantome, Mohawk and the tender Highflyer chased them into the river. Boats of the squadron, under the command of Lieutenant Puckingthorne of San Domingo, rowed 15 miles upriver, where they found four armed schooners drawn up in line. The Arab (7), was run ashore and boarded by two boats from Marlborough, while San Domingo's pinnace captured Lynx and Racer. Men from Statira's cutter and Maidstone's launch captured Dolphin. The attacking party lost two men killed and 11 wounded. Fantome had no casualties. A final distribution of headmoney for Lynx and Racer took place in February 1817.

Following the capture of the privateers, the squadron continued up the Chesapeake, and Admiral Warren ordered Rear Admiral George Cockburn to penetrate the rivers at the head of the bay, taking Maidstone, Fantome, Mohawk, Highflyer, and three of the captured schooners. Cockburn also had a detachment of 180 seamen and 200 marines from the squadron's naval brigade, together with a small detachment of the Royal Artillery from Bermuda and under the command of Lieutenant Robertson.

On 28 April, when Cockburn learned of stores of flour and military equipment at French Town on the Elk River, he embarked in Fantome and took Mohawk, Dolphin, Racer and Highflyer up the river. At 11 p.m. 150 marines and five artillery men left in boats to destroy the stores, with Lieutenant Lewis following in Highflyer as support. Unfortunately they were diverted into the Bohemia River and it was after 8 a.m. before they reached their destination only to discover that the Americans had erected a six-gun battery. The battery fired on the boats as soon as they appeared, but the boats' carronades soon silenced it. The British burned stores, which consisted mainly of cavalry equipment, and five vessels.

Later the same morning Captain Lawrence embarked a number of cows after giving the owner bills on the Victualling Officer. He then rejoined Rear-Admiral Cockburn in Maidstone off the mouth of the Susquehanna River at the northern end of the Bay. After observing the Americans firing from hoisting an American flag at a newly constructed battery at Havre de Grace, the Admiral determined to attack it. Captain Lawrence commanded the operation. At dawn on 2 May boats containing 150 marines, and a small party of artillerymen attacked, drove off the defenders and captured the battery.

A division of boats then rowed upriver to the Cecil or Principio Foundry, three or four miles to the north. They destroyed the buildings, machinery and guns they found there, as well as five vessels and a large store of flour. They returned to the ships by 10 p.m. after being away for twenty-two hours. The only casualty was Lieutenant Westphal, first of the Marlborough, who had received a shot through the hand. The gallantry, zeal and attention of Captain Lawrence was particularly mentioned in the Admiral's official letter, as was the behaviour of Lieutenant Reed of Fantome.

On 29 April, boats from Dolphin, Dragon, Fantome, Highflyer, Maidstone, Marlborough, Mohawk, Racer and Statira went up the Elk River in Chesapeake Bay under the personal command of Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn. Their objective was to destroy five American ships and stores, and by some accounts, a cannon foundry at French Town. This took until 3 May 1813 to complete. On the way, after a battery at Havre de Grace fired on them from the shore, a landing party destroyed the battery and burned much of the town. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "28 April Boat Service 1813" to any surviving claimants from the action; the Navy issued 48 clasps.

On 30 April Highflyer supported Fantome and Mohawk's boats when the vessels gathered cattle for the fleet's use, paying with bills on the Victualling Office. The next day, the vessels secured more cattle from Spesutie (Spesucie) Island just south of Havre de Grace.

On 29 April Fantome recaptured the English brig Endeavour of 110 tons and six men which an American privateer had captured while Endeavour was carrying wine from Guernsey to Gibraltar. The recaptured Endeavour reached Bermuda at the end of June.

Fantome shared in the proceeds of the capture of Rolla and cargo on 29 May.

Rescue of American Slaves
While operating in the Chesapeake, Fantome rescued a number of families of enslaved African Americans who had escaped from plantations as part of the Black Refugee migration in the War of 1812. Fantome gave sanctuary to seven escaped slaves on 30 May 1813 who then joined Fantome's crew. Two of them used Fantome as a base from which to return to shore and rescue enslaved wives and children on 3 and 8 June.

Further captures
Fantome was among the vessels sharing in the proceeds of the Spanish brig St. Iago and cargo captured on 11 June, and the American schooner Surveyor captured the next day. The same ships shared in the compromise for the American ships Governor Strongand cargo (12 June), Emily and cargo (12 June), and Star and cargo (14 June). The vessels that had shared the capture of Rolla also shared the capture of Protectress on 18 June. Lastly, she was among the vessels sharing in the proceeds of the American ship Herman and cargo (21 June). Fantome recaptured the ship Seaflower on 9 July.

Fantome also recaptured an unnamed brig that had been sailing from Newfoundland to Barbados.

On 5 October Fantome and Epervier recaptured off Mount Desert Island, Maine, the former Nova Scotian privateer Liverpool Packet, then sailing as an American privateer under the name Portsmouth Packet, after a chase of 13 hours. At the time of her capture, Portsmouth Packet was armed with five guns, carried a crew of 45, and had sailed from Portsmouth the previous day. The recaptured schooner was brought into Halifax on 12 October. There her original owners repurchased her and restored the name of Liverpool Packet.

Almost a month later, on 3 November, Epervier and Fantome captured Peggy, of 91 tons (bm), W. O. Fuller, master. she had been sailing from George's River to Boston with a cargo of timber and wood.

Captain Lawrence was made a Companion of the Bath for his services. In November 1813 Fantome came under the command of Commander Thomas Sykes.

Canadian trek
On 21 January 1814 Lieutenant Henry Kent of Fantome volunteered to serve on the Great Lakes and joined 210 volunteer seamen from Fantome, Manly and Thistle. Seventy men left Halifax in Fantome on 22 January for Saint John, New Brunswick, then travelled with sleighs to Fredericton, a distance of 80 miles. From there they travelled along the ice of the Saint John River. After eighty-two miles, at Presque Isle, they exchanged sleighs for toboggans, and were supplied with snowshoes and moccasins. Leaving on 8 February they made between 15 and 22 miles a day through knee-deep snow along the St. Lawrence, reaching Quebec on the 28th, taking shelter in the frigate Aeolus and the sloop Indian, frozen up in Wolfe's Cove. They finally reached Kingston, Ontario, on 22 March. A few days later Lieutenant Kent joined the 42-gun frigate Princess Charlotte.

In November 1813 Fantome came under the command of Commander Thomas Sykes.[2] On 9 May 1814 Fantome captured the Spanish brig Danzic.

HMS_Fantome_(1810).jpg
Prospect Road, Nova Scotia

Loss

Fantome ran aground in Shad Bay near the village of Prospect, Nova Scotia, on 24 November 1814. The brig was escorting a convoy from British-occupied Castine, Maine to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the evening of 23 November Sykes ordered that a course be set for the Sambro Light. At 2am the next morning he ordered a depth sounding and when it showed only 35 fathoms, ordered a change of course. An hour later, when he came back on deck he discovered that the pilot had countermanded his order. Soon after she struck. Sykes had the masts cut away and the boats hoisted over the sides, but Fantome rapidly filled with water. The crew took to the boats in an orderly manner and all reached the shore safely.

The subsequent court martial reprimanded Sykes for failing to order frequent soundings and for relying too much on the pilot. It ordered Lieutenant John Fisher, the officer of the watch, to be more careful in the future, especially in keeping the captain aware of his ship's situation. It severely reprimanded the master, Joseph Forster, for not taking continuous sounding and for not informing the captain about his reservations concerning the course being steered. Lastly, the court martial severely reprimanded the pilot, Thomas Robinson, for countermanding the captain's order, and for sailing too close to the shore and without taking soundings. It ordered the pilot to lose all pay due him.

Two schooners from the convoy, Industry and Perseverance, were lost at the same location. A transport brig from the convoy went aground elsewhere on the same night but was got off later. No lives were lost when the ships sank.

Post-script
Some treasure hunters have claimed the convoy that Fantome was escorting was laden with goods taken from the White House during the British raid on Washington, DC. However Fantome played no part in the Washington raid and historians agree that the convoy was carrying goods and customs revenue from Castine. The site of Fantome's loss is marked today by an inscription on a large granite boulder near the wreck site at Prospect.



HMS Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes before the British sold her to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1815. With the Dutch, she participated in a major action at Algiers and, then, in a number of colonial punitive expeditions in the Dutch East Indies.

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Detail from the painting by Bristol artist Chris Woodhouse of the 36-gun Bristol-built frigate HMS Melampus, commissioned and purchased in 1990 by Bristol City Museum


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fantome_(1810)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1813 – The Action off James Island
During the War of 1812, the 30-gun frigate USS Essex, commanded by Capt. David Porter, and her prize, Georgiana, capture the British whalers Atlantic, Greenwich, Catharine (burned), Rose, and Hector (burned) in the Pacific.



The Action off James Island was a naval engagement of the War of 1812. In May 1813 an American frigate captured three British whalers off James Island in the South Pacific. Only one of the whalers resisted and the resultant single-ship action was one of the few fought in Pacific waters during the war. The British later recovered all the whalers involved.

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Background
Following Captain David Porter's passage of Cape Horn in USS Essex a year earlier, the United States Navy vessel focused on commerce raiding by attacking British whalers off the coast of South America. After taking several vessels, Captain Porter made a prize of Georgiana, a 280-ton sloop. Georgiana initially carried two guns but Porter increased her armament to six 18-pounders, four swivel guns, and six blunderbusses. He placed Lieutenant John Downes in command and gave him a crew of forty-two navy men and six volunteers, recently captured American sailors. Porter then instructed Downes to harass the British off James Island in the Galapagos chain.

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USS Essex (1799)

Action
Leaving Essex on May 12, Downes headed in a southern direction for James. While nearing the island in the afternoon on May 28, lookouts aboard Georgiana sighted a mast and sails on the horizon. In fact the sails belonged to two brigs, the 270-ton whaler Catharine, accompanied by the 220-ton whaler Rose. Downes ordered his men to give chase and raised the Union Jack to trick the whalers into believing that they were not under threat. When the Americans were within range they lowered a few boats filled with men and captured the two sloops without resistance. Later the British captains revealed to Downes that they did not realize they were being attacked until after the Americans were on deck.

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A map of the Galapagos; James island is now known as Santiago.

On board the two vessels were a total of sixteen guns, eight each, and fifty sailors, whom the Americans took prisoner. But just as the capture of Rose and Catherine was completed, a third vessel was spotted, it was Hector, armed with eleven guns and crewed by twenty-five men. Georgiana maneuvered to pursue and after several moments of chasing, the sun had gone down before the Americans were in firing range. In the dark, Georgiana fired a warning shot at Hector, which responded with inaccurate broadsides. The Americans then engaged and began raking the British vessel, ripping off its main mast and most of the rigging. Four more broadsides followed and when it seemed as though the whaler's fire had weakened, Georgiana moved in to board. Just as the Americans drew near, the British lowered their colors and surrendered so the boarding took place without hostilities.

Two British sailors had been killed and six others seriously wounded. Apparently all of the British shots passed over Georgiana or fell short. Thus the Americans reported no damage or casualties.

Aftermath
Seventy-five prisoners were taken but because there were fewer than fifty Americans to guard them, Lieutenant Downes disarmed Rose and transferred the prisoners to her. They were then released on parole and ordered to Saint Helena. Georgiana returned to Essex, which was anchored of Tumbez, Peru, on 24 June. On the same day as the action, David Porter captured two more whalers without incident, Montezuma (18 guns), and Greenwich (10 guns). Captain Porter was now in command of nine armed vessels in the Pacific. Lieutenant Downes was promoted on November 28, 1813, for gallantry in his many actions against the British and the natives of Nuka Hiva.

The British later recaptured all three whalers and returned them to whaling. HMS Barrosa recaptured Georgiana in the Atlantic on 28 November 1813, and sent her into Bermuda.

Note
Only Rose was sailing under a letter of marque, which Captain Mark Munro had received on 15 August 1811. It described Rose as of 245 tons (bm), with a crew of 24 men, and armed with eight 12 and 9-pounder guns. By virtue of the letter, she was authorized to engage in offensive action. The other two British whalers, Catherine and Hector, were legally only allowed to use their armament in self-defense.


List of British whalers captured in the Pacific by the vessels of Captain David Porter, USN (1813)
In February 1813 Captain David Porter sailed the USS Essex around Cape Horn and cruised the Pacific, warring on British whalers. Over the next year, Porter captured 12 whalers and 360 prisoners. On 28 March 1814 Porter was forced to surrender to Captain James Hillyar after an engagement that became known as the Battle of Valparaiso. He had to surrender to the frigate HMS Phoebe and the sloop-of-war HMS Cherub when Essex became too disabled to offer any resistance. Of the 12 ships Porter captured, only one returned to the United States; seven returned to British control, three were destroyed, and the Chilean government seized one.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1813 May 28–29 Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor - US General Jacob Brown turns back British under Sir George Prevost


The Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor or simply the Battle of Sacket's Harbor, took place on 29 May 1813, during the War of 1812. A British force was transported across Lake Ontario and attempted to capture the town, which was the principal dockyard and base for the American naval squadron on the lake. Twelve warships were built here. The British were repulsed by American regulars, militia, marines and sailors.

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Plan of the Battle of Sackett's Harbor, from Benson J. Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812

Background
In the early weeks of the War, the British had seized control of the Great Lakes. In September 1812 U.S. Navy Captain Isaac Chauncey was ordered to assume command of naval forces on Lakes Ontario and Erie with the directive to "...use every exertion to obtain control of them this fall." Within three weeks he had directed and brought 149 ships' carpenters, 700 Seamen and Marines, and some 100 cannon, along with a good quantity of muskets and other supplies, to Sacket's Harbor on Lake Ontario where there was already a small navy yard.

At the start of the campaigning season of 1813, the main American forces on the border between the United States and Canada had been concentrated at Sacket's Harbor. The naval squadron which Chauncey had created was superior to the opposing British and Canadian-manned squadron at Kingston, and the troops under Major General Henry Dearborn could outnumber the British at any point on their extended front. The Americans had a chance to storm Kingston, which would have eliminated the British squadron and perhaps allowed the Americans to secure almost all of Upper Canada.

However, Dearborn and Chauncey exaggerated the number of British regulars they believed to be stationed at Kingston, and instead proceeded to attack York, the Provincial capital of Upper Canada, at the other end of the lake. On 27 April, the Americans won the Battle of York, temporarily occupying and looting the town. They withdrew to Fort Niagara near the mouth of the Niagara River, preparing to attack the British position at Fort George on the opposite side of the river.

Late in 1812, Captain James Lucas Yeo had been appointed by the Admiralty to command the British naval force on the Great Lakes. He arrived at Quebec on 5 May 1813, and proceeded up the Saint Lawrence Riverto Kingston with a party of 150 naval officers and sailors. On the way, he overtook and joined the Governor General of Canada, Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost, who was also proceeding to Kingston. This was Prevost's second visit to Upper Canada in four months, as he thought it would probably prove necessary to replace Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, who had lost the confidence of the Provincial Assembly after his defeat at York.

Prevost and Yeo arrived at Kingston on 15 May. While Prevost reorganised his command and attempted to raise the morale of the militia and civil authorities, Yeo hastened the completion of the new sloop-of-war Wolfeand the refitting of several other armed vessels. (Much of the work had already been accomplished by three officers, Commanders Robert Heriot Barclay, Robert Finnis and Daniel Pring, who had been detached from the naval establishment at Halifax, Nova Scotia). Prevost and Yeo knew that when the Wolfe was completed, Yeo's squadron would be slightly superior to Chauncey's, but also that the Americans were building the 28-gun heavy sloop-of-war General Pike at Sackett's Harbor, which would return the advantage to Chauncey.

On 25 May, Chauncey's squadron was sighted off Fort George. The British commander there, Brigadier General John Vincent, immediately sent a dispatch vessel to Kingston with the information. (Two days later, he was driven from his position with heavy losses at the Battle of Fort George.) On learning of Chauncey's presence off Fort George, Yeo and Prevost realised that the American squadron and Dearborn's army would probably be occupied there for several days. They had an opportunity to capture Sacket's Harbor, and deliver a decisive blow to the shipyard to ensure that the British gained naval supremacy on the lake.

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Sacket's Harbor[

Battle
British forces

Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost, Governor General and Commander in Chief in British North America

The available British troops at Kingston, consisting of the grenadier company of the 100th Regiment, two companies of the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot, four companies of the 104th Regiment, one company of the Glengarry Light Infantry, two companies of the Canadian Voltigeurs and a detachment of Royal Artillery with two 6-pounder guns, were hastily assembled and embarked on Yeo's vessels. As no General officer was immediately available to command them, Prevost himself led the expedition, although he delegated command of the troops once they were ashore to his Adjutant General, Colonel Edward Baynes.

Battle of Henderson Bay
The British force set out late on 27 May and arrived off Sacket's Harbor early the next morning. The wind was very light, which made it difficult for Yeo to manoeuvre close to the shore. He was also unfamiliar with the local conditions and depths of water. Shortly before midday on 28 May, the troops began rowing ashore, but unknown sails were sighted in the distance. In case they might be Chauncey's fleet, the attack was called off, and the troops returned to the ships. The distant sails proved to belong to twelve bateaux carrying troops from the 9th and 21st U.S. Regiments of Infantry from Oswego to Sackets Harbor. The British sent out three large canoes full of Native American warriors and a gunboat carrying a detachment of the Glengarry Light Infantry to intercept them.

The British force caught up with the convoy off Stoney Point on Henderson Bay. As the British opened fire, the Americans, who were mostly raw recruits, landed their bateaux at Stoney Point and fled into the woods. The Natives pursued them through the trees and hunted them down. After about half an hour, during which they lost 35 men killed, the surviving United States troops regained their vessels and raised a white flag. The senior officer rowed out to Yeo's fleet and surrendered his remaining force of 115 officers and men. Only seven of the American troops escaped and reached Sacket's Harbor.

American defenses
This delay gave the Americans time to reinforce their defences. Some 400 regulars were then stationed at Sacket's Harbor, mainly the small detachments manning Fort Volunteer and Fort Tompkins at the harbour entrance, and various parties of reinforcements and invalids. The senior regular officer was Lieutenant Colonel Electus Backus of the 1st Regiment of Light Dragoons. There were 250 volunteers from the New York militia, and an additional 500 militia were hastily called up from the surrounding area. Under arrangements made by Henry Dearborn before he departed for York, Brigadier General Jacob Brown of the New York state militia took command of all troops at Sacket's Harbor.

In addition to Fort Volunteer and Fort Tompkins, the Americans had built several strong blockhouses south of the village, and partially completed a line of earthworks and abatis (defence works made from felled trees and branches) surrounding the town and shipyard. These defences had been planned and laid out the previous year by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Macomb.

Most of the American flotilla was at Fort George with Chauncey, but two armed schooners, Fair American and Pert, were anchored in Blackwater Creek, off Sacket's Harbor. The senior naval officer present was Lieutenant Woolcott Chauncey, younger brother of the Commodore.

Order of Battle

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British attack

Sir James Lucas Yeo, commander of the Royal Navy establishment on the Great Lakes

The next morning, 29 May, Prevost resumed the attack. The British troops landed on Horse Island, south of the town, under fire from two 6-pounder field guns belonging to the militia and a naval 32-pounder firing at long range from Fort Tompkins. They also faced musket fire from the Albany Volunteers defending the island.[20] Although the British lost several men in the boats, they succeeded in landing, and the Volunteers withdrew. Once the landing force was fully assembled, they charged across the flooded causeway linking the island to the shore. Although the British should have been an easy target at this point, the American militia fled, abandoning their guns. Brigadier General Brown eventually rallied about 100 of them.

The British swung to their left, hoping to take the town and dockyard from the landward side, but the American regulars with some field guns gave ground only slowly. They fell back behind their blockhouses and defences, from where they repulsed every British attempt to storm their fortifications.

Yeo had gone ashore to accompany the troops, and none of the larger British vessels was brought into a range at which to support the attack. The small British gunboats, which could approach very close to the shore, were armed only with small, short-range carronades, which were ineffective against the American defences. Eventually one British ship, Beresford, mounting 16 guns, worked close in using sweeps (long oars). When its crew opened fire, they quickly drove the American artillerymen from Fort Tompkins. Some of Beresford's shot went over the fort and landed in and around the dockyard. Under the mistaken impression that the fort had surrendered, a young American naval officer, Acting Lieutenant John Drury, ordered the sloop-of-war General Pike, which was under construction, and large quantities of stores to be set on fire. Lieutenant Woolcott Chauncey had orders to defend the yard rather than the schooners, but had instead gone aboard one of the schooners, which were engaging the British vessels at long and ineffective range.

By this time, Prevost was convinced that success was impossible to attain. His own field guns did not come into action and without them he was unable to batter breaches in the American defences, while the militia which Brown had rallied were attacking his own right flank and rear. He gave the order to retreat. Prevost later wrote that the enemy had been beaten and that the retreat was carried out in perfect order, but other accounts by British soldiers stated that the re-embarkation took place in disorder, and each unit acrimoniously blamed the others for the repulse.

The Americans for their part claimed that had Prevost not retreated hastily when he did, he would never have returned to Kingston. The U.S. 9th Infantry had been force-marching to the sounds of battle, but the British had departed before they could intervene.

Casualties

Brigadier General Jacob Brown, commander of American forces at Sackett's Harbor

The British Army casualty return for the engagement detailed 1 officer and 47 men killed, 12 officers and 183 men wounded, and 3 officers and 13 men "wounded and missing" (i.e. left behind). The separate Royal Navy casualty list gave 1 killed and 5 wounded. This added up to a total British loss of 49 killed and 216 wounded, of whom 16 were left behind on the field.

However, Patrick Wilder says "three captured British officers and 32 British soldiers were placed in the care of the American military surgeons. This would indicate that 19 of the British enlisted men who were assumed to have been killed when the official return of casualties was made out were in fact wounded and captured. This gives a revised British casualty total of 30 killed, 200 wounded, and 35 wounded prisoners. One notable British casualty was Captain Andrew Gray, Prevost's Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, who was killed.

Major William Swan's casualty report for the American force detailed 22 killed, 84 wounded, and 26 missing for the U.S. regulars and the federal volunteer units. Swan gave no detailed report of the militia loss, stating only that it did not "exceed twenty-five". This would give an American loss in the battle of May 29 of about 157 killed, wounded and missing, including Lieutenant Colonel Electus Backus, who was killed.

Including the 35 men killed and 115 captured at Henderson Bay on May 28, the American loss came to 307 officers and enlisted men killed, wounded or captured. The British captured three 6-pounder guns and 154 prisoners on May 28 and May 29,[3] which indicates that 39 prisoners were taken on May 29. Since only 26 of the regular and volunteer troops were reported as "missing", this would suggest that about half of the 25 or so militia casualties were captured. This gives a grand total American loss for May 28–29 of 153 killed and wounded and 154 taken prisoner.

Results
Although General Pike had been set on fire, since it was constructed from green wood it did not burn well, and the Americans were able to salvage the ship. The fires set by Acting Lieutenant Drury consumed $500,000 worth of stores and construction materials, which was to prove a handicap later in the year. The brig Duke of Gloucester, which had earlier been brought back as a prize from York, was also destroyed but was no great loss as it was in poor repair.

The news of the British assault caused Commodore Chauncey to recall his entire squadron to Sacket's Harbor until General Pike was completed, leaving the American Army on the Niagara peninsula without support. They had already been checked at the Battle of Stoney Creek, and Yeo attacked their vulnerable lakeside flank, capturing provision boats, tents and large quantities of supplies and forcing them to withdraw to Fort George.

Yeo made another attempt to destroy General Pike after it had been launched but while it was still fitting out at Sackett's Harbor and waiting for replacements for the materials destroyed on 29 May. He intended to launch a surprise attack from boats at dawn on 1 July, but day broke while he was still short of his objective and his force took refuge on the north shore of Blackwater Creek. During the day, some seamen and marines deserted and Yeo called off the attack, fearing (correctly) that the deserters would have alerted the Americans.

For several months, the fighting on and around Lake Ontario was stalemated, until General Pike heavily damaged Yeo's flagship, Wolfe, in an engagement off York on 28 September. Yeo withdrew into Burlington Bay, and conceded control of the lake for the remainder of the year.

Jacob Brown was rewarded for his part in the victory at Sacket's Harbor with a regular commission as Brigadier General in the United States Army. On the British side, Prevost's prestige was badly damaged by the repulse, although he remained in command in Canada for another year and a half before another defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh finally ruined his reputation.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Sacket's_Harbor
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1892 – Launch of HMS Resolution, a Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy.


HMS
Resolution
was a Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. The ship was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, starting with her keel laying in June 1890. She was launched in May 1892 and, after completing trials, was commissioned into the Channel Squadron the following December. She was armed with a main battery of four 13.5-inch guns and a secondary battery of ten 6-inch guns. The ship had a top speed of 16.5 knots.

HMS_Resolution_(1892)_in_1903.jpg

Resolution served with the Channel Squadron up to 1901; she took part in the Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review and a number of manoeuvres in the Atlantic and the Southwest Approaches. She was recommissioned as a coast guard ship later in 1901 and underwent a refit in 1903, after which she served at Sheerness as a port guard ship, before entering the Fleet Reserve at Chatham in June 1904. She suffered damage while participating in combined manoeuvres in 1906, and was recommissioned into the Special Service Division of the Home Fleet the following year. She was decommissioned in August 1911 and laid up at Motherbank for disposal, before being sold for scrap in April 1914 and towed to the Netherlands to be broken up the following month.


Design
Main article: Royal Sovereign-class battleship
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Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1905.

The Royal Sovereign-class battleships were based on Admiral-class barbette ships, but contained several alterations. The freeboard was raised, the barbettes' armour was extended and an upper belt and secondary armour were added. They could also obtain a higher speed, but were 4,000 tonnes larger. Resolution was 410 feet (120 m) long overall and had a beam of 75 ft and a draft of 27 ft 6in. She displaced up to 15,580 tonnes at her full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two 3-cylinder triple expansion engines powered by eight coal-fired cylindrical boilers. With natural draught, her engines provided a top speed of 15.5 knots at 9,000 indicated horsepower; 16.5 knots at 11,000 indicated horsepower could be obtained with forced draught. She had a maximum complement of 712 officers and enlisted men, although her crew in 1903 amounted to 672 people.[2] When built, ships of the Royal Sovereign class rolled too heavily under certain conditions. Bilge keels were added to compensate for the problem, and the ships "proved to be excellent seaboats quite capable ... of maintaining high speeds in a seaway". The ships were well-constructed and probably the most substantial built for the Royal Navy, even if they "suffered ... from excessive weight and fittings." In the view of the maritime historian R. A. Burt, they were "highly successful; at that time, they were probably unequalled in all-round fighting efficiency."

Resolution was armed with four breech-loading 13.5-inch guns on two barbettes with armour ranging from 11 to 17 inches in thickness. Resolution also carried ten quick-fire (QF) 6-inch guns, four of which were mounted in casemates on the main deck, plus sixteen QF 6-pounder (2.2 in (57 mm)) guns of an unknown type and a dozen QF 3-pounder (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns. She was also equipped with seven 18-inch torpedo tubes, two of which were submerged. Between 1899 and 1902, the 3-pounder guns were removed from the upper tops; the above-water torpedo tubes were removed in 1902–1905. The remaining 6-inch guns on the upper deck were mounted on 5-inch armoured casemates between 1902 and 1904. All of the armour was supplied by the builders, Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company. The waterline belt was 252 ft long by 8 ft 8in deep, and its armour varied in thickness between 14 and 18 inches; the bulkheads were protected by 14 to 16 inches of armour. The middle deck covering the belt was 3 inches thick and the lower deck forward and aft of the belt was 2.5 inches thick, while the upper belt between the middle and main decks was coated in 3 to 4 inches of armour. The casemates for the 6-inch guns were protected by an equal thickness of armour and the conning tower was protected with 14 inch armour on the forward side, and 3 inches of armour on the aft. The ship's armoured deck was 2.5 to 3 inches thick.

Operational history
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Resolution dressed overall in 1895.

Resolution was built by Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company, at a cost of £875,522, plus £78,295 for guns. She was laid down on 14 June 1890, launched on 28 May 1892 and completed the following November. She underwent trials in December 1893, and was commissioned at Portsmouth on 5 December of that year for service in the Channel Squadron. In early August 1894, Resolution was a unit of "Fleet Red" in the annual manoeuvres held in the Southwest Approaches. She was recommissioned for further Channel Fleet service on 9 April 1895. On 18 July 1896, she collided with her sister ship HMS Repulse, suffering slight plating and keel damage. She nonetheless took part in annual manoeuvres from 24 July 1896 to 30 July 1896, this time off the southwest coasts of England and Ireland as part of "Fleet A".

On 26 June 1897, Resolution was part of the Fleet Review at Spithead for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. From 29 July 1899 to 4 August 1899, she participated in annual manoeuvres in the Atlantic as part of "Fleet A". The next summer, she again took part in the annual manoeuvres in the Southwest Approaches in late July and early August 1900, this time as a part of "Fleet A2". She paid off at Portsmouth on 9 October 1901 and was placed in reserve, but on 17 November 1901 she was recommissioned by Captain James Goodrich to serve as a coast guard ship at Holyhead with the officers and crew of the previous guardship, the battleship HMS Colossus.

Captain Cecil Burney was appointed in command on 27 May 1902, as flag captain to Rear-Admiral George Atkinson-Willes, Second-in-Command of the Home Fleet during the Coronation Review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII. After the end of the maneuvers, Captain John Edward Bearcroft was appointed in command on 16 September 1902, when she reverted to her position at Holyhead and Rear-Admiral Atkinson-Willes transferred his flag to the battleship HMS Empress of India. On 8 April 1903, she paid off into reserve again to undergo a refit.

Resolution was recommissioned on 5 January 1904 to relieve the battleship HMS Sans Pareil as port guard ship at Sheerness. On 20 June 1904, she was transferred to the Fleet Reserve at Chatham. In the summer of 1906, she took part in manoeuvres during which she suffered slight damage when she collided with her sister ship HMS Ramillies near the Tongue Lightship on 15 July 1906. Later that year, she underwent another refit at Chatham. On 12 February 1907, Resolution transferred to the Special Service Division of the Home Fleet at Devonport. She remained in that service until 8 August 1911. She was then laid up at the Motherbank, awaiting disposal. On 2 April 1914, Resolution was sold as scrap for £35,650 to F. Rijsdijk; the following month, she was towed to the Netherlands to be broken up.

HMS_Resolution_(1892)_bows-on_1897-1898.jpg


The Royal Sovereign class was a group of eight pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. The ships spent their careers in the Mediterranean, Home and Channel Fleets, sometimes as flagships, although several were mobilised for service with the Flying Squadron in 1896 when tensions with the German Empire were high following the Jameson Raid in South Africa. Three ships were assigned to the International Squadron formed when Greek Christians rebelled against the Ottoman Empire′s rule in Crete in 1897–1898.

HMS_Royal_Sovereign_(1891_ship).jpg
The high-freeboard Royal Sovereign underway in a moderate sea

By about 1905–1907, they were considered obsolete and were reduced to reserve. The ships began to be sold off for scrap beginning in 1911, although Empress of India was sunk as a target ship during gunnery trials in 1913. Hood was fitted with the first anti-torpedo bulges to evaluate underwater protection schemes in 1911 before being scuttled as a blockship a few months after the start of the First World War in August 1914. Only Revenge survived to see active service in the war, during which she bombarded the Belgian coastline. Renamed Redoubtable in 1915, she was hulked later that year as an accommodation ship until she was sold for scrap after the war.

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The low-freeboard Hood equipped with turrets

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The barbette-equipped Empress of India


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_(1892)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1906 – Launch of SMS Schlesien, one of five Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) between 1904 and 1906.


SMS Schlesien
was one of five Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) between 1904 and 1906. Named after the German province of Silesia, Schlesien was laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig on 19 November 1904, launched on 28 May 1906, and commissioned on 5 May 1908. She was armed with a battery of four 28 cm (11 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). The ships of her class were already outdated by the time they entered service, as they were inferior in size, armor, firepower, and speed to the revolutionary new British battleship HMS Dreadnought.

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After commissioning, Schlesien was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, later being transferred to II Battle Squadron. She was primarily occupied with training cruises and fleet maneuvers in her early career. She served with the fleet throughout the first two years of World War I, seeing action at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she was briefly actively engaged in combat. After Jutland, the Imperial Navy relegated Schlesien to guard duties before withdrawing her altogether in 1917, when she became a training ship. The Treaty of Versailles permitted the German navy to keep eight obsolete battleships, including Schlesien, to defend the German coast. Initially kept in reserve, she was modernized in the mid-1920s and saw extensive service with the reorganized Reichsmarine.

Schlesien saw limited combat during World War II, briefly bombarding Polish forces during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. She escorted minesweepers during Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway and Denmark in April 1940. After the operation, she was given secondary duties, primarily serving as a training ship and icebreaker. She ended her career providing fire support in the Baltic coast. While off Swinemündeon 3 May 1945, she struck a mine and was towed into Swinemünde, where she was sunk by her crew in shallow water, though much of her superstructure, including her main battery, remained above water. In the remaining days of the war, Schlesien used her anti-aircraft guns to defend the city from air attack. After the end of the war, she was broken up, though some parts of the ship remained visible until the 1970s.


Design
Main article: Deutschland-class battleship
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Line-drawing of the Deutschland class

In 1900, the Second Naval Law passed under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm – Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz. The law secured funding for the construction of twenty new battleships over the next seventeen years. The first group, the five Braunschweig-class battleships, were laid down in the early 1900s. Shortly thereafter, design work began on a follow-up design, which became the Deutschland class. The Deutschland-class ships were broadly similar to the Braunschweigs, but featured incremental improvements in armor protection. They also abandoned the gun turrets for the secondary battery guns, moving them back to traditional casemates to save weight. The British battleship HMS Dreadnought – armed with ten 12-inch (30.5 cm) guns – was commissioned in December 1906. Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every capital ship of the German navy obsolete, including Schlesien.

Schlesien was 127.60 m (418 ft 8 in) long, had a beam of 22.20 m (72 ft 10 in), and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in). She displaced 13,191 t (12,983 long tons), and had a full-load displacement of 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons). She was equipped with three triple expansion engines and twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers that produced a rated 18,664 indicated horsepower (13,918 kW) and a top speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph). In addition to being the fastest ship of her class, Schlesien was the most fuel efficient. At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), she could steam for 4,770 nautical miles (8,830 km; 5,490 mi). She had a standard crew of 35 officers and 708 enlisted men.

The ship's primary armament consisted of four 28 cm SK L/40 guns in two twin turrets; one turret was placed forward and the other aft. She was also equipped with fourteen 17 cm (6.7 in) SK L/40 guns mounted in casemates and twenty 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns in casemates. The ship was fitted with six 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, all submerged in the hull. One was in the bow, one in the stern, and four on the broadside. Her armored belt was 240 mm (9.4 in) thick amidships and she had a 40 mm-thick (1.6 in) armored deck. The main battery turrets had 280 mm-thick (11 in) sides.

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Schlesien in the Panama Canal in 1937


The Deutschland class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. The class comprised Deutschland, Hannover, Pommern, Schlesien, and Schleswig-Holstein. Built between 1903 and 1908, the ships closely resembled those of the preceding Braunschweig class, though they had stronger armor protection. They were made obsolete before they were even completed by the launch of the revolutionary Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906. As a result, they were the last ships of that type built for the German Navy. They were followed by the Nassau-class battleships, Germany's first dreadnought battleships.

With the commissioning of the Deutschland class, the fleet had enough battleships to form two full battle squadrons; the fleet was then reorganized into the High Seas Fleet, which saw combat during World War I. Despite their obsolescence, all five of these ships were present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. In the confused night actions, Pommern was torpedoed and sunk. After the battle, the four surviving ships were removed from the front-line fleet and employed in secondary tasks. The Treaty of Versailles permitted Germany to retain several old battleships for coastal defense, including the four Deutschland-class ships.

However, instead of being used as a coastal defense ship, Deutschland was broken up in 1920–1922. Hannover was to be converted into a target vessel, although this was never done. She was eventually broken up in 1944–1946. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were the only two vessels of the class to see continued front-line service in the Reichsmarine and later the Kriegsmarine. Both ships saw limited duty during World War II, which was inaugurated by the firing of Schleswig-Holstein's main guns at the Polish fortress at Westerplatte. Near the end of the war the two ships were both sunk.

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Deutschland-class battleships in line.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Schlesien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland-class_battleship
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
28 May 1907 – Launch of French Vérité, a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s.


Vérité was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s. She was the second member of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class, with the primary difference being the inclusion of a heavier secondary battery. Vérité carried a main battery of four 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, like the République, but mounted ten 194 mm (7.6 in) guns for her secondary armament in place of the 164 mm (6.5 in) guns of the earlier vessels. Like many late pre-dreadnought designs, Vérité was completed after the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought had entered service and rendered her obsolescent.

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Vérité in the United States in 1909

Even before being commissioned into service with the fleet, Vérité carried President Armand Fallières on a tour of the Baltic Sea in 1908. After formally entering service, Vérité was assigned to the 2nd Division of the Mediterranean Squadron, based in Toulon. She then embarked on the normal peacetime training routine of squadron and fleet maneuvers and cruises to various ports in the Mediterranean. She also participated in several naval reviews for a number of French and foreign dignitaries. In September 1909, the ships of the 2nd Division crossed the Atlantic to the United States to represent France at the Hudson–Fulton Celebration.

Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Justice was used to escort troopship convoys carrying elements of the French Army from French North Africa to face the Germans invading northern France. She thereafter steamed to contain the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea, taking part in the minor Battle of Antivari in August. The ship was transferred to the Dardanelles Division in September, bombarded Ottoman coastal fortifications in November, and thereafter patrolled for contraband being shipped into the Ottoman Empire until mid-December, when she left the area. She saw little activity until 1916 when the Allies began an effort to force Greece to enter the war on their side; she shot down a German zeppelin over Salonika in May and joined a blockade of the country in December. Vérité saw little further activity for the rest of the war, was placed in reserve in 1919 after the war ended, and was sold to Italian ship breakers in 1921.


Design
Main article: Liberté-class battleship
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Line-drawing of the Liberté class

The Liberté-class battleships were originally intended to be part of the République-class battleship, but the construction of the British King Edward VII-class battleships, with their heavy secondary battery of 9.2-inch (230 mm) guns, prompted the French Naval General Staff to request that the last four Républiques be redesigned to include a heavier secondary battery in response. Ironically, the designer, Louis-Émile Bertin, had proposed such an armament for the République class, but the General Staff had rejected it since the larger guns had a lower rate of fire than the smaller 164 mm (6.5 in) guns that had been selected for the République design. Because the ships were broadly similar apart from their armament, the Libertés are sometimes considered to be a sub-class of the République type.

Vérité was 135.25 meters (443 ft 9 in) long overall and had a beam of 24.25 m (79 ft 7 in) and an average draft of 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in). She displaced up to 14,900 metric tons (14,700 long tons) at full load. The battleship was powered by three vertical triple-expansion steam engines with twenty-two Belleville boilers. They were rated at 17,500 metric horsepower (17,300 ihp) and provided a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Coal storage amounted to 1,800 t (1,800 long tons; 2,000 short tons), which provided a maximum range of 8,400 nautical miles (15,600 km; 9,700 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She had a crew of 32 officers and 710 enlisted men.

Vérité's main battery consisted of four 305 mm (12.0 in) Modèle 1893/96 guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary battery consisted of ten 194 mm (7.6 in) Modèle 1902 guns; six were mounted in single turrets, and four in casemates in the hull. She also carried thirteen 65 mm (2.6 in) Modèle 1902 guns and ten 47 mm (1.9 in) Modèle 1902 guns. The ship was also armed with two 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes, which were submerged in the hull on the broadside.

The ship's main belt was 280 mm (11.0 in) thick in the central citadel, and was connected to two armored decks; the upper deck was 54 mm (2.1 in) thick while the lower deck was 51 mm (2.0 in) thick, with 70 mm (2.8 in) sloped sides. The main battery guns were protected by up to 360 mm (14.2 in) of armor on the fronts of the turrets, while the secondary turrets had 156 mm (6.1 in) of armor on the faces. The casemates were protected with 174 mm (6.9 in) of steel plate. The conning tower had 266 mm (10.5 in) thick sides.

Modifications
Over the course of 1912 through 1914, the navy tried to modify Vérité and her sister Démocratie to allow the 305 mm guns to be aimed continuously Tests to determine whether the main battery turrets could be modified to increase the elevation of the guns (and hence their range) proved to be impossible, but the Navy determined that tanks on either side of the vessel could be flooded to induce a heel of 2 degrees. This increased the maximum range of the guns from 12,500 to 13,500 m (41,000 to 44,300 ft). New motors were installed in the secondary turrets in 1915–1916 to improve their training and elevation rates. Also in 1915, the 47 mm guns located on either side of the bridge were removed and the two on the aft superstructure were moved to the roof of the rear turret. On 8 December 1915, the naval command issued orders that the light battery was to be revised to eight of the 47 mm guns and ten 65 mm (2.6 in) guns. The light battery was revised again in 1916, with the four 47 mm guns being converted with high-angle anti-aircraft mounts. They were placed atop the rear main battery turret and the number 7 and 8 secondary turret roofs. In 1912–1913, the ship received two 2 m (6 ft 7 in) Barr & Stroud rangefinders. To direct the anti-aircraft guns, she received a .8 m (2 ft 7 in) rangefinder, which was installed on the aft superstructure.

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The Liberté class was a group of four pre-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. The class comprised Liberté, Justice, Vérité, and Démocratie. They were ordered as part of a naval expansion program directed at countering German warship construction authorized by the German Naval Law of 1898; the French program called for six new battleships, which began with the two République-class battleships. During construction of the first two vessels, foreign adoption of heavier secondary batteries prompted the French to re-design the last four members to carry a secondary battery of 194 mm (7.6 in) guns, producing the Liberté class. Like the Républiques, their main armament consisted of four 305 mm (12.0 in) guns in two twin-gun turrets.

Their peacetime careers were largely uneventful, consisting of a normal routine of training exercises, visits to various French and foreign ports, and naval reviews for French politicians and foreign dignitaries. In 1909, three of the ships—Liberté, Justice, and Vérité—visited the United States during the Hudson–Fulton Celebration. Liberté was destroyed by an accidental explosion of unstable propellant charges in 1911, prompting the fleet to enact strict handling controls to prevent further accidents. The three surviving ships were deployed to guard troop convoys from North Africa to France in the early days of World War I, thereafter deploying to the Adriatic Sea in an attempt to bring the Austro-Hungarian Navy to battle. The fleet sank an Austro-Hungarian cruiser in the Battle of Antivari but was otherwise unsuccessful in its attempt to engage the Austro-Hungarians. Vérité was briefly deployed to the Dardanelles in September, where she bombarded Ottoman coastal defenses.

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In 1916, the ships were sent to Greece to put pressure on the still-neutral government to join the war on the side of the Allies. The French ultimately intervened in a coup that overthrew the Greek king and brought the country into the war. The ships thereafter spent much of the rest of the war at Corfu, where it saw little activity owing to coal shortages. Following the Allied victory, Justice and Démocratie were sent to the Black Sea to monitor German forces as they demilitarized Russian warships they had seized during the war, and Vérité went to Constantinople to oversee the Ottoman surrender. All three ships were recalled in mid-1919, and Véritéwas decommissioned immediately thereafter. The other two ships remained in commission until 1920, when they too were deactivated. All three were sold for scrap in 1921 and broken up in Italy. Liberté, still on the bottom of Toulon's harbor, was raised in 1925 and scrapped there.

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Liberté in New York City in September 1909



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Vérité
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 28 May


1670 – Launch of French Tourbillon, 28 guns, launched 28 May 1670 at Brest – renamed Petillant on 28 June 1678; fireship 1693; deleted 1696.

Tourbillon class, designed by Laurent Hubac, with 20 x 8-pounder and 8 x 4-pounder guns:
Laurier, 28 guns, launched 29 April 1670 at Brest – deleted 1677.
Tourbillon, 28 guns, launched 28 May 1670 at Brest – renamed Petillant on 28 June 1678; fireship 1693; deleted 1696.


1673 – Launch of French Éclair, 32 guns, design by Pierre Malet, but built by Abraham Aubier, launched 28 May 1673 at Rochefort – renamed Soleil d'Afrique on 6 December 1675, then Lyon on 26 August 1678; fireship 1695, sold on 24 December 1710.


1684 – Ending of Bombardment of Gènes, 17th May 1684 - 28th May 1684

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=1035


1695 – Launch of French Mutine, 40 guns, design by François Le Brun, launched 28 May 1695 at Brest – deleted 1708.


1770 - Action of Nafplio, 27th May 1770 - 28th May 1770

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=636


1778 – Launch of HMS Amphitrite was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy.

HMS Amphitrite
was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American Revolution primarily in the economic war. On the one hand she protected the trade by capturing or assisting at the capture of a number of privateers, some of which the Royal Navy then took into service. On the other hand, she also captured many American merchant vessels, most of them small. Amphrite was wrecked early in 1794.

sistership
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Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pelican (1777). Annotated with Isaac Rogers (bottom right). From Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA.


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


1781 - Attack on Commendah by HMS Champion (24), 28th May 1781

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=582


1793 HMS Phaeton (38) Cptn. Andrew Snape Douglas, captures the French Prompte (20) off the coast of Spain

HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Arethusa (1781), and later with alterations for Phaeton (1782), both 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigates.



1794 – Launch of French Révolutionnaire (or Revolutionaire), was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy

Révolutionnaire (or Revolutionaire), was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.

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Portrait of Révolutionnaire in 1820, by Antoine Roux.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Révolutionnaire_(1794)


1805 – Launch of HMS Moira (or HMS Earl of Moira), a British 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy, that plied the waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River during the War of 1812


1808 Boats of HMS Fawn (18), Hon. George Alfred Crofton, cut out a large Spanish privateer schooner and three merchant ships at Porto Rico.


HMS Fawn
was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1807. Before she was sold in 1818 she captured one privateer and destroyed another, and participated in three campaigns. In all, her crew qualified for three clasps to the Naval General Service medal (NGSM). After the Royal Navy sold her in 1818 she became a whaler. She then made seven whaling voyages to the Pacific, and especially to the waters off New Zealand, between 1820 and 1844. she was broken up on her return from her last voyage.

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1812 HMS Menelaus (38), Cptn. Peter Parker, engaged French frigate Pauline and brig Ecureuil off Toulon.

HMS Menelaus was a Royal Navy 38-gun Lively-class fifth rate frigate, launched in 1810 at Plymouth.

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HMS Menelaus (ship in center) sailing with three other ships from a 19th century watercolor painting by artist, William Innes Pocock



1827 – Death of William M. James (1780 – 28 May 1827) was a British lawyer turned military historian who wrote important histories of the military engagements of the British with the French and Americans from 1793 through the 1820s.

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1831 – Death of William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (b. 1756)

Admiral William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk GCB (19 April 1758 – 28 May 1831) was born at Bruntsfield in Edinburgh to Admiral George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk and Anne Melville

800px-William_Carnegie_(1758-1831),_Thomas_Phillips.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carnegie,_7th_Earl_of_Northesk


1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōgō_Heihachirō
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Navarin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Sissoi_Veliky


1940 – World War II: The passenger ship Brazza was torpedoed and sunk off in the Atlantic Ocean (100 nautical miles (190 km) off Oporto, Portugal (42°43′N 11°00′W) by U-37 ( Kriegsmarine) with the loss of 378 of the 575 people aboard. Survivors were rescued by HMS Cheshire ( Royal Navy) and Enseigne Henry



1943 - USS Peto (SS 265) sinks Japanese hydrographic-meteorological research ship Tenkai No.2 northeast of Mussau Island. Also on this date, USS Tunny (SS 282) sinks Japanese gunboat Shotoku Maru off the west coast of Rota, Mariana Islands.


1945 - USS Ray (SS 271) sinks Japanese freighter Biko Maru northwest of Changshan. Also on this date, USS Blueback (SS 326) and USS Lamprey (SS 372) damage Japanese submarine chaser Ch1 in a surface gunnery action off Japara, N.E.I.
 
Lots's of events happened for May 28th...
Based on my experience of the last month with this subject, I have to state, that every single day a huge number of events happened. When I search for them, it is my subjective decision if the event is worth and interesting and important enough to show more in detail. f.e. every day are appr. 100 hundred ships and vessels launched, and these are only the ships mentioned in wikipedia, so I take appr. 5 to 10 per day to show more in detail. It is subjective, a personal decision, nevertheless I try to show here small and big vessels, also from different periods.....
 
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