Naval/Maritime History 24th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1802 – Launch of HMS Sceptre, a 74-gun Repulse-class third rate of the Royal Navy,


HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Sceptre' (1802), 'Repulse' (1803) and 'Eagle' (1804), and with modifications for 'Belleisle' (1819), 'Malabar' (1818) and 'Talavera' (1818), all 74-gun, Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793 to 1813].

Career
On 20 June 1803, after a shakedown period, she came into Plymouth for a refit. She then sailed again on 28 June under the command of Captain A. C. Dickson to join the Channel fleet.

Class and type: Repulse-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1727 (bm)
Length: 174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold: 20 ft (6.1 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

• GD: 28 × 32-pounder guns
• Upper GD: 28 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
• Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

East Indies
In July 1803, she sailed for the East Indies station. She would serve for five years in the East Indies before transferring to the Caribbean.

Scepter and Albion left Rio de Janeiro on 13 October, escorting Lord Melville, Earl Spencer, Princess Mary, Northampton, Anna, Ann, Glory, and Essex. They were in company with the 74-gun third rate ships of the line HMS Russell, and the fourth rate HMS Grampus. Three days later Albion and Scepter separated from the rest of the ships.

On 21 December 1803, Sceptern and Albion captured the French privateer Clarisse at 1°18′S 95°20′E in the eastern Indian Ocean. Clarisse was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 157 men. She had sailed from Isle de France (Mauritius) on 24 November with provisions for a six-month cruise to the Bay of Bengal. At the time of her capture she had not captured anything. Albion, Sceptre, and Clarisse arrived at Madras on 8 January 1804.

On 28 February 1804, Albion and Sceptre met up in the straits of Malacca with the fleet of Indiamen that had just emerged from the Battle of Pulo Aura and conducted them safely to Saint Helena. From there HMS Plantagenet escorted the convoy to England.

Later in 1804, Captain Joseph Bingham, formerly of St Fiorenzo, assumed command of Sceptre. On 11 November 1806, Sceptre and Cornwallis, under Captain Johnsto,n made a dash into St. Paul's Bay, Isle of Bourbon, and attacked the shipping there, which consisted of the frigate Sémillante, three armed ships and twelve captured British ships. (The eight ships that had been earlier taken by Sémillante were valued at one and a half million pounds.) However, what little breeze there was soon failed, and the two ships found it difficult to manoeuvre and were unable to recapture any prizes.

In 1808, Sceptre, in company with Cornwallis, engaged and damaged Sémillante, together with the shore batteries that she sought to protect. Sceptre and Cornwallis, much affected by scurvy, retired to Madagascar for their crews to recuperate.

Sceptre then returned home in 1808 accompanied by two homeward-bound Danish East Indiamen that Captain Bingham had captured off the Cape of Good Hope. On her return to Britain, she was paid off.

Between August 1808 and June 1809 Scepter underwent repairs at Chatham. In March Bingham recommissioned her and joined Sir Richard Strachan in the expedition to the Scheldt.



West Indies
Sceptre sailed for the Leeward Islands on 8 November. During the passage from England Captain Samuel James Ballard trained his crew in the use of the broadsword. This later proved of value when they were used ashore.

Ballard and Sceptre arrived off Martinique with Alfred and Freya (or Freya) under his orders, to find that about 150 miles to the windward of Guadaloupe four French frigates had captured and burnt Junon, belonging to the Halifax squadron.

On 18 December, Sceptre, Blonde, Thetis, Freya, Castor, Cygnet, Hazard, Ringdove, and Elizabeth proceeded to attack two French flûtes, Loire and Seine anchored in Anse à la Barque ("Barque Cove"), about nine miles to the northwest of the town of Basse-Terre. Blonde, Thetis and the three sloops bore the brunt of the attack but forced the French to abandon their ships and set fire to them. Captain Cameron, who was killed in the attempt, landed with the boats of Hazard and destroyed the shore batteries. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Anse la Barque 18 Decr. 1809",[6] to all surviving claimants from the action.

Towards the end of January 1810 Sceptre escorted a division of the troops destined for the attack on Guadaloupe from St. Lucia to the Saintes. While other troops were landed on the island he created a diversion off Trois-Rivières before landing his troops and marines between Anse à la Barque and Basse-Terre. Until the surrender of the island, Captain Ballard commanded the detachment of seamen and marines attached to the army. Sceptre visited most of the West Indian islands before sailing from St. Thomas in August with the homebound trade.

Channel
She arrived at Spithead on 25 September 1810 and was docked and refitted. Sceptre was employed in the Channel watching the enemy in Brest and the Basque Roads until January 1813.



War of 1812
In 1813, Captain Charles Ross, took command of Sceptre as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn for operations against the United States. On 11 July 1813, Sceptre, with Romulus, Fox, Nemesis, and Conflict and the tenders Highflyer and Cockchafer, anchored off the Ocracoke bar, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They had on board troops under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Napier. An advanced division of the best pulling boats commanded by Lieutenant Westphall and carrying armed seamen and marines from Sceptre attacked the enemy's shipping. They were supported by Captain Ross with the rocket-boats. The flat and heavier boats followed with the bulk of the 102nd Regiment and the artillery.

The only opposition came from a brig, Anaconda, of 18 guns, and a privateer schooner, the Atlas, of 10 guns, which were the only armed vessels in the anchorage. When Lieutenant Westphall attacked, supported by rockets, the Americans abandoned Anaconda and Atlas struck. The troops took possession of Portsmouth Island and Ocracoke Island without opposition. The British took the two prizes into service as Anaconda and St Lawrence.

On 12 May 1814, Sceptre recaptured the letter of marque Fanny. The capture and recapture of Fanny, together with Scepter's claim for salvage, gave rise to several important legal cases.

Fate
Sceptre spent her final years in the Channel in the blockade of the French fleet. In 1815, Sceptre was decommissioned at Chatham. After a period in ordinary, she was finally broken up at Chatham in 1821


The Repulse-class ships of the line were a class of eleven 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Rule. The first three ships to this design were ordered in 1800, with a second batch of five following in 1805. The final three ships of the class were ordered towards the end of the Napoleonic War to a modified version of Rule's draught, using the new constructional system created by Sir Robert Seppings; all three were completed after the war's end.

Ships

• HMS Sceptre

Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: December 1800
Launched: 11 December 1802
Fate: Broken up, 1821

• HMS Repulse

Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: September 1800
Launched: 22 July 1803
Fate: Broken up, 1820

• HMS Eagle

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: August 1800
Launched: 27 February 1804
Fate: Burnt, 1926

• HMS Magnificent

Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 31 January 1805
Laid down: April 1805
Launched: 30 August 1806
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1843

• HMS Valiant

Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: April 1805
Launched: 24 January 1807
Fate: Broken up, 1823

• HMS Elizabeth

Builder: Wells, Blackwall
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: August 1805
Launched: 23 May 1807
Fate: Broken up, 1820

• HMS Cumberland

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: August 1805
Launched: 19 August 1807
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1870

• HMS Venerable

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: December 1805
Launched: 12 April 1808
Fate: Broken up, 1838

• HMS Talavera

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 15 February 1814
Laid down: July 1814
Launched: 15 October 1818
Fate: Burnt, 1840

• HMS Malabar

Builder: Bombay Dockyard
Ordered: 7 March 1815
Laid down: April 1817
Launched: 28 December 1818
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1905

• HMS Belleisle

Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
Ordered: 17 November 1812
Laid down: February 1816
Launched: 26 April 1819
Fate: Broken up, 1872


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sceptre_(1802)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-346473;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1807 - HMS Grasshopper (1806 - 18), Thomas Searle, captured Spanish brig San Josef (12), Don Antonio de Torres Teniento de Navaro, off Cape Palos.


HMS Grasshopper was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806, captured several vessels, and took part in two notable actions before the Dutch captured her in 1811. She then served The Netherlands navy until she was broken up in 1822.

Class and type: 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 383 12⁄94 (bm)
Length:
100 ft 0 in (30.5 m) (overall)
77 ft 2 5⁄8 in (23.5 m) (keel)
Beam: 30 ft 6 1⁄2 in (9.3 m)
Draught:
6 ft 6 in (2.0 m) (unladen)
10 ft 6 in (3.2 m) (laden)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 12 in (4.3 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Armament:

• 16 × 32-pounder carronades
• 2 × 6-pounder guns

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Ferret (1806), Swallow (1805), Musquito (1804), Scorpion (1803), Scout (1804), Dispatch (1804), Minorca (1805), Racehorse (1806), Rover (1808), Avon (1805), Surinam (1805), Amaranthe (1804), Calyspo (1805), Wolverine (1805), Weazle (1805), Espoir (1804), Moselle (1804), Leveret (1806), Bellette (1806), Mutine (1806), Emulous (1806), Alacrity (1806), Philomel (1806), Frolick (1806), Recruit (1806), Royalist (1807), Grasshopper (1806), Columbine (1806), Pandora (1806), Forester (1806), Foxhound (1806), Primrose (1807), Cephalus (1807), Procris (1806), Raleigh (1806), Carnation (1807), Redwing (1806), Ringdove (1806), Philomel (1806), Sappho (1806), Peacock (1806), Clio (1807), Pilot (1807), Magnet (1807), Derwent (1807), Eclypse (1807), Sparrowhawke (1807), Eclaire (1807), Nautilus (1807), Barracouta (1807), Zenobia (1807), Peruvian (1808), Pelorus (1808), Doterel/Dotterel (1808), Charybidis (1809), Hecate (1809), Rifleman (1809), Sophie (1809), Echo (1809), Arachne (1809), Castillian (1809), Persian (1809), Trinculo (1809), Crane (1809), Thracian (1809), Scylla (1809), and those built of fir, including Raven (1804), Saracen (1804), Beagle (1804), Harrier (1804), Elk (1804), and Reindeer (1804), all 18-gun Brig Sloops built in private yards. The plan includes alterations for when the ships were repaired dated September 1817.


British naval service
Commander Thomas Searle commissioned Grasshopper in November 1806. He then sailed her for the Mediterranean on 1 February 1807.

Early in the morning of 7 November, boats from Renommee and Grasshopper cut out a Spanish brig and a French tartan, each armed with six guns, from under the Torre de Estacio. The prize crews were not able to prevent winds and tides from causing the two vessels to ground. The boats and the two vessels were under a constant fire from the tower that wounded several prisoners. After about three hours the British abandoned their prizes as they could not free them and were unwilling to set fire to them as the captured vessels had prisoners and women and children aboard, many of whom were wounded. The British had two men badly wounded in the action; although the enemy suffered many wounded, they apparently had no deaths.

That same day Grasshopper captured the American schooner Henrietta, Joseph Dawson, master.

Then in December Grasshopper and Renommee were detached to sail off Carthagena to monitor the Spanish squadron there. Grasshopper was on lookout on 11 December and sailed ahead, leaving Renommee behind. While off Cape Palos, Searle observed several enemy vessels at anchor. His Catholic Majesty's brig St Joseph, of twelve 24-pounders guns, with a crew of 99 men under the command of Teniento de naviro Don Antonio de Torrea, got under weigh, and sailed towards Grasshoper. Two more naval vessels, St Medusa Mestrio (ten 24-pounders and 77 men), and St Aigle Mestrio (eight 24-pounders and 50 men) followed St Joseph. Grasshopper brought St Joseph to action. Within 15 minutes St Joseph had struck and run onshore, at which point many men of her crew abandoned her and swam for shore. The two other vessels then sailed away. The British were able to recover St Joseph, which Searle described as being of 145 tons burthen (bm), six years old, copper-fastened, well-found, pierced for 16 guns, a "remarkably fast sailer", and suitable for service in the Royal Navy. In the engagement Grasshopper had two men wounded. Searle had no estimate of enemy casualties, but believed that many men had drowned when they jumped overboard to avoid capture. The head and prize money was remitted from Gibraltar and Renommee's share was paid out to her officers and crew in December 1813.

On Christmas Day, Grasshopper captured Industry.

Grasshoper captured Neutrality on 4 February 1808. She shared the proceeds of the capture with Hydra.[9] The next day she captured Eliza.

Main article: Action of 4 April 1808
The action that took place on 4 April off the coast off Rota near Cadiz, Spain, began when the Royal Naval frigates Mercury and Alceste, and Grasshopper, intercepted a large Spanish convoy protected by twenty gunboats and a train of shore batteries. The British destroyed two of the escorts and drove many of the merchants ashore. They also silenced the shore batteries. Marines and sailors of the British ships subsequently captured and sailed seven vessels back out to sea. Grasshopper was badly damaged and had one man mortally wounded and three others slightly wounded. The prizes were loaded with timber for the arsenal at Cadiz. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Off Rota 4 April 1808" to all surviving claimants from the action.

On 23 April Grasshopper and the gun-brig Rapid encountered two Spanish vessels from South America, sailing under the protection of four gunboats. After a short chase, the convoy anchored under the guns of a shore battery near Faro, Portugal. Searle anchored Grasshopper within grapeshot (i.e., short) range of the Spanish vessels and commenced firing. After two and a half hours, the gun crews of the shore battery had abandoned their guns, and the British had driven two gunboats ashore and destroyed them. The British also captured two gunboats and the two merchant vessels. Grasshopper had one man killed and three severely wounded. Searle himself was lightly wounded. Rapid had three men severely wounded. Spanish casualties were heavy, numbering some 40 dead and wounded on the two captured gunboats alone. Searle put 14 of the wounded on shore at Faro as he did not have the resources to deal with them as well as his own casualties. Searle estimated the value of the cargo on each of the two merchant vessels at £30,000. This action also resulted in the Admiralty awarding clasps to the Naval General Service Medal marked "Grasshopper 24 April 1808" and "Rapid 24 April 1808".

Lieutenant Henry Fanshawe received promotion to Commander and the appointment to command of Grasshopper on 2 May 1808; in June 1808 he took command. She remained in the Mediterranean in 1808 and 1809.

Between 4 and 11 August 1809, the merchant vessel Thetis, Clark, master, arrived at Gibraltar. As she was sailing from Cagliari, a French privateer had captured Thetis, but Grasshopper had recaptured her.

Grasshopper escorted a convoy to Quebec, sailing on 21 June 1810. She then escorted another convoy, of 25 vessels, back from Quebec, arriving in British waters around mid-October.

Grasshopper served in the North Sea in 1811.


Model By: Derek Hunnisett

Capture
Grasshopper, together with the 74-gun Hero, the ship-sloop Egeria, and the hired armed ship Prince William left Göteborg on 18 December 1811 as escorts to a convoy of 15 transports and a fleet of merchantmen, some 120 sail or more. Four or five days later Egeria and Prince Williamseparated, together with the vessels going to the Humber and Scotland, including most of the merchant vessels. The transports and a handful of the merchantmen proceeded with Hero and Grasshopper.

On 24 December Hero wrecked off the Texel in a storm with the loss of all but 12 men of her 600 man crew. Grasshopper observed Hero ground, but too late to avoid also grounding. Grasshopper was able to get over the sandbank into deeper water, where she anchored, though striking ground repeatedly. She was unable to go to the assistance of Hero and within 15 minutes the distress signals from Hero ceased. Next morning Grasshopper observed Hero completely wrecked. Neither she nor the Dutch schuyts could get to Hero.

Grasshopper, though herself safe about a mile away, found herself trapped. She had no loss of life among her crew, though the pilot was killed.[20] On 25 December Fanshawe saw no option but to surrender. He sailed Grasshopper to the Helder and there struck to the fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral De Winter.

Apparently, she surrendered to the French frigate Gloire and gunboat Ferreter, and her crew were taken prisoner. Among her crew was the future penal reformer Alexander Maconochie

Ten of the transports of Hero's convoy were also lost. One of them was Archimedes, whose crew, however, was saved.


Dutch naval service
In June 1810 France had disbanded the Kingdom of Holland, annexing the Netherlands to France, a situation that lasted until 1813. Grasshopper became part of the Nieuwediep Squadron of the Dutch Navy, which was not amalgamated into the French Navy. The British blockade prevented the Dutch from putting Grasshopper to extensive use immediately and she essentially sat until the end of the Napoleonic wars, though as a result of one pursuit she received the reputation of being the best sailer in the squadron.

On 11 December 1812, the Minister of Marine mandated that the Dutch transfer Grasshopper to the French Navy. The Dutch had intended to transfer a small, 6-gun brig named Irene. Instead, they sold Irene and transferred Grasshopper. On 2 January 1813 Grasshopper was renamed Irene when the French Navy took possession of her. Dutch partisans captured Irene in December 1813, during the Dutch uprising.

After the Netherlands regained its independence in 1814, Irene returned to active duty. She convoyed ships to the Dutch colonies in the West Indies (1815–16), and Spain and the Mediterranean (1816–18). She then served in the East Indies between 1819 and 1821.

In October 1819 Irene took part in the first expedition to Palembang, which the Dutch mounted against insurgents in Sumatra. She sailed up the Palembang River in company with the frigate Wilhelmina (44 guns), sloops Eendracht (20 guns) and Ajax (20 guns), and several smaller ships. However, the squadron had to withdraw after suffering heavy losses and then restricted its efforts to coastal blockade. A second expedition to Palembang in 1821 was more successful, though it did not involve Irene.

Fate
In 1821, Irene returned to the Netherlands. The next year she was broken up in Vlissingen (Flushing).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Grasshopper_(1806)
http://www.shipmodel.com/acadp_listings/grasshopper-2/

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1810 – Launch of HMS Crescent, a 38-gun Lively-class frigate


The Lively class were a successful class of sixteen British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates.


Lines (ZAZ2518)

HMS Crescent

• Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
• Ordered: 28 September 1808
• Laid down: September 1809
• Launched: 11 December 1810
• Completed: 2 February 1811
• Fate: Sold to be broken up 1854.

Type: Fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 1,071 51/94 (as designed)
Length: 154 ft (47 m)
Beam: 39 ft 5 in (12.01 m)
Draught: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 284 (later raised to 300, then in 1813 to 320).
Armament:

• As ordered :
• UD: 28 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades (later ships had 14 of these carronades and no 9-pounders)
• FC: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Macedonian (left) of the Lively class, painting of its engagement with USS United States, 1812, by Thomas Birch

Origins
The Lively class were a series of sixteen ships built to a 1799 design by Sir William Rule, which served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The prototype and name ship of the class was HMS Lively of 1804. In contemporary usage the class was referred to as the 'Repeat Lively class'. As such the prototype ship was not considered to be part of the class at the time.

They were considered the most successful British frigate design of the period, much prized by the Navy Board; after the prototype was launched in 1804 (by which time four more frigates had already been ordered to the same design), a further eleven sister-ships were ordered to her design, although this was slightly modified (in 1805) to have the gangways between forecastle and quarterdeck more integrated into the upperworks, a step towards the final enclosure of the waist. This was reinforced in 1809 by the abandonment of breastworks at the break of the quarterdeck and forecastle and in 1810 by the narrowing of the waist by the addition of gratings inboard of the gangways. At the same date, 'top riders', angled reinforcing timbers for the upperworks, were discontinued.


Frame (ZAZ2464)

Characteristics and performance
The captain's reports on the performance of this class were remarkable for their absence of serious criticism. The vessels of the class were fast, recording 13kts large and 10-11kts close-hauled, weatherly and manoeuvrable. They were excellent heavy-weather ships, perfectly able to cope with a "head sea." They stowed their provisions well; they were capable of stowing provisions and freshwater for up to six months of cruising. Indeed "riding light," after a substantial proportion of fresh water and provisions had been consumed, affected their sailing qualities adversely, so that most captains filled any emptied freshwater stowage capacity with seawater.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile to waterline, and spar deck (quarterdeck, covered waist, and forecastle) for Crescent (1810), a 38-gun Fifth Rate, Frigate, fitted at Sheerness as a depot ship for freed slaved at Rio de Janeiro. Signed by James Atkins [Master Shipwright, Sheerness Dockyard, 1839-1848].

Ships in class

• HMS Lively
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 15 October 1799
  • Laid down: November 1801
  • Launched: 23 July 1804
  • Completed: 27 August 1804
  • Fate: Wrecked off Malta on 10 August 1810.
• HMS Resistance
  • Builder: Charles Ross, Rochester
  • Ordered: 7 November 1803
  • Laid down: March 1804
  • Launched: 10 August 1805
  • Completed: 19 October 1805 at Chatham Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up April 1858 at Chatham Dockyard.
• HMS Apollo
  • Builder: George Parsons, Bursledon.
  • Ordered: 7 November 1803
  • Laid down: April 1804
  • Launched: 27 June 1805
  • Completed: 26 September 1805 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up October 1856 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
• HMS Hussar
  • Builder: Balthasar & Edward Adams, Bucklers Hard.
  • Ordered: 7 November 1803
  • Laid down: March 1806
  • Launched: 23 April 1807
  • Completed: 27 June 1807 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt by accident 1861 at Shoeburyness.
• HMS Undaunted
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 7 November 1803 from Joseph Graham at Harwich; this builder became bankrupt in 1806 and the contract was transferred to Woolwich Dockyard on 6 January 1806.
  • Laid down: April 1806
  • Launched: 17 October 1807
  • Completed: 2 December 1807
  • Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth in December 1860.
• HMS Statira
  • Builder: Robert Guillaume, Northam, Southampton.
  • Ordered: 4 June 1805
  • Laid down: December 1805
  • Launched: 7 July 1807
  • Completed: 26 August 1807 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Wrecked off Cuba on 26 February 1815.
• HMS Horatio
  • Builder: George Parsons, Bursledon.
  • Ordered: 15 June 1805
  • Laid down: July 1805
  • Launched: 23 April 1807
  • Completed: 4 August 1807 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold to break up 1861 at Charlton.
• HMS Spartan
  • Builder: Charles Ross, Rochester
  • Ordered: 24 August 1805
  • Laid down: October 1805
  • Launched: 16 August 1806
  • Completed: 6 October 1806 at Chatham Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up April 1822 at Plymouth Dockyard.
• HMS Menelaus
  • Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
  • Ordered: 28 September 1808
  • Laid down: November 1808
  • Launched: 17 April 1810
  • Completed: 21 June 110 at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold 10 May 1897 to be broken up.
• HMS Nisus
  • Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
  • Ordered: 28 September 1808
  • Laid down: December 1808
  • Launched: 3 April 1810
  • Completed: 15 June 110 at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up at Plymouth September 1822.
• HMS Macedonian
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 28 September 1808
  • Laid down: May 1809
  • Launched: 2 June 1810
  • Completed: 6 July 1810 at Chatham Dockyard
  • Fate: Captured by United States 25 October 1812. Served as USS Macedonian. Broken up 1834.
• HMS Crescent
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 28 September 1808
  • Laid down: September 1809
  • Launched: 11 December 1810
  • Completed: 2 February 1811
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 1854.
• HMS Bacchante
  • Builder: Deptford Dockyard
  • Ordered: 12 June 1809
  • Laid down: July 1810
  • Launched: 16 March 1811
  • Completed: 25 January 1812
  • Fate: Broken up 1858.
• HMS Nymphe
  • Builder: George Parsons, Warsash.
  • Ordered: 14 December 1810
  • Laid down: January 1811 as HMS Nereide (renamed later that year)
  • Launched: 13 April 1812
  • Completed: 22 June 1812 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up 1875.
• HMS Sirius
  • Builder: Richard Blake & John Tyson, Bursledon.
  • Ordered: 14 December 1810
  • Laid down: September 1811
  • Launched: 11 September 1813
  • Completed: 29 September 1815 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up 1862.
• HMS Laurel
  • Builder: John Parsons & John Rubie, Warsash.
  • Ordered: 21 March 1812
  • Laid down: July 1812
  • Launched: 31 May 1813
  • Completed: 13 September 1813 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up 1885.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lively-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-305223;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1941 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy suffers its first loss of surface vessels during the Battle of Wake Island.


The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval/air bases in Hawaii and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its minor islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.

The island was held by the Japanese for the duration of the Pacific War theater of World War II; the remaining Japanese garrison on the island surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines on 4 September 1945, after the earlier surrender on the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay to General Douglas MacArthur.

First landing attempt
Early on the morning of 11 December, the garrison, with the support of the four remaining Wildcats, repelled the first Japanese landing attempt by the South Seas Force, which included the light cruisers Yubari, Tenryū, and Tatsuta; the destroyersYayoi, Mutsuki, Kisaragi, Hayate, Oite, and Asanagi; two Momi-class destroyers converted to patrol boats (Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33), and two troop transport ships containing 450 Special Naval Landing Force troops.

The US Marines fired at the invasion fleet with their six 5-inch (127 mm) coast-defense guns. Major Devereux, the Marine commander under Cunningham, ordered the gunners to hold their fire until the enemy moved within range of the coastal defenses. "Battery L", on Peale islet, sank Hayate at a distance of 4,000 yd (3,700 m) with at least two direct hits to her magazines, causing her to explode and sink within two minutes, in full view of the defenders on shore. Battery A claimed to have hit Yubari' several times, but her action report makes no mention of any damage. The four Wildcats also succeeded in sinking the destroyer Kisaragi by dropping a bomb on her stern where the depth charges were stored. Both Japanese destroyers were lost with nearly all hands (there was only one survivor, from Hayate), with Hayate becoming the first Japanese surface warship to be sunk in the war. The Japanese recorded 407 casualties during the first attempt. The Japanese force withdrew without landing, suffering their first setback of the war against the Americans.

After the initial raid was fought off, American news media reported that, when queried about reinforcement and resupply, Commander Cunningham was reported to have quipped, "Send us more Japs!" In fact, Cunningham sent a long list of critical equipment—including gunsights, spare parts, and fire-control radar—to his immediate superior: Commandant, 14th Naval District. But the siege and frequent Japanese air attacks on the Wake garrison continued, without resupply for the Americans.

The initial resistance offered by the garrison prompted the Japanese Navy to detach the aircraft carriers Sōryū and Hiryū from the force that had attacked Pearl Harbor to support the second landing attempt.


Kisaragi (如月 "February") was one of twelve Mutsuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1920s. Retreating after the sinking of destroyer Hayate by American coast-defense guns during the Battle of Wake Island in December 1941, Kisaragi was sunk with all hands by American aircraft. She had the distinction of being the second major Japanese warship lost during the war (after Hayate earlier the same day). She should not be confused with an earlier World War I-period Kamikaze-class destroyer with the same name.


Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Kisaragi, the second Japanese warship to bear that name.

The Japanese destroyer Hayate (疾風 "Gale") was one of nine Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). During the Pacific War, she was sunk by American coast-defense guns during the Battle of Wake Island in December 1941, the first Japanese warship to be lost during the war. Only a single man of her crew was rescued.


Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Hayate on trials, circa 1925.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wake_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Hayate_(1925)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Kisaragi_(1925)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1942 - Raid on Algiers


The Raid on Algiers took place on 11 December 1942, in the Algiers harbour. Italian manned torpedoes and commando frogmen from the Decima Flottiglia MAS were brought to Algiers aboard the Perla-class submarine Ambra. The participating commandos were captured after setting limpet mines which sank two Allied ships and damaged two more.


A Siluro a lenta corsa (Italian for Low speed torpedo), also known as maiale (“pig”), Italian manned torpedo. The pictured one is exposed at the was an Italian human torpedo — Museo Sacrario delle Bandiere delle Forze Armate, inside the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome, Italy.

The raid
On 4 December 1942, the Italian submarine Ambra of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) left the naval base of La Spezia, carrying three manned torpedoes and 10 commando frogmen. Air recoinnassance had discovered that the port of Algiers was crowded with Allied cargo ships, thus the Italian high command had decided to launch a combined operation involving both human torpedoes and combat swimmers carrying limpet mines. On the evening of 10 December, Ambra reached Algiers at a depth of 18 metres (59 ft). One of the swimmers was employed as scout on the surface, and he guided the submarine toward a position 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) from the southern entrance to the harbour. He spotted six steamers at 21:45, and informed the presence of targets to Ambra by phone. The other swimmers and the manned torpedoes begun to emerge at 23:45 after some delay. The observer reported an intense reaction from the harbour defences. The submarine awaited to recover the operators until 03:00, an hour after the original time set. Then the scout swimmer was recalled on board and Ambra departed back to La Spezia. Meanwhile, at 05:00, the explosions started to rock the freighters. Ocean Vanquisher (7,174 tons) and the Norwegian Berta (1,493 tons) sank, while Empire Centaur (7,041 tons) and Armatan (4,587 tons) were heavily damaged. The American landing ship LSM-59 became stranded on the beach. Sixteen Italian divers were captured.


Italian submarine Ambra was a Perla-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during the 1930s. She was named after a gemstone Amber.


RIN Ambra launch

Design and description
The Perla-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding Sirena class. The modifications that were made compared to the boats of the previous series were mostly of upgrade nature. Among them were enlargement of the false tower at the top, more modern engines, installation of a radiogoniometer that could be controlled from inside the ship. Improvements and the installation of new air conditioning equipment meant a slight increase in displacement, and increase in the fuel stowage also increased the autonomy of these boats compared to the previous series. Their designed full load displacement was 695 metric tons (684 long tons) surfaced and 855 metric tons (841 long tons) submerged, but varied somewhat depending on the boat and the builder. The submarines were 197 feet 6 inches (60.20 m) long, had a beam of 21 feet (6.4 m) and a draft of 15 feet (4.6 m) to 15 feet 5 inches (4.70 m).

SLC conversion
Following the request of Captain Junio Valerio Borghese, new commander of Decima Flottiglia MAS, Ambra was transferred to that division to be converted to a SLC submarine in addition to already operating Scirè. Captain Arillo was retained as Ambra's commander. During the conversion, three SLC units were fitted onto the boat on her deck, two placed side by side in the aft, and one on her bow, the submarine's deck gun was also removed to accommodate SLC units and the tower was modified to better adapt for the new role. With a weight of 2.8 tons, these SLC cylinders were able to withstand depths up to 90 meters.

During April 11–19, 1942 Ambra performed a training mission off western coast of Sardinia following the completion of the conversion procedure.




Ambra and Type VIIC in La Spezia in 1942



On April 29, 1942 Ambra left La Spezia to conduct an operation against the naval base at Alexandria. After reviewing the aerophotographs of the port of Alexandria it was realized that the British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabethwere severely damaged by the SLC attack on December 18, but not sunk. It was therefore decided to launch a new SLC attack against Alexandria: the designated targets were HMS Queen Elizabeth and the submarine depot ship HMS Medway.

On May 5, 1942 Ambra arrived at Leros and embarked SLC and their crews. On May 9 (or 12) 1942 Ambra left Leros to her designated area where she arrived in the evening of May 14, 1942, in view of Alexandria's harbor. At 20:50 three SLCs were released and headed for the port. However, due to existing currents, Ambra drifted while the preparation were under way, and released SLC units in the wrong place. As a result, SLC units wandered along the coast looking for port access, and couldn't locate it. Running out of fuel or due to malfunctions, all three SLC units sank, and the mission was a complete failure. Meanwhile, at 21:05 Ambra left the area and headed back to the base. On May 24, 1942 she reached La Spezia. This was the last operation against Alexandria not only because of the failure, but also because following the Italian-German advance in Egypt, most Mediterranean Fleet ships were transferred to Palestine or to the Red Sea.

Following defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch, the German-Italian position in North Africa became untenable. With Algeria switching sides from Vichy to Free France side, Allies gain a valuable port in Algiers. Decima Flottiglia MAS was ordered to organize a raid on the harbor of Algiers since it was teeming with all possible kind of vessels.


SLC

Ambra sailed from La Spezia in the early afternoon of December 4, 1942. She reached the coast of Algeria in the evening of December 7, but adverse weather conditions forced her to remain inactive for several days. Finally, on December 11 the weather improved and Ambra started approaching Algiers. Due to strong aircraft presence, an approach had to be made at a great depth. Captain Arillo managed to penetrate the harbor by moving close to the bottom, and at 19:40 he reached the harbor at the depth of 18 meters. However, upon examining the surroundings no ships were spotted, and Ambra was forced to resume her approach continuing crawling on the bottom of the bay. Eventually, at 21:45, the submarine arrived near the coast and stopped in the middle of a group of six merchant ships. In view of the delay, it was decided to send SLC units against them. Between 22:50 and 23:20 units were sent out, charges were loaded and they all went off as expected. SS Ocean Vanquisher (7174 GRT) SS Berto (1493 GRT) were sunk, while SS Empire Centaur (7041 GRT) and SS Harmattan (4558 GRT) were seriously damaged. At 2:54, Arillo decided to leave before his submarine was found and destroyed. Ambra again had to crawl out of the harbor and she finally managed to reach the open sea. She surfaced at 19:45 on December 12, after spending 36 hours under water. After three more days at sea, she arrived in La Spezia on December 15. For the operation in Algiers commander Arillo was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor.

In March 1943 while stationed in La Spezia, Ambra was damaged by an overnight air raid.

After the start of Allied invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943 Ambra was assigned her last task. She was to enter the harbor of Siracusa and destroy as many ships as possible. The submarine had a new commander, as captain Renato Ferrini, a former commander of Axum was appointed prior to the mission. On July 14, 1943 Ambra departed from La Spezia and at night of July 17 arrived close to the Sicilian port. However, after the submarine surfaced at 3:20 on July 18 in the position 37°20′N 16°15′E, Ambra was detected by a British Vickers Wellington bomber of the No. 221 Squadron RAF, piloted by Petty Officer Austin. The Wellington went on the attack, dropping six depth charges. Ambra was not hit directly, but several near misses caused extensive damage. Ambra remained immobilized for half an hour, then the crew succeeded in starting her diesel engines and the submarine started her trip back to Messina where she arrived on July 19. From there she was towed by torpedo boat Partenope to Naples. After temporary repairs in Naples Ambra went to La Spezia, where she arrived on July 27.

The submarine spent the next month and a half undergoing repair work, which was not finished when the Armistice was announced on September 8, 1943. Ambra was scuttled in La Spezia on September 9, 1943. Later refloated by the Germans she was again sunk in Genoa during an air raid by 144 B-24 Liberator bombers of the 449th and 450th Group of the 15th Air Force on September 4, 1944.



The Ocean ships were a class of sixty cargo ships built in the United States by Todd Shipyards Corporation during the Second World War for the British Ministry of War Transport under contracts let by the British Purchasing Commission. Eighteen were lost to enemy action and eight to accidents; survivors were sold postwar into merchant service.

To expedite production, the type was based on an existing design, later adapted to become the Liberty ship. Yards constructed to build the Oceans went immediately into production of Liberty hulls.[1][2] Before and during construction the ships are occasionally mentioned as "British Victory" or victory ships as distinct from the United States variant known as the Liberty ship.



Mass launching of five Ocean ships on August 16, 1942

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Algiers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_submarine_Ambra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_ship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 December 1954 - The first supercarrier USS Forrestal (CVA 59) is launched.


USS Forrestal (CV-59) (later CVA-59, then AVT-59), was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz class, Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She surpassed the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest carrier yet built, and was the first designed to support jet aircraft.



The ship was affectionately called "The FID", because her namesake was the first Secretary of Defense, FID standing for "First In Defense". This is also the slogan on the ship's insignia and patch. She was also informally known in the fleet as the "USS Zippo" and "Forest Fire" or "Firestal" because of a number of highly publicized fires on board, most notably a 1967 fire in which 134 sailors died and 161 more were injured.

Forrestal served for nearly four decades in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. She was decommissioned in 1993, and made available as a museum. Attempts to save her were unsuccessful, and in February 2014 she was towed to Brownsville, Texas, to be scrapped. Scrapping was completed in December 2015.


Construction and commissioning
Forrestal's keel was laid down at Newport Shipbuilding on 14 July 1952. During construction, her design was adjusted several times—the original telescoping bridge, a design left over from the canceled USS United States, was replaced by a conventional island structure, and her flight deck was modified to include an angled landing deck and steam catapults, drawing on British innovations. She was launched on 11 December 1954, and commissioned into service on 1 October 1955.


1962 deck plan of the Forrestal class, showing the port side elevator at the forward end of the angled deck, in the path of both aircraft being launched from the waist catapults, and aircraft being recovered; and the arrangement of the starboard elevators, with only one forward of the island serving the two forward catapults.

Design features
Forrestal was the first American aircraft carrier to be constructed with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and an optical landing system, as opposed to having them installed after launching.

The original design—USS United States—provided for the island to retract flush with the deck during flight operations, but that was found to be too complicated. Another solution was considered where the two masts were to fold down, in lieu of the retractable island, to allow the carrier to pass under the Brooklyn Bridge. The larger center mast was to fold to the side and rest on the flight deck, and the smaller mast was to fold toward the stern


The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were four aircraft carriers designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. It was the first class of supercarriers, combining high tonnage, deck-edge elevators and an angled deck. The first ship was commissioned in 1955, the last decommissioned in 1998.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrestal-class_aircraft_carrier

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 11 December


1796 - HMS Leda (38) foundered by upsetting in a heavy gale, lat. 38° 8´ long. 17° 40´

HMS Leda (1783), a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1783 and foundered 1796


1779 - HMS North (1778 - 16) lost in a storm off Halifax, Nova Scotia

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=5578


1811 - The gun-brig HMS Fancy (1806 - 12) of the Confounder class, Lt. Alexander Sinclair, foundered in the Baltic during a violent gale with the loss of all hands.

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=4218


1863 - During the Civil War, the iron-clad river gunboat USS Carondelet fires upon Confederate troops that are firing upon iron-clad river gunboat Indianola, which had been stuck on a bar in the Mississippi River since earlier that year and had not yet been freed. The effective counter-fire by Carondelet drives off the Confederates.

USS Carondelet (/kəˈrɒndəlɛt/ kə-RON-də-let) (1861) was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B. Eads during the American Civil War. It was named for the town where it was built, Carondelet, Missouri.
Carondelet was designed for service on the western rivers, with a combination of shallow draft and variety of heavy guns (and a light howitzer), she was suited for riverside bombardment and ship-to-ship combat against Confederate gunboats.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Carondelet_(1861)


1865 - Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles writes to Secretary of State William H. Seward, complaining of the action of the British government in releasing the officers and crew of CSS Shenandoah.

CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King, was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged sailing ship with auxiliary steam power chiefly known for her adventures under Lieutenant Commander James Waddell as part of the Confederate States Navyduring the American Civil War.



The Shenandoah was originally a British merchant vessel launched as Sea King on August 17, 1863, but was later re-purposed as one of the most feared commerce raiders in the Confederate Navy. During a period of 12 1⁄2 months from 1864 to 1865, the ship undertook commerce raiding around the world in an effort to disrupt the Union economy, resulting in the capture and sinking or bonding of thirty-eight merchant vessels, mostly New Bedford whaleships. She finally surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, England, on November 6, 1865, six months after the war had ended. Her flag was the last sovereign Confederate flag to be officially furled. The Shenandoah is also known for having fired the last shot of the Civil War, across the bow of a whaler in waters off the Aleutian Islands.

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


1875 - Bremerhaven, Germany: bomb attack on the steamship Mosel by Alexander 'Sandy' Keith Jr. He used a time bomb to destroy the ship Mosel so he could collect the insurance money.


Aftermath of the Mosel bombing.

Hunted down by one of his victims, Alexander 'Sandy' Keith Jr. (1827–1875) fled again with Cecelia to Germany, where they lived the high life in Dresden and Leipzig, hobnobbing with wealthy socialites and Saxon generals under the assumed name of "William King Thomas". When the couple began to run out of money, Keith concocted a plot to blow up passenger ships and collect the insurance money. This led to a major catastrophe in Bremerhaven, on December 11, 1875 when a time bomb he had placed in a shipping barrel accidentally went off on the dock, killing forty to fifty people though some reports state 81 people, most of them aboard the steamship Mosel, a German emigrant ship. She was under the command of Captain Leist, replacement for the ailing captain Hermann Neynaber for a crossing to New York. The passengers were on board and the final baggage was being loaded. With only a few large shipping crates on the pier, one of Keith's barrels slipped out the stevedores' hands while being loaded and struck the ground, exploding in a huge column of fire whose blast caused two ships at the quay to overturn. It was recorded by one witness: "A mushroom-shaped column of smoke rose approximately 200 meters above the harbor. Everywhere people were crying and whimpering beside ruins. The entire pier was covered in soot: it was like the gateway to hell." At the time, the deed was called the "crime of the century."

Death and legacy
Keith was aboard another ship in Bremerhaven at the time of the Mosel explosion, and was thus aware of the premature detonation of his time bomb and the massive carnage that ensued. He went to his suite and shot himself. He died a week later. After the tragedy was revealed as a murder/insurance scam on a large scale, the disappearances of other ships were investigated to see if Keith and his possible associates were involved. One was the disappearance of the SS City of Boston, which vanished in January 1870. The allegation was proven to be false. He was reputed to have been buried in an unmarked grave in Bremerhaven. His severed head was kept at the Bremer Police Museum and was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945. papers called it "The Thomas Crime."

Keith's invention of the time bomb inspired modern terrorism, notably by the Fenians (Irish Brotherhood) and the Russian Narodnaya Volya. Says Keith's biographer Ann Larabee: "Keith was not responsible for the political passion of these violent political groups, but he played a role in showing them a means of action."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Keith_Jr.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschlag_auf_die_Mosel


1912 – Launch of SS Ceramic was a British ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route

SS Ceramic was a British ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923. In 1934 Shaw, Savill & Albion Line took over White Star's Australia route and acquired Ceramic. The liner served as a troopship in both World Wars. She was sunk by a German submarine in 1942, leaving only one survivor from the 656 people aboar



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


1920 – Launch of Centennial State, hull #249 , a Design 1095 ship was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC)

The Design 1095 ship was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) design for a troop transport to be built at New York Shipbuilding Corporation and delivered to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) that, at the end of World War I hostilities, was modified to a combined passenger and cargo vessel. The contract was for thirteen ships, EFC hulls 2579 though 2591, but later adjusted to seven ships with the remainder being changed during construction to the slightly larger ships of EFC Design 1029 built from the start as passenger and cargo ships rather than being modified from the troop ship plan.


American passenger liner "Old North State" which is operating in the New York-London service in conjunction with the liner "Panhandle State"

After initial service as USSB owned ships operated by agents, United States Lines in Atlantic service between New York and Europe with five ships and two ships with Swayne and Hoyt with the Pacific-Argentine-Brazil Line, the ships were sold in 1923 to Robert Dollar Company which initiated the Dollar and successor American President Lines' tradition of naming ships after presidents. The ships inaugurated Dollar's "Round-the-World" service which was continued by American President Lines with additional ships.

During World War II the seven ships were used as troop transports, three being converted to hospital ships (2 Army and 1 Navy) and three were lost. The three ships built as Old North State, Panhandle State and Blue Hen State became hospital ships and survived the war. Creole State served as a transport and began conversion to a hospital ship in the closing days of the war but the conversion stopped with peace upon which she was reconverted to become an Army transport for dependent repatriation. Two, President Taylor, built as Granite State and President Grant, built as Centennial State, became total losses after groundings. The ship built as Wolverine State and President Harrison at the time, was on a second voyage to evacuate Marines and civilians from China sailing after 7 December 1941, was grounded in an attempt to deny use by the Japanese, but salvaged and named Kachidoki Maru. While transporting British prisoners of war Kachidoki Maru was torpedoed and sunk by USS Pampanito on 12 September 1944.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_1095_ship


1941 - The United States declares war on Germany and Italy.

On December 11, 1941, the United States Congress declared war upon Germany (Pub.L. 77–331, Sess. 1, ch. 564, 55 Stat. 796), hours after Germany declared war on the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan.[1] The vote was 88–0 in the Senate and 393–0 in the House.


President Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against Germany. Senator Tom Connally stands by holding a watch to fix the exact time of the declaration.

Text of the declaration

Seventy-Seventh Congress of the United States of America;
At the First Session Begun and held at the City of Washington, on Friday, the third day of January, 1941.
JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring That a State of War Exists Between The Government of Germany and the Government and the People of the United States and Making Provisions To Prosecute The Same

Whereas the Government of Germany has formally declared war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Government of Germany; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

(Signed) Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives
(Signed) H. A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate
Approved December 11, 1941 3:05 PM E.S.T.
(Signed) Franklin D. Roosevelt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_declaration_of_war_upon_Germany_(1941)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1710 – Launch of French Le Superb, a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line


HMS Superb was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She had previously been Le Superbe, a 56-gun warship of the French Navy, until her capture off Lizard Point by HMS Kent in July 1710. Commissioned into the Royal Navy in September 1710, HMS Superb served throughout Queen Anne's War and the War of the Quadruple Alliance, during which she participated in the destruction of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. She was broken up in 1732.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Superb (captured 1710), a captured French Fourth Rate, as taken off at Woolwich Dockyard prior too undergoing her 'Grand Repair'. The beakhead does not survive on the plan. NMM, Progress Book, volume 1, folio 245, states that 'Superb' arrived at Woolwich Dockyard on 24 February 1720 and was docked on 27 April 1720. She was undocked on 10 November 1721 and sailed on 10 March 1722 having undergone a Great Repair.

Construction
Le Superbe was designed by Pierre Blaise Coulomb and constructed between August 1708 and March 1709 at Lorient, a French naval base on the coast of Brittany in north-west France. She was launched on 12 December 1708 and measured 143 ft 6 in (43.74 m) along her gundeck, had a beam of 40 ft 2 in (12.24 m) and drew from 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) at the bow, to 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) at the stern With a depth in the hold of 15 ft 6.5 in (4.737 m), she had a capacity of 1,020 23⁄94 tons (bm).

Class and type: 64-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,020 23⁄94 (bm)
Length: 143 ft 6 in (43.74 m)
Beam: 40 ft 2 in (12.24 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 365
Armament: 56/58/64 guns


No scale. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with framing detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for an unnamed French 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. The shape of the hull, as illustrated by the body plan, and the rake of the stem post are all indications of the ship having been French. Note that the dimensions are not a clear match for 'Superb' (captured 1710), or 'August' (captured 1708), but the draught style and composition reflects this period.

Career (Royal Navy)
On 29 July 1710 Le Superbe was captured off The Lizard by HMS Kent. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Superb on 23 September 1710 and sailed under Commander, later Captain, William Elford.[4] In 1711 she passed to Captain James Moneypenny and was ordered to the Mediterranea. In September 1712, HMS Superb together with HMS Cornwall, Mary and Lion, assisted Admiral John Jennings with the landing of troops at Barcelona before being sent to Genoa with dispatches. In May 1713 she sailed with HMS Ormonde from Sicily to Leghorn via Naples before being ordered home later that year.

On 24 September 1716, while anchored in The Downs off Deal, Superb was blown off station in a violent storm. She returned without serious damage, however, on 3 October.

In 1717 HMS Superb was in the Baltic commanded by Captain George Sanders but by the middle of the following year she was back in the Mediterranean after a refit at Chatham. Under Captain Strensham Master, and attached to George Byng's fleet, Superb spent the next few months cruising and delivering dispatches before playing an active role in the Battle of Cape Passaro.




Battle of Cape Passaro
Main article: Battle of Cape Passaro


The Battle of Cape Passaro, painted in 1767 by Richard Paton. The action is shown at around 4.00pm and to the right, Superb can be seen raking the Real San Felipe as the Spanish flagship strikes her colours.

On 10 August 1718 the British were off the Calabrian coast when they spotted two vessels, which they presumed to be Spanish scouts. Hoping they would lead to the main fleet, Byng ordered his ships to follow and they located the enemy at around noon. On seeing the British, the Spanish fleet turned away. To prevent losing contact with the enemy during the night, Byng sent his four fastest ships on ahead. HMS Superb, Kent, Grafton and Orford kept up with the Spanish fleet, who were rowing their heaviest ships in the light wind. When dawn broke the following morning, the Spanish discovered the proximity of the British and split their fleet; sending the smaller vessels, store ships, bomb ketches and fire ships towards the shore. In response, Byng sent eight ships in pursuit, including HMS Canterbury and HMS Argyll. Meanwhile Superb, Kent, Grafton and Orford, were ordered to overtake the remaining, larger, Spanish ships, which included Real San Felipe (St Philip the Royal) with Vice-Admiral Castagneta aboard. At around 1300hrs, Superb engaged the enemy flagship and two others, and a running battle ensued. After two hours Kent joined the fight and Superb was able to force the Spanish admiral to surrender. In total, 17 Spanish ships were either taken or destroyed by the British fleet.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, inboard profile with figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth with lower deck details, for Superb (captured 1710), a captured French Fourth Rate. The plan may be Superb after her 'Great Repair' between 1720 and 1722, as a 56-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. NMM, Progress Book, volume 1, folio 245, states that 'Superb' arrived at Plymouth Dockyard on 13 November 1713 and docked on 8 December 1713. She was undocked on 9 December 1713. 'Superb' was docked again on 7 January 1714 and undocked on 3 February 1714. She later arrived at Woolwich Dockyard on 24 February 1720 and was docked on 27 April 1720. 'Superb' was undocked on 10 November 1721 and sailed on 10 March 1722 having undergone a Great Repair.

Later career
On 3 April 1719, HMS Superb and HMS Dragon (previously HMS Ormonde), then in Menorca, were sent by Admiral Byng to join Captain Cavendish, who was charged with making peace with the Moors. While en route to rejoin Byng at Naples in August 1719 HMS Superb captured an 8-gun Spanish privateer.

In April 1720, Superb was sent back to Woolwich for substantial repairs and subsequently served under Captain Arthur Field as a guard ship at Sheerness and then at Chatham. She was fitted out at Portsmouth before being sent to the West Indies in 1725, where she later joined Admiral Francis Hosier's fleet and during the Anglo-Spanish War took part in the unsuccessful blockade of Porto Bello. In 1726 Commander, later Captain, John Price took command. He died in December 1727. Captain Edward St. Losucceeded Price, initially just as Captain of the ship but then also as Commodore of the squadron, but St Lo also died while in command, on 22 April 1729. Captain Peter Solgard took over and Superb returned to home waters at the end of hostilities, where she remained for the rest of her career.

Fate
Superb was taken to Woolwich in October 1732 to be rebuilt or repaired, but was instead broken up there in September 1733. The name Superb was given to a new ship, the larger but lower-rated 60-gun HMS Superb, launched in 1736.[4] This ship served in the Mediterranean for much of her career but also took part in the capture of Louisburg in 1745.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Superb_(1710)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Superb_1710

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1724 – Birth of Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (d. 1816)


Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of Antelope, he drove a French ship ashore in Audierne Bay, and captured two privateers in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. He held senior command as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station and then as Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station, leading the British fleet to victory at Battle of the Mona Passage in April 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, then First Naval Lord and, after briefly returning to the Portsmouth command, became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet during the French Revolutionary Wars.



Years of service 1741–1794
Rank Admiral

Commands held
Jamaica
Lively
Grafton
Antelope
Bideford
Vestal
Bellone
Greenwich Hospital

Battles/wars

• Seven Years' War
  • Raid on Le Havre
• American Revolutionary War
  • Battle of the Chesapeake
  • Battle of the Saintes
  • Battle of the Mona Passage
• French Revolutionary Wars
  • Siege of Toulon, 1793
  • British Occupation of Corsica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Hood,_1st_Viscount_Hood

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1779 - Action of 12 December 1779
HMS Salisbury (1769 - 50), Cptn. Charles Inglis, took Spanish private ship of war San Carlos (1779 - 20), Don Juan Antonio Zaveletta, off Porto del Sall, Bay of Honduras.


The Action of 12 December 1779 was a minor naval engagement that took place in the Bay of Honduras during the Anglo-Spanish War between a British Royal naval Fourth-rate fifty gun ship and a fifty gun Spanish privateer.

The 50-gun HMS Salisbury had sailed for Jamaica in January 1779 under the command of Charles Inglis.

On 12 December she was sailing in the Bay of Honduras off the coast of the Punta Sal when at daybreak a large ship was sighted ahead. Inglis gave chase, a pursuit which lasted all day until Salisbury came in range at 6.30pm. The fleeing ship hoisted Spanish colours and an action began, which last until 8.30 pm when the Spanish ship had her mainmast shot away. Having sustained heavy casualties and suffered considerable damage, she struck her colours.

She was found to be the 20-gun privateer San Carlos under Don Juan Antonio Zavelleta, carrying stores; mainly 5,000 stand of arms heading from Cadiz to Fort Omoa, which had recently been captured and then abandoned by British forces.

In the battle the San Carlos had a complement of 397 men with 60 men killed or wounded and the rest being captured. Four men were killed on Salisbury and fourteen wounded of which five were mortal. Inglis then sailed to Jamaica carrying the San Carlos in and then distributed the prize money before heading to North America by the summer of 1780


HMS Salisbury (1769) was a 50-gun fourth rate launched 02.10.1769 and grounded and surrendered to the Spanish in 13.05.1796 at Avache Island, Santo Domingo.

Dimension - Measurement Type - Metric Equivalent
Length of Gundeck: 146' 0"Imperial Feet - 44.5008
Length of Keel: 120' 5 ¼"Imperial Feet - 36.5824
Breadth: 40' 6 ¼"Imperial Feet - 12.1984
Depth in Hold: 17' 4"Imperial Feet - 5.1961
Burthen: 1,051 81⁄94 Tons BM

Armament​

2.10.1769
Broadside Weight = 414 Imperial Pound ( 187.749 kg)
Lower Gun Deck: 22 British 24-Pounder
Upper Gun Deck: 22 British 12-Pounder
Quarterdeck: 4 British 6-Pounder
Forecastle: 2 British 6-Pounder



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with quarter decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Salisbury (1769), a 50-gun Fourth Rate, to-decker. Signed by Thomas Slade [Surveyor of the Navy, 1755-1771].


Scale: 1:96. Plan showing an half-breadth deck plan of the roundhouse, and full plans for the quarterdeck and forecastle, upper deck, lower deck and orlop deck with fore & aft platforms for Salisbury (1769), a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker, as completed at Chatham Dockyard in June 1770. The plan also includes the details of the cabins and store rooms.


Spanish Privateer ship 'San Carlos' (1779)

Length of Gundeck: 125' 9"Imperial Feet - 38.1091m
Length of Keel: 104' 3 ⅜"Imperial Feet - 31.7087 m
Breadth: 34' 11"Imperial Feet - 10.3696m
Depth in Hold: 14' 0"Imperial Feet - 4.2672m
Burthen: 676 36⁄94 Tons BM



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_12_December_1779
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-345522;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6329
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=620

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant: A British fleet led by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet.


The Second Battle of Ushant was a naval battle fought between French and British squadrons near the island of Ushant on 12 December 1781, as part of the American Revolutionary War.

Events
Background
A French convoy sailed from Brest on 10 December with reinforcements and stores for the East and West Indies, protected by a fleet of 19 ships of the line commanded by Comte de Guichen. A squadron of 13 British ships of the line, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, were ordered to sea to intercept the expected convoy.

Action
On 12 December, the squadron sighted the French convoy, discovering that its protective escort had been strengthened.

Initially, Comte De Guichen's fleet was situated downwind of the convoy, allowing the British ships to sweep down and capture 15 ships carrying troops and supplies before the French ships could intervene.

Rear Admiral Kempenfelt's force was not strong enough to attack the 19 French escorts, but the French convoy, having deliberately risked setting sail in the North Atlantic storm season in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid British forces, was dispersed in a gale shortly afterwards, and most of the ships forced to return to port.

Aftermath
Only two of the ships of the line intended for the West Indies arrived with a few transport vessels in time for the Battle of the Saintes in April.

When news of the battle at Ushant reached Britain, the Opposition in Parliament questioned the decision to send such a small force against the convoy, and forced an official inquiry into the administration of the Royal Navy. This was the first of a succession of Opposition challenges which would ultimately bring about the fall of the government of Lord North on 20 March 1782 and pave the way for the Peace of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War.


Richard Kempenfelt (1718 – 29 August 1782) was a British rear admiral who gained a reputation as a naval innovator. He is best known for his victory against the French at the Second Battle of Ushant and for his death when HMS Royal Georgeaccidentally sank at Portsmouth the following year.


A full-length portrait facing to left in flag officer's undress uniform, circa 1774-83. A fighting sword is by his left side and he leans on a long telescope that rests on his left foot. Painted in the year of the sitter's death, it may have been done posthumously. The beach on which he stands is littered with naval stores and in the left background are two first-rates, the nearer probably the 'Victory', 100 guns, with a blue ensign and a Union at the mizzen, apparently to distinguish him from the rear-admiral of the blue when at sea without the fleet admiral commanding-in-chief. At the end of 1781 Kempenfelt was sent in the 'Victory', the fleet flagship, with a squadron to intercept an important French convoy which was sailing to reinforce their holdings in the West Indies. Although Kempenfelt found the French escort much stronger than his force, it had been carelessly placed ahead and to leeward of the convoy. He was therefore able to rout the merchantmen undisturbed, taking fifteen and destroying four. The rest were scattered and almost all the survivors returned to Brest. After Howe assumed command in 1782, Kempenfelt shifted to the 'Royal George', 100 guns, as a junior flag officer and he was drowned in her when she sank at anchor at Spithead in August, together with over 800 other people. Kempenfelt was also the inventor of a numeral signal code that helped to revolutionize naval tactics. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy 1782.


He was born at Westminster. His father, a Swede, is said to have been in the service of James II, and subsequently to have entered the British Army.


Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen (June 21, 1712, Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine – January 13, 1790, Morlaix) was a French admiral who commanded the French fleets that fought the British at the First Battle of Ushant (1778) and the Battle of Martinique (1780) during the American War of Independence.



In December 1781 the comte de Guichen was chosen to command the force which was entrusted with the duty of carrying stores and reinforcements to the West Indies. On the 12th Admiral Kempenfelt, who had been sent out by the British Government with an unduly weak force to intercept him, sighted the French admiral in the Bay of Biscay through a temporary clearance in a fog, at a moment when Guichen's warships were to leeward of the convoy, and attacked the transports at once. The French admiral could not prevent his enemy from capturing twenty of the transports, and driving the others into a panic-stricken flight. They returned to port, and the mission entrusted to Guichen was entirely defeated. He therefore returned to port also. He had no opportunity to gain any counterbalancing success during the short remainder of the war, but he was present at the final relief of Gibraltar by Lord Howe


HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

She additionally served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship.
In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission with 240 years service by 2018.

Second Battle of Ushant
Main article: Second Battle of Ushant


Victory flying the Blue Ensign (with the pre-1801 Union Jack), from The Fleet Offshore, 1780–90, an anonymous piece of folk art now at Compton Verney Art Gallery.

In March 1780, Victory's hull was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper below the waterline to protect it against shipworm. On 2 December 1781, the ship, now commanded by Captain Henry Cromwell and bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, sailed with eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun fourth-rate, and five frigates, to intercept a French convoy that had sailed from Brest on 10 December. Not knowing that the convoy was protected by twenty-one ships of the line under the command of Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, Kempenfelt ordered a chase when they were sighted on 12 December and began the battle. When he noted the French superiority, he contented himself with capturing fifteen sail of the convoy. The French were dispersed in a gale and forced to return home



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ushant_(1781)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kempenfelt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Urbain_de_Bouëxic,_comte_de_Guichen

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1782 - Action of 12 December 1782
HMS Mediator (40) engaged enemy line of 3 French and 2 American ships, L'Eugene (1782 - 36), Menagere (1776 - 26), Dauphin Royal (1782 - 24/12), Alexander (1781 - 24) and a brig (14), in the Bay of Biscay. Alexander and Menagere were taken.


The Action of 12 December 1782 was a naval engagement fought off the coast of Spain near Ferrol, in which the British 40-gun fifth rate HMS Mediator successfully attacked a convoy of five armed ships. Mediator succeeded in capturing one American privateer, the Alexander, and then captured the French ex-ship of the line La Ménagère. The convoy was part of Pierre Beaumarchais's supply chain to the American colonists.


On the night of 11–12 December 1782, the British ship ‘Mediator’, commanded by Captain the Honourable James Luttrell, was waiting off Ferrol to intercept an American frigate lying there. He found a squadron of five of the enemy's vessels, store ships and privateers, heavily armed and with an aggregate of over six hundred men heading for Port au Prince. These formed a line of battle and presented a formidable appearance as the ‘Mediator’ faced them. Undaunted, Luttrell bore down on them, and in a close action cut off one of the largest, the ‘Alexander’, compelling her to surrender. She was an American privateer, laden with stores. The ‘Mediator’ subsequently captured the French ‘Eugène’ and ‘Ménagère’. The following day a desperate but unsuccessful attempt was made by his prisoner to set fire to the ‘Mediator’. The prizes were brought safely to England. To the left of the centre of the painting, the ‘Mediator’ is firing from both sides. Left of this, the privateer ‘Alexander’ is capitulating. To the right the ‘Mediator’ is also engaging the French ship ‘Eugène’, flying a commodore’s pendant and visible amidst the swirl of gunsmoke. To her right is another Frenchman the ‘Ménagère ’ which is running before the wind in an attempt to escape. The two ships trying to escape in the distance on the right are the French ship ‘Dauphin Royal’ and an American brig. It is signed and dated ‘T Luny 1783’.

Background
The Frenchman Pierre Beaumarchais founded a commercial enterprise, Roderigue Hortalez and Co., supported by France and Spain. The French and Spanish supplied the American rebels with weapons, munitions, clothes, and provisions that would never be paid for. Beaumarchais contracted for the transport of the supplies in convoys. Even so, the Royal Navy captured many of the transport vessels.

Beaumarchais assembled one convoy in December 1782. He met his captains in Bordeaux and then supervised the loading of his vessels. The plan was to sail for Port-au-Prince, Saint Domingue and then on to America to supply the American colonists.

The convoy consisted of five ships:

• Alexander was a corvette that Beaumarchais purchased in 1781 in Bordeaux. She was under the command of Commander Stephen Gregory, who had an American privateer commission issued in France (a "Congress" commission) and sailed under a French ensign and an American pennant. She had a mixed American and French crew of 102 men and was armed with twenty-four long 9-pounder guns. She was of about 500 tons burthen and carried a cargo of stores and provisions.
• Aimable Eugénie, which was named after Beaumarchais' daughter, was under the command of Nicolas Baudin. She mounted 36 guns and had a crew of 130 men; she was the primary escort for the convoy. Beaumarchais had bought her at Nantes in March 1782 for £t300,000.
• Ménagère, which was under the command of François Jérome Foligné-Deschalonges, had a burthen of 600 tons (bm) and was a two decked vessel, launched in 1775 or '76. She was a former 64-gun ship of the line, and now armed en flûte, with twenty-six 12-pounders on her main deck and four 6-pounders on her forecastle and quarterdeck. She had a crew of 212 men and carried 100 tons of gunpowder plus naval stores and bale goods.
• Dauphin Royal was under the command of Antoine Chambert. She was a transport purchased and armed at Bordeaux for the Marine Royale. She was of 300 tons burthen (bm), armed with twenty-eight guns and carried a crew of 120 men.
• The convoy also included an unknown American privateer brig with 14 guns and a crew of 70 men.

On 9 December 1782 the convoy sailed from the mouth of the Gironde for the West Indies and from there America.[6] On 12 December, at 7:00am, HMS Mediator, under the command of James Luttrell, was sailing off Ferrol when she sighted the convoy.


HMS Mediator in action, 12 December 1782 (BHC0702)

Action
At 8:00am the convoy formed in line of battle. Notwithstanding this formidable array, Captain Luttrell continued bearing down and at 10:00am Ménagère initiated the action. Luttrell saw that the shot came from the upper deck only and rightly concluded that the French vessel had no lower-deck guns. Mediator bore up in order to bring the rear ship to action.

At 10:30 Mediator opened fire on Dauphin Royal when that ship and the Alexander bore up out of the line. Aimable Eugénie, Ménagère and the American brig then wore and endeavored to protect the two rear ships.


Captain James Luttrell who commanded HMS Mediator

Mediator fought her way through the Franco-American line. At 11a.m. Luttrell was able to cut off Alexander and compelled her to strike. He then took possession of the Alexander while the rest of the French and American vessels were trying to escape before the wind. Once Luttrell had succeeded in removing the prisoners and placing a prize-master and crew on board Alexander, he pursued the retreating ships.

At 3:00pm the Aimable Eugénie hauled off the wind in full sail. Mediator then followed Ménagère. At 5p.m. he got within gunshot of Ménagère and started a running fight. At 9:00pm Mediator, having got up with the Ménagère, was on the point of firing a full broadside. Before she could do so Ménagère struck. At this point the action ended.

Because the enemy fired high in an attempt to damage Mediator's rigging, she sustained no casualties. Ménagere had four men killed and seven or eight wounded. Alexandre had six killed and eight or nine wounded.

Dauphin Royal and the American brig were seen next morning severely damaged but only five miles from Ferrol. However Luttrell judged it prudent to make sail for England with his two prizes. He had 340 prisoners on board and only 100 men to guard them while being close to Spain.


The Representation of His Majesty's Ship Mediator of 44 Guns... Having taken & secured the Alexander renews the action with the Flute Menagere... 12th of December 1782 off Ferrol (PAH7831)

Aftermath
Mediator sustained only seven casualties in her crew but was cut up in the riggings in masts which had been the target of the French and American ships. Alexander had six men killed and nine wounded; La Ménagère had a passenger returning to Saint-Domingueand three seamen killed, and several men wounded.

Despite being well-treated, Captain Gregory organized a party of the prisoners in an attempt to gain possession of Mediator. He was subdued but then unsuccessfully attempted to set fire to the ship. After this Luttrell had Gregory and the American prisoners placed in irons. Although the French officers played no part in the attempt, the British also guarded them more closely. Michael Seymour, who was later to be a rear admiral, served as a midshipman in HMS Mediator.

Aimable Eugénie reached Saint-Domingue in March 1783, where she was wrecked on the coastal reef at Porto Plata.

Luttrell and his crew received the last of the prize money for Alexandre and Ménagere in October 1788.

The action was the final clash of arms in which American forces were engaged before the Treaty of Paris concluded the war.


HMS Mediator was a Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was built and served during the American War of Independence, but was reduced to a storeship and renamed HMS Camel in 1788. She spent the French Revolutionary and part of the Napoleonic Wars in this capacity before being broken up in 1810.




Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Mediator (1782), a 44-gun Fifth Rate, two-decker, as built at Northam by Mr Raymond.

Class and type: Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate
Tons burthen: 887 53⁄94 bm
Length:

• 140 ft (43 m) (gundeck)
• 115 ft 9.75 in (35.2997 m) (keel)

Beam: 37 ft 11.5 in (11.570 m)
Depth of hold: 16 ft 5 in (5.00 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 300
Armament:

• As fifth rate 44 guns:
• Lower gundeck: 20 × 18-pounder guns
• Upper gundeck: 22 × 9-pounder guns
• Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns
• As storeship 24 guns
• Upper gundeck: 20 × 9-pounder guns
• Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pounder guns

Built as the revival of a design that had fallen out of favour as naval architecture developed, Mediator was intended to operate in the shallow waters of the North American coastline. Her first significant action was fought off the European coastline however, when her captain, James Luttrell attacked and defeated an American and French convoy off Ferrol, taking two ships as prizes. Resisting an attempt by his prisoners to seize his ship, Luttrell returned home to public applause and praise from King George III. Mediator's next commander, Cuthbert Collingwood, was a close friend of Horatio Nelson, and served with him in the West Indies. There he helped Nelson to enforce the Navigation Acts, causing controversy with the local civil and naval authorities. In 1788 she left front-line service for good, and was converted into a storeship, being renamed Camel.

Camel saw important service in the French Revolutionary Wars, making several voyages to the fleets in the Mediterranean and serving under several officers who would becoming prominent in the navy. She also made trips further afield, returning to the West Indies on occasion, as well as making voyages to the Cape of Good Hope to deliver supplies to the armies there. While making one such trip, she was attacked at anchor by a powerful French frigate. Her crew, together with that of a sloopalso anchored in the bay, mounted a strong defence, and despite being damaged, forced the French ship to withdraw. She spent her last days making voyages to the various hotspots around the globe, before being finally withdrawn from service and broken up in 1810.


Inboard profile plan (ZAZ2239)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_12_December_1782
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Mediator_(1782)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-330336;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=M
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=21385

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1808 - HMS Circe (32), Cptn. Francis Augustus Collier, and consorts captured and destroyed Cygne (16) and 2 schooners over 2 days off St. Pierre, Martinique.


HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804.[2] She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorised the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps. The action, off the Pearl Rock, near Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was a debacle that cost Circe dearly. However, she also had some success in capturing privateers and a French brig. She was sold in 1814.

Class and type: 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate
Tons burthen: 670 25⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 127 ft (38.7 m) (overall)
• 106 ft 10 7⁄8 in (32.6 m) (keel)

Beam: 34 ft 4 in (10.5 m)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 9 in (3.6 m)
Complement: 220
Armament:

• Upper deck: 26 x 12-pounder guns
• QD: 8 x 24-pounder carronades
• Fc: 4 x 24-pounder carronades

Off the Pearl Rock

Circe's greatest action commenced on 12 December 1808, when under Commander Francis Augustus Collier, Circe was in charge of a squadron that included Stork, Epervier, Morne Fortunee, and Express. The vessels joined together to attack the French 16-gun brig Cygne and two schooners off Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Circe sent in her boats, which the French repelled, causing her 56 casualties, dead, wounded and missing.

That evening Amaranthe, under the command of Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, joined Circe and Stork. The next day fire from Amaranthe compelled the crew of Cygne to abandon her and Amaranthe's boats boarded and destroyed the French vessel. For her part Amaranthe lost one man killed and five wounded due to fire from shore batteries. One schooner ran ashore and was destroyed.

Amaranthe's boats, assisted by boats from the schooner Express, boarded the second schooner and set fire to her too. This expedition cost Amaranthe her sailing master, Joshua Jones, who was severely wounded. The other British vessels that contributed boats also had casualties. Including the losses in the earlier fighting before Amaranthe arrived, the British had lost some 12 men killed, 31 wounded, and 26 missing (drowned or prisoners) for little gain. Brenton was promoted to Post-captain soon after the battle, with the promotion being back dated to 13 December, the date of the battle. In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the award of the NGSM with the clasp "Off the Pearl Rock 13 Decr. 1808".

Circe, Nimrod, and Cygnet shared in the proceeds of the American schooner Minerva, forward from Saint Christoper.


Circe (or Thames) class 32-gun fifth rates 1804-06; design modified from William Bately's Richmond class of 1757.

• HMS Circe 1804 - sold 1814.
• HMS Pallas 1804 - converted to troopship in 1814, broken up in 1816.
• HMS Thames 1805 - wrecked in the Firth of Forth on 18 December 1810.
• HMS Jason 1804 - broken up 1815.
• HMS Hebe 1804 - sold 1813.
• HMS Minerva 1805 - broken up 1816.
• HMS Alexandria 1806 - hulked as receiving ship at Sheerness in 1817, broken up in 1818.
• HMS Medea - cancelled 1804.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Circe_(1804)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1810 - HMS Entreprenante' (10), Lt. Peter Williams, repulsed four French privateers off the coast of Spain.


HMS Entreprenante (also Entreprenant), was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She took part in several small engagements, capturing Spanish and French ships before she was sold in 1812 for breaking up.



Scale: 1:108. A contemporary full hull model of the Entreprenante (active 1799), a 10 gun cutter. Built in the Sailor's work style, it is decked and rigged. Plaque and label read "Model of H.M.S. Entreprante the only cutter to take part at the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805 made by Wm. Rodney Stone. Midshipman RN. 1806.". Although described as a cutter, it has a small mizzen stepped right aft rather like a yawl. The case is marked SLR0654.1.

Class and type: 10-gun cutter
Tons burthen: 126 59⁄94 (bm)
Length: 67 ft (20.4 m) (overall), 51 ft 6 in (15.7 m) (keel)
Beam: 21 1⁄2 ft (6.6 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.7 m) (unladen), 11 ft (3.4 m) (laden)
Complement: 40
Armament:

• Originally: 10 x 4-pounder guns
• From December 1803: 10 x 12-pounder carronades

Origins
French sources indicate that she may have been built in France in 1797. Furthermore, she may have been a privateer from Socoa, or possibly nearby Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and under the command of Ensign Dominique Délouart, of Bayonne.


The Royal Navy armed cutter Entreprenante shadowing the remnants of the Franco-Spanish fleet as it runs into Cadiz after the disastrous defeat at Trafalgar

Action off Málaga

Entreprenante found herself becalmed off the Spanish coast near Castle Ferro, between Málaga and Cape De Gatt on the morning of 12 December 1810. Whilst she was lying there, four French lateen-rigged privateers came out to attack her. One of the French vessels had eight guns, including two long 18-pounder guns, and 75 men. The second had five guns and a crew of 45 men. The last two each had two guns and crews of 25 men. Entreprenante was short-handed, having on board only 33 men.

Two of the privateers passed under Entreprenante's stern while the other two stood off her starboard bow and quarter. The ensuing battle lasted for four hours until the French retreated, having suffered heavy damage. During the action Entreprenante had lost her topmast and had two starboard guns disabled. She had also repulsed three attempts at boarding during which she had one man killed and ten wounded


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1816 - USS Chippewa was a brig built in 1815 at Warren, Rhode Island, ran aground and sank


USS Chippewa was a brig built in 1815 at Warren, Rhode Island, under the direction of Commodore Oliver Perry, and sent to New York City to be outfitted and manned. Chippewa sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, 3 July 1815, with Lieutenant George C. Read in command, as a part of a squadron under the command of Commodore William Bainbridge. It was intended to go to the Mediterranean for use against the Barbary pirates based in North Africa.

Tons burthen: 410 (bm)
Length: 108 ft (33 m)
Beam: 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Draft: 16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Complement: 90
Armament:

• 14 × 32 pounder (15 kg) carronades
• and 2 × 12 pounder (5 kg) guns

Before the squadron's arrival in the Mediterranean, another squadron under the command of Commodore Stephen Decatur had succeeded in making peace with the Dey of Algiers. Bainbridge, after showing the flag in several ports in the Mediterranean, departed for home 6 October 1815. Upon her arrival at Boston, Chippewa was placed in ordinary service.

Chippewa sailed from Boston 27 November 1816 for the Gulf of Mexico to join the frigate Congress in the anti-piracy and anti-slave trade patrols in the Caribbean. The United States and Britain were cooperating in attempts to suppress the international slave trade. Chippewa ran aground on an uncharted reef at the North West of Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands and sank on 12 December 1816 without loss of life.

Post-script
In 2008, a NOAA-supported expedition searching with representatives of Turks & Caicos Islands seeking Trouvadore, a Spanish slave ship that wrecked in 1841 in the same area, found the wreck of Chippewa. They had found wreckage of a wooden ship in 2004, and 2008 was the third field season. Chippewa was identified by the unique 32-pounder carronade armament.

The US team was also seeking the wreckage of the USS Onkahye, another 19th-century ship that conducted anti-piracy/anti-slavery patrols; it was lost in 1848 in that area.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chippewa_(1815)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by a controlled mine.


USS Cairo was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.

Cairo was the lead ship of the City-class gunboats and named for Cairo, Illinois. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, enabling Union forces to occupy Memphis. As part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff. Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by a mine remotely detonated by hand.

The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons and naval stores.


USS Cairo 1862 Photographed in the Mississippi River area during 1862, with a boat alongside her port bow, crewmen on deck and other river steamers in the background.

Service in the American Civil War
Cairo was built by James Eads and Co., Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, under contract to the United States Department of War. She was commissioned as part of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla,[3] which had US Navy Lieutenant James M. Prichett in command.

Cairo served with the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributaries until she was transferred to the Navy on 1 October 1862, with the other river gunboats. She was commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote.

Active in the occupation of Clarksville, Tennessee, 17 February 1862, and of Nashville, Tennessee, 25 February, Cairo stood down the river on 12 April, escorting mortar boats to begin the lengthy operations against Fort Pillow. An engagement with Confederate gunboats at Plum Point Bend on May 11, marked a series of blockading and bombardment activities which culminated into the abandonment of the fort by its defenders on 4 June.

On 6 June 1862, two days later, Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis. Five of the opposing gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action; two were seriously damaged, and one managed to escape. That night, Union forces occupied the city. Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined the Yazoo Pass Expedition.

On December 12, 1862, while clearing mines from the river, preparatory to the attack on Haines Bluff, Cairo struck a "torpedo" (or naval mine) detonated by volunteers hidden behind the river bank and sank in 12 minutes. There were no casualties.

Armament
Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, Cairo had her armament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service, Cairo and the other City-class ships were fitted with whatever weapons were on hand, then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces were made available. Though the 8 in (200 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns were fairly modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified, such as the 42-pounder "rifles". These were old smoothbores that had been made into rifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat.


Cranes raising the USS Cairo from the Yazoo River, 1966.

Discovery of the wreck
Over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand. Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and biological degradation. Her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location.

Studying Civil War maps, Edwin C. Bearss of Vicksburg National Military Park set out to search for the lost ship using a simple magnetic compass. With the assistance of Don Jacks and Warren Grabau, the ship was found in 1956. In 1960, numerous artifacts were recovered from the ship, including the pilothouse and an 8-inch cannon, both preserved by the Yazoo River mud.

With support from the State of Mississippi and local authorities, the gunboat was salvaged from the bottom of the river.

Salvage and museum


USS Cairo in her final resting place at Vicksburg National Military Park. A wooden framework has been built to support what remains of the ship.


One of the cannons on the side of the Cairo. The framework for the paddlewheels is in the background.

Hopes of lifting the ironclad and her cargo of artifacts intact were crushed in October 1964, when the 3 inch cables being used to lift Cairo cut deeply into its wooden hull. It then became a question of saving as much of the vessel as possible. A decision was made to cut Cairo into three sections. By the end of December, the battered remains were put on barges and towed to Vicksburg, Mississippi. In the summer of 1965, the barges carrying Cairo were towed to Ingalls Shipyard on the Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, Mississippi. There the armor was removed, cleaned, and stored. The two engines were taken apart, cleaned and reassembled. Sections of the hull were braced internally and a sprinkler system was operated continually to keep the white oak structural timbers from warping and checking. On 3 September 1971, Cairo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1972, the United States Congress enacted legislation authorizing the National Park Service to accept the title to Cairo and restore the gunboat for display in Vicksburg National Military Park. Delays in funding the project halted progress until June 1977, when the vessel was transported to the park and partially reconstructed on a concrete foundation near the Vicksburg National Cemetery. A shelter to cover the vessel was completed in October 1980, with the museum opening in November. The original space-frame shelter has since been replaced by a tension-fabric system to provide better cover.

The recovery of artifacts from Cairo revealed a treasure trove of weapons, ammunition, naval stores, and personal gear of the sailors who served on board. The gunboat and its artifacts can now be seen along the tour road at the USS Cairo Museum. These include a sailor's rope knife in good condition.

Since salvage, Cairo has suffered degradation due to exposure to the elements, bird droppings, and vandalism. There are only four surviving Civil War-era ironclads in existence, USS Monitor, CSS Neuse, USS Cairo, and CSS Jackson.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cairo
https://www.nps.gov/vick/u-s-s-cairo-gunboat.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1878 – Launch of HMS Sealark


HMS Sealark was a Royal Navy vessel used primarily for hydrographic survey work. She was originally a luxurious private auxiliary steam yacht for a number of wealthy owners and in 1903 was acquired by the Royal Navy, serving until 1914. She was sold to James Patrick Steamships Ltd and converted to a merchant ship for the Australian coast and finally hulked in 1924.


Wanderer in 1880



History
Built by Robert Steele and Co, Greenock in 1878 for Charles Joseph Lambert as a private yacht named Wanderer and described as "the most luxurious private steam yacht ever built". She was registered with the Royal Yacht Squadron and became known as RYS Wanderer, based at Cowes, Isle of Wight.

On her shake-down cruise in the Bay of Biscay, September 1879, she was dismasted. The crew managed to cut away the broken rigging and she reached Falmouth under her own power. The high pressure steam engines also proved to be so problematic that they were replaced before she went into service with the Lambert family. During the repair works, additional accommodation was added in the form of poop decks fore and aft.

In 1880, Lambert, with his family undertook a 2-year world cruise on board, covering almost 49,000 miles and published an account on their return titled The Voyage of the "Wanderer". In 1888 after a number of cruises around the world, she was sold to the Principe di Torlonia and renamed Vagus. In 1896 she returned to the British register at Cowes, and then, had a series of owners including in 1900 the American millionaire William Kissam Vanderbilt who renamed her Consuelo, his daughter's name. By 1903 Consuelo was still registered at Cowes, but now owned by the Earl of Crawford.

In 1903, Consuelo was purchased by the Admiralty and initially commissioned as HMS Investigator. In 1904 after refitting as a survey vessel, at a cost of £20,000, she was renamed HMS Sealark and sailed from Portsmouth in September 1904 to serve on the China Station. In 1910, she sailed from Penang for the Australia Station. She undertook various hydrographic surveys around Australia and the South Pacific between 1910 and 1914. With the beginning of World War I, and the threat of German Empire expansion in the South Pacific, she sailed to Suva, Fiji with a cargo of coastal guns, for a gun emplacement on a hill in Suva.

After returning from Fiji via New Zealand to Sydney, she was paid off in 1914. In 1919, Australian shipowner Captain J. H. Patrick purchased her for £2500, converted her into a merchant ship at a cost of £15,000, initially renaming her Sealark III, and then Norwest. She plied the interstate trade for James Patrick Steamships Ltd until 1924, when the English, Scottish and Australian Bank seized her to repay debts owed. After James Patrick Steamships Ltd failed, the bank sold her to William Waugh Ltd., Balmain, Sydney for about £500. William Waugh dismantled her and converted her into a hulk.



Figurehead
The figurehead was presented to the Royal Australian Navy and was mounted at the Dockyard on Garden Island.

Conflicting source data
John Bastock’s book Ships on the Australian Station is at odds with other reference sources by stating that HMS Sealark was originally constructed in 1887 by Gourley Bros & Co of Dundee, and attributing ownership of Consuelo, between 1900 and 1903, to W. K. Vanderbilt. Contemporary records, including the Lloyd's yacht registers from 1900 to 1904 and The Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directories of the same period, confirm that Sealark was built by Robert Steele and Co. in 1878 as Wanderer, and the registered owners between 1900 and 1903 were Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley and the Earl of Crawford, not Vanderbilt.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sealark_(1903)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 December 1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.


HMS Duchess was a D-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before she was transferred to the China Station in early 1935. She was temporarily deployed in the Red Sea during late 1935 during the Abyssinia Crisis, before returning to her duty station where she remained until mid-1939. Duchess was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before the Second World War began in September 1939. Whilst escorting the battleship HMS Barham back to the British Isles, she was accidentally rammed by the battleship in thick fog and sank with heavy loss of life on 12 December 1939.


Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess at a buoy

Description
Duchess displaced 1,375 long tons (1,397 t) at standard load and 1,890 long tons (1,920 t) at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 329 feet (100.3 m), a beam of 33 feet (10.1 m) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 m). She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 36,000 shaft horsepower (27,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Duchess carried a maximum of 473 long tons (481 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,870 nautical miles (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship's complement was 145 officers and men.

The ship mounted four 45-calibre QF 4.7-inch Mk IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, Duchess had a single 12-pounder (3-inch (76.2 mm)) gun and two quadruple Mk I mounts for the 0.5-inch Vickers Mk III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes. One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.

Service
Duchess was ordered on 2 February 1931 under the 1930 Naval Estimates and was laid down at the yards of the Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow on 12 June 1931. She was launched on 19 July 1932 and commissioned on 24 January 1933, at a total cost of £229,367, excluding equipment supplied by the Admiralty, such as weapons, ammunition and wireless equipment. The ship was initially assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean and made a brief deployment to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea in September–November 1933. Upon her return, her superheaters were repaired at Malta between 18 December and 6 January 1934. She was given a refit at Chatham Dockyard from 3 September to 23 October to prepare the ship for service on the China Station.

Duchess arrived in Hong Kong in January 1935 where she joined the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. The ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from September to November during the Abyssinian Crisis. She made a number of good-will visits during her time on the station as well as conducted anti-piracy patrols. During a typhoon at Hong Kong on 2 September 1937, a merchant ship crushed Duchess's stern when it dragged its anchors. Her repairs were not completed until 14 October.

The ship remained on the station until late August 1939, when the imminent start of the Second World War caused the Admiralty to order her to take up her war station with the Mediterranean Fleet at Malta. Duchess arrived there on 12 October and remained in the Mediterranean for the next two months.

In December the ship, along with her sisters HMS Delight, HMS Duncan and HMS Dainty, was assigned to escort the battleship HMS Barham back to the UK, and they departed Gibraltar on 6 December. During the morning of 12 December, Barham collided with Duchess off the Mull of Kintyre in heavy fog. The destroyer capsized and her depth charges exploded, killing 124 of her crew including her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Robin White, who was stuck in his sea cabin when the sliding door jammed.



HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. Often used as a flagship, she participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. For the rest of the First World War, except for the inconclusive Action of 19 August 1916, her service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.



During the 1920s and 1930s, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets. Barham played a minor role in quelling the 1929 Palestine riots and the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The ship was in the Mediterranean when the Second World War began in September 1939 and accidentally collided with and sank one of her escorting destroyers on her voyage home three months later. She participated in the Battle of Dakar in mid-1940 where she damaged a Vichy French battleship and was slightly damaged in return. Barham was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet where she covered multiple Malta convoys. She helped to sink an Italian heavy cruiser and a destroyer during the Battle of Cape Matapanin March 1941 and was damaged by German aircraft two months later during the evacuation of Crete. Barham was sunk off the Egyptian coast the following November by the German submarine U-331 with the loss of 862 crewmen, approximately two-thirds of her crew.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duchess_(H64)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Barham_(04)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 12 December


1317 - King Denis decided to give a permanent organization to his naval forces, appointing Manuel Pessanha of Genoa to be the first Admiral of the Kingdom. This is considered the official date of foundation of the Portuguese Navy, with its 700 years being commemorated on the 12 December 2017.

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


1705 - HMS Looe (32) wrecked Scatchwell Bay, Isle of Wight.

HMS Looe (1697) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1697 and wrecked in 1705.

Lyme group - 32-gun fifth rates 1695-1698
HMS Lyme 1695
HMS Hastings (i) 1695
HMS Milford 1695
HMS Arundel 1695
HMS Rye 1696
HMS Scarborough 1696
HMS Looe (i) 1696
HMS Lynn 1696
HMS Fowey 1696
HMS Southsea Castle (i) 1696
HMS Gosport 1696
HMS Poole 1696
HMS Feversham 1696
HMS Hastings (ii) 1698
HMS Lowestoffe 1697
HMS Looe (ii) 1697
HMS Southsea Castle (ii) 1697
HMS Bridgewater 1698
HMS Ludlow 1698

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Feversham_(1696)


1777 - HMS Mercury (20), Cptn. James Montagu, wrecked near New York.

HMS Mercury (1756) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 and wrecked in 1777.

Gibraltar class 20 guns, 1754–56; built to the lines of the French privateer Tygre captured in 1747.
HMS Gibraltar 1754 - Broken up 1773
HMS Biddeford 1756 - wrecked 1761
HMS Flamborough 1756 - sold 1772
HMS Aldborough 1756 - Broken up 1772
HMS Kennington 1756 - Broken up 1774
HMS Lively 1756 - captured by France 1778, recaptured 1781, sold 1784
HMS Mercury 1756 - wrecked 1777
HMS Scarborough 1756 - foundered 1780
HMS Mercury (1756) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 and wrecked in 1777.


1795 - HMS Leda 1783 - capsized in a squall and foundered off Madeira 11 December 1795.

HMS Leda 1783 - capsized in a squall and foundered off Madeira 11 December 1795.

Perseverance class 36-gun fifth rates 1781-83, designed by Edward Hunt.
HMS Perseverance 1781 - hulked as receiving ship ca. 1806, sold 1823.
HMS Phoenix 1783 - wrecked near Smyrna on 20 February 1816.
HMS Inconstant 1783 - used as troopship between 1798 and 1806, broken up 1817.
HMS Leda 1783 - capsized in a squall and foundered off Madeira 11 December 1795.


1811 - French lugger, le Brave (16), captured by HMS Desiree (36), Cptn. Arthur Farquhar.

Désirée was a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1800 and took her into service under her existing name. she was laid up in 1815, converted to a slop ship in 1823, and sold in 1832.


Engraving after a painting by Thomas Whitcombe showing HMs Dart capturing French frigate Désirée in July 1800.

Capture
HMS Dart, under Patrick Campbell, captured Désirée on 8 July 1800 in the Raid on Dunkirk.[3] Many British vessels shared in the proceeds of the capture.

British career
On 7 May 1813, she was under the command of Captain Arthur Farquarh when she captured the American schooner Decatur.
On 17 July 1813 she captured the French privateer Esperance

Fate
Desiree was laid up at Sheerness in August 1815. Between January and November 1823 she was fitted as a slop ship. She was sold for £2,020 on 22 August 1832 to Joseph Christie at Rotherhithe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Désirée_(1796)


1823 - HMS Arab Sloop (18), Cdr. William Holmes, wrecked off Belmullett, near Broadhaven in the west of Ireland.

HMS Arab (1812) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1812 and wrecked in 1823 off Ireland.


1916 - italian battleship Regina Margherita Sunk by mines 11/12 December 1916

Regina Margherita was the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Italian Regia Marina between 1898 and 1904. She had one sister ship, Benedetto Brin. Regina Margherita saw action in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the battleship had been reduced to a training ship. She struck two naval mines on the night of 11–12 December 1916 while steaming off Valona. She sank with heavy loss of life: 675 men were killed, and only 270 survived.



Italy declared neutrality after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but by July 1915, the Triple Entente had convinced the Italians to enter the war against the Central Powers. The primary naval opponent for the duration of the war was the Austro-Hungarian Navy; the Naval Chief of Staff, Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, planned a distant blockade with the battle fleet, while smaller vessels, such as the MAS boats conducted raids. The heavy ships of the Italian fleet would be preserved for a potential major battle in the Austro-Hungarian fleet should emerge from its bases. By this time, Regina Margherita was long-since obsolescent, and was reduced to a training ship in the 3rd Division, along with her sister ship. On the night of 11–12 December 1916, while sailing from the port of Valona in heavy sea conditions, she struck two mines laid by the German submarine SM UC-14 and blew up. There were 270 survivors and 675 men perished. The ship's loss was not announced until January 1917. Lieutenant General Oreste Bandini, the commander of the Italian Albania Expeditionary Corps, was on the ship and was among those who were killed in the sinking.

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


1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.

The USS Panay incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking (now spelled Nanjing), China on 12 December 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat, apologized, and paid an indemnity. Nevertheless, the attack and the subsequent Allison incident in Nanking caused U.S. opinion to turn against the Japanese.



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


1941 - The Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established.


1942 - Five torpedo boats attack 11 Japanese destroyers off Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal. Motor torpedo boats PT 37 and PT 40 sink Japanese destroyer Terutsuki. In return, the Japanese destroyers Kawakaze and Suzukaze sink PT 44 off Savo Island.


1955 - Christopher Cockerell had filed his first patent for the hovercraft, No GB 854211



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Cockerell
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=GB&NR=854211&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP


1999 - oiltanker Erika, built in 1975 and last chartered by Total-Fina-Elf, sank off the coast of France in 1999, causing a major environmental disaster.

Erika was the name of a tanker built in 1975 and last chartered by Total-Fina-Elf. It sank off the coast of France in 1999, causing a major environmental disaster.



https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erika_(Schiff)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Erika

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 December 1669 – Launch of French Soleil Royal, a French 104-gun ship of the line, flagship of Admiral Tourville.


Soleil Royal (Royal Sun) was a French 104-gun ship of the line, flagship of Admiral Tourville.

She was built in Brest between 1668 and 1670 by engineer Laurent Hubac, was launched in 1669, and stayed unused in Brest harbour for years. She was recommissioned with 112 guns and 1200 men when the Nine Years' War broke out in 1688 as the flagship of the escadre du Ponant (squadron of the West).





She was said to be a good sailing ship and her decorations were amongst the most beautiful and elaborate of all baroque flagships. The emblem of the "sun" had been chosen by Louis XIV as his personal symbol.

Displacement: 1,630 tonnes
Length: 61 m (200 ft)
Beam: 15.64 m (51.3 ft)
Draught: 7.64 m (25.1 ft)
Complement: 836
Armament:

• 104 guns:
• 36-pounder long guns
• 18-pounder long guns
• 12-pounder long guns
• 8-pounder long guns
• 4-pounder long guns

Career
Battle of Beachy Head
Soleil Royal was recommissioned with 112 guns and 1200 men when the Nine Years' War broke out. She departed Brest on 22 June 1690 as flagship of Anne Hilarion de Tourville. She spent three days in Camaret-sur-Mer waiting for favourable wind before sailing to Isle of Wight where the English fleet was thought to be anchored. Two ships sent in reconnaissance located the English anchored at Beachy Head.

The Battle of Beachy Head (known in French as "Bataille de Béveziers") began in the morning of the 10 July 1690 when the French surprised the English ships anchored. Soleil Royal led the centre of the French formation.

Battle of Barfleur
In 1692, on the 12th of May, now carrying 104 guns, she left Brest, leading a 45-vessel fleet; on the 29th, the squadron met a 97-ship strong English and Dutch fleet in the Battle of Barfleur. In spite of their numerical inferiority, the French attacked but were forced to flee after a large-scale battle resulting in heavy damage to both sides. The Soleil Royal was too severely damaged to return to Brest, and was beached in Cherbourg for repairs, along with the Admirable and Triomphant.


(Updated, April 2018) A copy commissioned from Chambers by Edward Hawke Locker (at this time senior resident Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital) for the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall, from the original by Benjamin West, then in the collection of the Marquess of Westminster. Uniquely, the Painted Hall catalogue (1922 edition) blandly says it was 'obtained' without saying who presented it. This is clarified by the Hospital Board minutes for 1835 which show that Vice-Admiral Benjamin Page persuaded the Board to part with eight paintings, of which seven were by Serres of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes's actions off India and bequeathed by him in 1794 (they retained an eighth, BHC0448), plus a half-length portrait of him by or after Reynolds, for presentation to the town hall at Ipswich - where both Page and Hughes had connections. In exchange Page agreed to supply a painting to the value of 100 guineas of 'one of the great Naval Victories' . Page originally offered or sent one of Trafalgar, which the Board rejected since they already had Turner's and 'intimations' from William IV, which never materialised, that he might present two more. Page eventually paid for this one instead but the transaction was somewhat fraught and the Board, minuting their regret that they had agreed to it, concluded that they had no power to alienate pictures or other items once accepted as Hospital property. Page is acknowledged in the minutes as donor of the picture but this never seems to have been stated publicly in the catalogue or (presumably) on the frame of the picture which was normally the case. The probable reason is that as a trade rather than a gift it was not considered proper to credit Page on a par with other donors. The painting arrived and was hung in the Gallery early in 1836. It is an interpretation of the extended action between the French fleet of the Comte de Tourville and the Anglo-Dutch fleet of Admiral Sir Edward Russell (later Earl of Orford), from 23 May through to 4 June 1692. This was during King William's War, in which the French were planning an invasion in support of the exiled James II following his replacement on the British throne by William of Orange (as William III) and his co-monarch and wife, James's daughter Mary, as Queen Mary II. It started as an open sea action off Cape Barfleur on the Cotentin peninsula of Normandy, with the French being scattered and then their ships being picked off as prizes or burnt off Cherbourg and in the Bay of la Hogue. One so-destroyed was Tourville's flagship, the 104-gun 'Soleil Royal', which was disabled off Cherbourg and set on fire there by an allied fireship. The 'Soleil Royal' appears to be the ship at centre background here between two other French vesels, with coastline behind. Both the ships in the foreground are also French, one burning on the left, the other in stern view to the right with a boat action in front. The emphasis is strongly on the Dutch part in the battle, the boat on the left flying Dutch colours and the figure standing in it possibly being intended to represent Philips van Almonde, the Dutch commander, or at least a Dutch rather than British officer. This is not surprising, since West's source for the composition was a much earlier Dutch engraving of their attack on British ships off Chatham in the celebrated Medway Raid of 1667, in which van Almonde was also involved as the junior commander sent into the river by De Ruyter, the commander-in-chief on that occasion.


Battle at Cherbourg and the end of the Soleil Royal
During the night of the 2nd and 3 June, beached at the Pointe du Hommet, she was attacked by 17 ships, which she managed to repel with artillery fire. However, a fireship set her stern on fire and the fire soon reached the powder rooms. Although the population of Cherbourg came to rescue, there was only one survivor among the 883 (or even 950)-strong crew.


Destruction of the Soleil Royal at the Battle of La Hogue, 1692.

Other paintings


The remains of the Soleil Royal now lie buried beneath a parking space next to the Arsenal.

Legacy
Soleil Royal became a traditional name for capital ships of the Ancien Régime, and several ships bore it afterwards.

A detailed 1/40th scale model of the hull and sculptures was built in 1839 by sculptor and modelist Jean-Baptiste Tanneron. This model is now on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

The link to the museum with more info about the Soleil Royal:
http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/38531









A wonderful monographie about the french threedeckers of this time you can find at ancre

THE THREE-DECKER of the Chevalier DE TOURVILLE- 1680 by Jean Boudriot

https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/68-monographie-de-l-ambitieux-vaisseau-3-ponts-1680.html



and also very interesting book from ancre about

THE SHIPS OF THE SUN KING - by JC Lemineur
THE SUN KING’S VESSELS
A LONG STUDY OF THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHIPS THAT MADE UP THE LINE-OF-BATTLE IN THE NAVAL ARMIES OF LOUIS XIV

https://ancre.fr/en/basic-books/56-vaisseaux-les-du-roi-soleil-jc-lemineur.html






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Soleil_Royal_(1670)