Naval/Maritime History 25th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 3 March


1698 – Launch of HMS Hampshire was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Hampshire was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 March 1698 at Nelson Dock, Rotherhithe.
Hampshire was broken up in 1739.

HMS Hampshire (1698) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1764 – Launch of HMS Asia was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,

HMS Asia was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 March 1764 at Portsmouth Dockyard. She participated in the American Revolutionary War and the capture of Martinique in 1794. She was broken up in 1804.


HMS Asia at the Halifax Naval Yard, 1797. Watercolour by George Gustavus Lennox, who was a lieutenant aboard Asia

Design
Sir Thomas Slade designed her as an experimental design, one that proved to be particularly groundbreaking as she was the first true 64. As a result, the Royal Navy ordered no further 60-gun ships but instead commissioned more 64 gun ships. Because these incorporated alterations learned from trials with Asia, for instance subsequent ships were bigger, she was the only ship of her draught (class).


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Asia' (1764), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Note the undated alterations to the body plan and longitudinal half-breadth.

HMS Asia (1764) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1777 - The Continental brig Cabot comes under attack by the British frigate HMS Milford the first time and is run ashore on 28th March off the coast of Nova Scotia, becoming the first Continental navy ship captured by the British.



The first USS Cabot of the United States was a 14-gun brig, one of the first ships of the Continental Navy, and the first to be captured in the American Revolutionary War in the Battle off Yarmouth (1777).

HMS Milford was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at Milford by Richard Chitty and launched in 1759.[1] She was sold for breaking at Woolwich on 17 May 1785.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half breadth for Argo (1758), Active (1758), Aquilon (1758), Milfrord (1759), and later in 1758 for Guadeloupe (1763), and in 1764 for Carysfort (1766), then in 1782 for Laurel (cancelled 1783 and not built), and Hind (1785)a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates.

HMS Milford (1759) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

USS Cabot (1775) - Wikipedia

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1808 - Spain captures French 74-gun ship of the line Atlas, ex-Atalante, moored in Vigo as a hospital ship.

The Atalante was a 74-gun ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. She was acquired by France in 1801 and commissioned in the French Navy, being renamed to Atlas in 1803, serving in Santo Domingo and taking part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre. She was captured in Vigo at the outbreak of the Peninsular War.

Atalante was built in Cádiz and launched in 1754. In August 1801, on the background of the War of the Second Coalition, Spain ceded her to her ally France. Atalante was brought into French service and commissioned in Cádiz on 23 September 1801.
In April 1802, she transferred to Toulon. On 20 June 1802, Captain Lavillesgris took command and in August, she departed Toulon under to ferry troops to Santo Domingo, returning on 27 October. She performed another trip in January 1803, ferrying 750 soldiers and General Jean Sarrazin.
Atalante was renamed to Atlas on 4 February 1803. She took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre under Captain Rolland, who sustained spectacular injuries when a powder reserve exploded near him.
Moored in Vigo as a hospital ship after the battle, she was captured there by the Spanish on 9 June 1808 after the outbreak of the Peninsular War.

French ship Atlas (1801) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1824 HMS Dwarf (10), Lt. Nicholas Gould, wrecked after ran against the Pier in Kingstown Harbour.


1915 - The Office of Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is established by Congress with Adm. William S. Benson named the first CNO.

Chief of Naval Operations - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1942 - USS Perch (SS 176), after being depth-charged and irreparably damaged by Japanese destroyers Ushio and Sazanami, is scuttled by her crew in the Java Sea. All hands survive but are taken prisoner. Also on this date, USS Asheville (PG 21) is sunk by gunboat fire of Japanese destroyers Arashi and Nowaki south of Java.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Perch_(SS-176)

USS Asheville (PG-21) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1943 - Teiyo Maru – On 3 March 1943, the transport was bombed and sunk by American and Australian aircraft south-east of Finschhafen, New Guinea during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
Her commanding officer, seventeen crewmen and 1,880 troops were killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Teiyo_Maru_(1924)


1943 - Oigawa Maru – On 3 March 1943, the transport was bombed and damaged by American and Australian aircraft south-east of Finschhafen, New Guinea during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
She was finished off that night by PT-143 and PT-150. Seventy-eight crewmen and 1,151 troops were killed.

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


1943 - Asashio – On 3 March 1943, in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese destroyer was sunk by an Allied air attack. After weathering the first waves, Asashio was bombed and strafed later in the day while attempting to rescue survivors from the destroyers Arashio and Nojima.
Arashio was lost with all 226 hands, about 45 nautical miles (83 km) southeast of Finschhafen, New Guinea.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Asashio_(1936)


1943 - Taimei Maru – On 3 March 1943, in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese troop transport Taimei Maru was sunk by Allied aircraft. Of those aboard 200 were killed in the attack.

SS Taimei Maru (1936) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1981 - The Mezada was lost 3 March 1981; The cargo ship sank in rough seas approximately 100 nautical miles (190 km) southeast of Bermuda. Eleven of 35 crew rescued.

List of maritime disasters in the 20th century - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1650 - Five Dutch ships Aagtekerke jacht, Tijger frigate, Luipaard jacht, Bergen op Zoom jacht, and Juffer (flute) lost in the Far East


On 4th March 1650, while on their way to Ternate, five VOC ships were lost: Aagtekerke, Tijger, Luipaard, Bergen op Zoom, and Juffer. One part ran aground on the reef Sangori, off Boeton, one of the southern islands of Celebes (now Sulawesi) and another part on a reef near Amboina (now Ambon). All ships were lost, but the crew and most of the cargo was saved. The crew managed to make a new ship from the wreckage, calling it ´t Jagt van Vijven (eng. The Yacht of Five), and sailed safely to Batavia.

Aagtekerke; jacht; Built for the Kamer van Zeeland, Middelburg in 1643; 100 ton;
Tijger; spiegelretour ship; Built in Amsterdam in 1641; 500 ton;
Luipaard; jacht; Built in Amsterdam in 1641; 320 ton;
Bergen op Zoom; jacht; Built in Middelburg in 1640; 320 ton;
Juffer or Juffrouw; flute; Built in Amsterdam in 1645; 480 ton;


Read more at wrecksite: https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?17648

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1653 - Battle of Leghorn.
Dutch fleet of 16 ships, under Commodore Johan van Galen (Mortally wounded), defeated English squadron of 6 ships, under Cptn. Henry Appleton, attempting to break out of blockade at Leghorn and join Cptn. Richard Badiley's 8 ships. 3 ships were captured and 2 destroyed.


The naval Battle of Leghorn took place on 4 March 1653 (14 March Gregorian calendar), during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch squadron under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterwards, another English squadron under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to join up with, reached the scene in time to observe the capture of the last ships of Appleton's squadron, but was outnumbered and forced to return to Porto Longone.


The Battle of Leghorn, 4 March 1653 by Willem van Diest, painted mid-17th century
Early in 1653 the English position in the Mediterranean became critical, the Dutch had been blockading Captain Appleton's squadron in Leghorn while the rest of the English ships under Captain Badiley were at Elba. The Dutch massed all their ships off Leghorn, enabling Badiley to leave Elba and attempt to join Appleton. The Grand Duke of Tuscany was urging Appleton to leave and a scheme was tried for Badiley to beat up to the Dutch while Appleton was to run before the wind out of Leghorn and meet him as he reached the Dutch. It was a difficult manoeuvre to time and in the event Appleton sailed too soon and was badly beaten before Badiley could get into action. Only one ship fought her way through to join Badiley who, seeing that the situation was hopeless, quitted the Mediterranean. In the centre of the picture van Galen, whose flagship is seen in port-quarter view, has just succeeded in blowing up the 'Bonaventure' with her starboard broadside. In the right background more ships are in action, with Leghorn beyond, and in the left background the battle also rages. There seems to be some confusion as to which was the Dutch flagship, since van Galen is painted with his flag in the 'Moon', 40 guns, which was Captain Cornelis Tromp's ship, while he in fact commanded the 'Zeven Provincien', 40 guns. The artist was born in the Hague and was an early painter in the Dutch realist style. However, it should be noted that the Museum acquired the picture with this attribution in 1948 - undoubtedly more for subject than specific artist reasons - and it has now (March 2013) been questioned by Dr Gerlinde de , who has made the alternative suggestion that it may in fact be by Aernout Smit (1641-1710), though further comparative work remains to be done on the matter. Since Smit could only have painted such a view retrospectively for age reasons, this may explain the apparent confusion of ships, which van Diest (before 1610 - after 1663) is perhaps less likely to have made. [see notebook field: amended PvdM 3/13]


Background
In 1652 the government of the Commonwealth of England, mistakenly believing that the United Provinces after their defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock would desist from bringing out fleets so late in the season, split their fleet between the Mediterranean and home waters. This division of forces led to a defeat at the Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, and by early 1653 the situation in the Mediterranean was critical too. Appleton's squadron of six ships (including four hired merchantmen) was trapped in Leghorn by a blockading Dutch fleet of 16 ships, while Richard Badiley's of eight (also including four hired merchantmen) was at Elba.

The only hope for the English was to combine their forces, but Appleton sailed too soon and engaged with the Dutch before Badiley could come up to help. Three of his ships were captured and two destroyed and only one (Mary), sailing faster than the Dutch ships, escaped to join Badiley. Badiley engaged the Dutch, but was heavily outnumbered and retreated.

The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 13 March.

One of the Dutch captains at the battle was son of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, Cornelis Tromp, who was to become a famous admiral himself.




Ships involved

United Provinces of the Netherlands
Johan van Galen


The battle of Leghorn. Johannes Lingelbach


The Battle of Leghorn, 1653 by Reinier Nooms.

• Vereenigde Provincien/Zeven Provincien (United Provinces/Seven Provinces) 40 (flag)
• Eendracht (Concord) 40 (Jacob de Boer)
• Maan (Moon) 40 (Cornelis Tromp)
• Ter Goes 40 (Jan Richewijn)
• Zon (Sun) 40 (Pieter van Zalingen)
• Zutphen 36 (Jan Uijttenhout)
• Maagd van Enkhuysen (Maiden of Enkhuysen) 34 (Jan Roetering)
• Jonge Prins (Young Prince) 28 (Cornelis Barentszoon)
• Julius Caesar 28 (hired merchantman) (Jacon Janszoon Roocher)
• Witte Olifant (White Elephant) (hired Italian merchantman Elefante Bianco) 28 (Sijbrant Janszoon Mol)
• Madonna della Vigna 28 (hired merchantman) (Harman Sonne) - Ran aground north of Livorno harbor, but salved
• Susanna 28 (hired merchantman) (Daniel Janszoon de Vries)
• Zwarte Arend (Black Eagle) 28 (Pieter Janszoon van Bontebotter)
• Salomons Oordeel (Judgment of Soloman) 28 (hired merchantman) (Meijndert Theunissen van Oosterwout)
• Roode Haes (Red Hare) 28 (hired merchantman) (Adriaan Rodenhaes)
• Ster (Star) 28 (hired merchantman) (Hendrik Govertszoon)

The Eendracht and Jonge Prins were ships of the Noorderkwartier Admiralty, all the others (including the hired merchantmen) pertained to the Amsterdam Admiralty.

Commonwealth of England
Capt. Henry Appleton's squadron

• Bonaventure 44 (Stephen Lyne) - Blown up by Vereenigde Provincien
• Leopard 48 ('flagship' of Appleton) - Captured (by Eendracht?)
• Samson 40 (hired merchantman, Edmund Seaman) - Burnt by fireship
• Mary 30 (hired merchantman, Benjamin Fisher)
• Peregrine 30 (hired merchantman, John Wood) - Captured by Zwarte Arend
• Levant Merchant 28/30? (hired merchantman, Stephen Marsh) - Captured by Maagd van Enkhuysen

Capt. Richard Badiley's squadron

• Paragon 52 ('flagship' of Badiley)
• Phoenix 36 (Owen Cox)
• Elizabeth 36 (Jonas Reeves)
• Constant Warwick 32 (Upshott)
• Mary Rose 32 (hired merchantman, John Turtley)
• Lewis 30 (hired merchantman, William Elle)
• William and Thomas 30 (hired merchantman, John Godolphin)
• Thomas Bonaventure 28 (hired merchantman, George Hughes)
• ? (fireship, Peter Whyting)

The fireship is listed as Charity in Mariner's Mirror vol. 49, but according to Mariner's Mirror vol. 24 that ship was expended during an action off Plymouth on 27 August 1652.



An interpretation of an action during the First Dutch War, 1652-54. The increasing conflict of trade interests between England and the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th century made armed conflict likely and inevitable after Cromwell's Navigation Act of 1651. All three Anglo-Dutch wars which followed were solely maritime conflicts. By early in 1653 the English forces were split and their position in the Mediterranean became critical. Captain Badiley was trapped with four men-of-war at Porto Longone in Elba, and Captain Appleton with the 'Leopard', 50 guns and five hired merchantmen, was similarly placed at Leghorn, where the Dutch fleet was also hovering. To make matters worse, the British had incurred the displeasure of the Grand Duke of Tuscany when they violated the neutrality of this port by recapturing the 'Phoenix', 40 guns. This hardened the Duke's opinion against the English and by the beginning of March 1653 Appleton was ordered to leave Leghorn. Furthermore, the news of the Dutch victory off Dungeness convinced the Grand Duke that the Dutch might win the war. When the Dutch massed all of their ships off Leghorn, it enabled Badiley to leave Elba and attempt to join Appleton. Unfortunately, when Badiley appeared heading towards Leghorn, Appleton sailed from port prematurely and attacked the Dutch before Badiley arrived to join him. Only one of Appleton's squadron, the merchantman 'Mary', fought her way through to join Badiley, who, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, initially retreated to Elba and then returned to Britain. 150 men out of 200 were killed or wounded before Appleton surrendered his ship. As a consequence of the battle, the Dutch were left in command of the Mediterranean. In this depiction of the action, Leghorn is visible in the background to the left. In the foreground Appleton, in the 'Leopard', is fighting a losing battle between two Dutchmen. The ship on the left is the Dutch 'Zon', 40 guns, which was subsequently sunk. It has the emblem of the sun carved on its stern. To the right, the rest of the ships are depicted in action. Van Galen, the Dutch commander, is in the foreground firing at a ship already on fire, while another two English ships have sunk or are sinking on the left. The artist Reinier Nooms, also known as Zeeman, was born and died in Amsterdam. This pseudonym reflects the artist's early life spent at sea. He painted in the Dutch realist style with a lively palette. The artist has signed 'R Zeeman' on the flag at the stern of the 'Zon'. The painting is known to have been in the Landrat Loeb-Caldenhof Collection near Hamm, Westphalia, which was formed in the first years of the 19th century when church property was secularized on Napoleon's orders. It was among many paintings sold about 1930, being acquired by the Galerie Julius Stern in Dusseldorf and subsequently sold to Sir James Caird for the Museum collection in 1933, through the Galerie Matthiessen, Berlin.


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

Bonaventure was a middling ship of the English navy, built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1621.
Bonaventure was blown up in action in 1653.

Battle of Leghorn - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

English ship Leopard (1635) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

English ship Bonaventure (1621) - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1679 – Launch of HMS Windsor Castle, a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, built by Thomas Shish at Woolwich Dockyard


HMS Windsor Castle was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, built by Thomas Shish at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched in 1679.



Windsor Castle commissioned in 1690 under Captain George Churchill and took part in the Battle of Beachy Head on 30 June 1690. In 1692 she was under the command of Captain Peregrine Osborne, and took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 19–24 May 1692. In 1693 she was commanded by Captain John Munden, but was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in April 1693.


The ‘Duchess’, 90 guns, was built in Deptford in 1679, and rebuilt in 1709 (this is not in J.J. Colledge 'Ships of the Royal Navy'). The drawing is unsigned, but inscribed ‘d dusses’. According to Robinson the attribution of this large drawing to the Younger is not certain, but the Dutch phonetics of the inscription would seem to point to him. The Duchess was renamed Princess Anne in 1701, Windsor Castle in 1702 and Blenheim in1706.

HMS Windsor Castle (1679) - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1760 – Launch of HMS Dragon, a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy


HMS Dragon was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 March 1760 at Deptford Dockyard.


The bombardment of Morro Castle on Havana - Left to right: HMS Marlborough, HMS Dragon, HMS Cambridge.

She was commissioned in 1760, under the command of the Hon. Augustus Hervey, as part of the Western Squadron. In October 1761 she sailed for the Leeward Islands, and until March 1763 was engaged in naval operations in the Caribbean, including the siege of Havannah in 1762. as part of the Seven Years' War.

In March 1763 she was paid off, and recommissioned as a guardship at Portsmouth in May 1763, where she served until once again paid off in 1770. From 1781 she was employed as a receiving ship at Portsmouth, before being finally paid off in 1783, and she was sold out of the service in 1784.





Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Dragon' (1760), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker.

The Bellona-class ships of the line were a class of five 74-gun third rates, whose design for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade was approved on 31 January 1758. Three ships were ordered on 28 December 1757, with names being assigned on 1 February 1758. Two further ships to this design were ordered on 13 December 1758, at the same time as two ships of a revised design – the Arrogant class.

Design
Slade's Bellona class was the first class of British 74s to have a gun deck length of 168 ft (51 m), and marked the beginning of a stabilisation of the design of this size of ship. Several subsequent classes designed by Slade were almost identical to the Bellona draught, with the main differences restricted to the underwater hull – the most numerous of these being the Arrogant and Elizabeth classes.

Ships

• HMS Bellona

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 10 May 1758.
Launched: 19 February 1760.
Completed: 6 April 1760.
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, September 1814.

• HMS Dragon

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 28 March 1758.
Launched: 4 March 1760.
Completed: 19 April 1760.
Fate: Sold to be broken up, June 1784.

• HMS Superb

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 12 April 1758.
Launched: 27 October 1760.
Completed: 19 December 1760.
Fate: Wrecked at Bombay, 7 November 1783.

• HMS Kent

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 13 December 1758.
Laid down: 24 April 1759.
Launched: 26 March 1762.
Completed: 8 July 1762.
Fate: Sold to be broken up, August 1784.

• HMS Defence

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 13 December 1758.
Laid down: 14 May 1759.
Launched: 31 March 1763.
Completed: 19 October 1770.
Fate: Wrecked off Jutland, 24 December 1811.


HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious First of June1794, dismasted and with severe injury to the hull, by Nicholas Pocock


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dragon_(1760)

Bellona-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1779 - Launch of HMS Serapis, a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate


HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate. Randall & Brent built her at Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe and launched her in 1779. She was armed with 44 guns (twenty 18-pounders, twenty 9-pounders, and four 6-pounders). Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology. The Americans captured her during the American Revolutionary War. They transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.


Defence of Captn Pearson in his Majesty's Ship Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough Arm'd Ship Captn Piercy, against Paul Jones's Squadron, 23 Sept 1779, by Robert Dodd



American Revolutionary War battle
Main article: Battle of Flamborough Head
Serapis was commissioned in March 1779 under Captain Richard Pearson. On 23 September she engaged the American warship USS Bonhomme Richard under the command of Captain John Paul Jones in the North Sea at Flamborough Head, England. At the time of this battle, the ship carried 50 guns, having an extra six 6-pounders. The two vessels exchanged heavy fire and Bonhomme Richard lost most of her firepower, but by attaching the two ships together, Jones was able to overcome much of Pearson's advantage of greater firepower (although the Bonhomme Richard was a larger ship with a considerably greater crew). The famous quote, "I have not yet begun to fight!" was Jones's response to Pearson's premature call for Bonhomme Richard to surrender. The battle raged on for three hours as the crew of Bonhomme Richard tenaciously fought Serapis, raking her deck with gunfire. Eventually, USS Alliance, a frigate in Jones's squadron, began firing at both the attached ships indiscriminately. Bonhomme Richard began to sink, but Captain Pearson, unable to aim his guns at the frigate because he was tied to Jones's ship, surrendered, handing Serapis over to the Americans.

Aftermath
Jones sailed to the neutral United Provinces (the Netherlands), but diplomatic complications arose because the Dutch authorities did not recognize the United States. Jones renamed his capture USS Serapis. An improvised Serapis flag was secretly entered into the Dutch records to avoid the charges of piracy. Serapis and her consort, the hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough, were later declared as French captures.

Although the two British vessels had lost the battle, they had succeeded perfectly in protecting the very valuable convoy, and both captains were well rewarded.

Loss of Serapis
Between October and December 1779 Serapis was in the Texel. By September 1780 she was probably at Lorient.

The French commissioned Serapis as a privateer under a master named Roche who planned to use the ship against the British in the Indian Ocean. However, in July 1781 the ship was lost off the coast of Madagascar when a sailor accidentally dropped a lantern into a tub of brandy. The crew fought the fire for two and a half hours, but the flames eventually burned through the spirit locker walls and reached a powder magazine. The resulting explosion ripped the stern off the ship, sinking her, and while eight men lost their lives, 215 people survived. The privateer Daliram returned them to Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar.

Discovery of the wreck
In November 1999, American nautical archeologists Richard Swete and Michael Tuttle located the remains of Serapis at Île Sainte-Marie.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Ulysses (1779), and later in 1778 for Endymion (1779) and Serapis (1779), all 44-gun Fifth Rate, two-deckers. All three ships were built with two-tiers of windows. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].


The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.

Classification
The Royal Navy classed the Roebuck class as fifth rates like frigates but did not classify them as frigates. Although sea officers sometimes casually described them and other small two-deckers as frigates, the Admiralty officially never referred to them as frigates. By 1750, the Admiralty strictly defined frigates as ships of 28 guns or more, carrying all their main battery (24, 26 or even 28 guns) on the upper deck, with no guns or openings on the lower deck (which could thus be at sea level or even lower). A frigate might carry a few smaller guns - 3-pounders or 6-pounders, later 9-pounders - on their quarterdeck and (perhaps) on the forecastle. The Roebuck-class ships were two-deckers with complete batteries on both decks, and hence not frigates.

Design and construction
The Admiralty assigned the contract for Roebuck to Chatham Dockyard on 30 November 1769. Some seven years after the design was first produced, the Admiralty re-used it for a second batch of nineteen ships. The Admiralty ordered them to meet the particular requirements of the American War of Independence for vessels suitable for coastal warfare in the shallow seas off North America (where deeper two-deckers could not sail). The first five vessels of the class, and the later Guardian, had two rows of stern lights (windows), like larger two-deckers though actually there was just the single level of cabin behind. Most, if not all, of the other ships of the class - from Dolphin onwards - had a 'single level' frigate-type stern.

Roebuck class 1774-83 (Thomas Slade)

• HMS Roebuck 1774 - hospital ship 1790, troopship 1799, floating battery 1803, broken up 1811
• HMS Romulus 1777 - taken by France 1781
• HMS Actaeon 1778 - hulked 1793
• HMS Janus 1778 - troopship 1789, wrecked 1800
• HMS Charon (I) 1778 - sunk 1781
• HMS Dolphin 1781 - hospital ship 1781, troopship 1800, storeship 1804, broken up 1817
• HMS Ulysses 1779 - sold 1816
• HMS Serapis (I) 1779 - taken by John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard 1779
• HMS Endymion 1779 - lost 1790
• HMS Assurance 1780 - troopship 1791, transport 1796, hulked 1799
• HMS Argo 1781 - troopship 1791, sold 1816
• HMS Diomede 1781 - lost 1795
• HMS Guardian 1784 - sold 1791
• HMS Mediator 1782 - storeship and renamed Camel 1788, broken up 1810
• HMS Regulus 1785 - troopship 1800, broken up 1816
• HMS Resistance 1782 - blown up 1798
• HMS Serapis (II) 1782 - storeship 1798, broken up 1819
• HMS Gladiator 1783 - hulked 1807
• HMS Experiment 1784 - troopship, 1793, hulked 1805
• HMS Charon (II) 1783 - hospital ship 1794, troopship 1800, broken up 1805

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Serapis_(1779)

Roebuck-class ship - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1782 – Launch of HMS Flirt, launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence


HMS Flirt was launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence. She then spent most of the years of peace in British waters. She sailed to Jamaica in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Daniel Bennett purchased her, had her almost rebuilt, and then employed her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1803 as Flirt was returning to Britain from a whaling voyage.



Royal Navy
Commander Nathan Brunton commissioned Flirt for the North Sea in March 1782. She was then paid off in 1783, but recommissioned in April under Commander William Luke and stationed between Beachy Head and the Isle of Wight. She remained on that station through the tenure of her next two captains.

Flirt was paid off in 1786 before Commander Piercy Brett recommissioned her in May. Commander John Stevens Hall replaced Brett in 1788, only to have Commander James Norman replace him in 1789. Norman recommissioned her in May 1790 for the Spanish Armament. George Bass, who would go on to achieve fame as an explorer, qualified as a surgeon for a first-rate (as a 13-year old), but his first appointment was to Flirt.

Commander James Nicoll Morris recommissioned Flirt in May 1790 for the Channel. He sailed her for Jamaica on 22 November 1791. However, after she returned to Britain she was laid up at Deptford in November 1792.[

The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Hull of His Majesty's Sloop Flirt. Burthen 200 tons, copper fastened, with Copper on her Bottom", for sale at Deptford on 1 December 1795. Flirt sold on that day for £450.

Whaler
Daniel Bennett, the owner of several whalers purchased Flirt and had her almost rebuilt in 1796.

See also: List of ships owned by Daniel Bennett & Son
Captain Thomas Dennis first sailed Flirt in the South Seas Whale Fishery in 1796. Between 1796 and 1801 she was reported to be whaling off Walvis Bay. During this period she returned to Britain in January 1798, but sailed again on 2 February for the East Coast of Africa. By May was in Rio de Janeiro replenishing her supplies of water and provisions. She then returned to Britain on 16 November 1799.

On 20 November 1799 Captain Gardner sailed to East Coast of Africa. Flirt left St Helena in August 1800 and was back in London by 16 October.

Captain T. Bunker was reported at Walwich Bay (Walvis Bay) in August 1801. She returned to Britain 4 December.

In 1802 She was again whaling off the East Coast of Africa. At the time she was valued at £8,000.

In August 1802, the Honourable the Court of Directors of the East India Company announced that they had licensed 19 vessels, Albion, Charming Kitty, and Flirt among them, to sail east of the Cape of Good Hope to engage in whaling in the "Southern Whale Fishery".

In 1802 "Warren" replaced Bennett as owner of Flirt. At the time her captain was J. Anthony. This arrangement of Warren as owner and J. Anthony as master continued into 1803.

Capture
In June 1803, the French privateer captain François Aregnaudeau took command of the 32-gun 550-ton corvette Blonde, from Bordeaux He had a successful cruise, most notably capturing the East Indiaman Culland's Grove on 22 July. He also captured Flirt as she was returning to London from whaling. On 3 August Aregnaudeau took both prizes into Pasajes.


HMS Speedy falling in with the wreck of HMS Queen Charlotte, 21 March 1800


The Speedy class brigs were a two-ship class of brig built for the Royal Navy during the later years of the American War of Independence. They survived into the French Revolutionary Wars.

Concept
The Speedy class was designed in 1781 by the shipbuilder Thomas King, of Dover, a specialist builder of such craft. They were designed with a cutter-type hull, and anticipated the development of a new concept of the brig in naval warfare, that of small, fast escort vessels, instead of the slower but more seaworthy ship-sloops. Their names were selected to epitomise this approach, HMS Speedy, and HMS Flirt. Small, light craft, they were 207 21⁄94 Tons bm, and measured 78 feet 3 inches (23.85 m) (overall) and 59 ft 0 1⁄2 in (17.996 m) (keel), with a beam of 25 feet 8.25 inches (7.8296 m) and 10 feet 10 inches (3.30 m) depth in the hold. Armed with fourteen 4-pounders, giving a broadside weight of 28 pounds, and twelve ½pdr swivel guns, they had a crew of 70. This was broken up into 57 officers, seamen and marines; 12 servants and boys; and 1 widow's man.

Careers
Both ships were completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence, and spent most of the years of peace in British waters. Flirt sailed to the Caribbean in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Speedy was still in service on the outbreak of war with revolutionary France and was assigned to the Mediterranean, where she served under a number of distinguished commanders. She was captured in 1794, but had been retaken within a year. Her last captain, Lord Cochrane, achieved some of his greatest exploits with her, forcing the surrender of a much larger Spanish warship, the Gamo, but was forced to surrender her after being pursued by a large French squadron in 1801. She was donated to the Papal Navy by Napoleon and broken up a few years later.

Ships

• HMS Speedy

Builder: Thomas King, Dover
Ordered: 23 March 1781
Laid down: June 1781
Launched: 19 June 1782
Completed: By 25 October 1782
Fate: Captured by the French on 3 July 1801; gifted to the Papal Navy in 1802[2]

• HMS Flirt

Builder: Thomas King, Dover
Ordered: 23 March 1781
Laid down: August 1781
Launched: 4 March 1782
Completed: By 8 June 1782
Fate: Sold 1 December 1795. Purchased and became a whaler until a French privateer captured her in 1803.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Flirt_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy-class_brig

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1795 - 16-gun French privateer corvette Robert, launched in 1793 at Nantes, captured


Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. She then became a slave ship, whaling ship, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.


Spy, Captain Welham Clarke, off Wight; C. Slade, 1803

Robert
Robert was in Nantes in February 1793 under captain François-Marie Pied. She was on her first cruise when the British captured her.

The frigate HMS Syren, Captain John Manley, captured Robert on 13 June 1793 in the Bay of Biscay after a chase of 28 hours. One report gave Robert 22 guns and a complement of 200 men, but all other reports trimmed this to 16 carriage and eight swivel guns, and 170 men. Robert had been out three days from Bordeaux, had captured nothing.

HMS Espion
The Royal Navy commissioned HMS Espion in March 1794 under the command of Commander William Hugh Kittoe, for the Channel. On 22 July 1794 Tamise and two other French frigates captured Espion south of the Isles of Scilly. Kittoe was so outnumbered and outgunned that he struck without resistance. The French Navy took her into service as the corvette Espion.

Espion
On 23 August 1794, HMS Flora, Captain John Borlase Warren, and HMS Arethusa, Captain Sir Edward Pellew, chased two French corvettes, Alerte and Espion into Audierne Bay. The two corvettes anchored off the Gamelle Rocks, but when they saw that the British intended to capture them, their captains got under weigh and ran their vessels aground below the guns of three shore batteries. The corvettes continued to exchange fire with the two British frigates until early evening, when the corvettes' masts fell. At that point many of the French crewmen abandoned their vessels and went ashore. Warren sent in the boats from both Flora and Arethusa, all under Pellew's command, with orders to set fire or otherwise destroy the two corvettes. Pellew went in and took possession of both, but determined that he could not extract the wounded. Pellew therefore left the vessels, which he determined were bilged and scuttled, with rocks having pierced their bottoms, and left with 52 prisoners. Pellew estimated that Alerte had suffered 20 to 30 men killed and wounded, and that Espion had lost more.

Alerte was a total loss, but the French Navy was able to refloat Espion, which had been under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Magendie. She then spent time in the Brest roadstead before cruising in the Atlantic and returning to Brest.

On 4 March 1795, the British frigate Lively captured Espion about 13 leagues off Ushant. Espion was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 140 men. She was five days out of Brest on a cruise. Lively was under the command of Captain George Burlton, acting in the absence of Captain Viscount Lord Garlies, who was sick on shore, commanded Lively.

Nine days later, Lively captured the French corvette Tourterelle, and two vessels that Tourterelle had been escorting, which had been prizes to Espion.

HMS Spy
As the Royal Navy by this time had another HMS Espion, the Navy took Espion into service on 20 May 1795 and renamed her Spy. She then was at Portsmouth fitting out until to November. She was recommissioned under J. Walton. In January 1796 Commander James Young assumed command for The Downs station. A year later Commander William Grosvenor replaced Young, and remained in command until December 1799. In August 1797 Spy recaptured four vessels. She appears to have spent her time escorting convoys in the Channel. For instance, on 5 March 1799 Spy passed Plymouth, escorting a convoy of coasters westward.

Commander Charles Hay replaced Grosvenor. On 14 August 1800, Spy left Plymouth with the London trader George and Francis, Hoskins, master, under convoy for London.

The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Spy 275 tons burthen" for sale at Plymouth on 7 September 1801. She sold that day for £710.

Mercantile service
The supplement to Lloyd's Register for 1802 shows Spy, with Vaughn, master, and "Swansea", as owner, having undergone a refit in 1802. Her trade was London-Africa. A database of slave voyages from London shows Spy, Robert Vaughn, master, and James Swanzy, owner, made one voyage in 1803 carrying slaves from the Gold Coast to British Guiana. "Spy sailed from London on 8 August 1802. She gathered her slaves first at Cape Coast Castle and then at Anomabu, which was 16 kilometers away. She left Africa on 18 January 1802 and arrived at Demerara in March. She had embarked 310 slaves and landed 279, for a loss rate of 10%. She arrived back at London on 13 May."

The entry in Lloyd's Register for 1802 carried over to 1803, but an addendum to the entry in the 1803 Lloyd's Register noted that Spy had a new master, Clarke, and new owner, Hurry & Co. Her trade became the South Seas fisheries. Captain Welham Clarke acquired a letter of marque for Spy on 26 July 1803.> Spy sailed for the fisheries on 11 September. She was at Rio de Janeiro in July 1804, and returned to London on 14 October.

Captain Edward Dyer received a letter of marque on 14 March 1805. She was supposedly engaged in the fisheries between 1805 and 1807, but the scale of her armament and the size of her crew was more consistent with privateering.

In mid-April 1805, the privateer Spy, of Dartmouth, detained Zer Gesusters, de Vries, master, which had been sailing from Lisbon to Madrid. Spy sent her into Plymouth

Fate[
Lloyd's List of 2 August 1805 reported that the privateer Spy, of London, Dwyer, master, had been captured and taken into Guadeloupe.

Lloyd's Register continues the entry from the 1803 addendum, including Clarke as master, unchanged until at least 1811. Some sources have Spy engaging in whaling between 1810 and 1813, though the University of Hull's database does not show that. The Register of Shipping for 1805 has an entry for Spy that still shows Clarke as master, and Hurry & Co. as owner. It gives Spy's trade as London-Madeira

Robert (1793 ship) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1797 - HMS Gaiete (also Gayette), a French Bonne Citoyenne-class corvette, that the British frigate HMS Arethusa captured off Bermuda in 1797


HMS Gaiete (also Gayette) was a French Bonne Citoyenne-class corvette that the British frigate HMS Arethusa captured off Bermuda in 1797. She then served the Royal Navy until she was sold in 1808.



Capture
Gaité initially sailed from Bayonne to Rochefort. She then received the mission to carry passengers and supplies to Cayenne. Her mission completed, she proceeded to patrol the Antilles.

At daybreak on 10 August 1797 44-gun Arethusa, under the command of Captain Thomas Wolley, was in the Atlantic Ocean at 30°49′N 55°50′W when she sighted three ships to windward. At 7:30 a.m. one of the ships bore down to within half-gunshot, and opened fire. She proved to be the 20-gun Gaieté, under the command of Enseigne de vaisseau Jean-François Guignier. She had been out of Cayenne about four weeks when she encountered Arethusa.

With Gaieté having taken on a ship twice her size, there could only be one outcome. The British captured Gaieté within half an hour. She had sustained considerable damage to her sails and rigging, and lost two seamen killed and eight wounded, including Ensign Dubourdieu. Arethusa lost one seaman killed, and the captain's clerk and two seamen wounded.

The French brig Espoir observed the engagement and then sailed away. The Royal Navy captured Espoir in September, in the Mediterranean.

Royal Navy service
Gaiete was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1798 under Commander Edward Durnford King for service in the North Sea. IN 1799 she was serving in the Channel.

On 4 March 1799 she sailed for Jamaica. She and the frigate Unite left Portsmouth as escorts to a convoy for the West Indies. Next, Gaiete captured the brig Rose on 7 April.

Then on 11 January 1800 Gaiete captured the sloop Santa Christa.

Between February and May 1800, Gaiete captured or detained several vessels:

• schooner Speculator, 60 tons (bm), sailing from Guadeloupe to Copenhagen with a cargo of sugar and coffee (10 February);
• ship Albion, of six guns and 500 tons (bm), sailing from Sunderland to Jamaica with a cargo of coals (retaken 16 February);
• schooner Seaflower, of five men, sailing from Guadaloupe to Saint Thomas in ballast (18 February);
• ship Daedalus, of six guns, 17 men and 300 tons (bm), sailing from Deptford to Martinique with provisions for the government (retaken 28 February);
• brig Good Fortune, of six men and 70 tons (bm), sailing from Liverpool, North America, to Antigua with a cargo of fish (retaken 5 March);
• French schooner Success, of two guns, 60 men and 60 tons (bm), sailing from Saint Bartholomew to Guadeloupe (6 March);
• brig Renwick, 150 tons (bm), sailing from Norfolk, North America, to Antigua with a cargo of wheat and flour (captured 4 March and retaken 16 March);
• schooner Betsey, of nine men and 69 tons (bm), sailing from Leghorn to Charlestown with a cargo of wine, oil, etc., (retaken 2 May);
• schooner Elianne and Delphine (French tender), of ten men, sailing from Guadeloupe to Saint Bartholomew with a cargo of wine and sugar (6 May).

On 22 August, Gaiete captured the Petite Fortuné (alias Fortuna).

In late 1800, after Durnford King was promoted to Acting-Captain of Leviathan Commander Richard Peacocke became captain. Peacocke received a promotion to post captain on 4 June 1801

In April 1802, Gaite was at Dominica with the 74-gun ships Magnificent and Excellent, and the frigate Severn to assist in suppressing a mutiny that had broken out on 9 April in the 8th West India Regiment. The soldiers had killed three officers, imprisoned the others and taken over Fort Shirley. On the following day, HMS Magnificent, which was anchored in Prince Rupert's Bay under Captain John Giffard's command, sent a party of marines ashore to restore order. The mutineers fired upon Magnificent with no effect. On 12 April, Governor Cochrane entered Fort Shirley with the Royal Scots Regiment and the 68th Regiment of Foot. The rebels were drawn up on the Upper Battery of Fort Shirley with three of their officers as prisoners and presented arms to the other troops. They obeyed Cochrane's command to ground their arms but refused his order to step forward. The mutineers picked up their arms and fired a volley. Shots were returned, followed by a bayonet charge that broke their ranks and a close-range fire fight ensued. Those mutineers who tried to escape over the precipice to the sea were exposed to grape-shot and canister fire from Magnificent.

Fate
By 1807 Gaiete was in ordinary at Blackwall. The ship was offered for sale at Woolwich Dockyard on 8 July 1808, and sold on 21 July.


HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781. She served in three wars and made a number of notable captures before she was broken up in 1815.


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



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Gaiete_(1797)

HMS Arethusa (1781) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1807 - HMS Blanche (38), Cptn. Thomas Lavie, wrecked off Ushant.


HMS Amfitrite was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously served with the Spanish Navy before she was captured during the Napoleonic Wars and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The Admiralty renamed her HMS Blanche after she had spent just over a year as Amfitrite. She was the only ship in the Navy to bear this specific name, though a number of other ships used the conventional English spelling and were named HMS Amphitrite. Her most notable feat was her capture of Guerrierein 1806. Blanche was wrecked in 1807.


'The Blanche frigate, lost among the Breakers'

Capture
Further information: Action of 25 November 1804
Amfitrite was sailing off the Spanish Atlantic coast in November 1804, when the 74-gun third rate HMS Donegal, then watching the port of Cadiz under the command of Captain Richard Strachan, spotted her. Donegal gave chase and after 46 hours, Amfitrite lost her mizzen-top-mast, which enabled Donegal to overhaul her.

The engagement lasted only eight minutes, and resulted in a number of deaths, including that of the Spanish captain, who fell to a musket ball. The Amfitrite surrendered and after being searched, was found to be laden with stores and carrying dispatches from Cadiz to Tenerife and Havana.

She was taken over and later commissioned into the Navy as HMS Amfitrite. In early 1805, she was commanded by Robert Corbet. She was renamed HMS Blanche on 3 December 1805.

HMS Blanche
Captain Thomas Lavie took command of Blanche in 1806 and patrolled off the English coast, protecting English shipping from French privateers and raiders. On 28 March 1806, a French squadron consisting of the French frigates Guerrière, Revanche and Sirène, and the brig-corvette Néarque, all under the command of Amand Leduc, were dispatched from Lorient, with orders to attack and destroy British and Russian whalers in the Arctic, off Greenland. Guerrière became separated from the rest of the squadron, but was able to capture and burn several whaling vessels. By 16 July, news of her activities, including a recent sighting off the Faroe Islands reached Captain Lavie aboard Blanche, then off the Shetland Islands. Blanche quickly sailed to the reported area and on 18 July, sighted Guerrière. By this point Guerrière was carrying 50 guns, to the Blanche's 46.

Blanche quickly closed the distance, but Guerrière, perhaps mistaking the British frigate for one of her squadron, did not initially take action. Blanche opened fire at about 15 minutes past midnight, firing two broadsides before the Guerrière could respond. A fierce fight followed, with Guerrière eventually surrendering at half past one that morning, having lost her mizzenmast. Blanche had suffered light damage and four men wounded out of her complement of 265. Guerrière had suffered considerable damage to her lower masts, as well as to her hull, both above and below the waterline. Out of her complement of 350, 20 of her officers, seamen and marines had been killed, whilst another 30 were wounded, ten of them seriously. Many of the French crew had been ill below decks during the engagement. Guerrière had been aiming to cripple the Blanche by firing to bring down her masts, so that the Guerrière might escape. When this failed, Guerrière was eventually worn down and forced to strike.

Blanche escorted Guerrière back to Britain, arriving with her prize on 26 July in Yarmouth Roads. Guerrière was commissioned into the Navy as HMS Guerriere, after a repair and refit that brought her to 48 guns. Lavie was knighted and Blanche's first lieutenant received a promotion. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Blanche 19 July 1806" to all surviving members of the crew that claimed it.

Captain Lavie continued to serve as commander of Blanche and was part of a squadron under Captain Richard Keats blockading the port of Rochefort. On 15 January 1807 Lavie and Blanche intercepted George Washington off Bordeaux. Lavie found that she was carrying Captain Kargarian (Kergariou), the former commander of the French frigate Valeureuse, and 306 of his officers and men, but no stores from Valeureuse. Lavie took the Frenchmen aboard Blanche as his prisoners. He then sent George Washington to England.

Fate
On 4 March 1807, Blanche was wrecked whilst cruising off Ushant. Forty-five of her crew were lost, of whom 20 were marines. All of the officers were saved, as were 180 seamen and 25 marines. The French marched the survivors 30 miles to Brest, where they were housed in the naval hospital. The crew would remain prisoners for seven years until Napoleon's abdication. The court martial on 2 June 1814 honourably acquitted Lavie and his officers of the loss of Blanche. The court found that iron stanchions, cranks and arms under the half-deck had affected her compasses. This in turn had caused her navigation to be faulty.

HMS Amfitrite (1804) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1809 – Launch of HMS Royal Oak, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy,


HMS Royal Oak was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 March 1809 at Dudman's yard at Deptford Wharf. Her first commanding officer was Captain Pulteney Malcolm.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Illustrious' (1803), 'Albion' (1802), 'Hero' (1803), 'Marlborough' (1807), 'York' (1807), 'Hannibal' (1810), 'Sultan' (1807), and 'Royal Oak' (1809), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The alterations relating to the catheads and forecastle beams refer to 'Hannibal' (1810), and to 'Victorious' (1808) of the 'Swiftsure' class (1800). Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].

Napoleonic Wars
In 1812 Royal Oak was under the command of Captain Thomas George Shortland, who was superseded by Captain Edward Dix in 1813. During this time she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Lord Amelius Beauclerk, off the Texel.

War of 1812
Royal Oak shared with other vessels in the proceeds of the capture on 17 December 1813 of the American vessel Maria Antoinette.

On 1 June 1814 Rear-Admiral Pulteney Malcolm, who had hoisted his flag aboard Royal Oak, proceeded with troops under Brigadier-General Robert Ross to North America. Malcolm accompanied Sir Alexander Cochrane on the expedition up the Chesapeake and regulated the debarkation and embarkation of the troops employed against Washington and Baltimore.

Ross was killed on 12 September 1814 in Baltimore, Maryland, the Royal Oak would carry his body to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for internment on 29 September 1814.

In December Royal Oak was with the fleet under Cochrane preparing for the attack on New Orleans. Before the attack, her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne.

On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on Sophie, Armide and the sixth-rate frigate Seahorse while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne.

Main article: Battle of Lake Borgne
Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Captain Lockyer of Sophie led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun Third Rates Royal Oak and Tonnant, and a number of other vessels including Armide, Seahorse, Manly and Meteor.

Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig Manly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of Meteor commanded the third. After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island. On 13 December 1814, the British attacked the one-gun schooner USS Sea Horse. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.

The British captured or destroyed almost the entire American force, including the tender, USS Alligator, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; Royal Oakhad only one man wounded. Anaconda then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "14 Dec Boat Service 1814" to 205 survivors (from all the participating boats).

In support of the attack on New Orleans, sixty Royal Marines from Royal Oak were disembarked. One of these men was killed in action on 8 January 1815, as a force of marines, sailors, and soldiers of the 85th Regiment of Foot commanded by Colonel William Thornton successfully assaulted American positions on the west bank of the Mississippi. The naval contingent was under the command of Commander Rowland Money, of Trave, who was severely wounded in the attack.

Fate
From 1825 Royal Oak was employed on harbour service, until in 1850 she was broken up.


The Fame-class ships of the line were a class of four 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Henslow. After the name-ship of the class was ordered in October 1799, the design was slightly altered before the next three ships were ordered in February 1800. A second batch of five ships was ordered in 1805 to a slightly further modified version of the original draught.

Fame/Hero class (Henslow)

• Fame 74 (1805) – broken up 1817
• Albion 74 (1802) – lazaretto Portsmouth 1831, broken up 1836
• Hero 74 (1803) – wrecked on the Haak Islands 25 December 1811
• Illustrious 74 (1803) – hulked as ordinary guard ship Plymouth 1848, hospital ship 1853, reverted to ordinary guard ship 1859, broken up 1868
• Marlborough 74 (1807) – broken up 1835
• York 74 (1807) – hulked as convict ship Portsmouth 1819, broken up 1835
• Hannibal 74 (1810) – lazaretto Plymouth 1825, later to Pembroke(?), broken up 1834
• Sultan 74 (1807) – hulked as receiving ship Portsmouth 1861, target ship 1862, broken up 1864
• Royal Oak 74 (1809) – hulked as receiving ship Bermuda 1825, broken up 1850

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(1809)

Fame-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1840 – Launch of the Friedland , an Océan class 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy


The Friedland was an Océan class 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Career


Launch of Friedland, by Antoine Chazal.

Her keel was laid down in Cherbourg in 1812 as Inflexibe. During her construction, she was renamed Friedland, Duc de Bordeaux during the Bourbon Restoration, Friedlandagain briefly during the Hundred Days and back to Duc de Bordeaux thereafter. On 9 October 1830, following the July Revolution, she took her name of Friedland. She was finally launched on 4 March 1840.

She was decommissioned from 1852 to 1853, when she took back service and served in the Crimean war. In 1857, work was undertaken to convert her to a steam and sail ship, but the conversion was aborted in February 1858 and the engine was eventually installed on Turenne .

From March 1865, she was used as barracks hulk in Toulon, as Colosse


The Friedland in tow of a steamer, after she ran aground near Constantinople


The Friedland, a French 1st rate 3 decker entering the Bosphorus, accompanied by a two decker (right background) and several other small vessels, against a coastline with a lighthouse and a walled fortress, which could be Rumelihisarı. Inscribed in French: "Le Friedland, vaisseau de 1'er rang en panne a l'entree du Bosphore". Hand-coloured lithograph; Signed by artist in plate. Although the Friedland was laid down in 1812, she was not launched until 1840.

French ship Friedland (1840) - Wikipedia

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Océan-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1908 – Launch of Waldeck-Rousseau, an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century


Waldeck-Rousseau was an armored cruiser built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the second and final member of the Edgar Quinet class, the last class of armored cruiser to be built by the French Navy. She was laid down at the Arsenal de Lorient in June 1906, launched in March 1908, and commissioned in August 1911. Armed with a main battery of fourteen 194-millimeter (7.6 in) guns, she was more powerful than most other armored cruisers, but she had entered service more than two years after the first battlecruiser—HMS Invincible—had rendered the armored cruiser obsolescent. Waldeck-Rousseau nevertheless proved to be a workhorse of the French Mediterranean Fleet.


Waldeck-Rousseau off Constantinople in 1922

After the outbreak of World War I, Waldeck-Rousseau joined the main French fleet that blockaded the southern end of the Adriatic to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from operating in the Mediterranean. In October and November, Waldeck-Rousseau was twice attacked by Austro-Hungarian U-boats but she escaped unscathed in both engagements. She thereafter alternated between stints in the southern Adriatic and patrols in the eastern Mediterranean once the Ottoman Empire joined the war in November.

After the war, the British and French intervened in the Russian Civil War; this included a major naval deployment to the Baltic Sea, which included Waldeck-Rousseau. Shortly after arriving, her crew mutinied due to poor living conditions and a desire to return to France. The unrest was quickly suppressed, and Waldeck-Rousseau joined the effort to support the Whites against the Red Bolsheviks. In May 1929, the ship was sent to French Indochina to serve as the flagship of the Far East squadron. She remained there until May 1932, when she returned to France, where she was decommissioned and hulked. Waldeck-Rousseau was ultimately scrapped in 1941–44.

Description
Main article: Edgar Quinet-class cruiser
Waldeck-Rousseau was 158.9 meters (521 ft) long overall, with a beam of 21.51 m (70.6 ft) and a draft of 8.41 m (27.6 ft). She displaced 13,995 long tons (14,220 t). Her power plant consisted of three triple-expansion engines powered by forty coal-fired Niclausse boilers, which were trunked into six funnels in two groups of three. Her engines were rated at 36,000 indicated horsepower (27,000 kW) and produced a top speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). She had a crew of between 859 and 892 officers and enlisted men.

Waldeck-Rousseau was armed with a main battery of fourteen 194 mm (7.6 in) 50-caliber M1902 guns; four were in twin gun turrets forward and aft, with three single gun turrets on either broadside. The last four guns were mounted in casemates abreast the main and aft conning towers. Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a battery of twenty 65 mm (2.6 in)guns in casemates in the ship's hull. She was also equipped with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull. She was protected with an armored belt that was 150 mm (5.9 in) thick amidships. The gun turrets had 200 mm (7.9 in) thick plating, while the casemates had marginally thinner protection, at 194 mm. The main conning tower had 200 mm thick sides.

During World War I, several 14-pounder and 9-pounder anti-aircraft guns were added, with the older 9-pounder guns being removed to keep displacement down. In 1930, she was modified to carry a reconnaissance seaplane.




Service history
Waldeck-Rousseau, named for the recently deceased Prime Minister of France, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, was ordered on 31 July 1905 and was laid down at the Arsenal de Lorient on 16 June 1906. She was launched on 4 March 1908, and fitting out work was completed in time to begin sea trials in January 1911. While on her acceptance trials on 2 February, she struck a submerged object that bent her port propeller shaft and damaged the screw. Waldeck-Rousseau was completed in August;[2][6] the ship was the most powerful armored cruiser completed by France, but she entered service two years after the British battlecruiser HMS Invincible, which rendered the armored cruiser obsolescent as a warship type. Her lengthy construction interfered with the scheduled keel-laying for the new predreadnought battleship Mirabeau, which could not be started until Waldeck-Rousseauwas launched.[8] After entering service the new cruiser was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, based in Toulon. In April 1912, she was assigned to the 1st Light Squadron, along with her sister ship Edgar Quinet and the armored cruiser Ernest Renan.



World War I
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Waldeck-Rousseau was under repair at Toulon owing to a grounding incident off Golfe-Juan during a hurricane on 22 February. Work was completed by 5 September, and by the end of the month she had joined the French fleet blockading the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the southern end of the Adriatic Sea. On 17 October she briefly engaged Austro-Hungarian forces off Cattaro; she fired at the Austro-Hungarian U-boat SM U-4 that had tried to torpedo her and engaged several destroyers that were supported by an airplane before she broke off the action to rejoin the French fleet. She was unsuccessfully attacked a second time by an Austro-Hungarian U-boat while on patrol on 4 November. On this occasion, she was patrolling with the cruiser Ernest Renan; Waldeck-Rousseau engaged the submarine and forced it to withdraw.

On 30 November, the cruiser was transferred to the Ionian Sea and was based in Salonika. While there, Waldeck-Rousseau patrolled the eastern Mediterranean and the coast of the Levant. She returned to Malta on 13 December, where she resumed patrols in the southern Adriatic. In early March 1915 Waldeck-Rousseau returned to the Ionian. From 25 April to 1 May she briefly patrolled in the Strait of Otranto at the southern end of the Adriatic, before returning to her station in the Ionian. On 8 January 1916, Waldeck-Rousseau, her sister Edgar Quinet, Ernest Renan and Jules Ferry embarked a contingent of Chasseurs Alpins (mountain troops) to seize the Greek island of Corfu. The cruisers sent the troops ashore on the night of 10 January; the Greek officials on the island protested the move but offered no resistance. For the rest of the war, she patrolled in the Ionian and eastern Mediterranean but did not see further action.

Black Sea operations, 1919–1920
Starting in 1919, the French Navy joined the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in the Black Sea to support the Whites against the Red Bolsheviks. Waldeck-Rousseau arrived in early 1919, flying the flag of Admiral Caubet. While in Odessa on 26–29 April 1919, sailors aboard Waldeck-Rousseau mutinied; the ship, which had just arrived from France with a fresh crew, had not yet had contact with Russian revolutionaries. Nevertheless, the crew had quickly grown weary of poor living conditions and wanted to return to France. After three days, the unrest was suppressed and she returned to service, though Caubet was relieved of command for failing to control his crew. The Vietnamese communist Tôn Đức Thắng, who was at that time serving in the French Navy, claimed to have participated in the mutiny, but French records do not list him as having been aboard Waldeck-Rousseau at the time. At the same time, the crews of other French ships in Constantinople became restive, and so Admiral Jean-Françoise-Charles Amet refused to allow Waldeck-Rousseau to join the rest of the fleet there, owing to her crew's earlier mutiny.

On 26 March 1920, Waldeck-Rousseau provided gunfire support to the evacuating White Russian forces outside Novorossiysk, along with the British dreadnought battleship Emperor of India. The Anglo-French fleet then evacuated the White Russians from the city to the Crimean peninsula. Later in the year, she assisted in the evacuation of General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel's army. The motley collection of ships departed the Crimea on 14 November; Waldeck-Rousseau steamed at the rear of the fleet as it made its way to Constantinople.

Waldeck-Rousseau remained in the Black Sea while the fleet continued on into the Mediterranean and eventually to internment at Bizerte in Algeria. On 16 December 1922, the French transport SS Vinh Long caught fire while in the Sea of Marmara. The United States destroyer USS Bainbridge arrived on the scene first and took off the survivors, which numbered 482 of the 495 crew and passengers that had been aboard. Waldeck-Rousseau arrived shortly thereafter, and the survivors were transferred to the larger cruiser, since she could better accommodate them. For his part in the rescue operations, the commander of Bainbridge—Lieutenant Commander Walter Edwards—was awarded the Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honour, and the British Distinguished Service Order.

Fate
She later served as the flagship of the French Far East squadron, having left France on 10 May 1929. She arrived on 22 June and replaced the cruiser Jules Michelet as the flagship. Waldeck-Rousseau served there until May 1932, when she departed for France, having been replaced by the light cruiser Primauguet. Waldeck-Rousseau reached France on 3 July. After returning to France, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve. On 14 June 1936, she was stricken and subsequently converted into a hulk at Landévennec, outside Brest. Waldeck-Rousseau was scuttled on 18 June 1940 at Brest and ultimately broken up for scrap between 1941 and 1944.



Edgar Quinet in 1913

The Edgar Quinet class was the last type of armored cruiser built for the French Navy. The two ships of this class—Edgar Quinet and Waldeck-Rousseau—were built between 1905 and 1911. They were based on the previous cruiser, Ernest Renan, the primary improvement being a more powerful uniform main battery of 194 mm (7.6 in) guns. The Edgar Quinet class was the most powerful type of armored cruiser built in France, but they entered service more than two years after the British battlecruiser HMS Invincible, which, with its all-big-gun armament, had rendered armored cruisers obsolescent.

Both ships operated together in the Mediterranean Fleet after entering service, and they remained in the fleet throughout World War I. They participated in the blockade of the Adriatic to keep the Austro-Hungarian Navy contained early in the war. During this period, Edgar Quinet took part in the Battle of Antivari in August 1914, and Waldeck-Rousseau was unsuccessfully attacked twice by Austro-Hungarian U-boats. Waldeck-Rousseau participated in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in the Black Seain 1919–22, while Edgar Quinet remained in the Mediterranean during the contemporaneous Greco-Turkish War.

Edgar Quinet was converted into a training ship in the mid-1920s before running aground off the Algerian coast in January 1930. She could not be pulled free and sank five days later. Waldeck-Rousseau served as the flagship of the Far East fleet from 1929 to 1932 and was decommissioned after returning to France. She was hulked in 1936 and scrapped in 1941–44.

French cruiser Waldeck-Rousseau - Wikipedia

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Edgar Quinet-class cruiser - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1914 - First Battle of Topolobampo


The First Battle of Topolobampo was a bloodless engagement and one of the few naval battles of the Mexican Revolution. The small action occurred off Topolobampo, Mexico and involved three gunboats, two from the Mexican Navy and another which mutinied from the armada and joined the rebel Constitutionalists. It was fought on the morning of March 4, 1914 and was the first battle of the naval campaign in the Gulf of California.


The Mexican Navy gunboat Tampico in 1908, before her sinking during the Topolobampo naval campaign of the Mexican Revolution.

Background
Guaymas Mutiny
On 22 February 1914,[1] off Guaymas, Mexico a mutiny began at about 8:00 pm when the Mexican Navy gunboat Tampico was refitting for a cruise. Half of the officers and crew were still enjoying shore leave when Executive Officer Lieutenant Hilario Rodríguez Malpica and three other officers began to rally the remaining crew aboard Tampico. The mob of sailors then headed for their captain, whom they arrested with violence. Malpica, who had assumed command of the mutineers, informed Captain Manuel Azueta that he intended to sail Tampico to join the Constitutionalists. (There are various stories about why Lieutenant Malpica resorted to mutiny, however none are known to be true). Tampico started and intended to head westward.

Just then the Huerista gunboat Guerrero, under Captain Navio Torres, was spotted in front of Tampico. Malpica steamed Tampicostraight for Guerrero, hoping to ram and sink her. Unfortunately for Tampico, her steering gear malfunctioned and she was forced to turn around and head for Topolobampo in Sinaloa.

The mutineers transferred Tampico's former captain to a merchant vessel, SS Herrerias, which took him to Mazatlán, which was still in federal hands at the time. Tampico made it to Topolobampo, which became her home port throughout the subsequent naval campaign. Because Tampico was short half of her crew, twenty-five Sinaloan insurgents were ordered to her to become sailors.



Battle
After being humiliated by allowing Tampico to escape and join the rebellion, Captain Navio Torres with Guerrero and another gunboat, Morelos, headed for Topolobampo where they suspected to find the Tampico. Guerrero arrived on 2 March, where she anchored outside the bar and waited for Moreloswhich would arrive the following day. Tampico was not in sight however; apparently she was conducting a mission against federal Mexican forces elsewhere. So the two gunboats waited in Topolobampo Bay until the next morning; on 4 March, they sighted Tampico as she entered the channel. Guerrero was immediately ordered underway; Morelos followed along Guerrero astern.

Just seconds after lifting anchor, Guerrero opened fire from around 9,000 yards (8,200 m) with her main gun battery. A running battle ensued; Tampico did not stop to fire until after passing Shell Point; once on the other side, she opened fire with her two 4-inch (102 mm) guns and one 6-pounder (3 kg) gun at Guerrero. Tampico had one other 6-pounder gun on board but only the one would be used in the battle. Upon receiving fire, Captain Torres, ordered his ship to maneuver into position for a broadside attack with his six 4-inch guns; Guerrero fired but none of her shots hit their target. At this time Morelos was about 800 yards (730 m) off Guerrero's portside when she opened fire. A gunnery duel continued for sometime; ultimately no hits were made by either side who were firing at each other from a range of 8,000 to 9,000 yards (7,300 to 8,200 m) away.

Guerrero had a better armament than Tampico; Guerrero's guns were in much better condition which gave her a farther range than that of Tampico. This would become a major factor in the coming battles which gave the federals a distinct advantage over the Constitutionalist gunboat. Eventually Tampico made for the protection of Topolobampo's port; she entered past the bar and the fighting ended. The gunboat Guerrero again anchored outside the bar, to initiate a naval blockade while Morelos left for Guaymas for coal and provisions; she would return a few days later.

Aftermath
Throughout the engagement, none of the rounds fired hit their targets. Tampico, according to report, fired far more accurately than the other two gunboats. Of her rounds, one was spotted 50 yards (46 m) short of Guerrero, another 50 yards over, and one more, just off Guerrero's portside. Guerrero fired about twenty rounds that morning, Morelos about seven and Tampico fired fourteen. On 13 March, Tampico would test the federal blockade during another bloodless sea battle known as the Second Battle of Topolobampo.




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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1916 – Launch of HMS Renown, the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War.


HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleships. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to restart her construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ships in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Renown, and her sister HMS Repulse, were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.


Renown in Fremantle, Western Australia carrying the Duke and Duchess of York back to England in 1927

Renown did not see combat during the war and was reconstructed twice between the wars; the 1920s reconstruction increased her armour protection and made other more minor improvements, while the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough. The ship frequently conveyed royalty on their foreign tours and served as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was refitting.

During the Second World War, Renown was involved in the search for the Admiral Graf Spee in 1939, participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 and the search for the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. She spent much of 1940 and 1941 assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, escorting convoys and she participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. Renown was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet and provided cover to several Arctic convoys in early 1942. The ship was transferred back to Force H for Operation Torch and spent much of 1943 refitting or transporting Winston Churchill and his staff to and from various conferences with various Allied leaders. In early 1944, Renown was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean where she supported numerous attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia and various island groups in the Indian Ocean. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in early 1945 and was refitted before being placed in reserve after the end of the war. Renown was sold for scrap in 1948.


The Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Renown photographed circa 1918. Note the aircraft carried atop her "B" turret.

Design and description
Admiral Lord Fisher first presented his requirements for the new ships to the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) on 18 December 1914, before the ships had even been approved. He wanted a long, high, flared bow, like that on the pre-dreadnoughtHMS Renown, but higher, four 15-inch guns in two twin turrets, an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty 4-inch (102 mm) guns mounted high up and protected by gun shields only, speed of 32 knots using oil fuel, and armour on the scale of the battlecruiser Indefatigable. Within a few days, however, Fisher increased the number of guns to six and added two torpedo tubes. Minor revisions in the initial estimate were made until 26 December and a preliminary design was completed on 30 December.

During the following week the DNC's department examined the material delivered for the two battleships and decided what could be used in the new design. The usable material was transferred to the builders, who had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March!


Renown, as reconstructed in 1939

Renown had an overall length of 794 feet 1.5 inches (242.0 m), a beam of 90 feet 1.75 inches (27.5 m), and a maximum draughtof 30 feet 2 inches (9.2 m). She displaced 27,320 long tons (27,760 t) at normal load and 32,220 long tons (32,740 t) at deep load. Her Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce 112,000 shaft horsepower (84,000 kW), which would propel the ship at 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). However, during trials in 1916, Renown's turbines provided 126,000 shp (94,000 kW), allowing her to reach a speed of 32.58 knots (60.34 km/h; 37.49 mph). The ship normally carried 1,000 long tons (1,016 t) of fuel oil, but had a maximum capacity of 4,289 long tons (4,358 t). At full capacity, she could steam at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) for 4,000 nautical miles (7,410 km; 4,600 mi).

The ship mounted six 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in three twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated 'A', 'B', and 'Y' from front to rear. Her secondary armament consisted of 17 BL 4-inch Mark IX guns, fitted in five triple and two single mounts. Renown mounted a pair of QF 3 inch 20 cwt[Note 1] anti-aircraft guns mounted on the shelter deck abreast the rear funnel. She mounted two submerged tubes for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes, one on each side forward of 'A' barbette.

Renown's waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured 6 inches (152 mm) thick amidships. Her gun turrets were 7–9 inches (178–229 mm) thick with roofs were 4.25 inches (108 mm) thick. As designed the high-tensile-steel decks ranged from 0.75 to 1.5 inches (19 to 38 mm) in thickness. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ship was still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines. Renown was fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship.

Despite these additions, the ship was still felt to be too vulnerable to plunging fire and Renown was refitted in Rosyth between 1 February and mid-April 1917 with additional horizontal armour, weighing approximately 504 long tons (512 t), added to the decks over the magazines and over the steering gear. Flying-off platforms were fitted on 'B' and 'X' turrets in early 1918. One fighterand a reconnaissance aircraft were carried.


Repulse in August 1918

The Renown class comprised a pair of battlecruisers built during the First World War for the Royal Navy. They were originally laid down as improved versions of the Revenge-class battleships. Their construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds they would not be ready in a timely manner. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to restart their construction as battlecruisers that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ships in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but they were delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. They were the world's fastest capital ships upon their commissioning.

Repulse was the only ship of her class to see combat in the First World War when she participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917. Both ships were reconstructed twice between the wars; the 1920s reconstruction increased their armour protection and made lesser improvements, while the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough, especially for Renown. Repulse accompanied the battlecruiser Hood during the Special Service Squadron's round-the-world cruise in 1923–24 and protected British interests during the Spanish Civil War between 1936–39. Renown frequently conveyed royalty on their foreign tours and served as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was refitting.

Both ships served during the Second World War; they searched for the Admiral Graf Spee in 1939, participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 and searched for the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. Repulse was sunk on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off Kuantan, Pahang by Japanese aircraft. Renown spent much of 1940 and 1941 assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, escorting convoys and she fought in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. She was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet and provided cover to several Arctic convoys in early 1942. The ship was transferred back to Force H for Operation Torch and spent much of 1943 refitting or transporting Winston Churchill and his staff to and from various conferences with various Allied leaders. In early 1944 Renown was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean where she supported numerous attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia and various island groups in the Indian Ocean. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in early 1945 and was refitted before being placed in reserve after the end of the war. Renown was sold for scrap in 1948.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Renown_(1916)

Renown-class battlecruiser - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1918 - USS Cyclops – On 4 March 1918 the Proteus-class collier left Barbados carrying manganese ore from Brazil. She was due in Baltimore on 13 March but never arrived.
She and 306 people aboard were declared missing, and no wreckage or bodies were ever identified. This is the US Navy's single largest loss of life not directly involving combat.
Her loss was never explained, but one sister ship USS Jason later developed structural faults and two others, Nereus and Proteus, vanished at sea in World War II. Also, Cyclops' starboard engine was out of action, she may have been overloaded, and on 10 March there was a storm off the Virginia Capes.


The USS Cyclops (AC-4) was the second of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. Named for the Cyclops, a primordial race of giants from Greek mythology, she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace within the area known as the Bermuda Triangle some time after 4 March 1918 remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat. As it was wartime, she was thought to have been captured or sunk by a German raider or submarine, because she was carrying 10,800 long tons (11,000 t) of manganese ore used to produce munitions, but German authorities at the time, and subsequently, denied any knowledge of the vessel. The Naval History & Heritage Command has stated she "probably sank in an unexpected storm", but the ultimate cause of the ship's loss is not known.


USS Cyclops (1910-1918); ed in the Hudson River, off New York City.

History
Cyclops was launched on 7 May 1910, by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia and placed in service on 7 November 1910, with Lieutenant Commander George Worley, Master, Naval Auxiliary Service, in command. Operating with the Naval Auxiliary Service, Atlantic Fleet, she voyaged in the Baltic from May–July 1911 to supply Second Division ships. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia, she operated on the east coast from Newport, Rhode Island, to the Caribbean, servicing the fleet. During the United States occupation of Veracruz in Mexico in 1914–1915, she coaled ships on patrol there and received the thanks of the U.S. State Department for cooperation in evacuating refugees.

With American entry into World War I, Cyclops was commissioned on 1 May 1917, with Lieutenant Commander George W. Worley in command. She joined a convoy for Saint-Nazaire, France, in June 1917, returning to the U.S. in July. Except for a voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she served along the East Coast until 9 January 1918, when she was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She then sailed to Brazilian waters to fuel British ships in the South Atlantic, receiving the thanks of the U.S. State Department and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific.




USS Cyclops (Fuel Ship # 4) refueling the battleship USS Delaware (Battleship No. 28). A clamshell bucket is dumping coal on the deck of the battleship while another bucket is in operation further aft. The battleship's entire crew is trying to shovel the heaps of coal on deck into chutes leading to the coal bunkers below. Each bucket carried 4,000 pounds of coal. Cyclops could operate twelve buckets at once, one for each of the ship's cargo coal holds.
US Navy Photo courtesy Shipscribe.com.

Disappearance
The ship put to sea from Rio de Janeiro on 16 February 1918, and entered Salvador on 20 February. Two days later, she departed for Baltimore, Maryland, with no stops scheduled, carrying the manganese ore. The ship was thought to be overloaded when she left Brazil, as her maximum capacity was 8,000 long tons (8,100 t). Before leaving port, Commander Worley had submitted a report that the starboard engine had a cracked cylinder and was not operative. This report was confirmed by a survey board, which recommended, however, that the ship be returned to the United States. She made an unscheduled stop in Barbados because the water level was over the Plimsoll line, indicating that it was overloaded, but investigations in Rio proved the ship had been loaded and secured properly. Cyclops then set out for Baltimore on 4 March, and was rumored to have been sighted on 9 March by the molasses tanker Amolco near Virginia, but this was denied by Amolco's captain. Additionally, because Cyclops was not due in Baltimore until 13 March, the ship was highly unlikely to have been near Virginia on 9 March, as that location would have placed her only about a day from Baltimore. In any event, Cyclops never made it to Baltimore, and no wreckage of her has ever been found. Reports indicate that on 10 March, the day after the ship was rumored to have been sighted by Amolco, a violent storm swept through the Virginia Capes area. While some suggest that the combination of the overloaded condition, engine trouble, and bad weather may have conspired to sink Cyclops, an extensive naval investigation concluded: "Many theories have been advanced, but none that satisfactorily accounts for her disappearance." This summation was written, however, before two of Cyclops's sister ships, the Proteus and Nereus, vanished at sea during World War II. Both ships were transporting heavy loads of metallic ore similar to that which was loaded on Cyclops during her fatal voyage. In both cases, their loss was theorized to have been the result of catastrophic structural failure, but a more outlandish theory attributes all three vessels' disappearances to the Bermuda Triangle.

Rear Admiral George van Deurs suggested that the loss of Cyclops could be owing to structural failure, as her sister ships suffered from issues where the I-beams that ran the length of the ship had eroded due to the corrosive nature of some of the cargo carried. This was observed definitively on the USS Jason, and is believed to have contributed to the sinking of another similar freighter, Chuky, which snapped in two in calm seas. Moreover, Cyclops may have hit a storm with 30–40 kn (56–74 km/h; 35–46 mph) winds. These would have resulted in waves just far enough apart to leave the bow and stern supported on the peaks of successive waves, but with the middle unsupported, resulting in extra strain on the already weakened central area.

On 1 June 1918, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Cyclops to be officially lost, and all hands deceased. One of the seamen lost aboard Cyclops was African-American mess attendant Lewis H. Hardwick, the father of Herbert Lewis Hardwick, "The Cocoa Kid", an Afro-Puerto Rican welterweight boxer who was a top contender in the 1930s and 1940s, who won the world colored welterweight and world colored middleweight championships. In 1918, a short summary of the loss of Cyclops was listed in the U.S. Navy Annual Report.

For a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Tom Mangold had an expert from Lloyds investigate the loss of Cyclops. The expert noted that manganese ore, being much denser than coal, had room to move within the holds even when fully laden, the hatch covers were canvas, and that when wet, the ore can become a slurry. As such, the load could shift and cause the ship to list. Combined with a possible loss of power from its one engine, it could founder in bad weather.


USS Cyclops under way, date and location unknown

Sister ships
Cyclops had three sister ships, all commissioned in 1913, which were all ill-fated.

• USS Jupiter (AC-3) was converted to an aircraft carrier between 1920 and 1922 and was recommissioned as USS Langley (CV-1). Langley was the first American aircraft carrier and was vital in developing United States naval aviation capabilities. She was converted again between 1936 and 1937 as a seaplane tender and redesignated as AV-3. She was stationed in the Philippines in December 1941 and departed for Australia following the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. On February 27, 1942, while ferrying fighter planes to Southeast Asia, she was attacked by Japanese aircraft and was hit by five bombs, causing critical damage. After her surviving crew members were rescued, Langley was scuttled by torpedoes fired by her escorting destroyers.
• USS Proteus (AC-9) was sold on March 8, 1941, became part of the Canadian Merchant Navy, and was lost at sea without a trace, probably in or near the Caribbean Sea, sometime after November 25, 1941.
• USS Nereus (AC-10) was sold to the Aluminium Company of Canada on 27 February 1941. She was lost without a trace after departing Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on December 10, 1941, with a load of bauxite ore (for making aluminum).

USS Cyclops - Wikipedia

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Collier Photo Index (AC)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1943 - SS City of Pretoria, a British cargo steamship, was torpedoed by german U-Boot U-172 and sunk in the Second World War with heavy loss of life, all 145 on board died


SS City of Pretoria was a British cargo steamship. She was torpedoed and sunk in the Second World War with heavy loss of life.



Career
She was built by Cammell Laird & Co Ltd, at their yards in Birkenhead in 1937. She was operated by Ellerman & Bucknall Steamship Co. Ltd and registered in London. She continued to be operated by Ellerman Lines in the Second World War, making at least one voyage early in the war carrying materiel from New York to France.

Her Chief Officer from 6 August 1939 to 16 August 1939 was Captain Alfred George Freeman who went on to captain several Ellerman Lines ships including SS City of Singapore and a newer SS City of Pretoria from 29 November 1950 to 26 November 1960.

Her final voyage took her from New York, which she departed on 27 February 1943, bound for Liverpool via Holyhead. She was carrying 7,032 tons of general cargo and 145 passengers and crew. Her master was Frank Deighton. Her high speed meant that it was deemed an acceptable risk to sail unescorted rather than in a convoy.

Sinking
She was travelling unescorted through the Atlantic Ocean, when she was sighted on 4 March at 0609 hours by the German submarine U-172. The U-boat torpedoed the City of Pretoria, causing her to explode and sink northwest of the Azores. All aboard her, including her master, 108 crew, 24 DEMS gunners, five apprentices and seven passengers were lost with her. The passengers were "Distressed British Seamen" (DBS) being repatriated to the UK because their former ships had been sunk.

One of the passengers was James Allistair Whyte, previously third officer of City of Cairo, who had survived 51 days in a lifeboat after she had been torpedoed and sunk by U-68 on 6 November 1942.

SS City of Pretoria - Wikipedia

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German submarine U-172 - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 March 1970 – French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.


Eurydice (S644) was a French submarine, one of nine of the Daphné class.

On 4 March 1970, while diving in calm seas off Cape Camarat in the Mediterranean, 35 miles (56 km) east of Toulon, a geophysical laboratory picked up the shock waves of an underwater explosion. French and Italian search teams found an oil slick and a few bits of debris, including a part that bore the name Eurydice.

The cause of the explosion was never determined. All 57 crew were lost.


Flore, sister-ship of Eurydice


Doris, sister-ship of Eurydice

French submarine Eurydice (S644) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 4 March


1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niña

Christopher Columbus - Wikipedia

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1670 – Launch of French Royale Thérèse 68, later 76 guns (designed and built by Rodolphe Gédéon, launched 4 March 1670 at Toulon) – renamed Saint Esprit in June 1671; condemned 1689 and sold 1692


1685 – Launch of French Marquis 56/60 (launched 4 March 1685 at Toulon) – captured by the Dutch in the Battle of Marbella in March 1705

The Battle of Cabrita Point, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Marbella, was a naval battle that took place while a combined Spanish-French force besieged Gibraltar on 10 March 1705 (21 March 1705 in the New Calendar) during the War of Spanish Succession.
The battle was an allied victory (English, Portuguese and Dutch) which effectively ended the Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar.

Battle of Cabrita Point - Wikipedia

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1733 – Death of Claude de Forbin, French admiral and politician (b. 1656)

Claude, chevalier, then count de Forbin-Gardanne (6 August 1656 – 4 March 1733) was a French naval commander. In 1685–1688 he was on a diplomatic mission to Siam. He became governor of Bangkok and a general in the Siamese army, and left Siam shortly before King Narai fell ill and was deposed by a coup d'état.



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


1804 Boats of HMS Blenheim (90), Cptn. Thomas Graves, failed to cut out French national schooner Curieux.

HMS Blenheim was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich. In 1797 she participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1801 Blenheim was razeed to a Third Rate. She disappeared off Madagascar with all hands in February 1807.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the outboard profile of 'Blenheim' (1761), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, illustrating her as cut down (razeed) to a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Chatham Dockyard. This was approved by Admiralty Order dated 31 January 1801.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Blenheim_(1761)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1825 - The schooner Grampus, commanded by Lt. Francis H. Gregory, captures a pirate sloop off the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

USS Grampus was a schooner in the United States Navy. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's Dolphin.

Grampus was built at the Washington Navy Yard under the supervision of naval constructor William Doughty, based on a design by Henry Eckford. Her 73 ft (22 m) keel was laid down in 1820. She was launched in early August 1821. The need to suppress piracy and to maintain ships to catch slavers led to the building of five such schooners, the largest of which was Grampus. This was the first building program undertaken by the Navy since the War of 1812.


Grampus depicted flying her National Ensigns upside down, a sign of distress

USS Grampus (1821) - Wikipedia

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1848 – Launch of Algérie, (launched 4 March 1848 at Rochefort) – deleted 15 July 1867.

Algérie class (40-gun type, 1842 design by Jean-Baptiste Hubert, with 26 x 30-pounder guns, 8 x 30-pounder carronades, and 2 x 80-pounder and 4 x 30-pounder shell guns):
Algérie, (launched 4 March 1848 at Rochefort) – deleted 15 July 1867.


1853 – Death of Thomas Bladen Capel, English admiral (b. 1776)

Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel GCB RN (25 August 1776 – 4 March 1853) was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy. He was also a great friend of Admiral Nelson and can be considered a full member of Nelson's "band of brothers".

Thomas Bladen Capel - Wikipedia

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1862 - The wooden side-wheel steamship USS Santiago de Cuba, commanded by Cmdr. Daniel B. Ridgely, reports the capture of sloop O.K. off Cedar Keys, Fla.

USS Santiago de Cuba (1861) was a brig acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with powerful 20-pounder rifled guns and 32-pounder cannon and was assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.

USS Santiago de Cuba - Wikipedia

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1893 – Launch of HSwMS Thule was a Svea-class coastal defence ship of the Royal Swedish Navy.

HSwMS Thule was a Svea-class coastal defence ship of the Royal Swedish Navy.

Thule was launched on 4 March 1893 at Bergsunds Yard in Stockholm. She displaced 3,150 tons, had a LPP of 79.5 metres (261 ft) and a beam of 14.6 metres (48 ft). Thule was propelled by a two-cylinder steam engine which gave her a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). She was struck from service in 1928, and broken up in 1933.

HSwMS Thule (1893) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1897 – Launch of HMS Pegasus was one of 11 Pelorus-class protected cruisers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1893 under the Spencer Program and based on the earlier Pearl class.

HMS Pegasus was one of 11 Pelorus-class protected cruisers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1893 under the Spencer Program and based on the earlier Pearl class. The class were fitted with a variety of different boilers, most of which were not entirely satisfactory, and by 1914, four ships had been withdrawn. They had all been condemned in 1904 but were reprieved and remained in service, with scrapping proposed in 1915.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pegasus_(1897)


1925 - Congress authorizes the restoration of frigate USS Constitution, which had launched in 1797. In July 1931, amid a 21-gun salute, Constitution is recommissioned and sails on a tour of 90 US ports along three coasts.

USS Constitution - Wikipedia

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1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.

Battle of the Bismarck Sea - Wikipedia

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1945 - USS Baya (SS 318) sinks merchant tanker Palembang Maru off Cape Varella, French Indochina, and USS Tilefish (SS 307) and sinks Japanese fishing vessel ShikoMaru.

USS Baya - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1691 – Launch of French Foudroyant, a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the lead vessel in the two-ship Foudroyant Class (her sister being the Merveilleux).


The Foudroyant was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the lead vessel in the two-ship Foudroyant Class (her sister being the Merveilleux).



This ship was ordered in January 1690 to be built at Brest Dockyard, and on 9 July she was allotted the name Foudroyant. The designer and builder of both ships was Blaise Pangalo. They were three-decker ships without forecastles. The Foudroyant was launched on 5 March 1691 and completed in June of the same year.

She was initially armed with 90 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounders on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounders on the middle deck, twenty-four 12-pounders on the upper deck, and ten 6-pounders on the quarterdeck. However she was reduced to 84 guns before the end of 1691.

The new ship took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 29 May 1692, where she was the flagship of Chef d'Escadre Ferdinand, Comte de Relingue. Following the battle she and her sister Merveilleux put into La Hogue on the east coast of the Cotentin Peninsula where they were attacked and burnt by Anglo-Dutch naval forces on 2 June 1692.

A new ship was immediately ordered to be built at Brest and given the same name; this was launched in December 1692. However, in March 1693 this ship exchanged names with the ship ordered at Brest in January 1693, so it was the latter which bore the name Foudroyant when launched in November 1693.



Foudroyant Class, designed and built by Blaise Pangalo.

Foudroyant 84/90 (launched 5 March 1691 at Brest) – burnt by the English in the Battle of la Hogue in June 1692
Merveilleux 80/90 (launched 19 November 1691 at Brest) – burnt by the English in the Battle of La Hogue in June 1692

French ship Foudroyant (1691) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org