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
5 March 1800 – 36-gun frigate HMS Phoebe captures the 22-gun privateer Heureux


Heureux was a 22-gun French privateer brig that the British captured in 1800. She served with the Royal Navy as the 22-gun post ship HMS Heureux. She captured numerous French and Spanish privateers and merchant vessels in the Caribbean before she was lost at sea in 1806. Her fate remains a mystery to this day.



French privateer
The frigate Phoebe, commanded by Captain Robert Barlow, captured the privateer Heureux in the English Channel off Bordeaux on 5 March 1800. Heureux, of 22 long brass 12-pounders and 220 men, mistook Phoebe for an East Indiaman, and approached her. Heureux did not discover her mistake until she had arrived within point-blank musket-shot. She then wore upon the Phoebe's weather bow and hauled to the wind on the same tack. Heureux opened fire in an attempt to disable Phoebe's masts, rigging, and sails, and thereby enable Heureux to escape. Phoebe's broadside, however, was too powerful and Heureuxwas forced to strike her colours. Phoebe had three seamen killed, or mortally wounded, and three slightly wounded. Heureux had 18 men killed and 25 wounded, most of whom lost limbs. Eleven former British sailors were found serving among Heureux's crew, and were placed in irons for transportation back to England.

She had been out 42 days but had only taken one prize, a small Portuguese sloop with a cargo of wine. The sloop had been blown out to sea while on her way from Limerick to Galway. Heureux had intended to cruise the West Indies. Instead, she arrived at Plymouth as a prize on 25 March 1800.

Barlow described Heureux as "the most complete flush deck ship I have ever seen, copper fastened, highly finished and of large dimensions". Furthermore, "she will be considered as a most desirable ship for His Majesty's Service."

British service
The Admiralty bought Heureux and she completed her fitting out in November. She was armed with two 9-pounder guns at her bow and twenty 32-pounder carronades for her broadsides. Captain Loftus Bland commissioned her in August 1800 under her existing name. She sailed for the Leeward Islands in February 1801.

Three months after her arrival, on 28 May, some 80 leagues to windward of Barbados, Heureux chased down and captured the 16-gun French sloop Egypte from Guadeloupe. The chase lasted 16 hours while Egypte kept up a running fight for three hours during which she neither inflicted nor suffered any casualties. Bland reported that Egypte was said to be the fastest vessel out of Guadeloupe. She and her crew of 103 men had sailed 13 days earlier but had made no captures.

On 16 August, Heureux was between Martinique and St. Lucia when she saw the brig Guachapin in an unequal fight against a Spanish letter of marque armed with eighteen brass 32 and 12-pounder guns. Heureux sailed up as fast as she could but even before she arrived the Spaniard had struck to Guachapin. The two-hour engagement had cost Guachapin two men killed and three wounded, and the Spaniard nearly the same. The Spaniard was the Theresa, under the command of an officer of the Spanish Navy, and had a crew of 120 men.

One year later, on 10 August 1803, Heureux and Emerald captured the Dutch ship Surinam Planter, which was sailing from Surinam to Amsterdam. Her cargo consisted of 922 hogsheads of sugar, 342 bales of cotton, and 70,000 lbs. of coffee.

On 23 September 1803 Heureux represented the Royal Navy at the capture of the Batavian Republic's colony at Berbice. The British captured the schooner Serpent, as well many arms, troops and the like. The Navy took Serpent into service as HMS Berbice.

Heureux then captured the French privateer and blockade runner Flibustier (or Flebustier) 40 leagues from Barbados on 26 February 1804. Although pierced for 14 guns, Flibustierwas armed with six French 6-pounders. She had 68 men on board, was new and had provisions for a long cruise from Guadeloupe but apparently had made no captures. On 25 June, Heureux recaptured the English ship Esther, which was carrying a cargo of coals and potatoes. In September Heureux recaptured the English ship Salamander, a Guineaman.

Then on 9 December Heureux, now under Captain George Younghusband, captured the Spanish merchant ship San Sebastian, laden with wine. Four days later Heureux captured the Santo Christo, which was carrying military stores and merchandise.

On 31 May 1805, off Cape Nicola Mole, Heureux captured the French felucca privateer Desiree. Desiree was armed with one carriage gun and had a crew of 40 men.

On 28 December Heureux and Kingfisher captured the Spanish merchant brig Solidad, which was taking brandy and wine from Cadiz to Vera Cruz. Early in the new year, on 15 January 1806, Heureux captured the Spanish letter of marque Amelia about four miles off Trinidad. Amelia was armed with eight 6-pounder guns and carried a crew of 40 men. She was carrying a valuable cargo of dry goods and wine from A Coruña to Cumaná, Venezuela.

On 21 January 1806 Heureux captured Emilie. Then on 15 (or 22) February, Heureux captured the French privateer Bellone after a short chase. Bellone carried fourteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 117 men. She had on board $8000, which was her owner's share of a prize that she had carried into Cayenne. Four days later Heureux captured the French privateer Bocune after an eight-hour chase. Bocune carried three guns and a crew of 60 men.

Bellone and Bocune may have been the vessels that Lloyd's List reported Younghusband had sent into Barbados. The report referred to one privateer of 10 guns and 110 men, and another of three guns and 70 men.

On 8 March Heureux captured the privateer Huron (or Hurone), off Barbados. Huron carried sixteen 18-pounder carronades and two long 9-pounder guns. As Heureux pulled alongside, Huron opened fire but return fire from Heureux soon silenced her. Huron lost her captain, second lieutenant and two other men killed, and seven men wounded; Heureuxhad no casualties.

Heureux took her last prize on 30 March. Agamemnon was 56 miles north of Barbados when she saw two strange sails. As she got closer she saw that they were Heureux chasing a schooner. Agamemnon maneuvered to cut off the schooner and both British ships came alongside the prize, with Heureux taking possession. The prize turned out to be the French privateer Dame Ernouf, of sixteen 6-pounder guns, all of which she had thrown overboard during the chase, and one 12-pounder gun. She also had a crew of 115 men. Dame Ernoufwas 14 days out of Guadeloupe but had made no captures.

Fate
In March 1806 Captain John Morrison was assigned to replace Younghusband. (Because Edward Berry of Agamemnon wrote the letter reporting the capture of Dame Ernouf, it is not clear whether Morrison replaced Younghusband before or after her capture.)

Heureux was ordered to transfer her position from the West Indies to Halifax, Nova Scotia in the spring of 1806. She failed to arrive in Halifax, and despite a search, she and her crew had disappeared without trace somewhere along the U.S. seaboard. She was presumed lost in June 1806 with all hands, that is, about 155 crew.





Scale: unknown. A full hull and rigged model of the Phoebe(1795), a 36-gun frigate. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. This model represents the new, large types of frigate which were built in large numbers in the 1790s. It is fully rigged and shows the seamen’s hammocks stowed around the decks. It also shows the Nelson chequer, or black and white painting of the hull. This style was not common until about 1815, which may date the model to this time.

HMS Phoebe was a 36-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She had a career of almost twenty years and fought in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Overall, her crews were awarded six clasps to the Naval General Service Medals, with two taking place in the French Revolutionary Wars, three during the Napoleonic Wars and the sixth in the War of 1812. Three of the clasps carried the name Phoebe. During her career, Phoebe sailed to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, North America and South America.

Once peace finally arrived, Phoebe was laid up, though she spent a few years as a slop ship during the 1820s. She was then hulked. The Admiralty finally sold her for breaking up in 1841.



Construction
She was one of four frigates that the Admiralty ordered on 24 May 1794 to a design by Sir John Henslow, Surveyor of the Navy, to be a faster version of the 1781 Perseverance class frigates. The contract for the first ship was placed with the Thames-side yard of John Dudman, where the keel was laid in June 1794. She was named Phoebe on 26 February 1795 and was launched on 24 September 1795 at Deptford Wharf on the Thames. She then moved to Deptford Dockyard, where she was completed on 23 December.

Heureux
On 5 March, Phoebe captured the privateer Heureux in the English Channel off Bordeaux. Heureux had intended to cruise the West Indies. Instead, she arrived at Plymouth on 25 March.

Heureux, of 22 long brass 12-pounders and 220 men, mistook Phoebe for an East Indiaman, and approached her. Heureux did not discover her mistake until she had arrived within point-blank musket-shot. Heureux fired on Phoebe in an "Act of Temerity to be regretted". Her hope was that well-directed fire would disable Phoebe's masts, rigging, and sails, and thereby enable Heureux to escape. Phoebe returned fire and Heureux was forced to strike her colours. Phoebe had three seamen killed or mortally wounded, and three slightly wounded. Heureux had 18 men killed and 25 wounded, most of whom lost limbs. She had been out 42 days but had captured only a small Portuguese sloop that the wind had pushed out to sea while the sloop was sailing from Limerick to Galway with a cargo of wine.

Barlow described Heureux as "the most complete flush Deck Ship I have ever seen, coppered, Copper fastened, highly finished and of large Dimensions... The Accounts given of her Sailing are very extraordinary; she will be considered as a most desirable Ship for His Majesty's Service." The British took her into service as Heureux.


Lines (ZAZ2659)


Frame (ZAZ2673)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Phoebe_(1795)

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HMS Heureux (1800) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1804 - Cutter of HMS Eclair (10), Lt. Carr, cut out privateer Rose from La Hayes, Guadeloupe


HMS Eclair was a French Navy schooner launched in 1799 and captured in 1801. The British took her into service under her French name and armed her with twelve 12-pounder carronades. In 1804 she engaged in a noteworthy, albeit indecisive single ship action with the 22-gun French privateer Grande Decide. In 1809 she was renamed Pickle. In December 1812 she and three other small British vessels engaged the French 40-gun frigate Gloire in another noteworthy and indecisive action. She was sold in 1818.




Origins and capture
Éclair was the sixth of Pierre Ozanne's Télégraphe-class schooners. Her commanding officer was ensiegne de vaisseau Sougé. Under Sougé's command she sailed from Rochfort to Basse-Terre.

On 15 January 1801, while the 20-gun post-ship Daphne, Captain Richard Matson, 18-gun ship-sloops Cyane and Hornet, Captains Henry Matson and James Nash, and schooner Garland (tender to Daphne), were at anchor in the harbour of the Saintes, they observed a convoy of French coasters, escorted by an armed schooner, sailing towards Vieux-Fort, Guadeloupe. At midnight Garland, accompanied by two boats from each of the three ships, under the command of Lieutenants Kenneth Mackenzie of Daphne and Francis Peachey of Cyane, sailed to engage the convoy. The convoy's vessels, however, except one, succeeded in getting under the guns of Basse-terre. The British were able to board and carry off one vessel, which had anchored near Vieux-Fort, despite a heavy but apparently harmless cannonade.

Two days later, in the afternoon, the British observed the French schooner Éclair, of four long 4-pounders, twenty 1½ pounder brass swivels, and 45 men, the escort of the convoy in question, put into Trois-Rivières, and anchor under the protection of one principal battery and two smaller flanking ones. Lieutenants Mackenzie and Peachey volunteered to attempt to cut her out. For this purpose Mackenzie, with 25 seamen and marines, went on board Garland. The next day, 18 January, which was as early as the breeze would permit, Garland ran alongside Éclair and Lieutenants Mackenzie and Peachey, with 30 men, boarded and carried the French schooner in the face of the batteries.

Garland lost one seaman and one marine killed, and a sergeant of marines and two seamen wounded. Éclair lost one seaman killed, two drowned, and her captain, first and second lieutenants, and six men wounded.

Éclair carried only four guns but was pierced for 12 and was large enough to carry that many cannon. She was on her way to Pointe Petre to complete her armament of twelve 6-pounders and 20 brass swivels. The British took her into service under her existing name and armed her with twelve 12-pounder carronades. Mackenzie became Eclair's first British commander.

HMS Eclair
In March 1801 Eclair took part in the attack on the islands of St Bartholomew and Saint Martin, led by Rear-Admiral Duckworth and Lieutenant-General Thomas Trigge. On 20 March, after the capture of St Bartholomew, Duckworth sent Drake and Eclair to investigate ten vessels that were approaching. Although it took a while, the ten vessels proved to be the troopships from England that Duckworth expected. They had, following Duckworth's orders, landed their sick and the women and children at Barbados before joining him. These reinforcements enabled Duckworth to attack St. Martin on 24 March.

In 1803 Eclair was under the command of Lieutenant William Carr, in the West Indies. On 6 August she was off Dominica when she chased two row-boat privateers from Guadaloupe until she was becalmed. She was able to capture one of them, which was the government sloop of the island. Eclair's jolly-boat, with only six men aboard, including Eclair's master and a young midshipman, attacked the second rowboat, which had 16 well-armed men aboard. The British succeeded in capturing their quarry within a few minutes, after killing her commander and one man, and wounding three, without sustaining any casualties of their own.

In August Eclair captured two vessels. On 14 August she captured the Spanish armed schooner Maria, which was carrying provisions, silks and gunpowder. Then on 29 August Eclaircaptured the Swedish ship Little John and her cargo of sugar and cotton.

On 10 February 1804 Eclair was 200 miles north of Tortola, returning from having escorted a packet on 5 February, when she pursued and caught up with a strange vessel. The two ships engaged for three-quarters of an hour, exchanging broadsides and small arms fire. However, when it became clear that Carr was preparing to attempt to board, the French vessel ceased firing and sailed away to the north. Eclair attempted to pursue but she had lost too much of her rigging in the action. Her casualties were one marine killed and four seamen wounded. The French vessel turned out to have been the privateer Grande Decide, Captain Mathieu Goy, of 22 long 8-pounders and a complement, including 80 soldiers, of about 220 men. John William Norie wrote, "This may be considered as one of the most brilliant and gallant exploits in naval history."

On 5 March Eclair sighted a schooner sailing towards La Hayes, Guadeloupe, where she could shelter under the guns of the battery there. Eclair's master, Mr John Salmon, and the surgeon, Mr John B. Douglas, and 10 men volunteered to take a boat and form a boarding party. As their boat entered the harbour both the vessel and the battery opened fire on them. Still, they managed to board and capture the schooner in ten minutes. In capturing her they killed five of her crew of 50 and wounded ten, while suffering no casualties of their own. The wounded included the captain and four men that jumped overboard. The battery continued to fire on the boarding party as they towed and rowed out their prize using sweeps. The schooner turned out to be the privateer Rose, which was armed with one long brass 9-pounder gun and had provisions for a three-month cruise having only just set out.

On 25 June 1804, Eclair captured a Swedish galliot carrying French passengers and property. In August Eclair captured the French sloop Try again, which was carrying provisions. In December 1804 Eclair was under the command of Lieutenant Joseph Beckett, after Carr had transferred to Netley in October.

In 1805, Eclair was under the command of Lieutenant George James Evelyn, in the Leeward Islands. On 5 April he recaptured the English ship Heroine, from London, and her cargo of dry goods. Eclair and Osprey shared in the capture, on 25 November, of the schooner, Henrietta Adelaide.

On 9 June 1807, off Point Cedar, Eclair's cutter, with six men under the command of a midshipman, captured a Spanish armed rowboat. After an hour's heavy fighting the ten-man crew of the rowboat escaped ashore. On 20 July Eclair was in company with Surinam and Shannon when they captured Comet.

Also in 1807, Eclair encountered the French three-masted privateer schooner Felicité. Evelyn captured her prize, and then brought the privateer to action. During the engagement Eclair had one man killed and four wounded, including Evelyn, before Felicité was able to escape.

Almost a year later, on 20 June 1808, Eclair captured Franchise, another rowboat privateer. She had 23 men on board, armed with small arms. On 27 November, Eclair captured Fair American. On the same day she and Haughty captured Ocean.

Eclair also captured the merchant vessel Grand Duc de Berg on 27 September. (This vessel apparently was not the privateer of the same name, which continued to sail for several more years.) Head money was finally paid in April 1929.

On 30 January 1809, Eclair assisted with the landing of British troops at Bay Robert, Basse Terre. The naval force there was under the command of Captain Philip Beaver of Acasta. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to all surviving claimants from the campaign. On 8 February 1809, Evelyn assumed command of Swaggerer.

HMS Pickle
In May 1809 the Admiralty renamed her Pickle, the famous schooner Pickle having been recently lost, and the Cruizer-class brig-sloop Eclair having been launched and commissioned in 1807, and commissioned her under Lieutenant Goodwin. However, by June she was under the perhaps temporary command of Lieutenant J.G.(?) Evelyn, who on 11 June sailed for Portugal. Lieutenant Andrew Crawford was appointed to succeed Goodwin, who would die in late 1809 or early 1810 in the Royal Hospital, Plymouth. Crawford took command of Pickle in August 1809. While she was under his command, she was chiefly employed in the waters off Cadiz, Lisbon, and Guernsey.

On 15 April 1810 Pickle, under Crawford's command, captured the French brig Hypolite Chery and her cargo. A few weeks later, on 9 May, Pickle, Implacable, Imperieuse and Nonpareil were in company when Nonpareil captured the French navy brig Canoniere (or No. 176). On 7 July 1810, Pickle sailed for the Davis Strait, the northern arm of the Labrador Sea.

Lieutenant Andrew Crawford relinquished command of Pickle in July 1811. She was subsequently commanded by Lieutenant William Figg. During the night of 17 December 1812 Pickle and the 18-gun ship-sloop Albacore were becalmed off the Lizard with six merchantmen. At dawn they found that they were also in company with the French 40-gun frigate Gloire. When a wind came up the Frenchman made all sail to escape, pursued by the British ships, who were joined later by the 12-gun brig-sloop Borer and 4-gun schooner Landrail. In the exchange of fire Albacore suffered one man killed and six or seven wounded before she pulled back. Eventually, the frigate managed to outrun the four small vessels. In the engagement Landrail did not actually fire her guns. As James put it, "for the Landrail to have fired her 12-pounders would have been a farce."

On 11 April 1813, Pickle captured the French sloop Marie Joseph, Laurent Le Breton, master.[39] Pickle was in company when the cutter Surly captured the French sloop Les Amis on 18 March 1814.

Fate
In 1816 Pickle was out of commission. She was sold on 11 June 1818.

HMS Eclair (1801) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1844 – Launch of French Descartes, a wooden-hulled paddle frigate of the French Navy.


Descartes was a wooden-hulled paddle frigate of the French Navy. Laid down as Gomer, she was renamed Descartes in 1841 while still on the stocks.


Steam frigate Descartes off Sevastopol.

She took part in the Crimean War, and was used to ferry wounded from Italy.

On 17 October 1855, she took part in the Battle of Kinburn.

She was eventually broken up in Brest in July 1867.





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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1874 – Launch of second USS Intrepid, a steam-powered torpedo ram commissioned and built in 1874 that had the distinction of being the world's first U.S. Navy ship armed with self-propelled torpedoes.


The second USS Intrepid, was a steam-powered torpedo ram commissioned and built in 1874 that had the distinction of being the world's first U.S. Navy ship armed with self-propelled torpedoes. In concept and design she was roughly comparable to the Royal Navy's HMS Polyphemus, although Intrepid was completed more than half a decade earlier. The Intrepid was commissioned by President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of Navy George M. Robeson.


USS Intrepid in dry dock, note the torpedo projection device at her forefoot

Construction
Intrepid, like the other torpedo rams, was a product of the confusion that followed the invention of the self-propelled torpedo, which saw the world's navies struggle to find a way to effectively utilize the earliest torpedo designs. Her keel was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard and she was launched on 5 March 1874, sponsored by Miss H. Evelyn Frothingham Pooke. After construction completed, Intrepid was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 31 July. Her commanding officer was Commander Augustus P. Cooke.



Service
As with most of the earliest torpedo-armed warships, Intrepid was a largely experimental vessel of little true value as an actual fighting ship. After her commissioning ceremony, she departed Boston on 3 August for the naval base at Newport, Rhode Island. Since she was a new and untried design, Intrepid remained in coastal waters for the majority of the voyage, and arrived in Newport the next day. After a little less than a month at Newport she was transferred to New York. Leaving on 31 August, she arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 1 September. The following two months were devoted to torpedo trials along the North Atlantic Coast, which showed that Intrepid's design was generally unsatisfactory. Her final trial cruise ended when she returned to New York Navy Yard on 24 October, and she was decommissioned a week later on 30 October.

Intrepid remained out of service at New York for the remainder of 1874 and the first half of 1875 before being recommissioned on 28 August. Even though she would remain in commission for the remainder of the decade, with the exception of brief visits to New England ports in 1875 and 1876, she remained at the Navy Yard.

Despite her unsatisfactory and experimental nature, the financially starved Navy Department looked for ways to utilize her to some good purpose, since money and congressional support for new warships was almost non-existent during this period. The Navy eventually decided to convert Intrepid to a light-draft gunboat for service in Chinese waters. As a result, she was decommissioned on 22 August 1882 and moved to the shipyard at the New York Navy Yard for conversion. The work proceeded slowly and was suspended altogether in 1889. Years of inactivity had taken their toll on the ship, and a survey undertaken in early 1892 found that she had become unserviceable. Since the funding needed to restore Intrepid would be far more than could be possibly be justified by her future value as a gunboat, it was decided to dispose of her. Intrepid was stricken from the Navy List, and on 9 May 1892 she was sold to a certain Mathew Gill, Jr., of Philadelphia. She was probably broken up soon afterwards.


Launch of Intrepid (II) from Shiphouse 92 at the Boston Navy Yard, 5 March 1874. Shiphouse 92 was erected in 1872 specifically for the construction of Intrepid. The Bunker Hill Monument is in the upper left corner. The yard's masting shears are seen to the right.
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo No. USN 904357.

USS Intrepid (1874) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1901 – Launch of HMS Drake, the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy around 1900


HMS Drake was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy around 1900. She was assigned to several different cruiser squadrons in home waters upon completion, sometimes as flagship, until 1911 when she became the flagship of the Australia Station. Upon her return home, she was assigned to the 6th Cruiser Squadron of the 2nd Fleet and became the squadron's flagship when the fleet was incorporated into the Grand Fleet upon the outbreak of the First World War.

She remained with the Grand Fleet until refitted in late 1915, when she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station for convoy escort duties. In 1916 she participated in the unsuccessful search for the German commerce raiderSMS Möwe. In late 1917 Drake was torpedoed by a German submarine off Northern Ireland and sank in shallow water with the loss of eighteen lives. The wreck was partly salvaged, beginning in 1920; a fishing trawler collided with the remainder of the wreck in 1962 and sank the next day. The wrecks of the two ships were demolished during the 1970s, but their remnants remain a popular dive site.

Since June 2017, Drake's wreck has been a scheduled historic monument. Diving is still permitted but avoid contact with the wreck and do not remove anything from it.


The British cruiser HMS Drake in the United States in 1909.

Design and description
The Drake-class ships were designed as faster and larger versions of the preceding Cressy class with a slightly more powerful armament. They displaced 14,100 long tons (14,300 t), over 2,000 long tons (2,032 t) more than the earlier ships. The Drakes had an overall length of 553 feet 6 inches (168.7 m), a beam of 71 feet 4 inches (21.7 m) and a deep draught of 26 feet 9 inches (8.2 m). They were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 30,000 indicated horsepower (22,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) using steam provided by 43 Belleville boilers. On her sea trials, Drake reached a speed of 24.11 knots (44.65 km/h; 27.75 mph). She carried a maximum of 2,500 long tons (2,500 t) of coal and her complement consisted of 900 officers and ratings.

The main armament of the Drake class consisted of two breech-loading (BL) 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk X guns in single turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Her secondary armament of sixteen BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Eight of these were mounted on the lower deck and were only usable in calm weather. A dozen quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder (76 mm) 12-cwt guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats. Two additional 12-pounder 8-cwt gunscould be dismounted for service ashore. The ships also carried three 3-pounder (47 mm) Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.

By February 1916, all of the lower casemates for her six-inch guns had been plated over and six of them had been remounted on the upper deck so they could be used in heavy weather. Several twelve-pounders had to be removed to make room for the six-inch guns.

The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of 6 inches and was closed off by 5-inch (127 mm) transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets and their barbettes was 6 inches thick while that of the casemates was 5 inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from 1–2.5 inches (25–64 mm) and the conning tower was protected by 12 inches (305 mm) of armour.


Left elevation and deck plan as depicted in Jane's Fighting Ships 1914

HMS Drake (1901) - Wikipedia

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Drake-class cruiser - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March1901 – Launch of HMS Montagu and HMS Albemarle, both Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleships of the British Royal Navy.


HMS Montagu was a Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Montagu and her sister ships were capable of steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Montagu was built between her keel laying in November 1899 and her completion in July 1903. The ship had a brief career, serving for two years in the Mediterranean Fleet before transferring to the Channel Fleet in early 1905. During wireless telegraphy experiments in May 1906, she ran aground off Lundy Island. Repeated attempts to refloat the ship failed, and she proved to be a total loss. She was ultimately broken up in situ.


Montagu's sister ship HMS Albemarle


Design
Main article: Duncan-class battleship


Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1915

The six ships of the Duncan class were ordered in response to the Russian Peresvet-class battleships that had been launched in 1898. The Russian ships were fast second-class battleships, so William Henry White, the British Director of Naval Construction, designed the Duncan class to match the purported top speed of the Russian vessels. To achieve the higher speed while keeping displacement from growing, White was forced to reduce the ships' armour protection significantly, effectively making the ships enlarged and improved versions of the Canopus-class battleships of 1896, rather than derivatives of the more powerful Majestic, Formidable, and London series of first-class battleships. The Duncans proved to be disappointments in service, owing to their reduced defensive characteristics, though they were still markedly superior to the Peresvets they had been built to counter.

Montagu was 432 feet (132 m) long overall, with a beam of 75 ft 6 in (23.01 m) and a draftof 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m). The Duncan-class battleships displaced 13,270 to 13,745 long tons (13,483 to 13,966 t) normally and up to 14,900 to 15,200 long tons (15,100 to 15,400 t) fully loaded. Her crew numbered 720 officers and ratings. The Duncan-class ships were powered by a pair of 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines that drove two screws, with steam provided by twenty-four Belleville boilers. The boilers were trunked into two funnels located amidships. The Duncan-class ships had a top speed of 19 knots(35 km/h; 22 mph) from 18,000 indicated horsepower (13,000 kW). This made Montagu and her sisters the fastest battleships in the world for several years. At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), the ship could steam for 6,070 nautical miles (11,240 km; 6,990 mi).

Montagu had four 12-inch (305 mm) 40-calibre guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft. The ships also mounted twelve 6-inch (152 mm) 45-calibre guns mounted in casemates, in addition to ten 12-pounder 3 in (76 mm) guns and six 3-pounder 47 mm (1.9 in) guns. As was customary for battleships of the period, she was also equipped with four 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull.

Montagu had an armoured belt that was 7 in (178 mm) thick; the transverse bulkhead on the aft end of the belt was 7 to 11 in (178 to 279 mm) thick. The sides of her main battery turrets were 8 to 10 in (203 to 254 mm) thick, atop 11 in (279 mm) barbettes, and the casemate battery was protected with 6 in of Krupp steel. Her conning tower had 12-inch-thick sides. She was fitted with two armoured decks, 1 and 2 in (25 and 51 mm) thick, respectively.


HMS Albemarle was a pre-dreadnought Duncan-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Albemarle and her sister ships were capable of steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Albemarle was built between her keel laying in January 1900 and her completion in November 1903.


Albemarle in Canada in 1908

Albemarle had a fairly uneventful career. She spent her first years in service with the Mediterranean Fleet from 1903 to 1905, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. In 1907, she was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet; in early 1910 she transferred to the Home Fleet, first as part of the 4th Battle Squadron and later the 6th Battle Squadron. She served with the Grand Fleet on the Northern Patrol during the early stages of the First World War. She was later dispatched to Murmansk in Russia for guard and icebreaking duties for most of 1916. On her return to England, she underwent a refit and was in reserve for the remainder of the war. Decommissioned in April 1919, she was scrapped in 1920.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Montagu_(1901)

HMS Albemarle (1901) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Duncan-class battleship - Wikipedia

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1916 - Ocean liner Príncipe de Asturias ran aground and sank near the island of Sao Sebastiao, Brazil. At least 445 out of 588 aboard were lost.


Príncipe de Asturias was a Spanish ocean liner, owned by the Naviera Pinillos and built at the Russell & Co. (later Lithgows) shipyard in Port Glasgow, in Scotland; being launched in 1914. She was named after the Prince of Asturias, the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish Crown.



Príncipe de Asturias and her elder sister Infanta Isabel, launched in 1912, were at the time of her construction two of the largest passenger steamship in the Spanish merchant fleet, only second to Reina Victoria Eugenia and Infanta Isabel de Borbón owned by Pinillos's main competitor, Compañía Trasatlántica Española.

In 1916 she was assigned to the Barcelona-Buenos Aires line, with several intermediate ports of call, including Santos in Brazil. Shortly before dawn on 5 March 1916, in the middle of a dense fog the ship ran aground on the shoals out of Ponta do Boi, in the island of Sao Sebastiao, while trying to approach the port of Santos, and it opened a huge role in the hull. The water that entered the Boiler room make she boilers to explode, and she lost power. After that, she started to list to Starboard, soon capsizing. In 5 minutes, the pride of the Spanish merchant fleet was underwater. At least 445 people out of 588 aboard died during the sinking, being probably the biggest single-incident maritime loss of lives since the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland in May 1914.


José Lotina Abrisqueta, the last captain of the Príncipe de Astúrias. His body was never recovered.

Just one lifeboat was launched, and it has (initially) 20 persons, but during the dawn and the morning, the lifeboat recovered more than 100 persons. The French cargo ship Vega rescued 143 persons, including the swimmer Marina Vidal and the only Brazilian on board, José Martins Vianna.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Príncipe_de_Asturias_(ocean_liner)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1923 – Launch of Yūbari (夕張) was an experimental light cruiser built between 1922 and 1923 for the Imperial Japanese Navy


Yūbari (夕張) was an experimental light cruiser built between 1922 and 1923 for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Although a test bed for various new designs and technologies, she was commissioned as a front-line warship and participated in numerous combat operations during World War II before she was sunk by the U.S. Navy. Designs pioneered on Yūbari had a major impact on future Japanese warship designs.




Background
Construction of an experimental light cruiser was authorized under the 1917 8-4 Fleet Program but funding was not available until 1921. Yūbari was designed as an experimental scout cruiser that would have the combat potential of the standard 5,000 t (4,900 long tons) Sendai-class cruiser but with a much lighter displacement. Captain Yuzuru Hiraga, Japan’s leading naval architect, assisted by Lieutenant Commander Kikuo Fujimoto, developed an innovative design which strongly influenced the design of Japan’s subsequent heavy cruisers, as well as destroyers.

Design


World War II recognition drawings of Yūbari

The basic design premise of Yūbari was that the highest possible speed and weaponry be maintained with the greatest possible weight reduction. To save weight, the armor was integrated directly into the hull structure, forming the side walls and deck. Yūbari had 38 mm (1.50 in) of belt armor protecting the machinery spaces and gun magazines, and 28 mm (1.10 in) armor for the deck and bridge, giving the vessel far superior armor than the previous 5000-ton cruiser designs. The forecastle was given significant flare to improve seakeeping.

Propulsion was similar to that of a destroyer, with eight oil-fired Kampon boilers feeding three turbine engines, generating 43,060 kW (57,740 hp). However, the exhaust was trunked into a single centrally-located smokestack, reducing the overall length of the design and freeing deck space.

The main battery consisted of six 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns mounted in two twin gun turrets and two single gun turrets located on the centre line of the ship’s axis in an arrangement which allowed one single and one twin turret to fire over the bow or stern. A single 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun and two 7.7 mm machine guns were located amidships on a raised platform for anti-aircraft defense. Two twin-mount torpedo launchers were also on the centerline of the ship’s axis, one fore and aft of the anti-aircraft gun platform, with four loaded and four reserve Type 93 torpedoes. The fire control system was centralized into an enlarged bridge.

The ship was completed 419 t (412 long tons) (13%) over the designed displacement, resulting in an extra foot of draft and a loss of 1.5 kn (2.8 km/h; 1.7 mph) in designed speed. The use of new technologies and unproven designs led to a number of issues which only became apparent once Yūbari was commissioned. The smoke stack was found to draw poorly, and was enlarged by 1.80 meters in 1924. Additional ballast was also added to increase stability. In 1932, the 80mm anti-aircraft gun was removed and in 1935, two twin Type 93 13.2 mm (0.52 in) guns were fitted. These were replaced by two twin 25mm guns in 1940.

Yūbari had a significant refit in early 1944 when the two single 140 mm (5.5 in)/50 main guns were removed and replaced by one Type 10 4.7 in (120 mm)/45 gun (in the "A" position) and six twin and one triple Type 96 25-mm AA guns together with a Type 22 search radar and two depth charge launchers.

Japanese cruiser Yūbari - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1927 – Launch of Juan Sebastián de Elcano, a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. It is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled barquentine (schooner barque).


Juan Sebastián de Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. It is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled barquentine(schooner barque). At 113 metres (371 ft) long, it is the third-largest tall ship in the world, and is the sailing vessel that has sailed the furthest, covering more than 2,000,000 nautical miles (3,700,000 km; 2,300,000 mi) in its history.

It is named after Spanish explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, captain of Ferdinand Magellan's last exploratory fleet and the man who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. The ship also carries the Elcano coat of arms, which was granted to the family by Emperor Charles I following Elcano's return in 1522 from Magellan's global expedition. The coat of arms is a terraqueous globe with the motto "Primus Circumdedisti Me" (meaning: "First to circumnavigate me").



Build and design
'Juan Sebastián de Elcano' was built in 1927 in Cadiz, Spain, and its hull was designed by the naval architect Mr C E Nicholson of Camper and Nicholsons Ltd of Southampton. Constructed by Echevarrieta y Larrinaga shipyard in Cadiz. After the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931 the ship became part of the Spanish Republican Navy.

In 1933 under Commander Salvador Moreno Fernández's order, a series of improvements were made to the ship and the bronze plate with the Latin language inscription Tu Primus Circumdedisti Me was placed near the prow. At the time of the coup of July 1936 Juan Sebastián Elcano was at Ferrol, a harbor that had been taken by the Nationalist faction. Its plans were used twenty-five years later to construct its Chilean sail training vessel sister ship Esmeralda in 1952-1954.



Maiden voyage
Its first voyage was sea testing between April and July that year from Cádiz to Malaga, with King Alfonso XIII on board as a passenger, and then on to Sevilla, Las Palmas, Tenerife, San Sebastián, Cádiz, São Vicente, Cape Verde, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Suva, San Francisco, California, Balboa, Panama, Havana, New York City, Cádiz.




Very good info you can find here:

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Embajadas/WASHINGTON/en/Noticias/Documents/FOLLETO%20INGLES%20nuevo%20dise%C3%B1o.pdf

Spanish training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Buque escuela J.S.Elcano: viento en popa a toda vela

Con diez cañones por banda viento en popa a toda vela no corta el mar sino vuela un velero bergantín” Con estas breves estrofas del muy conocido poema “La canción del pirata”, obra escrita en el añ…

vadebarcos.net

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 March 1938 - The Battle of Cape Palos, also known as the Second Battle of Cape Palos,


The Battle of Cape Palos, also known as the Second Battle of Cape Palos, was the biggest naval battle of the Spanish Civil War, fought on the night of March 5–6, 1938, east of Cape Palos near Cartagena, Spain.



Leadup to the battle
On March 5, 1938 the two Nationalist heavy cruisers, Canarias and Baleares, led by Vice Admiral Manuel Vierna Belando sortied from the naval base at Palma de Mallorca, in company with the light cruiser Almirante Cervera, and three destroyers. The squadron acted as a distant escort of a convoy bearing war equipment from Italy as well as troops from the Army of Africa being ferried across the Strait of Gibraltar.

On the same day, forces of the Spanish Republican Navy, led by Admiral Luis González de Ubieta and consisting of two light cruisers (the new Libertad and the older Méndez Núñez) and five destroyers, sailed from Cartagena. At night, the Nationalist destroyers returned to base, while the cruisers remained on course.



The battle
The squadrons, going in opposite directions, met by chance in the dead of night of 5–6 March 1938. A Republican destroyer fired torpedoes but missed, and both fleets passed each other by. Nationalist Rear Admiral de Vierna preferred to wait until dawn, which would enable him to use his ships' superior artillery, but Republican Vice Admiral de Ubieta decided to turn and pursue the enemy.


The sinking of Baleares photographed from attacking Republican aircraft, 6 March 1938


Destroyer Lepanto

The forces met again unexpectedly at about 02:15. the Nationalist cruisers opened fire on Libertad from a range of about 5,000 m (5,500 yd) and the Republican cruisers returned fire. However, one of the Nationalist ships made the mistake of firing a star shell illuminating their position to the enemy Republican ships. As the cruisers duelled, three Republican destroyers, probably unseen by the Nationalists, detached from escorting Libertad. At about 3,000 m (3,300 yd), Sanchéz Barcáiztegui, Lepanto, and Almirante Antequera each fired four torpedoes. Two or three torpedoes hit Baleares between 'A' and 'B' turrets and detonated her forward magazine. The sinking is generally credited to Lepanto, but also to the destroyer Almirante Antequera by some authors.

Prioritizing the protection of the troops of the North African Army crossing the Gibraltar Strait over his own safety, Admiral de Vierna ordered his own ship, the Baleares to engage the Republican fleet while he ordered the rest of the ships away. The two surviving Nationalist cruisers quickly cleared the area, leaving Baleares to her fate. The stern remained afloat and it was from this part of the ship that survivors were rescued, thanks to the efforts of the British Royal Navy destroyers Kempenfelt and Boreas, under Captain McGrigor, who made towards the scene of the action from 74 km (40 nm) away. Only 441 out of her crew of 1,206 were saved with Admiral Vierna among those who went down with the ship.

The Nationalist cruisers returned at dawn and survivors rescued by Boreas were transferred to them by boats. An air attack by Republican bombers interrupted the proceedings and caused one British fatality.

Aftermath
The sinking of the rebel heavy cruiser Baleares was hailed as a great victory by the republican government and Luis González de Ubieta, the commander of the republican fleet, was awarded the Laureate Plate of Madrid (Placa Laureada de Madrid), the highest military award for gallantry of the Second Spanish Republic. The Distintivo de Madrid, which had been established by the Spanish Republic to reward courage, was given to cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez, and destroyers Lepanto, Almirante Antequera and Sánchez Barcáiztegui, as well as to their crew members. These ships would thenceforward fly a special pennantand the men would wear a special badge on their uniforms with the old Coat of arms of Madrid.

The Battle of Cape Palos was one of the last Republican victories of the war. Although the action was the largest naval battle of the Spanish Civil War and an important Republican victory, it had little noticeable long-term effect on the war. The Republican Navy failed to press their advantage, and the loss of Baleares was partially offset when the modernised cruiser Navarra joined the Nationalist fleet some months later.

Battle of Cape Palos - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 5 March


1539 – Death of Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1487)

D. Nuno da Cunha (c. 1487 – March 5, 1539) was a governor of Portuguese possessions in India from 1528 to 1538. He was the son of Antónia Pais and Tristão da Cunha, the famous Portuguese navigator, admiral and ambassador to Pope Leo X. Nuno da Cunha proved his mettle in battles at Oja and Brava, and at the capture of Panane, under the viceroy Francisco de Almeida. Named by João III ninth governor of Portuguese possessions in India, he served from April 1528 to 1538.

Nuno da Cunha - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1772 – Launch of Spanish San Gabriel 74 (launched 5 March 1772 at Ferrol) - Stricken 10 August 1909

San Pedro Apóstol class
San Pedro Apóstol 74 (launched 31 December 1770 at Ferrol) - Stricken 1801
San Pablo 74 (launched 15 March 1771 at Ferrol) - Renamed Soberano 1814, BU January 1856
San Gabriel 74 (launched 5 March 1772 at Ferrol) - Stricken 10 August 1909


1829 – Death of John Adams, English sailor and mutineer (b. 1766)

John Adams, known as Jack Adams (4 July 1767 – 5 March 1829), was the last survivor of the HMS Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams, but he used the name Alexander Smithuntil he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the American whaling ship Topaz. His children used the surname "Adams".



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(mutineer)


1942 - The "Seabees" name and insignia are officially authorized. Rear Adm. Ben Moreell personally furnishes them with their official motto: Construimus, Batuimus -- "We Build, We Fight."

United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Seabees, form the Naval Construction Force (NCF) of the United States Navy. Their nickname is a heterograph of the first initials "C.B." from the words Construction Battalion. Depending upon the use of the word, "Seabee" can refer to one of three things: all the enlisted personnel in the USN's occupational field-7 (OF-7), all officers and enlisted assigned to the Naval Construction Force, or the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions (CBs).


CEC Insignia

Supply Corps Insignia

Fig. 3: WWII Naval Officers from the Civil Engineer Corps, Medical Corps, Dental Corps and Supply Corps assigned to Naval Construction Battalions had a Silver Seabee on their Corps insignia. The CEC image is used today as the emblem of the CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation.
Naval Construction Battalions were conceived of as a replacement for civilian construction companies working for the US Navy after the United States was drawn into World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. At that time the U.S. had roughly 70,000 civilians working on military installations overseas. International law made it illegal for them to resist enemy attack, as to do so would classify them as guerrillas, for which they could be summarily executed, which is exactly what happened when the Japanese invaded Wake Island.



The Seabees would consist of skilled workers who would be trained to drop their tools if necessary and take up their weapons at a moment's notice to defend themselves. The concept model was that of a USMC–trained battalion of construction tradesmen (a military equivalent of those civilian companies) that would be capable of any type of construction, anywhere needed, under any conditions or circumstance. It was quickly realized that this model could be utilized in every theater of operations, as it was seen to be flexible and adaptable.The use of USMC organization allowed for smooth co-ordination, integration or interface of both the NCF and Marine Corps elements. In addition, Seabee Battalions could be deployed individually or in multiples as the project scope and scale dictated. What distinguishes Seabees from Combat Engineers are the skill sets. Combat Engineering is but a sub-set in the Seabee toolbox. They have a storied legacy of creative field ingenuity, stretching from Normandy and Okinawa to Iraq and Afghanistan. Admiral Ernest King wrote to the Seabees on their second anniversary, "Your ingenuity and fortitude have become a legend in the naval service."[8] Seabees believe that anything they are tasked with they "Can Do" (the CB motto). They were unique at conception and remain so today. In the October 1944 issue of Flying magazine the Seabees are described as "a phenomenon of World War II".[9] In 2017, the Seabees celebrated their 75 years of service without having changed from AdmiralBen Moreell's conceptual model.

Seabee - Wikipedia

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1943 - Auxiliary aircraft carrier USS Bogue (ACV 9) begins the first anti-submarine operations by an escort carrier in the Atlantic as the nucleus of the pioneer American anti-submarine hunter-killer group.

USS Bogue (CVE-9) was the lead ship in the Bogue class of escort carriers in the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally classified AVG-9, but was changed to ACV-9, 20 August 1942; CVE-9, 15 July 1943; and CVHP-9, 12 June 1955. Aircraft operating from Bogue sank eleven German and two Japanese submarines, making her the most successful anti-submarine carrier in World War II.[1]

Bogue was laid down on 1 October 1941 as Steel Advocate (hull 170) under Maritime Commission contract by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding in Tacoma, Washington. Bogue was launched 15 January 1942; sponsored by Mrs. W. Miller, Jr., wife of Lieutenant Commander Miller; transferred to the United States Navy 1 May 1942; and commissioned 26 September 1942, Captain G. E. Short in command.

The ship was named for Bogue Sound in North Carolina.

USS Bogue - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1945 - USS Sea Robin (SS 407) sinks three Japanese gunboats and USS Bashaw (SS 241) sinks two Japanese tankers.

USS Sea Robin (SS-407), a Balao-class submarine, was a vessel of the United States Navy named for the sea robin. This is a spiny-finned fish with red or brown coloring on its body and fins. The first three rays of its pectoral fin separate from the others and are used in walking on the sea bottom.

Sea Robin was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine on 1 March 1944; launched on 25 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Homer Ambrose, wife of Captain Ambrose, the Navy Yard's Production Superintendent; and commissioned on 7 August 1944, Lieutenant Commander Paul C. Stimson in command.

USS Sea Robin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

USS Bashaw (SS/SSK/AGSS-241), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bashaw.

Bashaw was laid down on 4 December 1942 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.. She was launched on 25 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Florence Ives, wife of Captain Norman S. Ives (killed August 2, 1944 near Dol-en-Bretagne, France commanding a naval patrol), and commissioned on 25 October 1943, Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Nichols in command.

USS Bashaw - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1706 – Launch of HMS Aldborough, a 24-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, purchased in 1706 and in service in Mediterranean and English waters until 1727.


HMS Aldborough was a 24-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, purchased in 1706 and in service in Mediterranean and English waters until 1727.



Naval career
Initially intended for merchant service, the as yet unnamed vessel was purchased for Naval use while still under construction at London's Blackwall Yard in January 1706. After a brief refit she was commissioned as Aldborough in March and put to sea under Commander Beaumont Waldron. Later that year she was recorded as being off Ostend, and as part of the British presence in the Mediterranean in the winter of 1708. By spring she had returned to English waters for patrol and convoy duties. On 11 April she engaged and captured the French privateer Le Postillon.

Waldron died in 1709 and Aldborough continued her home waters patrol under Captain Thomas Ekines. On 28 April 1710 she captured another privateer, La Genevieve de Bonne Esperance. A year later on 28 August 1711 she ran down and seized a third French ship, Le Desmarais. Despite Aldborough's victories, Ekines was dismissed as her captain in June 1712, and replaced by Captain Joseph Thornton.

Eight years of active service had reduced Aldborough's seaworthiness, and in 1714 she underwent an expensive refit and repair at Portsmouth Dockyard.[a][1] She returned to sea in 1715 under Captain Charles Stewart, whose orders were to patrol the waters surrounding Scotland and Ireland.

A further refit was required at Plymouth dockyard in the summer of 1717, after which Aldborough returned to her previous coastal patrol.

Charles Stewart died in 1718, and Aldborough's command passed to Captain Thomas Lawrence. The ship's final decade of service was uneventful, and on 29 March 1727 she was returned to Portsmouth dockyard for breaking up. Her timbers and fittings were initially preserved with the intention that she be rebuilt and returned to active service, but this work was postponed by other demands. Over time, these materials were distributed among other naval ships in need of repair and a new Aldborough was commissioned in her stead.

HMS Aldborough (1706) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1780 – Launch of French Vénus, a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.


The Vénus was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.

She was launched in Saint-Malo in 1780. Her main duties were escorting convoys between Île de Ré, Nantes and Brest. In this capacity, she captured a British privateer on 16 June.

She was wrecked on 5 August 1781 near Glénan Islands, off Concarneau, when she ran aground due to a navigation error of the pilot. The crew was saved, but in spite of efforts to refloat her, she became a total loss.

Her guns were found in 1978, and are now on display in Concarneau.


Gun of the Vénus, on display in Concarneau


Vénus class (32-gun design by Jacques-Noël Sané, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns).

Vénus, (launched 6 March 1780 at St Malo) – wrecked 1781.

Cléopâtre, (launched 19 August 1781 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1793, renamed HMS Oiseau.



lines Signed by Thomas Mitchell [Master Shipwright, Sheerness Dockyard, 1795-1801]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 253, states that 'Oiseau' arrived at Sheerness Dockyard on 11 June 1800 and was docked on 24 June. She was undocked on 5 August and sailed on 29 Septmeber 1800 having made good the defects.


Inboard profile plan (ZAZ3026)


Lines & Profile (ZAZ3025)


Deck (ZAZ3028)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Vénus_(1780)

French frigate Cléopâtre (1781) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1782 – Launch of French Suffisant, a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy


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



Construction and early service
Suffisant was laid down at Toulon Dockyard in July 1781 to a design by Antoine Groignard. Launched on 6 March 1782, she had entered service by August of that year.

Capture
She was handed over by French Royalists at Toulon to the Anglo-Spanish occupying forces during the occupation of Toulon in August 1793, but was burnt at the subsequent evacuation of that port in December to avoid her being taken back into French service.

Notes
The six ships of the Pégase-class proved unlucky in their encounters with the Royal Navy. Pégase, the nameship of the class, was captured by the British in 1782, less than a year after being launched, and served in the Royal Navy until 1815. The other five - Liberté, Suffisant, Puissant, Alcide and Censeur - were all taken by Royalist forces during the occupation of Toulon in 1793, with Liberté and Suffisant being burnt in the withdrawal, Puissant taken away and added to the Royal Navy, and Alcide and Censeur left to fall back into Republican hands. Alcideblew up while fighting a British fleet at the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands in July 1795.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and name in a cartouche on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pegase (1782), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan shows the ship with the French layout of fittings, and the proposed alterations for fitting her as a British 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].


The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781

The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.


Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782. Painting by Dominic Serres


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Suffisant_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pégase-class_ship_of_the_line

Pegase (1782) - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1787 – Launch of HMS Vanguard, a 74-gun Arrogant-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy


HMS Vanguard was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 March 1787 at Deptford. She was the sixth vessel to bear the name.

In December 1797, Captain Edward Berry was appointed flag captain, flying Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson's flag.



French Revolutionary Wars
On 27 November 1793, the ships of a squadron under the command of Captain Thomas Pasley of HMS Bellerophon captured Blonde. At the time of her capture Blonde was armed with 28 guns and had a crew of 210 men under the command of Citizen Gueria. A subsequent prize money notice listed the vessels that shared in the proceeds as Bellerophon, Vanguard, Phoenix, Latona, and Phaeton.

In 1798 Nelson was detached into the Mediterranean by Earl St. Vincent with HMS Orion, Alexander, Emerald, Terpsichore, and Bonne Citoyenne. They sailed from Gibraltar on 9 May and on 12 May were struck by a violent gale in the Gulf of Lion that carried away Vanguard's topmasts and foremast. The squadron bore up for Sardinia, Alexander taking Vanguard in tow.

On 19 May, while Nelson was off station repairing his storm damage, Napoleon Bonaparte sailed from Toulon with a force of 72 warships and 400 transports to strike at Egypt with the intention of eventually invading India. On 13 June he occupied Malta and, on 19 June, continued the passage to Egypt arriving off Alexandria on 1 July. On 31 May, Nelson returned to Toulon to find that the French had left 13 days earlier. Searching for the enemy he reached Naples on 17 June and Messina on 20 June. Here he learnt of the fall of Malta and the probable destination of the French. He sailed for Alexandria but overtook the French and arrived on 29 June, two days before them. Finding no enemy he returned to Sicily via Asia Minor. Convinced that the French were going to Egypt he set sail once more for Alexandria.

On the evening of 1 August 1798, half an hour before sunset, the Battle of the Nile began when Nelson attacked the French fleet which was moored in a strong line of battle in Aboukir Bay with gunboats, four frigates, and batteries on Aboukir Island to protect their flanks. Goliath (1781) was the leading ship and, followed by four others, she broke through the French line to anchor and fight from the shoreward side. Vanguard remained on the seaward side and soon the French van and centre were being overwhelmed by six ships on either side of their line. The French lost 11 ships of the line and two frigates. Their dead numbered 1700 and the wounded 1500. The British lost 218 killed and 678 wounded.


Caricature of Nelson and his men aboard Vanguard after the Battle of the Nile. This caricature reflects the national sentiment toward Nelson and his behaviour and treatment of his men. Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

Vanguard lost three officers killed, Thomas Seymour and John Taylor, midshipmen, and Captain Taddy of the marines. Lieutenants N. Vassal and J. Ayde, J. Campbell, the Admiral's secretary, M. Austin, the boatswain, and J. Weatherspoon and George Antrim, midshipmen, were wounded. Twenty seamen and seven marines were killed and sixty seamen and eight marines were wounded. Nelson was also wounded. On 3 August the captains of the squadron met on board Orion and agreed to present Nelson with a sword.

Vanguard sailed for Naples on 19 August and arrived on 22 September. She was in need of new masts and a bowsprit but Nelson deferred getting them until he knew the situation of Culloden (1783) which was to be careened at Naples after grounding during the battle. The King of Naples came out to meet her.

In September, Captain Thomas Hardy took command, still under Nelson's flag. Two months later a formidable French army had invaded Naplesand on 16 December Vanguard was shifted out of gunshot of the ports. On 20 December Nelson, in order to evacuate the royal family and other important people, ordered the small barge of Vanguard, covered by three barges and the Frigate HMS Alcmene, armed with cutlasses only, to be at the Victoria wharf. All the other boats of Vanguard and Alcmene, and the launches and carronades, were ordered to assemble on board Vanguard under the direction of Captain Hardy and row halfway to the Mola Figlio.

By 21 December the Neapolitan Royal Family, the British Ambassador and his family, several Neapolitan nobles and most of the English gentlemen and merchants had been embarked, numbering in all about 600 persons in the ships of the squadron. Vanguard sailed on 23 December and arrived, after a stormy passage, in Palermo on 26 December.


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

The ship had been the scene of the death of Prince Alberto of Naples and Sicily, one of the royal entourage on board, son of King Ferdinand VI and his wife Maria Carolina of Austriawho were on board. Other royals on board were the Duke of Calabria, Prince of Salerno and their sisters the Princesses Maria Cristina, Maria Amalia and Princess Maria Antonia

Nelson shifted his flag from Vanguard to Foudroyant on 6 June 1799, taking with him Captain Hardy and a number of other officers, leaving Captain W. Brown in command. In 1800, Vanguard was taken out of commission at Portsmouth.

In 1801, under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Williams. Vanguard sailed from Portsmouth on 20 April to join the Baltic fleet. The fleet, under Vice Admiral Pole, returned on 10 August. Vanguard, St George, Spencer, Powerful, Dreadnought, Ramillies, and Zealous sailed again on 19 August to cruise off Cádiz. The first four were victualled and provisioned for five months at Gibraltar and sailed for Jamaica in December. Warrior followed them as soon as she had watered at Tetuan.


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

Napoleonic Wars
In 1803, under the command of Captain James Walker, Vanguard was operating out of Jamaica on the Blockade of Saint-Domingue. On 30 June, Cumberland and her squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun were between Jean-Rabel and St. Nichola Mole in the West Indies, having just parted with a convoy when they spotted a sail of what appeared to be a large French warship. Cumberland and Vanguard approached her and after a few shots from Vanguard the French vessel surrendered, having suffered two men badly wounded, and being greatly outgunned. She proved to be the frigate Créole, of 44 guns, primarily 18-pounders, under the command of Citizen Le Ballard. She had been sailing from Cape François to Port au Prince with General Morgan (the second in command in San Domingo), his staff, and 530 soldiers, in addition to her crew of 150 men. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Creole.

While the British were taking possession of Créole, a small French navy schooner, under the command of a lieutenant and sailing the same course as Créole, sailed into the squadron; she too was seized. She had on board 100 bloodhounds from Cuba, which were "intended to accompany the Army serving against the Blacks."[4]

On 2 July 1803, Bayntun's squadron captured the French privateer Superieure. Vanguard was the actual captor. The British took her into the Royal Navy as Superieure. The squadron also captured the privateer Poisson Vollant, which the Royal Navy also took into service.

About three weeks later, on 24 July, two French 74s, Duquesne and Duguay Trouin, and the frigate Guerrière put to sea from Cap-Français during a squall in an effort to evade Bellerophon, Elephant, Theseus, Tartar under Captain Perkins, and Vanguard, which were blockading the port. The French ships separated during the night but the British overtook Duquesne the following day and captured her after a short exchange of fire with Vanguard, which lost one man killed and one wounded. The prize was broken up on arrival in England after being damaged running on to the Morant Cays.

In September the French troops in northwest Saint Domingue were being closely pressed by the rebel slaves under General Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Captain Walker, off the Mole St. Nicholas, persuaded the General not to put the garrison of Saint-Marc to death but to march them to the Mole in safety where Vanguard would take possession of the shipping in the bay. The 850 men of the garrison, all very emaciated, were successfully evacuated, and the brig Papillon, pierced for 12 guns but only mounting 6, the brig Trois Amis, transport, and the schooner Mary Sally with 40 or 50 barrels of powder were brought out. The British took Papillon into service under her existing name. Then on 5 September Vanguardcaptured the French navy's schooner Courier de Nantes, of two guns and four swivel guns. She had a crew of 15 men under the command of an enseigne de vaisseau, and was carrying 30 barrels of flour to Saint-Marc. This schooner apparently sailed to Britain where she became the Hired armed cutter Courier.

Vanguard captured the American schooner Independence on 16 November. Six days later Vanguard took the two French schooners Rosalle, laden with saltpeter and lignum vitae, and St Rosario, in ballast.


This is either a rough study by Nicholas Pocock for PAF5876 or a copy from it. The style suggests that the latter is more likely and that the artist is probably Pocock's son and pupil, William Innes Pocock (1783 -1836). He joined the Navy from 1795 and became a lieutenant in 1811, but was also a good marine artist who both exhibited and had some work published. Exhibited: NMM Pocock exhib. (1975) no. 49. [PvdM 10/08]

Fate
Vanguard was paid off by the end of 1805. In 1807 she was repaired at Plymouth, and under the command of Captain Thomas Baker became the flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie in 1808. In 1812 she was made a prison ship at Plymouth and in 1814 she became a powder hulk. Vanguard was broken up in 1821.

Legacy
Investment management company The Vanguard Group is named after HMS Vanguard. The founder of the company chose the name after a dealer in antique prints left him a book about Great Britain’s naval achievements, and a likeness of the ship is emblazoned on the company's logo.

Sails of Glory: Napoleonic Wars miniatures by Ares Games includes HMS Vanguard as one of the ships in its starter set. It is the British counterpart to the French ship-of-the-line Genereux.



The Glorious Victory Obtaind over the French Fleet off the Nile the 1st of August 1798 by the Gallant Admiral Lord Nelson, of the Nile (caricature) (Print) (PAF3863)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vanguard_(1787)

Arrogant-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1779 - Governor Trumbull, a purpose-built privateer launched at Norwich, Connecticut in 1777, was captured by HMS Venus


Governor Trumbull was launched at Norwich, Connecticut in 1777 as a purpose-built privateer. There is no record of her having captured any British vessels but she did raid Tobago in 1779. The Royal Navy captured her shortly thereafter and took her into service as HMS Tobago. she served in the Leeward Islands until the Navy sold her in 1783, probably at Jamaica. She was apparently wrecked on 16 August 1787 at Tobago.

Privateer
Governor Trumbull was commissioned on 18 November 1778 under Commander Henry Billings of Norwich, Connecticut, and fitted out at New London. She sailed from New London, Connecticut, at end-November. On 17 December the Connecticut privateer sloop American Revenue, Captain William Leeds, arrived at New London with sails, rigging, and stores from the British transport Marquis of Rockingham, which had wrecked on Gardiners Island on 13 December on a voyage from Newport, Rhode Island, to New York City. Of Rockingham's 22-man crew there were only five survivors. Governor Trumbull had assisted American Revenue in the salvage effort.

Governor Trumbull came into Stonington, Connecticut, at about the same time. She sailed from Stonington Point on 25 December, bound for the West Indies, and by mid-January 1779 was off Tobago. Billings decided to raid the lightly-defended island.

On 16 January 50 men from Governor Trumbull landed at Man-o-War Bay. They established a small emplacement that they armed with two carriage and some swivel guns, and then the bulk of the force moved inland. An attack on a sugar mill cost the Americans three casualties. On the other hand, the men in the emplacement repelled an attack by Lieutenant Clark and 17 British planters and militia, killing one planter and wounding another.

Clark regrouped and a second attack forced the Americans to quit their emplacement and return to General Trumbull. The Americans had lost two men dead and some 26 prisoners. Billings then sailed north.

On 5 March Governor Trumbull encountered two British warships, HMS Venus and Ariadne towards the north end of St Bartholomew's. Venus set off in pursuit and after a chase of six hours, several shots from her chase guns and two broadsides, Governor Trumbull struck. The British took their prisoners of their prize and put a prize crew on board. Reportedly, Governor Trumbull had 103 men on board when the British captured her.

Her captors took Governor Trumbull into St John's, Antigua. She arrived there on 7 March and was condemned.

A British listing of prizes taken in the West Indies described Governor Trumbull as being of 20 guns and 150 men. It also put the place of capture as off St Christopher's.

Royal Navy
The Royal Navy took Governor Trumbull into service as HMS Tobago, and commissioned her under Commander Butchart. Commander Charles Hotchkys replaced Butchart in June. Around November 1780 Lieutenant Benjamin Archer assumed command; he was promoted to commander in January 1781.

On 9 March 1782 Commander George Martin became captain of Tobago.

Tobago was in company with Sibyl and HMS Alarm when they encountered the American frigate USS Alliance which was escorting USS Duc de Lauzun 140 miles (230 km) south of Cape Canaveral on 10 March 1783. An inconclusive engagement developed between Sibyl and Alliance that proved to be the last battle of the American Revolutionary War. Alarmand Tobago neither participated in the engagement nor captured Duc de Lauzun.

Commander Martin received a further promotion to post-captain soon after he left Tobago to take command of the 50-gun HMS Preston on 17 March 1783.[4] Lieutenant Rowley Bulteel replaced Martin.

Fate
The Royal Navy sold Tobago on 21 June 1783 for £2,050 in the West Indies, probably at Jamaica

Governor Trumbull (1777 ship) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1808, March 6–8 – HMS San Fiorenzo captures French frigate Piémontaise


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



French service
Piémontaise was built by Enterprise Étheart at Saint Malo to a design by François Pastel.

On 18 December 1805 she sailed from Brest for Île de France. There she served as a commerce raider under captain Jacques Epron. On 21 June 1806, she captured the East Indiaman Warren Hastings. On 6 September, she captured the 14-gun East India Company brig Grappler, the three-masted country ship Atomany, and the East Indiaman Fame.

Between September and October 1807, Piémontaise captured Caroline, Eggleton or Eggleson, master, Sarah, Henderson, master, Maria, James, master, Udny, Walteas or Wallis, master, Danneberg or Danesburgh or Castel Dansborg, Winter, master, Highland Chief, Mahapice or Makepiece, master, Eliza, Sparkes, master, and Calcutta.[5][6] Calcutta was a "native ship". Captain James, of Maria, died aboard Piémontaise on 29 September.

In early March 1808, Piémontaise captured three more merchantmen off Southern India.


HMS St Fiorenzo capturing Piémontaise on 9 March 1808

Capture
On 6 March 1808, she encountered HMS St Fiorenzo. The two ships battled for three days until Piémontaise, out of ammunition and having suffered heavy casualties, had to strike her colours on 8 March. The evening before she struck, Lieutenant de vaisseau Charles Moreau, who had been severely wounded, threw himself into the sea. Captain Hardinge, of St Fiorenzo, was killed in the fighting on the last day. Over the three days the British suffered 13 dead and 25 wounded. The French suffered some 48 dead and 112 wounded.

Lieutenant William Dawson took command and brought both vessels back to Colombo, even though Piémontaise's three masts fell over her side early in the morning of 9 March. Piémontaise had on board British army officers and captains and officers from prizes that she had taken. These men helped organize the lascars to jury-rig masts and bring Piémontaise into port. St Fiorenzo had too few men, too many casualties, and too many prisoners to guard to provide much assistance. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 8 March 1808" to any surviving claimants from the action.

British service
The British brought Piémontaise into service as HMS Piedmontaise, commissioning her under Captain Charles Foote. From May to August 1810, she took part in an expedition to the Banda Islands, along with Caroline and Barracouta. The expedition also included Mandarin.

Foote died in September and Commander Henry D. Dawson replaced him, only to die shortly thereafter. Piedmontaise's next captain was T. Epworth, who was replaced in turn by Captain Henry Edgell.

Fate
Piémontaise was taken out of commission at Woolwich on 12 August 1812. She was broken up in January 1813


Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She operated in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary Wars. Her crew scuttled her at Saint-Florent to avoid capture when the British invaded Corsica in 1794, but the British managed to raise her and recommissioned her in the Royal Navy as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS St Fiorenzo (also San Fiorenzo).



She went on to serve under a number of the most distinguished naval commanders of her age, in theatres ranging from the English Channel to the East Indies. During this time she was active against enemy privateers, and on several occasions she engaged ships larger than herself, being rewarded with victory on each occasion. She captured the 40-gun Résistance and the 22-gun Constance in 1797, the 36-gun Psyché in 1805, and the 40-gun Piémontaise in 1808. (These actions would earn the crew members involved clasps to the Naval General Service Medal.) After she became too old for frigate duties, the Admiralty had her converted for successively less active roles. She initially became a troopship and then a receiving ship. Finally she was broken up in 1837 after a long period as a lazarette.


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



lines & profile NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 283, states that 'San/Saint Fiorenzo' (1794)) arrived at Chatham Dockyard on 22 November 1794 and was docked on 21 March 1795. She was undocked on 2 June 1795 and sailed on 14 August 1795 having been fitted. She arrived at Sheerness Dockyard on 14 August 1795, departing on 29 August 1795.

HMS St Fiorenzo (1794) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1809 – Launch of HMS Malacca, an Apollo-class frigate of the Royal Navy that the Admiralty ordered from the British East India Company to be built at Prince of Wales Island (Penang), under the name Penang.


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



Penang
The Royal Navy ordered 36 vessels to the same design, with Malacca the only one being built outside Great Britain. She was built of a variety of timbers and her dimensions deviate noticeably from those of the design and her class-mates. One could argue that she is only nominally a member of the Apollo class.

The dockyard at Prince of Wales's Island built less fewer than a handful of vessels before ceasing operations, and apparently Malacca was the first.

The EIC sent Captain Charles Henry Pendares (or Pindarves) Tremenheere out to Penang to take command of Penang and sail her back to England (He had just lost his ship, the East Indiaman Asia, and was a senior, experienced captain.) Penang/Malacca arrived in England in July 1810


Lines (ZAZ2677)

HMS Malacca
The Royal Navy took Malacca into service on 11 August. She then underwent fitting at Woolwich between 16 August and 28 October 1810. The Navy commissioned Malacca in October under the command of Captain W. Butterfield. He left for the Cape of Good Hope on 31 December 1810, in company with the frigates HMS President and HMS Galatea. After the Cape Malacca remained in the Indian Ocean, while the other two vessels proceeded on to India and Java. Malacca would spend the rest of her military career in the East Indies.

Butterfield cruised off Île de France until he was ordered to the East Indies. There, in August 1812, a court-martial dismissed him from command of Malacca for having exceeded his authority when, at the behest of the merchants, he had HMS Minden escort the October (1811) convoy to England. Captain the Honourable Henry John Peachey received promotion to post captain on 7 August 1812 and replaced Butterfield at that time.

Peachey assumed command of Sir Francis Drake and in May 1812 sailed her back to England as escort to a convoy of returning East Indiamen. At that time, Captain Samuel Leslie (acting) of Volage replaced Peachey. Shortly thereafter Captain Donald Hugh Mackay replaced Leslie.

Malacca participated in the Royal Navy's second punitive expedition in 1812 against the Sultanate of Sambas, along the Sambas River in western Borneo. In addition to Malacca, the force consisted of Leda (a sister ship of Malacca's), Hussar, Volage, Hecate, and Procris, with Captain George Sayer of Leda as the senior naval officer.[8] The EIC contributed the cruisers Malabar, Teignmouth, and Aurora, seven gunboats, the transport Troubridge, and the East Indiaman Princess Charlotte of Wales. The army contingent consisted of the 14th Regiment of Foot, a company each from the Bengal artillery and the HEIC's European Regiment, and the 3rd Bengal Volunteer Battalion. Eventually the British vessels, except the frigates, were able to cross bar in front of the river and move towards the town of Sambas. Capturing two forts yielded over 70 brass and iron guns of mixed calibers, but the town of itself yielded little booty. The expedition was able to recapture the Portuguese brig Coromandel, which the pirates had captured the year before. British casualties from combat were relatively low, but casualties from fever and disease were high.

Captain George Henderson replaced Mackay on 14 January 1815.[9]

Fate
Malacca was paid-off in June 1815. She was then sold in March 1816.

sistership

Oil painting . Nine days after the outbreak of the American War of 1812, the British ship 'Belvider'a, commanded by Captain Richard Byron, was off New London, Connecticut. She was waiting for the French privateer 'Marengo' to come out, when at daybreak she saw the sails of five vessels to the south-west. They were the American frigates 'Presiden't, the 'Congress', the 'United States' and the sloops 'Hornet' and 'Argos', effectively the entire American navy in commission at the time. The Americans gave chase and the 'Presiden't closed on the 'Belvidera'.

The Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule. Twenty-five served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, two being launched too late.

Of the 25 ships that served during the Napoleonic Wars, only one was lost to enemy action. Of the entire class of 27 ships, only two were lost to wrecking, and none to foundering.

The Admiralty ordered three frigates in 1798–1800. Following the Peace of Amiens, it ordered a further twenty-four sister-ships to the same design between 1803 and 1812. The last was ordered to a fresh 38-gun design. Initially, the Admiralty split the order for the 24 vessels equally between its yards and commercial yards, but two commercial yards failed to perform and the Admiralty transferred these orders to its own dockyards, making the split 14–10 as between the Admiralty and commercial yards.

Apollo class, 27 ships, 36-gun fifth rates 1799–1819, designed by William Rule.

• HMS Apollo 1799
• HMS Blanche 1800
• HMS Euryalus 1803
• HMS Semiramis 1808
• HMS Owen Glendower 1808
• HMS Curacoa 1809
• HMS Saldanha 1809
• HMS Malacca 1809
• HMS Orpheus 1809
• HMS Theban 1809
• HMS Leda 1809
• HMS Manilla 1809
• HMS Belvidera 1809
• HMS Hotspur 1810
• HMS Astraea 1810
• HMS Galatea 1810
• HMS Havannah 1811
• HMS Maidstone 1811
• HMS Stag 1812
• HMS Magicienne 1812
• HMS Barrosa 1812
• HMS Dartmouth 1813
• HMS Creole 1813
• HMS Tartar 1814
• HMS Brilliant 1814
• HMS Pallas 1816
• HMS Blonde 1819 - completed to fresh 46-gun design

Combat soutenu le 23 Aout 1812 par la Fregate le President des Etats-Unis d' Amerique, et la Fregate Anglais le Belvedere (Print) (PAD5816)


Frame (ZAZ2553)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Malacca_(1809)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-class_frigate

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1836, March 6 – Texas schooner Liberty captures the Mexican schooner Pelicano


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


ship similar to Texas schooner Liberty

History of the schooner before the Texas Navy
She was previously the privately owned ship William Robbins which was purchased in November 1835, by the rebellious citizens of Matagorda when the Texas-bound schooner Hannah Elizabeth was captured by the Mexican Navy brig Bravo. Hannah Elizabeth was laden with weapons and ammunition for the Texas Revolution and she was seized and run aground at Pass Cavallo, throwing her cannons overboard during the chase. Days later the Williams Robbins was placed under the command of Captain William A. Hurd who captured the Mexican Man-of-war Correo de Mejico and recaptured the Hannah Elizabeth from the Mexican prize crew and took both ships to Galveston. These actions were controversial in some quarters because they were done before the William Robbins was granted a letter of marque from the fledgling Texas government.

The William Robbins was purchased by the Texas government in Galveston on January 5, 1836, for the sum of $3,500 and was christened the Liberty. She was thus the first ship of the Texas Navy.



Service in the Texas Navy

Naval scene from Republic of Texas currency, the $50 bill (1838)

Captain William S. Brown, whose brother Jeremiah Brown commanded one of the other Texas ships, Invincible, was appointed commander of the schooner in January 1836. Later that month, he set to sea to harry Mexican naval efforts to blockade the Texas coast from further shipments of arms and volunteers and at the same time to disrupt Mexican supplies from reaching their troops in Texas by sea. On March 6, while on a cruise towards the Yucatán Peninsula, Liberty captured the three-gun Mexican schooner Pelicano under the guns of the fortress at Sisal. Pelicano was sailed into Matagorda Bay and she "proved to contain 300 kegs of powder and other military supplies concealed inside cargo owned by the New Orleans firm of J.W. Zacharie. Pelican ran aground and was lost on the bar at Matagorda, Texas, but her cargo was salvaged and used to good advantage in the San Jacinto campaign."

Captain Brown resigned just nine days after this triumph due to a quarrel with Commodore Charles Hawkins. Brown proferred charges (see original here) and his brother was clapped in chains that same day by Commodore Hawkins. George Wheelwright was then appointed captain of Liberty in May 1836, and his first mission was to accompany and defend the ship Flora as she bore Sam Houston, who had been wounded at San Jacinto on April 21, to New Orleans for hospitalization.

In New Orleans, Liberty undertook repairs. "nable to meet her refitting bills, [she] was detained in May 1836 and later sold to satisfy her creditors - an event which illustrated the shoestring budget under which the Texas Navy was forced to work despite the demands on it." With Liberty sold, the Texas Navy now was down to three ships, and peaceful independence was still elusive for Texas.

The crew seeks prize money
Years later, the crew of the Liberty petitioned the Texas Congress for a share of the prize money of the Pelicano. The Judiciary Committee ruled that since the District Court of Brazoria had admiralty jurisdiction and had properly condemned the Pelicano, the crew of Liberty was entitled to a just share of the prize.



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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 March 1856 – Launch of HMS Surprise, a Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy.


HMS Surprise was a Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Blackwall Yard, London in 1856 and broken up in Plymouth in 1866.



Design
Her class were designed as second-class despatch and gunvessels. They were intended to operate close inshore during the Crimean War and were essentially enlarged versions of the Arrow-class gunvessel, which has been designed by the Surveyor’s Department in 1854.

Propulsion
A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine by Miller, Ravenhill and Salkeld provided 778 indicated horsepower (580 kW) through a single screw, and gave a top speed of about 11 knots.

Sail plan
All Vigilant-class gunvessels were barque-rigged.

Armament
Although designed with a pair of 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles, the Vigilant class were finished with one 7-inch (180 mm)/110-pound (50 kg) Armstrong breech-loading gun, one 68-pound (31 kg) Lancaster muzzle-loading rifled gun and two 20-pounder breech loaders.

Construction
Surprise was ordered on 26 July 1855 at the same time as nine others of her class. Her keel was laid at the Blackwall yard of Money Wigram & Son on 30 August and she was launched on 6 March 1856.

History
From 18 March 1856 she was commanded by Commander Charles Egerton Harcourt-Vernon, and he commissioned her at Blackwall on 12 April the same year. From 1857 under Commander Cresswell the ship served in the East Indies including the Second Anglo-Chinese War, and from 1861 she formed part of the Mediterranean Fleet.[3] Between August 1864 and 24 April 1866 she was commanded by George Tryon, later to become infamous as the Admiral who caused the loss in 1893 of his flagship HMS Victoria during fleet manoeuvres.

Disposal
Surprise was sold to Marshall of Plymouth and broken up in November 1866.


The Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy was an enlarged version of the Arrow-class gunvessel of 1854. Both classes were designed for shallow-water operations in the Baltic and Black Seas during the Crimean War. Fourteen of the class were completed, but were ready too late to take part in that conflict. Cormorant was sunk in action at the Taku Forts, Osprey was wrecked on the coast of Africa in 1867 and the rest were all sold during the 1860s, with Sparrowhawk lasting until 1872.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_(1856)

Vigilant-class gunvessel - Wikipedia

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