Naval/Maritime History 18th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1794 - The Action of 7 May 1794 was a minor naval action fought between a British ship of the line and a French frigate early in the French Revolutionary Wars.
HMS Swiftsure (74), Captain Charles Boyles, captured Atalante (36), Cptn. Charles-Alexandre-Leon Durand-Linois


The Action of 7 May 1794 was a minor naval action fought between a British ship of the line and a French frigate early in the French Revolutionary Wars. The French Navy sought to disrupt British trade by intercepting and capturing merchant ships with roving frigates, a strategy countered by protecting British convoys with heavier warships, particularly in European waters. On 5 May 1794, the British escorts of a convoy from Cork sighted two French ships approaching and gave chase. The ships, a frigate and a corvette, outmatched by their opponents, separated and the convoy escorts did likewise, each following one of the raiders on a separate course.

By the evening one of the French ships had successfully escaped, but the other was still under pursuit, Captain Charles Linois of Atalante attempting a number of tactics to drive off his opponent but without success. Eventually, after a chase lasting nearly two days, the French ship came within range of the much larger British 74-gun third rate HMS Swiftsure and despite a brave defence was soon forced to surrender after suffering more than 40 casualties. Although he had surrendered his ship, Linois was widely praised for his actions in defending his ship against such heavy odds.

In the aftermath of the engagement, a French battle squadron that formed part of the developing Atlantic campaign of May 1794 pursued both ships for the rest of the day; their quarry eventually escaped after dark. Atalante was later taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Espion.




lines NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 543, states that 'Espion' was at Plymouth Dockyard between March and My 1795 being fitted and having defects rectified, and there again in November 1795. She was in Sheerness Dockyard between 1 December 1796 and 16 January 1797 having further defects made good. In 1798 she was fitted as a floating battery and in 1799 as a troopship


Background
The outbreak of war between Britain and France in the spring of 1793 came at a time of differing fortunes for the navies of the two countries. The Royal Navy had been at a state of heightened readiness since 1792 in preparation for the conflict, while the French Navy had still not recovered from the upheavals of the French Revolution, which had resulted in the collapse of the naval hierarchy and a dearth of experienced officers and seamen. French naval strategy early in the war was to send squadrons and light vessels to operate along British trade routes, in order to disrupt British mercantile operations. This resulted in Britain forming its merchant ships into convoys for mutual protection, escorted by warships while in European waters to defend against roving attacks by French ships.

By the spring of 1794, France was in turmoil following the failure of the harvest, which threatened the country with starvation. In order to secure food supplies, France turned to its American colonies and the United States, which assembled a large grain convoy in Hampton Roads. To ensure the security of this convoy, the French Navy dispatched most of its Atlantic Fleet to sea during May 1794, operating in a series of large squadrons, independent cruisers and one major fleet under Villaret de Joyeuse. On 5 May, two French ships operating independently, the 36-gun frigate Atalante under Captain Charles Linois and the corvette Levrette, spied a British convoy sailing south-west, three days out from Cork, and closed to investigate.

Pursuit
The convoy that Linois had sighted was under the protection of two ships of the line, the Swiftsure under Captain Charles Boyles and the 64-gun HMS St Albans under Captain James Vashon. At 17:45, with the French frigates closing from the west and aware that they could not defend the whole convoy without immediate direct action, Boyles turned Swiftsure and St Albans towards the newcomers, hoisting their colours and Swiftsure firing three shots in the direction of the larger ship, Atalante. Together the British ships hugely outweighed and outmatched the French vessels, and as soon as Linois realised his mistake he gave orders for his ships to turn and make all sail to escape pursuit, raising the French tricolour and firing his stern-chasers, guns fitted in the rear of the ship, at his pursuers.

The French ships immediately separated. St Albans then followed Levrette while Swiftsure concentrated on Atalante. Throughout the rest of the evening the two chases continued. Then after darkness fell Levrette was able to outrun and escape from St Albans. Swiftsure however remained in touch with Atalante so that by 04:00 on 6 May the French frigate was approximately 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) ahead of the ship of the line to the northwest, with the wind direction to the north-northeast. For the entire following day Linois could not escape Boyles' pursuit, and at 17:30 Swiftsure was close enough to open fire again, using the bow-chasers for an hour and a half until Atalante once more pulled out of range. During the evening the French frigate was able to keep 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) in front of Swiftsure, but at midnight Linois switched his course to the south, hoping that the darkness would cloak the manoeuvre and that Atlante would be able to escape Boyles.

At 02:00 it became clear that Linois's ploy had failed and that Swiftsure was still following Atalante. More importantly, the manoeuvre had severely slowed the frigate. Although Linois hauled closer to the wind, Boyles was able to come within range at 02:30, firing his starboard guns into the smaller ship. Although his crew were exhausted by the extended chase Linois returned fire, the warships exchanging shot at long-range and the frigate suffering far more serious damage during the brief engagement. By 03:25 Linois was forced to surrender, his ship's rigging in tatters and casualties mounting among his crew. Boyles then provided a prize crew to the frigate and took most of the surviving French crew aboard his own ship as prisoners of war. Casualties on the French ship were heavy, with ten killed and 32 wounded from the 274 men aboard, compared to a single man lost on Swiftsure, which had also suffered some damage to its rigging.

Aftermath
Boyles was not long able to enjoy his victory undisturbed: at 10:00 on 7 May, shortly after the removal of the French prisoners had been completed, sails were spotted on the horizon. These were rapidly identified as three French ships of the line that were making all haste to intercept and capture Swiftsure and Atalante. These ships were part of a squadron under Contre-Admiral Joseph-Marie Nielly that had sailed from Rochefort the day before in search of the American grain convoy shortly due in European waters. Issuing rapid orders, Boyles instructed Atalante's prize crew to separate their ship from Swiftsure in order to force the French to split their forces; the frigate and the ship of the line fleeing on different courses. Atalante soon outran pursuit and escaped into the Atlantic, the prize crew even managing to replace the damaged main topsail in the midst of the chase with the assistance of the French prisoners on board. Swiftsure was slower but Boyles was still able to increase the distance between his vessel and the French during the day, finally losing sight of his pursuers at 22:00.

Both ships arrived safely at Cork on 17 May, Rear-Admiral Robert Kingsmill informing the Admiralty of the action by letter. Atalante subsequently served the Royal Navy as a 36-gun frigate under the name HMS Espion as there was already a ship named HMS Atalanta in service. For his lengthy and brave resistance, Linois was highly praised, particularly by the historian William James, who wrote in 1827 that Linois' "endeavours . . . were highly meritorious" and considered that in an engagement against a British frigate "the Atalante, if conquered at all, would have been dearly purchased." Shortly after his arrival in Britain, Linois was exchanged and returned to France.


HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars in the Action of 24 June 1801. She fought in several of the most famous engagements of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, fighting for the British at the Battle of the Nile, and the French at the Battle of Trafalgar


Orient explodes at the Nile. HMS Swiftsure is in the centre of the picture, sails billowing in the blast, and riding the wave caused by the force of the explosion.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Elizabeth' (1769), and with alterations for 'Resolution' (1770), 'Cumberland' (1774), 'Berwick' (1775), 'Bombay Castle' (1782), 'Defiance' (1783), 'Powerful' (1783), and 'Swiftsure' (1787), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers

HMS St Albans was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 September 1764 at Blackwall Yard, London. She served in the American War of Independence from 1777 and was part of the fleet that captured St Lucia and won victories at Battle of St. Kitts and The Saintes. She was converted to a floating battery in 1803 and was broken up in 1814.

Action of 7 May 1794 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Swiftsure_(1787)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-352020;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_St_Albans_(1764)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1798 - Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf
HMS Badger (4) and HMS Sandfly gunbrig repulsed 52 gun brigs at Marcon.


The Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf was an engagement fought off the Îles Saint-Marcouf near the Cotentin peninsula on the Normandy coast of France in May 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1795 a British garrison was placed on the islands, which operated as a resupply base for Royal Navy ships cruising off the coast of Northern France. Seeking to eliminate the British presence on the islands and simultaneously test the equipment and tactics then being developed in France for a projected invasion of Britain, the French launched a massed amphibious assault on the southern island using over 50 landing ships and thousands of troops on 7 May 1798. Although significant Royal Navy forces were in the area, a combination of wind and tide prevented them from intervening and the island's 500-strong garrison was left to resist the attack alone.


Attack of St Marcou, I. Scatcherd

Despite the overwhelming French majority in numbers, the attack was a disaster: nearly 1,000 French soldiers were killed as the boats were caught in open water under the island's gun batteries: several were sunk with all hands. Heavy fire from batteries and Royal Marines prevented a single French soldier from landing and the retreating fleet was subject to heavy fire from the smaller island to the north, inflicting further losses. British casualties were negligible. Although this operation indicated the probable result of a full-scale invasion of Britain, the threat remained and British forces began a close blockade of the surviving landing craft that were anchored in the Cotentin ports. A month after the battle this strategy resulted in a secondary success when a French frigate and corvette passing along the coast were intercepted and defeated by the blockade squadron.



Background
Throughout the French Revolutionary Wars, British warships patrolled the French coast, intercepting and destroying French maritime traffic and blockading French ports. In 1795 Captain Sir Sidney Smith, a prominent Royal Navy officer, recognised that if resupply points could be established on islands off the French coast then cruising warships could extend their time at sea. To this purpose, Smith seized the uninhabited Îles Saint-Marcouf, which lie 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) off Ravenoville on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy. Smith constructed barracks and gun batteries and manned the islands with 500 sailors and Royal Marines, including a large proportion of men unfit for ship-board service, described as "invalids". The Glengarry Fencibles offered to provide a garrison, but after the French captured Smith this fell through.

The Royal Navy regularly supplied the islandswith food from Britain, and visiting vessels brought bags of earth that allowed the development of a vegetable garden. Smith supported the islands with several gunvessels, including the converted hoys Badger, Hawke, and Shark, the fireship Nancy, and the Musquito-class floating battery Sandfly, which he had had purpose-built for the defence of the islands. Lieutenant Charles Papps Price, captain of Badger and an unpopular officer who had repeatedly been passed over for promotion, commanded the British occupation; Price spent most of his time on the islands with a prostitute he had brought from Portsmouth.

Since the 1796 French victory in Italy over the Austrians, pressure had been growing in France for direct action against Britain. Command of an army deployed in Northern France and named the Armée d'Angleterre was initially given to General Napoleon Bonaparte, but later passed to General Kilmaine. Bonaparte, and then Kilmaine, prepared for an invasion of Britain and Captain Muskein, a naval administrator from Antwerp, was instructed to develop a suitable fleet of landing craft to convoy the troops across the English Channel. The French Directory commissioned a Swedish naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman to design the invasion barges and by 1797 ships of his design were under construction along the Northern French coast under Muskein's supervision: the boats were known to the French soldiers as "bateaux à la Muskein" (Muskein-type boats).

In April 1798, Muskein was ordered to prepare a squadron of his barges for an attack on the Saint Marcouf Islands. The operation was intended simultaneously to eradicate the British garrison and restore French control of the raiding base, test the effectiveness of the barges in a military amphibious operation, and focus British naval attention on the English Channel and away from Bonaparte's preparations at Toulon for the invasion of Egypt. On 7 April 1978, Muskein sailed from Le Havrewith 33 barges under the command of General Point, but on 8 April he found his passage blocked by the British frigates HMS Diamond under Captain Sir Richard Strachan and HMS Hydra under Captain Sir Francis Laforey. At 16:00 the frigates cornered the barges in the mouth of the River Orne and opened fire, but Diamond grounded soon afterwards and although the frigate was brought off after darkness, neither side was able to inflict serious damage.

On 9 April the French flotilla was able to leave the Orne River and anchor in the harbour of Bernières-sur-Mer, but the arrival of the fourth rate HMS Adamant under Captain William Hotham persuaded Muskein to return to the more sheltered anchorage at the mouth of the Orne. As he returned eastward, he again came under fire from Diamond and Hydra. The French flotilla then sheltered under the batteries at Sallenelles until the damage was repaired. Over the next two weeks, however, the situation changed – Rear-Admiral Jean Lacrosse at Cherbourg had been informed of Muskein's difficulties and sent reinforcements of 40 barges and armed fishing ships to Sallenelles. Late in April, Muskein had an opportunity to escape without interception by the British force offshore and sailed as far as Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, to the west of the islands. There he waited for the right combination of wind and tide to allow the attack to go ahead uninterrupted by the British squadron that had followed his flotilla westwards.

Battle
On 6 May the conditions for Muskein's attack were perfect: the calm winds prevented the British warships intercepting his flotilla, and the weak tides prevented disruption of his craft by heavy waves. The British also were aware of the conditions necessary for the attack, and made swift preparations to arm the batteries and line the shore with Royal Marines. A small boat from the islands watched as Muskein's force rowed out of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and steadily approached the islands during the evening. The sixth rate HMS Eurydice under Captain John Talbot and the brig HMS Orestes under Commander William Haggitt, had joined Adamant, which was stranded 6 nautical miles (11 km) away from the islands by the calm. Despite strenuous efforts, the three vessels would not be able to reach the islands in time to take part in the action.


Engraving of the islands in 1798 under British occupation

At midnight, the island's boat signaled the approach of the French and Lieutenant Price readied the defences. Muskein's force mustered 52 vessels, including a number of brigs that mounted several large cannon and were intended to provide covering fire for the landing barges. The main body of the attacking troops numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 French soldiers drawn largely from coastal defence units based around Boulogne. Unwilling to risk a night attack, Muskein waited until dawn, using the remaining cover of night to draw his craft in formation facing the western defences of the southern island. The gunbrigs lay 300 yards (270 m) offshore, behind the landing barges whose approach they would cover during the attack. As dawn broke, Muskein ordered the advance and the gunbrigs and smaller cannon in the barges opened fire on the British defences.

The West Island's batteries, under Lieutenant Price, consisted of 17 cannon: four 4, two 6, and six 24-pounder long guns, and three 24, and two 32-pounder carronades. Although eight of the guns were relatively light, the batteries inflicted devastating damage on the light invasion craft. Despite severe casualties the French barges continued their approach until they were within musket range, 50 yards (46 m). The garrison of Royal Marines opened fire and the artillery crews switched to canister shot. Six or seven boats sank with their entire crews and troops, and others were heavily damaged. Losses were so high that the French called off the attack; even so, the return journey carried the barges past East Island, which was under the command of Lieutenant Richard Bourne of Sandfly and mounted a battery of two 68 pounder carronades, massive guns that inflicted additional severe losses. Although Hotham's squadron made desperate efforts to reach the battle, the wind was too light and they were only able to chase the remaining ships back into Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue.

Aftermath

View of the islands from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue

The battle was a disaster for the French. According to unofficial accounts, they lost approximately 900 men killed or drowned and at least 300 wounded, in addition to the loss of a number of the newly constructed landing craft. In France the newly appointed Minister of MarineÉtienne Eustache Bruix ordered a second attempt on the islands soon afterwards but the orders were immediately countermanded by the French Directory, which did not want the embarrassment of a second disastrous attack. Instead, Lacrosse gave orders for most of the surviving ships to be sent to Cherbourg, detachments later reaching Saint Malo and Granville. Muskein was ordered to return to Le Havre with the remainder.

In Britain the successful defence of the islands was highly praised and Price was promoted as a reward, although Bourne was not, despite a recommendation in the official report. British losses included a single marine killed and four other personnel wounded. The victory was seen in Britain as a foreshadowing of the likely fate of an attempted invasion and helped ease British fears about the threat of a French amphibious attack. Nearly five decades later the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Isles St. Marcou" upon application to all British participants then still living.

The British strengthened the islands' defences, in case of further attacks, and a number of warships patrolled the area to observe French movements and intercept any flotillas of invasion craft. At the Action of 30 May 1798, this strategy achieved an unexpected success when HMS Hydra intercepted the French frigate Confiante and a corvette off the mouth of the River Dives. The British drove Confiante ashore and boarding parties later burnt her.[6] The islands remained under British occupation without any further French attacks until 1802. The Peace of Amiens returned the islands to French control; throughout the Napoleonic Wars of 1803–1815 they remained French, protected by a significant garrison.


HMS Badger was a Dutch hoy, one of some 19 that the Admiralty purchased for the Royal Navy in 1794 after France's declaration of war in 1793. The intent was to create quickly a class of gun-vessels for operations in coastal and shallow waters. Of all the hoys, she had probably the most distinguished career in that she helped fend off two French attacks on the Îles Saint-Marcouf, and participated in the capture of several French vessels. She was sold in 1802.


HMS Sandfly was a Musquito-class floating battery of the Royal Navy. The two-vessel class was intended to defend the Îles Saint-Marcouf (Marcou) situated off the Normandy coast. During her brief career Sandfly shared in the capture of one privateer and participated in a battle that would earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. The Peace of Amiens returned the islets to France in May 1802; Sandfly was paid off in June 1802 and broken up in 1803.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Badger_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sandfly_(1794)

Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1808 - Boats of HMS Falcon (14), Lt. John Price (act. Cdr.), captured two sail at Lundholm.


Zealand Point, Endelave and Tunø

Commander George A. Creyke took command in 1808. On 22 March 1808 Falcon was among the smaller British warships at the battle of Zealand Point. She watched from a safe distance and recorded the course of the battle in her logbook.

In late April, under orders from Captain Donald Campbell of the third rate Dictator, Lieutenant John Price, acting captain of Falcon, took her northward to the west of Samsø to search for enemy boats capable of carrying troops from mainland Jutland to Zealand or Skåne. Falcon destroyed eight "pretty large boats .. with troops nearby" on the island of Endelave, six boats on Tunø on 29 April, and 13 others in the waters between Samsø and Aarhus, all before 15 May.

The Danes were fortifying the harbour complex to the east of Samsø, with its outlying islands of Kyholm and Lindholm. During the night of 7 May, Falcon sent in a cutting-out party in her boats. The British captured two boats each loaded with thirteen-inch mortars and associated equipment, including 400 mortar shells. Lieutenant Price recorded that one of these boats ran aground and had to be burned; he destroyed the other boat after removing the mortar.

On 3 June Falcon sent in her boats to make a further raid on Endelave.


Diadem was launched in 1798. The Admiralty renamed her HMS Falcon after purchasing her in 1801 to avoid confusion with the pre-existing third rate Diadem. Falcon served in the north Atlantic and the Channel, and then in Danish waters during the Gunboat War. She was sold in 1816. Her new owner sailed her to the Indies under a license from the British East India Company. She was wrecked in 1820 at Batavia.

HMS Falcon (1801) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1803 – Launch of Russian Liogkii ("Лёгкий"), or Legkiy or Legkii, was a 38-gun Russian Speshni-class frigate


Liogkii ("Лёгкий"), or Legkiy or Legkii, was a 38-gun Russian Speshni-class frigate launched in 1803. She served in the Mediterranean during the Anglo-Russian war. The Russians sold her to the French Navy in 1809, which refitted her and put her into service in 1811, renaming her Corcyre. The British captured her in November 1811.





Russian service
Legkiy was built of pine and served in the Baltic Fleet. From 1804 to 1809 she was under the command of Captain A.B. Povalishin.

Legkiy sailed to the Mediterranean in 1806 with Captain-Commodore I.A. Ignatyev’s squadron. Between February and September 1807 she served with the Adriatic Squadron.

She left Corfu on 24 December, arriving at Trieste on 28 December 1807 as part of Commodore Saltanov's squadron. At Trieste, she resisted a British attack there in May 1809.

On 27 September 1809 she was ordered sold to France. She was decommissioned at Trieste on 20 October, and transferred to the French on 1 November. Her Russian crew left for Russia about a year later, on 24 October 1810.

French service
The French Navy refitted Legkiy between January and March 1811, at Trieste, and renamed her Corcyre in March. She was armed en flute.

Fate
On 27 November 1811, as she sailed escorted by Uranie and the 14-gun brig Scemplone, ferrying troops and ammunition, she encountered the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Eagle about four leagues NW of Fano. Eaglefinally caught Corcyre after a chase of 10 hours. Captain Sir Charles Rowley reported that the three vessels were sailing from Corfu from Trieste, having left Corfu on 13 November, and that all three were carrying wheat and stores. Corcyre alone was carrying 300 tons of wheat. She had a crew of 130 seventy men, and was carrying 130 soldiers.

Scemplone escaped early in the chase. Uranie escaped by superior sailing, the onset of darkness, and the weather, and probably was able to take refuge at Brindisi. Corcyre resisted Eagle, firing on her for a few minutes. Corcyre had already lost her foretop mast during the chase from carrying too much sail, and return fire from Eagle did further damage to Corcyre's rigging. She struck after she had lost three men killed and six or so wounded, including her captain who was lightly wounded in the head. Eagle was forced to stay close to Corcyre to prevent her running on shore near Brindisi, which by then was only a mile and a half away.

Corcyre's captain, Lieutenant Langlade, was acquitted on 16 September 1812 for the loss of his ship.



Speshnyi-class (34 units)
The design Speshnyi class proved highly successful with the result that the Russian Navy built 34 over several decades. The first 11 were built over a period of 24 years. The first three were built before 1810, and three more were built towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars. These last three were built of larch and pine, a decision that sacrificed durability for speed and cost of construction. As a result, the Russian Navy sold these three, and some other frigates, to Spain in 1818. The last five of the initial eleven were laid down between 1818 and 1823. The Great Flood of 1824 damaged three, but the Navy salvaged them, and two (Provoryni (1820) and Konstantin (1824)), fought at the battle of Navarino. By 1831 all of the first 11 had been captured, wrecked, or broken up, with the exception of Konstantin. She was hulked in 1837 and finally broken up in 1848. Between 1825 and 1844 the Navy had another 23 built.


Model of the frigate O'Higgins from the Museo Naval y Marítimo of the Chilean Navy

First 11 units

• Speshnyi 44/50 ("Спешный", 1801, A) - Was the fastest frigate of the contemporary Baltic Fleet, captured by Britain at Portsmouth harbour in 1807 because her captain was not informed of the beginning of Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)
• Liogkii 38 ("Лёгкий", 1803, A) - Served at the Adriatic Sea 1806–1807, sold to France at Trieste 1809. Captured by the British Royal Navy in 1811.
• Neva 28 ("Нева", 1805) - BU 1829
• Geroi 48 ("Герой", 1807, A) - Wrecked 1808
• Argus 44/50 ("Аргус", 1807, A) - Wrecked 1808
• Bystryi 44/50 ("Быстрый", 1807, A) - BU 1827
• Merkurii 44 ("Меркурий", 1815) - Visited Britain 1816, sold to Spain 1818, renamed Mercurio, scrapped in Cadiz in 1820.
• Patrikii 44 ("Патрикий", 1816, A) - Sold to Spain 17 August 1817, transferred in 1818, renamed Maria Isabel, captured by Chile in 1818, renamed O'Higgins, sold to Argentina in 1826, renamed Buenos Aires, sunk in Cape Horn in 1826.
• Liogkii 44 ("Лёгкий", 1816) - Sold to Spain 1818, renamed Ligeria, sunk in Santiago de Cuba in 1822
• Patrikii 44 ("Патрикий", 1819, A) - BU 1827

Second 23 units


44-gun frigate Avrora (1835)

• Merkurii 44 ("Меркурий", 1820, A) - Visited Britain 1827, BU 1829
• Provornyi 44 ("Проворный", 1820) - Visited France 1824, served at the Mediterranean Sea 1827–1828, BU 1831
• Vestovoi 44 ("Вестовой", 1822, A) - Wrecked 1827
• Konstantin 44/48 ("Константин", 1824, A) - Visited Britain 1826, served at the Mediterranean Sea 1827–1830, BU 1848
• Aleksandra 44/54 ("Александра", 1826, A) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1828–1830, BU 1845
• Mariya 44/54 ("Мария", 1827, A) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1828–1830, hulked as depot 1847
• Ol‘ga 44/54 ("Ольга", 1827, A) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1828–1830, U 1849
• Kniaginia Lovitch 44/54 ("Княгина Лович", 1828) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1828–1833, flagship of rear admiral Pyotr Rikord during the Civil conflict in Greece (1831–1833), transferred to the Black Sea Fleet 1833, hulked 1837
• Elisaveta 44/63 ("Елизавета", 1828) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1829–1831, hulked as depot 1838
• Ekaterina 44/56 ("Екатерина", 1828) - BU 1854
• Anna 44/54 ("Анна", 1829) - Served at the Aegean Sea 1831–1833, transferred to the Black Sea Fleet 1833, hulked 1838
• Prints Oranskii 44/54 ("Принц Оранский", 1829) - Renamed Korol‘ Niderlandskii ("Король Нидерландский") 1841, hulked 1854, BU c. 1858
• Neva 44/54 ("Нева", 1829) - Hulked as depot 1837
• Venus ("Венус") (ex-Skoryi ("Скорый") - renamed on slip) 44/64 (1829, A) - Hulked 1852
• Bellona 44/54 ("Беллона", 1830) - Hulked as depot 1837
• Yunona 44/54 ("Юнона", 1830) - Hulked as depot 1845
• Pomona 44/54 ("Помона", 1830) - BU 1848
• Tserera 44/54 ("Церера", 1830) - Hulked 1854, Sold for BU 1859
• Kastor 44/52 ("Кастор", 1831, A) - Voyaged to the Mediterranean Sea 1856–1857, decommissioned 1863, BU 1865
• Amfitrida 44/52 ("Амфитрида", 1832, A) - Scuttled to protect Kronstadt harbour 1859
• Prozerpina 44/56 ("Прозерпина", 1831) - BU 1855
• Diana 44/56 ("Диана", 1832) - Hulked as depot 1850, BU 1854
• Avrora 44/56 ("Аврора", 1835) - Visited Britain 1844, served ath the Northern Pacific 1853–1857, strongest Russian ship in Petropavlosk during the Petropavlosk Action (1854), decommissioned 1861
• Mel‘pomena 44/52 ("Мельпомена", 1836, A) - Last mentioned 1849
• Tsesarevitch ("Цесаревич") (ex-Ekaterina ("Екатерина") - renamed on slip) 44/58 (1841) - Hulked as depot 1858
• Tsesarevna ("Цесаревна") (ex-Bellona ("Беллона") - renamed on slip) 44/58 (1841) - BU 1858
• Konstantin 44/58 ("Константин, 1844, A) - Visited Britain 1844, BU 1860

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_frigate_Liogkii_(1803)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_sail_frigates#Speshni-class

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.


City of Adelaide is a clipper ship, built in Sunderland, England, and launched on 7 May 1864. The ship was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Carrick between 1923 and 1948 and, after decommissioning, was known as Carrick until 2001. At a conference convened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 2001, the decision was made to revert the ship's name to City of Adelaide, and the duke formally renamed her at a ceremony in 2013.


Clipper Ship, 'City of Adelaide', 1000 tons, David Bruce, Commander. Hand-coloured lithograph by Thomas Dutton, August 1864. Dedicated "To Messrs. Devitt and Moore Owners, Messrs Wm Pile, Hay & Co. Builders & the Officers of the Ship this print is most respectfully dedicated by their obedient servant, Wm. Foster".

City of Adelaide was built by William Pile, Hay and Co. for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. Between 1864 and 1887 the ship made 23 annual return voyages from London and Plymouth to Adelaide, South Australia. During this period she played an important part in the immigration of Australia. On the return voyages she carried passengers, wool, and copper from Adelaide and Port Augusta to London. From 1869[2] to 1885 she was part of Harrold Brothers' "Adelaide Line" of clippers.

After 1887 the ship carried coal around the British coast, and timber across the Atlantic. In 1893 she became a floating hospital in Southampton, and in 1923 was purchased by the Royal Navy. Converted as a training ship, she was also renamed HMS Carrick to avoid confusion with the newly commissioned HMAS Adelaide. HMS Carrick was based in Scotland until 1948 when she was decommissioned and donated to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Club, and towed into central Glasgow for use as the club's headquarters.

Carrick remained on the River Clyde until 1989 when she was damaged by flooding. In order to safeguard the vessel she was protected as a listed building, but in 1991 she sank at her mooring. Carrick was recovered by the Scottish Maritime Museum the following year, and moved to a private slipway adjacent to the museum's site in Irvine. Restoration work began, but funding ceased in 1999, and from 2000 the future of the ship was in doubt. After being served with an eviction notice by the owners of the slipway, the Scottish Maritime Museum was forced to seek the deconstruction of the ship on more than one occasion, while rescue proposals were developed by groups based in Sunderland and South Australia.

In 2010, the Scottish Government decided that the ship would be moved to Adelaide, to be preserved as a museum ship. In September 2013 the ship moved by barge from Scotland to the Netherlands to prepare for transport to Australia. In late November 2013, loaded on the deck of a cargo ship, City of Adelaide departed Europe bound for Port Adelaide, Australia, where she arrived on 3 February 2014.








Significance
City of Adelaide is the world's oldest surviving clipper ship, of only two that survive — the other is Cutty Sark (built 1869; a tea-clipper and now a museum ship and tourist attraction in Greenwich, south London). With Cutty Sark and HMS Gannet (built 1878; a sloop-of-war in Chatham), City of Adelaide is one of only three surviving ocean-going ships of composite construction to survive.

City of Adelaide is one of three surviving sailing ships, and of these the only passenger ship, to have taken emigrants from the British Isles (the other two are Edwin Fox and Star of India).[note 2] City of Adelaide is the only surviving purpose-built passenger sailing ship.

Adding to her significance as an emigrant ship, City of Adelaide is the last survivor of the timber trade between North America and the United Kingdom. As this trade peaked at the same time as conflicts in Europe, a great mass of refugees sought cheap passage on the timber-trade ships, that would otherwise be returning empty, creating an unprecedented influx of new immigrants in North America.

Having been built in the years prior to Lloyd's Register publishing their rules for composite ships, City of Adelaide is an important example in the development of naval architecture.

The UK's Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships describes the significance of City of Adelaide in these terms:

She highlights the early fast passenger-carrying and general cargo trade to the Antipodes. Her composite construction illustrates technical development in 19th shipbuilding techniques and scientific progress in metallurgy and her self-reefing top sails demonstrate the beginnings of modern labour saving technologies. Her service on the London to Adelaide route between 1864 and 1888 gives her an unrivalled associate status as one of the ships contributing to the growth of the Australian nation.

In recognition of her significance, until departing the United Kingdom in 2013, City of Adelaide was an A-listed structure in Scotland, part of the National Historic Fleet of the United Kingdom, and listed in the Core Collection of the United Kingdom.

Construction


Midship section of a composite ship, by Henri Paasch, 1885

City of Adelaide was designed to carry both passengers and cargo between England and Australia. Cabins could accommodate first-class and second-class passengers, and the hold could be fitted out for carrying steerage-class emigrants when needed.

City of Adelaide is of composite construction with timber planking on a wrought-iron frame. This method of construction provides the structural strength of an iron ship combined with the insulation of a timber hull. Unlike iron ships, where copper would cause corrosion in contact with the iron, the timber bottoms of composite ships could be sheathed with copper to prevent fouling. The iron frames meant that composite ships could carry large amounts of canvas sail. Composite ships were therefore some of the fastest ships afloat.

Composite ships were built in the relatively short period from c. 1860 to 1880. City of Adelaide was built in 1864 before Lloyd's Register recognised and endorsed composite ships in 1867. Before this, all composite ships were labelled by Lloyds as being "Experimental". Being a developmental technology in 1864 meant that many of the structural features on City of Adelaide are now regarded as being 'over-engineered', particularly when compared to other later composite ships like Cutty Sark (1869). For example, the frame spacing on City of Adelaide is much closer together than seen on other composite ships. This extra strength from 'over-engineering', together with the good fate to have benefited from human habitation and/or husbandry through to the late 1990s, has likely been a major factor why City of Adelaide has survived, even after being grounded on Kirkcaldy Beach in South Australia for a week in 1874 (see below)


City of Adelaide at Port Augusta, South Australia c1881-83, after conversion to a barque.


City of Adelaide as an isolation hospital off Millbrook, c1894


City of Adelaide sank in Princes Dock, Glasgow, in 1991 under mysterious circumstances.


City of Adelaide in May 2009


City of Adelaide aboard Bradley barge in the inner harbour of Port Adelaide,
6 February 2014


Schools are now regularly bringing groups of students to visit City of Adelaide

City of Adelaide (1864) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://www.cityofadelaide.org.au/
http://www.cityofadelaide1864.co.uk/index.php?page=plans-elevations

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1872 – Launch of French La Galissonnière, lead ship of a class of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s.


La Galissonnière was lead ship of a class of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s. She was named after the victor of the Battle of Minorca in 1756, Marquis de la Galissonnière. She bombarded Sfax in 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia and was present in Alexandria shortly before the British bombarded it before the beginning of the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War. The ship participated in a number of battles during the Sino-French War of 1884–85. La Galissonnière was condemned in 1894.


La Galissonnière in 1885

Design and description
The La Galissonnière-class ironclads were designed as faster, more heavily armed versions of the Alma-class armored corvettes by Henri Dupuy de Lôme. They used the same central battery layout as their predecessors, although the battery was lengthened 4 meters (13 ft 1 in) to provide enough room to work the larger 240-millimeter (9.4 in) guns. A two-propeller layout was adopted in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the ship's draft.

La Galissonnière measured 76.62 meters (251 ft 5 in) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 14.84 meters (48 ft 8 in). She had a mean draft of 6.55 meters (21 ft 6 in) and displaced 4,654 metric tons (4,580 long tons). The ship had a metacentric height of .926 meters (3 ft 0.5 in). Her crew numbered between 352 and 382 officers and men.

Propulsion
La Galissonnière had two Wolf vertical compound steam engines, each driving a single 3.8-meter (12 ft 6 in) propeller. Her engines were powered by four oval boilers. On sea trials the engines produced a total of 2,370 indicated horsepower (1,770 kW) and the ship reached 13.08 knots (24.22 km/h; 15.05 mph). La Galissonnière carried 500 metric tons (490 long tons) of coal which allowed the ship to steam for 3,240 nautical miles (6,000 km; 3,730 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She was ship-rigged with three masts and had a sail area around 1,707 square meters (18,370 sq ft).

Armament
The ship mounted four of her six 240-millimeter Modèle 1870 guns in the central battery on the battery deck. The other two 240-millimeter guns were mounted in barbettes on the upper deck, sponsoned out over the sides of the ship, abaft the funnel. La Galissonnière's secondary armament of four 120-millimeter (4.7 in) guns was also mounted on the upper deck. They were replaced by six 100-millimeter (3.9 in) guns in 1880. The armor-piercing shell of the 19-caliber 240-millimeter gun weighed 317.5 pounds (144.0 kg) while the gun itself weighed 15.41 long tons (15.66 t). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,624 ft/s (495 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 14.4 inches (366 mm) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.

The ship received four 37-millimeter (1.5 in) Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns in 1878. They fired a shell weighing about 500 g (1.1 lb) at a muzzle velocity of about 610 m/s (2,000 ft/s) to a range of about 3,200 meters (3,500 yd). They had a rate of fire of about 30 rounds per minute. La Galissonnière also received several towed Harvey torpedoes.

Armor
La Galissonnière had a complete 150-millimeter (5.9 in) wrought iron waterline belt, approximately 2.4 meters (7.9 ft) high laid over 650 millimeters (26 in) of wood. The sides of the battery itself were armored with 120 millimeters (4.7 in) of wrought iron backed by 520 millimeters (20 in) of wood and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was 120 millimeters (4.7 in) thick. The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by thin iron plates.

Service

Fuzhou and the Min River defenses.

La Galissonnière was laid down at Brest on 22 June 1868 and launched on 7 May 1872. While the exact reason for such prolonged construction time is not known, the budget for the French Navy was cut after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 and the French dockyards had not been reformed with working practices more suitable for the industrial age. The ship began her sea trials on 20 April 1874 and was not commissioned until 18 July 1874. She became flagship of the Pacific Squadron on 16 May 1874 under the command of Rear Admiral Perigot. She return to Brest on 19 March 1877, having circumnavigated the world via the Suez Canal. The ship was placed in reserve upon her return until she recommissioned on 15 August 1878 in preparation for a commission as flagship of the Caribbean Squadron which began on 6 October under Rear Admiral Peyron. Two years later she sailed to Cherbourg and was reduced to reserve on 13 May 1880.

La Galissonnière became the flagship of the Levant Squadron (French: Division Navale du Levant) under Rear Admiral Alfred Conrad on 27 May 1881. Shortly afterward she bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax in July 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia. In early 1882 La Galissonnière was present in Alexandria shortly before the British bombarded it before the beginning of the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War. The ship remained in the Mediterranean through 1883.

La Galissonnière relieved her half-sister Victorieuse in April 1884 as the flagship of the Far East Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Amédée Courbet, just in time to participate in the Sino-French War of 1884–85. The ship fought in the late stages of the Battle of Fuzhou in August 1884 when she tried to pass a Chinese fort (known to the French as Fort Kimpaï) defending the entrance to the Min River. La Galissonnière failed to destroy the fort and was lightly damaged by a shell that struck her bow. It damaged her steam capstan and killed one man. The ship supplied landing parties during the Battle of Tamsui in October 1884, but they were forced to retreat by Chinese troops, although only nine men were killed. Nothing is known of any further participation by La Galissonnière in the war. She was ordered home in February 1886 and laid up for the last time in Cherbourg upon her return. The ship was condemned on 24 December 1894.



Victorieuse in Algiers, 8 July 1886

The La Galissonnière-class ironclads were a group of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s, meant as a heavier armed and faster version of the Alma-class ironclads. While all three ships were begun before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the construction of the last two ships was delayed for years. The navy took advantage of the extended construction time of the latter ships to upgrade their armament. La Galissonnière bombarded Sfax in 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia. She and her half-sister Triomphante participated in a number of battles during the Sino-French War of 1884–85. Their sister Victorieuse had a much quieter career. All three ships were decommissioned in the 1890s.





Triomphante at anchor


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

La Galissonnière-class ironclad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1875 - SS Schiller – the ship sank after hitting the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly. Most of her crew and passengers were lost, totalling 335 fatalities.


SS Schiller was a 3,421 ton German ocean liner, one of the largest vessels of her time. Launched in 1873, she plied her trade across the Atlantic Ocean, carrying passengers between New York and Hamburg for the German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line. She became notorious on 7 May 1875, while operating on her normal route, when she hit the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly, causing her to sink with the loss of most of her crew and passengers, totalling 335 fatalities.


Der Dampfer Schiller der Adler-Linie in Hoboken vor 1875

Characteristics
Schiller was built 380 feet (120 m) long with a 40 feet (12 m) beam in Glasgow in August 1873 for her German owners, and had plied the Atlantic routes for just two years without major incident. In addition to her load of 254 passengers, she was carrying 250 mail bags intended for Australia, highly valuable general cargo, and 300,000 $20 coins totalling £60,000 at contemporary value and over £6 million today.

The ship was engaged to sail from New York on 27 April 1875, and was to call at Plymouth and Cherbourg on her route homeward to Hamburg. She made excellent time with her combination of two masts and engines, and by 7 May was nearing her first port of call at Plymouth on the Devon coast.



Wreck
Captain Thomas needed to slow due to poor visibility in thick sea fog as she entered the English Channel, and was able to calculate that his ship was in the region of the Isles of Scilly, and thus within range of the Bishop Rock lighthouse which would provide him with information about his position. To facilitate finding the islands and the reefs which surround them, volunteers from the passengers were brought on deck to try to find the light. These lookouts unfortunately failed to see the light, which they were expecting on the starboard quarter, when in fact it was well to port. This meant that the Schiller was sailing straight between the islands on the inside of the lighthouse, leaving the ship heading towards the Retarrier Ledges.

Schiller grounded on the reef at 10pm, sustained significant damage, but not enough in itself to sink the large ship. The captain attempted to reverse off the rocks, pulling the ship free but exposing it to the heavy seas which were brewing, which flung the liner onto the rocks by its broadside three times, staving in the hull and making the ship list dangerously as the lights died and pandemonium broke out on deck as passengers fought to get into the lifeboats.

It was at these boats that the real disaster began, as several were not seaworthy due to poor maintenance and others were destroyed, crushed by the ship's funnels which fell amongst the panicked passengers. The captain attempted to restore order with his pistol and sword, but as he did so, the only two serviceable lifeboats were launched, carrying 27 people, far less than their full capacity. These boats eventually made it to shore, carrying 26 men and one woman.

On board the ship the situation only became worse, as breakers washed completely over the wreck. All the women and children on board, over 50 people, were hurried into the deck house to escape the worst of the storm. It was there that the greatest tragedy happened, when before the eyes of the horrified crew and male passengers, a huge wave ripped off the deck house roof and swept the occupants into the sea, killing all inside.

The wreck continued to be pounded all night, and gradually those remaining on board were swept away or died from exposure to cold seas, wind and resulting hypothermia, until the morning light brought rescue for a handful of survivors.



Rescue operation
The recognized manner of signaling disaster at sea was by the firing of minute guns, carried on all ships for signalling purposes. Unfortunately, it had become the custom for ships passing the islands to fire a minute gun as it passed safely through the area, and so the firing of the Schiller's guns failed to produce the hoped-for rescue.[clarification needed] Such an operation at night and in the dark would have been nearly impossible because of the high seas, and thus it was not until the first light that rescue craft began arriving.

St Agnes pilot gig, the O and M, was summoned to investigate multiple cannon shots. Her crew discovered the mast of the sinking Schiller. The O and M rowed to pick up five survivors before returning to St Agnes for assistance. Steamers and ferries from as far away as Newlyn, Cornwall, assisted the rescue operation.

There were 37 survivors of the 254 passengers and 118 crew. The death toll, 335, was one of the worst in British maritime history

Artifacts
The signal cannon is preserved in the Museum of the Isles of Scilly.

Legacy
In recognition of the assistance that the inhabitants of the Scilly Isles gave the German people on board, orders were given in the two World Wars to spare the Isles of Scilly from attacks by German forces




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Schiller
http://www.histomar.net/Manche/schiller/schiller.htm
http://www.histomar.net/Manche/schiller/schilnav.htm

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1885 – Launch of SMS Arcona, a member of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s.


SMS Arcona was a member of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s. Intended for service in the German colonial empire, the ship was designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended range, and was equipped with a battery of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns. Arcona was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig in 1881, she was launched in May 1885, and she was completed in December 1886.

Arcona was kept in reserve after completion until 1892, when she was activated for an extended deployment abroad. She protected German interests in Venezuela in 1892 before joining the Cruiser Division in German East Africa the following year. Later in 1893, she was sent to Brazil when a naval revolt threatened German nationals in the country. The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 prompted the transfer of Arconaand two of her sister ships to East Asia as the nucleus of the East Asia Division, of which Arcona served as the flagship.

The ship was under repair when Otto von Diederichs seized the Kiautschou Bay concession in China with the rest of the Division in 1897, and was therefore unable to participate in the operation, though she later assisted in defending the concession. Arcona then conducted survey cruises in the central Pacific ocean and protected German nationals in the Philippines after the Spanish–American War in 1898. In early 1899, she was recalled to Germany, decommissioned in June, and renamed Mercur in January 1902. She was ultimately broken up in 1906.


Arcona in Nagasaki, Japan, c. 1897

Design
Main article: Carola-class corvette
The six ships of the Carola class were ordered in the late 1870s to supplement Germany's fleet of cruising warships, which at that time relied on several ships that were twenty years old. Arcona and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world. The last two ships to be built, Arcona and Alexandrine, were built to a slightly larger design, being slightly longer and slightly heavier than their sisters.

Arcona was 81.2 meters (266 ft 5 in) long overall, with a beam of 12.6 m (41 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5 m (16 ft 5 in) forward. She displaced 2,662 metric tons (2,620 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 25 officers and 257 enlisted men. She was powered by two marine steam engines that drove two 2-bladed screw propellers, with steam provided by eight coal-fired fire-tube boilers, which gave her a top speed of 14.1 knots (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph) at 2,461 metric horsepower (2,427 ihp). She had a cruising radius of 4,180 nautical miles (7,740 km; 4,810 mi) at a speed of 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph). Arcona was equipped with a three-masted barque rig to supplement her steam engines on extended overseas deployments.

Arcona was armed with a battery of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) 22-caliber (cal.) breech-loading guns and two 8.7 cm (3.4 in) 24-cal. guns. She also carried six 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon. Later in her career, the 15 cm guns were replaced with more modern 30-cal. versions, and the 8.7 cm guns were replaced with four 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns.

Service history
Construction to 1894
Arcona was laid down in 1881 at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig. She was launched on 7 May 1885, on a sideways slipway, unlike the traditional stern-first method. This was the first time the technique was used in Germany. A formal christening eleven days later, with a speech by Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Eduard von Jachmann. Arcona was commissioned for sea trials on 1 December 1886, during which she steamed to Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. The trials concluded on 25 January 1887, when the ship was decommissioned and placed in reserve. At the time, General Leo von Caprivi, the head of the Imperial Admiralty, had implemented a plan whereby Germany's colonies would be protected by gunboats, while larger warships would generally be kept in reserve, with a handful assigned to a flying squadron that could respond to crises quickly.

She remained laid up for five years, until she was recommissioned on 20 April 1892 for service with the Germany's overseas cruiser division. The unit was tasked with securing German interests in East Asia, but before she had left Germany, Arcona was temporarily sent to Venezuela, where unrest threatened German businesses in the country. She left Wilhelmshaven on 4 May and arrived in La Guaira, Venezuela on 9 June. She then proceeded to Macuto, where attacks on German nationals had occurred, and the ship's presence was sufficient to secure an apology from the Venezuelan government. By mid-October, the revolution had ended, allowing Arcona to leave the area and join the cruiser division, which was at that time stationed in east African waters. While en route, Arcona made stops in several islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados, and St. Vincent. She then crossed the Atlantic Ocean and stopped in Gibraltar, before continuing on to Naples, Italy; there, the ship's captain was relieved, as he had fallen ill while in Venezuela.

Arcona then proceeded to Port Said and transited the Suez Canal, stopping at Aden. From there, she steamed to Zanzibar, where she rejoined the cruiser division on 6 February 1893. At the time, the division also included her sister ship Alexandrine and the corvette Leipzig, and it was commanded by Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Friedrich von Pawelsz. Arcona's time with the division was short-lived, as the three corvettes proceeded to Cape Town, Cape Colony, where on 6 April the division was disbanded. Arcona was assigned to German South West Africa; that day, she left Cape Town to take a pair of small field guns to strengthen the local Schutztruppe (Protection force) unit there. On 10 April, she arrived in Walvis Bay, a small British enclave on the coast of German South West Africa. There, she disembarked the two guns, but British authorities initially refused to allow their transfer to the Schutztruppe, though by September German protests had forced the local government to send the guns inland.

Arcona left African waters in mid-May to re-cross the Atlantic, initially stopping in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 1 June, and then Montevideo, Uruguay, where she remained from 25 June to 8 July. She joined Alexandrine in São Francisco do Sul, Brazil on 27 July. That year, the Brazilian Navy mutinied, and Arcona and Alexandrine were tasked with protecting German interests in the country. Rebels had seized the Hamburg Süd steamship SS Santos on 3 November, which had been carrying a cargo of rifles, and Arcona's commander went in her steam pinnace to secure the vessel's release. On 31 January 1894, Arcona went to Buenos Aires to allow her crew to rest and to avoid an outbreak of Yellow fever. While there, she and Alexandrine were joined by their sister Marie. The three vessels went to Rio de Janeiro on 22 April, and then continued on to Cabo Frio.

Service with the East Asia Division
As tensions between Japan and China over Korea rose in early 1894, Arcona, Alexandrine, and Marie were transferred to East Asia. On 7 March, they rounded Cape Horn and entered the Pacific Ocean, but storm damage forced Arcona to put into Valparaiso, Chile, for repairs. After the work had been completed, the three corvettes met off Callao, Peru, on 13 July to protect German interests during a revolution in the country. A week later, First Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Germany formed the East Asia Division with the three corvettes. On 15 August, the situation in Peru had calmed enough to allow the division to return to its intended mission in East Asia. They arrived in Yokohama, Japan on 26 September. Arcona steamed independently to Shanghai, China, and then to Chefoo, before returning to Shanghai to embark KAdm Paul Hoffmann, the divisional commander on 25 November. From there, Arcona went north to the Yellow Sea, where the Chinese and Japanese forces were operating. In mid-December, she returned to Shanghai for periodic maintenance, and there she was replaced as the divisional flagship by the new protected cruiser Irene on 14 February 1895.

For the remainder of the war, which ended in April, Arcona patrolled the Chinese coast with the rest of the division and individually. China's defeat led to riots against foreigners in the country, so Arcona and the rest of the division had to remain in Chinese waters to protect Europeans. In December, Arcona went to Manila in the Philippines, where unrest from the local Filipinos against the Spanish colonial government threatened other Europeans in the country. Arcona then returned to China, where on 27–28 July, she assisted in the salvage of the gunboat Iltis, which had run aground off the coast of the Shandong Peninsula. By early November, the civil disturbances in the Philippines had continued to increase, necessitating Arcona's return to the islands. She sent a detachment of marines ashore, along with contingents from British and French warships, to protect the European consulates in Manila. On 28 November, Irene arrived to relieve Arcona.


German 1912 map of the Shandong Peninsula showing the Kiautschou Bay concession

In June 1897, KAdm Otto von Diederichs assumed command of the East Asia Division, and flew his flag in the ironclad Kaiser, which had been rebuilt into an armored cruiser. In addition to Arcona, the division at that time included Irene and her sister Prinzess Wilhelm. The unprotected cruiser Cormoran was independently stationed in the Pacific, but could be called upon to join Diederichs' force if necessary. While Kaiser was steaming to join the other three cruisers, they conducted gunnery training in Chefoo. In July, Diederichs sent Arcona to conduct a survey of the island of Sakhalin. In October, Arcona went to Shanghai for maintenance; she was still being repaired when the East Asia Division seized the Kiautschou Bay concession in China on 14 November. Archona arrived three days later. After Diederichs seized the territory, three additional warships were sent to reinforce him, allowing the division to be elevated to a full squadron. Arcona and the other three ships originally in the unit became the 1st Division, while the three new vessels, along with Cormoran, which was now formally assigned to Diederichs' command, formed the 2nd Division.

Shortly after the Germans seized Kiautschou, with its port at Qingdao, the Chinese commander of the local army garrison attempted to launch a counterattack on 18 November, but the German soldiers in the port advanced and captured the Chinese general. While they were away, Diederichs ordered Arcona and Cormoran to send marines ashore to defend the town in the event that a Chinese force arrived, but no attack materialized. The men from the two ships remained in Qingdao until 21 November, when they returned to their vessels. Arcona was thereafter ordered to serve as a guard ship in the port. In July 1898, Diederichs sent Irene to relieve Arcona, which he sent to conduct surveys of the Caroline Islands and the Mariana Islands in the central Pacific. While in the Carolines, she stopped at Pohnpei to punish locals who had murdered a crewman from a German schooner. She completed this mission in October, when she steamed to the Philippines to relieve Prinzess Wilhelm, which had been stationed there to protect German nationals in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War earlier that year. She remained there for just a month, however, being replaced by Irene in November.

On 15 November, Kaiser ran aground in Samsah Bay, and Arcona and Cormoran were sent to render aid; the two cruisers were able to pull the ship free, which proceeded under her own power to Hong Kong for repairs. Arcona received the order to return to Germany on 31 January 1899. While on the voyage back, she conducted a short tour of the Persian Gulf, stopping in Muscat, Basra, Bushehr, and Bandar Lengeh. She arrived back in Wilhelmshaven on 27 May, having spent seven years abroad. Arcona was decommissioned on 6 June and placed in reserve at Kiel. On 11 January 1902, she was renamed Mercur, so her name could be reused on the light cruiser Arcona. Mercur was then towed to Danzig on 13 August, where she was removed from the naval register and was reclassified as a miscellaneous harbor ship. She was eventually broken up for scrap in 1906.



Carola and Olga in Hong Kong in the 1880s

The Carola class was a group of six steam corvettes built by the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1870s and 1880s. The class comprised Carola, the lead ship, Olga, Marie, Sophie, Alexandrine, and Arcona. They were ordered to replace older sailing vessels that were no longer sufficient to protect German interests around the world. Intended for service in the German colonial empire, the ships were designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended cruising range, and they were equipped with a battery of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns. Relying primarily on sail power for their long-range deployments, the ships were obsolescent before construction began.

The six ships were all sent on lengthy overseas deployments throughout their careers, with assignments to Germany's colonial holdings in Africa—Togo, German South West Africa and German East Africa—and in the Pacific—German New Guinea and later the Kiautschou Bay concession. They were frequently used to suppress local uprisings against German rule, punish those who attacked German citizens or businesses, and show the flag. On several occasions, ships of the class were badly damaged in accidents—Marie running aground off New Mecklenburg and Sophie being rammed by a merchant vessel, both in 1884, and Olga being forced ashore by a cyclone in 1889—but none of the members of the class were lost.

Several of the corvettes were used for training purposes, taking part in fleet exercises, extended training cruises with naval cadets, and in the case of Carola and Olga later in their careers, as dedicated gunnery training ships. No longer useful as cruising warships by the 1890s, all of the ships of the Carola class were withdrawn from active service by the end of the decade. Some were used for training purposes, but Alexandrine was too worn out from her years abroad to permit further use, Marie was too expensive to convert into a training ship, and Sophie was instead used as a barracks ship. Between 1904 and 1908, all of the Carola-class corvettes were broken up for scrap, with the exception of Sophie, which lingered on as a floating barracks until she too went to the breakers in 1920.





Olga in the 1880s


Marie under sail



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Arcona_(1885)

Carola-class corvette - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1887 – Launch of French Neptune, an ironclad battleship of the French Navy


Neptune was an ironclad battleship of the French Navy.


The Neptune on Penfeld river, c. 1892, by Edmond Chagot

Service history
Neptune served in the Mediterranean squadron until 1898, when she was used as a training ship, and as a hulk from February 1908.
She was eventually sunk as target off Cherbourg.



Marceau as originally built


Magenta in her early configuration

The Marceau class was class of ironclad battleships of the French Navy. They were the last barbette ships built in France.

Ships in class

• Marceau

Builder: La Seyne-sur-Mer
Ordered: 27 December 1880
Launched: 24 May 1887
Fate: Broken up in 1922

• Magenta

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 7 October 1880
Launched:19 April 1890
Fate: Broken up in 1911

• Neptune

Builder: Brest
Ordered: 7 October 1880
Launched: 7 May 1887
Fate: Sunk as target ship in 1913


Marceau after her 1900–02 refit


Photograph of Magenta by Marius Bar



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ironclad_Neptune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marceau-class_ironclad

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1902 – Launch of Preußen (usually Preussen in English) (PROY-sin), a German steel-hulled five-masted ship-rigged windjammer built in 1902 for the F. Laeisz shipping company and named after the German state and kingdom of Prussia.
It was the world's only ship of this class with five masts carrying six square sails on each mast.


Preußen (usually Preussen in English) (PROY-sin) was a German steel-hulled five-masted ship-rigged windjammer built in 1902 for the F. Laeisz shipping company and named after the German state and kingdom of Prussia. It was the world's only ship of this class with five masts carrying six square sails on each mast.

Until the 2000 launch of the Royal Clipper, a sail cruise liner, she was the only five-masted full-rigged ship ever built.



History
The Preußen was built as hull-number 179 at the Joh. C. Tecklenborg ship yard in Geestemünde according to the plans of chief designer Dr.-Ing. h. c. Georg Wilhelm Claussen, launched and christened on 7 May 1902. The ship was commissioned on 31 July 1902 and left the harbour of Bremerhaven the same day on her maiden voyage to Iquique under the command of Capt. Boye Richard Petersen who assisted naval architect Claussen in his plans. The basic idea of building such a ship is said to come from famous Laeisz captain Robert Hilgendorf, commander of the five-masted steel barque Potosi. Story has it that Kaiser Wilhelm II, while visiting the Potosi on 18 June 1899, asked Carl H. Laeisz when the five-masted full-rigged ship will finally "come". This inspired Laeisz to build the ship. The initial construction plans were found among the effects of Carl Ferdinand Laeisz, grandson of founder Ferdinand Laeisz and son of C. H. Laeisz, who died early at an age of 48 in 1900, even before his father Carl Heinrich Laeisz who died in 1901. The ship was subsequently ordered in November 1900.



The sturdily built ship could weather every storm and even tack in force 9 winds. In such conditions eight men had to hold the 6 1⁄2-foot-tall (2.0 m) double steering wheel. She was successfully used in the saltpeter trade with Chile, setting speed records in the process. Due to her appearance, uniqueness, and excellent sailing characteristics seamen called her the "Queen of the Queens of the Seas". In 1903 (2 February – 1 May) she sailed an unequalled record voyage from Lizard Point to Iquique in 57 days. She made twelve "round trips" (Hamburg–Chile and back home) and one journey round the world via New York and Yokohama, Japan in charter to the Standard Oil Co. When she entered New York harbour, almost all New Yorkers were "on their legs" to see and welcome that unique tall sailing ship. Capt. B. R. Petersen was accompanied by his wife and his little son; both left the ship and returned to Hamburg later by steamer. The mighty Preußen, as she was named by many seamen, had only two skippers in her career, Captain Boye Richard Petersen (11 voyages) and Captain Jochim Hans Hinrich Nissen (2 full voyages and the last). Both masters learned and developed their skills sailing such a huge sailing ship under Capt. Robert Hilgendorf, late master of the Potosí.

Loss


Stranded in Crab Bay


Soon after the 1910 collision

On 5 November 1910, on her 14th outbound voyage, carrying a mixed cargo including a number of pianos for Chile, the Preußen was at 23:35 rammed by the small British cross-channel steamer Brighton 8 nautical miles (15 km) south of Newhaven. Contrary to regulations, the Brighton had tried to cross her bows, underestimating her high speed of 16 knots (30 km/h). The Preußen was seriously damaged and lost much of her forward rigging (bowsprit, fore topgallant mast), making it impossible to steer the ship to safety. Brighton returned to Newhaven to summon aid and the tug Alert was sent to assist Preußen. A November gale thwarted attempts to sail or tug her to safety in Dover Harbour. It was intended to anchor her off Dover but both anchor chains broke and Preußen was driven onto rocks at Crab Bay where she sank as a result of the damage inflicted on her. While crew, cargo and some equipment could be saved from Preußen, with the keel broken she was rendered unsalvageable. She sits in 6 metres (3.3 fathoms) of water at 51°8.02′N 1°22.17′ECoordinates:

51°8.02′N 1°22.17′E. The Master of the Brighton was found to be responsible for the accident and lost his licence as a result. A few ribs of the Preußen can be seen off Crab Bay at low spring tides.



Technical data
The Preußen was steel-built with a waterline length of 124 m and a total hull length of 132 m. The hull was 16.4 m wide and the ship had a displacement of 11,150 long tons (11,330 t), for an effective carrying capacity of 8,000 long tons (8,100 t). The five masts were fully rigged, with courses, upper and lower topsails, upper and lower topgallant sails, and royals. Counting staysails, she carried 47 sails (30 square sails in six storeys, 12 staysails between the five masts, four foresails (jibs) and a small fore-and-aft spanker) with a total sail area of 6,806 square meters (73,260 sq ft) (according to other sources 5,560 square meters (59,800 sq ft), which probably refer to the square sail area only). Not only the hull was steel: masts (lower and top mast were made in one piece) and spars (yard, spanker boom) were constructed of steel tubing, and most of the rigging was steel cable. All bobstays between jibboom and bow were made of massive steel rods and chains. The only wooden spar was the gaff of the small spanker. The hoistable yards were equipped with special shoes to slide in rails riveted to the masts. "Jarvis' Patent" brace winches[4] for the lower and top-sail yards were mounted before each of the five masts. The fall winches were of "Hall's Patent".

The five masts were referred to as the fore, main, middle, mizzen, and jigger (in German: Vor-, Groß-, Mittel-, Kreuz-, Achtermast) masts.


Wreck of the Preußen

She was designed as a so-called "three-island ship", i. e. a ship with a third "high level deck" amidships beside the forecastle (41 ft (12 m)) and poop (65 ft (20 m)) decks. The midship island (74 ft (23 m)), also called the midship bridge, is also called a "Liverpool house", because the first ships equipped with that feature came from Liverpool yards. Dry and well-ventilated accommodations for crew, mates, and captain, as well as the pantry and chart room, were built in this middle deck. The main helm — a double rudder wheel of 6.2 ft (1.89 m) diameter with a steam driven rudder machine — was mounted on top of it, well protected against the dangerous huge waves from aft. A second helm (emergency helm) was near the stern. Four huge main hatches were set in the upper main deck. Behind the foremast a little deckhouse contained the two donkey boilers that drove four steam winches, a steam capstan, the rudder machine, and a generator for electricity. Four lifeboats with davits were securely fixed on a tubing rack above the main deck before the aftmost mast.

Under good conditions, the ship could reach a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). Her best 24-hour runs were 392 nm in 1908 on her voyage to Japan and 426 nm in 1904 in the South Pacific. The Preußen was manned by a crew of 45, which was supported by two steam engines powering the pumps, the rudder steering engine, the loading gear, and winches. English seamen estimate her the fastest sailing ship after the clipper era, even faster than her fleet sister Potosí. Only a few clippers were faster than Preußen, and they had considerably less cargo capacity.





I think we recognize who made this model - our member @shipbuilder



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preußen_(ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_P-Liner

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1913 – Launch of spanish Alfonso XIII, a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class.


Alfonso XIII was a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the second member of the España class. She had two sister ships, España and Jaime I. Alfonso XIII was built by the SECN shipyard; she was laid down in February 1910, launched in May 1913, and completed in August 1915. Named after King Alfonso XIII of Spain, she was renamed España in 1931 after the king was exiled following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. The new name was the namesake of her earlier sister ship, the España that served in the Spanish fleet from 1913 to 1923.



Alfonso XIII served in the Spanish fleet from 1915 to 1937. Spain remained neutral during World War I, and so Alfonso XIII and her sisters were the only European dreadnoughts to avoid the war. She and her sisters participated in the Rif War, where they provided gunfire support to Spanish Army forces. The ship was seized by General Francisco Franco at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. While steaming off Santander on 30 April 1937, she struck a mine and sank; most of her crew was taken off by the destroyer Velasco.


Technical characteristics
Main article: España-class battleship
Alfonso XIII was 132.6 m (435 ft) long at the waterline and 140 m (460 ft) long overall. She had a beam of 24 m (79 ft) and a draft of 7.8 m (26 ft); her freeboard was 15 ft (4.6 m) amidships. Her propulsion system consisted of four-shaft Parsons steam turbines and twelve Yarrow boilers. The engines were rated at 15,500 shaft horsepower (11,600 kW) and produced a top speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph). Alfonso XIIIhad a cruising radius of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew consisted of 854 officers and enlisted men.


Line-drawing showing the disposition of the main battery

Alfonso XIII was armed with a main battery of eight 305 mm (12.0 in) /50 guns, mounted in four twin gun turrets. One turret was placed forward, two were positioned en echelonamidships, and the fourth was aft of the superstructure. This mounting scheme was chosen in preference to superfiring turrets, as was done in the South Carolinas, to save weight and cost. Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 102 mm (4.0 in) guns mounted in casemates along the length of the hull. They were too close to the waterline, however, which made them unusable in heavy seas. She was also armed with four 3-pounder guns and two machine guns. Her armored belt was 203 mm (8.0 in) thick amidships; the main battery turrets were protected with the same amount of armor plate. The conning tower had 254 mm (10.0 in) thick sides. Her armored deck was 38 mm (1.5 in) thick.


The España class was a series of three dreadnought battleships built for the Spanish Navy between 1909 and 1921. The construction of the ships, particularly the third vessel, were significantly delayed due to shortages of materiel supplied by Great Britain during World War I, particularly armament. The class comprised España (Spain), Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I. The three ships were the only Spanish dreadnoughts ever built. They were also the smallest battleships of the type constructed, owing to the weak Spanish economy. The ships were armed with eight 12-inch (305 mm) guns, but their small displacement—only 15,700 metric tons (15,500 long tons; 17,300 short tons)—forced the designers to compromise on armor protection and speed.

España, Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I served in the 1st Squadron of the Spanish Fleet, which became the Training Squadron in the 1920s. They all saw action during the Rif War in the early 1920s supporting Spanish ground forces in North Africa. España ran aground in August 1923 and the Navy could not salvage her; she instead broke up under tidal forces. Alfonso XIII was renamed España in 1931 after her namesake, King Alfonso XIII was forced into exile. The two surviving ships served on opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War, and both were destroyed during the conflict. España struck a naval mine laid by her own side in on 30 April 1937 and sank, and Jaime I was destroyed by an internal explosion in June 1937.




Top: Profile of España as she appeared in 1913
Middle: España as she appeared in 1923
Bottom: Jaime I as she appeared in 1937

Spanish battleship Alfonso XIII - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/España-class_battleship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1915 - RMS Lusitania torpedoed and sunk
The passenger liner was torpedoed by U-20 on 7 May 1915. She sank in just 18 minutes 8 nmi (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland killing 1,198 out of over 1,900 of the people aboard.


RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking presaged the United States declaration of war on Germany (1917).



Lusitania was a holder of the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing, and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship Mauretania, three months later. The Cunard Line launched Lusitania in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. She sank on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing.



The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on Friday, 7 May 1915 during the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom which had implemented a naval blockade of Germany. The ship was identified and torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 18 minutes. The vessel went down 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 and leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.

Lusitania fell victim to torpedo attack relatively early in the First World War, before tactics for evading submarines were properly implemented or understood. The contemporary investigations in both the United Kingdom and the United States into the precise causes of the ship's loss were obstructed by the needs of wartime secrecy and a propaganda campaign to ensure all blame fell upon Germany. Argument over whether the ship was a legitimate military target raged back and forth throughout the war as both sides made misleading claims about the ship. At the time she was sunk, she was carrying over 4 million rounds of small-arms ammunition (.303 caliber), almost 5,000 shrapnel shell casings (for a total of some 50 tons), and 3,240 brass percussion fuses, in addition to 1,266 passengers and a crew of 696. Several attempts have been made over the years since the sinking to dive to the wreck seeking information about precisely how the ship sank, and argument continues to the present day.


Sinking
On the morning of 6 May, Lusitania was 750 miles (1,210 km) west of southern Ireland. By 05:00 on 7 May she reached a point 120 miles (190 km) west south west of Fastnet Rock (off the southern tip of Ireland), where she met the patrolling boarding vessel Partridge.[28] By 06:00, heavy fog had arrived and extra lookouts were posted. As the ship came closer to Ireland, Captain Turner ordered depth soundings to be made and at 08:00 for speed to be reduced to eighteen knots, then to 15 knots and for the foghorn to be sounded. Some of the passengers were disturbed that the ship appeared to be advertising her presence. By 10:00 the fog began to lift, by noon it had been replaced by bright sunshine over a clear smooth sea and speed increased to 18 knots.

U-20 surfaced again at 12:45 as visibility was now excellent. At 13:20 something was sighted and Schwieger was summoned to the conning tower: at first it appeared to be several ships because of the number of funnels and masts, but this resolved into one large steamer appearing over the horizon. At 13:25 the submarine submerged to periscope depth of 11 metres and set a course to intercept the liner at her maximum submerged speed of 9 knots. When the ships had closed to 2 miles (3.2 km) Lusitania turned away, Schwieger feared he had lost his target, but she turned again, this time onto a near ideal course to bring her into position for an attack. At 14:10 with the target at 700m range he ordered one gyroscopic torpedo to be fired, set to run at a depth of three metres.

In Schwieger's own words, recorded in the log of U-20:

Torpedo hits starboard side right behind the bridge. An unusually heavy detonation takes place with a very strong explosive cloud. The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one [boiler or coal or powder?]... The ship stops immediately and heels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow... the name Lusitania becomes visible in golden letters.

U-20's torpedo officer, Raimund Weisbach, viewed the destruction through the vessel's periscope and felt the explosion was unusually severe. Within six minutes, Lusitania's forecastle began to submerge.

On board the Lusitania, Leslie Morton, an eighteen-year-old lookout at the bow, had spotted thin lines of foam racing toward the ship. He shouted, "Torpedoes coming on the starboard side!" through a megaphone, thinking the bubbles came from two projectiles. The torpedo struck Lusitania under the bridge, sending a plume of debris, steel plating, and water upward and knocking lifeboat number five off its davits. "It sounded like a million-ton hammer hitting a steam boiler a hundred feet high," one passenger said. A second, more powerful explosion followed, sending a geyser of water, coal, dust, and debris high above the deck. Schwieger's log entries attest that he only launched one torpedo. Some doubt the validity of this claim, contending that the German government subsequently altered the published fair copy of Schwieger's log, but accounts from other U-20 crew members corroborate it. The entries were also consistent with intercepted radio reports sent to Germany by U-20 once she had returned to the North Sea, before any possibility of an official coverup.

• 
  German drawing of Lusitania being torpedoed. Incorrectly shows torpedo hit on port side of ship.
• 
  English drawing of Lusitania being torpedoed; shows disputed "second torpedo".
• 
  Lusitania is shown sinking as Irish fishermen race to the rescue. In fact, the launching of the lifeboats was more chaotic.

At 14:12, Captain Turner ordered Quartermaster Johnston stationed at the ship's wheel to steer 'hard-a-starboard' towards the Irish coast, which Johnston confirmed, but the ship could not be steadied on the course and rapidly ceased to respond to the wheel. Turner signalled for the engines to be reversed to halt the ship, but although the signal was received in the engine room, nothing could be done. Steam pressure had collapsed from 195 psi before the explosion, to 50 psi and falling afterwards. Lusitania's wireless operator sent out an immediate SOS, which was acknowledged by a coastal wireless station. Shortly afterward he transmitted the ship's position, 10 miles (16 km) south of the Old Head of Kinsale. At 14:14 electrical power failed, plunging the cavernous interior of the ship into darkness. Radio signals continued on emergency batteries, but electric lifts failed, trapping passengers and crew; bulkhead doors, that were closed as a precaution before the attack, could not be reopened to release trapped men.

About one minute after the electrical power failed, Captain Turner gave the order to abandon ship. Water had flooded the ship's starboard longitudinal compartments, causing a 15-degree list to starboard.

Lusitania's severe starboard list complicated the launch of her lifeboats. Ten minutes after the torpedoing, when she had slowed enough to start putting boats in the water, the lifeboats on the starboard side swung out too far to step aboard safely. While it was still possible to board the lifeboats on the port side, lowering them presented a different problem. As was typical for the period, the hull plates of Lusitania were riveted, and as the lifeboats were lowered they dragged on the inch high rivets, which threatened to seriously damage the boats before they landed in the water.


1914 picture showing additional collapsible lifeboats added to the ship

Many lifeboats overturned while loading or lowering, spilling passengers into the sea; others were overturned by the ship's motion when they hit the water. It has been claimed that some boats, because of the negligence of some officers, crashed down onto the deck, crushing other passengers, and sliding down towards the bridge. This has been disputed by passenger and crew testimony. Some crewmen would lose their grip on ropes used to lower the lifeboats while trying to lower the boats into the ocean, and this caused the passengers to spill into the sea. Others tipped on launch as some panicking people jumped into the boat. Lusitania had 48 lifeboats, more than enough for all the crew and passengers, but only six were successfully lowered, all from the starboard side. Lifeboat 1 overturned as it was being lowered, spilling its original occupants into the sea, but it managed to right itself shortly afterwards and was later filled with people from in the water. Lifeboats 9 (5 people on board) and 11 (7 people on board) managed to reach the water safely with a few people, but both later picked up many swimmers. Lifeboats 13 and 15 also safely reached the water, overloaded with around 150 people. Finally, Lifeboat 21 (52 people on board) reached the water safely and cleared the ship moments before her final plunge. A few of her collapsible lifeboats washed off her decks as she sank and provided flotation for some survivors.

Two lifeboats on the port side cleared the ship as well. Lifeboat 14 (11 people on board) was lowered and launched safely, but because the boat plug was not in place, it filled with seawater and sank almost immediately after reaching the water. Later, Lifeboat 2 floated away from the ship with new occupants (its previous ones having been spilled into the sea when they upset the boat) after they removed a rope and one of the ship's "tentacle-like" funnel stays. They rowed away shortly before the ship sank.

There was panic and disorder on the decks. Schwieger had been observing this through U-20's periscope, and by 14:25, he dropped the periscope and headed out to sea.[35] Later in the war, Schwieger was killed in action when, as commander of U-88, he was chased by HMS Stonecrop, hit a British mine, and sank on 5 September 1917, north of Terschelling. There were no survivors from U-88's sinking.

• 
  The track of Lusitania. View of casualties and survivors in the water and in lifeboats. Painting by William Lionel Wyllie.
• 
  The second explosion made passengers believe U-20 had torpedoed Lusitania a second time.
• 
  The effect of U-20's torpedo.

Captain Turner in 1914 while in command of RMS Aquitania.

Captain Turner was on the deck near the bridge clutching the ship's logbook and charts when a wave swept upward towards the bridge and the rest of the ship's forward superstructure, knocking him overboard into the sea. He managed to swim and find a chair floating in the water which he clung to. He survived, having been pulled unconscious from the water after spending three hours there. Lusitania's bow slammed into the bottom about 100 metres (330 ft) below at a shallow angle because of her forward momentum as she sank. Along the way, some boilers exploded, including one that caused the third funnel to collapse; the remaining funnels collapsed soon after. As he had taken the ship's logbook and charts with him, Turner's last navigational fix had been only two minutes before the torpedoing, and he was able to remember the ship's speed and bearing at the moment of the sinking. This was accurate enough to locate the wreck after the war. The ship travelled about two miles (3 km) from the time of the torpedoing to her final resting place, leaving a trail of debris and people behind. After her bow sank completely, Lusitania's stern rose out of the water, enough for her propellers to be seen, and went under.

Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes, 11.5 miles (19 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale. It took several hours for help to arrive from the Irish coast, but by the time help had arrived, many in the 52 °F (11 °C) water had succumbed to the cold. By the days' end, 764 passengers and crew from Lusitania had been rescued and landed at Queenstown. Eventually, the final death toll for the disaster came to a catastrophic number. Of the 1,959 passengers and crew aboard Lusitania at the time of her sinking, 1,195 had been lost. In the days following the disaster, the Cunard line offered local fishermen and sea merchants a cash reward for the bodies floating all throughout the Irish Sea, some floating as far away as the Welsh coast. In all, only 289 bodies were recovered, 65 of which were never identified. The bodies of many of the victims were buried at either Queenstown, where 148 bodies were interred in the Old Church Cemetery,[37] or the Church of St. Multose in Kinsale, but the bodies of the remaining 885 victims were never recovered.

Two days before, U-20 had sunk Earl of Lathom, but first allowed the crew to escape in boats. According to international maritime law, any military vessel stopping an unarmed civilian ship was required to allow those on board time to escape before sinking it. The conventions had been drawn up in a time before the invention of the submarine and took no account of the severe risk a small vessel, such as a submarine, faced if it gave up the advantage of a surprise attack. Schwieger could have allowed the crew and passengers of Lusitania to take to the boats, but he considered the danger of being rammed or fired upon by deck guns too great. Merchant ships had, in fact, been advised to steer directly at any U-boat that surfaced. A cash bonus had been offered for any that were sunk, though the advice was carefully worded so as not to amount to an order to ram. This feat would only be accomplished once during the war by a commercial vessel when in 1918 the White Star Liner RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic, rammed into SM U-103 in the English Channel, sinking the submarine.

According to Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania was travelling without any flag and her name painted over with darkish dye.

One story—an urban legend—states that when Lieutenant Schwieger of U-20 gave the order to fire, his quartermaster, Charles Voegele, would not take part in an attack on women and children, and refused to pass on the order to the torpedo room – a decision for which he was court-martialed and imprisoned at Kiel until the end of the war. This rumour persisted until 1972, when the French daily paper Le Monde published a letter to the editor.



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

RMS Lusitania - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō;
the battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.


Shōhō (Japanese: 祥鳳, "Auspicious Phoenix" or "Happy Phoenix") was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally built as the submarine support ship Tsurugizaki in the late 1930s, she was converted before the Pacific War into an aircraft carrier and renamed. Completed in early 1942, the ship supported the invasion forces in Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and was sunk by American carrier aircraft on her first combat operation during the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May. Shōhō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II.



Design, construction and conversion


Schematic of Shōhō

Shōhō and her sister Zuihō were designed to be easily modified as an oil tanker, submarine tender, or aircraft carrier as needed. Shōhō was laid down by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 3 December 1934 as the submarine tender Tsurugizaki. She was launched on 1 June 1935 and completed on 15 January 1939. Not long after the ship was initially completed, she began reconstruction as an aircraft carrier in 1941. Her superstructure was removed and replaced by a flight deck with a hangar for her aircraft below. Renamed Shōhō, the conversion was finished on 26 January 1942.

After her conversion, Shōhō had a length of 205.5 meters (674 ft 2 in) overall. She had a beam of 18.2 meters (59 ft 8 in) and a draft of 6.58 meters (21 ft 7 in). She displaced11,443 tonnes (11,262 long tons) at standard load. As part of her conversion, her original diesel engines, which had given her a top speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph), were replaced by a pair of destroyer-type geared steam turbine sets with a total of 52,000 shaft horsepower (39,000 kW), each driving one propeller. Steam was provided by four Kampon water-tube boilers and Shōhō now had a maximum speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). The boilers exhausted through a single downturned starboard funnel and she carried 2,642 tonnes (2,600 long tons) of fuel oil, giving her a range of 7,800 nautical miles (14,400 km; 9,000 mi) at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Her crew numbered 785 officers and men.

Shōhō's flight deck was 180 meters (590 ft 6 in) long and had a maximum width of 23 meters (75 ft 6 in). The ship was designed with a single hangar 124 meters (406 ft 10 in) long and 18 meters (59 ft) wide. The hangar was served by two octagonal centerline aircraft elevators. The forward elevator was 13 by 12 metres (42 ft 8 in by 39 ft 4 in) in size and the smaller rear elevator measured 12 by 10.8 metres (39 ft 4 in by 35 ft 5 in). She had arresting gear with six cables, but she was not fitted with an aircraft catapult. Shōhō was a flush-deck design and lacked an island superstructure. She was designed to operate 30 aircraft.

The ship's primary armament consisted of eight 40-caliber 12.7 cm Type 89 anti-aircraft (AA) guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. Shōhō was also initially equipped with four twin 25 mm Type 96light AA guns, also in sponsons along the sides of the hull.

Service history


Shōhō undergoing conversion into a light carrier, 2 September 1941

Shōhō was commissioned on 30 November 1941 and Captain Ishinosuke Izawa became her commanding officer. While still fitting-out, the ship was assigned to the Fourth Carrier Division of the 1st Air Fleet on 22 December. On 4 February 1942, she ferried aircraft to Truk, where she remained until 11 April before returning to Yokosuka.

In late April 1942, Shōhō was assigned to Operation MO and arrived in Truk on 29 April. The following day, she departed Truk with the cruisers Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka, and Kako of Cruiser Division 6 under the command of Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō. They formed the Main Force of the operation. Due to aircraft shortages, her aircraft complement consisted of only four obsolete Mitsubishi A5M4 "Claude" and eight modern Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters plus six Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers. Covering the other elements of Operation MO was the Striking Force that consisted of the fleet carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku.

Battle of the Coral Sea
Main article: Battle of the Coral Sea

Dramatic shot of the detonation of a 1,000-pound (450 kg) bomb on Shōhō during the Battle of the Coral Sea

After covering the landings on Tulagi on 3 May, Shōhō headed north to cover the invasion convoy the next day and was not present when aircraft from the American carrier Yorktown attacked Japanese shipping at Tulagi. This air strike confirmed that at least one American carrier was in the vicinity, but the Japanese had no idea of its location.[9] They launched a number of reconnaissance aircraft the following day to search for the Americans, but without result. One Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" flying boat spotted Yorktown, but was shot down by one of Yorktown's Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters before she could radio a report. US Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft spotted Shōhō[Note 1] southwest of Bougainville Island on 5 May, but she was too far north to be attacked by the American carriers, which were refueling. That day, Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher received Magic intelligence that placed the three Japanese carriers known to be involved in Operation MO near Bougainville, and predicted 10 May as the date of the invasion. It also predicted airstrikes by the Japanese carriers in support of the invasion several days before 10 May. Based on this information, Fletcher planned to complete refuelling his ships on 6 May and move closer to the eastern tip of New Guinea to be in a position to locate and attack Japanese forces on 7 May.

Another H6K spotted the Americans during the morning of 6 May and successfully shadowed them until 14:00. The Japanese, however, were unwilling or unable to launch air strikes in poor weather or without updated spot reports. Both sides believed they knew where the other force was, and expected to fight the next day. The Japanese were the first to spot the Americans when one aircraft found the oiler Neosho escorted by the destroyerSims at 0722, south of the Strike Force. These ships were misidentified as a carrier and a cruiser and the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku launched an airstrike 40 minutes later that sank Sims and damaged Neosho badly enough that she had to be scuttled a few days later. The American carriers were west of the Strike Force, not south, and they were spotted by other Japanese aircraft shortly after the carriers had launched their attack on Neosho and Sims.

American reconnaissance aircraft reported two Japanese heavy cruisers northeast of Misima Island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip of New Guinea at 07:35 and two carriers at 08:15. An hour later, Fletcher ordered an airstrike launched, believing that the two carriers reported were Shōkaku and Zuikaku. Lexington and Yorktown launched a total of 53 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers and 22 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo planes escorted by 18 F4F Wildcats. The 0815 report turned out to be miscoded, as the pilot had intended to report two heavy cruisers, but USAAF aircraft had spotted Shōhō, her escorts and the invasion convoy in the meantime. As the latest spot report plotted only 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) away from the 0815 report, the aircraft en route were diverted to this new target.


Shōhō hit by a torpedo launched by a Devastator from Lexington

Shōhō and the rest of the Main Force were spotted by aircraft from Lexington at 10:40. At this time, Shōhō's combat air patrol (CAP) consisted of two A5Ms and one A6M Zero. The Dauntlesses began their attack at 11:10 as the three Japanese fighters attacked them in their dive. None of the dive bombers hit Shōhō, which was maneuvering to avoid their bombs; one Dauntless was shot down by the Zero after it had pulled out of its dive and several others were damaged. The carrier launched three more Zeros immediately after this attack to reinforce its CAP. The second wave of Dauntlesses began their attack at 11:18 and they hit Shōhō twice with 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs. These penetrated the ship's flight deck and burst inside her hangars, setting the fuelled and armed aircraft there on fire. A minute later, the Devastators began dropping their torpedoes from both sides of the ship. They hit Shōhō five times and the damage from the hits knocked out her steering and power. In addition, the hits flooded both engine and boiler rooms. Yorktown's aircraft trailed those from Lexington, and the former's Dauntlesses began their attacks at 11:25, hitting Shōhō with another eleven 1,000-pound bombs by Japanese accounts and the carrier came to a complete stop. Yorktown's Devastators trailed the rest of her aircraft and attacked at 11:29. They claimed ten hits, although Japanese accounts acknowledge only two. As the Devastators were exiting the area, they were attacked by the CAP, but the Wildcats protecting the torpedo bombers shot down two A5Ms and an A6M Zero. Total American losses to all causes were three Dauntlesses. After his attack, Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Dixon, commander of Lexington's Dive bombers, radioed his famous message to the American carriers: "Scratch one flat top!"

With Shōhō hit by no fewer than 13 bombs and 7 torpedoes, Captain Izawa ordered the ship abandoned at 11:31. She sank four minutes later. Some 300 men successfully abandoned the ship, but they had to wait to be rescued as Gotō ordered his remaining ships to head north at high speed to avoid any further airstrikes. Around 14:00, he ordered the destroyer Sazanami to return to the scene and rescue the survivors.[18] She found only 203, including Captain Izawa. The rest of her crew of 834 died during the attack or in the water awaiting rescue. Shōhō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier lost during the war.

Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 May 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.


Jodl and Keitel surrender all German armed forces unconditionally:
Thirty minutes after the fall of "Festung Breslau" (Fortress Breslau), General Alfred Jodl arrived in Reims and, following Dönitz's instructions, offered to surrender all forces fighting the Western Allies. This was exactly the same negotiating position that von Friedeburg had initially made to Montgomery, and like Montgomery the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, threatened to break off all negotiations unless the Germans agreed to a complete unconditional surrender to all the Allies on all fronts. Eisenhower explicitly told Jodl that he would order western lines closed to German soldiers, thus forcing them to surrender to the Soviets. Jodl sent a signal to Dönitz, who was in Flensburg, informing him of Eisenhower's declaration. Shortly after midnight, Dönitz, accepting the inevitable, sent a signal to Jodl authorizing the complete and total surrender of all German forces.


The first instrument of unconditional surrendersigned at Reims on 7 May 1945.

At 02:41 on the morning of 7 May, at SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, signed an unconditional surrender document for all German forces to the Allies, committing representatives of the German High Command to attend a definitive signing ceremony in Berlin. General Franz Böhme announced the unconditional surrender of German troops in Norway on 7 May. It included the phrase "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European Time on May 8, 1945." The next day, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and other German OKW representatives travelled to Berlin, and shortly before midnight signed an amended and definitive document of unconditional surrender, explicitly surrendering to all the Allied forces in the presence of Marshal Georgi Zhukov and representatives of SHAEF. The signing ceremony took place in a former German Army Engineering School in the Berlin district of Karlshorst; it now houses the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.



General Alfred Jodl signing the capitulation papers of unconditional surrender in Reims.


Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signing the definitive act of unconditional surrender for the German military in Berlin.

German Instrument of Surrender - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 7 May


1592 - Okpo - Korean navy under Yi Sun-sin defeats Japanese navy under Todo Takatora.


1709 - HMS Postillion (10), wrecked near Ostend

HMS Postillion (1702) was a 10-gun sixth rate, previously the French Postillion. She was captured in 1702 by HMS Worcester (1698) and was wrecked in 1709.


1798 - HMS Victorieuse (14), Cptn.Edward Stirling Dickson, captured French privateer Brutus (6), Cptn. Rousel, off Guadeloupe.


1808 - HMS Redwing (18), Thomas Ussher, destroyed seven Spanish vessels and drove some into the surf from a convoy of 12 merchantmen escorted by 7 armed vessels near Cape Trafalgar. only 3 vessels escaped.

On 7 May, she attacked a Spanish convoy of seven gun-boats and armed vessels, and 12 unarmed merchantmen off Cape Trafalgar. In a short but vigorous action she drove four gun-boats ashore and sank them, captured one, and two escaped. Redwing then sank four of the merchantmen and captured seven; one escaped. Redwing lost one man killed and had three men wounded, one severely. For this action in 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Redwing 7 May 1808" to the seven still surviving claimants from the action.

HMS Redwing was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1806, she saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars, mostly in the Mediterranean, and afterwards served off the West Coast of Africa, acting to suppress the slave trade. She was lost at sea in 1827.

HMS Redwing (1806) - Wikipedia

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1934 - The frigate USS Constitution completes her 3-year tour of 76 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and then returns to Boston, Mass. Prior to her journey that began July 1931, the 137-year-old frigate undergoes a refit and overhaul. Congress authorized the restoration of Constitution in March 1925.



1925 restoration and tour
Admiral Edward Walter Eberle, Chief of Naval Operations, ordered the Board of Inspection and Survey to compile a report on her condition, and the inspection of 19 February 1924 found her in grave condition. Water had to be pumped out of her hold on a daily basis just to keep her afloat, and her stern was in danger of falling off. Almost all deck areas and structural components were filled with rot, and she was considered to be on the verge of ruin. Yet the Board recommended that she be thoroughly repaired in order to preserve her as long as possible. The estimated cost of repairs was $400,000. Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur proposed to Congress that the required funds be raised privately, and he was authorized to assemble the committee charged with her restoration.

The first effort was sponsored by the national Elks Lodge. Programs presented to schoolchildren about "Old Ironsides" encouraged them to donate pennies towards her restoration, eventually raising $148,000. In the meantime, the estimates for repair began to climb, eventually reaching over $745,000 after costs of materials were realized. In September 1926, Wilbur began to sell copies of a painting of Constitution at 50 cents per copy. The silent film Old Ironsides portrayed Constitution during the First Barbary War. It premiered in December and helped spur more contributions to her restoration fund. The final campaign allowed memorabilia to be made of her discarded planking and metal. The committee eventually raised more than $600,000 after expenses, still short of the required amount, and Congress approved up to $300,000 to complete the restoration. The final cost of the restoration was $946,000.


Transiting the Panama Canal 1932

Lieutenant John A. Lord was selected to oversee the reconstruction project, and work began while fund-raising efforts were still underway. Materials were difficult to find, especially the live oak needed; Lord uncovered a long-forgotten stash of live oak (some 1,500 short tons [1,400 t]) at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida that had been cut sometime in the 1850s for a ship building program that never began. Constitution entered dry dock with a crowd of 10,000 observers on 16 June 1927. Meanwhile, Charles Francis Adams had been appointed as Secretary of the Navy, and he proposed that Constitution make a tour of the United States upon her completion as a gift to the nation for its efforts to help restore her. She emerged from dry dock on 15 March 1930; approximately 85 percent of the ship had been "renewed" (i.e. replaced) to make her seaworthy. Many amenities were installed to prepare her for the three-year tour of the country, including water piping throughout, modern toilet and shower facilities, electric lighting to make the interior visible for visitors, and several peloruses for ease of navigation. 40 miles (64,000 m) of rigging was made for Constitution at Charlestown Navy Yard ropewalk.

Constitution recommissioned on 1 July 1931 under the command of Louis J. Gulliver with a crew of 60 officers and sailors, 15 Marines, and a pet monkey named Rosie that was their mascot. The tour began at Portsmouth, New Hampshirewith much celebration and a 21-gun salute, scheduled to visit 90 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. Due to the schedule of visits on her itinerary she was towed by the minesweeper Grebe. She went as far north as Bar Harbor, Maine, south and into the Gulf of Mexico then through the Panama Canal Zone, and north again to Bellingham, Washington on the Pacific Coast. Constitution returned to her home port of Boston in May 1934 after more than 4.6 million people visited her during the three-year tour.

1934 return to Boston
Constitution returned to serving as a museum ship, receiving 100,000 visitors per year in Boston. She was maintained by a small crew who were berthed on the ship, and this required more reliable heating. The heating was upgraded to a forced-air system in the 1950s, and a sprinkler system was added that protects her from fire. Constitution broke loose from her dock on 21 September 1938 during the New England Hurricane and was blown into Boston Harbor where she collided with the destroyer Ralph Talbot; she suffered only minor damage.


USS Constitution commemorative stamp 150th anniversary issue of 1947

With limited funds available, she experienced more deterioration over the years, and items began to disappear from the ship as souvenir hunters picked away at the more portable objects. Constitution and USS Constellation were recommissioned in 1940 at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt. In early 1941, Constitution was assigned the hull classification symbol IX-21 and began to serve as a brig for officers awaiting court-martial.

The United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating Constitution in 1947, and an Act of Congress in 1954 made the Secretary of the Navy responsible for her upkeep.

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


1941 Convoy OB 318

OB 318 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. During Operation Primrose Royal Navy convoy escorts HMS Bulldog, Broadway and Aubrietia captured U-110 with an intact Enigma machine and a wealth of signals intelligence, which led to the Allied breakthrough into cracking the German naval Enigma code


U-110 and HMS Bulldog

U-boats sank five ships from convoy OB 318; and three, including the convoy commodore's ship Colonial, were sunk before arriving by U-boats patrolling near their destinations. Thirty-three ships arrived safely at their destinations over the next two weeks.

Baker-Cresswell took U-110 in tow, but she sank within hours due to the damage she had sustained. Lemp was lost with 14 members of his crew but a war correspondent, 4 officers and 28 men were rescued and sent to Scapa Flow as prisoners of war. At Scapa Flow experts from Bletchley Park were waiting and were exceptionally surprised with what they collected and took back with them. The capture of the Enigma machine was highly secret at the time and none of the crew knew of the significance. The machine itself significantly assisted the work in hand at Bletchley Park in breaking German naval codes. This was the first fully functioning machine and the first one used to break the naval codes along with the capture of codes from a number of German weather ships during the same year. Thanks to this Enigma machine though; Bletchley were able to inform the Royal Navy and thus steered convoys away from where most groups of U-boat packs were present. The difference made was substantial; from when the information began to pour through in June 1941 Allied shipping losses were around 432,000 tons but by August it had dropped to less than 80,000 tons.

The most important find as well being the Reservehandverfahren cipher which was first solved at Bletchley Park in June 1941 by means of documents captured from U-110 and then later on with the important capture of code-books and other important documents from U-559 on 30 October 1942. Thereafter it was solved using cryptanalysis led by Alan Turing for over three years. Some 1,400 signals were read during that period. Baker-Cresswell was awarded the DSO and promoted captain. King George VI told him the capture of the U-110 cipher material had been "the most important single event in the whole war at sea".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_OB_318


1942 - USS Sims – On 7 May 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the destroyer was sunk by Japanese aircraft. Three 250 kg (551 lb) bombs hit her. Two exploded in the engine room, and within minutes she buckled amidships and began to sink stern first. As she sank there was a great explosion that raised what was left of her almost 15 feet (5 m) out of the water. Of the crew aboard 176 were killed.

USS Sims (DD-409) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first ship to be named for William Sims, an Admiral who pushed for the modernization of the Navy.

Sims was laid down on 15 July 1937 by Bath Iron Works Corporation, Bath, Maine; launched on 8 April 1939; sponsored by Mrs. William S. Sims; and commissioned on 1 August 1939, Lieutenant Commander William Arthur Griswold in command



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sims_(DD-409)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea


1994 – Launch of French Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale).

Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale). The ship is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy. She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle.



The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E‑2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area. Charles de Gaulle is currently the only non-American carrier-vessel that has a catapult launch system, which has allowed for operation of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and C-2 Greyhounds of the US Navy.


USS Enterprise (left), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and Charles de Gaulle (right), at that time the newest nuclear carrier, both steaming in the Mediterranean Sea on 16 May 2001.


A rare occurrence of a 5-country multinational fleet of the NATO countries, the Netherlands, France, the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 May 1711 – Launch of HMS Bristol, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 18th century


HMS Bristol was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 18th century.



Description
Bristol had a length at the gundeck of 130 feet (39.6 m) and 108 feet (32.9 m) at the keel. She had a beam of 35 feet (10.7 m) and a depth of hold of 14 feet (4.3 m). The ship's tonnage was 722 68⁄94 tons burthen. Bristol was armed with twenty-two 18-pounder cannon on her main gundeck, twenty-two 9-pounder cannon on her upper gundeck, and four 6-pounder cannon each on the quarterdeck and forecastle. The ship had a crew of 250 officers and ratings.

Construction and career
Bristol, named after the eponymous port, was ordered on 24 April 1709. The ship was built by Master Shipwright John Lock at Plymouth Dockyard according to the 1706 Establishment, and launched on 8 May 1711. She commissioned that same year under Captain J. Hemmington and was assigned to The Downs Squadron. The following year, the ship sailed to Gibraltar and then to Salé in 1713. Bristol had a major refit from August 1716 to April 1718 at Portsmouth that cost £6,825 and a lesser one in Aug-October 1738 that cost £1,435. The ship commissioned in August under the command of Captain William Chambers for service in home waters. Three years later, now under the command of Captain Benjamin Young, she accompanied a convoy bound for the West Indies in early 1741.

On 22 November 1742 Bristol was ordered to be dismantled for rebuilding. Unlike the vast majority of ships of the line rebuilt during the Establishment era, Bristol was not reconstructed according to the establishment in effect at the time (in this case, the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment). She shared her dimensions with the later, newly built Rochester. Bristol was relaunched on 9 July 1746 and took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in January 1759.

Bristol was broken up in 1768.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Bristol (1746), and later for Rochester (1749), both 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-deckers

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile, and incomplete longitudinal half-breadth for Tilbury (1745), a 1741 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Reverse: Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, incomplete sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Bristol (1747), a modified 1741 Establishment 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker built at Woolwich by Mr Holland.

HMS Bristol (1711) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 May 1744 - HMS Northumberland (70), Cptn. Thomas Watson (mortally wounded), captured by a French squadron of Content (62) and Mars (64).


The Action of 8 May 1744 was a minor naval engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession in which two French ships of the line, the 60-gun Content, and the 64-gun Mars, captured the British ship of the line HMS Northumberland, after a desperate action lasting four hours. Northumberland's captain, Thomas Watson, and her second-lieutenant were among those killed.




Capture of Northumberland, by Ambroise Louis Garneray


Action
On 8 May, Sir Charles Hardy's squadron cruising off Berlengas discovered a sail to the north, and the Northumberland was ordered to chase in that direction. The enemy sail was made out by the Northumberland to be a French ship of the line, and was found to be accompanied by two other ships; a 60-gun vessel and a frigate.

Instead of signalling the force of the ships in sight to the vice-admiral, Watson continued standing towards them under full sail, and was soon out of sight of his own fleet. The French ships were much separated; and at 5 pm Northumberland caught up with the stern most, which proved to be the Mars. Mars opened fire upon the Northumberland, which was immediately returned with vigour. But Captain Watson, whose bravery must ever be considered to have ranked higher than his discretion, instead of continuing to engage the Mars, pushed on and endeavoured to close the Content also; maintaining all the time, a running action with the Mars.

When the French ship Content approached, a most furious battle took place. After nine hours of fighting by the Northumberland was rendered wholly unmanageable, and having had her wheel knocked to pieces, the ship flew up into the wind. At the same time Captain Watson was mortally wounded; and the master of the ship, who was later court-martialled, struck the British colours.


The Description of ye Loss of His Majestys Ship Northumberland Taken by ye French May ye 8th 1744 (PAF4581)


HMS Northumberland was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched in 1705.





She was rebuilt twice during her career, firstly at Woolwich Dockyard, where she was reconstructed according to the 1719 Establishment and relaunched on 13 July 1721. Her second rebuild was also carried out at Woolwich Dockyard, where she was reconstructed as a 64-gun third rate according to the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and relaunched on 17 October 1743.

Northumberland was captured during the action of 8 May 1744 by the French ship Content (commanded by Hubert de Brienne, Comte de Conflans). She was subsequently taken into the French navy as Northumberland, before being renamed Atlas in 1766.



Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Northumberland' (1743), a 70-gun, Third Rate, two-decker. On the reverse: Scale: 1:48. The upper deck, gun (lower) deck, orlop, quarter deck and forecastle for 'Northumberland' (1743)


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudial half-breadth for 'Northumberland' (1744), a 1741 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker

Action of 8 May 1744 - Wikipedia

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HMS Northumberland (1705) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 May 1781 - HMS Port Royal (18) captured by the Spaniards at Pensacola and HMS Mentor (16), Robert Deans, burnt to avoid capture


HMS Port Royal was the former French armed merchant vessel Comte de Maurepas, which the British captured in 1778. The British armed her with 18 guns and took her into the Royal Navy under her new name. The Spanish captured her at the Siege of Pensacola in 1781.

Capture
On 13 October 1778, the squadron under Captain Joseph Deane in HMS Ruby captured Comte de Maurepas off Cap-François on 13 October 1778. Comte de Maurepas was of 500 tons burthen (bm), was armed with eight guns, and had a crew of 32 men under Charles Bailly, master. She had been carrying a cargo of bricks and bale goods from Nantes.

Rear-Admiral Parker ordered her purchase. She was purchased on 8 December at a cost of £4,900. The British re-measured her as 463 tons (bm), armed her with eighteen 6-pounder guns and a dozen swivel guns; as Port Royal, she was commissioned under Commander Michael John Everitt on 1 January 1779 with a complement of 125 men.

By the start of June 1779, Everitt had been succeeded in charge of Port Royal by Commander John Cowling, who remained in command until December 1779. Everitt was transferred as commander (acting captain) to HMS Ruby, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line, as a replacement for Captain Joseph Deane, who was unwell. (Deane died on 12 January 1780). On 2 June, Ruby was in company with Aeolus and the sloop Jamaica when they encountered the French 36-gun frigate Prudente. The British gave chase, during which a chance shot from Prudente's stern guns killed Everitt and a sailor. The British captured Prudente, which they took into service under her existing name.


A 1763 map depicting Pensacola Bay

Fate
Port Royal, came under the command of Commander Timothy Kelly on 13 January 1780.

In 1781 he sailed to Pensacola to assist the British forces there, which were under siege. The Siege of Pensacola lasted from 9 March 1781 to 8 May. On 10 March the Spaniards captured a boat and nine men from Port Royal who had gone foraging to Rose Island. On 23 March, Kelly was ordered to bring his crew ashore to help man the shore defenses. The plan was to destroy the sloop if necessary, but in the interim the British put some of their Spanish prisoners aboard to keep them out of the hands of Britain's Indian allies. Unfortunately, on 1 April the Spanish sent in some boats that captured Port Royal without resistance. On 4 May one of Port Royal's crew was badly wounded by a cannon ball; he later died. Another of her crew was killed two days later.

The last Spanish assault on 8 May cost Port Royal Midshipman John Blair and 12 seaman killed, and five seamen wounded. Three seamen took the opportunity to desert. All these casualties occurred in the advanced redoubt. The British formally capitulated on 10 May 1781 and the Spanish seized Fort George and with it western Florida.

In his report, Major-General John Campbell, the British commander, singled out Lieutenant William Hargood, who had joined Port Royal in January 1780, for his service in command of the Royal Navy redoubt at Fort George. The Spanish took their British prisoners to Havana, and then returned them to the British in New York in an exchange for Spanish prisoners of war.


A 1783 engraving depicting the exploding magazine which marked the end of the Siege of Penascola


HMS Mentor (1780) was an armed ship of unknown name and 24-guns that the British Royal Navy captured from the Americans in 1778, and that purchasers converted to the Liverpool privateer Who's Afraid. Sir Peter Parker purchased her at Jamaica in 1780 and renamed her HMS Mentor; she was burnt in 1781 during the Siege of Pensacola to prevent the Spanish from capturing her

HMS Port Royal (1778) - Wikipedia

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

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 May 1793 – Launch of French Tigre, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy


Tigre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.





French service
Her first captain was Pierre Jean Van Stabel. When Van Stabel was promoted, she became the flagship of his 6-ship squadron. She notably fought in 1793 to rescue the Sémillante, along with the Jean Bart.

Under Jacques Bedout, she took part in the Battle of Groix where she was captured by the British. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Tigre.


Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Tigre (1793), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

British service
Under the Royal Navy she assisted in the defence of Acre during Bonaparte's siege.

On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.

Because Tigre served in the Navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

After the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, Tigre continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November, Thunderer detained the Ragusan ship Nemesis, which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Tigre shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

Between 30 October and 1 November 1809 Admiral Benjamin Hallowell's squadron was at the Bay of Rosas. On 30 October, boats from Tigre joined with boats from Tuscan, Cumberland, Volontaire, Apollo, Topaz, Philomel, and Scout in a cutting out attack after a squadron off the south of France chased an enemy convoy into the Bay of Rosas. The convoy had lost its escorting ships of the line, Robuste and Lion, near Frontignan, where the squadron under Rear Admiral George Martin, of Collingwood's fleet, had burnt them, but were nevertheless heavily protected by an armed storeship of 18 guns, two bombards and a xebec. Some of the British boats took heavy casualties in the clash, but Tuscan had only one officer slightly wounded, and one seaman dangerously wounded. By the following morning the British had accounted for all eleven vessels in the bay, burning those they did not bring out. In January 1813 prize money was awarded to the British vessels that took part in the action for the capture of the ships of war Gromlire and Normande, and of the transports Dragon and Indien. A court declared Invincible a joint captor. Head money was also paid for the Grondire and Normande and for the destruction of Lemproye and Victoire. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 Nov. Boat Service 1809" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Fate
She was eventually broken up in June 1817.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Tigre' (1795), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard prior to being fitted as 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Later alterations sent to Portsmouth on 24 August 1797. Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799]







The Téméraire-class ships of the line were class of a hundred and twenty 74-gun ships of the line ordered between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy or its attached navies in dependent (French-occupied) territories. Although a few of these were cancelled, the type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built.

The class was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané in 1782 as a development of the Annibal and her near-sister Northumberland, both of which had been designed by him and built at Brest during the 1777-1780 period. Some dozen ships were ordered and built to this new design from 1782 to 1785, and then the same design was adopted as a standard for all subsequent 74s during the next three decades as part of the fleet expansion programme instituted by Jean-Charles de Borda in 1786.

The design was appreciated in Britain, which eagerly commissioned captured ships and even copied the design with the Pompée and America class.



Variants from basic design
While all the French 74-gun ships from the mid-1780s until the close of the Napoleonic Wars were to the Téméraire design, there were three variants of the basic design which Sané developed with the same hull form of Téméraire. In 1793 two ships were laid down at Brest to an enlarged design; in 1801 two ships were commenced at Lorient with a slightly shorter length than the standard design (with a third ship commenced at Brest but never completed); and in 1803 two ships were commenced at Toulon to a smaller version (many more ships to this 'small(er) model' were then built in the shipyards controlled by France in Italy and the Netherlands)

French ship Tigre (1793) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-354392;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 May 1794 - HMS Placienta (6), a single-masted forty-six foot Newfoundland hoy, wrecked off Newfoundland


HMS Placentia was the name-ship of her two vessel class, with both vessels being launched in 1789. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland. She was wrecked in 1794.



Career
Lieutenant Peter Halkett commissioned her in October 1789. He was followed in 1790 by Lieutenant Caither, who was followed in 1791 by Lieutenant Charles Herbert.

Herbert's successor, in 1792, was Lieutenant John Tucker. Placentia was rated as an armed sloop, and then as an armed ship. In 1794 Lieutenant Alexander Shippard (or Sheppard) assumed command.

Fate
On 7 May 1794 Placentia was sailing towards Burin from Marisheen when a strong current drove her towards the island of Marticot. She anchored off a reef but next morning a swell pushed her onto the rocks. Her crew abandoned her in a sinking state.



Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Placentia' [Pleanica] (1790) and 'Trepassey' [Trepassee] (1790), both single-masted forty-six foot Newfoundland hoys


The Placentia class was a class of two sloops of the Royal Navy. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland. Their role was "to protect the fisheries and inquiring into abuses." The vessels would sit in the harbour of St Johns over the winter, and then in the spring would be fitted out to visit the ports on the station as soon as the ice had melted.

Jahleel Brenton, who would command Trepassey in 1793, provides an interesting description of her and her sister ship. They were, he said, "…facetiously termed by naval men, a machine for making officers." The vessels initially served in this role through the regular rotation of commanders. Each year the Admiralty would place one lieutenant in command of one of them, and the admiral of the station would appoint the lieutenant commanding the other. The outgoing lieutenants would at the end of the year, or at least just before the admiral of the station left for the winter, go through a nominal invaliding. The Admiralty and the admiral would then appoint their successors from "the cockpit of the Admiral's ship."

Of the eight peacetime (1789-1793) commanders, at least five went on to have distinguished careers:

• Sir Jahleel Brenton, 1st Baronet
• Sir Peter Halkett, 6th Baronet
• Honourable Charles Herbert
• Sir Charles Rowley, 1st Baronet
• Admiral Alexander Shippard

Each vessel’s crew consisted of a commander, a pilot, and five men. The pilot performed the functions of every class of officer below the commander. In 1792 or so, the Admiralty augmented each vessel’s establishment with two midshipmen.

Placentia was lost before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Trepassey served into the Napoleonic Wars, but was too small and weakly armed to serve a major naval role. The Placentia-class sloops were even more puny than the much-maligned Ballahou and Cuckoo-class schooners of the Napoleonic period.


Sistership
HMS Trepassey (or Trepassy) was the second vessel of her two vessel class, with both vessels being launched in 1789. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland, "to protect the fisheries and inquiring into abuses." In 1793, after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, she accepted the surrender of Miquelon. This appears to have been the highpoint of her career. She disappears from the records in 1807.

Career
The Naval Chronicle in its list of vessels added, incorrectly gives her accession year as 1790, and describes her as a storeship. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Charles Rowley. He was succeeded in 1790 by Lieutenant Gilbert, who was succeeded in 1791 by Lieutenant Home. At the time the Admiral of the station and the Admiralty rotated promising lieutenants through command of Trepassey and her sister ship, Placentia, on an annual basis.

In 1792 Lieutenant Jahleel Brenton assumed command. In March 1793 Brenton and Lieutenant Tucker, commander of Placentia were at St Johns, Newfoundland when they received a letter from the governor of Saint Pierre and Miquelon inquiring about what news there was about the possible outbreak of war. Sensing that the governor would be willing to capitulate, Brenton set out to inquire further, while Tucker tried to assemble troops. When Brenton arrived at Saint Pierre on 16 May, he discovered that Alligator had arrived the day before from Halifax, together with the armed schooner Diligent, three transports and a number of troops. The governor of the island, M. Danseville, had surrendered without a fight and the island was under British control. Trepassey was then dispatched to take possession of Miquelon. In all, the British captured a battery consisting of eight 24-pounder guns, the garrison, of between 80 and 100 men, besides about 500 armed fishermen, and the whole population of the two islands, amounting to 741 people on Saint Pierre and 761 on Miquelon. The British also seized 20 vessels that were in the harbour, 18 small vessels laden with fish, and two American schooners containing provisions and naval stores.

Lieutenant Richard Kevern was promoted to lieutenant on 24 October 1793 and replaced Brenton in command of Trepassey. In May 1796, Lieutenant John Hampstead took command.[6] Trepassey was rated an armed sloop, and sailed to Plymouth for refitting. She was there from 25 December 1796 to 1 June 1798.

Lieutenant Jasper Scrambler took command of Trepassey in 1800 in Newfoundland. On 13 May, pursuant to orders, he visited Cape Sable Island to determine if he could the fate of the Francis. From meetings with various vessels and witnesses in the area, he determined that she had been lost, together with all her passengers and crew. Scrambler recommissioned Trepassey at Newfoundland by in September 1801.

Lieutenant John Gardner McBride McKillop took command in January 1803, and Lieutenant John Drew in December 1803. Lloyd's List reported that on 25 February 1806 Trerpassey, Morris, master, was one of four vessels that had run ashore in the Clyde, but without damage. Her last commander appears to have been Lieutenant John Harrison Buddle, who commanded from 1806 to 1807.

Fate
Trepassey's fate is unknown. Although there are reports that she was sold in 1803, there are records of later commanders, ending in 1807.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Placentia_(1789)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placentia-class_sloop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trepassey_(1789)

'Placenica' (1790), 'Trepassey' (1790) [alternative spellings: Pleanica, Trepassee] - National Maritime Museum