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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1790 - Launch of french Océan - drawings etc. of the sistership Le Commerce de Marseille at NMM available

The Commerce de Marseille was a 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of the Océan class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from chamber of commerce of Marseille.


1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille On display at Marseille maritime museum

Built on state-of-the-art plans by Sané, she was dubbed the "finest ship of the century". Her construction was difficult because of a lack of wood, and soon after her completion, she was disarmed, in March 1791.

Commerce de Marseille came under British control during the Siege of Toulon. When the city fell to the French, she evacuated the harbour for Portsmouth. She was briefly used as a store-ship, but on a journey to the Caribbean, in 1795, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to limp back to Portsmouth. She remained there as a hulk until she was broken up in 1856.





Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with sternboard decoration, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Commerce de Marseilles (captured 1793), a captured French First Rate. The plan illustrates the ship as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard, prior to being fitted as a 120-gun First Rate, three-decker. Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1802].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79834.html#Y0Izb7UFUE9rSRdu.99


Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the quarterdeck and forecastle, upper deck, and middle deck for Commerce de Marseilles (captured 1793), a captured French First Rate. The plan illustrates the ship as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard, prior to being fitted as a 120-gun First Rate, three-decker. Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1802].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/87503.html#Pmc7JX1kiQOXYwll.99


Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the gun deck (lower deck), orlop deck, and fore & aft platforms for Commerce de Marseilles (captured 1793), a captured French First Rate. The plan illustrates the ship as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard, prior to being fitted as a 120-gun First Rate, three-decker. Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1802].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/87504.html#uKXJAIj1gLYTRxic.99


Print. Coloured etching showing the the port side of the Commerce de Marseilles (1788), which was captured from the French at the Siege of Toulon and added 29 August 1793. Commerce de Marseiiles was an 118 gun, first rate three deck ship of the line of the French Navy and a lead ship of the Ocean Class. She is shown moored in placid water, the rigging clear, with sails closely furled along the yards of all three masts. The French flag (jack) flies at the bow and stern and the ensign of the French Navy from the main mast.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/110188.html#GobaoOOAhCaLUYdy.99


Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of the warship Commerce de Marseille (1788), a French 120 gun three decked ship of the line. The hull is carved from a solid block of wood (?) and is painted a metallic copper colour below the main wales. The topsides are painted black, interspersed by the three gundecks highlighted by creamy white horizontal bands. The gunports are let into the hull and painted black. The bow is fitted with head rails just aft of the figurehead (missing) with a stump bowsprit above. All three decks are flush and fitted with stump masts painted an off white colour. The stern is complete with carved galleries, painted black with a rudder below, complete with gudgeons and pintles. The whole model is mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard which is painted a creamy white surrounded by a stained moulded edging. There is a detached plaque which is inscribed "Commerce de Marseille 118, French 1788 Built at Toulon and then the largest ship in the world. Rated as 120 guns in RN but not used. Broken up 1802. Dimensions: - Gundeck 208ft 4in Beam 54ft 9 1/2in".
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66514.html#lVplg6Y3MjWd6hMH.99



http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-304059;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Commerce_de_Marseille_(1788)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1794 – Launch of French Vengeance, a 48-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.


Vengeance was a 48-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She engaged USS Constellation during the Quasi-War, in an inconclusive engagement that left both ships heavily damaged. During the French Revolutionary Wars, HMS Seine hunted Vengeance down and captured her after a sharp action. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS Vengeance, but the British apparently never returned her to seagoing service. Accounts are divided as to her eventual fate. She may have been broken up in 1803 after grounding in 1801, or continued as a prison ship until 1814.

Construction
Vengeance was one of two frigates built to Pierre Degay's design of 1793, initially ordered as Bonne Foi, and launched on 8 November 1794.[1] She was a member of one of the larger classes of frigate, armed with 24-pounders.

Class and type: 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate
Tons burthen: 1,180 bm
Length:

• 160 ft 6 in (48.9 m) (overall)
• 134 ft 9 in (41.1 m) (keel)

Beam: 40 ft 6 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 3 1⁄2 in (4.1 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament: 28 x 18-pounder long guns


French career
On 8 August 1796, off Guadeloupe, Vengeance encountered the 32-gun Mermaid, under the command of Captain Robert Waller Otway. The subsequent action was prolonged but indecisive. When the 40-gun British frigate Beaulieu came up, Vengeance retired to the shelter of the batteries of Basseterre. Mermaid had suffered no casualties; Vengeance had lost 12 killed and 26 wounded.


The La Raison of 24 Guns, Captn Beresford, beating-off a French Frigate, of 44 Guns, near Hallifax (PAD5504)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109655.html#Ru0JGUsTyY1ViXgT.99

Within the month, on 25 August, Vengeance again engaged the British when she chased the 26-gun Raison, under Captain John Poo Beresford, to the west of the Gulf of Maine. After the vessels had exchanged fire for two hours, foggy weather helped Raison escape, but not before she had suffered three killed and six wounded. Vengeance suffered six killed and an unknown number of wounded.

Vengeance vs Constellation
Main article: USS Constellation vs La Vengeance
On 31 January 1800, during the Quasi-War, Vengeance engaged the USS Constellation. Toll reports that Vengeance had a broadside of 559 pounds compared to the American vessel's 372 pounds. Troude reports her armament as twenty-six 18-pounders, ten 6-pounders and four 36-pounder carronades (336 pound broadside), compared to Constellation's twenty-eight 18-pounders, ten 12-pounders and one 32-pounder carronade (472 pound broadside).


USS Constellation engaging la Vengeance

Constellation had sailed under Captain Thomas Truxtun from Saint Kitts on 30 January, and came across Vengeance the following day. Vengeance was bound for France under Capitaine de Vaisseau François Pitot, carrying passengers and specie, and initially attempted to outrun Constellation. Truxton gave chase, and eventually came within range during the evening. Before dawn, Vengeance hoisted her flag, and Constellation answered with a red-tailed flag and a blue jack that the French did not understand. After Pitot refused a request to surrender, the two began to exchange broadsides, with Vengeance aiming high to damage Constellation's rigging. Constellation eluded Pitot's attempts to board her, around 9:00 and again around 11:00.

The action lasted until one o'clock the following morning, having been fought in poor light, with the ships often ill defined shapes to each other. Vengeance's and Constellation's guns eventually fell silent; Toll reports that Pitot may even have struck his colours but Constellation had suffered considerable damage to her masts and rigging, eventually losing her main mast at the conclusion of the action around half past midnight. The two ships drifted apart while the Americans repaired their damage. The Americans believed Vengeance had sunk, but her captain actually had managed to sail her as far as Curaçao, where he ran her onto the beach to prevent her from sinking. Estimates of French casualties ran to 160, while Constellation had 15 killed and 25 wounded. Pitot recorded that his guns had fired 742 rounds during the action, while Constellation had fired 1,129.[5] According to Troude, Constellation never identified herself.


Constellation and La Vengeance engaged in combat.

Capture
The French repaired Vengeance and returned her to service. Then on 20 August 1800 the frigate HMS Seine, under the command of Captain David Milne, attacked her in the Mona Passage. Both ships sustained heavy casualties; 13 crew were killed aboard Seine, 29 were wounded, and the ship was cut up. Vengeance, still under the command of Pitot, sustained worse damage and surrendered after about an hour and a half of hard fighting. One source estimates that Vengeance suffered some 35 men killed and some 70 wounded before she struck.


HMS Seine captures Vengeance on 20 August 1800, depicted in a print by Thomas Whitcombe

At the time of her capture Vengeance was armed with twenty-eight 18-pounders on her main deck, sixteen 12-pounders and eight 42-pounder carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle, brass swivel guns on the gunwale, and shifting guns on the main and quarter decks. All these measures were in French pounds. In English measures the broadsides in this case were 498 pounds for Seine and 434 for Vengeance. Crew sizes were 281 men and 326 men, respectively. Troude attributes to Vengeance an armament of 26 18-pounders, 10 8-pounders and 4 36-pounder caronades, totalling a broadside of 346 pounds.

The naval historian William James subsequently exaggerated the engagement in favour of the French. He declared that as Seine had done what Constellation could not, British naval forces were "more potent than American thunder". In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Seine 20 Augt. 1800" to any surviving crew members of Seine that came forward to claim it.

British career
Vengeance was re-armed with 18-pounders but not initially commissioned. After Galgo foundered in 1800, with heavy loss of life, the Admiralty issued an order stopping the purchase of captured enemy warships.

Still, the Navy did eventually buy her. Having been damaged by grounding in 1801, she became a receiving ship at Portsmouth. Some records indicate that she was then broken up in 1803; others suggest that she served as a prison ship until 1814.

The National Maritime Museum reports that she was commissioned as a prison ship at Portsmouth in 1808 under Lieutenant A. Gilmour. Lieutenant J. Graves, who served until 1811, replaced him in 1810. Lieutenant G. King commanded her in 1813, and Lieutenant J. Graves commanded her in 1814.


The Vengeance class was a type of large sailing frigates designed by Pierre Degay and built in Paimbœuf for the French Navy. Rated at 48 guns,[1] the type was one of the French attempts at increasing the firepower of frigates by mounting a 24-pounder main battery, as was tried with Forfait's Romaine class. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the ships mounted 18-pounder long guns on their main gun deck while in service.

Only two ships of the design were built, both being captured by the British and recommissioned in the Royal Navy.

• Vengeance

Builder: Paimbœuf
Begun:June 1793
Launched: 8 November 1794
Completed: By April 1795
Fate: captured on 20 August 1800 by the Royal Navy. Sold in 1814.


This images shows port stern quarter views of the L'Immortalite (on the left) and the Fisgard (ex-Resistance on the right) as they both run before the wind, engaging in broadside gun battle. Smoke billows between the vessels and both have holed sails. L'Immortalite flies the French flag at her stern, while the Fisgard flies the red ensign.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109762.html#FKMWvHfTGZPFQrbY.99

• Résistance

Builder: Paimbœuf
Begun: April 1794
Launched: 28 November 1795
Completed: May 1796
Fate: captured by HMS St Fiorenzo in 1797 and taken into British service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vengeance_(1800)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vengeance-class_frigate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_vs_La_Vengeance
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=7297

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1808 – Launch of French Niémen, a Armide class 40-gun frigate, at Bordeaux – captured by British Navy 1809, becoming HMS Niemen.


HMS Niemen was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate. She began her career as the Niémen, a 44-gun French Navy Armide-class frigate, designed by Pierre Rolland. She was only in French service for a few months when in 1809 she encountered some British frigates. The British captured her and she continued in British service as Niemen. In British service she cruised in the Atlantic and North American waters, taking numerous small American prizes, some privateers but mostly merchantmen. She was broken up in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.


drawing of the Armide, a sistership of the Niemen
lines & profile These plans show her as fitted as a British ship. NMM, Progress Book, volume 6, folio 365, states that 'Armide' was at Plymouth Dockyard between 1806 and 1809 for middling repairs and to be fitted.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82543.html#hcOGligOR4G1idxK.99

Construction and capture
Main article: Action of 6 April 1809
Chantier Courau Frères at Bordeaux built Niémen to a design by Pierre Rolland, carrying 40 guns. She was launched in 1808 but spent only months in French service. She was commissioned at Bordeaux on 22 November 1808, but not completed until January 1809. On 4 April 1809 she sailed under the command of Commandant Jean Dupotet for Fort-de-France with stores and a substantial crew of 319.

Class and type: 38-gun fifth rate frigate
Tons burthen: 1,093 37⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 154 ft 2 1⁄2 in (47.0 m) (gundeck)
• 129 ft 1 3⁄4 in (39.4 m) (keel)

Beam: 39 ft 10 3⁄4 in (12.2 m)
Draught: 12 ft 5 7⁄8 in (3.8 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 300 (later 315)
Armament:

• French service
• 28 X 18-pounder guns
• 8 × 8-pounder guns
• 8 × 36-pounder carronades
• British service
• Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounders
• QD: 14 × 32-pounder carronades
• Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

Two days later, as she was in the Bay of Biscay, she encountered three British vessels, including the 36-gun frigate HMS Amethyst, under the command of Captain Sir Michael Seymour. Also sailing in company with Amethyst were the 36-gun HMS Emerald, (Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland), and the 38-gun HMS Arethusa, (Captain Robert Mends).

Seymour, who had previously won fame by capturing the French frigate Thétis the previous November, gave chase at 11am. After a sustained chase lasting all day, the Amethyst lost sight of the Emerald, which could not match the speed of the two others, and had failed to gain on the Niémen. Seymour then wore his ship around and was able to bring himself close to the Niémen at 9.30pm.

The two ships began exchanging fire at 11.30pm, with Amethyst coming alongside at 1am on the morning of 5 April to exchange sustained broadsides. By 3am the Niémen had lost her main and mizzen masts, and her fire was slackening. The Arethusathen arrived on the scene, firing a couple of broadsides at the badly damaged French ship. At this point Niémen surrendered. Other accounts report that during the night, Niémen maneuvered to capture Amethyst, when Arethusa came to the rescue and forced Niémen to strike her colours.

Regardless, Niémen had surrendered, having lost 47 killed and 73 wounded, compared to eight killed and 37 wounded on the Amethyst. Sir Michael brought her in as a prize, and was rewarded with a baronetcy for his actions in capturing the Niémen, and the earlier capture of the Thetis. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Amethyst 5 April 1809" to be awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.


Portrait of Pénélope, a sistership, by François-Geoffroi Roux

HMS Niemen
The Admiralty purchased Niémen for the sum of £29,979 2s 10d in prize money; the Royal Navy took her into service and commissioned her as HMS Niemen. Nieman arrived at Portsmouth on 26 April. There she underwent a Small Repair between August and November.[8] Her captor, Sir Michael Seymour, was appointed to command her in September 1809.

At some point in late 1809 or early 1810 she captured the Portuguese brig Rio Douro and the American ship Orion. On 15 May 1810 she left on a cruise in the Atlantic. On 30 November she captured Betsy.

In 1811 she was on the Irish station, based at Cork.[8] On 3 January Niemen captured Danube, bound from New York to Bordeaux. On 9 January she recaptured the brig Unanimity. Then on 4 March Niemen captured the Charleston packet.

Under Captain Thomas Young, and in company with Fortunee, Niemen captured the American brig Meteor on 26 July.

During the year she took the American gun-vessel Charlestown, and the American schooner Purse, Captain Samuel Turner, sailing from New York to Bordeaux. The cause, at least in the case of Purse, was breach of the blockade of France. However, the crew of Purse recaptured their vessel, after killing Midshipman Sanders, the Prize Master from Niemen. On 29 May 1812 on her return trip to New York with a valuable cargo of brandy, wine, and silks, Purse encountered Armide. After a 14-hour chase during which Purse's fore-top mast was shot away, Armide captured her. Purse's master and crew were brought into Plymouth in irons.

On 4 December Niemen was in company with Armide when Armide captured the brig Female.

On 21 January 1812 Niemen and Medusa captured Arno. Then on 29 January Niemen captured Abigail. Two days later, Niemen was in company with the British privateer Pheasant when they captured the American brig Hannibal. Betseyfollowed on 18 March, with Medusa in company with Niemen. Next, Niemen captured Vesta on 18 April. Lastly, Niemen captured Lark on 28 April.

In March 1812 Captain Samuel Pym was appointed to command Niemen however he actually took command after April. On 4 January 1813 Niemen sailed with a convoy for Saint Helena. On 19 December Niemen captured the ship Stockholm.

In August or so, while Niemen was off Rochefort, she sent her four of her boats in to attack a convoy lying there. During the night, before the boats arrived, the convoy moved, except for one chasse-marée, which the boats captured. However, the tide turned and a French brig came out of the Loire. She succeeded in recapturing the chasse-maréec, as well as the 15-man crew of the British boat that had taken her. Niemen then sailed to North America to join a squadron under Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, which had already left.

On 19 December Niemen shared with Jaseur in the capture of Rising States. Jaseur shared her prize money, by agreement, with Belvidera and Narcissus.


1/48th scale model of Flore, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris


A 1⁄48 shipyard model of Flore, originally part of the Trianon model collection, is on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris

Niemen escorted a convoy to Bermuda in January 1814, and then spent 1814 on the Bermuda station. Here she took some numerous prizes, most of them small schooners, but a few of greater import.

• 2 January: Lion, of Nantucket, Clarke, master, returning from the Chilean coast with 1000 barrels of whale oil, and sent into Bermuda; Lion was returning from her tenth whaling voyage.
• 8 February: the American 9-gun letter of marque packet Bourdeaux.
• 8 May: the merchantman Hound.
• 23 May: Niemen's boats cut out three American letter of marque schooners at Little Egg Harbour: Quiz, of 214 tons, W. Phillips, master, 28 men, pierced for 14 guns but mounting two, and Clara, James Newman, master,[23] and Model, each pierced for 12. The cutting out expedition suffered four men wounded. When captured, Quiz was sailing from St. Iago to Philadelphia with a cargo of sugar, molasses, and coffee. Clara, of 117 tons and 22 men, was armed with four 6-pounder guns. Model, John Austen, Master, was of 250 tons and was carrying a cargo of 270 barrels of flour.
• 7 June: sloop Flash, James Barstow, Master. Niemen shared the capture with Saturn.
• 12 July: Niemen captured the American privateer Henry Guilder (or Henry Gilder), Samuel on, Master, of 12 guns (eight 12-pounders and two long 9-pounders), and 45 or 50 men. Henry Guilder was sold at the prize court's auction in August at Halifax and became the (unsuccessful) British privateer Sherbrooke.
• 15 July: Niemen recaptured Sir Alexander Ball, which the American privateer General Armstrong had taken as Sir Alexander Ball was sailing from Bristol to Malta with a cargo of British manufactures and colonial produce. She carried six guns and a crew of 35 men.
• 7 August: the Swedish brig Enigheton or Enigheden, sailing from St. Andrews to Philadelphia with a cargo of plaster of Paris and of hardware.
• 30 August: the merchantman Enterprise, sailing from Barnstable to Washington with salt and Glauber salts.
• 2 September: the merchantman Los Dos Ermanos.
• 5 September: the merchantman James, sailing from Washington to New York with a cargo of flour.
• 21 September: the merchantman Swift.
• 30 September: the Baltimore letter of marque Daedalus, off Chincoteague, and the merchantman Hibernia. Daedalus was sailing from Port au Prince to New York with a cargo of coffee. Daedalus, a schooner of 136 tons, was armed with a 9-pounder gun and a 6-pounder gun. She had a crew of 19 men.
• 3 October: the merchantman Tickler, sailing from Philadelphia to Saint Bartholomew with flour, bread, crackers and soap. She was under the command of John Boyd, Master. Niemen shared the capture with Loire. Tickler was of 41 tons and carried a crew of six men.
• 1 December: the merchantman Industry, off Cape Henry.
• Unknown date: the merchantman Janus.

Also between 6 August and October, Niemen captured the following American vessels: the sloop James Phillip and the sloop Regulator. In the period from 9 May to 4 October, Niemen also burnt 17 schooners or sloops ranging between 15 and 60 tons.

Fate
Nieman was broken up at Deptford in September 1815. Her name was perpetuated in a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1820 as HMS Niemen


deck These plans show her as fitted as a British ship. NMM, Progress Book, volume 6, folio 365, states that 'Armide' was at Plymouth Dockyard between 1806 and 1809 for middling repairs and to be fitted.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82544.html#Jgpi6mZbuo85VTlG.99

The Armide class was a type of 40-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed by Pierre Roland. A highly detailed and accurate model of Flore, one of the units of the class, is on display at Paris naval museum, originally part of the Trianon model collection.

Armide class, (40-gun design by Pierre Roland, with 28 x 18-pounder and 8 x 12-pounder guns and 4 x 36-pounder obusiers).

• Armide, (launched 24 April 1804 at Rochefort) – captured by British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Armide.
• Minerve, (launched 9 September 1805 at Rochefort) – captured by British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Alceste.
• Pénélope, (launched 28 October 1806 at Bordeaux) – deleted 1826.
• Flore, (launched 11 November 1806 at Rochefort) – wrecked 1811.
• Amphitrite, (launched 11 April 1808 at Cherbourg) – burnt 1809.
• Niémen, (launched 8 November 1808 at Bordeaux) – captured by British Navy 1809, becoming HMS Niemen.
• Saale, (launched 28 October 1810 at Rochefort) – renamed Amphitrite September 1814, reverted to Saale March 1815, then Amphitrite again in July 1815 – deleted 1821.
• Alcmène, (launched 3 October 1811 at Cherbourg) – captured by British Navy 16 January 1814, becoming HMS Dunira, but quickly renamed HMS Immortalite.
• Circé, (launched 15 December 1811 at Rochefort) – deleted 1844.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Niemen_(1809)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armide-class_frigate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trianon_model_collection

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1813 - HMS Atalante, Frederick Hickey, wrecked off Halifax by running on the Sisters Rocks, or the eastern ledge, off Sambro Is. having mistaken guns fired by HMS Barrosa (36) for the fog-signal guns at the lighthouse on the same island.
(some resources say 8th, some 10th November)

HMS Atalante (or Atalanta) was an 18-gun Sloop-of-war launched in 1808 and wrecked on 10 November 1813 because of fog off Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship was under the command of Captain Frederick Hickey and had 133 passengers and crew. One crew member of the Atalante later reported,


Scale: 48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead and longitudinal half-breadth for building Bermuda (1806) and Indian (1805), both 16-gun flush-decked Ship Sloops built at Bermuda. The plan was then used in 1806 for building Atalante (1808) and Martin (1809), and finally in 1809 for Sylph (1812) and Morgiana (1811).
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84083.html#DQkUlJm2dSKeQf8x.99


'Atalante' is depicted in the centre of the composition surrounded by three sailing boats. The coast of Sambro (Nova Scotia) provides the backdrop. Title: "H.M.S. Atalante passing Sambro, Halifax N.S.". By the time vol. XXXI was published, the 'Atalante' had been wrecked off Halifax Lighthouse (10th November 1813). The crew was saved. A watercolour copy of this print by W.E. Bailey "done when at school" is also in the NMM collection. Vignette.

"In twelve minutes she was literally torn to pieces; the crew swam to the boats; and to see so many poor souls struggling for life, some naked, others on spares, casks, or anything tenable, was a scene painful beyond description ... To the honour of Captain Hickey, he was the last who left the wreck; his calmness, his humanity, and his courage, during the entire of this awful scene, was super to man: every thing is lost but our lives." (In fact there is an obituary for one crew member reported to have died in the sinking.)

A local fishing vessel discovered the passengers in three small vessels stranded in the fog and guided them to safety at Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia. Captain Hickey reported, the "inhabitants of Portuguese cove behaved towards us all with every possible mark of hospitality, kindness, and attention, that humanity could dictate."

The passengers included twenty American refugee slaves from the James River, who were among the first of the Black Refugees of the War of 1812 to reach Canada.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Atalante_(1808)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1861 – American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.


The Trent Affair was a diplomatic incident in 1861 during the American Civil War that threatened a war between the United States and the United Kingdom. The U.S. Navy illegally captured two Confederate diplomats from a British ship; the UK protested vigorously. The United States ended the incident by releasing the diplomats.

On November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail packet RMS Trent and removed, as contraband of war, two Confederate diplomats: James Murray Mason and John Slidell. The envoys were bound for Britain and France to press the Confederacy's case for diplomatic recognition and to lobby for possible financial and military support.

Public reaction in the United States was to celebrate the capture and rally against Britain, threatening war. In the Confederate States, the hope was that the incident would lead to a permanent rupture in Anglo-American relations and possibly even war or at least diplomatic recognition by Britain. Confederates realized their independence potentially depended on intervention by Britain and France. In Britain, the public disapproved of this violation of neutral rights and insult to their national honor. The British government demanded an apology and the release of the prisoners, and took steps to strengthen its military forces in Canada and the Atlantic.

President Abraham Lincoln and his top advisors did not want to risk war with Britain over this issue. After several tense weeks, the crisis was resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed Captain Wilkes's actions, though without a formal apology. Mason and Slidell resumed their voyage to Britain but failed in their goal of achieving diplomatic recognition.


Pursuit and capture (August–November 1861)

Charles Wilkes

The intended departure of the diplomats was no secret, and the Union government received daily intelligence on their movements. By October 1 Slidell and Mason were in Charleston, South Carolina. Their original plan was to run the blockade in CSS Nashville, a fast steamer, and sail directly to Britain. But the main channel into Charleston was guarded by five Union ships, and Nashville's draft was too deep for any side channels. A night escape was considered, but tides and strong night winds prevented this. An overland route through Mexico and departure from Matamoros was also considered, but the delay of several months was unacceptable.

The steamer Gordon was suggested as an alternative. She had a shallow enough draft to use the back channels and could make over 12 knots, more than enough to elude Union pursuit. Gordon was offered to the Confederate government either as a purchase for $62,000 or as a charter for $10,000. The Confederate Treasury could not afford this, but a local cotton broker, George Trenholm, paid the $10,000 in return for half the cargo space on the return trip. Renamed Theodora, the ship left Charleston at 1 a.m. on October 12, and successfully evaded Union ships enforcing the blockade. On October 14, she arrived at Nassau in the Bahamas, but had missed connections with a British steamer going to St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, the main point of departure for British ships from the Caribbean to Britain. However, they discovered that British mail ships might be anchored in Spanish Cuba, and Theodora turned southwest towards Cuba. Theodora appeared off the coast of Cuba on October 15, with her coal bunkers nearly empty. An approaching Spanish warship hailed Theodora. Slidell and George Eustis, Jr. went aboard, and were informed that British mail packets did indeed dock at the port of Havana, but that the last one had just left, and that the next one, the paddle steamer RMS Trent, would arrive in three weeks. Theodora docked in Cárdenas, Cuba on October 16, and Mason and Slidell disembarked. The two diplomats decided to stay in Cardenas before making an overland trek to Havana to catch the next British ship.

Meanwhile, rumors reached the Federal government that Mason and Slidell had escaped aboard Nashville. Union intelligence had not immediately recognized that Mason and Slidell had left Charleston on Theodora. U.S. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles reacted to the rumor that Mason and Slidell had escaped from Charleston by ordering Admiral Samuel F. DuPont to dispatch a fast warship to Britain to intercept Nashville. On October 15, the Union sidewheel steamer USS James Adger, under the command of John B. Marchand, began steaming towards Europe with orders to pursue Nashville to the English Channel if necessary. James Adger reached Britain and docked in Southampton Harbor in early November.[28] The British government was aware that the United States would attempt to capture the diplomats and believed they were on Nashville. Palmerston ordered a Royal Navy warship to patrol within the three-mile limit around Nashville's expected port of call, to assure that any capture would occur outside British territorial waters. This would avoid the diplomatic crisis that would result if James Adger pursued Nashville into British waters. When Nashville arrived on November 21, the British were surprised that the envoys were not on board.

The Union steam frigate USS San Jacinto, commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes, arrived in St. Thomas on October 13. San Jacinto had cruised off the African coast for nearly a month before setting course westward with orders to join a U.S. Navy force preparing to attack Port Royal, South Carolina. However in St. Thomas, Wilkes learned that the Confederate raider CSS Sumter had captured three U.S. merchant ships near Cienfuegos in July. Wilkes headed there, despite the unlikelihood that Sumter would have remained in the area. In Cienfuegos he learned from a newspaper that Mason and Slidell were scheduled to leave Havana on November 7 in the British mail packet RMS Trent, bound first for St. Thomas and then England. He realized that the ship would need to use the "narrow Bahama Channel, the only deepwater route between Cuba and the shallow Grand Bahama Bank". Wilkes discussed legal options with his second in command, Lt. D. M. Fairfax, and reviewed law books on the subject before making plans to intercept. Wilkes adopted the position that Mason and Slidell would qualify as "contraband", subject to seizure by a United States ship. Historians, however, have concluded that there was no legal precedent for the seizure.

This aggressive decision making was typical of Wilkes' command style. On one hand, he was recognized as "a distinguished explorer, author, and naval officer". On the other, he "had a reputation as a stubborn, overzealous, impulsive, and sometimes insubordinate officer". Treasury officer George Harrington had warned Seward about Wilkes: "He will give us trouble. He has a superabundance of self-esteem and a deficiency of judgment. When he commanded his great exploring mission he court-martialed nearly all his officers; he alone was right, everybody else was wrong."



The San Jacinto (right) stopping the Trent

Trent left on November 7 as scheduled, with Mason, Slidell, their secretaries, and Slidell's wife and children aboard. Just as Wilkes had predicted, Trent passed through Bahama Channel, where San Jacinto was waiting. Around noon on November 8, lookouts aboard the San Jacinto spotted Trent, which unfurled the Union Jack as it neared. San Jacinto then fired a shot across the bow of Trent, which Captain James Moir of Trent ignored. San Jacinto fired a second shot from her forward pivot gun which landed right in front of Trent. Trentstopped following the second shot. Lieutenant Fairfax was summoned to the quarterdeck, where Wilkes presented him with the following written instructions:

On boarding her you will demand the papers of the steamer, her clearance from Havana, with the list of passengers and crew.
Should Mr. Mason, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Eustice [sic] and Mr. McFarland be on board make them prisoners and send them on board this ship and take possession of her [the Trent] as a prize. … They must be brought on board.
All trunks, cases, packages and bags belonging to them you will take possession of and send on board this ship; any dispatches found on the persons of the prisoners, or in possession of those on board the steamer, will be taken possession of, examined, and retained if necessary.​

Fairfax then boarded Trent from a cutter. Two cutters carrying a party of twenty men armed with pistols and cutlasses sidled up to Trent. Fairfax, certain that Wilkes was creating an international incident and not wanting to enlarge its scope, ordered his armed escort to remain in the cutter. Upon boarding, Fairfax was escorted to an outraged Captain Moir, and announced that he had orders "to arrest Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell and their secretaries, and send them prisoners on board the United States war vessel nearby". The crew and passengers then threatened Lieutenant Fairfax, and the armed party in the two cutters beside Trent responded to the threats by climbing aboard to protect him. Captain Moir refused Fairfax's request for a passenger list, but Slidell and Mason came forward and identified themselves. Moir also refused to allow a search of the vessel for contraband, and Fairfax failed to force the issue which would have required seizing the ship as a prize, arguably an act of war. Mason and Slidell made a formal refusal to go voluntarily with Fairfax, but did not resist when Fairfax's crewmen escorted them to the cutter.

Wilkes would later claim that he believed that Trent was carrying "highly important dispatches and were endowed with instructions inimical to the United States". Along with the failure of Fairfax to insist on a search of Trent, there was another reason why no papers were found in the luggage that was carried with the diplomats. Mason's daughter, writing in 1906, said that the Confederate dispatch bag had been secured by Commander Williams RN, a passenger on Trent, and later delivered to the Confederate envoys in London. This was a clear violation of the Queen's Neutrality Proclamation.

International law required that when "contraband" was discovered on a ship, the ship should be taken to the nearest prize court for adjudication. While this was Wilkes' initial determination, Fairfax argued against this since transferring crew from San Jacinto to Trent would leave San Jacinto dangerously undermanned, and it would seriously inconvenience Trent's other passengers as well as mail recipients. Wilkes, whose ultimate responsibility it was, agreed and the ship was allowed to proceed to St. Thomas, absent the two Confederate envoys and their secretaries.

San Jacinto arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia on November 15, where Wilkes wired news of the capture to Washington. He was then ordered to Boston where he delivered the captives to Fort Warren, a prison for captured Confederates.


RMS Trent was a British Royal Mail paddle steamer built in 1841 by William Pitcher of Northfleet for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She measured 1,856 gross tons and could carry 60 passengers. She was one of four ships constructed at Blackwall, all named after some of the principal rivers of England. The others were the Thames, Medway and Isis.

Commander Edward C. Miller R.N. was appointed to take out the mails from Southampton on 1 March 1842.
Trent served the transatlantic passenger route until she was requisitioned by the British government on the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 for use as a troopship. She returned to her former civilian service in 1856.
Her interception by USS San Jacinto during the American Civil War in November 1861 provoked the Trent Affair, also known as the Mason and Slidell Affair, which almost led to war between the United Kingdom and the United States.
Trent continued in service until 1865, when she was sold and subsequently scrapped.

The first USS San Jacinto was an early screw frigate in the United States Navy during the mid-19th century. She was named for the San Jacinto River, site of the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. She is perhaps best known for her role in the Trent Affair of 1861.
San Jacinto was laid down by the New York Navy Yard in August 1847, and launched on 16 April 1850. She was sponsored by Commander Charles H. Bell, Executive Officer of the New York Navy Yard.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Jacinto_(1850)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Trent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Affair

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1890 – Launch of SMS Beowulf, the second vessel of the six-member Siegfried class of coastal defense ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe) built for the German Imperial Navy.


SMS Beowulf was the second vessel of the six-member Siegfried class of coastal defense ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe) built for the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were Siegfried, Frithjof, Heimdall, Hildebrand, and Hagen. Beowulf was built by the AG Weser shipyard between 1890 and 1892, and was armed with a main battery of three 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns. She served in the German fleet throughout the 1890s and was rebuilt in 1900 - 1902. She served in the VI Battle Squadron after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but saw no action. Beowulf was demobilized in 1915 and used as a target ship for U-boats thereafter. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921.


SMS Beowulf was one of a class of eight armoured en:coastal defence ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe) built for the German Imperial Navy between 1889 and 1895. The others in the class were SMS Siegfried, SMS Frithjof, SMS Heimdall, SMS Hildebrand, SMS Hagen, SMS Odin, and SMS Ägir.

Design
Main article: Siegfried-class coastal defense ship


sistership Hagen during her reconstruction in 1899

Beowulf was 79 meters (259 ft) long overall and had a beam of 14.90 m (48.9 ft) and a maximum draft of 5.74 m (18.8 ft). She displaced 3,741 long tons (3,801 t) at full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3-cylinder triple expansion engines. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired boilers. The ship's propulsion system provided a top speed of 15.1 kn (28.0 km/h; 17.4 mph) and a range of approximately 1,490 nautical miles (2,760 km; 1,710 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). Beowulf had a crew of 20 officers and 256 enlisted men.


Line-drawing of Hagen in 1910

The ship was armed with three 24 cm K L/35 guns mounted in three single gun turrets. Two were placed side by side forward, and the third was located aft of the main superstructure. They were supplied with a total of 204 rounds of ammunition. The ship was also equipped with eight 8.8 cm SK L/30 guns in single mounts. Beowulf also carried four 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes, all in swivel mounts on the deck. One was at the bow, another at the stern, and two amidships. The ship was protected by an armored belt that was 240 mm (9.4 in) amidships, and an armored deck that was 30 mm (1.2 in) thick. The conning tower had 80 mm (3.1 in) thick sides.

Service history


Painting of Beowulf in 1902

Beowulf was laid down in 1890 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen. She was launched on 8 November 1890, and completed on 1 April 1892. Among the crew that commissioned the ship was the officer Franz von Hipper, who would go on to command the German battle fleet during World War I. Directly after her commissioning, she joined the I Division of the fleet for its annual training exercises, along with the three ironclads Baden, Bayern, and Württemberg. Beowulf remained on active service through the winter of 1892 - 1893, when she and her sister ship Siegfried joined the elderly ironclads König Wilhelm and Deutschland for a winter training cruise in the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1893, Beowulf again participated in the annual fleet maneuvers, this time alongside her recently-commissioned sister Frithjof and several old ironclads. On the first set of maneuvers, Beowulf and the other capital ships performed as the hostile French fleet, which was "attacked" by torpedo boats in the North Sea. The second set of maneuvers took place in the Baltic Sea, and Beowulf and the ironclads again simulated a French fleet. In 1897, Beowulf again participated in the annual summer maneuvers in the III Division, along with Siegfried and Hildebrand. Her other three sisters were assigned to the IV Division. Following her service in the 1899 summer maneuvers, Beowulf was placed in reserve, as the flagship of the reserve squadron in the North Sea.


The German coastal defense ship SMS Beowulf in South Harbour after the 1918 Battle of Helsinki.

Beowulf served on active duty with the fleet until 1900, when she was taken into drydock at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Danzig for an extensive reconstruction. The ship was lengthened to 86.13 m (282.6 ft), which increased displacement to 4,320 t (4,250 long tons; 4,760 short tons). Her old boilers were replaced with eight new Marine type boilers, and a second funnel was added. Her secondary battery was increased to ten 8.8 cm guns, and the 35 cm torpedo tubes were replaced with three 45 cm (18 in) tubes. Work was completed by 1902. She then returned to service with the fleet, and in 1903, was assigned to the II Division, along with three of her sister ships.

She remained in the fleet until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, when she was mobilized into the VI Battle Squadron for coastal defense, along with her sister ships. In May 1915, Beowulf participated in a combined naval and ground assault on the port of Libau in the Baltic. The attack took place on 7 May, and consisted of Beowulf, the armored cruisers Prinz Adalbert, Roon, and Prinz Heinrich, and the light cruisers Augsburg, Thetis, and Lübeck. They were escorted by a number of destroyers, torpedo boats, and minesweepers. The IV Scouting Group of the High Seas Fleet was detached from the North Sea to provide cover for the operation. The bombardment went as planned, though the destroyer V107 struck a mine in Libau's harbor, which blew off her bow and destroyed the ship. German ground forces were successful in their assault however, and took the city. On 31 August 1915, the VI Battle Squadron was demobilized, and Beowulf's crew was transferred to other warships. She was then used as a target ship for U-boats. Starting in 1918, she was used as an icebreaker in the Baltic Sea. On 17 June 1919, she was stricken from the naval register. She was sold to Norddeutsche Tiefbaugesellschaft in Berlin. Beowulf was broken up for scrap in 1921 in Danzig.

The Beowulf is in Germany one ship, which is fwell known and a built several times especially by RC-modelers:
Take a look here:
http://www.schiffsmodelle-haefner.de/html/kustenpanzer--beowulf--.html
https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/beowulf/


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1900 – Launch of Japanese Mikasa, pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy


Mikasa (三笠) is a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s. Named after Mount Mikasa in Nara, Japan, the ship served as the flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō throughout the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, including the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war and the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima. Days after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Mikasa's magazine accidentally exploded and sank the ship. She was salvaged and her repairs took over two years to complete. Afterwards, the ship served as a coast-defence ship during World War I and supported Japanese forces during the Siberian Intervention in the Russian Civil War.


Mikasa is a pre-Dreadnought battleship, formerly of the Imperial Japanese Navy, launched in Britain in 1900.

After 1922, Mikasa was decommissioned in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty and preserved as a museum ship at Yokosuka. She was badly neglected during the post-World War II Occupation of Japan and required extensive refurbishing in the late 1950s. She is now fully restored as a museum ship and can be visited at Mikasa Park in Yokosuka.

Mikasa is the last remaining example of a pre-dreadnought battleship anywhere in the world.

Background


Plans showing Mikasa as originally built, from Jane's Fighting Ships 1906–07

Combat experience in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 convinced the Imperial Japanese Navy of weaknesses in the Jeune Ecole naval philosophy, which emphasized torpedo boats and commerce raiding to offset expensive heavily armoured ships, and Japan embarked on a program to modernize and expand its fleet in preparation for further confrontations. In particular, Japan promulgated a ten-year naval build-up programme, with the construction of six battleships and six armoured cruisers at its core. These ships were paid for from the £30,000,000 indemnity paid by China after losing the First Sino-Japanese War.

As with the earlier Fuji and Shikishima-class battleships, Japan lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships, and turned again to the United Kingdom for the four remaining battleships of the programme. Mikasa, the last of these ships, was ordered from the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in 1898 at the cost of £880,000 (8.8 million yen at that time). Although she closely resembled several of the other ships ordered in this program, she was the only ship in her class.

Design and description


Turret layout for original 12-inch (305 mm) 40-calibre guns

The design of Mikasa was a modified version of the Formidable-class battleships of the Royal Navy with two additional 6-inch (152 mm) guns. Mikasa had an overall length of 432 feet (131.7 m), a beam of 76 feet (23.2 m), and a normal draught of 27 feet 2 inches (8.3 m). She displaced 15,140 long tons (15,380 t) at normal load. The crew numbered about 830 officers and enlisted men.

The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller, using steam generated by 25 Belleville boilers. The engines were rated at 15,000 indicated horsepower(11,000 kW), using forced draught, and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) although Mikasa proved to be faster during her sea trials in December 1901. The ship reached a top speed of 18.45 knots (34.17 km/h; 21.23 mph) using 16,341 indicated horsepower (12,185 kW). She carried a maximum of 2,000 tonnes (2,000 long tons) of coal which allowed her to steam for 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Mikasa's main battery consisted of the same four Elswick Ordnance Company 40-calibre twelve-inch guns used in all of the preceding Japanese battleships. They were mounted in twin-gun barbettes fore and aft of the superstructure that had armoured hoods to protect the guns and were usually called gun turrets. The hydraulically powered mountings could be loaded at all angles of traverse while the guns were loaded at a fixed angle of +13.5°. They fired 850-pound (386 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,400 ft/s (730 m/s).

The ship's secondary armament consisted of fourteen 40-calibre 6-inch (152 mm) quick-firing guns mounted in casemates. Ten of these guns were positioned on the main deck and the other four guns were placed above them at the corners of the superstructure. They fired 100-pound (45 kg) shells at a muzzle velocity of 2,300 ft/s (700 m/s). Protection against torpedo boat attacks was provided by twenty QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. The 12-pounders fired 3-inch (76 mm), 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,359 ft/s (719 m/s). Lighter guns consisted of eight 47-millimetre (1.9 in) three-pounder Hotchkiss guns and eight 47-millimetre 2.5-pounder Hotchkiss guns. The three-pounder gun fired 3.19-pound (1.45 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 1,927 ft/s (587 m/s) while the 2.5-pounder fired 2.5-pound (1.1 kg) shells at a muzzle velocity of 1,420 ft/s (430 m/s). The ship was also equipped with four submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes, two on each broadside.

The waterline armour belt of Mikasa consisted of Krupp cemented armour that had a maximum thickness of 9 inches (229 mm) over the middle of the ship. It was only 4 inches (102 mm) thick at the ends of the ship and was surmounted by a six-inch strake of armour that ran between the barbettes. The barbettes were 14 inches (356 mm) thick, but reduced to six inches at the level of the lower deck. The armour of the barbette hoods had a thickness of 8–10 inches (203–254 mm). The casemates protecting the secondary armament were 2–6 inches (51–152 mm) thick and the deck armour was 2–3 inches (51–76 mm) in thickness.[6] The forward conning tower was protected by 14 inches of armour, but the aft conning tower only had four inches of armour.

Mikasa, like all the other Japanese battleships of the time, was fitted with four Barr & Stroud FA3 coincidence rangefinders that had an effective range of 7,300 metres (8,000 yd). In addition the ships were also fitted with 24-power magnification telescopic gunsights.

Career


Admiral Tōgō on the bridge of the Mikasa, before the Battle of Tsushimain 1905

Mikasa, named after Mount Mikasa, was laid down by Vickers at their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 24 January 1899. She was launched on 8 November 1900 and completed on 1 March 1902. After a visit to Devonport, she left Plymouth on 13 March 1902, bound for Yokohama, under the command of Captain Hayasaki.

At the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Mikasa, commanded by Captain Hikojirō Ijichi, was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet. She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904 when Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led the 1st Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron anchored just outside Port Arthur. Tōgō had expected his surprise night attack on the Russians by his destroyers to be much more successful than it actually was and expected to find them badly disorganized and weakened, but the Russians had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack. The Japanese ships were spotted by the cruiser Boyarin which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russian defences. Tōgō chose to attack the Russian coastal defences with his main armament and engage the Russian ships with his secondary guns. Splitting his fire proved to be a bad idea as the Japanese 8-inch (203 mm) and six-inch guns inflicted very little significant damage on the Russian ships who concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect. Although a large number of ships on both sides were hit, Russian casualties numbered only 17 while the Japanese suffered 60 killed and wounded before Tōgō disengaged. Mikasa was hit by two ten-inch shells during the engagement that wounded seven crewmen.

The ship participated in the action of 13 April when Tōgō successfully lured out a portion of the Pacific Squadron, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov's flagship, the battleship Petropavlovsk. When Makarov spotted the five battleships of the 1st Division, he turned back for Port Arthur and Petropavlovsk struck a minefield laid by the Japanese the previous night. The Russian battleship sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded, Makarov one of the 677 killed. Emboldened by his success, Tōgō resumed long-range bombardment missions, which prompted the Russians to lay more minefields which sank two Japanese battleships the following month.

During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August, Mikasa was at the head of the column of Japanese battleships and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships. She was hit twenty times, two of which knocked out her aft 12-inch gun turret, and suffered 125 casualties among her crew. In turn, she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships Poltava and Tsesarevich although both ships were only lightly damaged by the Japanese shells which generally failed to penetrate any armour and detonated on impact.

Battle of Tsushima
Main article: Battle of Tsushima


Mikasa as she appeared in 1905

At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Mikasa again led the 1st Fleet into combat, this time against the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons detached from the Baltic Fleet. The ship opened fire at the battleship Knyaz Suvorov, the Russian flagship, at 14:10, and was joined by the battleship Asahi and the armoured cruiser Azuma shortly afterwards. Within an hour the Japanese ships had started a serious fire aboard the Russian ship, badly wounded the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, knocked out her rear twelve-inch gun turret, and jammed Knyaz Suvorov's steering so that she fell out of formation. During this time, Mikasa was the focus of the Russian fire as the leading ship in the Japanese column and was hit by 6 twelve-inch and 19 six-inch shells. They did very little damage and Tōgō was able to cross the T of the Russian squadrons. Knyaz Suvorov's steering was later repaired, but she blundered between the Japanese and Russian fleets several times later in the battle and Mikasa fired three torpedoes at her to no avail. Later in the battle, the ship appears to have fired mostly on the battleship Borodino although Fuji fired the shots that caused the Russian ship's magazines to explode and sink her. At 18:04, a twelve-inch shell detonated prematurely in the barrel of the right gun of the forward turret, disabling the gun and knocking out the left gun until 18:40. Another twelve-inch shell had exploded in that same barrel almost two hours earlier, but had not damaged the gun. One six-inch gun jammed after firing 19 rounds, but the only other damage to any of the ship's guns was one six-inch gun that was disabled by a Russian shell of the same size that entered through the gunport. She fired 124 twelve-inch shells during the battle, more than any other ship except Asahi's 142. In total, Mikasawas hit more than 40 times during the battle, including 10 twelve-inch and 22 six-inch shells, but none of them seriously damaged her. While Mikasa's casualties are not precisely known, the entire Japanese force combined only lost 110 men killed and 590 wounded to all causes during the battle.


The new 45-calibre 12-inch guns added during the reconstruction

Six days after the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the war was signed, Mikasa sank at her moorings after a fire and magazine explosion at Sasebo on the night of 11/12 September 1905 that killed 251 crewmen. She was refloated on 7 August 1906, reconstructed and repaired at Sasebo Naval Arsenal. The navy took the opportunity to upgrade her existing armament with more powerful 45-calibre twelve-inch and six-inch guns during the two years it took to repair the ship. Mikasa was restored to active service on 24 August 1908. During World War I, she served on coast-defence duties, based at Maizuru, during 1914–15 and was then assigned to the Second and Fifth Squadrons, in that order, for the rest of the war. The ship supported the Japanese intervention in Siberia during the Russian Civil War during 1921 and was reclassified on 1 September 1921 as a first-class coast-defence ship. On 17 September, Mikasa ran aground near Askold Island off Vladivostok, but was not seriously damaged.

Preservation
The ship was decommissioned on 23 September 1923 following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and scheduled for destruction. However, at the request of the Japanese government, each of the signatory countries to the treaty agreed that Mikasa could be preserved as a memorial ship with her hull encased in concrete. On 12 November 1926, Mikasa was opened for display in Yokosuka in the presence of Crown Prince Hirohito and Tōgō. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the ship deteriorated under control of the occupation forces. In 1955, Philadelphia businessman John Rubin, formerly of Barrow, England, wrote a letter to the Japan Times about the state of the ship, which was the catalyst for a new restoration campaign. With the support of the Japanese public, and also Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the restored battleship reopened in 1961. On 5 August 2009, Mikasa was repainted by sailors from USS Nimitz.

Mikasa is remembered in Barrow-in-Furness, the town of its construction, by Mikasa Street on Walney Island.

It has also now been commemorated by the Biggar Brewing Co-operative, also of Barrow-in-Furness, with the creation of a real ale to commemorate its building.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Mikasa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formidable-class_battleship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1941 - Battle of the Duisburg Convoy


The Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, also known in Italy as Battle of the Beta Convoy, was fought on the night of 8/9 November 1941 between an Italian convoy, carrying supplies for the Italian Army and civilian authorities and the Afrika Corps in Libya, and a British Naval squadron, which intercepted the convoy. The convoy was named "Beta" by the Italian naval authorities, but is now often referred to as "Duisburg Convoy" after the German steamer Duisburg, the largest ship in the convoy.

The Royal Navy's Force K annihilated the convoy, sinking all the merchant ships and the destroyer Fulmine with no loss and almost no damage. The next day, the Maestrale class destroyer Libeccio was sunk, while picking up survivors, by British submarine HMS Upholder.


Italian destroyer Fulmine, sunk in the battle

Background
The Axis forces engaged in the war against the British in North Africa were supplied across the Mediterranean. The besieged island of Malta was a key British base in the Mediterranean from where the British were able to attack Axis supply convoys to Libya. In November 1941, the worst month of the convoy war for Italy, Allied aircraft and ships were sinking up to 60 percent of Axis shipping.

Italian forces
The convoy included two German vessels, SS Duisburg (7,889 t) and SS San Marco (3,113 t) and three Italian, the MV Maria (6,339 t), SS Sagitta (5,153 t) and MV Rina Corrado (5,180 t), carrying 389 vehicles, 34,473 long tons (35,026 t) of munitions, fuel in barrels and their associated crew and troops for the Italian and German forces in Libya. Conte di Misurata (7,599 t) and Minatitlan (5,014 t) carried 17,281 long tons (17,558 t) of fuel, including aviation fuel for German aircraft.[2]

The convoy was protected by a close escort and a distant escort,

Close Escort (Captain Ugo Bisciani)

• Maestrale class destroyers
  • Maestrale
  • Grecale
  • Libeccio,
• Folgore class destroyer
  • Fulmine
• Turbine class destroyer
  • Euro
• Oriani class destroyer
  • Alfredo Oriani

Distant Escort (Vice Admiral Bruno Brivonesi)

• 3rd Cruiser Division: Trento class cruisers Trieste and Trento
• 13th Destroyer Flotilla Soldati class destroyers,
  • Granatiere
  • Fuciliere
  • Bersagliere
  • Alpino

British forces
Force K consisted of two light cruisers with six 6-inch guns each and two destroyers with eight 4-inch guns each. Both cruisers and destroyers carried 21-inch torpedoes.

Force K (Captain W.G. Agnew)

• Arethusa class light cruisers
  • HMS Aurora (12) (flagship)
  • HMS Penelope (97)
• L class destroyers
  • HMS Lance (G87)
  • HMS Lively (G40)

Battle
The British discovered through "Ultra" intelligence that the Axis were about to send a large convoy to Libya. The presence of the convoy was confirmed by a Martin Maryland on air reconnaissance from Malta (piloted by Adrian Warburton), which camouflaged the use of Ultra, and Force K left Malta to intercept the convoy.[3] At the same time, 12 Bristol Blenheim bombers from Malta were dispatched over Cape Spartivento to attack a smaller convoy of two merchantmen escorted by an Italian destroyer. One of the freighters was set ablaze, but the British lost two bombers to the escorts.


A Blenheim Mk I in formation flight with a Supermarine Spitfire

The British had the advantage of radar which the Italians lacked. Having located the main convoy they took up position with the moon silhouetting the convoy. The British gunnery was directed by radar and they fired from no more than 5,500 yards (5,000 m). Grecale was hit by Aurora's first three salvos and was left dead in the water, with a fire aboard. The British destroyers then opened fire on Aurora by mistake, then Maestrale, which had already been hit by Penelope. Once the radio masts had been shot away, Captain Bisciani lost much of his ability to direct the convoy escort. Fulmine attacked the British force, causing splinter damage to Lively, but was hit by Lance and Penelope, capsized and sank.

The distant covering force, despite being just nine nautical miles away, did not interfere effectively due to confusion, only firing some shots ineffectually in the dark. Although it circled the convoy, it conformed with the British movements so that the convoy remained between the Italian covering force and the British ships. In the course of the battle the British closed with the convoy, which took no evasive action, and was sunk with guns and torpedoes. The convoy escort destroyers attempted to engage the British force while using smoke to cover themselves, but caused no particular damage. The British retired to Malta at high speed being ineffectively chased by the covering force. All told, Force K sank some 39,800 tons of Axis shipping. The Germans were furious at the outcome of the battle and the Italians relieved two of their commanders from duty.

http://www.regiamarina.net/detail_text.asp?nid=67&lid=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Duisburg_Convoy

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 November 1942 - The Naval Battle of Casablanca was a series of naval engagements fought between American ships covering the invasion of North Africa and Vichy French ships defending the neutrality of French Morocco in accordance with the Second Armistice at Compiègne during World War II


The Naval Battle of Casablanca was a series of naval engagements fought between American ships covering the invasion of North Africa and Vichy French ships defending the neutrality of French Morocco in accordance with the Second Armistice at Compiègne during World War II. The last stages of the battle consisted of operations by German U-boats which had reached the area the same day the French troops surrendered.

Allied military planners anticipated an all-American force assigned to seize the Atlantic port city of Casablanca might be greeted as liberators. An invasion task force of 102 American ships carrying 35,000 American soldiers approached the Moroccan coast undetected under cover of darkness. French defenders interpreted the first contacts as a diversionary raid for a major landing in Algeria; and Germany regarded the surrender of six Moroccan divisions to a small commando raiding force as a clear violation of French obligations to defend Moroccan neutrality under the Armistice of 22 June 1940 at Compiègne. An escalating series of surprised responses in an atmosphere of mistrust and secrecy caused the loss of four U.S. troopships and the deaths of 462 men aboard 24 French ships opposing the invasion.





Background
Morocco was a protectorat of France at the time of World War II. The French government at Vichy had surrendered to Germany after the Battle of France, signing an Armistice with Nazi Germany. General Charles de Gaulle led French forces opposed to the surrender and to the Vichy government, continuing the war on the side of Great Britain and the Allies. The Vichy regime—which controlled Morocco—was thus officially neutral, but in practical terms the Armistice obliged Vichy to resist any attempt to seize French territory or equipment for use against Germany. British forces had attacked the French at Mers-el-Kébir for refusing to surrender to them or join the Allies, leading to much ill-will between France and Britain. The U.S. government had previously recognized the Vichy regime as legitimate. Military planning for Operation Torch in 1942 emphasized American troops in the initial landing forces on the basis of intelligence estimates they would be less vigorously opposed than British soldiers.

American forces
Troopship convoy UGF 1 left Chesapeake Bay on 23 October 1942 and was joined on 26 October by a covering force of battleships and cruisers sailing from Casco Bay and on 28 October by the aircraft carriers USS Ranger, Sangamon, Suwannee, Chenango, and Santee sailing from Bermuda. These ships were screened by 38 American destroyers. The resulting Task Force 34 (TF 34) included 102 ships for the invasion of Morocco under the command of Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt aboard the flagship heavy cruiser USS Augusta. As TF 34 sailed, the British submarine HMS Seraph landed Major General Mark W. Clark near Algiers to meet with pro-American French military officers stationed in Algeria. French officers shared information about defensive arrangements; but the Americans did not share critical invasion details of timing, strength and distribution of forces. No information was provided to key French leaders including Armed Forces Commander in Chief Admiral François Darlan, North African Commander in Chief General Alphonse Juin, or Moroccan Resident General Charles Noguès.


Casablanca in 2006 picture from space.

French forces
In 1942, Casablanca was the principal Vichy-controlled port on the Atlantic (all of France′s Atlantic coast having been occupied by Germany since 1940) and the most important Vichy-controlled naval base after Toulon. Naval gunners manned the El Hank coastal artillery battery of four 194 mm (7.6 in) guns and four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns. One quadruple 380 mm/45 Modèle 1935 gun turret of the modern battleship Jean Bart was operational, although the battleship remained incomplete following escape from the Saint-Nazaire shipyards during the German invasion of 1940. One light cruiser, two flotilla leaders, seven destroyers (two already damaged by collision), eight sloops, 11 minesweepers, and 11 submarines were in port on the morning of 8 November.

Most French personnel attending General Clark′s pre-invasion meeting were army officers. Information subsequently conveyed in pre-invasion contact with army personnel stationed in Morocco was interpreted as a request for recommendations. No pre-invasion contact has been documented with Vice Admiral Michelier, who commanded naval forces responsible for the defense of Casablanca. Admiral Michelier was not yet in the confidence of North African officers in contact with the Americans, since he had been a member of the Armistice Commission until assuming his Casablanca post less than a month before the invasion.

Prelude
French defenders were placed on alert status when Algerian invasion convoys were detected passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. Destinations remained unclear, and TF 34 remained undetected as it split into three groups on 7 November. Concealed by darkness, a northern group (six troopships and two cargo ships escorted by the battleship USS Texas, the light cruiser USS Savannah and six destroyers) prepared to land 9,000 troops of the 60th infantry Regiment reinforced with 65 light tanks to seize the Port Lyautey airfield; and a southern group (four troopships and two cargo ships escorted by the battleship USS New York, the light cruiser USS Philadelphia and six destroyers) prepared to land 6,500 troops of the 47th Infantry Regiment reinforced with 90 medium and light tanks near the phosphate port of Safi to cover the southern approaches to Casablanca, while the center group prepared to land the Casablanca occupation force of 19,500 troops of the 3rd Infantry Division reinforced with 79 light tanks near Fedala 15 mi (24 km) northeast of Casablanca. Naval coastal defense batteries flanked both ends of the Fedala landing beach with four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns on Pont Blondin to the east and three 10 cm (3.9 in) and two 75 mm (3 in) guns in Fedala on the point sheltering the western end of the beach.

Battle
8 November


Aerial view of Casablanca harbour, 9 November. Jean Bart is at the far left. Note the sunken ships in the center.

Center group troopships USS William P. Biddle, Leonard Wood, Joseph T. Dickman, Tasker H. Bliss, Hugh L. Scott, Joseph Hewes, Edward Rutledge, Charles Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, Ancon, Elizabeth C. Stanton, Thurston, Arcturus, Procyon, and Oberon anchored 8 mi (7.0 nmi; 13 km) off Fedala at midnight. Loaded landing craft rendezvoused and left the line of departure at 06:00. Pont Blondin coast defense batteries were alerted by the noise of landing craft engines and illuminated the beach approaches with searchlights but the searchlights were extinguished when the landing craft support boats opened fire with machine guns. The destroyer Wilkes and a scout boat tasked with marking red beach 2 moved out of position while maneuvering to avoid an unidentified boat evaluated as potentially hostile; and landing craft ran onto rocks while running at full speed rather than reaching their intended beach. Twenty-one of the 32 landing craft from Leonard Wood were wrecked. Eight of the ship's surviving landing craft were wrecked in heavy surf landing later waves.

3,500 American troops were ashore by dawn; but early morning mist concealed the size of the invasion force. Fedala coast defense batteries opened fire on the landing craft shortly after 07:00. At 07:20, Admiral Hewitt authorized four American destroyers supporting the landing craft to open fire on the French shore batteries. French gunners damaged the destroyers USS Ludlow and Murphy, and at 07:25 the destroyers were defended by the heavier guns of the cruisers Augusta and Brooklyn screening the troopships. Ludlow and Wilkes silenced the Pont Blondin battery, while Augusta silenced the Fedala battery. Murphy, Wainwright, and other U.S. vessels engaged two French aircraft just before 07:00 on 8 November, ultimately driving them off.


The heavy cruiser USS Wichitaunder fire off Casablanca.

The French submarines Amazone, Antiope, Méduse, Orphée and La Sybille sortied to defensive patrol stations at 07:00. At 07:50, French fighters rose to intercept a force of bombers from Ranger and Suwanee. The French fighters were engaged by fighters from Ranger in a dogfight that felled seven French and four or five American planes. Bombs started falling on Casablanca Harbor at 08:04. Ten civilian freighters and liners were sunk and French submarines Amphitrite, Oréade, and La Psyché were destroyed at their moorings before they could get underway. The American covering force of Massachusetts, Wichita and Tuscaloosa screened by destroyers Mayrant, Rhind, Wainwright, and Jenkins appeared offshore and Massachusetts' 16 in (410 mm) guns were added to the bombardment. The El Hank battery observed gunfire from the covering force and straddled Massachusetts with its first salvo. The operational turret aboard the incomplete battleship Jean Bart also opened fire and was targeted by Massachusetts. Jean Bart had fired only seven rounds before Massachusetts' fifth salvo jammed the turret rotating mechanism on Jean Bart. Massachusetts' heavy 16-inch projectiles caused significant damage although few actually exploded because they had been fitted with fuzes manufactured in 1918. The covering force then targeted El Hank Battery from 08:40 to 09:25.


Massachusetts's nine 16-inch guns (shown firing in the Pacific) gave United States forces a significant naval artillery advantage at Casablanca.

While the covering force engaged El Hank Battery west of Casablanca, seven ships of the French 2nd Light Squadron sortied from Casablanca harbor at 09:00 under cover of a smoke screen to attack the troopships anchored off Fedala to the east. The French destroyer Milan sortied with destroyers Fougueux and Boulonnais. At 09:20, the French squadron was strafed by fighter planes from Ranger. French gunners sank a landing craft and scored hits on Ludlow. Milan beached after being damaged by gunfire from Wilkes, Wichita, and Tuscaloosa. Massachusetts, Wichita, and Tuscaloosa engaged the French destroyers Fougueux at 10:00 and Boulonnais at 10:12. Fougueux sank at 10:40. The French light cruiser Primauguet sortied with flotilla leader destroyer Albatros and destroyers Brestois and Frondeur. Engaged by Massachusetts, the Primauguet force was outgunned; Primauguet had been under refit and was not fully operational but returned fire nonetheless. The French flotilla was also engaged by Augusta and Brooklyn from 11:00 to 11:20. Albatros beached to avoid sinking. The remaining ships returned to Casablanca harbor where Primauguet beached and burnt out and the two destroyers capsized. Forty-five crew members were killed aboard Primauguet, and more than 200 more wounded. The French submarine Amazone missed Brooklyn with a salvo of torpedoes. La Sybille disappeared on a patrol station between Casablanca and Fedala, but the cause of her destruction remains uncertain. Surviving French submarines Sidi-Ferruch and Le Conquerant sortied without torpedoes to avoid destruction in the harbor. Le Tonnant managed to load a few torpedoes before leaving. Augusta sank Boulonnais at noon and the only French destroyer remaining operational was L'Alcyon.

A less significant victim of this engagement was the boat in which General Patton had intended to reach the beach from the flagship Augusta. The boat had been swung out on davits in preparation for launch when muzzle blast from the cruiser's 8-inch guns blew out the bottom of the boat, causing most of Patton's luggage to be lost overboard.

Three small French warships emerged from Casablanca harbor in the early afternoon to rescue sailors from the sunken destroyer Fougueux, but the rescue ships were turned back by shellfire from the American covering force. French planes bombed and strafed the landing beach at intervals throughout the day, but caused little damage. Workmen had repaired Jean Bart's turret by sundown, and El Hank Battery remained operational. Nearly half of the 347 American landing craft had been destroyed, and fewer than 8,000 troops had been landed. Five French submarines still stalked the invasion fleet.

9 November
Dawn found the Fedala landing beaches lashed by 6-foot (1.8 m) waves which greatly impeded unloading the invasion troopships. Forty percent of the troops were ashore with barely one percent of their supplies. There were shortages of ammunition, and inadequate medical supplies for the wounded. Communications broke down because radio equipment was still aboard the troopships. The advance toward Casablanca halted because shore parties lacked mechanized equipment to move supplies off the landing beach.

10 November
The French minesweepers Commandant Delage and La Gracieuse sortied at 10:00 to open fire on American troops advancing from Fedala to the outskirts of Casablanca. The cruiser Augusta and destroyers Edison and Tillman chased the minesweepers back into Casablanca harbor before being forced to retreat by gunfire from Jean Bart. Nine dive bombers from Ranger hit Jean Bart with two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs and sank her at 16:00. Jean Bart settled into the harbor mud with decks awash. French submarines Le Tonnant, Meduse and Antiope launched unsuccessful torpedo salvos at Ranger, Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa, respectively. Meduse was crippled by counterattacks and beached off Cape Blanc.

11 November

A Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, mid-1942.

Casablanca surrendered on 11 November while 11,000 tons (75 percent) of supplies for the invading troops remained aboard the troopships. That day German submarines were able to reach the troopships before they completed offloading cargo. In the early evening, U-173 torpedoed the destroyer Hambleton, the oiler Winooski and the troopship Joseph Hewes; around 100 men went down with Joseph Hewes. At this time, Bristol spotted a surfaced submarine and engaged with her deck guns and finally with depth charges, but is not believed to have sunk the French submarine. Sidi Ferruch was sunk by Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers from Suwanee on 11 November.

Final actions
The invasion troopships remained in their makeshift anchorage to keep Casablanca's harbor open to unload additional troops from the anticipated arrival of convoy UGF-2 until U-130—under Ernst Kals—torpedoed the troopships Tasker H. Bliss, Hugh L. Scott, and Edward Rutledge on the evening of 12 November, killing 74 additional American servicemen; and prompting undamaged troopships to leave the anchorage and maneuver evasively at sea until they were able to moor in the lee of the Casablanca breakwater on 13 November to complete offloading supplies. Of the American ships damaged by submarine torpedoes on 11 and 12 November, all four troopships sank, but the oiler and destroyer were repaired. Surviving troopships left Casablanca when unloading was completed on 17 November. French submarines Amazone and Antiope reached Dakar, and Orphee returned to Casablanca after the city surrendered. Le Conquerant was sunk on 13 November by two VP-92 PBY Catalina flying boats off Villa Cisneros. Le Tonnant was scuttled off Cadiz on 15 November. On 16 November, U-173 was sunk off Casablanca by American destroyers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Casablanca
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Jean_Bart_(1940)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 8 November


1810 - Boats of HMS Quebec (1781 - 32), Cptn. Charles Sibthorp Hawtayne, captured French privateer schooner Jeune Louise from her anchorage in the Vlie Stroom.

HMS Quebec was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate launched in 1781 and broken up in 1816. She sailed under various captains, participating in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. During these wars she captured many enemy merchantmen and smaller privateers in northern or Caribbean waters. She was built by George Parsons at Bursledon, Hampshire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Quebec_(1781)


1813 - Boats of HMS Revenge (1805 - 74), Cptn. Sir John Gore, cut out a French privateer.

HMS Revenge was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1805. Sir John Henslow designed her as one of the large class 74s; she was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck, rather than the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with modifications dating from 1798 and 1820, and the longitudinal half-breadth for building 'Revenge' (1805), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Chatham Dockyard. Note that this plan incorporates the alterations detailed on ZAZ1231, but also includes alterations to the head, quarterdeck and forecastle dating from 1798. The circular stern relates to alterations in 1820. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81021.html#9vGIeIGKcjEA4gsB.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Revenge_(1805)


1813 – Launch of HMS Euphrates (ex-Greyhound), The Scamander class sailing frigates were a series of ten 36-gun ships

The Scamander class sailing frigates were a series of ten 36-gun ships, all built by contract with private shipbuilders to an 1812 design by Sir William Rule, which served in the Royal Navy during the late Napoleonic War and War of 1812.

They were all built of "fir" (actually, pine), selected as a stop-gap measure because of the urgent need to build ships quickly, with the Navy Board supplying red pine timber to the contractors from dockyard stocks for the first seven ships. The last three were built of yellow pine. While quick to build, the material was not expected to last as long as oak-built ships, and indeed all were deleted by 1819, except the Tagus which lasted to 1822.

Scamander class 36-gun fifth rates, 10 pine-built ships, 1813–14

Red pine group. These seven ships were originally ordered under the names Liffey, Brilliant, Lively, Severn, Blonde, Forth and Greyhound, all being renamed on 11 December 1812 (except Liffey and Severn, which were renamed on 26 January 1813).

• HMS Eridanus 1813
• HMS Orontes 1813
• HMS Scamander 1813
• HMS Tagus 1813
• HMS Ister 1813
• HMS Tigris 1813
• HMS Euphrates 1813

Yellow pine group.

• HMS Hebrus 1813
• HMS Granicus 1813
• HMS Alpheus 1814

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scamander-class_frigate


1847 – Launch of French Jeanne d'Arc, at Lorient – deleted 22 December 1864.

Pénélope class (46-gun type, 1830 design by Jean-François Guillemard, with 26 x 18-pounder guns, 16 x 30-pounder carronades and 4 x 30-pounder shell guns):

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1664 - The french La Lune, a 38-gun ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, broke apart and sank


The La Lune was a 38-gun ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the first ship of the line to be built at the new state dockyard at Île d'Indret near Nantes, designed by Deviot and constructed by the Dutch shipwright Jan Gron (usually called Jean de Werth in French). She and her sister Soleil were two-deckers, with a mixture of bronze guns on both gun decks.


Trois vaisseaux de guerre dessinés par Pierre Puget. La Lune serait le navire de gauche.

The Lune took part in the Battle of Orbitello on 14 June 1646, as the flagship of Vice-amiral Louis Foucault de Saint-Germain-Beaupré, Comte de Daugnon, in the Battle of Castellammare on 21/22 December 1647, and in the Battle of Pertuis d'Antioche on 8 August 1652. She sailed on 9 November 1664 from Toulon for the Hyères Islands while carrying troops of the 1st Regiment of Picardy, but a half-hour after sailing she suddenly broke apart at the head and sank "like a marble", with only 60 survivors from over 600 aboard.

Class and type:ship of the line
Tonnage: 700 tons
Length: 117 French feet
Beam: 29½ French feet
Draught: 13 French feet
Depth of hold: 12 French feet
Decks: 2 gun decks
Complement: 275, +5 officers
Armament:

• 38 guns:
• 4 x 18-pounder long guns + 18 x 12-pounder long guns on lower deck
• 10 x 8-pounder long guns + 6 x 7-pounder or 5-pounder long guns on upper deck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Lune_(1641)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Lune_(navire)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1711 - HMS Restoration, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, wrecked off Livorno


HMS Restoration was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 1 August 1706, after the previous Restoration had been lost in the Great Storm of 1703.

This ship also had a premature end when she was wrecked off Livorno on 9 November 1711.

Class and type: 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 110648⁄94 (bm)
Length: 151 ft (46.0 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 70 guns of various weights of shot


Photo of a model of the hull of en:HMS_Captain (1678) after her 1708 rebuild. the model was made by a Mr William hammond probably shortly after 1714

The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In contrast, the 1706 Establishment was intended to be permanent

Origins
Dimensions for ships had been established for the "Thirty Ships" building program of 1677, and while these dimensions saw use until 1695, this was merely because of the success of the 1677 ships and the lack of perceived need to change them. Dimensions were then laid down for the 1691 "Twenty-seven Ships" program to build seventeen eighty-gun and ten sixty-gun double-decked ships of the line, though the dimensions were abandoned before the program was complete, with the final four eighty-gun ships being constructed with three gun-decks.

The origins of the formalized 1706 Establishment can be traced to February 1705, when Prince George of Denmark, the Lord High Admiral at the time, ordered the Navy Board to determine a set of dimensions for second-rate ships. Though the second-rate ships appear to have been the central focus of the Establishment, the Board was also directed to consider dimensions for ships of the third- (80 and 70 guns), fourth- (60 and 50 guns), and fifth-rate ships (40 and 30 guns). Because of their rarity and power, first rates were not addressed by the Establishment and were given individual designs, whilst smaller vessels had a low enough cost to allow experimentation. The Navy Board used existing ships considered to be the best in their respective classes as the bases for these dimensions.

Implementation
The Navy Board produced sets of dimensions for ships from forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety guns (they decided against doing so for thirty-gun ships). After a last-minute adjustment created by Admiral George Churchill, the dimensions were sent out to the dockyards together with an order that they were to be strictly adhered to, and that they should apply to rebuilds as well as new ships. The implementation of the Establishment - the first of many - began an era of notorious conservatism in naval administration. Though there would be no significant technological changes until the following century, the naval architecture of the 1706 Establishment slowly became more antiquated for the early eighteenth century.

70-gun third-rates
General characteristics for 70-gun third-rates
Type: 70-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1069 bm
Length:

• 150 ft 0 in (45.7 m) (gundeck)
• 122 ft 0 in (37.2 m) (keel)

Beam: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 4 in (5.3 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 500 officers and men (255 in peacetime)
Armament:

• 70 guns (1703 Establishment):
• Lower deck: 26 24-lb
• Upper deck: 24 9-lb
• Quarter deck: 12 6-lb
• Forecastle: 4 6-lb
• Roundhouse: 4 3-lb

Following the loss of four 70-gun ships in a single night during the Great Storm on 27 November 1703, four replacements were ordered from the Royal Dockyards just three weeks later - the Northumberland, Resolution and Stirling Castle being launched in 1705 and the Nassau in 1707. Another four were ordered in 1705-1706, again from the Dockyards - the Elizabeth and Restoration launched in 1706, while another Resolution and Captain were launched in 1708. Subsequently, two more ships were newbuilt (the Grafton and Hampton Court, both launched in 1709) and three rebuilt from existing third-rates (the Edgar and Yarmouth in 1709, and Orford in 1713) by contract; and another five were rebuilt in the Dockyards - the Royal Oak, Expedition, Suffolk, Monmouth and Revenge.

The ships were initially armed with 70 guns as per the 1703 Establishment of Guns, as shown in the table at right. Under the 1716 Establishment, a thirteenth pair of 24-lb was added on the lower deck, while the demi-culverins (9-lb) on the upper deck were upgraded to 12-lb. An extra pair of 6-lb was added to the quarter deck, while the 3-lb were removed from the roundhouse to retain the total at 70 guns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Restoration_(1706)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1706_Establishment

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1800 - HMS Havick (1784 - 16), Philip Bartholmew, wrecked in St. Aubin's Bay, Jersey.


The Dutch sloop Havik was launched in 1784. The British captured her in 1796 at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay. She then served briefly in the Royal Navy as HMS Havick (or Havik, or Havock) before she wrecked in late 1800.

Dutch service and capture
Havik was a ship sloop with a quarter deck, built at Amsterdam in 1784 for the Admiralty of Amsterdam under the 8th Charter.

At Saldanha Bay a squadron of the Batavian Navy, under the command of Rear-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas, surrendered without a fight to a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral George Elphinstone at Saldanha Bay on 17 August 1796. Havik was one of the vessels that the British captured. At the time of her capture, Havik, under the command of Lieutenant Pieter Bessemer (or Bezemer), was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 76 men.

Commander Charles Ekins was appointed to HMS Echo, supposed to be at the Cape of Good Hope, but found, on his arrival, that she had been condemned and broken up. He sailed Havik back to Britain. After his return to Britain, he was advanced to post captain on 22 December 1796.

British service
Havick underwent fitting at Plymouth in the first two weeks or so of January 1797. The Royal Navy commissioned her under Commander Philip Bartholomew that month with the role of cruising and escorting convoys.

On 28 March 1799, Havik and the hired armed brig Telegraph sailed from Plymouth for the Île de Batz. Eight days later, Telegraph captured the French privateer Hirondelle on 5 May 1799 in a notable action. Havick claimed a share of the prize money, a claim that Telegraph's officers and crew contested. The matter was not settled until 1818.

One month after leaving Plymouth Havik returned, escorting two French brigs and a Dutch East Indiaman, the Zeeland, which was sailing from Tranquebar to Copenhagen. On 15 May Havick sailed with a convoy to Cork.

On 25 August Havick brought into Plymouth the Hedwin, Rosenzen, master, which had been sailing from Almeria to Hamburg. On 18 September Havick brought in the Swedish brig Aurora, of Gothenburg, Sandelhus, master. Aurora had been sailing from Tenerife to Hamburg with a cargo of barilla.

On 29 January 1800, Havick was in the Channel when Suffisante signaled to Havick to chase north. There Havik observed a ship, a cutter, and a lugger fleeing to the southeast. Havik captured the ship, which was the American vessel Strafford, of 16 guns and carrying a cargo of tobacco from Baltimore to London; she had been a prize to the other two fleeing vessels, and Bartholomew believed that her cargo was worth £30-40,000. Suffisante captured both, which turned out to be the lugger Courageux and the cutter Grand Quinola. Courageux was armed with four 4-pounder guns and one 18-pounder carronade, and had a crew of 42 men. Grand Quinnola was armed with 8-pounder brass carronades, two 2-pounder brass guns, two 2-pounder iron guns, and swivel guns; she had a crew of 47 men. The two privateers had left Saint-Malo together three days earlier. Havick and Suffisante shared their prize money with Centaur and the hired armed brig Fanny.

Landrich, a prize to Havick, arrived at Plymouth on 28 February. Landrich had been sailing from San Domingo for Bremen. She was followed on 6 March by Landrake, which was carrying a cargo of sugar from San Domingo to Hamburg.

On 3 September Havick and Suffisante encountered a French flotilla of 14 vessels carrying provisions and stores to the French fleet at Brest, and under the escort of a frigate armed en flute, with 18 guns, a corvette of 18 guns, and a brig of 14 guns. The British engaged the French and drove them under the protection of shore batteries near Morlaix. Fire from the batteries killed two men on Havick, and wounded two, including Lieutenant Bayley.

Fate
Havick was under Batholomew's command and had been tasked with patrolling between the Channel Islands and the Île de Batz so she anchored in St Aubyn's Bay, Jersey in November 1800 to take on a local pilot. She lost her anchor and had to resort to a makeshift. When a severe gale came up on 9 November, it drove her onshore. The crew cut away her masts and threw her guns overboard, but Havick nevertheless filled with water and settled into the sand. When the tide went out she settled even further. Although several other vessels in the bay such as Pelican, suffered similarly, they were refloated. Havick, however, was so badly damaged that she was abandoned as a wreck. Neither Havick nor Pelican suffered any casualties, though the crews were subject to waves breaking over them for six hours until the tide, which had risen 32 feet (perpendicular), providentially receded.

In 1987 metal detectors discovered what would prove to be the site of the wreck. Excavations under the auspices of the Jersey Heritage Trust began in 1997. Much of the material recovered was metal, including musket and cannon shot, a candle snuffer, and large quantities of copper plates and nails used in the hull sheathing; some woodwork was also discovered.

Type: Ship-sloop
Tonnage: 364 58⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• Dutch: 110' (Amsterdam foot)
• British: 101 ft 10 in (31.0 m) (overall); 83 ft 5 in (25.4 m) (keel)

Beam:

• Dutch: 30'
• British: 28 ft 2 in (8.6 m)

Depth of hold:

• Dutch: 12' 9"
• British: 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)

Complement:

• Dutch service: 150
• British service: 121

Armament:

• Dutch service: 16-18 guns
• British service: 18 x 6-pounder guns; 6 x 12-pounder carronades

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_sloop_Havik_(1784)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1870 - Battle of Havana


The Battle of Havana on 9 November 1870 was a single ship action between the German gunboat Meteor and the French aviso Bouvet off the coast of Havana, Cuba during the Franco-Prussian War.




Portrayals of the battle by a German artist (top) and a French one (bottom)

At 8 a.m. on November 7 the Meteor arrived in Havana harbour after leaving Nassau some days before. An hour later the French aviso Bouvet arrived from Martinique, steaming in from the opposite direction. The next day the French mail steamer SS Nouveau Monde left the harbour for Veracruz but was forced to return a few hours later due to fears that she would be captured by the Prussian gunboat. Later that day the Meteor's captain issued a formal challenge to the captain of the Bouvet to fight a battle the next day. The Bouvet accepted and steamed out of the harbour to wait for the Meteor. The Meteor had to wait 24 hours before it could meet the French vessel due to neutrality laws, since Spain was a neutral country during the conflict.

Upon the end of the 24-hour waiting period, the Meteor steamed out to meet the Bouvet which had been waiting 10 miles (16 km) off the border of the Cuban territorial sea. As soon as Meteor had passed the border line, Bouvet opened fire on the German gunboat. The battle came to an inconclusive end when the Bouvet, which had closed the range in an attempt to board the Meteor, suffered damage to a steam pipe which knocked out her propulsion and was forced to retreat into neutral waters under sail, whereupon she came under the protection of Spain once again. Neither ship was permanently disabled, mostly suffering damage to masts and rigging (the Bouvet's boilers and machinery remaining intact and functioning) and very few killed and injured on either side. The battle was not considered significant by commentators of the day.


SMS Meteor was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the North German Federal Navy (later the Imperial German Navy) that was launched in 1865. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Meteor took part in the Battle of Havana in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. There, she battled the French aviso Bouvet; both vessels were lightly damaged, though Bouvet was compelled to disengage after a shot from Meteor disabled her engine. After the war, Meteor returned to Germany, where her career was limited; she served briefly as a survey vessel. From 1873 to 1877, she was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea as a station ship in Constantinople during a period of tensions in the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Germany in 1877, she was decommissioned, converted into a coal hulk and expended as a target ship some time later.


Illustration of Meteor

Class and type: Camäleon-class gunboat
Displacement: 422 t (415 long tons)
Length: 43.28 m (142 ft)
Beam: 6.96 m (22 ft 10 in)
Draft: 2.67 m (8 ft 9 in)
Installed power: 320 PS (320 ihp)
Propulsion: 1 × Marine steam engine
Speed: 9.3 kn (17.2 km/h; 10.7 mph)
Complement: 71
Armament:

• 1 × 15 cm (5.9 in) gun
• 2 × 12 cm (4.7 in) guns

Bouvet was a sail and steam aviso of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She is remembered as the opponent of the German gunboat SMS Meteor during the Battle of Havana in 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.


1/25th scale model of the steam aviso Bouvet, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

Commissioned on 18 June 1866, Bouvet served in Mexico, in the Caribbean and off Terre-Neuve.
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, she was sent to the Caribbean, where she intervened to rescue the liner SS Nouveau Monde. Under Commander Franquet, she fought against SMS Meteor during the Battle of Havana, managing to ram her opponent and knocking out two of her masts, but suffering herself a shot in a steam pipe which forced her to return into Cuban waters and avoid capture.
Bouvet was wrecked on 17 September 1871 off Île-à-Vache, when a gust of wind sent her onto a reef. The crew managed to safely abandon ship.

Class and type: Bouvet class aviso
Displacement: 760 tonnes
Length: 55.75 m (182.9 ft)
Beam: 8.5 m (28 ft)
Propulsion: 700 shp (520 kW)
Complement: 85
Armament:

• 1 × 16cm gun
• 2 × 12cm gun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Havana_(1870)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Meteor_(1865)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_aviso_Bouvet_(1865)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1878 – Launch of SMS Württemberg


SMS Württemberg was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were Sachsen, Bayern, and Baden. Württemberg was built in the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin from 1876 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10 in) guns in two open barbettes.


S.M. Linienschiff Württemberg.

After her commissioning, Württemberg served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises. She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s. During 1898–1899, the ship was modernized at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel; she served for another seven years with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1906. She was subsequently used in a variety of secondary roles, until she was sold in 1920 and broken up for scrap.

Construction
Main article: Sachsen-class ironclad


Illustration of the Sachsen-class ships

Württemberg was ordered by the Imperial Navy under the contract name "D," which denoted that the vessel was a new addition to the fleet. She was built at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin; her keel was laid in 1876 under construction number 78. The ship was launched on 9 November 1878 and commissioned into the German fleet on 9 May 1881. Along with her three sisters, Württemberg was the first large, armored warship built for the German navy that relied entirely on engines for propulsion.

The ship was 98.20 meters (322.2 ft) long overall and had a beam of 18.40 m (60.4 ft) and a draft of 6.32 m (20.7 ft) forward. Württemberg was powered by two 3-cylinder triple expansion engines, which were supplied with steam by eight coal-fired Dürr boilers. The ship's top speed was 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), at 5,600 indicated horsepower (4,200 kW) Her standard complement consisted of 32 officers and 285 enlisted men, though while serving as a squadron flagship this was augmented by another 7 officers and 34 men.

She was armed with six 26 cm (10 in) guns, two of which were single-mounted in an open barbette forward of the conning tower and the remaining four mounted amidships, also on single mounts in an open barbette. As built, the ship was also equipped with six 8.7 cm (3.4 in) L/24 guns and eight 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannons. Württemberg's armor was made of wrought iron, and was concentrated in an armored citadel amidships. The armor ranged from 203 to 254 mm (8.0 to 10.0 in) on the armored citadel, and between 50–75 mm (2.0–3.0 in) on the deck. The barbette armor was 254 mm of wrought iron backed by 250 mm of teak

Service history


SMS Württemberg in 1899, after reconstruction

After her commissioning in May 1881, Württemberg was placed in reserve. She was not activated for service with the fleet until 1884; this in part had to do with the poor performance of her sister Sachsen in the fleet maneuvers of 1880. Among the problems associated with the Sachsen-class ships was a tendency to roll dangerously due to their flat bottoms, which greatly reduced the accuracy of their guns. The ships were also poorly armored, compared to their contemporaries. In addition, they were slow and suffered from poor maneuverability. Nevertheless, Württemberg and her three sisters served as the I Division in the 1884 fleet maneuvers, under the command of Rear Admiral Alexander von Monts. The ship was again placed in reserve in 1885, but returned to fleet service in 1886 alongside Sachsen, Baden, and the new ironclad Oldenburg. During the annual fleet maneuvers, Württemberg's engines proved troublesome.


SMS Württemberg

Following the 1886 maneuvers, Württemberg and her three sisters were removed from active duty to serve as the Baltic reserve division. In June 1887, Germany dedicated the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal; Württembergwas among the ships present during the celebrations. The ship returned to active service with the fleet in 1890 when she joined the I Division during the annual maneuvers. Württemberg was commanded by Captain Alfred von Tirpitz during the exercises. The eight ships of the I and II Divisions simulated a Russian fleet blockading Kiel, which was defended by torpedo boat flotillas. Württemberg was in reserve during the 1891 maneuvers, but returned to the I Division in 1892, 1893, and 1894. By the winter of 1894–1895, the last of the four Brandenburg-class battleships had been commissioned; these ships were assigned to the I Division, which displaced Württemberg and her three sisters to the II Division. The eight ships conducted training cruises over the winter and spring before conducting the annual autumn fleet exercises.

On 21 June 1895, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal was opened for traffic, eight years after work had begun. Württemberg and her three sisters, along with dozens of other warships, attended the ceremonies. The major naval powers sent fleets to join the fleet review. The Autumn 1895 maneuvers simulated a high-seas battle between the I and II Divisions in the North Sea, followed by combined maneuvers with the rest of the fleet in the Baltic. Württemberg again served during the 1896 and 1897 maneuvers, though Sachsenwas her only sister to join the exercises. Baden and Bayern were out of service for extensive modernization.

After the conclusion of the 1897 maneuvers, Württemberg was taken into drydock at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel for reconstruction. The ship's old wrought iron and teak armor was replaced with new Krupp nickel-steel armor. The four funnels were trunked into a single large funnel and new engines were also installed,[4] which increased the ship's speed to 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph). The ship's 8.7 cm guns were replaced with quick-firing 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns and four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) autocannons. Work was completed in 1898. Württemberg remained with the fleet until 1906; her replacement in the fleet organization plan, the new dreadnought battleship Rheinland, was ordered that year. Württemberg was then used as a torpedo training and test ship until February 1919, when she was reduced to an escort for F-type minesweepers. The ship was stricken from the naval register on 20 October 1920 and sold to Hattinger Co. Württemberg was ultimately broken up for scrap in Wilhelmshaven.


https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Württemberg_(1878)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsen-class_ironclad

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1894 - Launch of russian Petropavlovsk


Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск) was the lead ship of her class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the last decade of the 19th century. The ship was sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1899, where she participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion the next year and was the flagship of the First Pacific Squadron.

At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Petropavlovsk took part in the Battle of Port Arthur, where she was lightly damaged by Japanese shells and failed to score any hits in return. On 13 April 1904, the ship sank after striking one or more mines near Port Arthur, in northeast China. Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The arrival of the competent and aggressive Makarov after the Battle of Port Arthur had boosted Russian morale, which plummeted after his death.


A Russian postcard of Petropavlovsk

Design and description
The design of the Petropavlovsk-class ships was derived from the battleship Imperator Nikolai I, but was greatly enlarged to accommodate an armament of four 12-inch (305 mm) and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns. While under construction, their armament was revised to consist of more powerful, higher-velocity, 12-inch guns; the 8-inch guns were replaced by a dozen 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The ships were 376 feet (114.6 m) long overall, with a beam of 70 feet (21.3 m) and a draft of 28 feet 3 inches (8.6 m). Designed to displace 10,960 long tons (11,140 t), Petropavlovsk was almost 400 long tons (410 t) overweight, displacing 11,354 long tons (11,536 t) when completed. The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, built by the British firm Hawthorn Leslie, each driving one shaft, using steam generated by 14 cylindrical boilers. The engines were rated at 10,600 indicated horsepower (7,900 kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), but Petropavlovsk reached a speed of 16.38 knots (30.34 km/h; 18.85 mph) from 11,255 ihp (8,393 kW) during her sea trials. She carried enough coal to give her a range of 3,750 nautical miles (6,940 km; 4,320 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew numbered 725 men when serving as a flagship.

The four 12-inch guns of the main battery were mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. Designed to fire one round every 90 seconds, the actual rate of fire was half as fast. Their secondary armament consisted of twelve Canet six-inch quick-firing (QF) guns. Eight of these were mounted in four twin-gun wing turrets and the remaining guns were positioned in unprotected embrasures on the sides of the hull amidships. Smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boats, including a dozen QF 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns and twenty-eight Maxim QF 37-millimeter (1.5 in) guns. They were also armed with six torpedo tubes, four 15-inch (381 mm) tubes above water and two 18-inch (457 mm) submerged tubes, all mounted on the broadside. The ships carried 50 mines to be used to protect their anchorage.

Russian manufacturers of the nickel-steel armor used by Petropavlovsk were unable to fulfill the existing demand, so the ship's armor was ordered from Bethlehem Steel in America. Her waterline armor belt was 12–16 inches (305–406 mm) thick. The main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 inches (254 mm) and her deck armor ranged from 2–3 inches (51–76 mm) in thickness.

Construction and career


Petropavlovsk in Algiers, French North Africa, 1899

Petropavlovsk was named for the successful Russian defense during the 1854 Siege of Petropavlovsk. Delayed by shortages of skilled workmen, design changes, and late delivery of the main armament, the ship was constructed over a period of six years. She was laid down on 19 May 1892, together with her two sister ships, at the Galernii Island Shipyard and launched on 9 November 1894. Her trials lasted from 1898 to 1899, after which she was ordered to proceed to the Far East. Petropavlovskdeparted Kronstadt on 17 October and arrived at Port Arthur on 10 May 1900, becoming the flagship of Vice Admiral Nikolai Skrydlov and the First Pacific Squadron. In mid-1900, the ship helped suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China. In February 1902, Vice Admiral Oskar Stark assumed command of the squadron from Skrydlov and raised his flag on Petropavlovsk. That same year, a radio was installed aboard the ship.

Battle of Port Arthur
Main article: Battle of Port Arthur
After the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, both Russia and Japan had ambitions to control Manchuria and Korea, resulting in tensions between the two nations. Japan had begun negotiations to reduce the tensions in 1901, but the Russian government was slow and uncertain in its replies because it had not yet decided exactly how to resolve the problems. Japan interpreted this as deliberate prevarication designed to buy time to complete the Russian armament programs. The situation was worsened by Russia's failure to withdraw its troops from Manchuria in October 1903 as promised. The final straws were the news of Russian timber concessions in northern Korea and the Russian refusal to acknowledge Japanese interests in Manchuria while continuing to place conditions on Japanese activities in Korea. These actions caused the Japanese government to decide in December 1903 that war was inevitable. As tensions with Japan increased, the Pacific Squadron began mooring in the outer harbor at night in order to react more quickly to any Japanese attempt to land troops in Korea.

On the night of 8/9 February 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Petropavlovsk was not hit and sortied the following morning when the Japanese Combined Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, attacked. Tōgō had expected the night attack by his ships to be much more successful than it was, and anticipated that the Russians would be badly disorganized and weakened, but they had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack. The Japanese ships were spotted by the protected cruiser Boyarin, which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russian defenses. Tōgō chose to attack the Russian coastal defenses with his main armament and engage the ships with his secondary guns. Splitting his fire proved to be a poor decision as the Japanese 8- and 6-inch guns inflicted little damage on the Russian ships, which concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect. Petropavlovsk was lightly damaged in the engagement by one 6-inch and two 12-inch shells, killing two and wounding five. In return she fired twenty 12-inch and sixty-eight 6-inch shells at the Japanese battleships, but none hit.[12][13] Displeased by the poor performance of the First Pacific Squadron, the Naval Ministry replaced Stark with the dynamic and aggressive Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov,[14] regarded as the navy's most competent admiral, on 7 March. As a result of the damage incurred in the attack by the more heavily armored Tsesarevich and the subsequent lengthy repair time, Makarov was compelled to retain Petropavlovsk as his flagship against his better judgement.

Sinking


A Japanese depiction of the sinking of Petropavlovsk. The original caption reads: "Picture of the Eighth Attack on Port Arthur. The Flagship of Russia Was Destroyed by the Torpedo of Our Navy and Admiral Makaroff Drowned."

Having failed to blockade or bottle up the Russian squadron at Port Arthur by sinking blockships in the harbor's channel, Tōgō formulated a new plan. Ships were to mine the entrance to the harbor and then lure the Russians into the minefield in the hopes of sinking a number of Russian warships. Covered by four detachments of torpedo boat destroyers, the minelayer Koru-Maru began to lay a minefield near the entrance to Port Arthur on the night of 31 March. The Japanese were observed by Makarov, who believed that they were Russian destroyers which he had ordered to patrol that area.

Early on the morning of 13 April, the Russian destroyer Strashnii fell in with four Japanese destroyers in the darkness while on patrol. Once her captain realized his mistake, the Russian ship attempted to escape but failed after a Japanese shell struck one of her torpedoes and caused it to detonate. By this time the armored cruiser Bayan had sortied to provide support, but it was only able to rescue five survivors before a Japanese squadron of protected cruisers attacked. Escorted by three protected cruisers, Makarov led Petropavlovsk and her sister Poltava out to support Bayan, while ordering the rest of the First Pacific Squadron to follow as soon as they could. In the meantime, the Japanese had reported the Russian sortie to Tōgō, who arrived with all six Japanese battleships. Heavily outnumbered, Makarov ordered his ships to retreat and to join the rest of the squadron that was just exiting the harbor. After the squadron had united and turned back towards the enemy, about two miles (3.2 km) from the shore, Petropavlosk struck one or more mines at 09:42 and sank almost instantly, taking with her 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Makarov and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. Seven officers and 73 men were rescued.

Makarov's arrival had boosted the morale of the squadron and his death dispirited the sailors and their officers. His replacement, Rear Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft, was a career staff officer unsuited to lead a navy at war. He did not consider himself a great leader and his lack of charisma and passivity did nothing to restore the squadron's morale. A monument was constructed in Saint Petersburg in 1913 to honor Makarov after Japanese divers identified his remains inside the wreck of Petropavlovsk and gave him a burial at sea.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Petropavlovsk_(1894)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1901 - Launch of SMS Mecklenburg


SMS Mecklenburg ("His Majesty's Ship Mecklenburg")[a] was the fifth ship of the Wittelsbach class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Laid down in May 1900 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), she was finished in May 1903. Her sister ships were Wittelsbach, Zähringen, Wettin, and Schwaben; they were the first capital ships built under the Navy Law of 1898, championed by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Mecklenburg was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

Mecklenburg spent the early period of her career in the I Squadron of the German fleet, participating in the peacetime routine of training cruises and exercises. After World War I began in August 1914, the ship was mobilized with her sisters as the IV Battle Squadron. She saw limited duty in the Baltic Sea against Russian naval forces, and as a guard ship in the North Sea. The German High Command withdrew the ship from active service in January 1916 due to a threat from submarines and naval mines, together with severe shortages in personnel. For the remainder of her career, Mecklenburg served as a prison ship and as a barracks ship based in Kiel. She was stricken from the navy list in January 1920 and sold for scrapping the following year.


Lithograph of Mecklenburg from 1902

Description
Main article: Wittelsbach-class battleship
After the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) ordered the four Brandenburg-class battleships in 1889, a combination of budgetary constraints, opposition in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), and a lack of a coherent fleet plan delayed the acquisition of further battleships. The Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office), Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Friedrich von Hollmann struggled throughout the early- and mid-1890s to secure parliamentary approval for the first three Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships, but in June 1897, Hollmann was replaced by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, who quickly proposed and secured approval for the first Naval Law in early 1898. The law authorized the last two ships of the class, as well as the five ships of the Wittelsbach class, the first class of battleship built under Tirpitz's tenure. The Wittelsbachs were broadly similar to the Kaiser Friedrichs, carrying the same armament but with a more comprehensive armor layout.

Mecklenburg was 126.80 m (416 ft) long overall; she had a beam of 22.80 m (74 ft 10 in) and a draft of 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in) forward. At full load, she displaced up to 12,798 t (12,596 long tons). The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by six coal-fired Thornycroft boilers and six coal-fired cylindrical boilers. Mecklenburg's powerplant was rated at 14,000 metric horsepower (13,808 ihp; 10,297 kW), which gave her a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). She had a crew of 30 officers and 650 enlisted men.

The ship's primary armament consisted of a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the central superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns and twelve 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns. Her weaponry was rounded out with six 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, all submerged in the hull; one was in the bow, one in the stern, and the other four on the broadside. Her armored belt was 225 millimeters (8.9 in) thick in the central portion that protected her magazines and machinery spaces and reduced to 100 mm (3.9 in) on either end of the hull. The deck was 50 mm (2.0 in) thick. Mecklenburg's main battery turrets had 250 mm (9.8 in) of armor plating.


Line-drawing of the Wittelsbachclass

Service history
Mecklenburg's keel was laid down on 15 May 1900 at AG Vulcan in Stettin,[8] under construction number 248. She was ordered under the contract name "F", as a new unit for the fleet. Mecklenburg, the last ship of her class, was launched on 9 November 1901; the ceremony was attended by Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Fitting-out work proceeded faster on Mecklenburg than on her sister Schwaben, and so the former was commissioned on 25 June 1903, a full year before Schwaben. Mecklenburg cost 22,329,000 marks.

Immediately following her commissioning, Mecklenburg began sea trials, which lasted until mid-December 1903.[8] She was assigned to the II Division of the I Squadron, alongside the battleships Kaiser Karl der Grosse and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Mecklenburg had to enter the drydock at Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) at Wilhelmshaven for minor improvements and repairs following her trials; this work lasted until the end of February 1904. After these modifications, Mecklenburg took part in individual and squadron training exercises, and a fleet review for the visiting British King Edward VII in June. The following month, the German fleet went on a cruise to Britain, the Netherlands, and Norway that lasted until August. Mecklenburg then participated in the annual autumn fleet exercises, which took place in late August and September, and a winter training cruise in November and December.

Starting in mid-December 1904, Mecklenburg went into Wilhelmshaven for periodic maintenance, which lasted until the beginning of March 1905. After emerging from drydock, Mecklenburg joined her sister ship Wittelsbach on a cruise through the Skagerrak to Kiel. While steaming through the Great Belton 3 March, Mecklenburg struck the Hatter Reef off Samsø, Denmark, and became stuck. Another sister ship, Wettin, and the light cruiser Ariadne were sent to assist Wittelsbach in pulling Mecklenburg free of the reef. Mecklenburg then steamed under her own power to Kiel, where dockyard workers discovered a large dent in her bottom. Repair work was completed at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven by 20 April, allowing her to participate in the normal routine of training cruises and maneuvers with the fleet for the remainder of the year. During this period, the British Channel Fleet visited the German fleet while it was moored in Swinemünde.[8] From mid-February to the end of March 1906, Mecklenburg was in the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven for her annual overhaul. The training routine continued without incident through 1907 but, in early April 1908, a major accident in one of Mecklenburg's broadside torpedo rooms nearly sank her. Water began to flood the ship and could only be stopped by sealing the torpedo tubes from the outside; repairs lasted until May.

Mecklenburg participated in a training cruise to the Azores in July and August 1908. She also won the Kaiser's Schießpreis (Shooting Prize) for the most accurate gunnery in her squadron, along with the battleship Lothringen. In mid-December, she returned once again to Wilhelmshaven for the yearly overhaul. The years 1909 and 1910 passed uneventfully for Mecklenburg, with the same pattern of training cruises and maneuvers as in previous years. She began her annual overhaul on 2 December 1910 and returned to service on 7 March 1911, though only briefly. On 31 July, Mecklenburg was replaced by the new dreadnought battleship Ostfriesland; Mecklenburg was then decommissioned and assigned to the Reserve Division in the North Sea. On 9 May 1912, she was transferred to the Reserve Division in the Baltic. She returned briefly to active service in 1912 from 9 to 12 May to move her from the North Sea to the Baltic, and again from 14 August to 28 September to participate in the fleet exercises that year. During the maneuvers, she served in the III Squadron.

World War I

Map of the North and Baltic Seas in 1911

After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Mecklenburg and the rest of her class were mobilized to serve in the IV Battle Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt. The squadron was initially allocated to the North Sea, but was temporarily transferred to the Baltic in September. Starting on 3 September, the IV Squadron, assisted by the armored cruiser Blücher, conducted a sweep into the eastern Baltic in the direction of the Svenska Högarna islands. The operation lasted until 9 September and failed to bring Russian naval units to battle. The squadron participated in a demonstration off Windau the next day. From 5 December to 2 April 1915, Mecklenburg and the rest of the squadron were assigned to guard duty in the North Sea, based in the mouth of the Elbe.

In May 1915, IV Squadron, including Mecklenburg, was transferred to support the German Army in the Baltic Sea area. Mecklenburg and her sisters were then based in Kiel. From 8 to 12 May, she participated in a sweep toward Gotland and Bogskär, to support the assault on Libau. Mecklenburg and the other ships stood off Gotland to intercept any Russian cruisers that might try to intervene in the landings, but this did not occur. On 10 May, after the invasion force had entered Libau, the British submarines HMS E1 and HMS E9 spotted the IV Squadron, but were too far away to make an attack. After the operation, Mecklenburg and the rest of the IV Squadron returned to the Elbe for guard duties, which lasted until 4 July. The next day, Mecklenburg departed for Kiel in preparation for a major operation in the Baltic. She proceeded to Danzig, and on 11 July departed for a sweep to Gotska Sandön; another patrol to western Gotland followed on 21–22 July. Mecklenburg then steamed from Danzig to Libau on 2 August, where she joined another foray toward Gotska Sandön from 7 to 10 August.

Mecklenburg and her sisters were not included in the German fleet that assaulted the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, due to the scarcity of escorts. The increasingly active British submarines forced the Germans to employ more destroyers to protect the capital ships. Mecklenburg took part in two sweeps to Huvudskär on 9–11 and 21–23 September. On 17 December she ran aground in the entrance to the harbor of Libau, but was towed free without suffering any damage. She was to replace the worn-out armored cruiser Prinz Heinrich in the reconnaissance forces of the fleet in the Baltic, but Mecklenburg and her sisters were removed from service shortly thereafter. By this stage of the war, the German Navy was facing severe shortages of crews, which could be alleviated by the decommissioning of older, less effective warships. Furthermore, the increasing threat from British submarines and Russian mines in the Baltic by 1916, the latter of which sank the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl, convinced the German navy to withdraw the elderly Wittelsbach-class ships from active service. On 6 January 1916, Mecklenburg left Libau bound for Kiel, arriving the following day. She was decommissioned on 24 January and placed in reserve.

Mecklenburg was initially based in Kiel and used as a floating prison. In early 1918, she became a barracks ship for the crews of U-boats being repaired in Kiel. The ship was briefly retained after the German defeat at the end of World War I, but was to be discarded under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which limited the re-formed Reichsmarine to eight pre-dreadnought battleships of the Deutschland and Braunschweig classes, of which only six could be operational at any given time. Accordingly, on 25 January 1920, Mecklenburg was stricken from the naval register. She was sold to Deutsche Werke, a shipbuilder based in Kiel, on 16 August 1921 for 1,750,000 Marks, and was broken up for scrap metal that year at Kiel-Nordmole.


https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Mecklenburg

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1902 - SS Elingamite, an Australian passenger steamer, sank


SS Elingamite was an Australian passenger steamer of 2,585 tons, built in 1887, and owned by Huddart Parker. The ship was wrecked on 9 November 1902 off the north coast of New Zealand carrying a large consignment of gold. Now the Elingamitewreck is a favourite site for adventurous divers because of the drama associated with it, and wild tales of lost treasure.


2,585 GRT ship Elingamite, built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend in 1887 and wrecked at Three Kings Islands, New Zealand in 1902

Ship history
Elingamite arrived at Sydney, on 22 November 1887, having departed from Newcastle upon Tyne in England on 24 September, where she had been built by C.S. Swan & Hunter. She was a steel-hulled screw steamer 320 feet (98 m) long, 40 feet 9 inches (12.42 m) in the beam, with a depth of 22 feet 3 inches (6.78 m). She was powered by triple-expansion compound steam engines, built by the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company, which gave her a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). There was accommodation for 100 passengers in 1st class, and another 100 in steerage. The Victorian government had selected her for use as an armed cruiser, and she had fittings in place for four Armstrong 36-pounder guns (two forward and two aft), and machine-guns amidships. She was schooner-rigged on two pole masts.

The sinking


A survivor of the sinking aboard HMS Penguin

Elingamite left Sydney early on Sunday morning, 5 November 1902, on the regular Tasman Sea run between Sydney and Auckland. Captain Ernest Atwood was in charge. On board were 136 passengers and 58 crew, and a consignment of 52 boxes of coins for banks in New Zealand, including 6,000 gold half-sovereigns.

The voyage was uneventful until mid-morning on the 9th when the ship suddenly encountered thick fog. Captain Atwood took necessary precautions, but the vessel struck West Island, one of the islands in the Three Kings group, about 35 nautical miles (65 km) north of Cape Reinga on the northern tip of mainland New Zealand.

The vessel foundered and sank within 20 minutes, but those on board managed to escape in lifeboats and rafts, some taking survivors to King Islands and some to the mainland. One lifeboat was never seen again. 45 people were killed (28 passengers and 17 crew) when the ship foundered. A party of 75 people from three boats landed on a rocky ledge on the middle King Island and after two days were picked up by the SS Zealandia and taken to Auckland. A raft and a fourth boat reached the Great King island and a fifth boat with 52 people on board sailed to Houhora on the North Island, 80 miles away.


Telegrams concerning the sinking and possible rescue of the SS Elingamite

Aftermath
A court of enquiry into the sinking began at Auckland on 28 November and lasted about two months. Captain Atwood was found guilty of grossly negligent navigation (and on other matters), and his master's certificate was suspended.

Eight years later the Australian Naval Station reported that the Three Kings were wrongly charted. In 1911, the Terra Nova surveyed the area and established the Three Kings group to be a mile and a quarter south, and a third of a mile east, of their position shown on Captain Atwood's chart.

The enquiry was reopened and the court found that the sinking would never have happened had the chart been accurate. Captain Atwood was cleared of all charges and later became a ship surveyor at Wellington where he died in the 1930s.

Salvage
Over the years there have been exaggerated claims that there was unregistered bullion aboard, and inflated tales about the true value of the coins on board when she sank. It was worth £17,320 (approximately equivalent to $2 million in 2004 US dollars) which was a lot of money, but less than claimed by urban legends. For almost 30 years the Elingamite wreck has been a favourite site for adventurous divers and although widely dispersed and now relatively scarce, some coins have been recovered. The late Kelly Tarlton ran several salvage expeditions to this wreck, during which explosives may have been used to free non-ferrous metals from solidifying precipitate and ferrous corrosion.

The wreck is now privately owned, having passed through several hands after auction of the rights to the wreck by the original insurance company.



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1911 - Launch of five-masted steel-hulled barque France II


The France II was a French sailing ship, built by Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde and launched in 1912. In hull length and overall size she was after the Preußen the second largest commercial merchant sailing ship ever built, yet had the greatest cargo carrying capacity ever, 5,633 GRT to the R. C. Rickmers 5,548 GRT. An earlier sailing vessel named France had been built in 1890 by D. & W. Henderson & Son, Glasgow.



Design
France II was an extremely large tall ship, square rigged as a five-masted steel-hulled barque. She was 146.5 meters (480.5 ft) long, her displacement was 10,710 metric tonnes (10,541 tons standard (ts)), and she could carry 5,633 tons GRT of cargo. Her masts, yards and spanker boom were made of steel tubing; lower mast and topmast were made in one piece. She had a huge sail area of 6,350 m² [68,350 sq ft], flown on a so-called "jubilee" or "bald-headed" rig, with no royal sails above double topsails and double topgallants. Her long yards and comparatively short masts gave her a rather wide and depressed appearance relative to other tall ships of her class.

Wood was used for her deck and furnishings. She was fitted with a beautiful lounge equipped with a piano and precious furniture, seven luxury passenger cabins, a library, a darkroom, and seawater therapy equipment.

Her three-island deck-line was striking, with an extremely long poop deck similar to sail training ships, forecastle, and midship island, leaving only two short open upper deck sections, each containing one of her huge loading hatches.

History
France II was built in 1911 at the yards of Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde on the banks of the river Garonne in Bordeaux to the plans of chief designer Gustave Leverne (1861–1940). She was intended for the nickel ore trade and owned by the Société Anonyme des Navires Mixtes (Prentout-Leblond, Leroux & Cie.). At that time she had the largest cargo capacity of any sailing ship ever built.

The huge barque was equipped with two Schneider 950 hp diesel engines, which were removed in 1919. Her crew consisted of 5 officers: captain, 2nd captain (on French ships only (second capitaine); a naval officer of a captain's rank as a vice-captain and security officer, see chief mate), 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mates and 40 able seamen including cook, steward, sailmaker, ship's carpenter, which was increased to 45 in 1919.

In 1915 she was sold to Leroux-Henzey of Rouen, and sold again in 1916 to the Compagnie Française de Marine et de Commerce (French Company of Marine and Trade) also of Rouen, her port of registry remained the same.



On a homeward passage in 1922 with a cargo of chrome ore from Pouembout, New Caledonia, she went aground on the night of July 12, 1922 on the Teremba reef (Urai bay) northwest of the Ouano reef, nearly 60 nm northwest of Nouméa. Because of fallen cargo rates her owner refused to pay for a tug to tow her free, and she was abandoned. In 1944, American bombers bombed the wreckage for target practice.

In 1995 planning started to raise funds to design and build a replica of the France II, but by 2010 very little progress had been made. However, tall ship cruise line "Star Clippers" has since announced they are in the process of building a new ship based on the "France II" for launch in the second half of 2017. As promised, Flying Clipper was launched on the 10th of June 2017 in the shipyard Brodosplit in Croatia


SV Flying Clipper is a steel-hulled five-masted fully rigged tall ship which is intended to be used as a cruise ship. A luxury vessel was designed by Polish naval architect Zygmunt Choreń, for Star Clippers Ltd. of Sweden, and built by the BrodosplitShipyard in Split, Croatia. She is the largest sailing ship ever launched. Her design was based on France II, a famous French five-mast cargo windjammer built in 1911.








https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Clipper
https://www.royal-clipper.com/flying-clipper

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
9 November 1914 - Battle of Cocos - SMS Emden is sunk by HMAS Sydney - Part I


The Battle of Cocos was a single-ship action that occurred on 9 November 1914, after the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (under the command of John Glossop) responded to an attack on a communications station at Direction Island by the German light cruiser SMS Emden (commanded by Karl von Müller).

After the retreat of the German East Asia Squadron from south-east Asia, Emden remained behind to function as a commerce raider. During a two-month period, the German cruiser captured or sank 25 civilian vessels, shelled Madras, and destroyed two Allied warships at Penang. In early November, von Müller decided to attack the communications station at Direction Island, in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, to hamper Allied communications and frustrate the search for his ship. Around the same time, a convoy of Europe-bound transports carrying Australian and New Zealand soldiers departed from Albany, Western Australia, with HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Sydney, HMS Minotaur, and Japanese battlecruiser Ibuki escorting.

During the night of 8–9 November, Emden reached the islands, and sent a party ashore at around 06:00 to disable the wireless and cable transmission station on Direction Island. The station was able to transmit a distress call before it was shut down. Melbourne received the message, and ordered Sydney to investigate. The Australian ship arrived off Direction Island at 09:15, spotting and being spotted by Emden; both ships prepared for combat. Emden opened fire at 09:40, surprising those aboard Sydney as the range was greater than British intelligence thought Emden was capable of. The German ship scored several hits, but was unable to inflict disabling damage to the Australian cruiser before Sydney opened up with her more powerful main guns. At 11:20, von Müller ordered that the heavily damaged Emden beach on North Keeling Island. The Australian warship broke to pursue the collier Buresk, which scuttled herself, then returned to North Keeling Island at 16:00. At this point, Emden's battle ensign was still flying, and after no response to instructions to lower the ensign, Glossop ordered two salvoes shot into the beached cruiser. Sydney had orders to ascertain the status of the transmission station, but returned the next day to provide medical assistance to the Germans.

Of Emden's crew, 134 were killed and 69 wounded, compared to only 4 killed and 16 wounded aboard Sydney. The German survivors were taken aboard the Australian cruiser, with most transferred to auxiliary cruiser Empress of Russia on 12 November. Sydney rejoined the troop convoy in Colombo, then spent the rest of the war assigned to the North America and West Indies Station, then the British Grand Fleet. Von Müller and some of his officers were imprisoned in Malta, and the rest of the German personnel were sent to prisoner-of-war camps in Australia. An additional 50 German personnel from the shore party, unable to be recovered before Sydney arrived, commandeered a schooner and escaped from Direction Island, eventually arriving in Constantinople. The defeat of the last German ship in the region allowed RAN warships to be deployed to other theatres, and troopships were able to sail unescorted between Australia and the Middle East until renewed raider activity in 1917.

HMAS Sydney


HMAS Sydney
Main article: HMAS Sydney (1912)

Sydney was a Town class light cruiser, of the Chatham subclass. She had a standard displacement of 5,400 long tons (5,500 t). The cruiser was 456 feet 9.75 inches (139.2 m) long overall and 430 feet (130 m) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 49 feet 10 inches (15.19 m), and a draught of 19 feet 8 inches (5.99 m). A combined coal- and oil-fuelled boiler system allowed the ship to reach speeds over 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph).

The cruiser's main armament consisted of eight BL 6-inch Mark XI guns in single mountings, firing 100-pound (45 kg) shells. Secondary and anti-aircraft armament consisted of a single 3-inch quick-firing high-angle anti-aircraft gun and ten 0.303-inch machine guns (eight Lewis guns and two Maxim guns). Two 21-inch torpedo tubes were fitted, with a payload of seven torpedoes carried. Two hydraulic-release depth charge chutes were carried for anti-submarine warfare. A single 12-pounder 8-cwt field gun and four 3-pounder Hotchkiss saluting guns rounded out the armament.

Sydney was laid down by the London and Glasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company at Glasgow, Scotland, on 11 February 1911. The ship was launched on 29 August 1912 by the wife of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson. Sydney was completed on 26 June 1913, and commissioned into the RAN that day. At the time of the battle, Captain John Glossop was in charge of the ship, with 434 personnel aboard.

SMS Emden


SMS Emden at Tsingtao in 1914
Main article: SMS Emden (1906)

Emden was a Dresden-class cruiser. The ship had a displacement of 3,364 tons at normal load, was 118 metres (387 ft) long, had a beam of 13.4 metres (44 ft), and a draught of 5.3 metres (17 ft). The light cruiser had a maximum speed of 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph). The ship was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single mountings, and carried two torpedo tubes.

Emden was built in Danzig by Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. The ship was laid down on 6 April 1906, launched on 26 May 1908, and commissioned on 10 July 1909.[9] At the time of the battle, the cruiser was under the command of Karl von Müller, with 316 aboard.

Background and leadup
Prior to World War I, Emden was operating as part of the German East Asia Squadron. Shortly after the war began, the threat of the Australian battlecruiser HMAS Australia, plus the likelihood that Japan would join the Allies, prompted the German squadron to head into the Pacific Ocean, as the first stage of a retreat to Germany. Unlike the rest of the force, Emden, on von Müller's suggestion, was ordered to head into the Indian Ocean and commence a raiding campaign, as she was the most modern vessel in the East Asia Squadron. Over the next two months, the German ship captured or sank 25 civilian vessels, shelled Madras, and destroyed the Russian protected cruiser Zhemchug and French destroyer Mousquet at Penang. During these two months, none of Emden's personnel were killed. At some point during the deployment, a fake fourth funnel was erected to disguise Emden as a British cruiser, specifically HMS Yarmouth. Military historian George Odgers described Emden's activities as "one of the most daring careers of maritime destruction in naval history". Aware of the increasing efforts to find his ship, von Müller selected the wireless station at Direction Island as his next target, with the hope that, in addition to hampering communications between Australia and the United Kingdom, disabling it would frustrate efforts to coordinate the search for Emden (which by this point included sixteen warships from five Allied nations), and direct them away from the Aden-India shipping route, which was where he intended Emden to operate next. She was being supported by Buresk, a British collier that had been captured on 27 September. Although operating independently at the time under a prize crew, Emden had arranged to transmit a signal summoning the collier to the Cocos Islands, allowing the cruiser to refuel before heading west.


A map showing Emden's route while operating as a commerce raider

In October 1914, Sydney and sister ship HMAS Melbourne were assigned to escort the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand soldiers heading for Egypt. Originally, the Japanese armoured cruiser Nisshin was to be part of the convoy force, but she ran aground on 12 October, and Sydney was assigned instead. The two cruisers sailed to Albany, Western Australia, where they met the 36-ship convoy and the other two escorts, British armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur and Japanese battlecruiser Ibuki. Sydney, Melbourne, Minotaur, and the 36 merchant ships departed from Albany on 1 November, heading for Colombo; Ibuki had diverted to Fremantle to collect another two transports, and caught up two days later. On 8 November, Minotaur left the convoy with orders to support operations against German South-West Africa, as the destruction of the South Atlantic Squadron at the Battle of Coronel left both the expedition and the Union of South Africa exposed to naval attack. After the cruiser's departure, Melbourne was assigned as lead ship of the convoy.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cocos