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

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1810 - 4 Danish gun boats, under Lt. Skibsted, capture the British gunboat HMS Grinder off the island of Samsoe


Grinder was a gunboat serving as a tender, rather than a commissioned warship, to HMS Anholt, the British garrison on the island of Anholt during the Gunboat War. Grinder's origins are obscure, but the Danes captured her in 1810 and the British recaptured her in 1811. She was sold in 1832.






A Danish gunboat (similar in size and type to Grinder)

Prelude - capture of Anholt
On 18 May 1809, the 74-gun third rate HMS Standard, under Captain Askew Hollis, led in a squadron that also included the frigate Owen Glendower, and the four smaller ships Avenger, Ranger, Rose and Snipe. Together they captured the island. A landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of Owen Glendower, with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicolls of the Standard's marines, landed. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two; the garrison then surrendered. The British took immediate possession of the island.

Tender to HMS Anholt
In 1810 Captain Nicolls, now Governor of Anholt, was concerned about reports of a Danish force gathering in Jutland to retake Anholt.[6] He therefore ordered boats off Anholt to maintain a watch over Randers Fjord and Grenå whenever the wind was fair. To this end he re-launched "GB Grinder", which had overwintered on the island. Nicolls gave Grinder a crew made up of 30 seamen and marines from the island's garrison and captained by Master's Mate Thomas Hester. Nicolls also assigned Grinder the mission of intercepting trade along the shore.

Grinder captured a Danish trading sloop "on the Swedish coast" on 17 March. On the following day Nicolls sent her "to look into the harbour of Harrup", where she discovered a number of small Danish trading vessels and proceeded to capture five of them "...in sight of the enemies flotilla of gunboats". Reportedly, these six were among 12 merchantmen that she had captured.

Capture by the Danes, (1810)
On 13 April 1810 Grinder was pursuing two small ships when Senior Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted, who with four Danish gunboats was convoying eight transport ships from Udbyhøj (at the mouth of the Randers Fjord, Jutland) to Samsø, spotted her. He immediately concealed his gunboats behind the transports, thus tricking Grinder into drawing closer. As soon as Hester noticed the stratagem, he tried to escape, but Skibsted was successful in the next 90 minutes in rowing up to him, and after a few shots were exchanged, forcing Hester to surrender. The muster rolls for HMS Anholt record Hester and 27 men as "discharged - prisoner in Denmark" on 17 April 1810. One man was recorded as having died.

The Times reported that

"A Gottenburg mail has brought letters and papers to the 3rd inst. An article, under the date April 21, gives a long account of the capture of an English gun brig in the Baltic. This vessel had wintered at Anholt. Her loss was two men killed and two wounded. She proved to be the Grinder, Lieutenant Esher."[11][12]

Danish service (21 April 1810 to 5 July 1811)
The Danes brought Grinder into Samsø where they repaired her battle damage. They renamed her Prise No.5, and Midshipman Oldelan then commissioned her on 21 April 1810; in Danish service she was armed with:

• One 24-pounder cannon
• One 24-pounder carronade and
• One 4-pounder howitzer.

On 23 June 1810 Prise No.5 sailed to Fladstrand (modern name Frederikshavn). There she joined the flotilla under Senior Lieutenant Falsen, which already included two large and two smaller gunboats, plus the captured Minx. Prise No.5 then moved to Skagen, (Northern Jutland) where a storm forced her aground on 4 and 5 August. She was refloated and in December she sailed to Fladstrand, where she was laid up. From March 1811 Prise No.5 was based at Fladstrand.

Recapture (1811)
The Danes record that on 5 July 1811 the British recaptured Prise No.5 between the islands of Hjelmen and Sejerø when the Fladstrand flotilla attacked a British convoy. On that day HMS Sheldrake was in company with the third rates Cressy, Defence and Dictator, and the gun-brig Bruizer, with the British warships protecting a convoy of merchantmen. As they passed Hjelm Island a flotilla of 17 Dano-Norwegian gunboats and 10 rowboats came out to attack the convoy. The attackers lost four gunboats; the convoy had no losses. During the action, Sheldrake captured the Danish gunboats No. 2 and No. 5.

Fate
While laid up at Sheerness, Grinder was offered for sale by the Admiralty on 24 July 1832 and sold on 22 August the same year

HMS Grinder (1809) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1813 - The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought in 1813 during the War of 1812.


The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought in 1813 during the War of 1812. A British force blockading the Rappahannock River of Virginia sent several hundred men in boats to attack four American privateers. Ultimately the British were victorious and the American ships were captured.


The reconstructed Lynx off California being saluted by Lady Washington.



Background
On April 1, 1813, a British squadron consisting of the ships-of-the-line San Domingo and Marlborough, four frigates Acasta, Narcissus, Maidstone and Statira, two brigs, Mohawk and Fantome and one schooner, Highflyer blockaded the Rappahannock from Lynhaven Bay. They held several American prizes and were out to capture more so the British commanders prepared a cutting out expedition, where small boats attempt to capture larger vessels at anchor. On the following day, the British dispatched seventeen, pinnaces, barges, launches, and other boats with a few carronades to sail around the bay. Each boat carried up to fifty marines or sailors mainly armed with steel, Lieutenant James Polkinghorne was in command. While abreast of Windmill Pointat about 4:00 pm, the expedition sighted five American vessels and chased them all through the night until losing sight as they passed a turn in the river. The British had difficulty in rowing up the Rappahannock so during the descent twelve of the boats fell far behind leaving only five British craft, one 12-pounder and 105 officers and men to make the attack.

Four of the pursued ships were armed schooners under Captain William S. Stafford in the twelve gun Dolphin. The others were Lynx of six guns, Racer of six guns and Arab of seven guns. In all, the American schooners mounted 30 guns with 160 men.[5] Most or all of these vessels were built in Baltimore. Captain Stafford had little alternative but to scuttle the schooners or fight. He decided to offer resistance and anchored his ships in line of battle with portside guns facing the mouth of the Rappahannock where the British would originate.

Battle


A Baltimore Clipper, very similar to the American vessels captured on the Rappahannock.

The largest of the American ships was Arab of over 380 tons but with a crew of only forty-five men, she was sternmost in line and was considered to be the most "war like" of the four. Dolphin of 300 tons was headmost and she was Captain Stafford's flagship, carrying ninety-eight men into battle. When the British came within sight of the American line, they first stopped to wait for the wind and the remaining twelve boats to come up so Polkinghorne took the time to rally his men. After a few more minutes the wind was still calm so the lieutenant ordered an attack in order to deny the Americans time to prepare defenses or escape. Polkinghorne sent a boat with the 12-pounder forward to commence an artillery duel with the intention of delaying the Americans but this failed when Stafford's ships all opened fire with a combined broadside. Lieutenant Polkinghorne decided to stop waiting at this point and he led his boats directly for the center two American ships, Racer and Lynx, each of 280 tons and with crews totaling seventy-six men. As the British closed range the Americans fired another broadside so Polkinghorne had his men alter course and head for Arab. When the British boats drew near there were three left, two having been hit and sunk by American fire.

The remaining Britons boarded while shouting various phrases, Arab tacked to try to bring her starboard guns into battle but she was boarded before achieving this and so her commander ran her aground on the riverbank. Racer and Lynx were quickly taken, their crews surrendered as the British climbed on deck, others jumped over the side and escaped capture. When Polkinghorne went for Dolphin, Captain Stafford put up a stubborn fight and it reportedly took fifteen minutes to secure the vessel. Five Americans were wounded before Dolphin struck her colors and ended the battle, though casualties from the other privateers amounted to six killed and five more wounded. By the time the fighting was over the remaining British boats arrived and assisted in taking over 100 prisoners.

Aftermath
Polkinghorne reported that only two of his men were killed and eleven wounded, including himself. American newspaper reports in Niles Register at first claimed that fifty Britons had been killed, later reducing that claim to nineteen dead. A review by British and American historians later put the British losses at two dead and eleven wounded with American losses as sixteen killed and wounded. The battle lasted in between fifteen minutes and two hours according to various accounts. Captain Stafford later returned to Baltimore. He was treated well in captivity partly due to his good treatment towards British prisoners from his captured prizes. Lynx was taken into British service as Mosquidobit and was sold out of the Royal Navy in 1820. A replica of Lynx now spends its time on an educational mission sailing back and forth between the Great Lakes and Florida's Gulf Coast. Racer became Shelburne and Dolphin retained her name as Dolphin. It was difficult for the British to free Arab and though they eventually succeeded, the vessel was apparently badly damaged and was not commissioned for British service.





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

HMS Mosquidobit (1813) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1843 - Launch of HMS Rattler, a 9-gun wooden sloop of the Royal Navy and the first British warship to adopt a screw propeller powered by a steam engine. She was arguably the first such warship in the world—the sloop USS Princeton was launched after the Rattler, but was placed in commission much sooner.


HMS Rattler was a 9-gun wooden sloop of the Royal Navy and the first British warship to adopt a screw propeller powered by a steam engine. She was arguably the first such warship in the world—the sloop USS Princeton was launched after the Rattler, but was placed in commission much sooner.


Rattler (left) and Alecto (right) in their 1845 competition





Background
Screw propulsion had some obvious potential advantages for warships over paddle propulsion. Firstly, paddlewheels were exposed to enemy fire in combat, whereas a propeller and its machinery were tucked away safely well below deck. Secondly, the space taken up by paddlewheels restricted the number of guns a warship could carry, thus reducing its broadside. These potential advantages were well understood by the British Admiralty, but it was not convinced that the propeller was an effective propulsion system. It was only in 1840, when the world's first propeller-driven steamship, SS Archimedes, successfully completed a series of trials against fast paddle-wheelers, that the Navy decided to conduct further tests of the technology. For this purpose, the Navy built Rattler.

Construction
Rattler was launched on 13 April 1843 at Sheerness Dockyard and towed to Maudslay's yard to have her machinery installed. She received a four-cylinder vertical single-expansion steam engine with double cylinders, rated at 200 nhp and developing 437 indicated horsepower (326 kW). She was coppered at Woolwich Dockyard and spent two years on trials, with her first day at sea on 30 October 1843. Her armament consisted of a single 8-inch (60 cwt) pivot gun and eight 32-pounder (25cwt) broadside guns. She was commissioned at Woolwich on 30 January 1845 and was first commanded by Commander Henry Smith.


Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of HMS Rattler (1843), a 6 gun screw sloop. The hull is carved from a solid block of wood(?) and painted a metallic bronze colour below the waterline with black topsides above, separated by a thin white line. The clipper-shaped bow is fitted with headrails and a plain beakhead whilst the flush main deck runs the full length of the hull and finishes above a small square stern with a carved quarter gallery and a rudder below. The whole model is mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard painted a creamy white colour and surrounded by a stained wooden moulded edging. There is a small plaque which is inscribed "HMS "Rattler", 5 guns. 888 tons. Built at Sheerness 1843"


Service history
Trials
Rattler was pitted against a number of paddlewheelers from 1843 to 1845. These extended trials were to prove conclusively that the screw propeller was as good as, indeed superior to, the paddlewheel as a propulsion system. The most famous of these trials took place in March 1845, with Rattler conclusively beating HMS Alecto in a series of races, followed by a tug-of-war contest in which Rattler towed Alectobackwards at a speed of 2 knots (3.7 km/h). It is this which is commemorated to this day in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A large number of propellers were also tested on Rattler during this period to find the most effective screw design.

On 17 May 1845 Rattler and steamers HMS Monkey and HMS Blazer towed HMS Erebus and HMS Terror toward Orkney but abandoned the tow 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) north-west of Stromness. Rattler returned to Woolwich on 10 June. In June 1845 Rattler served with the 1845 Experimental Squadron. In 1846 she served with the Squadron of Evolution, departing the Squadron in November for Gibraltar from where she towed HMS Superb. She also visited Lisbon and South America, returning to be paid off in September 1847.

Anti slavery
Rattler was commanded by Commander Arthur Cumming from 12 February 1849 to 15 April 1851. During this time she was stationed off the west coast of Africa and, on 30 October 1849, captured the Brazilian slave brigantine Alepide.

Battle of Tai O Bay
On 4 August 1855, Rattler, HMS Eaglet and USS Powhatan fought a naval battle near Tai O village, Lantau, with Chinese pirates.

Second Anglo-Burmese War
She later served in Africa and the East Indies, taking part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War.

Fate
Rattler was broken up at Woolwich between July and November 1856.


Scale: 1:8. A model of the after part of the wooden screw sloop HMS Rattler (1843) showing the propeller and the large aperture for raising and lowering it. The frame of the model is made in stained and varnished mahogany and on both sides an inscription has been painted which reads "HMS Rattler after part, shewing propeller and means of raising same. 1844." The two bladed propeller has been carved from wood and painted to resemble bronze. The propeller shaft has been turned from wood, made in two sections, and can be withdrawn thus disengaging the propeller. The shaft has been painted to resemble iron or steel. The apparatus for raising and lowering the propeller has been made in wood and metal plate, painted a uniform bronze colour, and is attached to two lengths of chain which are attached to the top of the apparatus through two large square apertures in the frame. Attached to the right-hand side of the frame a paper label has been applied bearing an inscription (not legible)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rattler_(1843)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-342134;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1854 – Launch of HMS Curacoa, a 31-gun Tribune-class screw frigate at Pembroke Dockyard.


HMS Curacoa was a 31-gun Tribune-class screw frigate launched on 13 April 1854 from Pembroke Dockyard.



She served in the Mediterranean Station between 1854 until 1857 and was in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. She was part of the Channel Squadron between 1857 until 1859. She then was sent to the North America and West Indies Station and served between 1859 until 1862. Afterwards she went to the Australia Station, where she remained until 1866. She was the flagship of the Australia Station from 20 April 1863 until May 1866, having had her armament reduced to 23 guns in 1863.

Curacoa Island is named after HMS Curacoa (1854)

During the invasion of Waikato, her company provided reinforcements for the Naval Brigade at Auckland, New Zealand on 2 October 1863. She was sent back to Britain in 1866 and was broken up in 1869.


Curacoa in the Fitzroy Dock in 1865

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Curacoa_(1854)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=tribune_class

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1854 – Launch of HMS Hornet, a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy


HMS Hornet was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched in 1854 and broken up in 1868.


Hornet's sister-ship, Cruizer, shown at Malta in 1894.



Construction
Originally ordered in April 1847 as a "Screw Schooner", she was suspended in August 1847 and re-ordered on 1 November 1850 to the same design as HMS Cruizer. The wooden sloops of the Cruizer class were designed under the direction of Lord John Hay, and after his "Committee of Reference" was disbanded, their construction was supervised by the new Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Baldwin Walker. Hornet was laid down at the Royal Dockyard, Deptford in June 1851. Her two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine, which was supplied by James Watt & Company at a cost of £5,450, generated an indicated horsepower of 233 hp (174 kW); driving a single screw, this gave a maximum speed of 7.75 knots (14.35 km/h). The class was given a barque-rig sail plan.

Armament
All the ships of the class were provided with one 32-pounder (56cwt) long gun on a pivot mount and sixteen 32-pounder (32cwt) carriage guns in a broadside arrangement.

History
Hornet served in the Baltic in 1854 during the Russian War, and from 1854 until 1859 she served in the East Indies and in China, taking part in the Second Opium War. After a refit in 1859-1860 she recommissioned for the Cape of Good Hope Station and served both there and on the East Indies Station.

The Russian War (1854)
Under Commander Frederick Archibald Campbell[3] Hornet served in the Baltic campaign of 1854 during the Russian War.

The East Indies and China Stations (1854 - 1856)
On 25 April 1855 Hornet, along with HMS Sybille and HMS Bittern, under Commodore The Hon. Charles Elliot discovered Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan, at 37°14′22″N 131°52′10″E. It was about a mile in extent, running in a NW by W and SE by E direction and formed together by a reef of rocks.[2] The Hornet's commander at the time, Charles Codrington Forsyth, noted in the ship's log:

“

We could discern no dangers lying off them and the waters appear to be deep close to the shore. They are barren, without exception of a few patches of grass on their sides and landing would be difficult except in very calm weather. The height of the NW island was ascertained to be 410 ft above sea level

”

The Second Opium War (1856 - 1859)
On 12 November 1856, in company with Calcutta, Nankin, Encounter, Barracouta and Coromandel, she bombarded and captured the Bogue forts and the next day, the Anunghoy forts. Christmas 1856 was spent as Guardship at Canton (now Guangzhou). In 1857 she spent much of her time at Hong Kong and in the Canton River, culminating in the capture of Canton on 28 December 1857 under Rear-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour.[5][6] In February 1859 she sailed for England, decommissioning in Portsmouth on 14 July 1859.

The Cape of Good Hope and East Indies Stations (1860 - 1864)
On 20 July 1860 Hornet recommissioned for service on the Cape of Good Hope Station under Commander William Buller Fullerton Elphinstone. She also served during this period on the East Indies Station.

Disposal
Hornet decommissioned at Portsmouth on 22 September 1864 and was broken up by White of Cowes in 1868.






Scale: Unknown. Sectional model showing the temporary rudder arrangement for HMS Fawn (1856) made of wood and metal. The underwater hull is painted a copper colour to indicate sheathing with the upperworks finished in black all of which are divided by a thin white line at the waterline. On the stern is the name 'Fawn' which is split over both models and on a raised cartouche painted in gold. Internally the model is decked and finished with a single sheet of varnished wood with individual planks marked in ink. There is a cross section of the trunking supporting the two bladed screw propeller which can be raised or lowered on a metal frame. The stern frame is complete with gudgeons with a metal skeg and strapping on the lower section of the stern frame. There is also a metal rudder fitted to the lower end of the skeg rising up through the stern to deck level to which is fitted a metal tiller with block and tackle steering. The whole model is mounted on a polished mahogany baseboard and further supported by two wooden shores. This model is the port side of a complete model that divides longitudinally and is held together by thumbscrews. The model number "1" is displayed on the base. Plaques are inscribed "After part of HMS Fawn with Temporary rudder in place. Proposed by Admiral Sir J Commerell KCB VC 1874" and "15 After part of HMS Fawn with temporary rudder hung in place. Proposed by Admiral Sir J Commerell KCB VC 1874".

The Cruizer class was a class of six 17-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1852 and 1856.

Design
The wooden sloops of the Cruizer class were designed under the direction of Lord John Hay, and after his "Committee of Reference" was disbanded, their construction was supervised by the new Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Baldwin Walker. A pair of ships named Cracker and Hornet had been ordered from Deptford and Woolwich in April 1847 as "steam gun schooners", with the intention of ordering four more. They were suspended in August 1847, and the new ships Cruizer and Hornet were re-ordered on 1 November 1850. Harrier was ordered in 1851, Fawn in 1852, and both Falcon and Alert on 2 April 1853. Cruizer differed from the rest of the class in having a lower-rated geared engine and a displacement of 960 tons, compared to 1,045 tons for the rest of the class.

Propulsion
Their two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines generated an indicated horsepower of between 132 hp (98 kW) and 434 hp (324 kW); driving a single screw, this gave a maximum speed of between 6.6 knots (12.2 km/h) and 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h).

Sail plan
All ships of the class were built with a barque-rig sail plan.

Armament
All the ships of the class were provided with one 32-pounder (56cwt) long gun on a pivot mount and sixteen 32-pounder (32cwt) carriage guns in a broadside arrangement. Alert had her guns reduced to four Armstrong breech-loaders in 1874 as part of her conversion to an Arctic exploration vessel.

Development
Main article: Greyhound-class sloop
The Greyhound-class sloop of 1855 was essentially a Cruizer-class design adapted to carry a more powerful engine developing an indicated horsepower of up to 786 hp (586 kW), giving a top speed under steam of 10 knots (19 km/h). The second and last ship of the Greyhound class, Mutine, had originally been ordered as the seventh vessel of the Cruiser class.




Fawn (right) and Miranda (left) during the Regatta of January, 1862 ("the race of the Maori war canoes")



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hornet_(1854)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruizer-class_sloop
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-311993;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=F

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1861 - brig-rigged, side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer CSS Nashville, originally built as a United States Mail Service ship was captured at Charleston harbor after the fall of Fort Sumter and renamed CSS Nashville


CSS Nashville was a brig-rigged, side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer that served with the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. Originally a United States Mail Service ship, the USMS Nashville was built at Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1853. Between 1853 and 1861 she was engaged in running between New York City and Charleston, South Carolina. During the Battle of Fort Sumter, the USMS Nashville sailed into Charleston without flying the US national standard and was fired upon by the USRC Harriet Lane which marked the first shot of the naval war in the Civil War. The Nashville raised the American flag, and after the surrender of Sumter, the Nashville docked at Charleston.



After the fall of Fort Sumter, the Confederates captured her at Charleston and fitted her out as a cruiser. Under the command of Lieutenant Robert B. Pegram, CSN, she ran the blockade on October 21, 1861, and headed across the Atlantic to Southampton, England, the first ship of war to fly the Confederate flag in English waters. On November 19, 1861, near the British Isles, she boarded and burned an American merchant ship, the Harvey Birch, the first such action by a Confederate commerce raider in the North Atlantic during the war.

Nashville returned to Beaufort, North Carolina on February 28, 1862, having captured two prizes worth US$66,000 during the cruise. In this interval she was sold for use as a blockade runner and renamed Thomas L. Wragg.

On November 5, 1862, she was commissioned as the privateer Rattlesnake. After she ran fast aground on the Ogeechee River, Georgia, the monitorUSS Montauk destroyed her with shell fire from 11-inch (279-mm) and 15-inch (381-mm) turret guns on February 28, 1863.

CSS Nashville (1853) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1865 - fire broke out aboard the clipper ship Comet in the cargo of wool while heading from Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia for London.
The captain and all 80 passengers abandoned ship in 3 boats and were lost.
On April 17, just as the Comet was about to sink, the 17 crew members remaining aboard were rescued by the British barque Dauntless.


Comet was an 1851 California clipper built by William H. Webb which sailed in the Australia trade and the tea trade. This extreme clipper was very fast. She had record passages on two different routes: New York City to San Francisco, and Liverpool to Hong Kong, and beat the famous clipper Flying Dutchman in an 1853 race around the Horn to San Francisco.

In 1863 the Comet was sold to the Black Ball Line and renamed the Fiery Star. She was lost at sea on 12 May 1865 after a fire had broken out in her cargo of wool.






Ship history
As the Comet


Sailing card

Her first Captain was E. C. Gardner, previously of the Celestial. Her first voyage was from New York to San Francisco, departing on 1 October 1851 and arriving on 12 January 1852 in 103 days. She made a return journey to New York arriving back in San Francisco on 18 January 1853. From there she sailed to Whampoa, where she loaded a cargo of tea and silk for New York. She arrived in New York on 6 May 1853, an 83-day journey.

Record passages
In February 1853 she raced the Flying Dutchman, another William H. Webb-built clipper, from San Francisco to New York, beating her by 30 hours in a time of 83 days and 18 hours. She returned to San Francisco on 10 December 1853. Sailing to New York again on 27 December, she reached Cape Horn in 35 days 7 hours, which was a record for the route. She reached New York on 14 March 1854 in 76 days (pilot to pilot). She then sailed across the Atlantic to Liverpool. From Liverpool she sailed to Hong Kong arriving there in 83 days 21 hours (pilot to pilot) on 9 September 1854, a record time. Her best days run on the voyage was 350 miles.

Arriving back in New York from Bremen on 19 August 1855 Captain Arquit replaced Captain Gardner. She made further journeys to San Francisco, New York, and Wampoa through 1856 to 1858. On 15 December 1858 Captain Todd took command of her. In 1859 she sailed to Manila and Anjer. Further trips were made between New York and San Francisco in between 1859 and 1862, as well as journeys to Hong Kong and Macao.

Damage
On her journey from New York to San Francisco on 2 October 1861 her bowsprit was badly sprung off at Cape Horn. This was followed by her rudderhead being sprung in her 1862 journey from Macao to New York when she encountered a typhoon in the South China Sea.

As the Fiery Star
On 11 March 1863 she sailed from New York for the final time as the Comet. Arriving in England she had been acquired by T. M. McKay & Co. of Liverpool for the Black Ball Line. She sailed out of London, England, on 11 April 1863 in the Australia trade, with voyages to Queenstown, Moreton Bay, and Brisbane.

Loss of the ship
The Fiery Star left Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, for Liverpool on April 1, 1865 with a crew of 42 under Captain W. Hunter Yule. She had a cargo of wool and 63 passengers. On 17 April she encountered a severe gale and two days later, on 19 April when she was 400 miles north west of the Chatham Islands a fire was discovered by one of the crew, James Adams, in the cargo of wool in her forward hold. Her position at the time was given as being in latitude 46 degrees 10' south and longitude 170 degrees west.

She changed course for Lyttleton while efforts were made to put out the fire. However, the wind changed and a gale rose forcing her to change course for the Hauraki Gulf. By 7 p.m. on 20 April after unsuccessfully trying to put out the fire the captain and 86 people, including all but one of the passengers, abandoned ship in four boats intending to make for the Chatham Islands. There had been six boats on board, but two were lost overboard in the earlier storm. As the remaining boats were to small to carry everyone the chief officer - W. C. Sargent, a passenger - John Ormond, and 16 crew members volunteered to remain on board. During the night the life boats parted company with the Fiery Star. The remaining crew then constructed a raft in case they had to abandon the ship.

By 25 April the weather began to deteriorate and the seas were rough until to 28 April.

By 3 May the ship was thought to be about 98 miles from New Zealand and two islands, possibly Mercury and Alderman were sighted. Another gale struck the ship on 4 May and drove her back out to sea. The wind again changed and by 11 May the ship was thought to be about 25 miles from shore. At 10 p.m. on 11 May lights of another ship, the barque Dauntless was sighted and rockets and cannon were fired, and blue lights shown to attract its attention. The Dauntless sent a lifeboat over and this remained alongside overnight.

At daylight the Chief Officer invited Captain Moore from the Dauntless to come on board to assess the situation. Captain Moore agreed with the Chief Officers decision to abandon her as the fire was worsening and the ship badly damaged. After transferring as much that was salvageable she was abandoned at 4 p.m. and the crew transferred to the Dauntless. Her position was given as being off Great Barrier Island in latitude 37 degrees 5' south and longitude 175 degrees 42' east. The Dauntless remained near the Fiery Star until it sank at about 10:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in some accounts). The origin of the fire was undetermined.

The seventeen of the eighteen survivors were John Ormond - passenger; W. C. Sargent - Chief Officer; William Marshall - quarter-master; George Maber - engineer; George Strickland - chief steward; John Sutton Palmer - second steward; Charles White - boatswain's mate; David Hariot - sailmaker; James North - carpenter; Knight Stevens, Charles Applequist, John Hargett, Charles Smith, David Payne, John Bullin, Richard Breton - seamen; Richard Herdman - butcher.

A search was mounted on 16 May of the Chatham Islands for the passengers and crew who had left in the lifeboats by HMS Brisk under Captain Charles Webley Hope. The Brisk arrived in the Chathams on 20 May and a search of the island and neighboring Pitt Island found no trace of the missing crew and passengers. Given their distance from the Chathams when they left the Fiery Star and the bad weather in the intervening period, they were presumed to have perished.

Comet (clipper) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://www.vallejogallery.com/item_mobile.php?id=208

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1898 – Launch of SS Superior City, considered a pioneer vessel at her launching in 1898.
She was the largest vessel ever built on freshwater at that time


The SS Superior City was considered a pioneer vessel at her launching in 1898. She was the largest vessel ever built on freshwater at that time. She sailed the Great Lakes for twenty-two years until she sank after a collision in 1920 with the steamer Willis L. King in Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior that resulted in the loss of 29 lives. Controversy was immediate over the collision. It was subsequently ruled that the captains of both ships failed to follow the “rules-of-the-road”. Controversy started again in 1988 when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society produced a video called "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" that included extensive footage of the skeletons of the Superior City crew. The controversy continued as late as 1996 over artifacts removed from her wreck. She is now a protected shipwreck in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.


Superior City - after launching. First vessel launched from the Lorain shipyard of the Cleveland Ship Building

History
The Superior City launched 13 April 1898 in the yards of the Cleveland Ship Building Company (later named the American Ship Building Company) at Lorain, Ohio.[1] The Superior City was a pioneer vessel representing the steady progression of bigger, longer, and stronger craft from the days of ships powered by sails. At her launching, she was the largest vessel ever built on freshwater. The whole town of Lorain crowded the river front to watch her launch.

On April 26, 1909, Dr. Griffin, the local health officer at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan received reports that boats tied up at the Soo Locks had been quarantined and a couple of the lockmen said that they heard that the Superior City had displayed a smallpox sign for a few hours on the previous night. Dr. Griffin boarded the Superior City and had a heated conference in which everyone denied any knowledge of a smallpox sign. Dr. Griffin issued a warning that any misuse of a contagious disease sign would be immediately reported to the Michigan Secretary of State. Shipwreck historian Wes Oleszewski reported, "In the ensuing days, there were far fewer uninvited guests aboard any of the boats tied up at the Soo Locks, especially the Superior City."

The Superior City sailed the lakes for twenty-two years before she came to an untimely end in the worst collision ever occurring on Lake Superior.



Collision
At 9:10 PM on 20 August 1920, the steamers Superior City and Willis L. King collided in Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. The Superior City was downbound and heavy with 7600 tons of iron ore loaded at Two Harbors, Minnesota. The steamer Willis L. King was upbound and light after unloading ore at Ashtabula, Ohio. Maritime historian Boyer wrote that the Superior City was, "[R]ammed on her port side, aft of midships … [causing] … a tremendous explosion when the terrible inrushing wall of cold water burst her aft bulkheads and hit the boilers. The vessel’s stern was literally blown off…. [and she] was nearly halved in the collision." Immediately following the collision, the crew was struggling to lower the lifeboats that were located over the boilers and this concentrated them precisely over the explosion, resulting in the loss of life of most of the crew.

Casualties and survivors
The Superior City sank rapidly with the loss of lives of 28 men and one woman, the worst loss of life in the history of the Pittsburg Steamship Company. Of the four survivors, Captain Sawyer, second mateG.G. Lehnt, and watchman Peter Jacobsen were forward and jumped for their lives. Captain Sawyer was found clinging to a life preserver that he never had time to put on. Second mate Lehnt was found clinging to the bottom of a capsized lifeboat. Watchman Jacobson fought his way back to the surface after being dragged down with the ship and swam for about 20 minutes until the King's lifeboat picked him up. Boatswain Walter Richter was sleeping in his bunk wearing only long underwear when alarm bells sounded. When he raced to the deck, the explosion blew him overboard, blowing off his underwear. The steamer J.J. Turner picked him up clinging to a hatch cover that he rode as a raft. Crewmembers on the Turner reported that wooden ports in the interior of the ship had been blown through her steel sides. Most of the crewmembers were likely blown to pieces by the boiler explosion or were trapped in the suction of the powerful whirlpool when the Superior City sank. No bodies were ever recovered.

Investigation
The vessels sighted each other about ten minutes before the collision and exchanged steam whistle signals. Captain Sawyer of the Superior City and Captain Nelson of the Willis L. King offered conflicting statements about the weather and the whistle signals prior to the collision. Captain Sawyer said that the weather was clear at the time of the accident while Captain Nelson said that the night had been foggy and hazy. Captain Sawyer maintained that the two vessels exchanged one blast signals indicating the conventional port-to-port passing signal. Captain Nelson asserted that the vessels exchanged two blast signals for a starboard-to-starboard passing. At the time impact, the Superior City was swinging across the King's bow while Captain Nelson swung his bow hard aport and rang the telegraph to stop and then full astern. The estimated speed at the time of impact was 12 miles (19 km) per hour for the King, and 10.5 miles (16.9 km) per hour for the Superior City. The accident was investigated by U.S. Steamboat Inspectors Gooding and Hanson of Marquette, Michigan.[6] After their initial statements, both captains communicated only in depositions to the proctors-in-admiralty representatives of the owners of the vessels. Officers and crew of the nearby J.J. Turner and the Midvale witnessed the collision and heard the exchange of passing signals. It was determined that although very early in the night there had been haze and some fog, at the time of the collision the night was crystal clear with unlimited visibility. When the Willis L. King made to the Superior Shipbuilding Company’s drydock for repairs of a twisted, broken stern, seventeen shell plates and frames destroyed, interior forward decks buckled, and numerous angles and stringers that required replacement, Captain Nelson ordered that no member of the crew was to discuss the accident with anyone but representatives of the vessel’s owner or agents.

Rulings
After many months of investigation and litigation, United States District Court, the Western District of Wisconsin Judge C. Z. Luce ruled that both masters were guilty of failing to follow the “Rules of the Road” regulations that if there is doubt about the course or intention of the other, the pilot is required give the danger signal and slow to a speed barely sufficient for passageway and/or stop and reverse course.[5]After more haggling by underwriters and proctors, the Superior City was valued at $300,000 and her tonnage was valued at $42,922.95. The King's damage was $42,520. The loss-of-life claims were not paid until late in 1923. The lawyers of victim’s estates had little muscle against the legal maneuverings of the admiralty proctors and they settled for $5000 to the families of deckhands and porters, $3,700 for the wife of the second engineer, $11,205 for the second engineer, and $25,000 for the chief engineer.

Wreck controversy
The wreck of the Superior City was initially discovered in 1972 by diver John Steele. The wreck was rediscovered in 1980 by Tom Farnquist and Gary Shumbarger of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society who extensively photographed the wreck.[8] The Shipwreck Society produced a video in 1988 about the wreck of the Superior City called "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" that showed extensive footage of skeletons of the crew and the removal of a wedding ring from a skeleton. The Shipwreck Society still claims accolades for the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" video but they no longer sell it to the public.

The Evening reported a Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment raid on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and its offices that found evidence of 150 artifacts illegally removed from the state-claimed bottomlands. Artifacts from the Superior City and other shipwrecks are on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum as a loan from the state following a 1993 settlement agreement with the Michigan Department of State and Department of Natural Resources.

The controversy surrounding artifacts from the Superior City continued in 1996 over the ownership of her telegraph. The telegraph was on loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. When the owner’s representative, Great Lakes shipwreck diver Steve Harrington, removed the telegraph from the museum, the museum’s director, Tom Farnquist, notified the Michigan State Police who held the telegraph until ownership was determined. Both men admitted that the controversy really stemmed from proposed legislation over the photography of dead bodies in Michigan waters that included the wrecks of the Superior City and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

For a number of years the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society used a wedding ring from a skeleton on the Superior City to promote its museum. In a 2000 interview Farnquist likened the identity of the skeleton and the owner of the wedding ring to a shipwreck mystery that may never be solved. The ring and other artifacts from the Superior City are still on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Wreck diving
Scuba diving to the Superior City wreck requires advanced technical diving skills as it is among the most dangerous and difficult dives among the many wrecks in Whitefish Bay. Twenty-six-year-old Scott Michael Snow lost his life while exploring the Superior City wreck in 2001. His body was retrieved from the wreck in 230 feet of water by the robotic arm of a remote vehicle.

The wreck of the Superior City lies in 190 feet (58 m) to 270 feet (82 m) of water in Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior at 46°43.51′N 84°52.37′W. The Superior City wreck is protected for future generations by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.

SS Superior City - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1904 - Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) Sunk by mine off Port Arthur,
Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin.


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.




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. Petropavlovsk departed 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. Displeased by the poor performance of the First Pacific Squadron, the Naval Ministry replaced Stark with the dynamic and aggressive Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, 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.

sistership

A postcard of Poltava


The Petropavlovsk class, sometimes referred to as the Poltava class, was a group of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the 1890s. They were transferred to the Pacific Squadron shortly after their completion in 1899–1900 and were based at Port Arthur before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. All three ships participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war. Petropavlovsksank two months after the war began after striking one or more mines laid by the Japanese. Her two sister ships, Sevastopol and Poltava, took part in the Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 and were sunk or scuttled during the final stages of the Siege of Port Arthur in early 1905.

Poltava was salvaged after the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship, renamed Tango in Japanese service, participated in the Battle of Tsingtao in late 1914, during World War I. She was sold back to the Russians in 1916 and renamed Chesma as her original name was in use by another battleship. The ship became the flagship of the Russian Arctic Flotilla in 1917, and her crew supported the Bolshevikslater that year. Chesma was seized by the British in early 1918 when they intervened in the Russian Civil War, abandoned by them when they withdrew and scrapped by the Soviets in 1924.




Tango at anchor about 1908–1909


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

Stepan Makarov - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1907 – Launch of HMS Invincible, the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world.


HMS Invincible was the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. During the First World War she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers present. The ship engaged the German light cruiser Cöln, but did not hit her before Cöln was sunk by the battlecruiser Lion.

She was the flagship of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The squadron had been detached from Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet a few days before the battle for gunnery practice with the Grand Fleet and acted as its heavy scouting force during the battle. She was destroyed by a magazine explosion during the battle after one of her gun turret's armour was penetrated.



Design
General characteristics
Invincible was significantly larger than her armoured cruiser predecessors of the Minotaur class. She had an overall length of 567 ft (173 m), a beam of 78.5 ft (23.9 m), and a draft of 30 ft (9.1 m) at deep load. She displaced 17,250 long tons (17,530 t) at load and 20,420 long tons (20,750 t) at deep load, nearly 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) more than the earlier ships.

The Invincible-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until 1911 when they were redesignated as battlecruisers by an Admiralty order of 24 November 1911. Unofficially a number of designations were used until then, including cruiser-battleship, dreadnought cruiser and battle-cruiser.

Propulsion
Invincible had two paired sets of Parsons turbines, each of which was housed in a separate engine-room and drove an outboard and inboard shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines were coupled to the outboard shafts and the low-pressure turbines to the inner shafts. A cruising turbine was also coupled to each inner shaft; these were not used often and were eventually disconnected. Her three-bladed propellers were 11 feet (3.4 m) in diameter on the inner shafts while the outer propellers were 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter. The turbines were powered by thirty-one Yarrow water-tube boilers in four boiler rooms, and were designed to produce a total of 41,000 shaft horsepower (31,000 kW), but reached nearly 46,500 shp (34,700 kW) during trials in 1908. She was designed for 25 knots (46 km/h), but reached 26.64 knots (49 km/h) during trials.

Invincible carried 2,997 long tons (3,045 t) of coal, and an additional 738 long tons (750 t) of fuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate.[5] At full fuel capacity, she could steam for 3,090 nautical miles (5,720 km) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h). Her electrical power was provided by four 200 kW turbo-generators and motor generators with capacity of 100 kW.


Scale 1:48. A plan showing the inboard profile of the battlecruiser HMS Invincible (1907). The drawing shows the ship as completed in 1909, with subsequent alterations up to 1914

Armament
Invincible carried eight BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk X guns in four twin turrets. For evaluation purposes these were electrically driven BIX and BX turrets, two each built by Vickers and Armstrongs. They proved to be a failure despite two lengthy refits in 1909 and 1911 and were converted to hydraulic power during her refit in early 1914 at a cost of £151,200. The situation was so bad during her gunnery trials in October 1908 that the captain of HMS Excellent, the Royal Navy's chief gunnery school, described their operation in the following manner: "When the order was given to train the turret, elevate or run a gun in or out, it was only necessary to push a button, or move a switch, but the result was often a flash of blue flame which seemed to fill the turret."

Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 4 in (102 mm) QF Mk III guns. During 1915 the turret roof guns were transferred to the superstructure and the total number of guns was reduced to twelve. All of the remaining guns were enclosed in casemates and given blast shields at that time to better protect the gun crews from weather and enemy action. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of a single QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA gun on a high-angle MKII mount at the aft end of the superstructure that was carried between October–November 1914 and from April 1915 onwards. A 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun on a high-angle MkIc mounting with a maximum elevation of 60° was also mounted in November 1914. Five 18-inch (450-mm) submerged torpedo tubes were fitted on the Invincibles, two on each side and one in the stern. Fourteen torpedoes were carried for them.


Scale 1:48. A plan showing the upper deck of the battlecruiser HMS Invincible (1907). The drawing shows her as completed in 1909, with subsequent alterations up to 1914

Armour
The waterline belt was 6 inches thick roughly between the fore and aft 12-inch gun turrets, but was reduced to four inches from the fore turret to the bow, and did not extend aft of the rear turret. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 7 in (178 mm) of armour, except for the turret roofs which used 3 in (76 mm) of Krupp non-cemented armour (KNC). The thickness of the main deck was 1–2 in (25–51 mm) and the lower deck armour was 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm). Mild steel torpedo bulkheads of 2.5-inch thickness were fitted abreast the magazines and shell rooms.

Construction and career


Invincible anchored at Spithead in June–July 1909

The ship was built at Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd on Tyneside. She was laid down on 2 April 1906, and launched at 3 p.m. on 13 April 1907 by Lady Allendale. On 28 December 1907, while still fitting out, she was hit by the Swedish collier Oden, which resulted in the buckling of beams and frames in the hull and five bottom plates being stove in. She was officially completed on 16 March 1909. On 18 March, she sailed from the Tyne to Portsmouth, where she would be commissioned. On the way, she collided with the brigantine Mary Ann, and stood by until the lifeboat John Birch arrived from Yarmouth to take the brigantine in tow.

She was commissioned into the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet on 20 March 1909 and participated in fleet manoeuvres in April and June 1909, the Spithead Review on 12 June 1909, and the Fleet Review off Southend on 2 July. She was refitted between 17 August and 17 January 1910 in an attempt to cure the electrical problems with her turrets, but they were still unsatisfactory. Another attempt was made to bring her turrets to working order during a refit in the spring of 1911, but this too was unsuccessful and the decision was made the following year to convert her turrets to hydraulic power. This was delayed until after her deployment to join the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1912. On 17 March 1913, she collided with the submarine HMS C34, but the collision was ruled the fault of the submarine. She returned to the UK in December 1913 in preparation for a major refit that would finally give her turrets hydraulic power and make her battle-worthy.

Her refit at Portsmouth Dockyard began in March 1914 and was interrupted by the declaration of war on Germany on 4 August. She'd been formally recommissioned the day prior, but the turret work required another week to complete. Invincible was the first battlecruiser to be fitted with a new fire-control director, but this could not be completed in the allotted time and would remain inoperable until she was refitted after the Battle of the Falkland Islands. She was declared operational on 12 August, when Rear-Admiral Sir Archibald Gordon Moore, commanding the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron, hoisted his flag in her. He was ordered to the Humber, along with the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand, where he could better support the British ships patrolling the Broad Fourteens.

...... read more about her intensive career at wikipedia .......



Scale 1:48. A plan showing the after sections of the battlecruiser HMS Invincible (1914). The drawing shows her as completed in 1909, with subsequent alterations up to 1914


The three Invincible-class battlecruisers were built for the Royal Navy and entered service in 1908 as the world's first battlecruisers.[1] They were the brainchild of Admiral Sir John ("Jacky") Fisher, the man who had sponsored the construction of the world's first "all-big-gun" warship, HMS Dreadnought. He visualised a new breed of warship, somewhere between the armoured cruiser and battleship; it would have the armament of the latter, but the high speed of the former. This combination would allow it to chase down most ships, while allowing it to run from more powerful designs.

This design philosophy would prove to be most successful when the Invincibles were able to use their speed to run down smaller and weaker ships. The classic example was during World War I at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, where Invincible and Inflexible sank the German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau; despite numerous hits by the German ships, Inflexible and Invincible incurred very few casualties among their crews. They were least successful when standing in the main line of battle, where they faced enemy capital ships. An example is the loss of Invincible to a magazine explosion during the Battle of Jutland about eighteen months after her success in the Falklands, although this explosion owed more to flaws in British ammunition handling practices – that exposed numerous cordite charges to a fire in one of her gun turrets – than any flaws in the design of the ship.

After the loss of Invincible, the two surviving ships had an uneventful time for the rest of the war conducting patrols of the North Sea, as the High Seas Fleet was forbidden to risk any more losses. They were put into reserve in early 1919 and sold for scrapping on 1 December 1921.







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Invincible_(1907)

Invincible-class battlecruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-320997;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=I

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1917 - Launch of USS New Mexico (BB 40), the first dreadnought with turbo-electric drive.


USS New Mexico (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. She was the lead ship of a class of three battleships, and the first ship to be named for the state of New Mexico. Her keel was laid down on 14 October 1915 at the New York Navy Yard, she was launched on 23 April 1917, and was commissioned on 20 May 1918. She was the first ship with a turbo-electric transmission, which helped her reach a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Shortly after completing initial training, New Mexico escorted the ship that carried President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The interwar period was marked with repeated exercises with the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets, use as a trial ship for PID controllers, and a major modernization between March 1931 and January 1933.



The ship's first actions during World War II were neutrality patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. She returned to the Pacific after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and participated in shore bombardments during operations at Attu and Kiska, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Mariana and Palau islands, Leyte, Luzon, and Okinawa. These were interspersed with escort duties, patrols, and refits. The ship was attacked by kamikazes on several occasions. New Mexico was present in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945. Four days later, she sailed for the United States, and arrived in Boston on 17 October.

New Mexico was decommissioned in Boston on 19 July 1946, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 February 1947. The ship was sold for scrapping to the Lipsett Division of Luria Bros in November 1947, but attempts to bring the ship to Newark, New Jersey, for breaking up were met by resistance from city officials. City fireboats were sent to block the passage of the battleship and the Lipsett tugboats, while the United States Coast Guarddeclared intentions to guarantee safe passage. The Under Secretary of the Navy Department was sent to defuse what the media began to call the "Battle of Newark Bay", with the city agreeing to the breaking up of New Mexico and two other battleships before scrapping operations in Newark Bay ceased, and Lipsett under instructions to dismantle the ships in a set timeframe or suffer financial penalties. Scrapping commenced in November and was completed by July 1948.



USS New Mexico (BB-40), c. 1935, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.



Description
Main article: New Mexico-class battleship
New Mexico was 624 feet (190 m) long overall and had a beam of 97 ft 5 in (29.69 m) and a draft of 30 ft (9.1 m). She displaced 32,000 long tons (33,000 t) as designed and up to 33,000 long tons (34,000 t) at full combat load. Unlike the other members of her class, New Mexico was powered by four-shaft General Electric steam turbines fitted with turbo-electric transmission and nine oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 27,500 shaft horsepower (20,500 kW), generating a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew numbered 1,084 officers and enlisted men. As built, she was fitted with two lattice masts with spotting tops for the main gun battery. The main armored belt was 13.5 in (343 mm) thick, while the main armored deck was up to 3.5 in (89 mm) thick. The main battery gun turrets had 18 in (457 mm) thick faces on 13 in (330 mm) barbettes. The conning tower had 16 in (406 mm) thick sides.

The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm)/50 caliber guns in four, three-gun turrets on the centerline, placed in two superfiring pairs forward and aft of the superstructure. Unlike earlier American battleships with triple turrets, these mounts were true three-gun barrels, in that each barrel could elevate independently. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber guns mounted in individual casematesclustered in the superstructure amidships. Initially, the ship was fitted with twenty-two of the guns, but experiences in the North Sea during World War Idemonstrated that the additional guns, which were placed in the hull, would have been unusable in anything but calm seas. As a result, these guns were removed and the casemates were plated over to prevent flooding. The secondary battery was augmented with four 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns. In addition to her gun armament, New Mexico was also fitted with two 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes, mounted submerged in the hull, one on each broadside.


New Mexico, with Mt. Fuji in the background, August 1945.


The New Mexico-class battleships of the United States Navy, all three of whose construction began in 1915, were improvements on the design introduced three years earlier with the Nevada class.

The twelve-gun main battery of the preceding Pennsylvania class was retained, but with longer 14-inch (356 mm)/50 caliber guns in improved triple turrets. Hull design was also upgraded with a 'clipper' bow for better seakeeping and a sleeker look. One ship, New Mexico, was fitted with turbo-electric propulsion.

Though eight secondary battery guns were located in extremely wet bow and stern positions and were soon removed, the rest of the ships' 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber guns were mounted in the superstructure, a great improvement over earlier U.S. Navy battleships' arrangements.

Class history


Idaho shells Okinawa on 1 April 1945. She could easily be distinguished from her sister ships by her tower foremast and 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber Mk 30single gun turrets (visible between the barrels of the forward main turrets and starboard side of the ship, one of them facing forward); Idaho was the only battleship with this configuration.


The foredeck of an unidentified New Mexico-class battleship on 30 July 1944, showing her two forward triple 14-inch gun turrets.

Completed during and soon after World War I, the New Mexicos were active members of the Battle Fleet during the decades between the World Wars. All were rebuilt between 1931 and 1934, receiving entirely new superstructures, modern controls for their guns, new engines and improved protection against air and surface attack. Anti-torpedo bulges increased their width to 106 feet 3 inches (32.39 m) and displacement went up by a thousand tons or more.

The New Mexico class was part of the standard-type battleship concept of the U.S. Navy, a design concept which gave the Navy a homogeneous line of battle (it allowed planning maneuvers for the whole line of battle rather than detaching "fast" and "slow" wings). The standard-type battleship concept included long-range gunnery, moderate speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), a tight tactical radius of 700 yards (640 m) and improved damage control. The other standard-type battleships were the Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Colorado classes.

In order to counter the German threat, these ships—operating together as Battleship Division 3—were transferred from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 1941, leaving the U.S. Pacific Fleet inferior in battleship strength to the Japanese Navy. Sent back to the Pacific after the Pearl Harbor raiddevastated the Pacific Fleet's powerful battle line, they were active in the war with Japan until final victory was achieved in August 1945. They provided naval gunfire support for many of the amphibious invasions that marked the Pacific conflict, and Mississippi took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last time in history that battleships fought each other. New Mexico and Idaho were disposed of soon after the war ended, but Mississippi was converted to a training and weapons trials ship and served for another decade. The U.S. Navy's first generation of ship-launched guided missiles went to sea aboard this old former battleship.

Design history
Designated as Battleship 1916, the design history is marked by the incipient test firing of the 16-inch (406 mm)/45 caliber U.S. naval gun. The gun promised to deliver twice the energy of a 12-inch (305 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 gun and 1.5 times the energy of a 14-inch (356 mm)/45 caliber gun. The problem was that the 16-inch gun was not tested. If the gun failed then the design would have to wait for new 14-inch turrets to be fabricated.

The first design offered to the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) was no less than 10 16-inch guns and 8 torpedo tubes. The design also included upgrading the armor as well as extending it. A secondary battery of 6-inch (152 mm) guns was incorporated into the design. The General Board arguing that the increasing range of torpedoes required the increase of caliber. In August 1914 the 16-inch gun was successfully test fired silencing that question but that would happen after the design was in front of SecNav. The rise in displacement and the rise in the cost of the new design presented issues. The General Board pushed for the advancement with C&R wanting to repeat the Pennsylvania class. Both the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, and the House of Representatives rose up against the cost.

The General Board was convinced that the major sea powers would jump to 15-inch (381 mm) or 16-inch naval guns as a main armament and asked for designs based on the 16-inch gun. A series of designs was laid out with the last being a design with 8 16-inch guns on the 31,000 long tons (31,497 t) design of the earlier Pennsylvania design. No one reviewing the design was at all happy with it. Strangely enough, this would except in small details, become the blueprint of the Colorado-class battleships. On July 30, the Secretary of the Navy ordered that, except for the inclusion of individual slides for the main guns, clipper bows for improved seakeeping and, in New Mexico, an experimental turbo-electric propulsion system, the New Mexico class would be a reproduction of the preceding Pennsylvania class. A third ship, Idaho, was added with funding from the proceeds of the sale of the obsolescent pre-dreadnoughts Mississippi and Idaho to Greece.


Battleships Idaho, New Mexico, and Mississippi at Pearl Harbor, December 1943


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Mexico_(BB-40)

New Mexico-class battleship - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1937 – Launch of HMS Ark Royal (91), an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.


HMS Ark Royal (pennant number 91) was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.

Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; several carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.


HMS Ark Royal in 1939, with Swordfish of 820 Naval Air Squadron passing overhead

Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship Bismarck, and the Malta Convoys. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine U-81 and sank the following day; one of her 1,488 crew members was killed. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries; investigators were keen to know how the carrier was lost, in spite of efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar. They found that several design flaws contributed to the loss, which were rectified in new British carriers.

The wreck was discovered in December 2002 by an American underwater survey company using sonar mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle, under contract from the BBC for the filming of a documentary about the ship, at a depth of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and approximately 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) from Gibraltar.


Scale 1:96. A plan showing the inboard profile of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (1937)

Design
In 1923, the Admiralty prepared a 10-year building programme which included an aircraft carrier and 300 aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm. The economic downturn following the First World War caused it to be postponed. In 1930, the Director of Naval Construction, Sir Arthur Johns, began to update the plans for the carrier by incorporating recently developed technology. His aim was to increase the number of aircraft carried by shortening the landing and take-off distances of aircraft using arrestor gear and compressed steam catapults respectively, which would make more deck space available for storage and aircraft preparation. Along with the inclusion of two hangar decks, this allowed Ark Royal to carry up to 72 aircraft, although the development of larger and heavier aircraft during the carrier's construction meant that the actual number carried was between 50 and 60. Ark Royal featured an enclosed hangar design where the flight deck was the 'strength deck' and was strongly built with .75in (19mm) thick Ducol steel plating. The two hangar decks were thus enclosed within the hull girder, which also gave splinter protection to the hangars. The machinery spaces were protected by 4.5-inch (11.4 cm) belt armour. Three lifts moved aircraft between the hangars and the flight deck.


Ark Royal's flight deck overhangs the stern. Her unusual height above the waterline is visible in comparison with the tugboat.

Another feature was the length and height of the flight deck. At 800 feet (240 m), the flight deck was 118 feet (36 m) longer than the keel; the latter dictated by the length of Royal Navy drydocks in Gibraltar and Malta. Due to the twin hangar decks, the flight deck rose to 66 feet (20 m) above the waterline.

The Washington and London Naval treaties had restricted warship tonnage for a number of nations after the end of the great war and were both to expire by the end of 1936. With a potential naval arms race developing between Britain, Japan and Italy, the British government sought a second treaty, which included limiting the maximum displacement of an aircraft carrier to 22,000 long tons (22,000 t). Ark Royal would have to fit this anticipated limit; to conserve weight, armour plating was limited to the belt, engine rooms, and magazines, while welding instead of riveting 65% of the hull saved 500 long tons (510 t). Installation of an armoured flight deckwas not possible, as the weight would have placed Ark Royal above the proposed limit, while reducing her endurance and stability. The ship was designed with a three layer side protection system based upon a void-liquid-void scheme very similar to that used on the King George V-class battleships, and was designed to protect against torpedoes with up to a 750-pound (340 kg) warhead.

The ship was fitted with six boilers, which powered three Parsons geared turbines. The turbines were connected via three driveshafts to three propellers 16 feet (4.9 m) in diameter, to produce a maximum theoretical speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Speed was important, as with catapults and arrestor gear, Ark Royal would have to turn into the wind to launch and recover aircraft. To avoid endangering other ships with the frequent course changes associated with flight operations, Ark Royal would have to break away from accompanying ships, and catch up on completion. Additionally, as the carrier was not armed for ship-to-ship combat, speed was her main protection against enemy warships.



Scale 1:96. A plan showing the forward sections of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (1939)

Construction
The deteriorating international situation by 1933, typified by Germany's rearmament and the expansion of Japan and Italy, convinced the British to announce funds for the carrier's construction in the 1934 budget proposals. The plans were finished by November 1934 and were tendered in February 1935 to Cammell Laird and Company Ltd., which calculated the cost of the hull at £1,496,250 (equivalent to £102,020,000 in 2018) and the main machinery at approximately £500,000 (equivalent to £31,850,000 in 2016). The overall cost was estimated to be over £3 million, making Ark Royal the most expensive ship ordered by the Royal Navy. Construction began on Job No. 1012 when Ark Royal's keel was laid down on 16 September 1935.


Ark Royal immediately after launching. The lifts on the flight deck and the anti-aircraft positions on the hull are visible.

Ark Royal spent nearly two years in the builder's yard before being launched on 13 April 1937 by Lady Maud Hoare, wife of Sir Samuel Hoare, then First Lord of the Admiralty. The bottle of champagne thrown against Ark Royal's bows did not smash until the fourth attempt. The carrier spent a year fitting out, was handed over to her first commander, Captain Arthur Power, on 16 November 1938, and was commissioned on 16 December. Although intended for the Far East, events in Europe during the carrier's construction, including the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 and the Spanish Civil War in 1936, caused the Admiralty to mark her for deployment with the Home and Mediterranean Fleets. After her crew joined at the end of 1938, Ark Royal underwent sea trials to prepare for service, during which the carrier proved capable of sailing above her theoretical speed, reaching over 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)[8] and in trials during May 1938 Ark Royal achieved 31.2 knots (57.8 km/h; 35.9 mph) with 103,012 shaft horsepower (76,816 kW) at a deep displacement of 27,525 long tons (27,967 t).


Scale 1:96. A plan showing the flight and upper gallery decks of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (1937)

Armament and aircraft
Ark Royal's armament was designed with anti-aircraft warfare in mind, as aircraft were expected to be the main threat; ships and submarines could be outrun or dealt with by escorts. Her main armament was sixteen quick-firing 4.5-inch (110 mm) dual purpose guns in eight double turrets, four on each side of the hull, controlled by four Directors using the High Angle Control System. The original design placed the turrets low on the hull, but was later altered to locate them just below the flight deck, which increased each turret's field of fire. Six 8-barrelled 2-pounder (40-millimetre (1.57 in)) "pom-pom" guns were located on the flight deck, in front of and behind the superstructure island, while eight 4-barrelled .50-inch (12.7 mm) machine guns were installed on small projecting platforms to the front and rear of the flight deck.

Sixteen Fleet Air Arm squadrons were posted aboard Ark Royal during her career; an average of five squadrons at any time. On entering service, most of Ark Royal's squadrons were equipped with either Blackburn Skuas—used as fighters and dive bombers—or Fairey Swordfish, for reconnaissance and torpedo bombing. From April 1940, squadrons equipped with Skuas were upgraded to Fairey Fulmars; like their predecessors, these were used as fighters and bombers. On occasion, the carrier operated Blackburn Roc fighter-bombers (from April 1939 – October 1940) and Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers (during October 1941); these were replacement aircraft used to boost squadron numbers. In June 1940, Ark Royal was host to 701 Naval Air Squadron, a training squadron which operated Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance amphibians


Ark Royal conducting flying operations in 1939


Scale 1:96. A plan showing the island superstructure of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (1937)

HMS Ark Royal (91) - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 April 1940 - Second naval Battle of Narvik


The Royal Navy considered it imperative, for morale and strategic purposes, to defeat the Germans in Narvik, so Vice Admiral William Whitworth was sent with the battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers; four Tribal-class (HMS Bedouin, Cossack, Punjabi, and Eskimo) and five others (HMS Kimberley, Hero, Icarus, Forester and Foxhound), accompanied by aircraft from the aircraft carrier HMS Furious. These forces arrived in the Ofotfjord on 13 April to find that the eight remaining German destroyers—now under the command of Fregattenkapitän Erich Bey—were virtually stranded due to lack of fuel and were short of ammunition.



Before the battle, Warspite launched its catapult plane (a float-equipped Fairey Swordfish, L 9767), which bombed and sank U-64, anchored in the Herjangsfjord near Bjerkvik. Most of the crew survived and were rescued by German mountain troops. This was the first U-boat to be sunk by an aircraft during the Second World War and the only instance where an aircraft launched from a battleship sank a U-boat.


Warspite engaging shore batteries during the Second Battle of Narvik.

In the ensuing battle, three of the German destroyers were sunk by Warspite and her escorts and the other five were scuttled by their crews when they ran out of fuel and ammunition. First to go was Erich Koellner which tried to ambush the Allied forces but was spotted by Warspite's Swordfish and subsequently torpedoed and shelled by the destroyers and battleship. The destroyer's commander, Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs, and the surviving members of his crew, were captured by Norwegian forces. Then Wolfgang Zenker, Bernd von Arnim, Hans Ludemann and Hermann Künne engaged the British forces but only managed to lightly damage HMS Bedouin. British aircraft from Furious tried to engage the German destroyers but were unsuccessful; two were lost. Wolfgang Zenker tried to torpedo Warspite.


HMS Eskimo after losing her bow


Hermann Künne on fire

Finally, when the German destroyers were low on ammunition, they retreated, except for Hermann Künne, which had not received the order. Hermann Künne was fired upon by the pursuing HMS Eskimo, but she took no hits. Out of ammunition but undamaged, Hermann Künne was scuttled by her crew in Trollvika in the Herjangsfjord. After scuttling the ship, the crew placed demolition depth charges on the ship, attempting to sink her in Trollvika's shallow waters. Eskimo, still in hot pursuit, launched a torpedo which hit Hermann Künne, setting her on fire. Whether the German ship's own depth charges or the torpedo from Eskimo was the source of the explosion is unclear. Eskimo was in turn ambushed by Georg Thiele and Hans Ludemann, losing her bow but surviving. Diether von Roeder and Erich Giese, both suffering engine problems, fired upon the British forces while still docked, damaging Punjabi and Cossack but they were both sunk before they could cause further damage. That was the last German counter-attack.

Shore batteries and installations were also very badly damaged by Warspite's guns. On the Allied side, the damage to HMS Eskimo kept her in Norway until 31 May 1940. German submarines again suffered torpedo failures, when U-46 and U-48 fired at the departing Warspite on 14 April.

The remaining German destroyers (Wolfgang Zenker, Georg Thiele, Bernd von Arnim and Hans Lüdemann) retreated into Rombaksfjord and were scuttled soon after. The only German ship which survived within the port area was the submarine U-51.

The Germans lost over 1,000 men, a U-boat, and eight destroyers.[38] With the losses from the previous battle this constituted 50% of the Kriegsmarine's destroyer strength.


The wreck of the scuttled Bernd von Arnim in the Rombaksfjord

It was reported that shipwrecked Germans from Erich Giese were fired upon by British artillery and machine guns during the engagement.

About 2,600 survivors were organised into an improvised marine infantry unit, the Gebirgsmarine and fought with the 139. Gebirgsjägerregiment in the subsequent land battle. Although unsuited for combat in the mountainous terrain around Narvik, the shipwrecked sailors manned the two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) FlaK guns and the 11 light anti-aircraft guns salvaged from the ships sunk during the naval battles and conducted defensive operations.[5] The sailors were armed from the stocks captured at the Norwegian army base Elvegårdsmoen, more than 8,000 Krag-Jørgensen rifles and 315 machine guns intended for the mobilisation of Norwegian army units in the Narvik area.

Battles of Narvik - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other events on 13 April


1617 April 13 - Spanish under Ribera vs Venetians


1716 – Death of Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, English admiral and politician (b. 1648)

Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington (c. 1648 – 13 April 1716) was an English admiral and politician. Dismissed by King James II in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Roman Catholics from holding public office, he brought the Invitation to William to the Prince of Orange at The Hague, disguised as a simple sailor. As a reward he was made commander of William's invasion fleet which landed at Torbay in Devon on 5 November 1688 thus initiating the Glorious Revolution.

Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1731 – Launch of HMS Buckingham, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard to the 1719 Establishment,

HMS Buckingham was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard to the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 13 April 1731.
Buckingham served until 1745 when she was broken up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Buckingham_(1731)


1733 – Launch of spanish África (San Jose) 60 (launched 13 April 1733) - Scuttled 1741

África class, 60 guns
África (San Jose) 60 (launched 13 April 1733) - Scuttled 1741
Europa (Nuestra Señora del Pilar) 60 (launched May 1734 at Havana) - Scuttled 1762
Asia (Nuestra Señora de Loreto) 60 (launched 18 December 1735 at Havana) - Stricken 1746
América (Nuestra Señora de Bethlehen) 60 (launched 21 January 1736 at Havana) - Captured by Britain 1762, released?

Spanish ship America (1736) - Wikipedia

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1769 Captain Cook arrives at Tahiti


1778 HMS Victory (100), Cptn. Jonathan Faulknor, sailed on first commissioned voyage

HMS Victory - Wikipedia

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1805 – Launch of Streatham was launched in 1805 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC).

Streatham was launched in 1805 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages for the EIC. On her second voyage the French captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her some months later. She was broken up in 1821.

Streatham (1805 EIC ship) - Wikipedia

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1809 April 13–17 - British capture French battleship near Porto Rico


1812 – Launch of HMS Nymphe, Lively class were a successful class of sixteen British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates

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


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

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


1816 – Launch of HMS Pallas, an Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule.

The Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule. Twenty-five served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, two being launched too late.
Of the 25 ships that served during the Napoleonic Wars, only one was lost to enemy action. Of the entire class of 27 ships, only two were lost to wrecking, and none to foundering.
The Admiralty ordered three frigates in 1798–1800. Following the Peace of Amiens, it ordered a further twenty-four sister-ships to the same design between 1803 and 1812. The last was ordered to a fresh 38-gun design. Initially, the Admiralty split the order for the 24 vessels equally between its yards and commercial yards, but two commercial yards failed to perform and the Admiralty transferred these orders to its own dockyards, making the split 14–10 as between the Admiralty and commercial yards.


The inscription on this print lists 'Apollo' as a frigate of 44 guns. However, she is listed, and apparently shown in the picture, as a 5th rate of 38 guns. She is depicted fully rigged in port broadside view. Another naval vessel sits on the horizon in the far distance to the left of the composition. 'Apollo' served in the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing two French ships during 1798. She was wrecked off the coast of Holland on 7 January, 1799, while pursuing a Dutch vessel. Hand-coloured; technique includes roulette work.

Apollo-class frigate - Wikipedia

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1816 – Launch of HMS Pitt was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1816 at Portsmouth.

HMS Pitt was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1816 at Portsmouth.
Pitt was hulked in 1853, and was broken up in 1877.


Scale: 1:48. Contemporary copy of a plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Conquestadore' (1810), 'Armada' (1810), 'Vigo' (1810), 'Cressey' (1810), 'La Hogue' (1811), 'Vindictive' (1813), 'Poictiers' (1809), 'Vengeur' (1810), 'Edinburgh' (1811), 'Dublin' (1812), 'Duncan' (1811), 'Indus' (1812), 'Rodney' (1809), 'Cornwall' (1812), 'Redoutable' (1815), 'Anson' (1812), 'Agincourt' (1817), 'Ajax' (1809), 'America' (1810), 'Barham' (1811), 'Benbow' (1813), 'Berwick' (1809), 'Blenheim' (1813), 'Clarence' (1812), 'Defence' (1815), 'Devonshire' (1812), 'Egmont' (1810), 'Hercules' (1815), 'Medway' (1812), 'Pembroke' (1812), 'Pitt' (1816), 'Russell' (1822), 'Scarborough' (1812), 'Stirling Castle' (1811), 'Wellington' (1816), 'Mulgrave' (1812), 'Gloucester' (1812), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan includes alterations for a rounded bow and circular stern

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pitt_(1816)

Vengeur-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1904 - Death of Stepan Osipovich Makarov (Russian: Степа́н О́сипович Мака́ров; 8 January 1849 [O.S. 27 December] – 13 April [O.S. 31 March] 1904) was a Russian vice-admiral

Stepan Osipovich Makarov (Russian: Степа́н О́сипович Мака́ров; 8 January 1849 [O.S. 27 December] – 13 April [O.S. 31 March] 1904) was a Russianvice-admiral, a highly accomplished and decorated commander of the Imperial Russian Navy, an oceanographer, awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. Makarov also designed a small number of ships. The town of Shiritoru on Sakhalin island was renamed Makarovin 1946 in his honor.

Stepan Makarov - Wikipedia

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1941 - HMS Rajputana – On 13 April 1941, four days after parting company with convoy HX 117, the British armed merchant cruiser was torpedoed by U-108 in the Denmark Strait west of Reykjavík, Iceland. She sank over an hour later with the loss of 42 men and 283 of her crew were saved by the destroyer HMS Legion.

SS Rajputana was a British passenger and cargo carrying ocean liner. She was built for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company at the Harland and Wolff shipyard at Greenock on the lower River Clyde, Scotland in 1925. She was one of the P&O R-class liners from 1925 that had much of their interiors designed by Lord Inchcape's daughter Elsie Mackay. Named after the Rajputana region of western India, she sailed on a regular route between England and British India.

She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy on the onset of World War II and commissioned in December 1939 as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rajputana. The installation of eight six-inch guns gave her the firepower of a light cruiser without the armoured protection. She was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland on 13 April 1941, after escorting a convoy across the North Atlantic.

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

German submarine U-108 (1940) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1942 USS Roper ended with the sinking by artillery fire of German submarine U-85 (1941) U-85,

USS Roper (DD-147) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy, later converted to a high-speed transport and redesignated APD-20.
She was named for Lieutenant Commander Jesse M. Roper, commanding officer of Petrel, who died in 1901 while attempting to rescue a member of his crew. As of 2016, no other ships in the United States Navy have borne this name.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Roper_(DD-147)


1942 - USS Grayling (SS 209) sinks the Japanese freighter Ryujin Maru off southest tip of Shikoku, Japan.


1944 - USS Harder (SS 257) sinks the Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi, 180 miles SSW of Guam.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1655 - Action of 14 April 1655 - English under Robert Blake destroy Barbary ships at Porto Farina, northern Tunisia


The Action of 14 April 1655 took place at Porto Farina (now Ghar el-Melh) in northern Tunisia, when an English fleet under Robert Blake destroyed the vessels of several Barbary corsairs. It achieved little direct effect, although it was the first time that ships alone defeated shore fortifications.

Action
Early in 1655, Blake sent a demand to the Bey of Tunis for the return of an English merchant ship and English prisoners, plus an indemnity and a future agreement but was refused. After sailing back and forth between Sardinia, Tunis, and Sicily for nearly two months and sending the demands again, he arrived on 13 April at Porto Farina, where the Barbary ships had gathered for their intended voyage to the Dardanelles to help the Turks that season. The next day, his first division attacked the Barbary ships, boarding and burning them by 8 am, while his second division of larger ships attacked the forts, silencing them by 11 am. This was the first time that ships alone had defeated shore fortifications. English casualties were 25 killed and 40 wounded. The Bey still refused his demands, but Blake's attack helped the Venetians in their battle against the Muslim states two months later at the Action of 21 June 1655. The Ottomans would improve Porto Farina's fortifications over the next decade.

Order of battle
England (Robert Blake)
First Division
Newcastle 40
Kentish 40
Taunton 36
Foresight 36
Amity 30
Princess Mary 34
Pearl 22
Mermaid 22
Merlin 24
Second Division
George 60
Andrew 54
Plymouth 50
Worcester 46
Unicorn 54
Bridgewater 50
Success 24

Barbary states
9 ships hauled ashore (??) - Captured and burnt



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_14_April_1655

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1743 – Launch of HMS Captain, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard,


HMS Captain was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 14 April 1743.



In 1760, Captain was reduced to a 64-gun ship. Then in 1777 she was converted to serve as a storeship and renamed Buffalo.

Although a storeship, Buffalo shared, with Thetis, and Alarm, in the proceeds from Southampton's capture of the 12-gun French privateer Comte de Maurepas, on 3 August 1780.


The Battle of Dogger Bank, by Thomas Luny. NMM

In 1781, with 60 guns back on board, although she only had 18 pounders on the lower deck, she participated in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War at the Battle of Dogger Bank.

Buffalo returned to the role of storeship until she was broken up in 1783.


1733 proposals and revisions
Over time, as British shipbuilding remained stagnant, Britain's foreign maritime rivals, most notably France, continued developing their own ships so that eventually the Navy Board was forced to take note. British ships by comparison with their foreign counterparts were usually significantly smaller — a practice that had come about through a combination of various factors differentiating the role of the Royal Navy from that of the continental navies, but a major factor was the need for a sizeable fleet, and the associated requirement to keep costs as low as practicable. However, by 1729 concerns were being expressed that the ships being built to the 1719 Establishment may be too small, and so a new ship, HMS Centurion, and HMS Rippon which was due for rebuilding, were built with slightly altered dimensions.

In 1732 the Admiralty decided to ask the Master Shipwrights in each of the Royal dockyards to report to them on how best they thought the ships could be improved. The responses, when they finally arrived, were conservative, offering only minor adjustments to certain dimensions. There was little agreement between the changes proposed, and no further progress was made until May 1733 when Sir Jacob Ackworth of the Navy Board — the Surveyor of the Navy at the time — proposed to the Admiralty some changes to the dimensions of the 50-gun and 60-gun ships, most notably an increase in breadth. The Admiralty accepted these proposals, and the ones that followed in later months for the other types, and these new dimensions became the effective new Establishment, though they never technically superseded the 1719 dimensions; there was no 1733 Establishment. Indications are that the Admiralty desired more far-reaching reforms that what was actually implemented, but due in part to the absence of anyone with practical shipbuilding knowledge on the Board, the Board of Admiralty lacked the ability to realise them.

Third rates of 70 (later 64) guns
The 1719 Establishment revised the dimensions of these ships as shown in the adjacent table. Eight 70-gun ships were rebuilt in 1717–1730 to these specifications - the Edinburgh, Northumberland, Captain, Stirling Castle, Lenox, Kent, Grafton and Ipswich - while four more were newbuilt, all at Deptford Dockyard - Burford, Berwick, Buckingham, Prince of Orange (the last originally to have been named Bredah).

The 1733 revision increased the dimensions as follows:

• Tons burthen: 1223 23⁄94 bm
• Length: 151 ft 0 in (46.0 m) (gundeck)
  122 ft 0 in (37.2 m) (keel)
• Beam: 43 ft 5 in (13.2 m)
• Depth in hold: 17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)

Another twelve 70-gun ships were built or rebuilt to the 1733 dimensions - the Elizabeth, Suffolk, Essex, Prince Frederick, Nassau, Bedford, Royal Oak, Revenge, Stirling Castle, Captain, Monmouth and Berwick.

The 1741 revision further increased the dimensions to:

• Tons burthen: 1291 49⁄94 bm
• Length: 154 ft 0 in (46.9 m) (gundeck)
  125 ft 5 in (38.2 m) (keel)
• Beam: 44 ft 0 in (13.4 m)
• Depth in hold: 18 ft 11 in (5.8 m)

The 1743 Establishment of Guns altered these ships from 70-gun to 64-gun, but with more powerful ordnance as set out in the table.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with deck level outline, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed for 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker




Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 'Royal Oak' (1741), a 70-gun two-decker ship of the line, built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is partially decked, equipped, rigged and mounted on its original baseboard. The model has been identified as being the 'rebuilt’ 'Royal Oak’ of 1741, and the dimensions agree closely to the original plans held in the NMM collection. It had a gun deck length of 151 feet by 43 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1224 burden. Internal examination has also revealed that some structural alterations have been made to the model with the moving and filling of gunports in the stern, as well as changes to the stern layout. The name on the stern was probably added later as this practice was not introduced until the 1770’s. The rigging, which is largely contemporary, has had minor repairs carried out as well as some general restoration of the hull, which was undertaken by Jim Lees in the NMM workshop 1974-75. The 'Royal Oak’ had an active career with the fleet in the Mediterranean and was present at the blockade of Toulon in 1744, before it was finally ordered to be broken up in 1763


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for building 'Suffolk' (1740), a 1733 Establishment 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Note that she was a rebuild of 'Suffolk' (1698) a 70-gun Third Rate, two-decker





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Captain_(1743)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1759 - Launch of HMS Sandwich, a 90-gun Sandwich-class second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 April 1759 at Chatham.


HMS Sandwich was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 April 1759 at Chatham.



Sandwich participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780, where she served as Admiral Rodney's flagship.


The moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780 by Francis Holman, painted 1780 shows Santo Domingo exploding, with Rodney's flagship Sandwich in the foreground.

Fate
She was converted to serve as a floating battery in 1780, and from 1790 was on harbour service. She was Richard Parker's "flagship" in the 1797 Nore Mutiny made up of 28 ships. The ship was later used to hang the leaders of the mutiny.

Sandwich was broken up in 1810.

Ghost ship in Trafalgar

HMS Sandwich fires into the French flagship Bucentaure (the vessel shown completely dismasted in foreground, left of centre) at the battle of Trafalgar. Bucentaure also fights HMS Victory (behind her) and HMS Temeraire (left side of the picture). In fact, Sandwich did not fight at Trafalgar; her presence in this painting is due to a mistake by Auguste Mayer, the painter



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the profile (no waterlines) with some inboard detail, and a superimposed longitudinal half-breadth for Sandwich (1759), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, building at Chatham Dockyard.


Scale: 1:64. A contemporary full hull model of a 90-gun, three-decker ship of the line (circa 1760), built in the Georgian style. The model is decked. This vessel measured 176 feet in length (gun deck) by 49 feet in the beam, displacing approximately 1830 tons burden. It was armed with twenty-eight 32-pounders on the gun deck, thirty 18-pounders on the middle deck, thirty 12-pounders on the upper deck and two 9-pounders on the quarterdeck. The slightly unfinished appearance of this model – neither the figurehead nor the quarter figures have been carved – suggests that it was a design for the first of the second rates to carry 28 to 30 guns on each of the three complete decks and only two guns on the quarterdeck. The gun deck arrangements and overall measurements suggest that the model depicts the ‘Sandwich’ (1759), ‘Ocean’ (1761) or ‘Blenheim’ (1761). The ‘Sandwich’ was Rodney’s flagship in his action with de Guichen in 1780. De Grasse was taken prisoner on the same ship after the Battle of The Saintes. The ‘Blenheim’ fought at Cape St. Vincent in 1797 and was lost with all hands in a hurricane in 1807 with Sir Thomas Troubridge aboard. The ‘Ocean’ was with Kempenfelt when he captured part of de Guichen’s convoy in 1781. The model was previously in the Mercury Collection and became part of the Caird Collection in 1929


The Sandwich class ships of the line were a class of three 90-gun second rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.



Ships

• HMS Sandwich

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 22 November 1755
Launched: 14 April 1759
Fate: Broken up, 1810

• HMS Ocean

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 22 April 1758
Launched: 21 April 1761
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1793

• HMS Blenheim

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 12 November 1755
Launched: 5 July 1761
Fate: Wrecked, 1807



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the middle deck, gun deck (lower deck), and orlop deck for Sandwich (1759), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, as fitted as a Receiving Ship at Chatham Dockyard in 1787. Signed by Nicholas Phillips [Master Shipwright, Chatham Dockyard, 1779-1790]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sandwich_(1759)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-class_ship_of_the_line
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Sandwich_(1759

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1781 – Capture of USS Confederacy, a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War by the British Royal Navy


USS Confederacy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War. The British Royal Navy captured her in April 1781, took her into service for about half-a-year as HMS Confederate, and broke her up in 1782


A Revolutionary War painting depicting the Continental Navy frigate Confederacy is displayed at the Navy Art Gallery at the Washington Navy Yard.




Career
She was launched 8 November 1778 at Chatham (Norwich?), Connecticut, and towed to New London to be prepared for sea. From 1 May to 24 August 1779 she cruised on the Atlantic coast under the command of Captain Seth Harding. While convoying a fleet of merchantmen, on 6 June, she and Deane captured three prizes, drove off two British frigates and brought the convoy safely into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On 17 September 1779 Confederacy was ordered to carry the French Minister and his family back to France. Later John Jay, the first American Minister to Spain, his secretary, and family were added to the passenger list. During the passage on 7 November 1779 Confederacy was completely dismasted and almost lost, but managed through the skillful seamanship of Captain Harding to reach Martinique early in December. After repairs, she returned to convoy duty.

Captain Nicholson replaced Harding in on 20 October 1780.

Confederacy was homeward bound from Cape Francois in the West Indies in 1781 with military stores and other supplies and escorting a fleet of 37 merchantmen, when on 14 April she encountered HMS Roebuck (44) and HMS Orpheus (32) off the Delaware Capes. The British ships forced Confederacy to strike her flag. Most of the merchantmen she was escorting escaped. Many of her crew were sent to the old prison hulk Jersey, though some ended up in Mill and Forton prisons.

Fate
The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Confederate, under the command of Captain James Cumming. He paid her off in September 1781. She was broken up at Woolwich in March 1782.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration detail, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Confederate (captured 1781), a captured American Fifth Rate. The plan illustrates the ship as she was taken off at Woolwich Dockyard. She was never commissioned into the Royal Navy. The plan includes a table of mast and yard dimensions. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 526 states that 'Confederate' (1781) arrived at Woolowich Dockyard in 1781 and was docked 18 November 1781. She was broken up in 1782

USS Confederacy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-304235;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1782 – Recapture of HMS Ardent, a 64-gun Ardent-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.


HMS Ardent was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by contract by Hugh Blaydes at Hull according to a design by Sir Thomas Slade, and launched on 13 August 1764 as the first ship of the Ardent-class. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.


Capture of HMS Ardent by the frigates Junon and Chantil





Career
The Ardent was first commissioned in October 1774 under Captain Sir George Douglas. In 1778, under the command of Captain George Keppel, she was with Admiral Lord Howe's squadron off New York, defending the town from the larger French fleet under the command of Admiral d'Estaing. The two forces engaged in an action off Rhode Island on 11 August, though both fleets were scattered by a storm over the following two days. She returned home to Portsmouth and was paid off in January 1779.

June 1779 saw Ardent recommissioned under the command of Captain Phillip Boteler, sailing from Plymouth in August to join Sir Charles Hardy in the Channel. According to the ship's logs, as many as 4/5 of the crew were landmen, and neither Boteler nor the captain of the Marlborough, in whose company Ardent was sailing, were aware that a French fleet had put to sea. Ardent encountered a fleet two days after sailing, and after receiving the correct replies to the private signal, ran down to meet them. The fleet however was a Franco-Spanish fleet, somehow in possession of the Royal Navy signal code book, thus permitting the correct response to Ardent's signals.

With Ardent within range, the French frigate Junon fired two broadsides before raising her colours. Three further frigates, and the Spanish ship of the line Princesa joined the action shortly afterward. In response, Ardent offered sporadic and inaccurate return fire before striking her colours to the vastly superior enemy force. At his subsequent court martial Captain Boteler blamed his failure to return fire on an inadequate supply of gunpowder for Ardent′s cannons, a statement strongly denied by the ship's gunner Archibald Macintyre who presented evidence there was enough powder for fifty minutes of vigorous engagement. The court martial rejected Boteler's claims, finding instead that the inexperience of the crew was the principal cause of Ardent′s failure to respond to the attack. Boteler was dismissed from the Navy for his failure to adequately defend his ship.

Little is known of Ardent's career in the French Navy; however the British re-captured her on 14 April 1782 following the Battle of the Saintes, and recommissioned her that month under Captain Richard Lucas. On 28 August 1783 the ship was renamed Tiger. She was sold out of the service in June 1784.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with quarter gallery decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for building Ardent (1764) at Hull, and later for Raisonnable (1768), both 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by Thomas Slade [Surveyor of the Navy, 1755-1771], and John Clevland [Secretary to the Admiralty]


The Ardent-class ships of the line were a class of seven 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.



Design
Slade based the design of the Ardent class on the captured French ship Fougueux.

Ships

• HMS Ardent

Builder: Blades, Hull
Ordered: 16 December 1761
Launched: 13 August 1764
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1784

• HMS Raisonnable

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 11 January 1763
Launched: 10 December 1768
Fate: Broken up, 1815

• HMS Agamemnon

Builder: Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 8 April 1777
Launched: 10 April 1781
Fate: Wrecked, 1809

• HMS Belliqueux

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 19 February 1778
Launched: 5 June 1780
Fate: Broken up, 1816

• HMS Stately

Builder: Raymond, Northam
Ordered: 10 December 1778
Launched: 27 December 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1814

• HMS Indefatigable

Builder: Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 3 August 1780
Launched: July 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1816

• HMS Nassau

Builder: Hilhouse, Bristol
Ordered: 14 November 1782
Launched: 28 September 1785
Fate: Wrecked, 1799

HMS Ardent (1764) - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardent-class_ship_of_the_line
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-292340;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
14 April 1793 - HMS Phaeton (38) captured French privateer General Dumourier (22) to the west of Cape Finisterre.
San-Iago, a large Spanish galleon prize, also struck to Phaeton but was taken possession of by HMS Ganges (74)


Service in the Channel
In December 1792 Phaeton was commissioned under Sir Andrew Snape Douglas. In March 1793.

Then on 14 April Phaeton sighted the French privateer Général Dumourier (or Général Du Mourier), of twenty-two 6-pounder guns and 196 men, and her Spanish prize, the St Jago, 140 leagues to the west of Cape Finisterre. Phaeton was part of Admiral John Gell's squadron and the entire squadron set off in pursuit, but it was Phaeton that made the actual capture.

St Jago had been sailing from Lima to Spain when General Dumourier captured her on 11 April. In trying to fend off General Dumourier, St Jago fought for five hours, losing 10 men killed and 37 wounded, before she struck. She also suffered extensive damage to her upper works. St Jago's cargo, which had taken two years to collect, was the richest ever trusted on board a single ship. Early estimates put the value of the cargo as some ₤1.2 and £1.3 million. The most valuable portion of the cargo was a large number of gold bars that had a thin covering of pewter and that were listed on the manifest as "fine pewter". General Dumourier had taken on board 680 cases, each containing 3000 dollars, plus several packages worth two to three thousand pounds.

The ships that conveyed St Jago to Portsmouth were St George, Egmont, Edgar, Ganges and Phaeton. The money came over London Bridge in 21 wagons, escorted by a party of light dragoons, and lodged in the Tower of London.

On 11 December the High Court of Admiralty decided that the ship should be restored to Spain, less one eighth of the value after expenses for salvage, provided the Spanish released British ships held at Corunna. The agents for the captors appealed and on 4 February 1795 the Lords of the Council (the Privy council) put the value of the cargo at £935,000 and awarded it to the captors. At the time, all the crew, captains, officers and admirals could expect to share in the prize. Admiral Hood's share was £50,000.



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


HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.

HMS Phaeton (1782) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org