Naval/Maritime History 22nd of March - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1673 – Birth of Rene Duguay-Trouin in St. Malo, France.
French privateer and naval officer, he captured 300 merchantmen and 20 warships during his career


René Trouin,
Sieur du Gué
, usually called René Duguay-Trouin, (10 June 1673 in Saint Malo – 1736) was a famous Breton corsair of Saint-Malo. He had a brilliant privateering and naval career and eventually became "Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King" (i.e. Vice admiral) (French:Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi), and a Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. Ten ships of the French Navy were named in his honour.

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Early career
His family operated a shipping business in Saint Malo, a port favoured by corsairs.

He first went to sea as a volunteer aboard the privateer Trinité, under Captain Legoux, on the 16 December 1690. Trinité subsequently captured François Samuel and Seven Stars of Scotland. In 1692 his family provided him with command of his own vessel, a 14-gun lugger, Danycan.

On 6 June 1692, King Louis XIV appointed Duguay-Truin to command of the forty-gun ship Hercule. He captured five ships at the entrance of the Channel.

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Réné Duguay-Trouin telling King Louis XIV of his exploits.

Nobility
In 1694 Louis XIV awarded Duguay-Trouin with a sword of honour, and made him a nobleman in 1709, with the motto Dedit haec insignia virtus ("Bravery awarded these honours"). At the time, he had captured 16 warships and over 300 merchantmen from the English and Dutch.

On 12 April 1694, Duguay-Trouin, aboard the ship Diligente, covered the escape of a convoy which he was escorting but was defeated by a six-ship squadron commanded by Admiral David Mitchell. Diligente, barely afloat and having lost most of her men, was forced to strike her colours and surrender and Duguay-Truin was taken as a prisoner to Plymouth.

The English admiralty, upon learning that Trouin had fired upon Prince of Orange while flying the English flag, had him locked in an iron room. On 19 June 1694, he made an adventurous escape, by capturing a small boat that he had bought from a friendly Swedish captain whose ship was lying nearby. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Nicolas Thomas, surgeon Lhermite, Pierre Legendre and the quartermaster. After a series of raids on coastal towns in Ireland, Duguay-Truin returned to Saint-Malo.

In 1697, the treaty of Ryswick put a halt to the privateers and Duguay-Trouin spent his time in Saint-Malo. He was involved in a duel with a gentleman, Charles Cognetz, who had allegedly cheated in a game of cards. Both were taken to the police officer, M de Vauborel, who explicitly forbade any further violence.

War of the Spanish Succession
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Capture of Rio de Janeiro by Duguay-Trouin in 1711.
Further information: Battle of Rio de Janeiro

In 1702, as the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, Duguay-Trouin commanded Bellone and then Railleuse. He became an officer in the French Marine Royale. In 1704-1705 he commanded the ship Jason and captured the British ships of the line HMS Elizabeth and HMS Coventry.

On 21 October 1707, together with Claude de Forbin, he achieved his greatest victory against a British squadron, in the Battle at the Lizard.

In 1709 he captured the British ship of the line HMS Bristol.

On 21 September 1711, in an 11-day battle, he captured Rio de Janeiro, then believed impregnable, with twelve ships and 6,000 men, in spite of the defence consisting of seven ships of the line, five forts, and 12,000 men; he held the governor for ransom. Investors in this venture doubled their money, and Duguay-Trouin earned a promotion to Lieutenant général de la Marine.

Late career
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Statue in St Malo

In his late career, he commanded the fleet based in Saint-Malo, then the fleet based in Brest, the fleet for the East and eventually Toulon harbour. He died in 1736, after having written to Fleury to ask Louis XV to support his family.

Duguay-Trouin is mentioned in Volume II, "Within A Budding Grove", of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time (previously published as Remembrance of Things Past). The reference occurs in an interlude section of the work entitled "Place Names: the Place" juxtaposed with other Impressionistic images. This reference specifically compares the brave image of the warrior's statue with the banal image of ordinary people eating sorbets in a bakery, illustrating that at the time, Duguay-Trouin's influence on French society was still so pervasive that statues of his form were commonplace.




 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1703 – Launch of HMS Nottingham, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard


HMS
Nottingham
was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 10 June 1703. She was the first ship to bear the name.

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Samuel Scott's Action between HMS Nottingham and the Mars. Mars was returning to France after the failed Duc d'Anville Expedition, 11 October 1746

Commissioned under Captain Samuel Whitaker, she formed part of Admiral Cloudesley Shovell's fleet that sailed with Admiral Rooke to attack and take the formidable Rock of Gibraltar in 1704. The ship also saw action in the Battle of Cabrita point in March 1705 and in the Mediterranean in 1711.

Nottingham was rebuilt according to the 1706 Establishment at Deptford, from where she was relaunched on 5 October 1719. On 18 May 1739, orders were issued directing that Nottingham be taken to pieces and rebuilt according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Sheerness, from where she was relaunched on 17 August 1745.

The ship, when captained by Philip de Saumarez, also attacked and captured the French ship Mars, which was returning to France after the failed Duc d'Anville Expedition, 11 October 1746. The Nottingham took Augustin de Boschenry de Drucour captive.

Nottingham gained more success with the capture of the French 74 gun Magnanime on 31 January 1748 under Captain Robert Harland.

Nottingham continued in service until 1773, when she was sunk to form part of a breakwater

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Nottingham (1745), a 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Note that this draught was a copy of that drawn by the Duke of Cumberland


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In June 1746 the French sent a powerful force to re-take Louisbourg and capture Nova Scotia. A long stormy journey from Brest and disease defeated them and the third surviving commanding officer, de la Jonquiere took the remnants back to France in early October. Several ships were captured by British cruisers and one of these was the ‘Mars’ which had been driven by bad weather as far south as Martinique, where she refitted. After sailing for France she fell in with the ‘Nottingham’, commanded by Captain Philip de Saumarez, and was taken after a two hour engagement. The ‘Mars’ was very short of men through disease and lost in the engagement 12 killed and 16 wounded. The ‘Nottingham’ had three killed and 16 wounded. The two ships are shown in action in the right half of the picture. The ‘Nottingham’ is on the right and the ‘Mars’ is in the act of striking, her main-mast shot away and her main-yard shot through. Two further vessels can be spotted in the distance. The left half of the picture is plain sea and sky. The museum has a painting (BHC0368) by Samuel Scott , possibly commissioned by Lord Anson, that has an uncanny resemblance to this engraving that they must be connected



 
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Going to miss this thread when it's over, can we get a one year extension?
Hallo Don,
you are right - only two days more and one calendar year is over - First I will built a little bit my model, because I miss her ......
But I am planning to
1) to reorganize this thread somehow
2) will make add-ons, means, I will post regularly missing events
But..... I have to think about it what is possible
please stay tuned ......

and BTW: Many thanks for your feedback Thumbs-Up
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1723 - The Capture of the schooner Fancy was a famous British victory over two pirate ships under Captain Edward Low.


The Capture of the schooner Fancy was a famous British victory over two pirate ships under Captain Edward Low. When off Delaware Bay Low attacked a Royal Navy man-of-war which he mistook for a whaler. The resulting combat lasted several hours and ended with the capture of one pirate vessel.[1] In fact, the captured vessel was not the one named Fancy - factually, the combat should have been called "Capture of the sloop Ranger."

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Artist's depiction of life aboard the schooner Fancy

Background
Edward Low was an eighteenth-century pirate from New England known for his extreme cruelty. He personally killed over fifty men and committed several atrocities such as forcing prisoners he captured to cannibalism. By summer of 1723 Low commanded the eighty-ton schooner named Fancy and was the most feared pirate in the Atlantic, so the British dispatched several warships on counter-piracy patrols. Accompanying Fancy was the sloop-of-war Ranger under Captain Charles Harris. Fancy was armed with ten guns and had a crew of forty-four, many of whom were forced into service. Ranger was a former French sloop which was captured by Low off Grenada earlier in 1723. Her armament and number of crew is not known. Some accounts cite Low as having commanded the sloop Fortune during the encounter with the British post ship HMS Greyhound under Captain Peter Solgard. The sixth rate mounted a twenty gun armament and a complement of about 120 officers and crewmen.

Capture
Low was headed due northwest from the Azores to attack shipping off the British North American colonies. Searching for Low was HMS Greyhound. While cruising off Delaware Bay's mouth, Low and his pirates sighted the man-of-war and gave chase. Low hoisted his Jolly Roger fully suspecting his prey to be an English whaler but when the pirates drew near, HMS Greyhound revealed herself with the raising of her colors and released a broadside into the Fancy as the pirates were preparing for boarding.

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A 1936 postcard featuring Edward Low

Low's schooner took damage and began returning shot while Harris in Ranger maneuvered into firing position. Ranger opened fire briefly with her guns but after only a few minutes both the sloop and schooner chose to flee. A running battle then continued for several hours. Fancy was dismasted by well-placed cannon fire but escaped, while Captain Harris in Ranger was defeated. Wind was not in favor of the pirates, so they used oars to help steer their ships away from the British. The use of oars proved to be pointless when the faster Greyhound came alongside Ranger and the two crews began skirmishing with small arms. Grappling hooks were thrown and the British sailors boarded the sloop. After a few more moments of intense close-quarters combat the pirates surrendered and were taken prisoner. Captain Low's schooner Fancy is said to have carried around £150,000 in gold during the engagement.

Aftermath
Thirty-seven white and six black pirates were captured. Twenty-five of these, including the young Harris, were hung near Newport, Rhode Island on June 19, 1723. Captain Solgard became famous in New York City and in England and also received prize money for the sloop he captured which also carried gold during the time of battle. Solgard eventually rose to the rank of admiral in the Royal Navy. Ned Low continued his life of piracy and took several more ships, including a 22-gun French man-of-war. Depictions of his later career give the impressions that he grew more cruel after his defeat, particularly to his English captives. Circumstances of his death are unknown, though he perished sometime in 1724.





 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1744 – Launch of French Emeraude at Le Havre – captured by British Navy 21 September 1757, becoming HMS Emerald.


HMS Emerald
was a 28-gun frigate of the Royal Navy which saw active service during the Seven Years' War.

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Launched in 1744 as the French naval vessel L'Emeraude, she was captured by HMS Southampton on 21 September 1757 and brought into Portsmouth Dockyard where she was refitted from British service. She was renamed Emerald in December 1757 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in April 1758 under the command of Captain Thomas Cornwall.

Emerald was assigned to patrol and convoy duties in the British Leeward Islands from January 1759, securing three victories over French privateers in the following two years. In July 1760 command was transferred to Captain Charles Middleton, who remained with Emerald for the rest o her Caribbean service. The frigate returned to England in September 1761 and was decommissioned at Portsmouth Dockyard in October. She was declared surplus to Navy requirements on 7 October and broken up at Portsmouth Dockyard in November 1761.



Fine class (28-gun design by Pierre Chaillé, with 24 x 8-pdrs and 4 x 4-pounder guns).
Fine, (launched 27 May 1744 at Le Havre) – wrecked December 1745 off Montrose.
Emeraude, (launched 10 June 1744 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 21 September 1757, becoming HMS Emerald.


 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1770 - Capture of Port Egmont


In June 1770, the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, Francisco de Paula Bucareli y Ursua, sent five frigates under General Juan Ignacio de Madariaga to Port Egmont. On 4 June, a Spanish frigate anchored in the harbour; she was presently followed by four others, containing some 1400 marines. The small British force was under the command of Commander George Farmer. Madariaga wrote to Farmer on 10 June that having with him fourteen hundred troops and a train of artillery, he was in a position to compel the English to quit, if they hesitated any longer. Farmer replied that he should defend himself to the best of his power; but when the Spaniards landed, after firing his guns, Farmer capitulated on terms, an inventory of the stores being taken, and the British were permitted to return to their country in the HMS Favourite.

Unsurprisingly this caused tensions between the two nations, the British recommissioning many vessels laid up since 1763.

On 22 January 1771, the Prince of Masseran (ambassador of the Spanish Court) delivered a declaration, in which the King of Spain "disavows the violent enterprise of Bucareli," and promises "to restore the port and fort called Egmont, with all the artillery and stores, according to the inventory." The agreement also stated: "this engagement to restore port Egmont cannot, nor ought, in any wise, to affect the question of the prior right of sovereignty of the Malouine, otherwise called Falkland's islands."


HMS Favourite (1757) was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1757 and sold in 1784.


Ships involved
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1796 - HMS Arab was the French 20-gun corvette Jean Bart, launched in 1793.
The British captured her in 1795 and the Royal Navy took her into service.
She was wrecked in 10 June 1796.


HMS
Arab
was the French 20-gun corvette Jean Bart, a Révolutionnaire-class corvette launched in 1793. The British captured her in 1795 and the Royal Navy took her into service. She was wrecked in 1796.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with port side stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Arab (captured 1795), a captured French 16-gun Sloop (corvette), as taken off at Portsmouth. She was later fitted as a 16-gun ship sloop. The plan refers to the ship under her original French name of Jean Bart. Signed by Edward Tippett [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard 1793-1799]


French service and capture
Jean Bart was built to a design by Pierre Duhamel; she was due to be renamed Installée in May 1795, but was captured before that could happen. She cruised the Channel, the North Sea, and the Atlantic as far as New York.

However, on 29 March 1795 she was under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Néel when she encountered HMS Cerberus and Santa Margarita in the Channel. They captured Jean Bart, which accounts describe as having 18 guns and a crew of 110 men, or 20 guns and 120 men. Hannibal shared in the prize.

She was sailing to Brest with dispatches from the French minister in the United States. In a deposition, Guillaume François Néel of Saint Malo testified that he had been the captain of Jean Bart at her capture, and that she had had 118 persons aboard, one of whom was an American and all the rest were French. He stated that he had thrown a packet containing the dispatches overboard but that it had floated rather than sunk, and that a boat from Cerberus had retrieved it.

The Admiralty took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Arab. She was named and registered on 6 October 1795. Between July and December the Navy had her fitted at Portsmouth for £515. She was commissioned in October 1795 under Commander Stephen Seymour.

British service and loss
Seymour sailed Arab for the Channel, where she joined the squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren. On 9 June she sighted a cutter and a brig and set off in pursuit, but lost them in the night. Next morning she sighted land, but before she could turn, she struck a rock near the Glénan islands. She could not pull herself off the reef before so much water had poured in that she had to be abandoned. Captain Seymour drowned, as did others of her crew. In addition to Seymour, the sinking cost the lives of her surgeon and 20 seamen. The French captured the 80 or so survivors. The French exchanged the seven surviving officers, who arrived at Plymouth on 13 July on the cartel Displai.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1805 - Action of 1805/06/10, 10th June 1805
HMS Chiffonne (36), HMS Falcon (14), HMS Clinker (14), and the Frances hired armed cutter, engaged French gunboats Foudre (10), Audacieuse (10), and 7 others protecting a convoy off the coast of France.



A French division, consisting of the sloops Foudre, 10, and Audacieuse, 10, fifteen gun-vessels [Four of three long 24-prs. and one 8-in. howitzer; three of one 24-pr. and one field gun; and eight of two 4- or 6-prs], and fourteen transports, under Captain J. F. E. Hamelin, sailed from Le Havre for Fecamp. They were chased by the Chiffonne, 36, Captain Charles Adam, Falcon, 14, Commander George Sanders, Clinker, gun-brig, Lieutenant Nisbet Glen, and Frances, hired armed cutter, and brought to action; but, when the French vessels gradually edged in under the protection of the shore batteries, the British began to get the worst of the firing, though some of the hostile craft were by that time aground. The enemy ultimately got under the forts of Fecamp. In this skirmish the Chiffonne had two killed and three wounded; the Falcon four wounded, and the Clinker one killed and one wounded.


Chiffonne was a 38-gun Heureuse-class frigate of the French Navy. She was built at Nantes and launched in 1799. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1801. In 1809 she participated in a campaign against pirates in the Persian Gulf. She was sold for breaking up in 1814.

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HMS Sybille capturing Chiffonne


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



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1808 – Launch of HMS Crocus, the nameship of the Crocus-class brig-sloops of the Royal Navy.


HMS Crocus
was the nameship of the Crocus-class brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1808 and had an almost completely uneventful career until she was sold in 1815. she then became a merchantman trading with the West Indies and the Mediterranean. She was last listed in 1823.

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Career
The Times reported on 14 May 1808 that "the Crocus, a beautiful brig of 18 guns, built by the apprentices of this port [Plymouth]", would be launched on 25 May. She was actually launched a few weeks later.

Commander Robert Merrick Fowler commissioned Crocus in August for the North Sea.

On 19 February 1809, Crocus, Trompeuse and the brig-sloop Rolla were in company when Rolla recaptured the American ship Factor. Factor, of New York, Johnstone, master, had been sailing from Tenerife when the privateer captured her the day before between Beachy Head and Dungeness. The British sent her into Dover. The same privateer had also captured a brig, which the excise cutter Lively had recaptured and sent into the Downs.

Crocus participated in the ill-fated Walcheren Campaign.[8] Starting on 30 July 1809, a British armed force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren. However, the French fleet had left Flushing (Vlissingen) and sailed to Antwerp, and the British lost over 4,000 men to "Walcheren Fever", a combination of malaria and typhus, and to enemy action. As the strategic reasons for the campaign dissipated and conditions worsened, the British force withdrew in December. Prize money arising from the net proceeds of the property captured at Walcheren and the adjacent islands in the Scheld was paid in October 1812.

Fowler transferred to Charybdis on 18 September 1809. Commander the Honourable William Walpole recommissioned Crocus in October. She then cruised the Channel. Three months later Commander Richard Buck replaced him. Buck sailed her for the Mediterranean on 19 December.

On 19 January 1810, Crocus recaptured the Selberen. By 11 June Crocus was back in Britain as on the 11th a midshipman from Crocus underwent court martial on board Salvador del Mundo in the Hamoaze. The charge was that he had deserted while Crocus was off Land's End when he had been sent with a boat's crew to retrieve sand for scrubbing the deck. The court sentenced him to two years' imprisonment in the Marshalsea, to be mulcted of all his pay, to be declared unworthy and incapable of ever serving as an officer in his Majesty's navy and, at the expiration of his imprisonment, to serve before the mast. The court ordered a seaman who had also seized the same opportunity to desert to 200 lashes. The seaman had made mutinous statements to the purser and First Lieutenant on Crocus when they caught him.

Crocus captured Triton, Thompson, master, in early January 1810. Triton had been sailing from New York to Tonningen before Crocus sent her into Plymouth.

Serbere, Tamansin, master, arrived at Falmouth on 20 January 1810. She had been sailing from Alicante to London when a 10-gun French privateer had captured her on the 18th. Then in May Crocus escorted to Portsmouth HMS Tromp, which had been serving as a guardship at Falmouth.

In November 1810 Commander John Bellamy recommissioned Crocus at Portsmouth, for the Mediterranean. While Crocus was in Portsmouth, a 16-year-old Marine fell overboard on 14 November. His floating body was immediately retrieved but efforts to revive him failed.

Although Bellamy had recommissioned Crocus, this apparently occurred while Buck was on leave. Buck remained in command until he was promoted to post captain on 3 April 1811.

Commander Arden Adderley assumed command in May 1811 and recommissioned her in September.

On 3 February 1812 Powhattan, Parrott, master, arrived at Malta. She had been sailing from New York when Crocus detained her. On 4 September Crocus captured the French privateer settee Formica, of two guns and 25 men. She was three months out of Genoa but had not made any captures. Her crew escaped in the boats to the Barbary shore. Later prize money reports gave the privateer's name as Fournie and the head-money count as 36 men.

On 2 January 1813, Crocus and Minorca captured San Nicolo.

The Powhattan, Parrott, master, arrived at Malta on 3 February 1814. She was from New York and Crocus had detained her off Cagliari.

Adderley received promotion to post captain on 19 July 1814. However, on 7 June 1814 James Hanway Plumridge was promoted to commander in Crocus, but within a month was transferred to command of Philomel. Commander John Stoddard then recommissioned her in July.

Fate
Crocus was paid off in November 1814. The Admiralty then listed her for sale at Sheerness on 9 February 1815. She finally sold on 31 August for £830.

Crocus
Crocus became a merchantman. Crocus of 260 tons (bm), launched at Plymouth in 1808, appears in Lloyd's Register for 1815 with Donovan, master and owner, and trade London–West Indies. In 1820 her trade was London–Malta. Donovan was still master and owner. Crocus was last listed in Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping in 1823.

sistership
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Apelles and Somnambule. This is an engraving by Felix Achille Saint-Aulaire (1801-99), engraver T. Ruhierre, in the book France Maritime, by Amédée Gréhan, published in 1844, though the picture itself dates to 1837

The Crocus-class brig-sloops were a class of sloop-of-war built for the Royal Navy, and were the only Royal Navy brig-sloops ever designed rated for 14 guns. The class was designed by the Surveyors of the Navy (Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow) jointly, and approved on 28 March 1807. Unlike the vast majority of other British brig-sloops built for the Royal Navy in this wartime period, which were built by contractors, construction of the Crocus class was confined to the Admiralty's own dockyards. One vessel was ordered from each of the Royal Dockyards (except Sheerness) on 30 March; four more were ordered in 1808 and a final unit in 1810. All the ships of the class survived the Napoleonic Wars and were broken up between 1815 and 1815.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1809 - HMS Amelia (38), Cptn. Frederick Paul rby, and HMS Statira captured French national vessels Mouche (16), Rejouie (8) and a schooner together with 2 luggers Legere and Notre Dame at Santander.


Action at Santander (1809-10)
On 15 May 1809 Lord Gambier ordered Captain Irby to investigate the situation at St. Ander where an attack was about to be made by Spanish patriots on the French troops in the town. Statira joined him on 8 June but strong winds and current prevented them getting there before 10 June. As they approached they could see firing on shore and several vessels trying to escape from the harbour. The two British ships captured three French vessels: the corvette Mouche, of sixteen brass 8-pounders and 180 men; the brig Réjouie with eight 8-pounders; and a schooner, Mouche No.7, with one 4-pounder gun. They also took two luggers: Légère, which was unseaworthy so her cargo was put on board Réjouie; and Notre Dame, a Spanish vessel the French had seized. The aide-de-camp to General Ballestero reported that the town was in possession of the Spanish and that the French troops had all surrendered. Because of the large number of prisoners, Captain Irby sent Statira into the harbour with the prizes while Amelia remained off the coast in hopes of being able to render more assistance to the Spaniards. The corvette Mouche, which the sloop Goldfinch and the hired armed lugger Black Joke had recently engaged, had been a threat to British trade for some time. Lloyd's List reported that on 20 June the Mouche, French corvette, of 18 guns and 180 men, with "Soldier's Cloathing, and Specie", the "French brig Resource laden with masts", and a "French schooner in Ballast" had arrived at Plymouth. They had arrived from St Ander and were prizes to Statira and Amelia>

Later, one of Captain Irby's contemporary reports states:

I have been cruising for these two months past between Bayonne and Santona.
In addition to the troops I have observed under arms, there has been a great proportion of armed peasantry at Baquio, a small place to the westward of Rachidaes; as our boats were returning from destroying some batteries, they were attacked by armed peasantry alone, who were dispersed by shot from the ship, and also since they have assisted the French troops, when we captured a vessel laden with military stores from St. Ander.

Amelia and the British privateer Sorcière recaptured Wanstead on 3 April 1810. After her recapture, her captors took Wanstead into Plymouth.



Proserpine was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1785 that HMS Dryad captured on 13 June 1796. The Admiralty commissioned Proserpine into the Royal Navy as the fifth rate, HMS Amelia. She spent 20 years in the Royal Navy, participating in numerous actions in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing a number of prizes, and serving on anti-smuggling and anti-slavery patrols. Her most notable action was her intense and bloody, but inconclusive, fight with Aréthuse in 1813. Amelia was broken up in December 1816.

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HMS "Amelia" Chasing the French Frigate "Aréthuse" 1813. Painted in 1852 by John Christian Schetky



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1833 - Launch of HMS Waterloo, a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Chatham


HMS Waterloo was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 June 1833 at Chatham.

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View of Greenwich in 1877 Showing the Training Ship Warspite

Waterloo was cut down to an 89-gun 2-decker and converted to steam at Chatham 1 April 1859—12 December 1859. Following the loss of the modern 101-gun steam 2-decker Conqueror in 1861, Waterloo was renamed Conqueror in 1862. In 1864 she served on the China station under the command of Captain William Luard, and was paid off in 1866.

In 1877 she was renamed Warspite and served as a training ship at Greenhithe/Woolwich.

She was destroyed by fire in 1918, with 250 boys embarked at the time. Three teenage boys later claimed to have started the fire deliberately. They were charged for the alleged act and ordered to three years' detention at a reformatory.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Neptune' (1832), 'Royal William' (1833), 'Waterloo' (1833), 'Saint George' (1840), and 'Trafalgar' (1841), all 120-gun First Rate, three-decker, similar to the 'Caledonia' (1808), but with increased breadth. Signed by H. Spiven [unknown, but signed on behalf of Master Shipwright]

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary sectional model of the 'Caledonia' (1808), a 120-gun three-decker ship of the line, built plank on frame in the Georgian style. Model is partially decked and is one of a pair of longitudinal half models, which together form a full hull model. This is the port half, which depicts the method of construction of square bow and stern in practice before adoption of the system introduced by Sir Robert Seppings. SLR2822 is the starboard half, which shows improvements and modifications of the round bow and stern made by Seppings, about 1814. This new system enabled larger and stronger ships to be built which in turn allowed more guns to be carried. The 'Caledonia’ was built at the Royal Dockyard, Plymouth and was the first ship in the Royal Navy to be rated as of 120 guns. Measuring 205 feet along the gun deck and a beam of 54 feet, it had a tonnage of 2602 burden. In 1857 after a fairly uneventful career, the 'Caledonia’ replaced the 'Dreadnought’ as the Seaman’s Hospital in the Thames and was moored just off Greenwich, taking on the name of its predecessor. It was finally broken up in 1875

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Scale: 1:48. Sectional model of the 'Caledonia' (1808), a 120 gun three-decker ship of the line. Model is decked and is one of two longitudinal half models which together forms a full hull model. SLR0120 is the port half, which depicts the method of construction in practice before adoption of the system introduced by Sir Robert Seppings. This is the starboard half, which shows improvements and modifications made by Seppings, about 1814


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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1871 – Sinmiyangyo: Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 US Marines in a naval attack on Han River forts on Kanghwa Island, Korea.


The Battle of Ganghwa was fought during the conflict between Joseon and the United States in 1871. In May, an expedition of five Asiatic Squadron warships set sail from Japan to Korea in order to establish trade relations, ensure the safety of shipwrecked sailors, and to find out what happened to the crew of the SS General Sherman. When American forces arrived in Korea, the originally peaceful mission turned into a battle when guns from a Korean fort suddenly opened fire on the Americans. The battle to capture Ganghwa Island's forts was the largest engagement of the conflict.

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Background
The United States Navy expedition involved over 1,400 personnel, 542 sailors, 109 marines and six 12-pounder howitzers made up the landing party. Frigate USS Colorado, the sloops USS Alaska and USS Benicia and the gunboats USS Monocacy, and USS Palos were assigned to the operation, all together mounting 85 guns under the command of Rear Admiral John Rodgers and Commander Winfield Scott Schley. Korean forces included the six Selee River Forts, of various sizes, and four shore batteries with over 300 men and dozens of artillery pieces. While negotiations were going on at Inchon, on June 1, 1871, two of the U.S. vessels, the Palos and USS Monocacy, were tasked to reconnoiter the waters of the Han River estuary. Parts of Ganghwa Island and several of its forts faced the estuary. Foreign vessels were forbidden entrance to the Han River because the river's course provided direct access to Joseon's capital city of Hanyang (modern Seoul), which could potentially be fired upon by any armed foreign vessels. It is possible that the U.S. naval vessels were unaware of this fact. Joseon forces stationed on the island had orders to fire at foreign vessels that appeared to be readying to enter the Han, and so at the approach of the two American ships into controlled waters, the USS Palos was engaged by one of the forts; the Palos and USS Monocacy returned fire and silenced it. Rear Admiral Rodgers demanded an apology from the Joseon government and set a time limit of 10 days for receipt of the apology. None came, and so nine days later the U.S. expedition carried out Rogers' threat and assaulted Ganghwa Island.

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A map of the Korean forts with American names

Battle
The battle began on June 10, when the American squadron arrived of Point Du Conde and began bombarding the fort there. The shore party was landed by boats which immediately launched an attack on Fort Du Conde which was taken without serious resistance. Next, the Americans proceeded north a short distance where they captured Fort Monocacy, skirmishing with bodies of Korean troops along the way. After the fall of Fort Monocacy, the Americans rested for the night and became the first western military forces to camp on Korean soil. On June 11, the main engagement occurred, the five warships began bombarding the four remaining forts while the shore party attacked from land. About 300 Koreans, armed with matchlock rifles, swords, and clubs held Fort McKee which was the heart of Korean defenses. One by one the Americans led by Lieutenant Hugh McKee climbed over the fort's walls. Fierce close quarters combat ensued but it lasted only fifteen minutes until the fort was secure.

In the end, 243 Koreans were counted dead, twenty captured and a few wounded. Over forty cannons ranging from two to 24-pounders were also taken and within the next few days the forts were dismantled, with the exception of Fort Palos, on the other side of Ganghwa Straits. Corporal Charles Brown captured a large sujagi, for this he received the Medal of Honor. Under heavy fire, Carpenter Cyrus Hayden planted the American flag on top of the Korean fort, an act which earned him the medal as well. Private James Dougherty personally shot and killed the Korean commander General Eo Jae-yeon, he was also awarded the Medal of Honor along with six others. Only three Americans were killed and ten were wounded, USS Monocacy grounded on rocks off Fort McKee during the battle, she was re-floated and sustained only slight damage.

Though the battle was a victory for American forces, the Koreans refused to begin trading with the United States. It was not until 1882 when a trade treaty was finally signed.

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1893 – Launch of USS Massachusetts (BB-2), a Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of its time


USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
is a Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of its time.[7] Today she is a diving site off Pensacola, Florida.

Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.

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Massachusetts served in the Spanish–American War (1898) as part of the Flying Squadron and took part in the blockades of Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. She missed the decisive Battle of Santiago de Cuba after steaming to Guantánamo Bay the night before to resupply coal. After the war she served with the North Atlantic Squadron, performing training maneuvers and gunnery practice. During this period she suffered an explosion in an 8-inch gun turret, killing nine, and ran aground twice, requiring several months of repair both times. She was decommissioned in 1906 for modernization.

Although considered obsolete in 1910, the battleship was recommissioned and used for annual cruises for midshipmen during the summers and otherwise laid up in the reserve fleet until her decommissioning in 1914. In 1917 she was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for gun crews during World War I. She was decommissioned for the final time in March 1919 under the name Coast Battleship Number 2 so that her name could be reused for USS Massachusetts (BB-54). In 1921 she was scuttled in shallow water in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola and used as a target for experimental artillery. The wreck was never scrapped and in 1956 it was declared the property of the State of Florida. Since 1993 the wreck has been a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve and it is included in the National Register of Historic Places. It serves as an artificial reefand diving spot.


Design and construction
Main article: Indiana-class battleship
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One of Massachusetts' two triple-expansion engines

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Steam steering gear of the U.S.S. Massachusetts

Massachusetts
was constructed from a modified version of a design drawn up by a policy board in 1889 for a short-range battleship. The original design was part of an ambitious naval construction plan to build 33 battleships and 167 smaller ships. The United States Congress saw the plan as an attempt to end the U.S. policy of isolationism and did not approve it, but a year later approved funding for three coast defense battleships, which would become Massachusetts and her sister ships Indiana and Oregon. The ships were limited to coastal defense due to their moderate endurance, relatively small displacement and low freeboard which limited seagoing capability. They were however heavily armed and armored; Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships describes their design as "attempting too much on a very limited displacement."

Construction of the ships was authorized on 30 June 1890 and the contract for Massachusetts—not including guns and armor—was awarded to William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, who offered to build it for $3,020,000. The total cost of the ship was almost twice as high, approximately $6,000,000. The contract specified the ship had to be built in three years, but slow delivery of armor plates and guns caused a delay. Her keel was laid down on 25 June 1891 and she was launched two years later on 10 June 1893. The launching ceremony was attended by thousands of people, including Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert and commander George Dewey. Her preliminary sea trial did not take place until March 1896 because of the delays in armor and gun deliveries. At this point Massachusetts was almost complete, and her official trial was held a month later.

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Massachusetts being scuttled off Pensacola, Florida


 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1896 – Launch of Belem, a french three-masted barque


Belem is a three-masted barque from France.

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Line art of Belem

She was originally a cargo ship, transporting sugar from the West Indies, cocoa, and coffee from Brazil and French Guiana to Nantes, France. By chance she escaped the eruption of the Mount Pelée in Saint-Pierre de la Martinique on 8 May 1902. All Saint Pierre roads were full of vessels, no place to anchor the ship. Captain Julien Chauvelon angrily decided to anchor some miles further on in a beach - sheltered from the exploding volcano.

She was sold in 1914 to Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, who converted her to his private luxurious pleasure yacht, complete with two auxiliary Bolinder Diesel engines 300 HP each.

In 1922 she became the property of the beer baron Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness[citation needed], who renamed her the Fantôme II (French spelling) and revised the rig from a square rigger. Hon. A.E. Guinness was Rear Commodore of the Royal St. George Yacht Club, in Kingstown, Ireland from 1921-1939. He was Vice Commodore from 1940–48. Hon. A.E. Guinness took the Fântome II on a great cruise in 1923 with his daughters Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh. They sailed the seven seas in making a travel round the world via the Panama and Suez Canals including a visit to Spitsbergen. During her approach to Yokohama harbour while sailing the Pacific Ocean the barque managed to escape another catastrophe - an earthquake which destroyed the harbour and parts of Yokohama city. Hon. Arthur E. Guinness died in 1949. The 'Fantome' was moored in the roads of Cowes, Isle of Wight.

In 1951 she was sold to the Venezian count Vittorio Cini, who named her the Giorgio Cini after his son, who had died in a plane crash near Cannes on 31 August 1949 . She was rigged to a barkentine and used as a sail training ship until 1965, when she was considered too old for further use and was moored at the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

In 1972 the Italian carabinieri attempted to restore her to the original barque rig. When this proved too expensive, she became the property of the shipyard. In 1976 the ship was re-rigged to a barque.

Finally, in January 1979, she came back to her home port as the Belem under tow by a French seagoing tug, flying the French flag after 65 years. Fully restored to her original condition, she began a new career as a sail training ship.

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The Belem in Dublin on 14 July 2010

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
10 June 1918 – The Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István sinks off the Croatian coast after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat; the event is recorded by camera from a nearby vessel.


SMS Szent István
(His Majesty's Ship Saint Stephen)[a] was the last of four Tegetthoff-class dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Szent István was named for the 11th-century saint Stephen I, the first King of Hungary. Szent István was the only ship of her class to be built within the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a concession made to the Hungarian government in return for its support for the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets which funded the Tegetthoff class. She was built at the Ganz-Danubius shipyard in Fiume, where she was laid down in January 1912. Launched two years later in 1914, construction on Szent István was delayed due to the smaller shipyards in Fiume, and further delayed by the outbreak of World War I in July 1914. She was finally commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy in December 1915.

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Armed with a main battery of twelve 30.5 cm (12.0 in) guns in four triple turrets, Szent István was assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy upon her commissioning. Alongside the other ships of her class, she was stationed out of the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola. Szent István's commissioning into the fleet came too late for her to participate in the Bombardment of Ancona following Italy's declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915, and she saw little combat for the rest of the war due to the Otranto Barrage, which prohibited the Austro-Hungarian Navy from leaving the Adriatic Sea.


In June 1918, in an bid to earn safer passage for German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats through the Strait of Otranto, the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to break the Barrage with a major attack on the strait. This attack was to be spearheaded by all four ships of the Tegetthoff class, but it was abandoned after Szent István and her sister ship, Tegetthoff were attacked by Italian motor torpedo boats on the morning of 10 June. While Tegetthoff was unharmed during the attack, Szent István was struck by two torpedoes launched from MAS-15, capsizing roughly three hours later off the island of Premuda. She is the only battleship whose sinking was filmed during World War I.

The wreck of Szent István was located in the mid-1970s by the Yugoslav Navy. She lies upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit the seabed while the stern was still afloat, but is immediately adjacent to the rest of the heavily encrusted hull. She is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture.

Otranto Raid
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Szent István sinking in June 1918 after being struck by an Italian torpedo. Tegetthoff can be seen on the right.

Horthy was determined to use the fleet to attack the Otranto Barrage. Planning to repeat his successful raid on the blockade in May 1917, Horthy envisioned a massive attack on the Allied forces with Szent István and the other three Tegetthoff class ships providing the largest component of the assault. They would be accompanied by the three ships of the Erzherzog Karl-class pre-dreadnoughts, the three Novara-class cruisers, the cruiser Admiral Spaun, four Tátra-class destroyers, and four torpedo boats. Submarines and aircraft would also be employed in the operation to hunt down enemy ships on the flanks of the fleet.

On 8 June 1918 Horthy took his flagship, Viribus Unitis, and Prinz Eugen south with the lead elements of his fleet. On the evening of 9 June, Szent István and Tegetthoff followed along with their own escort ships. Horthy's plan called for Novara and Helgoland to engage the Barrage with the support of the Tátra-class destroyers. Meanwhile, Admiral Spaun and Saida would be escorted by the fleet's four torpedo boats to Otrantoto bombard Italian air and naval stations. The German and Austro-Hungarian submarines would be sent to Valona and Brindisi to ambush Italian, French, British, and American warships that sailed out to engage the Austro-Hungarian fleet, while seaplanes from Cattaro would provide air support and screen the ships' advance. The battleships, and in particular Szent István and the other Tegetthoffs, would use their firepower to destroy the Barrage and engage any Allied warships they ran across. Horthy hoped that the inclusion of these ships would prove to be critical in securing a decisive victory.

En route to the harbour at Islana, north of Ragusa, to rendezvous with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen for the coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage, Szent István and Tegetthoff attempted to make maximum speed in order to catch up to the rest of the fleet. In doing so, Szent István's turbines started to overheat and speed had to be reduced to 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). When an attempt was made to raise more steam in order to increase to 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) Szent István produced an excess of smoke. At about 3:15 am on 10 June, two Italian MAS boats, MAS-15 and MAS-21, spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast. The MAS platoon was commanded by Capitano di corvetta Luigi Rizzo, who had sunk the Austro-Hungarian coastal defense ship SMS Wien in Trieste six months before. The individual boats were commanded by Capo timoniere Armando Gori and Guardiamarina di complemento Giuseppe Aonzo respectively. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage each of the dreadnoughts. MAS-21attacked Tegetthoff, but her torpedoes failed to hit the ship. MAS-15 fired her two torpedoes successfully at 3:25 am at Szent István. Both boats evaded any pursuit although MAS-15 had to discourage the Austro-Hungarian torpedo boat Tb 76 T by dropping depth charges in her wake. Tegetthoff, thinking that the torpedoes were fired by submarines, pulled out of the formation and started to zigzag to throw off any further attacks. She repeatedly fired on suspected submarine periscopes.

Film footage about the sinking of Szent István

Szent István
was hit by two 45-centimetre (18 in) torpedoes abreast her boiler rooms. The aft boiler room quickly flooded and gave the ship a 10° list to starboard. Counterflooding of the portside trim cells and magazines reduced the list to 7°, but efforts to use collision mats to plug the holes failed. While this was going on the dreadnought steered for the nearby Bay of Brgulje at low speed. However, water continued to leak into the forward boiler room and eventually doused all but the two boilers on the port side. This killed the power for the pumps and only left enough electricity to run the lights. The turrets were trained to port in a futile effort to counter the list and their ready ammunition was thrown overboard. Upon returning to the formation at 4:45 am, Tegetthoff attempted to take Szent István in tow, which failed. Many of the crew members of the sinking battleship assembled on the deck to use their weight along with the turned turrets as a counterbalance, but the ship was taking on too much water. Szent István's chaplain performed one final blessing while the crew of Tegetthoff emerged onto her decks to salute the sinking ship. At 6:12 am, with the pumps unequal to the task, Szent István capsized off Premuda. 89 sailors and officers died in the sinking, 41 of them from Hungary. The low death toll can be partly attributed to the long amount of time it took for the battleship to sink, and the fact that all sailors with the Austro-Hungarian Navy had to learn to swim before entering active service. The captain of Szent István, Heinrich Seitz, was prepared to go down with his ship but was saved after being thrown off the bridge when she capsized.

Film footage and photographs exist of Szent István's last half-hour, taken by Linienschiffsleutnant Meusburger of Tegetthoff with his own camera and by an official film crew. The two films were later spliced together and exhibited in the United States after the war. The battleship's sinking was one of only two on the high seas to ever be filmed, the other being that of the British battleship HMS Barham during World War II. Proceeds from the film of Szent István capsizing were eventually used to feed children in Austria following the ending of the war.

Fearing further attacks by torpedo boats or destroyers from the Italian navy, and possible Allied dreadnoughts responding to the scene, Horthy believed the element of surprise had been lost and called off the attack. In reality, the Italian torpedo boats had been on a routine patrol, and Horthy's plan had not been betrayed to the Italians as he had feared. The Italians did not even discover that the Austrian dreadnoughts had departed Pola until 10 June when aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that they were no longer there. Nevertheless, the loss of Szent István and the blow to morale it had on the navy forced Horthy to cancel his plans to assault the Otranto Barrage. The fleet returned to the base at Pola where it would remain for the rest of the war.

Legacy
After the war MAS-15 was installed in the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II as part of the Museo del Risorgimento in Rome for the torpedo boat's role in the sinking of Szent István. The anniversary of the sinking, 10 June, has been celebrated by the Regia Marina, and its successor, the Marina Militare, as the official Italian Navy Day (Italian: Festa della Marina).

The wreck of Szent István was located in the mid-1970s by the Yugoslav Navy. She lies upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit the seabed while the stern was still afloat, but is immediately adjacent to the rest of the heavily encrusted hull. The two holes from the torpedo hits are visible in the side of the ship as is another deep hole which may be from a torpedo fired at Tegetthoff by MAS 21. She is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture.

Consequences
Konteradmiral Horthy cancelled the attack because he thought that the Italians had discovered his plan and ordered the ships to return to Pola.

In fact the Italians did not even discover that the Austrian dreadnoughts had departed Pola until later on 10 June when aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that they were no longer there. Capitano di fregata Luigi Rizzo was awarded his second Gold Medal of Military Valor; his first was for sinking the pre-dreadnought battleship Wien in 1917, and appointed a knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy. After the war MAS 15 was installed in the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II as part of the Museo del Risorgimento in Rome. The anniversary of the sinking has been celebrated by the Regia Marina, and its successor, the Marina Militare, as its Navy Day (Italian: Festa della Marina).




 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 10 June


1693 – Launch of HMS Southampton, a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Southampton

HMS Southampton
was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Southampton on 10 June 1693.
She underwent a rebuild at Deptford in 1700 as a fourth rate of between 46 and 54 guns. Southampton was hulked in 1728, and continued in this role until 1771, when she was broken up



1812 - Campbell Macquarie was a ship of 248 tons, built at Calcutta, India and owned by Alexander & Co. of Calcutta. She was wrecked 10 June 1812 near Macquarie Island

Campbell Macquarie was a ship of 248 tons, built at Calcutta, India and owned by Alexander & Co. of Calcutta. She was wrecked near Macquarie Island in 1812.
She brought general merchandise and transported a number of convicts from Calcutta, arriving in Sydney on 17 January 1812.
On 22 March 1812 the ship, under the command of Richard Siddins (or Siddons), left Sydney and arrived at Kangaroo Island, South Australia on 29 April 1812. There it took on board 1,650 seal skins and 33 tons of salt. On 21 May it left Kangaroo Island for Macquarie Island. At midnight on 10 June rocks were spotted. Tacking was not possible and so an anchor was dropped. The Campbell Macquarie struck the rocks at 1.30am and by 2am her stern post broke and water poured in. The pumps were unable to cope with the inflow and at daylight the crew began unloading the cargo, sails, and rigging. Much of it was saved, only to be destroyed weeks later in a storm. On 28 June the crew burnt the ship to salvage its ironwork.
The crew consisted of 12 Europeans and 30 Lascars, of whom four died whilst waiting for rescue. In 20 October 1812, Perseverance rescued 12 of the crew when she called at the island to take on board another sealing party. The remainder were rescued some months later



1820 – Launch of HMS Frolic and HMS Falcon, both 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloops built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Frolic_(1820)


1855 – Launch of French Flèche was an Étincelle-class gunboat of the French Navy.

Flèche was an Étincelle-class gunboat of the French Navy. She served in the Crimean War before being used for hydrographic surveys and eventually as a coal hulk in Brest.
Flèche took part in the Battle of Kinburn in 1855. She served in the Adriatic Sea from 1859, and in Mexico from 1863.
She conducted hydrographic surveys off Brest from 1864. In 1877, she was hulked and used as a coal depot in Brest until 1862, when she was broken up.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_gunboat_Flèche_(1855)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Étincelle-class_gunboat


1896 - Authorization is given for the first experimental ship model basin, which was under the supervision of Chief Constructor of the Navy, Capt. David W. Taylor. The basin, in Building 70 at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., is used by the Navy to monitor new hull designs.


1911 – Launch of SMS Friedrich der Grosse was the second vessel of the Kaiser class of battleships of the German Imperial Navy


SMS Friedrich der Grosse
was the second vessel of the Kaiser class of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Friedrich der Grosse's keel was laid on 26 January 1910 at the AG Vulcan dockyard in Hamburg, her hull was launched on 10 June 1911, and she was commissioned into the fleet on 15 October 1912. The ship was equipped with ten 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in five twin turrets, and had a top speed of 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph). Friedrich der Grosse was assigned to III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of World War I, and served as fleet flagship from her commissioning until 1917.

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Along with her four sister ships, Kaiser, Kaiserin, König Albert, and Prinzregent Luitpold, Friedrich der Grosse participated in all the major fleet operations of World War I, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. Toward the center of the German line, Friedrich der Grosse was not as heavily engaged as the leading German ships, such as the battleships König and Grosser Kurfürst and the battlecruisers of I Scouting GroupFriedrich der Grosse emerged from the battle completely unscathed. In 1917, the new battleship Baden replaced Friedrich der Grosse as the fleet flagship.

After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Friedrich der Grosse and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the British Royal Navy in Scapa Flow. The ships were disarmed and reduced to skeleton crews while the Allied powers negotiated the final version of the Treaty of Versailles. On 21 June 1919, days before the treaty was signed, the commander of the interned fleet, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships. Friedrich der Grosse was raised in 1936 and broken up for scrap metal. Her bell was returned to Germany in 1965 and is now located at the Fleet Headquarters in Glücksburg.



1940 – Beginning of The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.

The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.
For the most part, the campaign was fought between the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), supported by other Axis naval and air forces, and the British Royal Navy, supported by other Allied naval forces, such as Australia, the Netherlands, Poland and Greece. American naval and air units joined the Allied side in 1942.
Each side had three overall objectives in this battle. The first was to attack the supply lines of the other side. The second was to keep open the supply lines to their own armies in North Africa. The third was to destroy the ability of the opposing navy to wage war at sea. Outside of the Pacific theatre, the Mediterranean saw the largest conventional naval warfare actions during the conflict. In particular, Allied forces struggled to supply and retain the key naval and air base of Malta.
By the time of the September 1943 armistice between Italy and the Allies, Italian ships and aircraft had sunk Allied surface warships totalling 145,800 tons, while the Germans had sunk 169,700 tons, for a total of 315,500 tons. In total the Allies lost 76 warships and 46 submarines. The Allies sank 83 Italian warships totalling 195,100 tons (161,200 by the Commonwealth and 33,900 by the Americans) and 83 submarines. German losses in the Mediterranean from the start of the campaign to the end were 17 warships and 68 submarines.



1944 - USS Glennon (DD 620) capsizes and sinks that evening off the Normandy coast, killing 25 crew members, while USS Rich (DE 695), while rescuing USS Glennons crew, loses 90 crew members after striking two mines.

SS Glennon (DD-620)
was a Gleaves-class destroyer, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral James H. Glennon, who was a recipient of the Navy Cross.

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1944 - USS Bangust (DE 739) sinks the Japanese submarine (RO 42), 70 miles northeast of Kwajalein, while USS Taylor (DD 468) sinks Japanese submarine RO 111, 210 miles north-northwest of Kavieng, New Ireland.


1945 - USS Skate (SS 305) sinks Japanese submarine (I 122) in the Sea of Japan.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 June 1794 – Launch of HMS Seahorse, a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.


HMS Seahorse
was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and broken up in 1819.

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HMS Seahorse capturing the Badiri-i-Zaffer, 6 July 1808

Revolutionary Wars
Seahorse took part in Rear Admiral Nelson's attack on Santa Cruz on 25 July 1797. She was with Vice-Admiral Hood's squadron off Alexandria in August 1798.

On 2 September, while on patrol in the company of Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure, Emerald, Alcmene, and Bonne Citoyenne, Seahorse assisted in the destruction of Anemone, a French aviso. Anemone had left Toulon on 27 July and Malta on 26 August.

Emerald and Seahorse chased Anemone inshore where she anchored in the shallow water, out of reach of the two British frigates. When the frigates despatched boats, Anemone cut her anchor cable and drifted on to the shore. While the Frenchmen were attempting to escape along the coast, unfriendly Arabs captured them and stripped them of their clothes, shooting those who resisted. The commander and seven others escaped naked to the beach where the British, who had swum ashore with lines and wooden casks, rescued them.

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A banner bearing the arms of Baron Ferdinand von Hompesch, 71st Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, in 1798 Napoleon's French forces captured Malta on their way to invade Egypt. Seahorse later seized the banner from the French at Malta, about 1797

Anemone had a crew of 60 men under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Garibou, and was also carrying General Camin and Citoyen Valette, aide de camp to General Napoleon Buonaparte, with dispatches from Toulon, as well as some other passengers. Camin and Valette were among those the Arabs killed.

Seahorse arrived at Portsmouth in October 1799, and returned to the Mediterranean in May 1800 as the flagship of Rear-admiral Sir Richard Bickerton. On the way, in the evening of 4 April, she encountered the merchantman Washington which was sailing form Lisbon to Philadelphia, and which cleared for action. Both parties were able to identify themselves in time.

On 9 September 1801, Seahorse left Portsmouth, escorting a convoy bound for Bengal. The convoy, reached Madeira on 23 September, and left the next day. The convoy consisted of the East Indiamen Northampton, Manship, Sarah Christiana, Comet, General Stuart, Sovereign, Caledonia, Ann, Princess Mary, Varuna, Carron, Elizabeth, Monarch, and Friendship.

Mediterranaean
She was paid off for a first time, in October 1802, and was recommissioned in May 1803. She was in action at Lavandon (Hyeres) 11 July 1804. Her next notable action was against the Turkish vessel Badere Zaffereon 6 July 1808.

His Majesty authorized the issue of a gold medal to Captain Stewart for the action; only 18 battles or actions qualified for such an award. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the NGSM with clasp "Seahorse with Badere Zaffere" to all the surviving claimants from the action.

On 10 May 1809, a landing party from Seahorse and Halcyon landed on the small Italian islands of Pianosa and Gianuti. The landing party destroyed the enemy forts and captured about 100 prisoners during four hours of fighting. British losses were one marine killed and one wounded.

On 22 August 1810, while cruising off Tuscany, Seahorse encountered the French brig Renard and the Ligurie. Ligurie escaped immediately but Seahorse was able to drive Renard ashore and cannonade her there. Even so, Renard was little-damaged and was able to get off after Seahorse had left. Renard limped back to Genoa. En route, Renard again met Seahorse, but sought refugee under the shore batteries of Levanto which, although in bad shape, proved sufficient to deter the Seahorse.

War of 1812
She was paid off for a second time, in June 1811 and was under repair at Woolwich from August to October 1812. She was recommissioned in September 1812 under the command of Sir James Gordon. She sank the 16-gun privateer lugger Subtile off Beachy Head on 13 November 1813 after a chase of three hours. The lugger had been so damaged in the chase that she sank before Seahorse could take off her crew. As a result, of her crew of 72 men, all but 28 drowned, her captain, François-David Drosier, and all his officers, among them. She was a few days out of Dieppe and had captured a Swedish brig laden with salt, and a light collier. HMS Urgent was in sight at the time.

On 24 March 1814 Seahorse recaptured the Swedish ship Maria Christina while in company with Pactolus and another warship.

Coast of North America
For more detail about the action off the Potomac on 17 August 1814, see HMS Erebus (1807).
Seahorse was off the Atlantic Coast of Northern America in 1814, taking part in an action off the Potomac on 17 August 1814. (John Robyns, Captain of the Royal Marine detachment of HMS Albion, reckoned the Seahorse took £100,000 in prizes.) In September, she was present at the Battle of Baltimore.

In November, Seahorse was at Pensacola until the arrival of General Andrew Jackson's forces caused the British to depart. Her boats were to participate in the Battle of Lake Borgne. Her officers and crew qualified for the clasps to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants, for the former and latter actions.

Seahorse stopped off at Prospect Bluff, on the Apalachicola River, to embark 64 Royal Marines. She departed on 15 April 1815, and arrived at Portsmouth on 31 May 1815.

Fate
Seahorse was broken up in July 1819


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Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Seahorse (1794). From Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA

j7956.jpg
Plan showing the inboard profile for Seahorse (1794). From Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA

j7955.jpg
Plan showing a longitudinal half-breadth of the upper deck for Seahorse (1794). From Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA

The Artois class were a series of nine frigates built to a 1793 design by Sir John Henslow, which served in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Seven of these ships were built by contract with commercial builders, while the remaining pair (Tamar and Clyde) were dockyard-built - the latter built using "fir" (pitch pine) instead of the normal oak.

They were armed with a main battery of 28 eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate. Besides this battery, they also carried two 9-pounders together with twelve 32-pounder carronades on the quarter deck, and another two 9-pounders together with two 32-pounder carronades on the forecastle.

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Ships in class


There is a beautiful great kit in scale 1:64 of an Artois-class frigate available..... The HMS Diana manufactured by Jotika / Caldercraft

Diana_01_07_lrg.jpg Diana_02_01_lrg.jpgDIANA_lrg.jpg




 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
11 June 1794 - HMS Ranger was the 14-gun revenue cutter Rose, launched in 1776, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787, and that the French captured on 11 June 1794.
The British recaptured her (twice) in 1797 and renamed her HMS Venturer (or Venturier).


HMS
Ranger
was the 14-gun revenue cutter Rose, launched in 1776, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787, and that the French captured in 1794. The British recaptured her (twice) in 1797 and renamed her HMS Venturer (or Venturier). The Navy sold her in 1803.

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Naval cutter
The Royal Navy purchased Rose on 2 January 1787. The Navy commissioned Rose as Ranger in April 1787 under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Featherstone, for Portland and the Start. In 1788 Ranger was fitted for foreign service at Portsmouth, but was paid off the next year. Then in 1790, she was fitted for Channel service. In November 1791 Lieutenant Isaac Cotgrave commissioned Ranger for the Channel.

Capture
Ranger, under Cotgrave's command, was part of Admiral Lord Howe's British Channel Fleet at the battle of the Glorious First of June. As a cutter and thus one of the support vessels there, she did not participate in the battle itself, and so suffered no casualties. Still, in 1847 when the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 June 1794", the surviving claimants from Ranger's crew, if any, were included.

Ranger was cruising in the Channel when on 11 June 1794 she encountered the French frigate Railleuse off Brest. Ranger engaged in some proforma resistance and then struck. The French treated Ranger's crew badly, stripping the men naked and keeping them in the open for two days until they arrived at Brest. The court martial on 11 September for the loss of the vessel acquitted Cotgrave. He then testified as to the treatment he and his crew had received. During the day they were kept naked on the gangway, in the rain. At night they were kept in the hold. When they arrived at Brest they were given some clothes before being landed. The French captain reportedly announced to his prisoners "that was the way he would treat all English slaves."

The French Navy took Ranger into service and kept her name.

I guess it could be "our" Ranger
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for the Royal Ranger (no date), a Cutter. Not in Progress Book or Dimensions Book under Cutters

French service
Between June and July 1795 at Lorient, the French re-rigged Ranger as a brig.

Lloyd's List reported that the "Ranger National Corvette, of 16 Guns" had captured two vessels on 24 August, Providence, Caughy, master, which had been sailing from Belfast to Jamaica, and Somme, of Dartmouth, which had been sailing from Viana to Newfoundland. Ranger burned Providence, but returned Somme to her crew, who brought her into Cork. Then on 8 September Ranger captured Supply, Meriton, master, as she was sailing from Martinique to London. However, the people left on board recaptured Supply from the prize crew and sailed her to New York. Next, Ranger captured and burned Betsy and Brother, which had been sailing from Norfolk to Dublin.

Then in June or July 1796, Ranger captured and burned Britannia, Ford, master, which had been sailing from Liverpool to Newfoundland. Around 15 September Ranger, under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Hulin (later lieutenant de vaisseau), carried diplomatic correspondence from Brest to the United States. By 22 May 1797 Ranger was returning from New York to Brest. Next she cruised in the Atlantic.

Captures and recaptures
On 15 October 1797 Ranger was in the roads of the Canary Islands where she had the misfortune to encounter HMS Indefatigable. Indefatigable captured the "National Brig Corvette Ranger", of 14 guns and 70 men. Ranger had been carrying dispatches for the West Indies, but was able to destroy them before the British came on board.

About two weeks after Indefatigable had captured Ranger, on 2 November the French privateer Vengeance recaptured Ranger. Four days later Galatea re-recaptured Ranger off the Gironde. There being a Ranger already in service, when the Royal Navy took Galatea's prize back into service they gave her the name HMS Venturer.

HMS Venturer
Venturer arrived at Plymouth on 9 August 1798, some nine months after her recapture. She underwent fitting between January and April 1799. The Royal Navy recommissioned her under Lieutenant Daniel Burwood. In April 1802 Lieutenant Robert Jump replaced Burwood. In November he sailed Venturer to Gibraltar.

Fate
Venturer was paid off in Gibraltar in January 1803. She was sold by Admiralty Order on 10 February.



 
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