Naval/Maritime History 17th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 March 1967 - Great Britain, Scilly Isles: the 1,000 feet long supertanker "Torrey Canyon", owned by the Barracuda Tanker Company of Bermuda, with a load of 120,000 tons of crude oil from Kuwait ran into Pollard Rocks and broke apart.


SS Torrey Canyon was an LR2 Suezmax class oil tanker with a cargo capacity of 120,000 tons of crude oil. She was shipwrecked off the western coast of Cornwall, England, on 18 March 1967, causing an environmental disaster. At that time she was the largest vessel ever to be wrecked.

Design and history
When laid down by the Newport Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in the United States in 1959, she had a capacity of 60,000 tons. However, the ship was later enlarged in Japan to 120,000 tons capacity.

At the time of the shipwreck she was owned by Barracuda Tanker Corporation, a subsidiary of the Union Oil Company of California, and registered in Liberia but chartered to British Petroleum. She was 974.4 feet (297.0 m) long, 125.4 feet (38.2 m) beam and had 68.7 feet (20.9 m) of draught.

Accident and oil spill
Main article: Torrey Canyon oil spill
On 19 February 1967, Torrey Canyon left the Kuwait National Petroleum Company refinery, at Mina, Kuwait (later Al Ahmadi) on her final voyage with a full cargo of crude oil. The ship reached the Canary Islands on 14 March. From there the planned route was to Milford Haven in Wales.

Torrey Canyon struck Pollard's Rock on Seven Stones reef, between the Cornish mainland and the Isles of Scilly, on 18 March. It became grounded and, several days later, began to break up.

In an effort to reduce the size of the oil spill, the British government decided to set the wreck on fire, by means of air strikes from the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and Royal Air Force (RAF). On 28 March 1967, FAA Blackburn Buccaneers from RNAS Lossiemouth dropped 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs on the ship. Afterwards RAF Hawker Hunter from RAF Chivenor dropped cans of jet fuel (kerosene), to fuel the blaze. However, the fire was put out by high tides, and further strikes were needed to re-ignite the oil, by FAA de Havilland Sea Vixens from RNAS Yeovilton and Buccaneers from the RNAS Brawdy, as well as RAF Hunters of No 1(F) Sqn from RAF West Raynham with napalm. Bombing continued into the next day, until Torrey Canyon finally sank. A total of 161 bombs, 16 rockets, 1,500 tons of napalm and 44,500 litres of kerosene were used.

Attempts to contain the oil using foam-filled containment booms were largely unsuccessful, due to the booms' fragility in high seas.

Guernsey
When the oil reached Guernsey seven days after the grounding, authorities scooped up the oil into sewage tankers and siphoned it off into a disused quarry in the northeast of the island. Some time later, micro-organisms were introduced to see if they could break the oil down into carbon dioxide and water. This was a limited success, so in 2010, a bio-remediation process was initiated to speed up the process.

Aftermath[edit]
An inquiry in Liberia, where the ship was registered, found Shipmaster Pastrengo Rugiati was to blame, because he took a shortcut to save time to get to Milford Haven. Additionally a design fault meant that the helmsman was unaware that the steering selector switch had been accidentally left on autopilot and hence was unable to carry out a timely turn to go through the shipping channel.[7]

The wreck lies at a depth of 30 metres (98 ft)

SS Torrey Canyon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 18 March


1704 – Launch of HMS Reserve was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard

HMS Reserve was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 18 March 1704.
Reserve was renamed HMS Sutherland in 1716, and converted to serve as a hospital ship in 1741. Sutherland was broken up in 1754.

HMS Reserve (1704) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1736 HMS Biddeford (20) foundered off Flamborough Head.

HMS Biddeford (1711) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1711. She was rebuilt in 1727, and foundered in 1736.


1756 – Launch of Spanish Dichoso 68 (launched 18 March 1756 at Ferrol) - Stricken 15 October 1784

Triunfante class all ordered 1752-54 at Ferrol (Esteiro Dyd), 68 guns

Triunfante 68 (launched 1 February 1756 at Ferrol) - Wrecked 5 January 1795
Dichoso 68 (launched 18 March 1756 at Ferrol) - Stricken 15 October 1784
Monarca 68 (launched 13 June 1756 at Ferrol) - Captured by Britain at the Battle of Cape Santa Maria, 1780, retaining same name, sold 1791
Diligente 68 (launched 25 September 1756 at Ferrol) - Captured by Britain at the Battle of Cape Santa Maria, 1780, renamed HMS Diligence, BU 1784


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with some decoration detail, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Monarca' (1780), a captured Spanish Third Rate, as taken off prior to being fitted[?] as a 68-gun Third Rate, two-decker. 'Monarca' was at Portsmouth Dockyard being fitted between May and September 1780, which cost £15,388.18.0 to undertake. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1813 - Battery at Carri, to the west of Marseilles, destroyed by boats of HMS Undaunted (38), Cptn. Thomas Ussher

On 18 March 1813 boats from Undaunted under the command of Lieutenant Aaron Tozer, landed near Carri, west of Marseille, and attacked a shore battery. Undaunted's marines drove out the occupants at the point of the bayonet, and then destroyed four 24-pounder long guns, a 6-pounder field gun, and a 13-inch mortar, before capturing a tartan that was anchored nearby. Two men from Undaunted were killed and one wounded.

HMS Undaunted was a Lively-class fifth-rate 38-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy, built during the Napoleonic Wars, which conveyed Napoleon to his first exile on the island of Elba in early 1814.


HMS Undaunted at Frejus in France waiting to convey Napoleon to Elba, by Anton Schranz

HMS Undaunted (1807) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1851 – Launch of HMS Miranda was a 14-gun (15-gun from 1856) wooden screw sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1851 and sold for breaking in 1869. Two of her crew were awarded the Victoria Cross for their bravery during the Crimean War.

HMS Miranda was a 14-gun (15-gun from 1856) wooden screw sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1851 and sold for breaking in 1869. Two of her crew were awarded the Victoria Cross for their bravery during the Crimean War.


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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Miranda_(1851)


1882 – Launch of HMS Edinburgh was an ironclad battleship of the Colossus class which served in the Royal Navy of the Victorian era. She was the sister ship of HMS Colossus, being started before her but being completed after.

HMS Edinburgh was an ironclad battleship of the Colossus class which served in the Royal Navy of the Victorian era. She was the sister ship of HMS Colossus, being started before her but being completed after.



Edinburgh was the first British battleship since HMS Warrior, launched in 1860, to carry breech loading artillery as part of her main armament. Warrior had been equipped with 10 110-pounder Armstrong breech loading guns, which had not proved satisfactory, to complement her 26 muzzle-loaders.

Edinburgh's guns were carried in two turrets positioned near the centre of the ship, and the turrets were mounted en echelon. It was expected that, by mounting the turrets in this way, at least one gun from each turret could fire fore and aft along the keel line, and all four guns could fire on broadside bearings; it was intended that every part of the horizon could be covered by at least two guns. In practice it was found that firing too close to the keel line caused unacceptable blast damage to the superstructure, and cross-deck firing similarly caused damage to the deck.

Before Edinburgh the positioning of the conning tower in British ironclads had produced a variety of solutions; the difficulty was that the two important factors involved, maximum protection and maximum visibility, were essentially mutually incompatible. In this ship the conning tower was positioned forward of the foremast for good all-round vision; the chart-house was, however, placed on its roof, and the whole area surrounded by small guns, stanchions and other obstructions to the view. The problem was not solved until the political will to build larger ships in turn allowed more space for command facilities.

HMS Edinburgh (1882) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1885 – Launch of Japanese Naniwa (浪速) was the lead ship of the Naniwa-class protected cruisers, built in the Newcastle upon Tyne-based Armstrong Whitworth Elswick shipyard in the United Kingdom

Naniwa (浪速) was the lead ship of the Naniwa-class protected cruisers, built in the Newcastle upon Tyne-based Armstrong Whitworth Elswick shipyard in the United Kingdom. Together with her sister ship, Takachiho, these were the first protected cruisersacquired by the Imperial Japanese Navy.[1] The name Naniwa comes from an ancient name for Osaka, which appears in the Nara period chronicle Nihon Shoki. She played a major role in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95.



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


1901 - During the Philippine Insurrection, USS Vicksburg (Gunboat #11), commanded by Cmdr. E.B. Barry, begins supporting the U.S. Armys operations under Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston around Kasiguran Bay and Palanan Bay, Luzon, Philippines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Vicksburg_(PG-11)


1941 - HMS Rosaura – On 18 March 1941 the British armed boarding vessel HMS Rosaura struck a mine off Tobruk, Libya and sank, killing 78 people. (Note – Image is from World War I service as HMHS Dieppe.)

Dieppe was a steam passenger ferry that was built in 1905 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. She was requisitioned during the First World War for use as a troopship and later as a hospital ship HMS Dieppe, returning to her owners postwar. She passed to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. In 1933 she was sold to W E Guinness and converted to a private diesel yacht, Rosaura. She was requisitioned in the Second World War for use as an armed boarding vessel, HMS Rosaura. She struck a mine and sank off Tobruk, Libya on 18 March 1941.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Dieppe_(1905)


1945 - Four destroyers, USS Menges (DE 320), USS Mosely (DE 321), USS Pride (DE 323) and USS Lowe (DE 325), sink the German submarine U 866 south of Nova Scotia.


1945 - Planes from Task Force 58 attack airfields on southern Kyushu and shipping lanes, including a Japanese convoy escorted by Coast Defense Vessel No. 29 and submarine chaser Ch 58.


1999 – Launch of The Sea Cloud II is a large barque built as a cruise ship, and operated by Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH of Hamburg, Germany

The Sea Cloud II is a large barque built as a cruise ship, and operated by Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH of Hamburg, Germany. A luxury vessel, she sails under the Maltese flag. The Roman suffix II indicates that she is the company's second ship. She is neither a sister to, nor the successor of, the Sea Cloud (ex Hussar II), but a separate vessel.

Sea Cloud II - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2006 Action of 18 March 2006

While conducting maritime security operations as part of Combined Task Force 150 in the Indian Ocean, USS Cape St. George (CG 71) and USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) return fire on a group of pirates, killing one and wounding five. The incident occurs about 25 nautical miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia in international waters.

Action of 18 March 2006 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1279 - Battle of Yamen - Yuan Dynasty defeats Song Dynasty


The naval Battle of Yamen (simplified Chinese: 崖门战役; traditional Chinese: 厓門戰役) (also known as the Naval Battle of Mount Ya; simplified Chinese: 崖山海战; traditional Chinese: 厓山海戰) took place on 19 March 1279 and is considered to be the last standof the Song dynasty against the invading Mongol Yuan dynasty. Although outnumbered 10:1, the Yuan navy delivered a crushing tactical and strategic victory, destroying the Song.

Today, the battle site is located at Yamen, in Xinhui County, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China.


A park in commemoration of the battle in Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong



Background
In 1276, the Southern Song court, in their rush to flee the capital city of Lin'an to avoid Mongol invaders approaching Fuzhou, left Emperor Gong behind to be captured. Hopes of resistance centered on two young princes, Gong's brothers. The older boy, Zhao Shi, who was nine years old, was declared emperor.[clarification needed]

In 1277, when Fuzhou fell to the Mongols, the exiled dynasty fled to Quanzhou, where Zhang Shijie, the Grand General of Song, hoped to borrow boats to continue their flight. However, the Muslim merchant Fu Shougeng refused their request, prompting Zhang to confiscate Fu's properties and flee on stolen boats with the Song court. In fury, Fu slaughtered the imperial clan and many officials in Quanzhou and surrendered to the Yuan, strengthening the Mongols' naval power.

At this point of the war it was obvious the Song did not stand a chance when fighting the Yuan head-on. Zhang Shijie decided to build a vast fleet with what remained, to allow the Song court and soldiers to move from place to place until the situation improved.

The Song court sailed to Guangdong from Quanzhou. However, Zhao Shi's boat capsized in a storm on the way to Leizhou. Although he survived, he fell ill because of this ordeal. The imperial court later sought refuge in Lantau Island's Mui Wo, where Emperor Zhao Shi eventually died[citation needed]; he was succeeded by his younger sibling, Zhao Bing, who was seven. Zhang Shijie brought the new emperor to Yamen and prepared the defense against the Yuan there.

In 1278 Wen Tianxiang, who had fought against the Yuan in Guangdong and Jiangxi, was captured by Wang Weiyi in HaifengCounty, eliminating all the Song land forces nearby.

Battle
In 1279 Zhang Hongfan of the Yuan attacked the Song navy in Yamen. Li Heng, who previously had captured Guangzhou, reinforced Zhang Hongfan. Some within the Song forces suggested that the navy should first claim the mouth of the bay, to secure their line of retreat to the west. Zhang Shijie turned down this suggestion in order to prevent his soldiers from fleeing the battle. He then ordered the burning of all palaces, houses and forts on land for the same reason.

Zhang Shijie ordered about 1,000 ships to be chained together, forming a long string within the bay, and placed Emperor Huaizong's boat in the center of his fleet. This was done to prevent individual Song ships from fleeing the battle. The Yuan forces steered fire ships into the Song formation, but the Song ships were prepared for such an attack: all Song ships had been painted with fire-resistant mud. The Yuan navy then blockaded the bay, while the Yuan army cut off the Song's fresh water and wood sources on land. The Song side, with many non-combatants, soon ran out of supplies. The Song soldiers were forced to eat dry foods and drink sea water, causing nausea and vomiting. Zhang Hongfan even kidnapped Zhang Shijie's nephew, asking Zhang Shijie to surrender on three occasions, to no avail.

In the afternoon of 18 March Zhang Hongfan prepared for a massive assault. The employment of cannons was turned down because Hongfan felt that cannons could break the chains of the formation too effectively, making it easy for the Song ships to retreat. The next day Zhang Hongfan split his naval forces into four parts: one each for the Song's east, north, and south sides, while Hongfan led the remaining portion to about a li away from the Song forces.

First, the north flank engaged the Song forces but were repulsed. The Yuan then began playing festive music, leading the Song to think that the Yuan forces were having a banquet and lowering their guard. At noon Zhang Hongfan attacked from the front, hiding additional soldiers under large pieces of cloth. Once Zhang Hongfan's boats neared the Song fleet, the Yuan sounded the horn of battle, revealing the soldiers under the fabric.

The Song troops were prepared for a small skirmish, not a large assault. Waves of arrows hit the Song ships. Caught off guard, the Song fleet immediately lost seven ships, along with a great number of troops in the process. The ill and weakened Song soldiers were no match for the Yuan troops in close combat, and the chaotic environment made battle command impossible. The chained Song ships could neither support the middle nor retreat. After the Song troops were killed, the bloody slaughter of the Song court began. Seeing that the battle was lost, Zhang Shijie picked out his finest soldiers and cut about a dozen ships from the formation in an attempted breakout to save the emperor.

The Yuan forces quickly advanced to the center and to Emperor Huaizong, killing everyone in their way. There, Prime Minister Lu Xiufu saw no hope of breaking free and, taking the boy emperor with him, jumped into the sea, where both drowned. Many officials and concubines followed suit.

Aftermath
The History of Song records that, seven days after the battle, hundreds of thousands of corpses floated to the surface of the sea. Reportedly, the body of the boy emperor was found near today's Shekou in Shenzhen, though his actual grave has yet to be found.

Zhang Shijie, having escaped the battle, hoped to have Dowager Yang appoint the next Song emperor, and from there continue to resist the Yuan dynasty. However, after hearing of Emperor Huaizong's death, Dowager Yang also committed suicide at sea. Zhang Shijie buried her at the shore. He and his remaining soldiers were assumed to have drowned at sea, as a tropical storm whipped up soon afterwards. However, there have been suggestions that his death was simply Mongolian propaganda, since no remains or trace of his fleet were ever found.

As Huaizong was the last Song emperor, his death effectively ended the Song dynasty, leaving the Yuan dynasty, under Kublai Khan, with all of China under its control.

A rock was carved in memory of Zhang Hongfan there. Many temples were built in the surrounding area in memory of those who lost their lives in the dying years of the Song dynasty, including Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie. In the 1980s another memorial was built near Shekou to commemorate the boy emperor.

Kublai Khan and his descendants and followers would rule China for 97 years until the rise of the Ming dynasty under the Hongwu Emperor, when the Chinese regained control of their lost territory from the Mongols.

Battle of Yamen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.


René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687) was a 17th century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.



La Salle is often credited with being the first European to traverse the Ohio River, and sometimes the Mississippi as well. It has now been established that Joliet and Marquette preceded him on the Mississippi in their journey of 1673-74, and the existing historical evidence does not indicate that La Salle ever reached the Ohio/Allegheny Valley.


Texas expedition


Painting by Theodore Gudin titled La Salle's Expedition to Louisiana in 1684. The ship on the left is La Belle, in the middle is Le Joly, and L'Aimableis to the right. They are at the entrance to Matagorda Bay

On July 24, 1684, He departed France and returned to America with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They had four ships and 300 colonists. The expedition was plagued by pirates, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies, a second sank in the inlets of Matagorda Bay. They founded a settlement, near the bay which they called the Bay of Saint Louis, on Garcitas Creek in the vicinity of present-day Victoria, Texas. La Salle led a group eastward on foot on three occasions to try to locate the mouth of the Mississippi. In the meantime, the flagship La Belle, the only remaining ship, ran aground and sank into the mud, stranding the colony on the Texas coast.

During a final search for the Mississippi River, some of La Salle's remaining 36 men mutinied, near the site of present Navasota, Texas. On March 19, 1687, he was slain by Pierre Duhaut during an ambush while talking to Duhaut's decoy, Jean L'Archevêque. They were "six leagues" from the westernmost village of the Hasinai (Tejas) Indians. Duhaut was killed to avenge La Salle. The remaining men in the party, afraid of retribution, killed each other, except for two.

The colony lasted only until 1688, when Karankawa-speaking Native Americans killed the 20 remaining adults and took five children as captives. Tonti sent out search missions in 1689 when he learned of the settlers' fate, but failed to find survivors. The children of the colony were later recovered by the Spanish.

Legacy

Statue of de La Salle located in Navasota, Texas

Statue of La Salle in Lincoln Park, Chicago, as seen in the January 1919 issue of National Geographic Magazine.

Bronze plaque honoring LA SALLE, at Old Fort Niagara, NY.

Memorial Plaque to de La Salle in Rouen

In addition to the forts, which also served as authorized agencies for the extensive fur trade, La Salle's visits to Illinois and other Indians cemented the French policy of alliance with Indians in the common causes of containing both Iroquois influence and Anglo-American settlement. He also gave the name Louisiana to the interior North American territory he claimed for France, which lives on in the name of a US state.

Archaeology
In 1995, La Salle's primary ship La Belle was discovered in the muck of Matagorda Bay. It has been the subject of archeological research. Through an international treaty, the artifacts excavated from La Belle are owned by France and held in trust by the Texas Historical Commission. The collection is held by the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Artifacts from La Belle are shown at nine museums across Texas. The wreckage of his ship L'Aimable has yet to be located.

The possible remains of Le Griffon were found in 1898 by lighthouse keeper Albert Cullis, on a beach on the western edge of Manitoulin Islandin northern Lake Huron. Results of testing some of the artifacts were disputed. Many of the recovered artifacts were lost and the wreck was washed away in 1942. A possible shipwreck of Le Griffon near Poverty Island at the entrance to Green Bay in northern Lake Michigan was located by Steve Libert of the Great Lakes Exploration Group in 2001. The organization prevailed in a lawsuit against the state of Michigan over ownership of artifacts in 2012, and in 2013 was issued a permit to excavate the wreck. Only one artifact, a wood pole, was recovered, and it is indeterminate whether it was from a shipwreck.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1745 – Launch of French Embuscade, (one-off 38-gun design by Pierre Chaillé, with 26 x 8-pounder and 12 x 4-pounder guns) at Le Havre – captured by British Navy in May 1746, becoming HMS Ambuscade.


HMS Ambuscade was a 40-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had formerly been the French ship Embuscade, captured in 1746.



Embuscade was a one-off 38-gun design by Pierre Chaillé, with 26 × 8-pounder and 12 × 4-pounder guns and was launched at Le Havre on 19 March 1745. She was captured in the English Channel by HMS Defiance on 21 April 1746.

Ambuscade fought at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre on 3 May 1747, commanded by Captain John Montagu. She captured the privateer Vainqueen on 12 July 1757, and fought with Edward Boscawen against Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran at the Battle of Lagos on 19 August 1759. She was sold at Deptford in 1762 to private adventurers.


lines & profile NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 280, states that 'Ambuscade' arrived to be fitted at Plymouth Dockyard on 23 April 1746, docked 21 August, and launched on 23 August 1746. She sailed on 28 September 1746.


Lines & Profile (ZAZ2265)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ambuscade_(1746)

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1760 – Launch of HMS Thunderer, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Woolwich


HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1760 at Woolwich. She earned a battle honour in a single-ship action off Cadiz with the French ship Achille (64 guns) in 1761, during the Seven Years' War.


Model of a 74-gun ship, 3rd rate, circa 1760. Thought to be either HMS Hercules or HMS Thunderer from 1760.

She foundered in the great hurricane in the West Indies in 1780, reportedly 90 miles east of Jamaica on the Formigas Banks with the loss of all 617 on board.

Among the lost sailors were Captain Robert Boyle Nicholas, son of William Nicholas of Froyle, Hants, and Midshipman Nathaniel Cook (1764–1780), the second child of Captain James Cook.

Two cannons attributed to the ship are displayed at a rum cake factory on Grand Cayman Island. A plaque states that they were recovered in 1984 by the research vessel Beacon.




The Hercules class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

Design
The Hercules class ships were a development on Slade's previous two designs: the Dublin-class, and the subsequent one-off HMS Hero.

Ships

• HMS Hercules

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 15 July 1756
Launched: 15 March 1759
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1784

• HMS Thunderer

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 15 July 1756
Launched: 19 March 1760
Fate: Wrecked, 1780


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Thunderer' (1760), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan represents the ship after the alteration to increase the breadth.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thunderer_(1760)

Hercules-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1779 - HMS Arethusa (32), Cptn. Samuel Marshall, wrecked off Ushant


Aréthuse was a French frigate, launched in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1759 and became the fifth-rate HMS Arethusa. She remained in Royal Navy service for twenty years until she was wrecked after being badly damaged in battle.



The battle between HMS Arethusa and the Belle-Poule, painting by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy

French service
The ship was constructed at Le Havre for privateer warfare as Pélerine. Soon after her launch, she was purchased by the King and commissioned as Aréthuse on 21 January 1758.

In June, under captain Vauquelin, she sailed through the British blockade of Louisbourg. She helped defend the site before departing, again forcing the blockade.

On 18 May 1759, she was in transit from Rochefort to Brest, under the command of the Marquis Vandrenil, when she was intercepted near Audierne Bay (Baie d'Audierne (in French)) by three Royal Navy ships – Thames, Venus and Chatham. She attempted to escape but after two hours, she lost her top-masts and was overtaken by her pursuers. Thames and Venus engaged her with heavy fire, causing 60 casualties before she surrendered.



Royal Navy service
She entered service with the Royal Navy. For the rest of the war, she was in service in British home waters and was responsible for the capture of several French, privateer cutters.

In 1777, a Scotsman James Aitken, widely known as John the Painter, was hanged from her mizzenmast for burning the Rope House at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard on 7 December 1776, to aid the cause of American independence . The mast was struck from the ship and re-erected at the dockyard entrance so as many people as possible could watch the execution. This was the only execution for arson in royal dockyards.

Main article: Action of 17 June 1778
On 17 June 1778, she fought a famous duel against the French, 36-gun frigate, Belle Poule. Belle Poule was on a reconnaissance mission, along with the 26-gun Licorne, the corvette Hirondelle and the smaller Coureur when she encountered a large British squadron that included Arethusa at a point 23 miles (37 km) south of The Lizard. Admiral Keppel, commanding the British fleet ordered that the French ships be pursued.

The captain of Belle Poule refused the order to sail back to the British fleet. The British fired a warning shot across his ship's bow, to which he responded with a full broadside.[4] This began a furious, two-hour battle between the two ships that resulted in the deaths of the French second captain and 30 of the crew. However, Arethusa was crippled by the loss of a mast and withdrew, allowing Belle Poule to escape.

This battle was the first between British and French naval forces during the American Revolutionary War and took place around three weeks before the formal declaration of war by France.

The battle was widely celebrated in France as a victory, even inspiring a hair-style in court circles that included a model of Belle Poule. It was also viewed as a victory in Britain and became the subject of a traditional Sea shanty, The Saucy Arethusa (Roud # 12675). Arethusa is also the subject of a song on the Decemberists' album Her Majesty the Decemberists.

On 18 March 1779, under captain Charles Holmes Everitt, Arethusa engaged the French Aigrette, sustaining considerable damage in the fight. Arethusa was wrecked the next day off Ushant, at a point 48°27′4″N 5°4′4″W.

It was apparently the fame of this Arethusa which induced the Royal Navy, during the following two centuries, to bestow the name on a further seven consecutive individual ships (see HMS Arethusa) and two consecutive classes of cruisers (see Arethusa-class cruiser).


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Arethusa (1759), a captured French Frigate, prior to fitting as a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate at Plymouth. There are pencil amendments to the after part of the lower deck and platform - see zaz3154 for the plan detail. Signed Thomas Buchnall (Master Ship Wright Plymouth Dockyard, 1755 to 1762). Annotation in top left: "Cabbins on the Quater Deck taken away and made under the Quater Deck , it being much complained of." NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 271, states that 'Arethusa' was docked at Plymouth Dockyard on 20 June 1759 and undocked on 25 June 1759 having been surveyed. She was docked again on the same day for one day, and sailed on 8 October 1759 having been fitted. 'Arethusa' was susequently reftted at Plymouth Dockyard intermittently between May-June 1760, and August 1761 and January 1763.


Bow view sketch, with figurehead, of the French frigate Arethusa, with details of the stern, and inscription, 'The side much the same as the Flora' (on reverse of page 26 which has manuscript annotations) (PAE9586)

HMS Arethusa (1759) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1779 - cutter HMS Drake was registered and established as a sloop


HMS Drake was a 14-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was bought from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. At one stage she assisted an attack on a French-held island, an expedition commanded by a young Horatio Nelson. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Drake spent most of her time in Caribbean waters, until being declared unfit for service in 1800 and deleted from the navy lists.



Construction and commissioning
Drake was built by Henry Ladd, of Dover and purchased while on the stocks as a cutter in March 1779. She was registered and established as a sloop on 19 March 1779, and launched in May that year, having commissioned in March under Commander William Brown. After being launched she was sailed to Deptford where she was fitted and coppered between 22 May and 19 July 1779 for the sum of £1,797 17s 6d.

American War of Independence
Drake was initially assigned to Admiral Sir Charles Hardy's fleet during the invasion crisis in 1779, and after the crisis had passed, went out to the Leeward Islands in February 1780. Commander Richard Curgenven succeeded Brown in April 1781, and in December that year command passed to Commander Charles Dixon.

Dixon took Drake back to England, where she was refitted between April and June 1782 for the sum of £1,595 5s 4d. She then returned to the West Indies.

In early March 1783, Captain James King of the frigate Resistance fell in with the frigates Albemarle (under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson) and Tartar, and the brigs Drake and Barrington (or Admiral Barrington). From here on accounts diverge.

Schomberg's account
King decided, on the basis of the information he had gathered from a French frigate that he had captured on 2 March, to capture Turk's Island. The British landed some 350 seamen and marines under the command of Dixon, while the two brigs positioned themselves to cover the landing and fire on the town if necessary. However, two shore batteries (one of four 24-pounder guns and one of five 6-pounder guns) that the British had not expected opened fire on the brigs. Their fire wounded seven men on Drake and two on Barrington. and forced the two brigs to withdraw. At the same time Dixon ran into a well-entrenched French force that outnumbered his landing party. He was able to extricate his force without casualties. King contemplated a second attack with the frigates, but the winds were not favorable and ultimately the British squadron withdrew.

Nelson's account
Nelson in his letter of 9 March 1783, reports that he was in command of the squadron and the operation. The squadron also included Coquette, a French frigate prize to Resistance, that remained out of the action. Shortly after the squadron arrived at Turk's Island, Tartar left without explanation.

Nelson states that he sent Dixon under a flag of truce to ask the French commander to surrender; he refused. The British then landed 167 troops, under Dixon. Unexpectedly, a shore battery of three guns opened fire on the brigs. Drake's master was wounded, as were some seven men aboard the General Barrington. Dixon reported that seamen were manning the French guns and that the French troops had several field pieces. Nelson then decided to withdraw.


Lines & Profile (ZAZ4719)

Interwar years and French Revolutionary Wars
With the conclusion of the American War of Independence Drake was paid off in July 1783 to ordinary at Sheerness. She underwent repairs and a refit at Sheerness for £2,981 between October 1787 and December 1788, recommissioning in November 1788 under Commander Jeremiah Beale. Drake was initially assigned to operate in the English Channel, at first under Beale, then from November 1789 under Commander George Countess, and from January 1791 under Commander John Dowling. She passed under Commander Samuel Brooking in December 1793, and went out to Jamaica in May 1795. Commander Thomas Gott succeeded Brooking in October 1796, and in turn Commander John Perkins succeeded Gott in 1797

On 20 April 1797 Drake formed part of a squadron under Captain Hugh Pigot, consisting of the 32-gun frigates Hermione, Mermaid and Quebec, and the cutter Penelope. The squadron cut out nine ships at Jean-Rabel without suffering any casualties.

On 17 September, Pelican engaged the French schooner Trompeuse, of twelve 6-pounder guns and 78 crew. During the engagement Trompeuse blew up, though boats from Pelicanwere able to rescue 60 of the crew. During the chase and engagement, Drake was inshore of Pelican and sailed to cut Trompeuse off from taking refuge in Jean-Rabel. Pelican lost one man killed and had five men wounded but Drake apparently was not exposed to hostile fire and so did not suffer any casualties.

On 25 October 1798 Drake captured the French privateer Favorite.

In Drake Perkins, in company with Solebay, Captain Poyntz, shared in the capture of four French corvettes on 24 November 1799 off Cape Tiburon. All four were sailing from Cape François to Jacquemel. Solebay captured Egyptienne, which was of 300 tons burthen, was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 140 men.

One of the vessels was the 16 or 18-gun Eole, which the British took into service as Nimrod. A third vessel was the 12-gun Sarier. The fourth was the 8-gun Vengeur, the former Royal Navy schooner Charlotte.

Fate
Drake continued in the navy until being deleted from the lists by Admiralty order on 3 July 1800. She was subsequently condemned at Jamaica as unfit for service.






Scale: 1:32. A clinker-built contemporary full hull model of the ‘Swallow’ (1779), a 14-gun brig, built in the Georgian style. The model is decked, equipped and scenic. It is depicted on a slipway and can be used for launching demonstrations. There is painted decoration on the stern including a winged fish and the name ‘Swallow’. Sweep ports were fitted between the midship gunports. Built by Ladd, Dover, the ‘Swallow’ measured 79 feet along the upper deck by 27 feet in the beam, displacing 226 tons. It was armed with fourteen 6-pounders. ‘Swallow’ was one of a class of brig-rigged sloops built in private shipyards for the Royal Navy. Its career at sea was short lived: in 1781 it was driven ashore by four American privateers and wrecked near Long Island.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Drake_(1779)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84510.html
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66501.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1790 - HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island.


HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island.


The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island 19 March 1790, by the on-board artist George Raper, National Library of Australia

Construction
Sirius had been converted from the merchantman Berwick. There has been confusion over the early history of Berwick. A note about her by future New South Wales governor Philip Gidley King, describing her as a former 'East country man', was interpreted for many years as relating to the East Indies trade; however, analysis of the maritime nomenclature of the time suggests that this description referred instead to ships participating in the Baltic trade.

Berwick was likely built in 1780 by Christopher Watson and Co. of Rotherhithe, who also built another ship of the First Fleet, Prince of Wales. Berwick had a burthen of 511 83⁄94 tons (bm) and, after being burnt in a fire, was bought and rebuilt by the Royal Navy in November 1781, retaining her original name.



As HMS Berwick
The newly purchased vessel was fitted out and coppered at Deptford Dockyard between December 1781 and April 1782, for a total sum of £6,152.11s.4d. When completed she carried 10 guns, four 6-pounder long guns, and six 18-pounder carronades. She was commissioned for service under her first commander, Lieutenant Bayntun Prideaux in January 1782, and went out to North America later that year. She spent the last part of the American War of Independence there, transferring to the West Indies in June 1784. Paid off in February 1785 she was initially laid up before being fitted for sea between September and December 1786 for service with the First Fleet. She was nominally rated as a sixth-rate, allowing her to be commanded by a post-captain, though she retained her armament of only 10 guns, and on 12 October 1786 Berwick was renamed Sirius, after the southern star Sirius.


Two ships are shown in the yard, one in a wet dock and the other on a launching slipway. Small yards, such as this, were privately owned, and produced and repaired coastal craft and merchant ships. Some received contracts to build brigs and sloops for the navy, allowing the naval dockyards to concentrate on the construction of larger ships. Francis Holman (who died in November 1784) was an important 18th-century marine artist working in London. He often depicted scenes of the working river, like this view, which is probably somewhere along the Rotherhithe waterfront. The ship partly included on the far left, called 'Adamant', has been deliberately named and probably indicates a connection with whoever commissioned the picture. There was such a London-based ship, of 500 tons, built on the river in 1774 and owned from then until after Holman's death by 'Watson & Co' (also noted as B. Watson & Co.). Given that her registered voyage was London to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she probably imported timber on return voyages. There was also at this time a Rotherhithe shipwright called Christopher Watson, who among other vessels built the 500-ton 'Berwick' (1780), a merchantman taken over by the Navy in 1781. Later renamed 'Sirius' she led the 'First Fleet' to Australia in 1787-88, which included the 350-ton 'Prince of Wales' also launched by Watson at Rotherhithe in 1786. It is not known if Christopher Watson, shipwright, was also a shipowner or had such a family connection and he himself does not appear to have owned a shipyard, instead renting space from others for his shipbuilding work. It is none the less possible that this picture illustrates aspects of his operations even though the exact occasion and location at Rotherhithe remain uncertain. The image is all the more interesting because the two central ships shown, one of about 20 guns in a wet berth and the smaller one ready for launch (which the picture commemorates), bear initialled cartouches on the taffrail. That on the left has a crowned cartouche above the letters 'PO', with two open circular ports for chase guns left and right, and then a pair of flying horses in the manner of Pegasus, looking outwards. This suggests it may be a Post Office packet. The vessel on the slip appears to have PO in a simpler cartouche, with two mermen facing inward on either side. Though not a royal event, the Hanoverian royal standard flies on the right, either because of this official connection or perhaps because the date represented is one like George III's birthday or Accession Day.


Voyage of the First Fleet
Sirius sailed under the command of Captain John Hunter and carried Captain Arthur Phillip, who would be the first governor of the new colony. She also carried Major Robert Ross, commander of the Royal Marines who would be responsible for providing security for the colony. The surgeons on this ship were George Bouchier Worgan and Thomas Jamison. According to Sirius midshipman Daniel Southwell, she also carried Larcum Kendall's K1 chronometer used by Captain James Cook on his second and third voyages around the world.

Sirius, with the other ten vessels of the First Fleet, left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787 and arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788, two days after the Armed Tender HMS Supply. The 252-day voyage, which had gone via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope, had covered more than 15,000 miles (24,000 km). It soon became clear that Botany Bay was unsuitable for a penal settlement so Sirius helped move the colony farther north to Sydney Cove, Port Jackson on 26 January. While waiting to move, a large gale arose preventing any sailing; during this period the French expeditionary fleet of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse arrived.


The last letter by Lapérouse, which was returned to Europe by HMS Sirius.

The British cordially received the French. Sirius's captains, through their officers, offered assistance and asked if Lapérouse needed supplies. However the French leader and the British commanders never met personally.

Lapérouse also took the opportunity to send his journals, some charts and some letters back to Europe with Sirius. After obtaining wood and fresh water, the French left on 10 March for New Caledonia, Santa Cruz, the Solomons, the Louisiades, and the western and southern coasts of Australia. The French fleet and all on board were never seen again. The documents carried by Sirius would be its only testament. Decades later it was discovered that Lapérouse's expedition had been shipwrecked on the island of Vanikoro.

Sirius left the colony at Port Jackson on 2 October 1788 when she was sent back to the Cape of Good Hope to get flour and other supplies. The complete voyage, which took more than seven months to complete, returned just in time to save the near-starving colony.

Two years later, on 19 March 1790, Sirius was wrecked on a reef at Norfolk Island while landing stores. Among those who witnessed the ship's demise from shore was Thomas Jamison, the surgeon for the penal settlement. Jamison would eventually become Surgeon-General of New South Wales. Sirius's crew was stranded on Norfolk Island until 21 February 1791, when they were rescued and eventually taken back to England. Hunter returned to New South Wales, serving as the colony's Governor from 1795 to 1799. One of the sailors on Sirius, Jacob Nagle, wrote a first-hand account of the ship's last voyage, wreck, and the crew's stranding.[8] With the settlement in New South Wales still on the brink of starvation, the loss of Sirius left the colonists with only one supply ship.

Legacy

The HMS Sirius memorial in the Sydney suburb of Mosman.


from HMS Sirius in Sydney.


Monument erected in memory of HMS Sirius at Appley Park, Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK. The fleet sailed from offshore of this location.

Many artefacts have been retrieved from the Sirius wreck. They include three anchors and two carronades. Objects are displayed in the Norfolk Island Museum. Another anchor, as well as a cannon, are on display in Macquarie Place, Sydney. Other Sirius artefacts including an anchor can be viewed at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. A detailed 1:24 scale model of Sirius is displayed in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Small models of all the First Fleet ships are displayed in the Museum of Sydney.

The Sirius wrecksite is protected by the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 and is listed on the Australian National Heritage List.

An Urban Transit Authority First Fleet ferry was named after Sirius in 1984. Bas-relief memorials to the ship were erected in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, Norfolk Island and Ryde, Isle of Wight in 1989, 1990 and 1991 respectively.

The scientific name of the tiny crustacean Mallacoota sirius recalls HMS Sirius. The specimens of this species were collected from the point on the reef where Sirius wrecked.

HMS Sirius (1786) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1798 – Launch of HMS Amphion, a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy


HMS Amphion was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars.

Amphion was built by Betts, of Mistleythorn, and was launched on 19 March 1798.




Career
Amphion's first mission was to Jamaica in 1798, but by 1799 she was off Southern Spain under Captain Bennett. That year she captured a Spanish letter of marque, Nuestra Senora del Corvodorvya (alias Asturiana), on 25 November 1799. Asturiana was armed with eighteen 8-pounder and two 12-pounder guns, and four 36-pounder howitzers. She and her crew of 180 men were sailing from Cadiz to La Vera Cruz with a valuable cargo. She had been part of a convoy of five vessels. Amphion shared with Alarm in the head-money that was finally paid in March 1829.

Amphion remained in the Mediterranean until the Peace of Amiens. In 1802 Amphion was employed in attacking British smugglers in the English Channel and later conveyed the ambassador to Portugal to Lisbon.

In 1803 Amphion was paid off but later recommissioned and transported Horatio Nelson to the Mediterranean to take command. She remained in the Mediterranean under Captain Samuel Sutton, and was part of the fleet blockading Toulon. Amphion was one of the ships selected to hunt and capture the Spanish treasure fleet destroyed at the Action of 5 October 1804. In October 1805 the captaincy was given to William Hoste at Lisbon, and he sailed to Gibraltar and subsequently Algiers before operating off Cadiz and Sicily.

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


Captain Hoste (1811)

In May 1808, Hoste was ordered to attack the French frigate Baleine off Rosas. Amphion succeeded in destroying the vessel without severe loss and in November joined HMS Unite off Trieste in the Adriatic. There Hoste operated against French and Italian shipping for the next three years, sailing from Lissa and periodically refitting at Malta. In this time, Hoste managed to capture or destroy huge quantities of French supplies and provoked the attention of a French squadron under Bernard Dubourdieu. In March 1811, Dubourdieu attacked at the Battle of Lissa and was heavily defeated, Amphion's fire killing Dubourdieu and wrecking his flagship. Two other ships were captured, but Hoste was wounded and the ship returned to Britain.

In 1813 Amphion was attached to the North Sea fleet and late in the year her crew landed on Schouwen-Duiveland in the Netherlands and captured the island. In early 1814 Amphion continued to attack French shore positions along the North Sea coast but with the end of the war returned to Britain. In 1818 Amphion sailed to Brazil and in 1820 she was decommissioned.

Fate
In November 1820 year she was sunk as a breakwater at Woolwich. The wreck was subsequently sold in September 1823 to Joiliffe and Banks for breaking up.

HMS Amphion (1798) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1798 – Launch of HMS Superb, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the fourth vessel to bear the name


HMS Superb was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the fourth vessel to bear the name. She was launched on 19 March 1798 from Northfleet, and was eventually broken up in 1826. Superb is mostly associated with Richard Goodwin Keats who commanded her as captain from 1801 until his promotion in 1806. She also served as his flagship from early 1808 until she was paid off in 1809.


HMS Superb sails silently off the Spanish fleet at Algeciras Bay, while the Hermenegildo and Real Carlosexplode in the background after mistakenly firing on one other. Drawing by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio.



Battle of Algeciras Bay
In July 1801 the Superb was stationed off Cadiz and took part in the second Battle of Algeciras Bay. During the French and Spanish retreat Admiral Sir James Saumarez hailed the Superb and ordered Keats to catch the allied fleet's rear and engage. The Superbwas a relatively new ship and had not been long on blockade duty. As a consequence she was the fastest sailing ship-of-the-line in the fleet. As night fell on 12 July, Keats sailed the Superb alongside the 112-gun Real Carlos on her starboard side. Another Spanish ship, the 112-gun San Hermenegildo, was sailing abreast, on the port side, of the Real Carlos. Keats fired into the Real Carlos and some shot passed her and struck the San Hermenegildo. The Real Carlos caught fire and Keats disengaged her to continue up the line. In the darkness the two Spanish ships confused one another for British ships and began a furious duel. With the Real Carlos aflame the captain of the Hermenegildo determined to take advantage and crossed the Real Carlos’ stern in order to deal a fatal broadside that would run the length of the ship through the unprotected stern. A sudden gust of wind brought the two ships together and entangled their rigging. The Hermenegildo also caught fire and the two enormous three-deck ships exploded. The Superb continued on relatively unscathed and engaged the French 74-gun St. Antoine under Commodore Julien le Roy. The St. Antoine struck after a brief exchange of broadsides.

Battle of San Domingo
She was the flagship of Admiral John Thomas Duckworth in the Battle of San Domingo.

Copenhagen and the Baltic
Superb was commissioned in December 1809 under the command of Captain Samuel Jackson. She went out to the Baltic as Keats's flagship, and was part of the squadron there under Admiral Sir James Saumarez. She returned to Portsmouth, and underwent repairs between September 1811 and November 1812, before commissioning in September 1812 under Captain Charles Paget.

War of 1812
Paget was appointed to command Superb as part of the Channel Fleet, and during a cruise in the Bay of Biscay he took several prizes. In 1814 she was employed on the coast of North America under the orders of Sir Alexander Cochrane and took part in an attack upon Wareham, Massachusetts during the War of 1812.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, longitudinal half-breadth for 'Achille' (1798) and 'Superb' (1798), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers as built, based on the 'Pompee' (1793), a captured French Third Rate.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for 'Achille' (1798), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, building at Gravesend by Mr Cleverley, based on the 'Pompee' (1793), a captured French Third Rate. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806], and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].

The Pompée-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates. They were built for the Royal Navy to the lines of the French ship Pompée, a Téméraire-class ship of the line which had been captured by Britain in 1793.

Ships

• HMS Superb

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 19 March 1798
Fate: Broken up, 1826

• HMS Achilles

Builder: Cleverley, Gravesend
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 16 April 1798
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1865


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and the name in a cartouche on the stern counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pompee (1794), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard prior to fitting as a 74-gun third Rate, two-decker. Signed by Edward Tippet [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1793-1799].


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Superb_(1798)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompée-class_ship_of_the_line

Achille (1798); Superb (1798) - National Maritime Museum

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1799 - the Spanish naval brig Vencejo, which was built c.1797, probably at Port Mahon, was captured by the British


HMS Vincejo (or Vencejo or Vencego, or informally as Vincey Joe), was the Spanish naval brig Vencejo, which was built c.1797, probably at Port Mahon, and that the British captured in 1799. The Royal Navy took her into service and she served in the Mediterranean where she captured a privateer and a French naval brig during the French Revolutionary Wars. After the start of the Napoleonic Wars, the French captured Vencejo in Quiberon Bay in 1804. The French Navy took her into service as Victorine, but then sold her in January 1805. She then served as the French privateer Comte de Regnaud until the British recaptured her in 1810. The Royal Navy did not take her back into service.




Origin and capture
The Spanish built Vencejo as a quarterdecked and forecastled brig, possibly around 1797, and probably in Port Mahon. Cormorant captured her on 19 March. Cormorant was in the Mediterranean proceeding to a rendezvous with Centaur when she sighted a brig. After a chase of four hours, Cormorant Vincejo. Vincejo was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns on her gun deck, six brass 4-pounders on her quarterdeck, and two on her forecastle. She also had a crew of 144 men. during the chase Vincejo threw six of her 6-pounder guns overboard.





Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and longitudinal half-breadth for Port Mahon (captured 1798), an 18-gun brig sloop found building at Port Mahon when the port was taken. The plan also relates to Vensejo (captured 1799), a captured Spanish 18-gun brig sloop. There are some differences in gunwale heights between the two brigs. The plan is signed by Robinson Kittoe as 'acting Storekeeper 1798' at Mahon.

British service
French Revolutionary Wars
Commander George Long commissioned Vincejo in November. However, she had long since already started to serve with the Royal Navy.

In the action of 18 June 1799, a French frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée, which had escaped Alexandria on 17 March and was now returning to Toulon from Syria, met a 30-ship British fleet under Lord Keith. Three ships of the line and two frigates detached from the British squadron, and a 28-hour running battle ensued. When the British ships overhauled them, the French frigates Junon, Courageuse, and Alceste, and the brigs Salamine and Alerte had no choice but to surrender, given their opponents' overwhelming strength. Vincejo was part of Kieth's fleet and shared in the prize money. A few days later, on 25 June, Vincejo sailed close enough to shore near Genoa that shore batteries fired on her; they ceased firing when she hoisted Spanish colours.

In the latter part of 1799, Keith detached a squadron of four vessels, one being Vincejo, under the command of Captain George Cockburn in Minerve. The squadron's task was to patrol the bay of Genoa to cut communication between Italy and France.

During this time Vincejo came to intercept, after a long chase and a warning shot, a large (6-700 ton (bm)) vessel. She turned out to be the Hercules, of Boston, and hence neutral, with no apparent cargo. The American captain explained to Long that Hercules had taken cargo to Leghorn, sold it there, and then had agreed to take a small number of invalid French officers to a French port where he might find a return cargo for the United States. Long was suspicious and ordered Hercules to accompany him overnight in Long's hope that they might encounter Cockburn and that he would decide what to do with the American vessel. Next day, when it turned out that Minerve was nowhere in sight, Long released the American vessel, which sailed off to Nice. Later, the British learned that Hercules had been ballasted with brass guns (violating her neutrality), and had hidden aboard her French plunder in the form of statues, pictures, plate, and the like.

On 1 August boats from Minerve and Peterel cut out two vessels from the Bay of Diano, near Genoa. One was a large settee carrying wine, and the other was the French warship Virginie, which was a Turkish-built half-galley of 26 oars, six guns and 36 men, that the French had captured at Malta the year before. Minerve and Peterel shared the proceeds of the capture of Virginie with Santa Teresa and Vincejo.

On 17 October Admiral Nelson ordered Long to take Vincejo on a fortnight's cruise off Toulon and the Îles d'Hyères. One month later, on 16 November, Vincejo communicated with Nelson at Palermo that six French vessels (two Venetian ships armed en flute, two frigates, and two corvettes) had left Toulon. Long believed that they were sailing to Malta to reinforce the French there and so he was sailing there too to warn the Marquise of Niza, the commander of the Portuguese squadron that Nelson had sent to Valletta to initiate a blockade.

In December, Vincejo captured a French vessel carrying a General Voix and 75 officers, mostly members of Napoleon's staff, on their way back to France from Egypt. Long was able to retrieve the dispatches the French had thrown overboard as they had failed to weight them adequately.

On 8 February 1800, Vincejo left Port Mahon as escort to a transport that was carrying to Malta a surgeon's mate and some medical stores that General Henry Edward Fox, lieutenant-governor of Menorca, had provided. The British forces besieging Valletta, especially the Royal Marines and the 89th Regiment of Foot, were suffering from fever, probably typhus.

In late February and early March Vencejo was still off Valletta. Then on 10 March Nelson put the squadron off Valletta, including Vincejo, under the command of Captain Troubridge in Foudroyant.

In the action of 31 March 1800, a British squadron consisting of the ships of the line Foudroyant and Lion, frigate Penelope, brigs Minorca and Vincejo, and bomb vessel Strombolo captured the French ship of the line Guillaume Tell. Although all six vessels of the British squadron shared the prize money, only the two ships of the line and the frigate actually engaged in the battle.

Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and Vincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on 6 April.

On 25 June, Success captured the French aviso Intreprenante (or Entreprenante). The next day Success captured another aviso, Redoutable, with the same armament, establishment, and mission as Intreprenante. Unfortunately for Success, she had to share the prize money with a large number of other British warships, including Vincejo.

On 1 August Vincejo captured the French naval ketch Etoile, of six guns and 60 men, which was sailing from Toulon to Malta with provisions for the French forces there. French records describe Etoile as an aviso, and give the name of her captain as enseigne de vaisseau auxiliaire Reynaud and the place of capture as off Cap Bon.

The French frigates Diane (or Dianne) and Justice escaped from Valletta Harbour on 24 August. Success, Northumberland, and Genereux captured Diane, which the British took into service as HMS Niobe, but Justice escaped. As part of the blockading squadron, Vincejo shared in the prize money for Diane.

On 17 April 1801 Vincenjo captured the privateer Superbe. Then one month later, on 15 or 17 May, Vincejo captured the privateer Serpente. Vencejo was also among the vessels of the British squadron that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the St. Nicbola on 15 September.

Vincejo was part of the British squadron supporting the Anglo-Tuscan forces at the Siege of Porto Ferrajo when the French attempted to force the surrender of the Tuscan fortress town of Porto Ferrajo (now Portoferraio) on the island of Elba following the French occupation of mainland Tuscany earlier in 1801. The British went on the offensive on 14 September. They assembled a force of some 449 Royal Marines, 240 seamen, and some 300 Tuscan auxiliaries to attack the French batteries that overlooked the mouth of the harbour. Renown, Gibraltar, Dragon, Alexander, Genereux, Stately, Pomone, Pearl and Vincejo, contributed the marines and seamen, all under the command of Captain George Long and Captain John Chambers White of Renown. The British-Tuscan force succeeded in destroying the batteries, though Long was killed in the attack on one. However, eventually the French, who greatly outnumbered the attackers, were able to force them to withdraw. In March 1802 under Article XI of the final terms of the Treaty of Amiens the British turned over the entire island to the French and Elba remained in French hands throughout the Napoleonic Wars.

On 2 October Pomone, Vincejo, the cutter Pigmy, in company with the privateer Furioso, captured the Belle Aurora. In April 1802 Commander James Prevost took command of Vincejo.

Vincejo arrived at Sheerness on 6 April 1803. Admiralty records show that she then underwent refitting at Chatham between September 1803 and February 1804, with Commander John Wesley Wright recommissioning her in September 1803.

Napoleonic Wars and capture
However, Wright was already in command of Vincejo in August, and carrying out secret missions on the French coast. On the night of 23 August 1803, Vincejo landed Georges Cadoudal and several other Chouans, possibly including Jean-Charles Pichegru, at the foot of the cliffs of Biville. The Chouans were royalists and intended to attempt the assassination or overthrow of Napoleon.

Vincejo continued to patrol the coast between the Loire and Lorient, seeking to capture coastal shipping. At night, she made other forays to liaise with the royalists. On 15 March 1804, Vincejo captured the Delphini.

Between 28 April and 4 May Vincejo chased several large French convoys into the Villaine estuary, the Gulf of Morbihan, Crac, and Lorient. The weak and inconstant winds meant that her efforts had little effect beyond interrupting his quarries' journeys. Then on the evening of 4 May Wright sighted a large ship corvette, of 18 guns, at the entrance to Lorient. Over the next three days he attempted to intercept her and lure her out to where he could engage her. In the meantime, he forced a convoy to take shelter at Le Palais, Belle Île.


Action between H.B.M.S. Vinceio John Wesley Wright Esqr, Commander, and a numerous French flotilla, off Quiberon on the Coast of France 7th May 1804 (PAD5679)

On 7 May, while trying to lure the corvette towards Belle Île Vincejo drove a sloop ashore between Saint Gilda and Saint Jacques, Sarzou. In the morning of 8 May Vincejo found herself becalmed while the tide carried her towards the Teigneuse Rock. As Wright was attempting to warp her out to the channel, he observed that a flotilla of gunboats had come out from the Morbihan and was approaching Vincejo. The gunboats started firing as soon as they were in range and continued firing as they approached. Vincejo' crew alternated between manning the larboard guns and the starboard sweeps, leaving them exhausted.

The French gunvessels stood off at a distance such that although their guns could reach Vincejo, her carronades could not reach them. After two hours of unequal combat, Wright struck Vincejo's colours. Her rigging was gone, her sails, riddled, and three guns were dismounted. She had suffered two men killed and 12 wounded. Wright wrote that he had surrendered "to preserve the lives of my brave men for some better occasion."


First view of HM Sloop El Vincego I W Wright Esqr. Commander, Taken in the Bay of Quiberon, on the 8th of May 1804 (PAG9021)


Second View of HM Sloop El Vincego I W Wright Esqr, Commander, taken in the Bay of Quiberon by Six Brigs & Eleven Gun Boats of the French, on the 8th of May 1804 (PAG9022)

The French imprisoned the crew and took Wright to Paris where they imprisoned him in the Temple prison, where he had spent April 1796 to May 1798 as a prisoner while functioning as secretary to Sir Sidney Smith. Now the French interrogated Wright about what he knew of the royalists and their plans, and particularly about Georges and Pichegru. In 1805 Wright died, reportedly a suicide; British opinion was that he had been murdered.

In 1813, Lieutenant James Wallis, who had been senior lieutenant on Vincejo, escaped to Great Britain. He brought with him a letter dated 14 May 1804, that constituted Wright's official report of the loss. In his report, in addition to the casualties, Wright described 26 men as being unfit for service, without specifying what that entailed. He described the 17 gun-vessels that had captured him as consisting of six brigs each armed with three 18 and 24-pounder guns and having crews of 60 to 80 men, six cutters each armed with two 18 and 24-pounder guns and having crews of some 50 to 40 men, and five luggers each armed with one carronade or shell-firing howitzer and having a crew of 30 men. Wallis received promotion to Commander and in August 1814 command of Podargus.

Privateer and capture
The French Navy took Vincejo into service as Victorine. However, the Navy sold her at Lorient in January 1805.

In 1809, the merchants Gareshé frères, Garreau et Filleau at Lorient equipped Compte de Regnaud, ex-Victorine, for an "expedition de aventure" to Isle de France (Mauritius).

On 30 November 1811, Rover captured the letter-of-marque Comte Regnaud. Comte Regnaud was armed with ten 18-pounder carronades and four 9-pounder guns. She was under the command of M. Abraham Giscard and had left Batavia on 7 August 1811 with a cargo of spices, sugar, and coffee, the greater part of which belonged to the French government, and which cargo she was taking to Rochelle. She turned out to be the former Vincejo. Although Commander Justice Finley, Rover's captain, described her as "well found in every Respect, and sails remarkably well", the Royal Navy did not take her back into service. Prize money was paid in January 1813.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vincejo_(1799)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.


The Georgiana was a steamer belonging to the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Reputed to be the "most powerful" cruiser in the Confederate fleet, she was never used in battle. On her maiden voyage from Scotland, where she was built, she encountered Union Navy ships engaged in a blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, and was heavily damaged before being scuttled by her captain. The wreck was discovered in 1965 and lies in the shallow waters of Charleston's harbor.

Due to the secrecy surrounding the vessel's construction, loading and sailing, there has been much speculation about her intended role, whether as a cruiser, merchantman, or privateer.



Specifications
Georgiana was a brig-rigged, iron hulled, propeller steamer of 120 horsepower (89 kW) with a jib and two heavily raked masts, hull and stack painted black. Her clipper bow sported the figurehead of a "demi-woman". Georgiana was reportedly pierced for fourteen guns and could carry more than four hundred tons of cargo. She was built by the Lawrie shipyard at Glasgow - perhaps under subcontract from Lairds of Birkenhead (Liverpool) - and registered at that port in December 1862 as belonging to N. Matheson's Clyde service. The U.S. Consul at Tenerifewas rightly apprehensive of her as being "evidently a very swift vessel."

Captain Thomas Turner, station commodore, reported to Admiral S. F. du Pont that Georgiana was evidently "sent into Charleston to receive her officers, to be fitted out as a cruiser there. She had 140 men on board, with an armament of guns and gun carriages in her hold, commanded by a British naval retired officer."

The wreck


Wreck Chart by E. Lee Spence showing the location and a cross section of the wreck of the Georgiana.


Artifacts recovered from the wrecks of Georgiana and Mary Bowers

The Georgiana was lost on the night of 19 March 1863, while attempting to run past the Federal Blockading Squadron and into Charleston, South Carolina. She had been spotted by the armed U.S. Yacht America (of the famed America's Cup racing trophy) which alerted the remainder of the blockade fleet by shooting up colored signal flares. The Georgiana was sunk after a desperate chase in which she came so close to the big guns aboard the USS Wissahickon that her crew even heard the orders being given on the U.S. vessel. With solid shot passing entirely though her hull, her propeller and rudder damaged, and with no hope for escape, Capt. A. B. Davidson flashed a white light in token of surrender, thus gaining time to beach his ship in fourteen feet (4.3 m) of water, three-quarters of a mile (1200 m) from shore and, after first scuttling her, escaped on the land side with all hands; this was construed as "the most consummate treachery" by the disappointed blockading crew, who would have shared in the proceeds from the prize.

Lt. Comdr. John L. Davis, commanding Wissahickon decided to set the wreck afire lest guerrilla bands from shore try to salvage her or her cargo: she burned for several days accompanied by large black powder explosions.

Discovery
The wreck was discovered by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence in 1965.

Today the Georgiana sits on the bottom with her huge boiler only five feet (1.5 m) under the surface. She is now plumed with a wide array of sea fan, sea whips, and living corals. Large sections of the hull are still intact. In places the starboard side of the shattered blockade runner protrudes over nine feet (3 m) from the sand. Under the mud and sand lies the remainder of the hull of the ill-fated warship.

On a clear day, skin divers can dive down into the Georgiana's immense cargo hold simply by holding their breath. They can swim right past the remaining iron deck supports. The ship's deck was white pine and has long since been eaten away. Sea urchins and sea anemones abound on the wreck. The wreck is frequented by sea bass, grouper, flounder, stingrays, seahorses, and toadfish.

Once in the Georgiana's cargo hold, divers can observe heavily encrusted artifacts sitting where they have lain for over one hundred years. Near the forward cargo hatch Spence found boxes of pins and buttons. Spence recovered sundries, munitions, and medicines easily worth over $12,000,000, but he never found the 350 pounds (160 kg) of gold believed to be hidden on the wreck. The gold could have a numismatic value of over $15,000,000. Other cargo could bring the Georgiana's total value to $50,000,000.

Resting on top of the Georgiana's shattered wreckage is the remains of the sidewheel steamer Mary Bowers, which struck the wreck of the Georgiana while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston.


Sonogram of the wrecked blockade-runners Georgiana lying underneath Mary Bowers. (SCIAA graphic)

Site Importance
This wreck site is extremely important both historically and archaeologically. Historically because of the emphasis both sides (the Confederates and the Federals) correctly or incorrectly placed on the Georgiana as a potential threat to United States shipping, and archaeologically due to the site containing two distinct types of ships. Both ships were constructed of iron, but one was built with extra reinforcing and relatively deep draft such as would be needed for operation as a privateer on the high seas and the other of extremely light weight and shallow draft that was perfectly suited for the purpose of running the blockade, which required crossing shallow shoals to evade the deeper draft vessels of the blockade fleet. One (the Georgiana) is a screw steamer and the other (the Mary Bowers) a sidewheel steamer. The two ships were built and lost in a time span of about two years, making their design differences even more significant.

It was for the Georgiana/Mary Bowers wreck that the first salvage license in South Carolina was granted in 1967. Hundreds of thousands of individual artifacts were recovered from the site. The first dives by State officials on the site were made in 2010.

It is also important in a literary sense because the Georgiana and her cargo were owned by banking and shipping magnate George Alfred Trenholm of Charleston, who was Treasurer of the Confederacy and the primary historical figure behind the fictional Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind.

Confederate Cruiser, Privateer or Merchantman?
Due to the secrecy surrounding her construction, loading and sailing, there is considerable question as to whether the Georgiana was simply a merchantman or if she was intended as a privateer or blockade runner. One contemporary report described the Georgiana as so lightly built that "she would shake from stem to stern if a gun were fired from her decks." Historian Stephen Wise describes her as a merchantman and writes "While loading in Liverpool, the Union consul Thomas Dudley carefully investigated the vessel and reported her to be too frail for a warship. He felt her only purpose was to run the blockade." A United States consular dispatch dated 6 January 1863 stated: "The steamer Georgiana, just arrived at Liverpool from the Clyde. She is new and said to be a very superior steamer. ··· Yesterday while lying here she had the Rebel flag flying at her mast." The London American took special note of her in its 28 January 1863 edition as a powerful steamer and remarked that her officers wore gold lace on their caps, considered a sure indication she was being groomed for a man-of-war.

After the Georgiana's loss on 19 March 1863, the United States Secretary of Navy wrote: "the destruction of the Georgiana not only touched their (the Confederate's) pockets, but their hopes. She was a splendid craft, peculiarly fitted for the business of privateering." The New York Times of 31 March 1863 gave a spy's description of the craft as "a superior vessel, ··· built expressly for the rebel navy." The spy reported that she was "altogether a faster, stauncher, and better vessel than either the Oreto (Florida) or Alabama." The London Times of 8 April 1863 described her as follows: "There is not the least doubt of her being intended as a privateer." Thomas Scharf (who had served in the Confederate navy), in his Post War reference work History of the Confederate Navy, stated: "Apart from her cargo, the loss was a serious one to the Confederacy, as she was a much faster and stronger ship than any one of its cruisers afloat and would have made a superb man-of-war." Underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, who discovered the wreck and identified it as the Georgiana, believes that she was indeed intended as a privateer or cruiser due to the naval guns found aboard, her deep draft hull construction, her heavier than standard iron planking, and the closer than normal, doubled up, Z-beam, framing used throughout the vessel.


USS Wissahickon was a Unadilla-class gunboat that was built for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War.


Crewmembers of USS Wissahickon by the ship's 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren gun.




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

Discovery of the Georgiana by E. Lee Spence

When I was a teenager, I read about and dreamed of finding the wreck of the Civil War steamer Georgiana. She had been lost on her maiden voyage while attempting to run past the United States naval …

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USS Wissahickon (1861) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1870 – Launch of HMS Hotspur, a Victorian Royal Navy ironclad ram – a warship armed with guns but whose primary weapon was a ram.


HMS Hotspur was a Victorian Royal Navy ironclad ram – a warship armed with guns but whose primary weapon was a ram.




Background
It had been recognised since the time of the Roman Empire or before that a ship, while it might carry weaponry, was itself a potent weapon if used as a missile against other ships. In the era of sail-powered warships with their intrinsic limitations of speed and manoeverability the practice of ramming opponents fell by default into disuse, although the concept remained alive. With the advent of steam-powered vessels, with their enhanced speed and lack of dependence for direction on the wind, the ram as a potent weapon of attack gained credibility in Naval circles and in Ship Constructors' departments. This first became apparent in the American Civil War, when many attempts were made by ships on both sides to ram their opponents, with almost uniform lack of success. (The Confederate Virginia (ex-Merrimack) rammed and sank the Federal Cumberland, but lost her ram and suffered significant structural damage.)

The battle which most influenced the exaggerated faith in the ram as a weapon was the battle of Lissa between Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1866. The Austrian Ferdinand Max rammed the (stationary) Italian Re d'Italia, which immediately heeled over and sank. This resulted in all ironclad battleships designed for the next forty years being built to carry a ram; a weapon which, while causing the loss of a number of ships accidentally, never sank another major enemy warship of any nationality.

Design
Hotspur was designed to work with the Fleet, to bring into action her main weapon, her ram. This projected some ten feet (3 m) ahead of her bow perpendicular, and was reinforced by an extension of the armoured belt.


A 12-inch (305 mm) 25-ton muzzle-loading rifle on a broadside mounting aboard Hotspur. The deck beneath the mounting was a turntable which allowed the gun to rotate between several gunports within a fixed circular armored turret. One of the gun's shellsis hanging in the gunport in front of the gun.


A rear view of a 12-inch (305 mm) 25-ton gunaboard Hotspur.

It was assumed that the bearings upon which a usual turret turned would not survive the shock of the impact consequent upon the use of the ram against an enemy ship. Her single 12-inch (305 mm) gun was therefore positioned in a fixed cupola perforated by four firing-ports through which the gun could be discharged. None of these ports allowed the gun to be fired straight ahead, where a potential ramming target would be situated. It was therefore only possible to engage these targets with the gun if the ramming attack missed.

As the maximum speed of Hotspur was less than virtually all of her potential targets, it quickly became apparent that ramming attacks on ships under way were almost guaranteed to miss, and she quickly descended from being a ship held to be of great military value to be the most useless member of the battle-fleet.

She was reconstructed by Laird & Sons Co., and was given a revolving turret containing two 12-inch guns, new boilers and additional armour.

Service history
Hotspur was commissioned at Devonport in 1871, and remained in reserve until 1876. She served with HMS Rupert in the Sea of Marmara during the Russo-Turkish war of 1878. She then returned to Devonport, where she remained until her major reconstruction, undertaken by Laird & Sons Co. between 1881 and 1883. Her only active service thereafter was with the Particular Service Squadron of 1885. She was guardship at Holyhead until 1893, was again in reserve until 1897, and was posted thereafter to serve as guardship at Bermuda, where she stayed until sold.


Hotspur with her anti-torpedo net deployed.

HMS Hotspur (1870) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1874 – Launch of SMS Kaiser, the lead ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship.


SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship. Named for the title "Kaiser" (German: Emperor), held by the leader of the then newly created German Empire, the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1871. The ship was launched in March 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet in February 1875. Kaiser mounted a main battery of eight 26 cm (10 in) guns in a central battery amidships.


SMS Kaiser in Constantinople

Kaiser served with the fleet from her commissioning until 1896, though she was frequently placed in reserve throughout her career. The ship was a regular participant in the annual fleet training maneuvers conducted with the exception of the mid-1880s, when she was temporarily replaced by newer vessels. She participated in several cruises in the Baltic and Mediterranean, often escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on official state visits. Kaiser was rebuilt in the early 1890s as an armored cruiser, though she was too slow to perform satisfactorily in this role. Nevertheless, she spent several years as the flagship of the East Asia Squadron before returning to Germany in 1899. She was used in secondary roles after 1904, until after the end of World War I in 1919, when she was broken up for scrap.


Construction


Line-drawing of SMS Kaiser


Line-drawing of the Kaiser class after conversion into armored cruisers

Kaiser was ordered by the Imperial Navy from the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London, UK; her keel was laid in 1871. Kaiser and her sister Deutschland were ordered shortly after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, under the assumption that the French would quickly attempt a war of revenge. The ship was launched on 19 March 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet on 13 February 1875.[3] Kaiser cost the German government 8,226,000 gold marks.

The ship was 89.34 meters (293.1 ft) long overall and had a beam of 19.10 m (62.7 ft) and a draft of 7.39 m (24.2 ft) forward. Kaiser was powered by one 2-cylinder single expansion engine, which was supplied with steam by eight coal-fired trunk boilers. The ship's top speed was 14.6 knots (27.0 km/h; 16.8 mph), at 5,779 indicated horsepower (4,309 kW). She was also equipped with a full ship rig. Her standard complement consisted of 32 officers and 568 enlisted men.

She was armed with eight 26 cm (10 in) L/20 guns mounted in a central battery amidships. As built, the ship was also equipped with a single 21 cm (8.3 in) L/22 gun. After being rebuilt in 1891–1895, her armament was increased by six 8.8 cm (3.5 in) L/22 and one 8.8 cm L/30 guns, four and later twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) auto-cannons, and five 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes, all mounted in the ship's hull. Kaiser's armor was made of wrought iron and backed with teak. The armored belt was 127 to 254 mm (5.0 to 10.0 in) thick; this was backed with 90 to 226 mm (3.5 to 8.9 in) of teak.

Service history
After commissioning in February 1875, Kaiser spent the spring working up her engines to be ready for the annual summer training cruise. She joined the older ironclads Kronprinz and König Wilhelm and the new Hansa, under the command of Vice Admiral Ludwig von Henk. The four-ship squadron remained in German waters for the entirety of the cruise, which finished with a review of the flotilla in Rostock by Kaiser Wilhelm I in September. The squadron was reactivated the next spring; Rear Admiral Carl Ferdinand Batsch replaced Henk as the squadron commander. Kaiser served as the flagship of Batsch's squadron, which also included Kaiser's sister Deutschland, Kronprinz, and Friedrich Carl.

At around the time Batch's squadron was working up for the summer cruise, Henry Abbott, the German consul in Salonika, then in the Ottoman Empire, was murdered.[6] Further attacks on German citizens living in the area were feared, and so Batsch was ordered to sail to the Mediterranean Sea to stage a naval demonstration in June 1876. After arriving with the four ironclads, he was reinforced by three unarmored vessels. After the threat of violence subsided in August, Batsch departed with Kaiser and Deutschland; the other two ironclads remained in the Mediterranean for the rest of the summer.

Kaiser joined the 1877 summer squadron, composed of Deutschland, Friedrich Carl, and the new turret ironclad Preussen. The squadron was again sent to the Mediterranean, in response to unrest in the Ottoman Empire related to the Russo-Turkish War; the violence threatened German citizens living there. The squadron, again under the command of Batsch, steamed to the ports of Haifa and Jaffa in July 1877, but found no significant tensions ashore. Batsch then departed and cruised the Mediterranean for the remainder of the summer, returning to Germany in October. The newly commissioned Friedrich der Grosse and Grosser Kurfürst, sister ships of Preussen, replaced Kaiser and Deutschland in the 1878 maneuvers, during which Grosser Kurfürst was accidentally rammed and sank with great loss of life.


Kaiser in 1887

Kaiser and her sister Deutschland remained in reserve for the next six years. They were reactivated in the spring of 1883 for the summer maneuvers under the command of Wilhelm von Wickede. Due to their long period out of service, their engines proved troublesome during the training cruise. Regardless, the 1883 cruise was the first year the German navy completely abandoned the use of sails on its large ironclads. Kaiser went into reserve during the 1884 maneuvers, which were conducted by a homogenous squadron composed of the four Sachsen-class ironclads. The ship did not see active duty again until August 1887, when she joined König Wihelm and Oldenburg as the I Squadron for three weeks of maneuvers with the rest of the fleet.

In May 1888, Kaiser represented Germany at Barcelona's World Fair, which held a naval review. During the summer of 1889, Kaiser joined the fleet that steamed to Great Britain to celebrate the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm II; the ship joined her sister Deutschland and the turret ships Preussen and Friedrich der Grosse in the II Division. The fleet then held training maneuvers in the North Sea under command of Rear Admiral Friedrich Hollmann. Kaiser and the rest of the II Division became the training squadron for the fleet in 1889–1890, the first year the Kaiserliche Marine maintained a year-round ironclad force. The squadron escorted Wilhelm II's imperial yacht to the Mediterranean; the voyage included state visits to Italy and the Ottoman Empire. The squadron remained in the Mediterranean until April 1890, when it returned to Germany.

Kaiser participated in the ceremonial transfer of the island of Helgoland from British to German control in the summer of 1890. She was present during the fleet maneuvers in September, where the entire eight-ship armored squadron simulated a Russian fleet blockading Kiel. The II Division, including Kaiser, served as the training squadron in the winter of 1890–1891. The squadron again cruised the Mediterranean, under the command of Rear Admiral Wilhelm Schröder. Between 1891 and 1895, Kaiser was rebuilt in the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven. The ship was converted into an armored cruiser; her heavy guns were removed and replaced with lighter weapons, including one 15 cm (5.9 in), six 10.5 cm (4.1 in), and nine 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns. Her entire rigging equipment was removed and two heavy military masts were installed in place of the rigging. Despite the modernization, she remained quite slow. Deutschland and König Wilhelm were similarly converted.

Service in East Asia
In 1895, Kaiser reinforced the East Asia Division, which also included the cruisers Irene and Prinzess Wilhelm and several smaller vessels. During the period of diplomatic tension between Britain and Germany caused by the Kruger telegram sent by Wilhelm II, Kaiser and several other overseas cruisers were ordered to return to German waters. This order was quickly reversed, as it was decided it would be seen as an act of weakness by Britain. In April 1896, while entering the port of Amoy, Kaiser struck an uncharted rock. Only minor damage was done to the hull, but the ship was still out of service for twenty-two days for repairs in Hong Kong. Kaiser served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs during his tenure as the division commander. Diederichs was tasked with locating a suitable concession to be used as the main port of the East Asia Division; after surveying a number of sites aboard Kaiser, Diederichs settled on Kiautschou Bay. In the wake of two violent incidents against Germans in China, Wilhelm II gave Diederichs permission to seize Kiautschou by force in November 1897.

After dusk on 10 November, Kaiser left Shanghai and headed toward Kiautschou. Prinzess Wilhelm and Cormoran were to leave the following day to allay suspicion. The three ships rendezvoused on the 12th at sea; Diederichs intended to steam into Kiautschou on the 14th and seize the port. At 06:00 on the 14th, Cormoran steamed into the bay to bring the Chinese forts under fire, while Kaiser and Prinzess Wilhelm sent a landing force of some 700 men ashore. In the span of two hours, Diederichs's forces had captured the central and outlying forts and destroyed the Chinese telegraph, preventing them from notifying their superiors of the German attack. After negotiating with General Chang, the commander of the Kiautschou garrison, Diederichs succeeded in forcing the Chinese concession of Kiautschou to Germany, which he proclaimed at 14:20. Diederichs was promoted to Vice Admiral following the successful seizure of the port, and the division became enlarged to squadron size with the addition of several warships, including Kaiser's sister Deutschland.


Kaiser as the harbor ship Uranus

In May 1898, Diederichs sent Kaiser to Nagasaki for periodic maintenance. The Spanish–American War, which saw action in the Philippines at the Battle of Manila Bay, necessitated a German naval presence in the area to protect German nationals. Kaiser was still in Nagasaki undergoing repairs, so Diederichs ordered her and Prinzess Wilhelm, also in dock for maintenance, to meet him in Manila as soon as was possible. Crew transfers during the repair process necessitated Irene and Cormoran to meet in Manila as well; this concentration of five warships in the Philippines caused a serious crisis with the American Navy. Rear Admiral George Dewey objected to the size of the German force and to a meeting between Diederichs and Governor General Augustin, the Spanish governor of the Philippines. The German naval forces left the Philippines after the fall of Manila in August, though tensions with the United States continued for some time after.

Following his departure from Manila in August 1898, Diederichs took Kaiser south to the Dutch East Indies. There, the ship represented Germany during celebrations for the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina. The ship then returned to Hong Kong via Singapore, before proceeding to Fuchow for gunnery practice. While steaming into the bay, however, the ship ran aground on an uncharted rock. Arcona and Cormoran arrived to tow Kaiser off the rocks, after which Diederichs sent her back to Hong Kong for repairs. Kaiser remained overseas until 1899, when she returned to Germany. She was reduced to a harbor ship on 3 May 1904 and renamed Uranus on 12 October 1905. The ship was stricken from the naval register on 21 May 1906 and used as a barracks ship for Württemberg in Flensburg. Uranus was ultimately broken up in 1920 in Harburg.

sistership

Armoured cruiser SMS Deutschland (1874), former central battery ironclad, of Kaiser class. On the right ptobably Russian cruiser Pamyat Azova


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kaiser_(1874)

Kaiser-class ironclad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1917 - Danton – She was torpedoed by U-64, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Robert Moraht, south-west of Sardinia.
The battleship was bound for the Greek island of Corfu to join the Allied blockade of the Strait of Otranto. The ship sank in 45 minutes. 806 men were rescued by the destroyer Massue, but 296, including Captain Delage, went down with the ship


Danton was a semi-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy and the lead ship of her class. She was a technological leap in battleship development for the French Navy, as she was the first ship in the fleet with turbine engines. However, like all battleships of her type, she was completed after the Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought, and as such she was outclassed before she was even commissioned.



During her career Danton was sent to Great Britain to honor the coronation of George V, and later served in World War I as an escort for supply ships and troop transports, guarding them from elements of the German Navy. While en route to aid a blockade, she was torpedoed and sunk on 19 March 1917 by a German U-boat, leaving 296 men dead. The location of the wreck remained a mystery until an underwater survey team inadvertently discovered the battleship in December 2007. In February 2009, the wreck was confirmed to be Danton. The ship is in remarkably good shape for her age. Danton rests upright on the ocean floor, and most of the original equipment is reported to be intact.


Design


Danton-class design as depicted by Brassey's Naval Annual 1915
Main article: Danton-class battleship

Although the Danton-class battleships were a significant improvement from the preceding Liberté class, especially with the 3,000-ton displacement increase, they were outclassed by the advent of the dreadnought well before they were completed. This, combined with other poor traits, including the great weight in coal they had to carry, made them rather unsuccessful ships, though their numerous rapid-firing guns were of some use in the Mediterranean.

Danton was 146.6 meters (481 ft 0 in) long overall and had a beam of 25.8 m (84 ft 8 in) and a full-load draft of 9.2 m (30 ft 2 in). She displaced 19,736 metric tons (19,424 long tons; 21,755 short tons) at full load and had a crew of 681 officers and enlisted men. She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines with twenty-six Belleville boilers, the first French warship to use turbines. They were rated at 22,500 shaft horsepower(16,800 kW) and provided a top speed of around 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Coal storage amounted to 2,027 t (1,995 long tons; 2,234 short tons).

Danton's main battery consisted of four 305mm/45 Modèle 1906 guns (12-inch) mounted in two twin gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary battery consisted of twelve 240mm/50 Modèle 1902 guns in twin turrets, three on either side of the ship. A number of smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boats. These included sixteen 75 mm (3.0 in) L/65 guns and ten 47-millimetre (1.9 in) guns. The ship was also armed with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. The ship's main belt was 270 mm (10.6 in) thick and the main battery was protected by up to 300 mm (11.8 in) of armor. The conning tower also had 300 mm thick sides.

Service


Danton underway

Danton was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest in February 1906. Her launching was scheduled for May 1909, but socialist activists prevented the ship from leaving the stocks, and so the launching was delayed until on 4 July 1909. After completing fitting-out work, she was commissioned into the French Navy on 1 June 1911. A week after she was completed, she was sent to the United Kingdom in honour of the Coronation of George V in 1911. Upon her return to France, Danton was to the 1st Battleship Squadron in April 1912, along with her five sister ships. Later that year, while off Hyères in the Mediterranean, Danton suffered an explosion in one of her gun turrets, which killed three men and injured several others. In 1913, the squadron was joined by the two powerful dreadnoughts Courbet and Jean Bart.

Danton served in World War I in the French Mediterranean Fleet. At the outbreak of the war in early August 1914, she was assigned to guard convoys bringing French soldiers from North Africa, to protect from attack by the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau, which were operating in the area. At the time, she remained in the 1st Battle Squadron alongside her sister ships, under the command of Vice Admiral Chocheprat. By 16 August, the French naval commander, Admiral de Lapeyrère, took the bulk of the French fleet from Malta to the entrance of the Adriatic to keep the Austro-Hungarian Navy bottled up.


Arsenal model of Danton, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

Sinking
Danton, commanded by Captain Delage, was torpedoed by U-64, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Robert Moraht, at 13:17 on 19 March 1917, 22 miles (19 nmi; 35 km) south-west of Sardinia. The battleship was returning to duty from a refit in Toulon and was bound for the Greek island of Corfu to join the Allied blockade of the Strait of Otranto. Danton was carrying more men than normal, as many were crew members of other ships at Corfu, and had been zig-zagging to foil enemy submarines. The ship sank in 45 minutes; 806 men were rescued by the destroyer Massue and nearby patrol boats, but 296, including Captain Delage, went down with the ship. Massue attacked U-64 with depth charges, but the U-boat successfully evaded her attacker.

Discovery
In February 2009, it was made public that in late 2007 the wreck of the ship was discovered "in remarkable condition" during an underwater survey between Italy and Algeria for the GALSI gas pipeline. The wreck lies at 38°45′35″N 8°3′30″ECoordinates:

38°45′35″N 8°3′30″E, a few kilometres away from where it had been thought she sank, sitting upright with many of her gun turrets intact at a depth of over 1,000 metres (550 fathoms; 3,300 ft)

sistership




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

Danton-class battleship - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1918 - SS Linz – the Austro-Hungarian steamship struck a mine and quickly sank off Shëngjin, Albania.
970 to 1,003 people (including 413 Italian POWs) were registered as being aboard, but sources stated that also hundreds of unregistered Austro-Hungarian soldiers on leave had boarded her. At least 685 were lost. Other sources put the number of dead from more than 700 to more than 1,000.


SS Linz was an Austro-Hungarian Ocean Liner that hit a mine in the Adriatic Sea 4 miles northwest of the Cape of Rodon, while she was travelling from Fiume, Croatia to Durazzo, Albaniaunder command of Captain Tonello Hugo.



Construction
Linz was constructed in 1909 at the Lloyd Austriaco shipyard in Trieste, Italy. She was completed in 1909 and she was named Linz and served from 1909 until her demise in 1918. She was requisitioned by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and used to transport troops and prisoners on Albanian routes.

The ship was 105 metres (344 ft 6 in) long, with a beam of 13.3 metres (43 ft 8 in) and a depth of 9.8 metres (32 ft 2 in). The ship was assessed at 3,819 GRT. She had a triple-expansionsteam engine driving a single propeller and the engine was rated at 390 nhp (291 Kw).

Sinking
Sources provide two different dates for the sinking of Linz – 20 February 1918 and 19 March 1918 – without any explanation for the discrepancy. On one of these dates, Linz was on a voyage from Fiume in what is now Croatia, to Durazzo in what is now Albania, under the command of Captain Tonello Hugo and escorted by three Austro-Hungarian Navy ships – the Tátra-class destroyer SMS Balaton and the torpedo boats SMS Tb-74 and SMS Tb-98. The ship officially had 1,003 passengers on board, of which 413 were Italian prisoners-of-war being transported to labour camps in Albania. After a stop in the port of Zelenika, Linz hit a mine – although witnesses claimed to have seen a torpedo wake – at 00:25 hours and sank 20 minutes later, 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) northwest of Cape Rodonit in the Adriatic Sea. A total of 697 passengers and crew lost their lives, including 283 Italian prisoners-of-war and an International Red Cross nurse. Balaton and the two torpedo boats saved 306 passengers and crew. An enemy submarine unsuccessfully attacked Tb-98.

It is feared that the ship also carried several hundred non-registered passengers, mostly Austro-Hungarian soldiers returning from leave who boarded Linz illegally at Zelenika. This would mean that the number of victims was much higher than 697; some estimations go as high as 2,700 people killed.

Wreck
Austrian diver Gerald Kozmuth found the wreck of Linz in December 2000. It lies in Albanian waters at a depth of 45 meters (148 feet)



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 March 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew.
Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power. She was the most heavily damaged US carrier to survive the war.


USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy, and the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. She was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, becoming the most heavily damaged United States aircraft carrier to survive the war. Movie footage of the actual attack was included in the 1949 film Task Force starring Gary Cooper.



After the attack, she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs, missing the rest of the war; she was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve, she was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally an aircraft transport (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. Franklin and Bunker Hill (damaged by two kamikazes) were the only Essex-class carriers not to see active service as aircraft carriers after World War II. Franklin was sold for scrap in 1966.


Construction and commissioning


The newly commissioned Franklin departing Norfolk in February 1944

The keel of Franklin was laid down on 7 December 1942 in Shipway 11, the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and she was launched by the Newport Shipbuilding Company, in Virginia, on 14 October 1943, sponsored by Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, an American naval officer who was the Director of the WAVES. The warship was named in honor of the founding father Benjamin Franklin and for the previous warships that had been named for him; it was not named for the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, that was fought during the American Civil War, as is sometimes erroneously reported, although a footnote in The Franklin Comes Home does attribute the naming to the Battle of Franklin. (Franklin, Tennessee was also named after Benjamin Franklin.) Franklin was commissioned on 31 January 1944, with Captain James M. Shoemaker in command. Among the plankowners was a ship's band made up of several enlisted men who were professional musicians at the time, including Saxie Dowell and Deane Kincaide, assigned to Franklin by a lottery.


19 March 1945

The burning Franklin with USS Santa Fe (CL-60) alongside.


Franklin listing, with crew on deck, 19 March 1945.


Aft 5-inch gun turret on fire, 19 March 1945.

Before dawn on 19 March 1945, Franklin, which had maneuvered to within 50 miles (80 km) of the Japanese mainland, closer than any other U.S. carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against Honshū and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbor. The Franklin crew had been called to battle stations twelve times within six hours that night and Gehres downgraded the alert status to Condition III, allowing his men freedom to eat or sleep, although gunnery crews remained at their stations.

Suddenly, a single aircraft – possibly a Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bomber, though other accounts suggest an Aichi D3A "Val", also a dive bomber – pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the ship to drop two semi-armor-piercing bombs. The damage analysis came to the conclusion that the bombs were 550 pounds (250 kg). Accounts differ as to whether the attacking aircraft escaped or was shot down.

One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, causing destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the Combat Information Center and air plot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks. At the time she was struck, Franklin had 31 armed and fueled aircraft warming up on her flight deck. The hangar deck contained planes, of which 16 were fueled and five were armed. The forward gasoline system had been secured, but the aft system was operating. The explosion on the hangar deck ignited the fuel tanks on the aircraft, and gasoline vapor explosion devastated the deck. Only two crewmen survived the fire. The explosion also jumbled aircraft together on the flight deck above, causing further fires and explosions and detonating 12 "Tiny Tim" air-to-surface rockets. Franklin was dead in the water, without radio communications, and broiling in the heat from enveloping fires. On the bridge, Captain Gehres ordered Franklin's magazines flooded but this could not be carried out as the ship's water mains were destroyed by the explosions or fire. Admiral Ralph Davison transferred his flag to the destroyer USS Miller by breeches buoy and suggested abandoning ship, but Gehres refused to scuttle the Franklin as there were still many men alive below deck.

Many of the crew were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the hundreds of officers and enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship. Among the dead was one of the ship's surgeons, LCDR George W. Fox, M.D., who was killed while tending to wounded sailors; he was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously. When totaling casualty figures for both Franklin cruises numbers increase to 924 killed in action, the worst for any surviving U.S. warship and second only to that of battleship USS Arizona. Certainly, the casualty figures would have far exceeded this number, but for the work of many survivors. Among these were the Medal of Honor recipients Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callahan, the warship's Catholic chaplain, who administered the last rites, organized and directed firefighting and rescue parties, and led men below to wet down magazines that threatened to explode; and also Lieutenant Junior Grade Donald A. Gary, who discovered 300 men trapped in a blackened mess compartment and, finding an exit, returned repeatedly to lead groups to safety. Gary later organized and led fire-fighting parties to battle fires on the hangar deck and entered the No. 3 fireroom to raise steam in one boiler. USS Santa Fe rescued crewmen from the sea and approached Franklin to take off the numerous wounded and nonessential personnel. Official Navy casualty figures for the 19 March 1945 fire totaled 724 killed and 265 wounded. Nevertheless, casualty numbers have been updated as new records are discovered. A recent count by Franklin historian and researcher Joseph A. Springer brings total 19 March 1945 casualty figures to 807 killed and more than 487 wounded. Franklin had suffered the most severe damage and highest casualties experienced by any U.S. fleet carrier that survived World War II.

Franklin, like many other wartime ships, had been modified with additional armament, requiring larger crews and substantial ammunition stocks. Aircraft were both more numerous and heavier than originally planned for, and thus the flight deck had been strengthened. The aircraft carrier, therefore, displaced more than originally planned, her freeboard was reduced, and her stability characteristics had been altered. The enormous quantities of water poured aboard her to fight the fires further reduced freeboard, which was exacerbated by a 13° list on her starboard side, and her stability was seriously impaired such that her survival was in jeopardy. After six hours, with the fire finally under control such that the ship could be saved, Admiral Davison deployed five destroyers to search for any of Franklin's men who had been blown overboard or jumped into the sea.

Return to the U.S.


Franklin approaching New York, 26 April 1945.


USS Franklin, anchored in New York harbor, 28 April 1945.

Franklin was taken in tow by the heavy cruiser Pittsburgh until she was able to raise enough steam to reach a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h), and then she proceeded to Ulithi Atoll under her own power for emergency repairs. Next she headed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for temporary repairs. As per Pearl Harbor procedures, a civilian harbor pilot came aboard to help navigate the carrier to the dock; Captain Gehres, however, refused, and said he would "take her in" himself. He maneuvered Franklin into the dock area too fast, crashing her into the dock; embarrassed, Gehres blamed the mooring details for the incident.

After temporary repairs were completed, the ship continued its journey through the Panama Canal to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, where she arrived on 28 April 1945. She had to steam to the East Coast of the United States for repairs in New York because all of the repair shipyards on the West Coast were heavily overloaded with American warships that had been damaged by Japanese kamikazes.

Upon Franklin's arrival in New York, a long-brewing controversy over the ship's crew's conduct during her struggles finally came to a head. Captain Gehres had accused many of those who had left the ship on 19 March 1945 of desertion, despite the fact that those who had jumped into the water to escape had done so to prevent a likely death by fire, or had been led to believe that "abandon ship" had been ordered.[8] While en route from Ulithi Atoll to Hawaii, Gehres had proclaimed 704 members of the crew to be members of the "Big Ben 704 Club" for having stayed with the heavily damaged warship, but investigators in New York discovered that only about 400 were actually onboard Franklin continuously. The others had been brought back on board either before or during the stop at Ulithi. All of the charges against the men of her crew were quietly dropped. Captain Gehres retired as a rear admiral, never taking an overseas assignment or command of another US Navy ship again.

Repairs
Despite severe damage, Franklin was eventually restored to good condition. The story of this aircraft carrier's near-destruction and salvage was chronicled in the wartime documentary, The Saga of the Franklin (1945), and the 2011 documentary, USS Franklin: Honor Restored.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_(CV-13)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 19 March


1700 – Re-Launch of French Hirondelle, 36 (later 30) guns, rebuilding of ex-Algerine ship of 1687 (see below), at Toulon – wrecked 1703 or 1704.


1747 – Launch of HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession, and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, during which she was captured by the French and taken into their service under the same name. She was wrecked shortly afterwards.

Built at Lepe, Greenwich was one of a number of 50-gun ships designed to the dimensions laid down in the 1745 Establishment. She had only three British commanders during her career with the Royal Navy. Her first, John Montagu, commanded her during the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, after which she was surveyed and probably laid up. She was returned to active service under William Holburne with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, though he was soon succeeded by Robert Roddam. Roddam took her out to the Caribbean, where in 1757 he fell in with a French squadron under Joseph de Bauffremont. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Roddam fought his ship for 12 hours before surrendering her.

Taken into French service, Greenwich formed part of a squadron under Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, which was attacked by a much smaller force of three British ships at the Battle of Cap-Français. The two sides inflicted heavy damage on each other before breaking off, with Greenwich having been left considerably leaky. She underwent some repairs before escorting a convoy to France. The escorting force was caught in a gale in January 1758, and three ships were driven aground and wrecked, Greenwich among them.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Anson (1747), a 1745 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Reverse: Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, inboard profile, and basic longitudinal half-breadth proposed for Greenwich (1748), a 1745 Establishment 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. This side has been signed by Jacob E. Acworth [Surveyor of the Navy, 1716-1749] and dated 1 November 1745.






Scale: 1:48. A contemporary carvel built, plank on frame Navy Board full hull model of a 50-gun, small two-decker (circa 1747). The model is decked. Accompanying notes indicate that the model was formerly called ‘Raisonnable’, a 60-gun ship. There is no planking on the lower half of the hull, revealing the frames. Dr R. C. Anderson of the NMM repaired the model in 1944. Taken from the model, the vessel measured 144 feet along the gun deck by 41 feet in the beam and had a depth of hold of 17 feet. The workmanship suggests that it may represent a contract-built ship – it is not up to the standard of the usual Navy Board dockyard models – and in fact the draught for four such ships, launched 1747–48 (the ‘Assistance’, ‘Greenwich’, ‘Severn’ and ‘Tavistock’) corresponds closely with the model. By the middle of the 18th century the 50-gun ship had become something of an anachronism: not powerful enough to take its place in the line nor handy enough to out-manoeuvre the frigates that it out-gunned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Greenwich_(1747)

Collections - National Maritime Museum

Warship; Fourth rate; 50 guns - National Maritime Museum

1748 – Launch of Doddington was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company (EIC).

Doddington was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company (EIC). She made two trips for the EIC to Bombay, China, and Mokha. On her third trip she was sailing to India to remain there when she was wrecked on 17 July 1755 at Bird Island in Algoa Bay, near present-day Port Elizabeth. The ship was carrying a hoard of gold belonging to Clive of India, which modern treasure hunters looted. The controversy over these depredations resulted in changes to international maritime treaties to better protect underwater cultural heritage.

Doddington (East Indiaman) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1782 – Launch of HMS Spitfire was a Tisiphone-class fireship of the Royal Navy.

HMS Spitfire was a Tisiphone-class fireship of the Royal Navy. She served during the years of peace following the end of the American War of Independence, and by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, had been reclassified as a 14-gun sloop-of-war. Spitfire went on to serve under a number of notable commanders during a successful career that saw her capture a considerable number of French privateers and small naval vessels. She spent most of her career in Home waters, though during the later part of her life she sailed further afield, to the British stations in North America and West Africa. She survived the Napoleonic Wars and was eventually sold in 1825 after a period spent laid up.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Spitfire_(1782)

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1817 – Launch of HMS Agincourt was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1817 at Devonport.

HMS Agincourt was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1817 at Devonport.
She was placed on harbour service in 1848, and sold out of the Navy in 1884.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Agincourt_(1817)

Vengeur-class ship of the line - Wikipedia

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1849 – Birth of Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral and politician (d. 1930)

Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German Grand Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871. Tirpitz took the modest Imperial Navy and, starting in the 1890s, turned it into a world-class force that could threaten the Royal Navy. His navy, however, was not strong enough to confront the British successfully in the First World War; the one great engagement at sea, the Battle of Jutland, ended in a draw with both sides claiming victory. Tirpitz turned to submarine warfare, which antagonised the United States. He was dismissed in 1916 and never regained power.



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


1863 – Launch of HMS Ocean was the last of the Royal Navy's four Prince Consort-class ironclads

HMS Ocean was the last of the Royal Navy's four Prince Consort-class ironclads to be completed in the mid-1860s. She was originally laid down as a 91-gun second-rate ship of the line, and was converted during construction to an armoured frigate. The ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station and served as flagship there for a time. Upon her return to Great Britain in 1872 her hull was found to be partly rotten and she was placed in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1882.

HMS Ocean (1863) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1890 – Launch of The first USS Newark (C-1) was a United States Navy protected cruiser, the eighth protected cruiser launched by the United States

The first USS Newark (C-1) was a United States Navy protected cruiser, the eighth protected cruiser launched by the United States. In design, she succeeded the "ABC" cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago with better protection, higher speed, and a uniform 6-inch gun armament. Four additional protected cruisers (C-2 through C-5) were launched for the USN prior to Newark.

She was laid down by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia on 12 June 1888, launched on 19 March 1890, sponsored by Miss Annie Boutelle, the daughter of Representative Charles A. Boutelle of Maine, and commissioned on 2 February 1891, Captain Silas Casey III in command.

USS Newark (C-1) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1898 - USS Oregon departs San Francisco for the 14,000 mile trip around South America to join more U.S. ships off Cuba during the Spanish-American War.


1918 - Ensign Stephen Potter is the first American to shoot down an enemy seaplane, a German plane off the German coast during World War I.


1924 - Curtis D. Wilbur takes office as the 43rd Secretary of the Navy, where he gains his greatest achievements in enlarging and modernizing the fleet, and establishing a naval air force that would become an overwhelming force during World War II.


1938 – Launch of Chikuma (筑摩 重巡洋艦 Chikuma jūjun'yōkan) was the second and last vessel in the Tone class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy

Chikuma (筑摩 重巡洋艦 Chikuma jūjun'yōkan) was the second and last vessel in the Tone class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after the Chikuma River, in Nagano prefecture of Japan. Entering service in 1939, Chikuma saw battle during World War II in the Pacific. She was scuttled on 25 October 1944 after the Battle off Samar.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Chikuma_(1938)

Tone-class cruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1942 - Secretary of Navy James V. Forrestal places the newly-established construction battalions, later called Seabees, under the command of officers with the Civil Engineer Corps who are trained in the skills required for the performance of construction work.


1944 - TBF and FM-2 aircraft from Composite Squadron (VC 6) onboard USS Block Island (CVE 21) sink German submarine U 1059 west-southwest of Dakar.


1945 - Submarine USS Balao (SS 285) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks one troopship and three fishing vessels and damages another off the Yangtze estuary about 90 miles north-northwest of Shanghi.


1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.

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

E. Lee Spence - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
20 March 1744 – Launch of HMS Merlin, a 10-gun snow-rigged sloop-of-war, the first of 21 Royal Navy vessels in the Merlin class.


HMS Merlin was a 10-gun snow-rigged sloop-of-war, the first of 21 Royal Navy vessels in the Merlin class. Launched in 1744, she was the first Royal Navy sloop to carry the new 6-pounder cannons, in place of the 3-pounder guns on predecessor craft. As a fast and comparatively heavily-armed vessel, she saw active service against French privateers during the War of the Austrian Succession, capturing five enemy vessels during her four years at sea. She was also present for the Battle of Saint-Louis-du-Sud in 1748 but was too small to play a truly active role in bombarding the fort.

The sloop was decommissioned at the end of the War, and declared surplus to Admiralty needs in July 1748. She was sold out of Navy service at Plymouth Dockyard on 16 November 1748.





lines This plan relates to the new-builds which originally hads the names of the ships they replaced - esp. the Rupert's Prize and Pembroke's Prize. Peregrina was launched as Merlin Galgo was launched as Swallow NMM, progress Book, volume 2, folio 542, states that 'Rupert Prize' was renamed 'Hind' per Admiralty Order dated April 1744. She was launched 19 April 1744, and fitted at Woolwich Dockyard between April and May 1744. The previous 'Rupert Prize' was sold in October 1743. NMM, Progress Book volume 2, folio 540, states that 'Pembroke Prize' was renamed per Admiralty Order 'Vulture' on 18 April 1744. She was launched in May 1744, and surveyed afloat and refitted at Plymouth Dockyard, October-November 1744. The previous 'Pembroke Prize' was sold 13 March 1743.

The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy; however, there was a difference, with a platform deck being constructed in the hold in Swallow (i), Merlin, Raven and Swallow (ii), whereas the other seventeen had no platform and thus their depth in hold was nearly twice as much.

Although initially armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.

The first two – Swallow and Merlin – were ordered on 7 July 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels (the Galgo and Peregrine's Prize, both captured in 1742, and put into service by the British). Two more vessels to the same design were ordered on 30 March 1744; another two were ordered five days later, four more followed on 23 May and three others were ordered later that year.

On 5 April 1745 five more were ordered – including a second Falcon (named to replace the first, captured in the same year) and a second Swallow (similarly to replace the first, wrecked in 1744) – and a single extra vessel was ordered on 11 April. A final pair were ordered on 9 January 1746.






Lines & Profile (ZAZ5029)

deck NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 540, states that 'Peregrina' was launched as the 'Merlin', and that the 'Pembroke Prize' was launched as the 'Vulture'. The plan does not relate to the ex-Spanish ship 'Pembroke Prize' sold 13 March 1744.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Merlin_(1744)

Merlin-class sloop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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