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

17 July 1717 – King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.


The first performance of the Water Music suites is recorded in The Daily Courant, the first British daily newspaper. At about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 17 July 1717, King George I and several aristocrats boarded a royal barge at Whitehall Palace, for an excursion up the Thames toward Chelsea. The rising tide propelled the barge upstream without rowing. Another barge, provided by the City of London, contained about 50 musicians who performed Handel's music. Many other Londoners also took to the river to hear the concert. According to The Courant, "the whole River in a manner was covered" with boats and barges. On arriving at Chelsea, the king left his barge, then returned to it at about 11 p.m. for the return trip. The king was so pleased with the Water Music that he ordered it to be repeated at least three times, both on the trip upstream to Chelsea and on the return, until he landed again at Whitehall.

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Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames, 17 July 1717; painting by Edouard Hamman

King George's companions in the royal barge included Anne Vaughan, the Duchess of Bolton, the Duchess of Newcastle, the Duke of Kingston, Madam Kielmansegg, the Countess of Godolphin, and the Earl of Orkney. Handel's orchestra is believed to have performed from about 8 p.m. until well after midnight, with only one break while the king went ashore at Chelsea.

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Westminster Bridge on Lord Mayor's Day by Canaletto, 1746 (detail)

It was rumoured that the Water Music was composed to help King George steal some of the London spotlight back from the prince who, at the time, worried that his time to rule would be shortened by his father's long life, was throwing lavish parties and dinners to compensate for it. The Water Music's first performance on the Thames was the King's way of reminding London that he was still there and showing he could carry out gestures even grander than his son's.

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

Start the youtube video to hear the complete Water Music:
 
17 July 1761 - Action of 17 July 1761

The Action of 17 July 1761 was a naval engagement fought off the Spanish port of Cádiz between a British Royal Navy squadron and a smaller French Navy squadron during the Seven Years' War. British fleets had achieved dominance in European waters over the French following heavy defeats of French fleets 1759. To maintain this control, British battle squadrons were stationed off French ports, as well as ports in neutral but French-supporting Spain which sheltered French warships. In 1761, two French ships, the 64-gun ship of the line Achille and 32-gun frigate Bouffone were blockaded in the principal Spanish naval base of Cádiz, on the Southern Atlantic coast of Spain.

Achille had departed the French Atlantic base of Brest in March, fighting though the blockade of that port, and was then trapped in Cádiz by a British squadron detached from the Mediterranean Fleet based at Gibraltar comprising ships of the line HMS Thunderer and HMS Modeste, frigate HMS Thetis and sloop HMS Favourite, under the command of Captain Charles Proby on Thunderer. When the French ship attempted to leave Proby gave chase, eventually catching them and bringing them to battle. Thunderer suffered heavy losses when a cannon exploded, but Proby was able to bring his ship alongside Achille and capture the ship in a boarding action while Thetis and Modeste captured Bouffone.

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a 74-gun two-decker ship of the line (circa 1760), built with a 'bread and butter' core, planked and finished in the Georgian style. Model is partially decked, fully equipped, rigged and mounted on its original baseboard. At this scale the model depicts a ship with a gun deck length of 166 feet by 47 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1600 burden. A noticeable feature is the raised position of the channels that support the shrouds above the upper gun deck. The rigging is modern and was fitted in 1976. There is a possibility that the model may depict 'Thunderer', or a similar ship, 'Hercules'. During the 18th century, attempts were made to find the optimum size for a ship of the time to carry the maximum armament on two decks. By 1757, the 74-gun ship of about 1600 tons burden was evolved and this, with minor modifications, was to become the standard medium sized fighting ship for the next 50 years.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66271.html#CmlOBLdack7oWlfs.99


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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.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80675.html#SJ5U5lLT1tgcLpeA.99


Background
In 1759 the French Navy suffered heavy losses in the defeats at the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay, which gave the Royal Navy superiority in the Atlantic. To retain this advantage, the Royal Navy stationed squadrons off the principal French naval bases in a strategy of close blockade; French ships periodically attempted to break through this blockade to operate against British commerce. On 9 March 1761, the squadron off the port of Brest in Brittany, led by Commodore Matthew Buckle, sighted a French ships of the line and a frigate sailing from the port. Buckle ordered the 60-gun British ship HMS Rippon under Captain Edward Jekyll to pursue the French, Jekyll chasing the enemy ships into the Bay of Biscay. The French ships were the 64-gun Achille and frigate Bouffone.

Although the French ships outdistanced Rippon, Jekyll sighted them again the following afternoon and at 21:30 successful drew alongside Achille, opening fire at close range. The wind was strong and the seas rough, neither ship able to easily use their lower gun deck without water sloshing in through the gunports. During the exchange of fire, one of the guns on Rippon suddenly exploded, causing heavy casualties among the gun crews. Jekyll was forced to order most of the forward gunports closed in consequence, but fire from Rippon was able to knock away the foreyard and foretop mast on Achille. This caused Rippon to pull ahead of Achilleand Jekyll brought his ship into the wind in readiness for an attack by the French ship. Achille however passed by the stern of Rippon missing the opportunity to rake the British ship. With the French now pulling away, Jekyll ordered his crew to wear around and follow Achille, but the damage to the British ship was too extensive and Achille was able to escape in the darkness.

Having escaped the blockade, Achille and Bouffone cruised in the Atlantic for several months before entering the neutral but friendly Spanish port of Cádiz. There they were discovered in July and a small British squadron sent to blockade the harbour in anticipation of Achille returning to sea.

Battle
The British blockade squadron stationed off Cádiz comprised the 74-gun HMS Thunderer under Captain Charles Proby, the 64-gun HMS Modeste under Captain Robert Boyle Walsingham, the 32-gun frigate HMS Thetis under Captain John Moutray and the sloop HMS Favourite under Commander Philemon Pownall. This force patrolled off the port in early summer, discovering on 14 July that Achille and Bouffone had recently sailed unopposed. Proby ordered his squadron to search for the French ships, discovering them on 16 July approximately 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Cádiz. A chase ensued, with the French sailing northwest into the Gulf of Cádiz. Proby's ships were faster however and Thunderer successfully reached Achille on the morning of 17 July approximately 57 miles (92 km) northwest of Cádiz.

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The first HMS THUNDERER Launched on March 13, 1760. From a painting by David Roberts

Thunderer opened fire on Achille as the ships came within range, the ships of the line exchanging broadsides. As the action intensified, a cannon on the upper deck of Thunderer suddenly burst, the explosion killing and wounding dozens of sailors. In the aftermath of the blast, Proby, who had been wounded in the hand, brought Thunderer alongside Achille and led a boarding action which captured Achille. Nearby, Thetissuccessfully brought Bouffone to action, holding up the French frigate long enough that Modeste was able to come within range. With his frigate heavily outgunned, the French captain surrendered.

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Modèle réduit d'un vaisseau de 64 canons du même type que l'Achille.

Proby brought the squadron and its prizes back to Gibraltar, where the wounded were treated in the city's hospitals. British casualties were listed as 17 killed and 114 wounded, all on Thunderer and most from the gun explosion. Thunderer had also taken severe damage to the masts and rigging from French shot. The only other heavily engaged British ship was Thetis which had also suffered damage to masts and rigging, but received no casualties. According to Proby's dispatch to the Admiralty, no record of French losses was made in the aftermath of the battle.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_17_July_1761
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thunderer_(1760)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Modeste_(1759)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_(1747)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rippon_(1758)
L'Achille' (1747): https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2182
 
17 July 1788 - Battle of Hogland


A Russian fleet of 17 ships of the line under Admiral Samuel Greig met the Swedish fleet of 15 ships of the line under Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland, off Hogland Island, Gulf of Finland. Greig's flagship, Rostislav (100), forced the surrender of Prins Gustav (70), Vice-Admiral Gustav Wachtmeister and the Swedes disabled Vladislav (74), which also surrendered to Kronprins Gustav Adolf (62). The fighting continued for six hours, and the fleets only separated after dark with the Swedish ships beginning to run out of ammunition

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Contemporary painting of the battle by Louis Jean Desprez (c. 1743–1804)

Battle
Calm winds slowed down the progress of the fleets and it took until the morning of 17 July that the opposing fleets were able to see each other. Swedish fleet formed into line and tried to close in the distance using north-easterly heading. After preparing the ships for battle, the Swedish battle line reversed their direction and headed towards south in order to avoid the perilous coastal waters. The Russian fleet responded in kind but the turn had reversed their intended battle line and caused some disorder in the formed vanguard which forced four ships to leave behind of the others. First shots were fired by the Swedish lead ship Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta at 17:00 on 17 July.

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Map of the battle of Hogland between Sweden and Russia in 1788.

While the ships from both sides joined into the battle the already very mild winds kept getting calmer. As the winds becalmed it became impossible for ships to maintain their positions by sails due to the currents in the sea which forced both sides to use longboats both to move and steer their ships in the respective battlelines. Swedes further concentrated their fire on the masts and riggings of the Russian in order to further impede them.

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Duke Charles (Later king Charles XIII) at the Battle of Hogland on 17 July 1788. Painting by Per Krafft ca 1810.

Swedish flagship Gustaf III had drawn the attention of the Russian flagship Rotislav as well as that of two other Russian ships which concentrated their fire on the Swedish flagship. Damage to the rigging of the Gustaf III made it vulnerable to the currents and ship started turning nearly exposing its vulnerable rear to the Russians. The Russians tried to take advantage of this by towing two of their ships into positions where they could fire on the Swedish flagship. Meanwhile, Russian 74 gun ship of line Vladislav had to struck its colors to Swedish ships Prins Gustaf Adolf and Sofia Magdalena after fierce close range action. Vladislav had drifted into the Swedish line after losing both its rigging as well as the longboats used for towing the ship in the battle.

By 20:00 in the evening the Swedish ship of the line Prins Gustaf, commanded by Vice-Admiral Gustav Wachtmeister, which had finally forced its opponent, the Russian ship of the line Svetaja Jelena to depart from the battle line was engaged by another Russian ship of the line Vseslav. Calm winds hadn't dissipated the thick clouds of gunpowder smoke which hid the Prins Gustaf from the other Swedish ships which by this time turned around leaving the Swedish ship to face several Russian ships alone. Prins Gustaf was pounded by four Russian ships of the line and was forced to struck its colors. Disorder in the Swedish line following the turn and the visible attempts to tow the flagship away from the battle line made Russians to believe that they had won the battle. Gunfire finally ended with the surrender of Prins Gustaf by 2200 on 17 July 1788.

Swedish flag-captain Nordenskiöld intended to resume the engagement in the first light but the reports of severe damage to the ships as well as lack of ammunition prevented this and instead at 0300 on 18 July the Swedish fleet was ordered to sail to Sveaborg. Swedish fleet had come better off from the engagement as unlike the Russian fleet it had been able to sail away from the battle. Nine of the ships of the line had suffered only light damage which full third of the ships in fleet had suffered heavy but mostly repairable damage to the hull, riggings and masts.

The Russian fleet under Admiral Grieg had been unable to chase the Swedish and was forced to lay anchor at the site of the engagement. Several ships had been hulled and stayed only afloat by pumps. Eight of the Russian ships of the line had been severely damaged and four of those could no longer be sailed but had to be towed away. Russian fleet started slowly back towards Kronstadt on 19 July after critical repairs. On return voyage fleet encountered heavy weather near island of Seskar causing more damage to some of the ships.

Unusually for a naval battle, both sides captured one ship. The Swedes fared slightly better in the artillery duel leaving four Russian ships dead in the water but failed to capitalize their success while all Swedish ships were able to set sail after the battle. The Russians suffered the worst casualties, losing 319-580 men killed compared with between 200 and 300 Swedes, but the battle was a strategic victory for the Russians because Greig had done enough to prevent the Swedish landing.

Order of battle
Sweden

  • 4 × 70-gun ships - Konung Gustaf III, Prins Gustaf', Sophia Magdalena, Enigheten.
  • 11 × 60-62-gun ships - Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, Ömheten, Rättvisan, Dygden, Wasa, Fäderneslandet, Äran, Försiktigheten, Prins Carl, Prins Fredrik Adolf, Kronprins Gustaf Adolf
  • 7 × frigates - Thetis 40, Minerva 40, Froja 40, Camilla 40, Gripen 40, Jarramas 34, Jarislawitz 32.
(1,242 guns +/-)

Russia
  • 1 × 100-gun three decker - Rostislav
  • 8 × 74-gun ships - Kir Ioann, Iaroslav, Vladislav, Sviatoi Piotr, Mstislav, Sviataia Elena, Vseslav, Ioann Bogoslav.
  • 8 × 66-gun ships - Pamiat' Evstafia, Viktor, Iziaslav, Rodislav, Mecheslav, Vysheslav, Boleslav, Deris.
  • 7 × frigates - Briachislav 38, Mstislavets 42, Slava 32, Vozmislav 32, Podrazhislav 32, Premislav 32, Nadezhda Blagopoluchiia 32.
(1,460 guns +/-)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hogland
 
17 July 1795 - HMS Ville de Paris launched

HMS Ville de Paris was a 110-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 July 1795 at Chatham Dockyard. She was designed by Sir John Henslow, and was the only ship built to her draught. She was named after the French ship of the line Ville de Paris, flagship of François Joseph Paul de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War. That ship had been captured by the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782, but on the voyage to England, as a prize, she sank in a hurricane in September 1782.

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The Ship Ville de Paris under Full Sail, a painting of Thomas Buttersworth

She served as the flagship of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, with the Channel Fleet.

On 17 August 1803, the boats of Ville de Paris captured the French privateer Messager from among the rocks off Ushant. Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Lieutenant Watts, of Ville de Paris, with an honour sword worth £50 for his role in the cutting out expedition. Messager was pierced for eight guns but had six mounted, and had her owner and 40 men aboard when Watts arrived with his pinnace and 18 men. The British captured her before the other boats from Ville de Paris could arrive. The French put up a minimal resistance and only suffered a few men lightly wounded; the British suffered no casualties. The action occurred in sight of the hired armed cutter Nimrod. In January 1805 head and prize money from the proceeds of the French privateer Messager was due to be paid.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Ville de Paris (1795), a 100-gun Third Rate, three-decker, as proposed to be built at Chatham Dockyard. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83724.html#oxPsfOhj5KHvBlXf.99


On 18 January 1808, following the Battle of Corunna, Ville de Paris (Captain John Surman Carden) evacuated twenty-three officers of the 50th, three of the 43rd, four of the 26th, three of the 18th, one of the 76th, two of the 52nd, two of the 36th, four Royal Engineers, and two Royal Artillery - a total of 44 officers, including General Sir David Baird, his ADC Captain Hon Alexander Gordon, Sir John Colborne and Lieutenant Henry Percy. Ville de Paris also embarked several thousand soldiers.

Later, Admiral Collingwood died aboard her of cancer while on service in the Mediterranean, off Port Mahón, on 7 March 1810.
On 22 July 1814, at the conclusion of the Peninsula War, Ville de Paris arrived off Portsmouth carrying the 43rd Light Infantry Battalion along with the 2nd Rifles.
Ville de Paris was placed on harbour service in 1824, and she was broken up in 1845.

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Scale: 1:48. A block design model of the ‘Ville de Paris’ (1795), a 110-gun, three-decker ship of the line. Despite the name, the ‘Ville de Paris’ was not a French prize but was built in Chatham Dockyard and named after the French flagship captured at the Battle of the Saints in 1782. Begun in 1788, it was the first British 110-gun ship, following a trend towards larger ships started by the French. It succeeded HMS ‘Victory’ as St Vincent’s flagship in the Mediterranean fleet in 1797–99, and then in the Channel Fleet. It served successively as flagships for Admirals Cornwallis, Gambier, Collingwood, Fremantle and Keith between 1800 and 1815. It was broken up in 1845. The model is of the block type, much simpler to make than the Georgian model of the period, and therefore more useful in preparing a design and showing it to the Navy Board and Admiralty. This is a relatively late example of this type of model. The figurehead is left as a block but some of the stern carvings are reproduced. The decks are not revealed but the channels that support the rigging are shown.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66540.html#cmb0HzE6IR9LXIyk.99



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ville_de_Paris_(1795)
 
17 July 1810 - HMS Queen Charlotte (1810) launched

HMS Queen Charlotte was a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 July 1810 at Deptford. She replaced the first HMS Queen Charlotte 1789 sunk in 1800

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A View of the Launching of his Majesty's Ship Queen Charlotte from Deptford Yard July 17th 1810 (PAH0775)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140722.html#kqhiH2Auut5dXv11.99


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Scale: 1:16. A model of the stern of HMS Queen Charlotte (1810) made in wood and painted in realistic colours. The model depicts the stern above the waterline and is made in two parts, port and starboard, joined together along the front edge by a metal bracket. The interior walls and front edge are painted yellow ochre, and the exterior is painted black with white bands along the three gun decks and yellow ochre details and decoration. The stern has four galleries, three of them with open balustrades, made in metal and painted black. The windows have been realistically painted with glazing and glazing bars. The gun ports are all shown, three of which are on either side of the poop deck. Number "10" on stern.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/68226.html#CimIsOwqquOXqWdg.99


Anti-slave trade activity
She was sent Sierra Leone to join the West Africa Squadron set up for the suppression of the slave trade. Following her seizure of the French ship Le Louis, a ship engaged in the slave trade, the Vice Admiralty Courtdeclared the French ship and its cargo forfeit. However when this was taken to appeal at the High Court of Admiralty, the judge William Scott overturned the judgement, saying that the way Le Louis had been stopped and boarded was illegal as "No nation can exercise a right of visitation and search on the common and unappropriated parts of the sea, save only on the belligerent claim." He accepted that this would constitute a serious impediment to the suppression of the slave trade, but argued that this should be remedied through international treaties rather than Naval officers exceeding what they were permitted to do.

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Council of war on board the Queen Charlotte, 1818

She was Lord Exmouth's flagship during the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816.

On 17 September 1817, Linnet, a tender to Queen Charlotte, seized a smuggled cargo of tobacco. The officers and crew of Queen Charlotte shared in the prize money.

Fate
Queen Charlotte was converted to serve as a training ship in 1859 and renamed HMS Excellent. She was eventually sold out of the service to be broken up in 1892.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile illustrating the riders on Queen Charlotte (1810), a 100-gun First Rate, three-decker.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79809.html#TU0mb3eWiMy1LJgS.99


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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the midship section illustrating the chocks, iron knees and fastening for attaching the deck beams to the sides on Queen Charlotte (1810), a 100-gun First Rate, three-decker, building at Deptford Dockyard.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79815.html#CAr7jtegB0mloFEq.99



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Queen_Charlotte_(1810)
 
17 July 1858 - The steam screw frigate USS Niagara, and the British ship, HMS Agamemnon, depart Queenstown, Ireland, to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.


With Charles Tilston Bright as chief engineer, Field then directed the transoceanic cable effort. A survey was made of the proposed route and showed that the cable was feasible. Funds were raised from both American and British sources by selling shares in the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Field himself supplied a quarter of the needed capital.

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Map of the 1858 trans-Atlantic cable route

The cable consisted of seven copper wires, each weighing 26 kg/km (107 pounds per nautical mile), covered with three coats of gutta-percha (as suggested by Jonathan Nash Hearder[6]), weighing 64 kg/km (261 pounds per nautical mile), and wound with tarred hemp, over which a sheath of 18 strands, each of seven iron wires, was laid in a close spiral. It weighed nearly 550 kg/km (1.1 tons per nautical mile), was relatively flexible and was able to withstand a pull of several tens of kilonewtons (several tons). It was made jointly by two English firms – Glass, Elliot & Co., of Greenwich, and R. S. Newall & Co., of Birkenhead. Late in manufacturing it was discovered that the respective sections had been made with strands twisted in opposite directions. While the two sections proved a simple matter to join, this mistake subsequently became magnified in the public mind.

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USS Niagara (1855)

The British government gave Field a subsidy of £1,400 a year and loaned the ships needed. Field also solicited aid from the U.S. government. A bill authorizing a subsidy was submitted in Congress. The subsidy bill passed the Senate by a single vote, due to opposition from protectionist senators. In the House of Representatives, the bill encountered similar resistance, but passed, and was signed by President Franklin Pierce.

The first attempt, in 1857, was a failure. The cable-laying vessels were the converted warships HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara. The cable was started at the white strand near Ballycarbery Castle in County Kerry, on the southwest coast of Ireland, on August 5, 1857. The cable broke on the first day, but was grappled and repaired; it broke again over the "telegraph plateau", nearly 3,200 m (2 statute miles) deep, and the operation was abandoned for the year.

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Drawing showing a whale crossing the cable line, as the ship HMS Agamemnon lays the trans-atlantic cable.

The following summer, after experiments in the Bay of Biscay, Agamemnon and Niagara tried again. The vessels were to meet in the middle of the Atlantic, where the two halves of the cable were to be spliced together, and while Agamemnon paid out eastwards to Valentia Island, Niagara was to pay out westward to Newfoundland. On June 26, the middle splice was made and the cable was dropped. Again the cable broke, the first time after less than 5.5 km (three nautical miles), again after some 100 km (54 nautical miles) and for a third time when about 370 km (200 nautical miles) of cable had run out of each vessel.

The expedition returned to Queenstown, and set out again on July 17, with little enthusiasm among the crews. The middle splice was finished on July 29, 1858. The cable ran easily this time. Niagara arrived in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland on August 4 and the next morning the shore end was landed. Agamemnon made an equally successful run. On August 5, she arrived at Valentia Island, and the shore end was landed at Knightstown and then laid to the nearby cable house.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Niagara_(1855)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Agamemnon_(1852)
http://atlantic-cable.com/Cables/1857-58Atlantic/
 
17 July 1944 – Port Chicago disaster

At the Naval Magazine at Port Chicago, Calif., an explosion occurs on the pier where SS E.A. Bryant is loading ammunition and while SS Quinault Victory is preparing to load ammunition. The subsequent explosion of SS E.A. Bryant spins SS Quinault Victory in the air and kills 320 men, including 202 African-Americans.

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Naval Magazine, Port Chicago, California, damage resulting from the Port Chicago ammunition explosion disaster of July 17, 1944. From the source: "This view looks south from the Ship Pier, showing the wreckage of Building A-7 (Joiner Shop) at the right. There is a piece of twisted steel plating just to left of the long pole in left center."

The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions detonated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others. Most of the dead and injured were enlisted African American sailors.

Disaster

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Graphic reconstruction of the pier, boxcars and ships at Port Chicago just before the explosion, with estimates of type and weight of cargo

The Liberty ship SS E. A. Bryan docked at the inboard, landward side of Port Chicago's single 1,500 ft (460 m) pier at 8:15 a.m. on July 13, 1944. The ship arrived at the dock with empty cargo holds but was carrying a full load of 5,292 barrels (841,360 liters) of bunker C heavy fuel oil for its intended trip across the Pacific Ocean. At 10 a.m. that same day, seamen from the ordnance battalion began loading the ship with munitions. After four days of around-the-clock loading, about 4,600 tons (4,173 tonnes) of explosives had been stored in its holds. The ship was about 40% full by the evening of July 17.

At 10 p.m. on July 17, Division Three's 98 men were loading E. A. Bryan with 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs into No. 3 hold, 40 mm shells into No. 5 hold and fragmentation cluster bombs into No. 4 hold. Incendiary bombs were being loaded as well; these bombs weighed 650 lb (290 kg) each and were "live"‍—‌they had their fuzes installed. The incendiary bombs were being loaded carefully one at a time into No. 1 hold‍—‌the hold with a winch brake that might still have been inoperative.

A boxcar delivery containing a new airborne anti-submarine depth charge design, the Mark 47 armed with 252 lb (114 kg) of torpex, was being loaded into No. 2 hold. The torpex charges were more sensitive than TNT to external shock and container dents. On the pier, resting on three parallel rail spurs, were sixteen rail cars holding about 430 short tons (390 t) of explosives. In all, the munitions on the pier and in the ship contained the equivalent of approximately 2,000 short tons (1,800 t) of TNT.

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One hundred and two men of the Sixth Division, many fresh from training at NSGL, were busy rigging the newly built Victory ship SS Quinault Victory (also spelled Quinalt) in preparation for loading it with explosives, a task that was to begin at midnight. The Quinault contained a partial load of fuel oil, some of which was of a type that released flammable fumes as it sat, or upon agitation. The fuel, taken aboard at Shell Oil Company's Martinez refinerymid-day on July 17, would normally be sluiced to other fuel tanks in the following 24 hours.

Sixty-seven officers and crew of the two ships were at their stations, and various support personnel were present such as the three-man civilian train crew and a Marine sentry. Nine Navy officers and 29 armed guards watched over the procedure. A Coast Guard fire barge with a crew of five was docked at the pier. An officer who left the docks shortly after 10 p.m. noticed that the Quinault′s propeller was slowly turning over and that the men of Division Three were having trouble pulling munitions from the rail cars because they had been packed so tightly.

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Cleaning up the damage at the remains of the pier

At 10:18 p.m., witnesses reported hearing a noise described as "a metallic sound and rending timbers, such as made by a falling boom." Immediately afterward, an explosion occurred on the pier and a fire started. Five to seven seconds later a more powerful explosion took place as the majority of the ordnance within and near the SS E. A. Bryan detonated in a fireball seen for miles. An Army Air Forces pilot flying in the area reported that the fireball was 3 mi (4.8 km) in diameter. Chunks of glowing hot metal and burning ordnance were flung over 12,000 ft (3,700 m) into the air. The E. A. Bryan was completely destroyed and the Quinault was blown out of the water, torn into sections and thrown in several directions; the stern landed upside down in the water 500 ft (150 m) away. The Coast Guard fire boat CG-60014-F was thrown 600 ft (180 m) upriver, where it sank. The pier, along with its boxcars, locomotive, rails, cargo, and men, was blasted into pieces. Nearby boxcars‍—‌waiting within their revetments to be unloaded at midnight‍—‌were bent inward and crumpled by the force of the shock. The port's barracks and other buildings and much of the surrounding town were severely damaged. Shattering glass and a rain of jagged metal and undetonated munitions caused many more injuries among military personnel and civilians, although no one outside the immediate pier area was killed. Nearly $9.9 million worth of damage ($137.6 million in 2017) was caused to U.S. government property. Seismographs at the University of California, Berkeley sensed the two shock waves traveling through the ground, determining the second, larger event to be equivalent to an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter magnitude scale.

All 320 of the men on duty at the pier died instantly, and 390 civilians and military personnel were injured, many seriously. Among the dead were all five Coast Guard personnel posted aboard the fire barge. African Americans suffered 202 dead and 233 injured, which accounted for 15% of all African-American naval casualties during World War II. Naval personnel worked quickly to contain the fires and to prevent other explosions. Injuries were treated, those seriously injured were hospitalized, and uninjured servicemen were evacuated to nearby stations.

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USS Quinalt Victory (maiden voyage) largest section flipped and thrown 500 ft.

A month later, unsafe conditions inspired hundreds of servicemen to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men‍—‌called the "Port Chicago 50"‍—‌were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to 15 years of prison and hard labor, as well as a dishonorable discharge. Forty-seven of the 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison.

During and after the trial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the court-martial proceedings. Owing to public pressure, the United States Navy reconvened the courts-martial board in 1945; the court affirmed the guilt of the convicted men. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause célèbre among certain Americans; it and other race-related Navy protests of 1944–45 led the Navy to change its practices and initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. In 1994, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated to the lives lost in the disaster.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster
https://web.archive.org/web/20050630183025/http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/pc/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Quinault_Victory
http://portchicago.pbworks.com/w/page/86412304/Chapter 1: First Hero
 
Other events on 17 July

1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first conquering the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate, the strongest Muslim nation of the time. However, a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Greek Christian-controlled Byzantine Empire.

ConquestOfConstantinopleByTheCrusadersIn1204.jpg
ConquestOf Constantinople By The Crusaders In 1204

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


1805 - HMS Ariadne (24), Cptn. Hon. Edward King, and consorts engaged off Boulogne.

1805 - HMS Orestes (16), Thomas Browne, ran aground on the Splitter Sands off Gravelines and was burnt to prevent capture by the enemy.

1918 – The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; five lives are lost.

RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson.

RMS_Carpathia_drawing.png RMS_Carpathia.jpg

Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 from Liverpool to Boston (Massachusetts), and continued on this route before being transferred to Mediterranean service in 1904. In 1912, she became famous for rescuing the survivors of rival White Star Line's RMS Titanic after she struck an iceberg and sank with a loss of 1,517 lives. Carpathia braved dangerous ice fields and diverted all steam power to her engines in her rescue mission. She arrived two hours after Titanic had sunk and rescued 705 survivors from the ship's lifeboats.

R.m.s_carpathia_Sinking.jpg
Carpathia sinks after being struck by three torpedoes fired by U-55 west off Land's End

Carpathia herself was sunk on 17 July 1918 after being torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-55 off the Irish coast in World War I. Five of her crew died in the sinking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Carpathia
 
18 July 1545 Battle of the Solent with sinking of carrack Mary Rose

The naval Battle of the Solent took place on 18 and 19 July 1545 during the Italian Wars between the fleets of Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, in the Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The engagement was inconclusive, and is most notable for the sinking of the English carrack Mary Rose.

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The Cowdray Engraving, depicting the Battle of the Solent. The main and foremasts of the recently sunken Mary Rose are in the middle; bodies, debris and rigging float in the water and men are clinging to the fighting tops.

In 1545 Francis I of France launched an invasion of England with 30,000 soldiers in more than 200 ships.
Against this armada — larger than the Spanish Armada forty-three years later — the English had about 12,000 soldiers and 80 ships.

The French expedition started disastrously, the flagship Carraquon perishing on 6 July in an accidental fire whilst at anchor in the Seine. Admiral Claude d'Annebault transferred his flag to La Maistresse, which then ran aground as the fleet set sail. The leaks were patched and the fleet crossed the Channel. The French entered the Solent and landed troops on the Isle of Wight.

On 18 July the English came out of Portsmouth and engaged the French at long range, little damage being done on either side. La Maitresse was close to sinking due to her earlier damage, but although d'Annebault had to change his flagship again, she was saved.

On the night of 18 July, Henry dined aboard Great Harry, the flagship of Admiral John Dudley, Viscount Lisle.

The English were becalmed in port and unable to manoeuvre. On 19 July 1545, the French galleys advanced on the immobilised English fleet, and initially threatened to destroy a force of 13 small galleys, or "rowbarges", the only ships that were able to move against them without a wind. The wind picked up and the sailing ships were able to go on the offensive before the oared vessels were overwhelmed. Two of the largest ships, the Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose, led the attack on the French galleys in the Solent.

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The Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll. The distinct carrack profile with high "castles" fore and aft can clearly be seen. Although the number of guns and gun ports is not entirely accurate, the picture is overall an accurate illustration of the ship.

Early in the battle something went wrong. While engaging the French galleys the Mary Rose suddenly heeled (leaned) heavily over to her starboard (right) side and water rushed in through the open gunports. The crew was powerless to correct the sudden imbalance, and could only scramble for the safety of the upper deck as the ship began to sink rapidly. As she leaned over, equipment, ammunition, supplies and storage containers shifted and came loose, adding to the general chaos. The massive port side brick oven in the galley collapsed completely and the huge 360-litre (90 gallon) copper cauldron was thrown onto the orlop deck above. Heavy guns came free and slammed into the opposite side, impeding escape or crushing men beneath them.

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Mary Rose - Oven & Cauldron

For those who were not injured or killed outright by moving objects, there was little time to reach safety, especially for the men who were manning the guns on the main deck or fetching ammunition and supplies in the hold. The companionways that connected the decks with one another would have become bottlenecks for fleeing men, something indicated by the positioning of many of the skeletons recovered from the wreck. What turned the sinking into a major tragedy in terms of lives lost was the anti-boarding netting that covered the upper decks in the waist (the midsection of the ship) and the sterncastle. With the exception of the men who were stationed in the tops in the masts, most of those who managed to get up from below deck were trapped under the netting; they would have been in view of the surface, and their colleagues above, but with little or no chance to break through, and were dragged down with the ship. Out of a crew of at least 400, fewer than 35 escaped, a catastrophic casualty rate of over 90%.

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Two culverins and two demi-cannons from the Mary Rose on display at the Mary Rose Museum

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The remains of the Mary Rose's hull. All deck levels can be made out clearly, including the minor remnants of the sterncastle deck.

The wind subsequently died down but Lisle made use of the tides and currents to position his fleet and disrupt the formation of the larger French ships.

The invasion of the Isle of Wight was repulsed. The attacking troops attempted to divide the defence by landing at several sites but did not venture inland or regroup. There were heavy casualties on both sides at the Battle of Bonchurch, the French at Sandown hastily retreated after losing their commanders in an attack on a newly built fort, and those that landed at Bembridge were ambushed.

On 22 July unable to resupply, and struggling with a leaking ship and illness among his crew, d'Annebaulton abandoned the invasion. He recalled the French troops and his fleet departed.

The next day the French landed 1,500 troops near the town of Seaford, around 40 miles to the east. They attempted to pillage a nearby village and were repelled by local militia armed with longbows. D’Annebault then returned to France


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Solent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Grace_à_Dieu
 
18 July 1779 - largest prize value of the American Revolution,

Commodore Abraham Whipples squadron consisting of Continental frigates Providence, Queen of France and sloop Ranger, captures 11 British prizes off the Newfoundland Banks sailing from Jamaica. The cargoes are worth more than $1 million.

Continental_Sloop_Providence_(1775-1779).jpg
Continental Sloop Providence (1775-1779) Painting in oils by W. Nowland Van Powell.

USS Queen of France sailed 18 June with USS Providence and USS Ranger. She fell in with the British Jamaica Fleet of some 150 ships near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland about the middle of July. In the dense fog, the American warships pretended to be British frigates of the convoy’s escort and, sending boarding parties across by boats, quietly took possession of eleven prizes before slipping away at night. Three of the prizes were later recaptured, but the eight which reached Boston with the squadron late in August were sold for over a million dollars.

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On the left, the replica Providence (Boston, 1980)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Providence_(1775)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Queen_of_France_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ranger_(1777)
 
18 July 1792 - Continental Navy Capt. John Paul Jones dies in Paris, France.

A legend during the American Revolution, Jones argues for Congress establishing a United States Navy. When it fails to do so, the unemployed captain found work as a rear admiral in the Russian navy for a couple of years, but eventually returns to France, where he dies. More than a century later, his body is discovered, exhumed, brought back to the United States under huge fanfare and reburied in a magnificent sarcophagus at the United States Naval Academy.

800px-John_Paul_Jones_by_Charles_Wilson_Peale,_c1781.jpg

John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends and enemies—who accused him of piracy—among America's political elites, and his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such, he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the American Navy" (a sobriquet he shares with John Barry and John Adams).

Jones grew up in Scotland, became a sailor, and served as commander of several British merchant ships. After having killed one of his crew members with a sword, he fled to the Colony of Virginia and around 1775 joined the newly founded Continental Navy in their fight against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. He commanded U.S. Navy ships stationed in France and led several assaults on England and Ireland. Left without a command in 1787, he joined the Imperial Russian Navy and obtained the rank of rear admiral.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(1765)
 
18 July 1898 - The Third Battle of Manzanillo

was a battle fought in the harbor of Manzanillo, Cuba on July 18, 1898. A large squadron of the United States Navy consisting of gunboats and auxiliaries attacked and cleared the harbor of a comparable force of Spanish vessels in the third largest naval battle of the Spanish–American War.


USS_Hist.jpg
USS Hist

Manzanillo had been a refuge for blockade runners and gunboats since the beginning of the war, and the United States Navy had sent two reconnaissance expeditions to the harbor to determine its defenses. An expedition made up of the gunboat USS Hist, USS Hornet, and USS Wompatuck attempted to clear the harbor on June 30 and a second force made up of USS Osceola and USS Scorpion was sent and repulsed on July 1. Both attacks on the harbor were failed due to superior numbers of Spanish Naval forces. What few ships were sunk in these attacks were refloated and repaired leaving the largest remaining Spanish naval force in Cuba relatively intact. As a result of the failure of the two previous squadrons to eliminate the Spanish gunboats at Manzanillo, Commander Marix requested for armored vessels to be sent in order to ensure the next assault would be successful. Although Marix had requested heavier units the Navy sent him the gunboats USS Wilmington and USS Helena. The American squadron now under command of C. C. Todd, captain of the Wilmington, set off on July 18 to clear Manzanillo harbor of Spanish presence once and for all. The harbor was defended by a fort and shore battery with ten guns.

Battle
The American commander split his force into three sections so as to prevent any Spanish forces from escaping the harbor. The two gunboats Wilmington and Helena entered via a channel on the northern side of the bay attacking from the left, Osceola and Scorpion attacked from a channel directly opposite the city, and the other three American vessels moved in from the right through one of the bays southern channels. All three of the American squadrons timed their passages through the channels to enter the bay concurrently. At 7:04 the battle began when Spanish batteries in the city sighted the Americans and opened fire, some 15 minutes later Scorpion and Osceola replied by attacking the shore batteries.[5] As soon as they were in range Wilmington and Helena began attacking the merchant steamers El Gloria and Jose Garcia as well as the blockade runner El Purísima Concepción. Several of the Spanish gunboats in the harbor sailed out to challenge the American fleet but were repulsed by heavy fire. Hist, Hornet, and Wompatuck pursued the gunboats to their moorings and engaged them.

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USS Hornet

The American vessels continued to advance on the harbor but were hampered because of the shallow depth of Manzillio's bay, forcing them to reconnoiter passages so that the deeper-drafted gunboats would not beach themselves. Advancing upon the Spanish positions, Commander Todd realized that his forces were focusing too much of their fire upon transports taking refuge in the harbor as well as the hulk Maria, which had been converted to an armed immobile pontoon, so he ordered the Helena to engage the more dangerous gunboats instead of assisting the Wilmington in engaging the targets of lesser importance. Helena then changed targets and began to systematically engage the Spanish gunboats. Three of these caught fire and exploded while one grounded on the beach and sank while another grounded and was thought to have been disabled; she was later scuttled. By the end of the battle the entire Spanish flotilla at Manzanillo had been destroyed or disabled. At 10:22 Todd gave the order for the American forces to withdraw and had the Helenalay down suppressing fire while the rest of the squadron sailed out of the harbor.

By 10:35 the battle was over. The Spanish lost five gunboats, three transports and one pontoon, while the Americans took no casualties. The only significant damage the Americans took was a three-pounder gun that broke loose from its rivets on the Wompatuck though one of USS Wilmington's guns was disabled due to enemy fire for a few minutes. The threat posed by the Spanish flotilla was eliminated, and the American squadron returned to the main fleet, with Wompatuck leaving the rest of the victorious vessels and instead arriving at Guantanamo Bay to bring the Admiral news of the latest American victory. Although the Spanish naval presence in Manzanillo was eliminated, Spanish troops still controlled the town, and it would not be until the very end of the war that Manzanillo fell to American troops after a fierce bombardment of the city and attack by Cuban insurgents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Manzanillo
 
18 July 1943 - German submarine (U 134) shoots down blimp (K 74), the first and only U.S. airship lost during WW II, in the Fla. straits.

On 10 June 1943 U-134 sailed once more to the Florida coast on her ninth and final patrol, where the American 250-foot-long (76 m), Goodyear-built ZPK-class K-74 blimp became the only airship to be shot down in the war. K-74, launched from NAS Richmond, Florida, detected U-134 on radar in the Straits of Florida at 23:40 on 18 July 1943. United States Navy doctrine required blimps to stay out of range of surfaced submarines and guide aircraft or ships to attack.

1280px-K_class_blimp.jpg
U.S. Navy K-class blimp over a convoy during the Second World War.

The blimp's pilot, Lieutenant Nelson C. Grills, USNR, disregarded this doctrine in an attempt to prevent U-134 from reaching a tanker and freighter ahead of the submarine. K-74 was hit by U-134's 20mm cannon fire during its 55-knot approach. K-74 returned 100 rounds of .50 caliber (12.7 mm) fire before the machine gun was unable to depress sufficiently as the blimp passed over U-134 on its bombing run. A common misconception is that K-74's Mark XVII depth charges failed to release as the blimp passed over U-134, however this is known to be false as the sub received below-the-waterline damage consistent with a depth bomb. The airship lost control and went nose-up, quickly rose to an altitude of 1,000 feet, and after jettisoning external fuel tanks to regain control slowly fell tail-first into the sea. None of the ten-man crew was injured and all moved away from K-74 to avoid anticipated depth charge detonations when it sank. K-74 remained afloat for eight hours, however, and U-134 pulled part of the wreckage aboard for photographs and evaluation. All but one of K-74's crew were rescued the following day by the submarine chaser USS SC-657 and the destroyer USS Dahlgren. Aviation Machinist's Mate second class Isadore Stessel drowned after being attacked by a shark, just minutes before rescue, and became the only United States Navy airshipman to die as a result of enemy action.

U-134_Bomben.jpg
During her final patrol, the German U-boat U-134 was attacked by aircraft of VP-201, ZP-21, VB-132, VC-25 and finally sunk by an RAF Vickers Wellington of No. 179 Squadron on 24 August 1943. LT W.W. Soverel's (VP-201) depth bombs explode short of U-134 during his attack on 8 July 1943 - the U-boat's gunners can be seen at thier guns.

U-134 was sunk on 24 August 1943 near Vigo, Spain at 42°07′N 09°30′WCoordinates:
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42°07′N 09°30′W by six depth charges from a British Vickers Wellington aircraft of No. 179 Squadron RAF. All 48 men on board died. U-134 had passed the images of K-74 to another U-boat prior to being sunk. The United States Navy was unaware K-74 had been boarded until the photographs were discovered in 1958.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-134_(1941)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-class_blimp
 
Other events on 18 July


1775 - Continental Congress resolves that each colony provide armed vessels

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


1798 - HMS Aigle (38) wrecked off Cape Farina, Spain.

1920px-AIGLE_FL.1782_(FRENCH)_RMG_J5761.png

The French frigate Aigle was launched in 1780 as a privateer (Builder: Dujardin, Saint Malo, plans by Jacques-Noël Sané ). The French navy purchased her in 1782, but the British captured her that same year and took her into the Royal Navy as a 38-gun fifth rate under her existing name.
During the French Revolutionary Wars she served primarily in the Mediterranean, where she wrecked in 1798.
Aigle was under Admiral Sir Charles Tyler, GCB (1760 - 28 September 1835) command when she wrecked on Plane Island off Cape Farina, Tunisia, due to an error in navigation. All the crew were saved.[18] Tyler was also acquitted of the loss.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Aigle_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Tyler


1799 - HMS Alcmene (32), Cptn. G. Hope, and boats captured two Spanish vessels.

alcmene.jpg

alcmene2.jpg

HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Alcmene_(1794)


1813 - During the War of 1812, the frigate, USS President, commanded by John Rodgers, sinks the British brig, HMS Daphne, off the Irish coast.
In the next few weeks, she engages three more vessels. USS President captures the ship, HMS Eliza Swan July 24, burns the brig, HMS Alert, on July 29, and captures the bark Lion on Aug. 2.

Usspresidentatanchor.jpg
President rides out a storm at anchor.

USS President was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, nominally rated at 44 guns. George Washington named her to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. She was launched in April 1800 from a shipyard in New York City. President was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized, and she was the last to be completed. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so President and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Forman Cheeseman, and later Christian Bergh were in charge of her construction. Her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to engage in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.

On 16 May 1811, President was at the center of the Little Belt Affair; her crew mistakenly identified HMS Little Belt as HMS Guerriere, which had impressed an American seaman. The ships exchanged cannon fire for several minutes. Subsequent U.S. and Royal Navy investigations placed responsibility for the attack on each other without a resolution. The incident contributed to tensions between the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the War of 1812.

During the war, President made several extended cruises, patrolling as far away as the English Channel and Norway; she captured the armed schooner HMS Highflyer and numerous merchant ships. In January 1815, after having been blockaded in New York for a year by the Royal Navy, President attempted to run the blockade, and was chased by a blockading squadron. During the chase, she was engaged and crippled by the frigate HMS Endymion off the coast of the city. The British squadron captured President soon after, and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS President until she was broken up in 1818. President's design was copied and used to build the next HMS President in 1829.

HMS_President_in_South_West_India_Dock,_London,_ca._1880_(5375139968).jpg
1829 HMS President in 1880

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_President_(1800)


1815 - French convoy captured by HMS Ferret (14), William Ramsden, HMS Fly (18).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nova_Scotia_(1812)

1863 - Second Battle of Fort Wagner

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

1929 - HMS Exeter (68) launched

HMS Exeter was the second and last York-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–36, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. Then the Exeter was one of three British cruisers that fought the German pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was in the shipyard for over a year.

HMS_Exeter_(68)_off_Coco_Solo_c1939.jpg
The Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter (68) off Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, circa in 1939.

After her repairs were completed, the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the Far East after the start of the Pacific War in December. The Exeter was generally assigned to escorting convoys to and from Singapore during the Malayan Campaign, and she continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to invade the Dutch East Indies. Later that month, she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), and she took on a more active role in the defence of the Dutch East Indies. The culmination of this was her engagement in the Battle of the Java Sea later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept several Imperial Japanese Navy invasion convoys. The Exeter was crippled early in the battle, and she did not play much of a role as she withdrew. Two days later, she attempted to escape inbound Japanese forces, but she was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea.

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Damage received by Exeter during the Battle of the River Plate

Most of her crewmen survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese. About a quarter of them died during Japanese captivity. Her wreck was discovered in early 2007, and it was declared a war grave, but by 2016 her remains had been destroyed by illegal salvagers.

Exeter_sinking.jpg
Exeter sinking after the Second Battle of the Java Sea


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Exeter_(68)
 
19 July 1717 - The naval Battle of Matapan

took place on 19 July 1717 off the Cape Matapan, on the coast of the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece, between the Armada Grossa of the Republic of Venice, supported by a mixed squadron of allied ships from Portugal, the Papal States and Malta, and the Ottoman fleet, under Kapudan Pasha Eğribozlu İbrahim Pasha.

Prelude
The 24 Venetian sailing ships under Marcantonio Diedo, commander of the Venetian fleet, met up with another Venetian squadron of 24 galleys under the Capitano generale da Mar Pisani and a small squadron of 9 mixed Portuguese-Maltese ships under the Maltese knight Bellefontaine near Cape Matapanon July 2. After trying separately to win the wind gauge, and running out of water supply, the Allied force went to Marathonisi, near the top of the Gulf of Matapan, to resupply. They had tried to reach Sapienza, but winds were against them and they took the risk of being caught in the gulf.

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John V of Portugal and the Battle of Matapan, 1717, Domenico Duprà (National Museum of Ancient Art)

The battle
The Ottoman fleet, with 30 sailing ships, and 4 galleys, was seen to the south, on the west side of the bay entrance, on 19 July. With a light wind from the SSE, this meant that they had the advantage. Diedo, unable to sail to the west of the Ottoman fleet, decided to sail slowly east, across the bay.

The Allied fleet was organized into four divisions: the Capitano Ordinario delle Navi, Diedo, was in the Van, followed by the Center, led by his second in command, Correr. The 3rd or Rear Division was commanded by Dolfin. The 4th or Allied Division was commanded by Belle Fontaine.

Ibrahim with 6 ships attacked the Rear Division at about 6am, while the rest of his fleet went ahead and attacked the Van and Center. At about 12pm the fleets were approaching the east side of the bay, and shortly after the leading ships turned, the wind turned from the SE, putting the leading Venetianships to windward of some of the Ottoman fleet for the first time. Taking advantage of this, Diedo attacked them and the tough battle continued. At about 3pm the Ottoman fleet retired, sailing for the Cervi-Cerigo passage, while the Allies sailed for Cape Matapan. Neither side wished to continue the fight.

Aftermaths
As a result of the battle, Venetian attempt to recapture Morea was decisively foiled and the Ottoman reconquest of the peninsula was confirmed.

Each Allied state gave their own ships complete credit for any achievements. Some of these accounts are almost totally unreliable due to a variety of reasons—for example, their inclusion of forces which were not actually present for the battle.

Leon Trionfante 1716.jpg
Leon Trionfante 80 guns

Ships involved
Venice and allies
  • Blue Division - Vanguard
  • Yellow Division - Center
  • Red Division - Rear
  • Allied Division
    • San Raimondo 46 guns (Maltese)
    • Fortuna Guerriera 70 guns (Venetian)
    • Rainha dos Anjos 56 guns (Portuguese)
    • Nossa Senhora das Necessidades 66 guns (Portuguese)
    • Santa Catarina 56 guns (Chevalier de Bellefontaine - Maltese)
    • Nossa Senhora do Pilar 84 guns (Portuguese)
    • Santa Rosa 66 guns (Portuguese)
    • Nossa Senhora da Conceição 80 guns (General-Admiral Lopo Furtado de Mendoça - Portuguese)
    • Nossa Senhora da Assunção 66 guns (Portuguese)
  • Auxiliaries
    • Captain Trivisan (fireship) - Scuttled
    • Madonna del Rosario (hospital ship) - Sunk
Galleys
13 Venetian
5 Maltese
4 Papal
2 Tuscan

Ottomans
Ships of the Line

Kebir Üç Ambarlı (The Great Three Decker) 114 (Flagship of Ibrahim Pasha)
Ejder Başlı (The Dragon) 70
Çifte Ceylan Kıçlı (The Two Gazelles) 70
Yaldızlı Hurma (The Gilded Date) 70
Şadırvan Kıçlı (The Sprinkling Fountain) 66
Siyah At Başlı (The Black Horse) 66
Beyaz At Başlı (The White Horse) 66
Kula At Başlı (The Grey Horse) 66
Büyük Gül Başlı (The Great Rose) 66
Yılan Başlı (The Snake) 34 (unique ship with 2x372 pdr "üç kantar" monster guns firing marble balls)
Ifrit Başlı (The Demon) 62
Küçük Gül Başlı (The Little Rose) 60
Çifte Teber Kıçlı (Two Halberds) 58
Yıldız Bagçeli (The Star Garden) 58
Zülfikâr Kıçlı (The Two Pointed Sword) 56
Akçaşehir (Town of Akçaşehir) 56 guns
Servi Bagçeli (The Cypress Garden) 54
Ay Bagçeli (The Moon Garden) 54
Yeşil Kuşaklı (Green Belted) 54
Sarı Kuşaklı (Yellow Belted) 54
Kırmızı Kuşaklı (Red Belted) 52
Al At Başlı (The Red Horse) 52
Yaldızlı Nar Kıçlı (The Gilded Pomegranate) 52

Caravellas
Mavi Arslan Başlı (The Blue Lion) 44
Siyah Arslan Başlı (The Black Lion) 44
Taç Başlı (The Crown) 44
Güneş Kıçlı (The Sun) 44
Kuş Bagçeli Karavele (The Bird Garden Caravella) 44
Yıldız Kıçlı (The Star) 40
Mavi Kıçlı Karavele (The Blue Caravella) 38


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matapan
 
19 July 1790 - The naval Battle of Kerch Strait

(also known as Battle of Yenikale, by the old Turkish name of the strait near Kerch) took place on 19 July 1790 near Kerch, Crimea, and was a slight victory for Imperial Russia over the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War, 1787-1792.

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The Russian fleet, under Ushakov, sailed from Sevastopol on 13 July 1790 for the southern Crimea, after hearing a report that the Ottoman fleet had been sighted there. On 19 July it anchored at the mouth of the Kerch Strait and sent privateers out in search of the Ottomans. At 10 am they reported a sighting and 30 minutes later the Ottoman fleet came into view from the east. With the wind from the ENE, Ushakov formed a line on the port tack (i.e. south-east). The Ottomans turned from their group formation and formed a parallel line to the east of the Russian line. Seeing that the Ottoman battle-line contained just their battleships, Ushakov sent 6 frigates to form a second line to leeward of the main line, and between about 12pm and 3pm, 3 hours of indecisive longish-range fighting followed, but then the wind changed direction to NNE and the Russians luffed, turning toward the Ottoman line. The Ottomans reversed course, 2 of their ships colliding as they did so, because some ships turned left and others turned right. As the Russians steered toward the tail-end of the Ottomans line, and with the wind from the north, the Ottoman admiral steered away, to the SW. At about 7pm firing ceased. The Russians followed all night, but by morning, the faster ships of the Ottomans were out of sight. Russian casualties were 29 killed and 68 wounded, with very little damage to ships. The Russian victory prevented the Ottoman Empire from achieving its goal in landing an army in Crimea.

бой.jpg


Ships involved
Russia
Rozhdestvo Christovo 84 (flag of Vice-Admiral Fyodor Ushakov)
Maria Magdalina 66
Slava Ekateriny 66
Sv. Pavel 66
Sv. Vladimir 66
Sv. Aleksandr Nevskii 50
Sv. Andrei Pervozvannyi 50
Sv. Georgii Pobyedonosets 50
Ioann Bogoslov 46
Sv. Petr Apostol 46
Fanagoria 40
Kinburn 40
Legkii 40
Perun 40
Stryela 40
Taganrog 40
Sv. Ieronim (bomb)
2 fireships
13 privateers
Polotsk

Ottoman Empire
Mukaddeme-i Nusret 74 (flag of Kapudane Said Bey)
Bahr-i Zafer 72 (flag of Kapudan Pasha Giritli Hüseyin)
Melik-i Bahri 72 (flag of Patrona Bey)
Anka-i Bahri 72
Fethü'l Fettah 66
Nüvid-i Fütuh 66
Peleng-i Bahri 66
Tevfikullah 66
Feyz-i Hüda 66 (flag of Riyale Bey)
Mesudiye 58
Inayet-i Hakk 58
Burc-ı Zafer 52
Şehbaz-ı Bahri 52
Ukâb-ı Bahri 52
Polâd-ı Bahri 44
Mazhar-ı Saadet 38
Mebdâ-i Nusret 32
Raad-ı Bahri 20 (bomb frigate)
Berk-i Bahri 20 (bomb frigate)
Berk-i Hafız 20 (bomb frigate)
Şihab-ı Sakıb 20 (bomb frigate)
Cedid Bomba 20 (bomb frigate)
23 small craft (kırlangıç, pergende (brigantine) and şehtiye (xebec) type ships)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kerch_Strait_(1790)
 
19 July 1940 - The Battle of Cape Spada

was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in Second World War. It took place on 19 July 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Spada, the north-western extremity of Crete.

Prelude
The battle occurred when an Allied squadron patrolling the Aegean encountered two Italian cruisers transferring from Tripoli to Leros, at that time an Italian colony in the Dodecanese Islands. The Allied squadron was commanded by the Australian Captain John Collins aboard the light cruiserHMAS Sydney and included the British H class destroyers HMS Havock, Hyperion, Hasty, Hero and the similar I class destroyer Ilex. The Italian 2nd Cruiser Division was commanded by Vice Admiral Ferdinando Casardi and consisted of the high-speed light cruisers Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni.

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Bartolomeo Colleoni at Venice

Battle
When the Italians encountered the Allied destroyers at about 07:30, Sydney and Havock were 40 mi (35 nmi; 64 km) to the north on a sweep for submarines. The other destroyers led the Italian cruisers on a chase northwards to give Sydney time to come to the rescue. Sydney sighted the Italians at 08:26, opening fire at 08:29, and the Italian cruisers turned away to the southwest.

Bartolomeo_Colleoni_under_attack.JPG
Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni under attack from HMAS Sydney and destroyer flotilla

In the running battle which followed, Bartolomeo Colleoni was hard hit by Sydney and after a shell hit the boilers at 09:23 she stopped dead in the water. She fought on but was unable to manoeuvre or use the main battery; despite the fire from her 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, she was sunk by three torpedoes launched from Ilex and Hyperion at 09:59. Sydney continued to fire against Bande Nere. She was hit in the funnel by a single Italian shell, but managed to hit Bande Nere at least twice, killing eight in the bow and the hangar. Later, Sydney disengaged because she was short of ammunition and Giovanni delle Bande Nere returned to Benghazi, shadowed by the battleship HMS Warspite and a screen of destroyers. 555 survivors of Bartolomeo Colleoniwere rescued; 121 died. The British destroyers were bombed by Italian aircraft in the aftermath, resulting in damage to HMS Havock, whose nº 2 boiler was flooded. A floatplane from Warspite, which was searching for Bande Nere, ditched in the sea and was lost near Tobruk. The crew was captured by the Italians. Allied convoy AN.2 was ordered to sail back to Port Said and remain there until it was eventually known that Bande Nere had reached Benghazi.

Despite their speed advantage, the Italian cruisers failed to outrun HMAS Sydney because they had to steer south-southwest, instead of the most obvious route of escape to the south, in order to avoid being trapped between the enemy and the shores of Crete. This gave the Australian cruiser the chance to close the range, as she did. The light armour of Colleoni and Bande Nere was unable to defeat Sydney´s rounds. The lack of aerial reconnaissance was another factor contributing to the successful Allies' chase.

HMAS_Sydney_(AWM_301473).jpg
Aerial starboard bow view of the cruiser HMAS Sydney (II) (ex HMS Phaeton).

Order of battle

Italy


Allies



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Spada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cruiser_Bartolomeo_Colleoni
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Sydney_(D48)
 
Other events on 19 July

1545 - Henry VIII's Mary Rose sinks in the Solent during an engagement with the French fleet.

1280px-Mary_Rose_under_conservation.jpg

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

1777 HMS Lowestoffe (1761) (32), Cptn. William Locker, (2nd. Lt. Horatio Nelson) arrives at Port Royal, Jamaica.

Capture_of_Minerve_off_Toulon.jpg
Capture of La Minerve off Toulon, June 24th, 1795 by Thomas Whitcombe. In the foreground the damaged and dismasted Minerve duels with HMS Dido, while in the background Lowestoffe pursues a fleeing Artémise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lowestoffe_(1761)

1805 - HMS Blanche (1800) (36), Cptn. Zachary Mudge, taken and destroyed by French Topaze (44), Department des Landes (20), Torche (18) and Faune (16) some 150 miles north of Puerto Rico.

1806 - HMS Blanche (1804) (38), Cptn. Thomas Lavie, captured French frigate Guerriere (50) off the Farroes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amfitrite_(1804)

1810 - Squadron of 6 Danish brigs departing from Norway, under Cmdr. Johannes Krieger, defeats a British convoy of 47 merchant ships in the Skagerak.

1812 - USS Constitution (1797) (44), Isaac Hull, escapes from British squadron after 3 day chase off New Jersey

War was declared on 18 June and Hull put to sea on 12 July, attempting to join the five ships of a squadron under the command of Rodgers in President. He sighted five ships off Egg Harbor, New Jersey on 17 July and at first believed them to be Rodgers' squadron but, by the following morning, the lookouts determined that they were a British squadron out of Halifax: HMS Aeolus, Africa, Belvidera, Guerriere, and Shannon. They had sighted Constitution and were giving chase.

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Constitution during the chase

Hull found himself becalmed, but he acted on a suggestion from Charles Morris. He ordered the crew to put boats over the side to tow the ship out of range, using kedge anchors to draw the ship forward and wetting the sails to take advantage of every breath of wind. The British ships soon imitated the tactic of kedging and remained in pursuit. The resulting 57-hour chase in the July heat forced the crew of Constitution to employ myriad tactics to outrun the squadron, finally pumping overboard 2,300 US gal (8.7 kl) of drinking water. Cannon fire was exchanged several times, though the British attempts fell short or overshot their mark, including an attempted broadside from Belvidera. On 19 July, Constitution pulled far enough ahead of the British that they abandoned the pursuit.

Constitution arrived in Boston on 27 July and remained there just long enough to replenish her supplies. Hull sailed without orders on 2 August to avoid being blockaded in port, heading on a northeast route towards the British shipping lanes near Halifax and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Constitution captured three British merchantmen, which Hull burned rather than risk taking them back to an American port. On 16 August, he learned of a British frigate 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) to the south and sailed in pursuit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution
 
19 July 1588 - The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel. First day of the planned invasion of England by the spanish.

The Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy") was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruña in late May 1588, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and her establishment of Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a stop to English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and to the harm caused to Spanish interests by English and Dutch privateering.

The Armada chose not to attack the English fleet at Plymouth, then failed to establish a temporary anchorage in the Solent, after one Spanish ship had been captured by Francis Drake in the English Channel. The Armada finally dropped anchor off Calais. While awaiting communications from the Duke of Parma's army, the Armada was scattered by an English fireship attack. In the ensuing Battle of Gravelines the Spanish fleet was damaged and forced to abandon its rendezvous with Parma's army, who were blockaded in harbour by Dutch flyboats. The Armada managed to regroup and, driven by southwest winds, withdrew north, with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England. The commander ordered a return to Spain, but the Armada was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic and a large number of the vessels were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the initial 130 ships over a third failed to return. As Martin and Parker explain, "Philip II attempted to invade England, but his plans miscarried, partly because of his own mismanagement, unfortunate weather, and partly because the opportunistic defensive naval efforts of the English and their Dutch allies (the use of ships set afire and sailed into the anchored Armada to create panic) prevailed."

The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The following year, England organised a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, the Drake–Norris Expedition or "counter-Armada of 1589", which was also unsuccessful.

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English ships and the Spanish Armada, August 1588

Planned invasion of England

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Route taken by the Spanish Armada

Prior to the undertaking, Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip II of Spain to collect crusade taxes and granted his men indulgences. The blessing of the Armada's banner on 25 April 1588, was similar to the ceremony used prior to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. On 28 May 1588, the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel. The fleet was composed of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, and bore 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. The full body of the fleet took two days to leave port. It included twenty eight purpose-built warships, of which twenty were galleons, four galleys and four (Neapolitan) galleasses. The remainder of the heavy vessels were mostly armed carracks and hulks together with thirty-four light ships.

In the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000 soldiers[36] awaited the arrival of the Armada, the plan being to use the cover of the warships to convey the army on barges to a place near London. All told, 55,000 men were to have been mustered, a huge army for that time. On the day the Armada set sail, Elizabeth's ambassador in the Netherlands, Valentine Dale, met Parma's representatives in peace negotiations. The English made a vain effort to intercept the Armada in the Bay of Biscay. On 6 July negotiations were abandoned, and the English fleet stood prepared, if ill-supplied, at Plymouth, awaiting news of Spanish movements. The English fleet outnumbered the Spanish, 200 ships to 130, while the Spanish fleet outgunned the English – its available firepower was 50% more than that of the English. The English fleet consisted of the 34 ships of the Royal Fleet (21 of which were galleons of 200 to 400 tons) and 163 other ships (30 of which were of 200 to 400 tons and carried up to 42 guns each), 12 of these were privateers owned by Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake.

The Armada was delayed by bad weather. Storms in the Bay of Biscay forced four galleys and one galleon to turn back, and other ships had to put in for repairs, so only about 123 or 124 ships actually made it to the English Channel. Nearly half the fleet were not built as warships and were used for duties such as scouting and dispatch work, or for carrying supplies, animals, and troops.

The fleet was not sighted in England until 19 July, when it appeared off The Lizard in Cornwall. The news was conveyed to London by a system of beacons that had been constructed all the way along the south coast. On that evening, the English fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour by the incoming tide. The Spanish convened a council of war, where it was proposed to ride into the harbour on the tide and incapacitate the defending ships at anchor and from there to attack England; but Medina Sidonia declined to act because this had been explicitly forbidden by Philip, and decided to sail on to the east and towards the Isle of Wight. As the tide turned, 55 English ships set out to confront them from Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, with Sir Francis Drake as Vice Admiral. Howard ceded some control to Drake, given his experience in battle. The rear admiral was Sir John Hawkins.

First actions (1588)
On 20 July, the English fleet was off Eddystone Rocks, with the Armada upwind to the west. That night, in order to execute their attack, the English tacked upwind of the Armada, thus gaining the weather gage, a significant advantage. At daybreak on 21 July the English fleet engaged the Armada off Plymouth near the Eddystone rocks. The Armada was in a crescent-shaped defensive formation, convex towards the east. The galleons and great ships were concentrated in the centre and at the tips of the crescent's horns, giving cover to the transports and supply ships in between. Opposing them the English were in two sections, Drake to the north in Revenge with 11 ships, and Howard to the south in Ark Royal with the bulk of the fleet.

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The Ark Royal (1587), by Claes Janszoon Visscher (Claes Jansz Visscher), (1587-1652)
The galleon 'Ark Raleigh' was built at Deptford for Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587. The following year she was commissioned into the Royal Navy and re-named the 'Ark Royal'. She was the Lord High Admiral's flagship against the Spanish Armada in 1588. The vessel was 100 feet long on the keel, had a beam of 37 feet and carried 44 guns. Source: National Maritime Museum, London


Given the Spanish advantage in close-quarter fighting, the English ships used their superior speed and manoeuvrability to keep beyond grappling range and bombarded the Spanish ships from a distance with cannon fire. The distance was too great for this to be effective, however, and at the end of the first day's fighting neither fleet had lost a ship in action, although the Spanish carrack Rosario and galleon San Salvador were abandoned after they collided. When night fell, Francis Drake turned his ship back to loot the abandoned Spanish ships, capturing supplies of much-needed gunpowder, and gold. However, Drake had been guiding the English fleet by means of a lantern. As a result of him snuffing out the lantern to slip away from the Spanish ships, the rest of his fleet became scattered and was in complete disarray by dawn. It took an entire day for the English fleet to regroup and the Armada gained a day's grace. The English ships again used their superior speed and manoeuvrability to catch up with the Spanish fleet after a day of sailing.

Defence_of_the_Revenge.jpg
"Sir Richard Grenville's Gallant Defence of the Revenge", print from 1804

The English fleet and the Armada engaged once more on 23 July, off Portland. This time a change of wind gave the Spanish the weather-gage, and they sought to close with the English, but were foiled by the smaller ships' greater manoeuvrability. At one point Howard formed his ships into a line of battle, to attack at close range bringing all his guns to bear, but this was not followed through and little was achieved.

If the Armada could create a temporary base in the protected waters of the Solent (a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the English mainland), they could wait there for word from Parma's army. However, in a full-scale attack, the English fleet broke into four groups – Martin Frobisher of Aid now also being given command over a squadron – with Drake coming in with a large force from the south. At the critical moment Medina Sidonia sent reinforcements south and ordered the Armada back to open sea to avoid The Owers shoals. There were no other secure harbours further east along England's south coast, so the Armada was compelled to make for Calais, without being able to wait for word of Parma's army.

On 27 July, the Armada anchored off Calais in a tightly-packed defensive crescent formation, not far from Dunkirk, where Parma's army, reduced by disease to 16,000, was expected to be waiting, ready to join the fleet in barges sent from ports along the Flemish coast. Communication had proven to be far more difficult than anticipated, and it only now became known that this army had yet to be equipped with sufficient transport or assembled in the port, a process which would take at least six days, while Medina Sidonia waited at anchor; and that Dunkirk was blockaded by a Dutch fleet of thirty flyboats under Lieutenant-Admiral Justinus of Nassau. Parma wanted the Armada to send its light patachesto drive away the Dutch, but Medina Sidonia could not do this because he feared that he might need these ships for his own protection. There was no deep-water port where the fleet might shelter – always acknowledged as a major difficulty for the expedition – and the Spanish found themselves vulnerable as night drew on.

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English fireships are launched at the Spanish armada off Calais

The Dutch flyboats mainly operated in the shallow waters off Zeeland and Flanders that larger warships with a deeper draught, like the Spanish and English galleons, could not safely enter. The Dutch therefore enjoyed an unchallenged naval advantage in these waters, even though their navy was inferior in naval armament. An essential element of the plan of invasion, as it was eventually implemented, was the transportation of a large part of Parma's Army of Flanders as the main invasion force in unarmed barges across the English Channel. These barges would be protected by the large ships of the Armada. However, to get to the Armada, they would have to cross the zone dominated by the Dutch navy, where the Armada could not go. This problem seems to have been overlooked by the Spanish planners, but it was insurmountable. Because of this obstacle, England never was in any real danger, at least from the Duke of Parma and the Army of Flanders. Because of the eventual English victory at sea, the Army of Flanders escaped the drowning death Justinus and his men had in mind for them, ready to fight another day.

At midnight on 28 July, the English set alight eight fireships, sacrificing regular warships by filling them with pitch, brimstone, some gunpowder and tar, and cast them downwind among the closely anchored vessels of the Armada. The Spanish feared that these uncommonly large fireships were "hellburners", specialised fireships filled with large gunpowder charges, which had been used to deadly effect at the Siege of Antwerp. Two were intercepted and towed away, but the remainder bore down on the fleet. Medina Sidonia's flagship and the principal warships held their positions, but the rest of the fleet cut their anchor cables and scattered in confusion. No Spanish ships were burnt, but the crescent formation had been broken, and the fleet now found itself too far to leeward of Calais in the rising southwesterly wind to recover its position. The English closed in for battle. The Battle of Gravelines started ........

Summary of Armada Make Up
  • Total Number of Ships Mustered at Corunna = 130
  • Total tons of Shipping at Muster = 58,705
  • Total people on ships, soldiers & sailors = 25,826 people
  • Total number of Guns = 2,477
  • Total Number of Ships Lost/Burned/Missing = 68
  • Total Number that Failed to Start = 5


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada#Battle_of_Gravelines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_ship_Ark_Royal_(1587)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Drake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Spanish_Armada
 
19 July 1843 - disastrous Lauching / Floating out of SS Great Britain, the second ship of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Conditions were generally favourable and diarists recorded that, after a dull start, the weather brightened with only a few intermittent showers. The atmosphere of the day can best be gauged from a report the following day in The Bristol Mirror:

Large crowds started to gather early in the day including many people who had travelled to Bristol to see the spectacle. There was a general atmosphere of anticipation as the Royal Emblem was unfurled. The processional route had been cleaned and Temple Street decorated with flags, banners, flowers and ribbons. Boys of the City School and girls of Red Maids were stationed in a neat orderly formation down the entire length of the Exchange. The route was a mass of colour and everybody was out on the streets as it was a public holiday. The atmosphere of gaiety even allowed thoughts to drift away from the problems of political dissension in London.

Prince Albert arrived at 10 a.m. at the Great Western Railway terminus. The royal train, conducted by Brunel himself, had taken two hours and forty minutes from London. There was a guard of honour of members of the police force, soldiers and dragoons and, as the Prince stepped from the train, the band of the Life Guards played works by Labitsky and a selection from the "Ballet of Alma". Two sections of the platform were boarded off for the reception and it was noted by The Bristol Mirror that parts were covered with carpets from the Council House. The Prince Consort, dressed as a private gentleman, was accompanied by his equerry-in-waiting, personal secretary, the Marquess of Exeter, and Lords Wharncliffe, Liverpool, Lincoln and Wellesley.

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Launch of Great Britain at Bristol, July 1843

Introductions were made, followed by the "Address to His Royal Highness the Prince Albert", by the town clerk, D. Burgess. Honours were then bestowed on him by the Society of Merchant Venturers, and there were speeches from members of the Bristol clergy. The royal party then had breakfast and, after 20 minutes, reappeared to board horse-drawn carriages.

At noon, the Prince arrived at the Great Western Steamship yard only to find the ship already "launched" and waiting for royal inspection. He boarded the ship, took refreshments in the elegantly decorated lounge then commenced his tour of inspection. He was received in the ship's banqueting room where all the local dignitaries and their ladies were gathered.

After the banquet and the toasts, he left for the naming ceremony. It had already been decided that the christening would be performed by Clarissa (1790–1868), wife of Philip John Miles (1773–1845) and mother of Bristol's MP, Philip William Skinner Miles (1816–1881), a director of the company. She stepped forward, grasped the champagne bottle and swung it towards the bows. Unfortunately the steam packet Avon had started to tow the ship into the harbour and the bottle fell about 10 feet (3.0 m) short of its target and dropped unbroken into the water. A second bottle was rapidly obtained and the Prince hurled it against the iron hull.

In her haste, Avon had started her work before the shore warps had been released. The tow rope snapped and, due to the resultant delay, the Prince was obliged to return to the railway station and miss the end of the programme.

Another extended delay

SS_Great_Britain_by_Talbot.jpg
Fitting out in the Cumberland Basin, April 1844. This historic photograph by William Talbot is believed to be the first ever taken of a ship.

Following the launch ceremony, the builders had planned to have Great Britain towed to the Thames for her final fitting out. Unfortunately, the harbour authorities had failed to carry out the necessary modifications to their facilities in a timely manner. Exacerbating the problem, the ship had been widened beyond the original plans to accommodate the propeller engines, and her designers had made a belated decision to fit the engines prior to launch, which resulted in a deeper draught.

This dilemma was to result in another costly delay for the company, as Brunel's negotiations with the Bristol Dock Board dragged on for months. It was only through the intervention of the Board of Trade that the harbour authorities finally agreed to the lock modifications, begun in late 1844.

After being trapped in the harbour for more than a year, Great Britain was at last floated out in December 1844, but not before causing more anxiety for her proprietors. After passing successfully through the first set of lock gates, she jammed on her passage through the second, which led to the River Avon. Only the seamanship of Captain Claxton (who after Naval service held the position of Quay Warden (Harbour Master) at Bristol) enabled her to be pulled back and severe structural damage avoided. The following day an army of workmen, under the direct control of Brunel, took advantage of the slightly higher tide and removed coping stones and lock gate platforms from the Junction Lock, allowing the tug Samson, again under Claxton's supervision, to tow the ship safely into the Avon that midnight.


The Ship today

SS Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship, which was advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in 1845, in the time of 14 days.

Bristol_MMB_43_SS_Great_Britain.jpg
SS Great Britain in dry dock at Bristol in 2005

The ship is 322 ft (98 m) in length and has a 3,400-ton displacement. She was powered by two inclined 2 cylinder engines of the direct-acting type, with twin 88 in (220 cm) bore, 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke cylinders. She was also provided with secondary sail power. The four decks provided accommodation for a crew of 120, plus 360 passengers who were provided with cabins, dining, and promenade saloons.

When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. However, her protracted construction and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846 having spent all their funds re-floating the ship after she was run aground at Dundrum Bay after a navigational error. In 1852 she was sold for salvage and repaired. Great Britain carried thousands of immigrantsto Australia from 1852 until converted to sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until scuttled in 1937.

1280px-Great_Britain_propeller_and_rudder_wideshot.jpg
Replica of Great Britain's original six-bladed propeller on the museum ship. This propeller proved totally unsatisfactory in service and was quickly replaced with a four-bladed model.

In 1970, following a cash donation by Sir Jack Hayward that paid for the vessel to be towed back to the United Kingdom, Great Britain was returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was built. Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, she is an award-winning visitor attraction and museum ship in Bristol Harbour, with between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually.




Book Brunel´s Ships .... by Denis Griffiths (click for the link to the book review)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel
 
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