Naval History On This Day, Any Nation

[Kevin]

October 8

 

 

1746

HMS Weazle (16), Cdr. Hugh Palliser, off Beachy Head, in a short time captured four French privateers includingJeanie (6). Antoine Colloit, and Fortune (10), John Gilliere.

1800

HMS Gipsy (10), Lt. Coryndon Boger, captured armed sloop Quid pro Quo (8), Mons. Tourpie off the northern end of Guadeloupe. 

HMS Diligence (16), Charles Hodgson Ross, wrecked on the Honda Bank near Havana.

1808

HMS Modeste (36), Cptn. Hon. George Elliot, captured French corvette Jena (18)

1812

HMS Avenger Sloop (18), Urry Johnson, wrecked in the narrows of St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland.

1842

Commodore Lawrence Kearny in USS Constitution addresses a letter to the Viceroy of China, urging that American merchants in China be granted the same treaty privileges as the British. His negotiations are successful. 

Edited October 8, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1625 - Admiral George Villiers' fleet sails from Plymouth to Cadiz.

1769 - Captain James Cook is the first European to land in New Zealand (Poverty bay).

1812 - Boat party under Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captures HMS Detroit and Caledonia in Niagara River.

1821 - The government of General José de San Martín establishes the Peruvian Navy.

1835 - Charles Darwin reaches James Island, Galapagos archipelago, on HMS Beagle.

1879 - War of the Pacific: the Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamos, Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau is killed in the encounter.
1950 - 1st Marine Division commences embarkion at Inchon for landings at Wonsan, Korea.
1961 - USS Tulare (AKA-112) and USS Princeton (CVS-7) rescue seamen from an American and a Lebanese merchant ship, which were aground on Kita Daita Jima.

[Kevin]

October 9

 

 

1715

HMS Jamaica (14) wrecked on Grand Cayman

1799

HMS Lutine (32) wrecked on the banks between Terschelling and Vlieland, coast of Holland, with a cargo of gold, silver bars and money. After the accident, many attempts were made to recover her valuable cargo, sometimes with success. In total, some 120 gold and 60 silver bars are known to be salvaged. The Lutine was insured, causing Lloyd's a lot of financial problems to pay the damage and her recovered bell is still sounded by Lloyds to announce shipwrecks .

1800

HMS Galgo (14) [renamed Chance], George Samuel Stovin, upset in a squall in lat. 21° long. 61° west and foundered.

1803

HMS Atalante (16), J. O. Masefield, drove three French vessels ashore at the mouth of the Pennerf.

1804

HMS Albacore, Major Jacob Henniker, located 5 luggers armed as gunvessels anchored on a lee shore under cover of a battery near Cape Gris Nez de Flamanville. The enemy vessels were driven ashore and broke up under the heavy surf.

1812

Boat party under Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captures HMS Detroit (6) and HMS Caledonia in Niagara River. Both vessels were subsequently burnt.

1813

HMS Thunder bomb, W. O. Pell, captured the French lugger Neptune (16) off the Ower's Light.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1837 - Steamboat "Home" sinks off Okracoke NC killing 100.

1945 - Typhoon hits Okinawa, damaging many Navy ships.

1958 - Israeli navy inaugrates its 1st submarine.
1961 - USS Princeton rescues 74 survivors of two shipwrecks (U.S. lines Pioneer Muse and SS Shiek) from the island of Kita Daito Shima.

[Kevin]

October 10

 

 

1707

Convoy and escort, under Commodore Edwards, was intercepted by two French squadrons, under the Count de Forbin and Du Guai Trouin, off the Lizard. HMS Cumberland (80), HMS Ruby (48) and HMS Chester (48), Capt. John Balchen, were captured. HMS Devonshire (80), Cptn. Watkins, caught fire and blew up.

1770

HMS Endeavour, Lt. James Cook, arrived at Batavia.

1775

Continental Navy schooner Hannah (4), Nicolson Broughton, engages HM sloop Nautilus (16) near Beverly, Massachusetts

1781

HMS Charon (44), Cptn. Thomas Symonds, HMS Guadaloupe (28), HMS Fowey (24), Cptn. Peter Aplin, HMS Vulcan fireship, and some transports, were burnt in the Chesapeake before Yorktown by hot shot from the American batteries. They would otherwise have been captured.

1795

HMS Mermaid (32), Cptn. Warre, captured Brutus (10),  Requiem Bay, Grenada

1796

HMS Malabar (54), Cptn. Parr, foundered coming home from West Indies.

1799

HMS Jupiter (50) engaged Prencuse.

1812

HMS Sentinel Gun-boat (12), Lt. William Elletson King, wrecked North-east end of the Island of Rugen, Baltic.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1845 - Naval School (now called US Naval Academy) opens at Annapolis.

1913 - British passenger ship Volturno catches fire in Atlantic (136 killed).

1944 - Opening of Leyte campaign begins with attack of four Carrier Task Groups of Task Force 38 on Okinawa and Ryukyus.
1985 - Fighters from USS Saratoga (CV-60) force Egyptian airliner, with the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro aboard, to Italy, where the hijackers were taken into custody.

[Kevin]

October 11

 

 

1746

HMS Nottingham (60), Cptn. Philip Saumarez, took French ship Mars (64) off Cape Clear.

1765

HMS Lapwing (10) lost

1776

Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, New York. American fleet of 15 ships, under Benedict Arnold, defeated by British fleet of approx. 30 vessels.

1780

HMS Laurel (28), HMS Andromeda (28), Cptn. Henry Brine, swept ashore at Martinique and HMS Deal Castle (24), Cptn. James Hawkins, and HMS Endeavour (14) also foundered in the West Indies.13 Royal Navy ships foundered in the great hurricane over 8 days. 

1781

HMS Firebrand fireship (16) blew up off Falmouth

1782

Gibraltar relieved by Lord Howe.

1797

Battle of Camperdown. British under fleet Adam Duncan defeat Dutch fleet under Jan Willem de Winter 

1808

HMS Greyhound (32), Hon. W. Pakenham, wrecked on the coast of Lemonia.

1811

HMS Imperieuse (38), Capt, Hon. Henry Duncan, silenced a strong fort near Positano in the Gulf of Salerno and sank a gunboat. 2 other gunboats sheltering below the fort were taken..

1814

Boats of HMS Endymion (50) Cptn. Henry Hope, repulsed trying to take American brigantine privateer Prince de Neufchatel off Nantucket .

1828

HMS Jasper Sloop (10) , L. C. Rooke, grounded in running for Harbour of St. Maura.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Kevin

[Kevin]

October 12

 

 

1702

The Battle of Vigo Bay. An Anglo-Dutch fleet, under Sir George Rooke, captured or destroyed a French fleet, under Admiral Chateau-Renault, together with Spanish treasure galleons and transports, under Manuel de Valesco, in Vigo bay. 

1793

Boats of HMS Captain (74), Cptn. Reeve, and HMS Speedy (14), Charles Cunningham, found French frigate  Imperieuse (40) at Porta Especia. She scuttled herself but was raised and taken into the Royal Navy

1798

Battle of Tory Island. British squadron, under Sir John Borlase Warren, defeats a French invasion squadron, under Commodore  Jean-Baptiste Francois Bompart, of ship-of-the-line Hoche and 8 frigates off Donegal, Ireland.

1799

HMS Trincomalee (16), Lt. John Rowe, engaged Iphigenie (24) in the Persian Gulf. They fought at close quarters for 20 minutes when both vessels suddenly blew up.

1800

HMS Urchin gunvessel, Lt. Thomas Pearson Croasdaile, foundered in Tetuan Bay while under tow by HMS Hector

1806

HMS Constance (22), Cptn. Alexander Saunderson Burrows (Killed in Action), HMS Sheldrake (16), John Thicknesse, HMS Strenuous (14), Lt. John Nugent, and HMS Britannia cutter, Lt. Smith, took  frigate La Salamandre (26) anchored close to the rocks off Erquy and covered by a battery of guns on the cliffs. Constance and the prize had both taken the ground and, in spite of the heavy fire from the shore, great efforts were made to get them off, but without success. The prize was set on fire but, although she was left completely wrecked on the rocks, the French later recovered and repaired Constance.

1813

Island of St. George taken and Cattaro blockaded by HMS Bacchante (38), Cptn. William Hoste, HMS Saracen(18), Cptn. John Harper and 2 Sicilian gunboats

[st george]

1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall on Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas). The explorer believes he has reached East Asia.

1702 - Battle of Bay of Vigo: Dutch & English fleet destroy & occupy Spanish silver fleet & French squadron.

1775 - US Navy forms.

1861 - Confederate ironclad Manassas attack Union's Richmond on Mississippi.

1914 - USS Jupiter (AC-3) is first Navy ship to complete transit of Panama Canal.
1944 - Aircraft from Carrier Task Force 38 attack Formosa.
1957 - RADM Dufek arrives at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica to command Operation Deep Freeze III during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58.
1961 - Five men cholera treatment demonstration team from Naval Medican Research Unit, Taipei leaves to assist setting up of facilities to treat an epidemic in Manila.
1965 - End of Project Sealab II where teams of naval divers and scientists spent 15 days in Sealab moored 205 feet below surface near La Jolla, California.
1980 - USS Guadalcanal and other ships of Amphibious Forces, Sixth Fleet begin assistance to earthquake victims in Al Asnam, Algeria.
2000 - Terrorists in a boat make suicide attack on USS Cole (DDG-67) while the ship refuels in the port of Aden, Yemen. Seventeen Sailors are killed.

[Kevin]

October 13

 

 

1775

The Continental Congress at Philidelphia resolves to build armed ships. Recognized as the date of the official establishment of the US Navy

1796

HMS Terpsichore (32), Cptn. Richard Bowen,  captured Spanish frigate Mahonesa (34), Cptn. Don Tomas Ayaldi, off Carthagena.

1798

HMS Jason (38), Charles Stirling, wrecked on unknown rock near Brest.

1804

HMS Firebrand fireship, William Maclean, wrecked off Dover.

1805

HMS Jason (32), Cptn. P. William Champain, captured French national corvette Naiade (20), Lt. Hamond,  in the Atlantic west of Barbados. Jason also took a Spanish schooner, Three Schooners, the same day.

1813

HMS Telegraph (14), Cdr. Timothy Scriven, engaged Filbustier (22), Lt. Daniels,  in the mouth of the Adour until her crew escaped ashore after setting her on fire. Attempts to save her did not succeed.

Edited October 13, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1492 - English admiral Poynings fleet occupies Lock.

1884 - Greenwich established as universal time meridian of longitude.

1893 - Vigilant (US) beats Valkyrie II (England) in 9th America's Cup.

1954 - USS Saipan begins relief and humanitarian aid to Haitians who were victims of Hurricane Hazel. The operation ended 19 October.

1987 - 1st military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf).

[mtaylor]

Trivia.....  The US Marines are considered the "senior" service in the US.  Seems that after war, Congress decided a Navy and the Army wasn't needed and basically killed their charters.  The Marines were needed on civilian ships for some reason to their way of thinking.  Later, the Navy was re-instituted. 

 

Political disclaimer:  Given the way the Congress has been acting lately... things haven't improved much.   :D  

[Kevin]

October 14

 

 

1747

The Second Battle of Cape Finisterre. A British fleet of 14 ships of the line, under Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, intercepted a French convoy protected by eight French ships of the line, under Admiral Desherbiers de l'Etenduère.

 It was a decisive British victory.

1761

HMS Griffon (28) lost off Bermuda

1782

HMS London (98) and HMS Torbay (74) and HMS  Badger (14) chased French warships, Scipion (74) and Sibylle(40) off San Domingo. Scipion was engaged but London's tiller rope was shot away which gave Scipion time to escape although she eventually struck a rock whilst anchoring in Samana Bay and sank.

1795

HMS Melampus (36) and HMS Latona (38) engaged batteries at Groix. 

HMS Mermaid (32), Cptn. Warre, captured Republicaine (18),  Requiem Bay, Grenada

1803

HMS Racoon (16), Austin Bissell, captured gun-brig  Petite Fille, Amelie (4) and Jeune Adele (6) near Cumberland Harbour in Cuba.

1810

HMS Briseis (10), George Bentham, captured French privateer Sans Souci (14) in North Sea.

1811

HMS Pomone (38), Cptn. Robert Barrie, with Sir Hartford Jones on board, wrecked on the Needles. The master was severely reprimanded for not taking accurate bearings of Hurst lighthouse.

1813

Capture of battery and 16 vessels at Marinelo, east of Civita Vecchia, by HMS Furieuse (38), Capt. William Mounsey.

[st george]

1773 - East India Company tea ships' cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland.

1939 - German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak, 833 killed.

1942 - Japanese battleship strikes Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.

[Kevin]

October 15

 

 

1711

HMS Edgar (70), Cptn. George Paddon, blew up at Spithead after an accidental fire.

1779

HMS Charon (44), Cptn. Luttrel, HMS Lowestoffe (32), Cptn. Christopher Parker (2), HMS Pomona (28), HMS Porcupine (24) and other small craft surprised fortress of San Fernando de Omoa in Honduras which during 4 day campaign was taken with 2 Spanish treasure ships. The treasure found in the fort and on board two treasure ships was worth some two million dollars.

1795

HMS Melampus (36), Cptn. Sir Richard John Strachan, and HMS Latona (38), Cptn. the Honourable Arthur Kaye Legge, engaged French frigates Tortue (40) and Néréide (36) off Rochefort.

HMS Thunderer (74), Cptn. Albermarle Bertie, HMS Pomone (40), Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren and HMS Concorde (36), Cptn. Anthony Hunt, took French brig-corvette Eveillé (16) off Isle d'Yeu

Edited October 16, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1705 - English fleet under Lord Peterborough occupies Barcelona.

1917 - USS Cassin (DD-43) torpedoed by German submarine U-61 off coast of Ireland. In trying to save the ship, Gunner's Mate Osmond Kelly Ingram becomes first American sailor killed in World War I and later is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism. He becomes the first enlisted man to have a ship named for him, in 1919.

1918 - British Q-ship Cymric sinks British submarine J6.
1948 - First women officers on active duty sworn in as commissioned officers in regular Navy under Women's Service Integration Act of June 1948 by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan: CAPT Joy B. Hancock, USN; LCDR Winifred R. Quick, USN; LCDR Anne King, USN; LCDR Frances L. Willoughby, MC, USN; LT Ellen Ford, SC, USN; LT Doris Cranmore, MSC, USN; LTJG Doris A. Defenderfer, USN; and LTJG Betty Rae Tennant, USN.
1957 - USS Lake Champlain reaches Valencia, Spain to assist in flood rescue work.
1960 - USS Patrick Henry (SSBN-599) begins successful firing of four Polaris test vehicles under operational rather than test conditions. Tests are completed on 18 October.
1965 - U.S. Naval Support Activity Danang Vietnam, established.

[Kevin]

October 16

1798

HMS Mermaid (32), Cptn. Newman, and HMS Kangaroo (16), Edward Brace,  engaged Loire (46).

1799

Boats of HMS Echo (16) cut out American built French letter of marque Buonaparte (12), Enseigne de Vaisseau Pierre Martin, from Lagnadille at the north-west of Puerto Rico.

1807

HMS Pert (16), Donald Campbell, wrecked off Santa Margarita.

1815

Napoleon Buonaparte was landed on St. Helena where he remained under the watchful eye of the Royal Navy until his death on 6 May 1821.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1940 - 5th group of 10 destroyers from the Destroyers for Bases Deal turned over to British at Halifax, Canada.
1942 - Carrier aircraft from USS Hornet (CV-8) conduct attacks on Japanese troops on Guadalcanal.
1943 - Navy accepts its first helicopter, a Sikorsky YR-4B (HNS-1) at Bridgeport, Connecticut.

[Kevin]

October 17

 

 

1747

Squadron of 4 British privateer frigates, under Commodore George Walker, King George, Prince Frederick,Princess Amelia and Duke engaged Spanish Glorioso (70) near Cape St. Vincent. They were later reinforced by HMS Dartmouth (50), Cptn. John Hamilton, which caught fire and blew up, and HMS Russell (92) before Cptn. don Pedro Messia de la Cerda surrendered.

1799

HMS Ethalion (38), Cptn J. Young, captured Spanish frigate Thetis (36), Don Juan de Mendoza, from Vera Cruz with specie valued at 1,411,256 dollars.

1807

HMS Firefly schooner, Lt. Thomas Price, foundered in a hurricane off Curacao.

1809

HMS Pelorus (18), Capt. Huskisson, and HMS Hazard (16), Hugh Cameron, were blockading Point-a-Petre when they observed a privateer schooner moored under the battery of St. Mary, Guadeloupe. Pelorus destroyed the battery and their boats boarded and blew up the schooner.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1922 - LCDR Virgil C. Griffin in Vought VE-7SF makes first takeoff from U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV-1) anchored in York River, Virginia.
1941 - U-568 torpedoes and damages USS Kearny (DD-432) near Iceland, resulting in 11 killed and 22 injured.
1944 - Naval Forces land Army rangers on islands at the entrance to Leyte Gulf in preparation for landings.
1989 - Following San Francisco earthquake, 24 Navy and Military Sealift Command ships rendered assistance.

[Kevin]

October 18

 

 

1760

HMS Lively (20), Cptn. Hon. Frederic Maitland, took Valeur (20) off Cuba.

HMS Boreas (28), Cptn. Samuel Uvedale, takes La Sirene (32)

1775

Capt. Henry Mowat RN, leading a four ship flotilla (HMS Canso, HMS Symmetry, HMS Spitfire, and HMS Halifax), commenced naval bombardment of Falmouth, Massachusetts (site of modern day Portland, Maine).

1798

HMS Anson (38), Cptn Durham, and HMS Kangaroo (16), Edward Brace, captured Loire (46).

1799

HMS Triton (32), Cptn. John Gore, HMS Naiad (38) and HMS Alcemene (32), Cptn. H. Digy, captured Santa Brigida (36), Don Antonio Pillon, from Vera Cruz with specie valued at 1,400,000 dollars.

HMS Impregnable (98), Cptn. Jonathan Faulknor, wrecked after striking on Chichester Shoals of Portsmouth.

1806

HMS Caroline (36), Cptn. Peter Rainier, captured Dutch frigate Maria-Riggersbergen (36), Captain Jager, off the coast of Java.

1812

USS Wasp (18), Master Commandant Jacob Jones, captures HMS Frolic (18), Cptn. Thomas Whinyates,off the coast of Virginia.

HMS Poictiers (74), Cptn. Sir J. P. Beresford, captured USS Wasp (18), Master Commandant Jacob Jones, and re-captured Frolic.

[st george]

1667 - English fleet plunders Suriname plantations.
1859 - U.S. Marines reach Harper's Ferry, VA and assault the arsenal seized by John Brown and his followers.
1867 - USS Ossippee and USS Resaca participate in formal transfer of Alaska to U.S. authority at Sitka and remain to enforce law and order in new territory.
1944 - 3rd Fleet Carrier aircraft attack Japanese ships in harbor and land forces around Manila.
1968 - In Operation Sea Lords, the Navy's three major operating forces in Vietnam (TF 115, 116, and 117) are brought together for the first time to stop Vietcong infiltration deep into South Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

[Kevin]

October 19

 

 

 

1810

Start of campaign to capture Lle de France by HMS Illustrious (74), Cptn. William Robert Broughton, and consorts.

1811

Cptn. George Ralph Collier, HMS Surveillante (36), and a party of marines, in conjunction with a party of guerillas under Pastor, attacked the battery of Mundaca, put the enemy to flight, blew up the fortifications, and carried off all the stores.

Boats of HMS Imperieuse (38), Cptn, Hon. Henry Duncan, and HMS Thames (32), Cptn. Charles Napier, took 10 polacres at Palinuro, Calabria.

1843

Cptn. Robert Stockton in USS Princeton, the first screw propelled naval steamer, challenges British merchant shipGreat Western to a race off New York, which Princeton won.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Kevin

[st george]

1492 - Columbus sites "Isabela" (Fortune Island, Bahamas)

1870 - British steamship SS Cambria wrecked off the north-west of Ireland with the loss of 178 lives.

1915 - Establishment of Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut.
1944 - Secretary of Navy orders African American women accepted into Naval Reserve.
1987 - US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf used for military purposes.

2001 - SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

[Kevin]

October 20

 

 

1744

HMS Bonetta (14), HMS Greenwich (54), Cptn. Edward Allen, HMS St. Albans (54), HMS Thunder bomb (8) and HMS Lark hulk (42) foundered off Jamaica during hurricane.

1778

HMS Jupiter (50), Cptn. Francis Reynolds, and HMS Medea (28), Capt. James Montagu, engaged a French ship of the line Triton in the Bay of Biscay.

1793

HMS Crescent (36), Cptn. James Saumarez, engaged French frigate Reunion with a cutter, Esperance (14) in company. Reunion was taken but Esperance escaped into Cherbourg.

1798

HMS Fisgard (44) captured Immorlalite.

1799

HMS Cerberus (32) engaged five Spanish frigates.

1806

HMS Athenienne (64), Cptn. Robert Raynsford, wrecked on the Esquerques, off Sicily.

1808

21 Danish gunboats, under Cptn. Johan C. Krieger, attacks a British convoy in the southern part of the Sound. The convoy consisting of 137 ships is escorted by HMS Africa (64), Cptn. John Barrett, HMS Thunder bomb, James Caulfield, and 2 brigs. Due to lack of wind Africa could not manouvere and was severely damaged.

1813

HMS Achates (16), Isaac Morrison, engaged Trave off Cape Finisterre.

1824

U.S. Schooner Porpoise captures four pirate ships off Cuba.

1827

Battle of Navarino. A combined Turkish and Egyptian armada, under Ibrahim Pasha, was destroyed by an allied British, French, and Russian naval force, under Edward Codrington 

[Kevin]

October 21

 

 

1757

Action off Cape Francois. HMS Augusta (60), Commodore. Arthur Forrest, HMS Edinburgh (64) and HMSDreadnought (60), Cptn. Maurice Suckling, intercept, off Cape Francois, a French convoy bound for Europe with an escort, under de Kersaint, of Intrepide (74), Sceptre (74), Opineatre (64), L'Outarde (44), Greenwich (50), Savage(30) and Unicorn (30).

1762

George Rodney promoted Vice-Admiral.

1794

HMS Artois (38), Cptn. Sir Edmund Nagle, captured Revolutionnaire (44), Henri-Alexandre Thèvenard,  off Ushant, supported by HMS Arethusa (38), Cptn. Sir Edward Pellew, HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Sir William Sidney Smith, and HMS Galatea (32), Cptn. Richard Goodwin Keats, .

1797

Launching of USS Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts.

1805

Battle of Trafalgar/Death of Nelson. Nelson defeats combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve

1806

Boats of HMS Renommee (44), Cptn. Sir Thomas Livingstone, at Colon, Majorca.

1807

16 Danish ships-of-the-line, 15 frigates and corvettes, 14 smaller vessels, together with 92 merchant ships, loaded with naval equipment, leaves Copenhagen, flying the British flag, following the capitulation to the British forces on 6 September.

1811

HMS Grouper Brig (4), James Atkins, wrecked off Guadaloupe.

[st george]

1639 - Sea battle at Dunes, Lt Admiral Maarten Tromp defeats Spanish armada under De Oquendo.

1797 - Launching of USS Constitution at the Hartts Boston shipyard, Boston, Massachusetts. The ship is now the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy.
1942 - British submarine lands CAPT Jerauld Wright, USN and four Army officers at Cherchel, French North Africa, to meet with a French military delegation to learn the French attitude toward future Allied landings.
1944 - Leyte Landings continue.

1960 - 1st British nuclear sub HMS Dreadnought launched.

[Kevin]

October 22

1793

HMS Agamemnon (64), Cptn. Horatio Nelson, met 5 French frigates and engaged Melpomene (40) before withdrawing.

1794

HMS Centurion (50), Cptn. Osborn, and HMS Diomede (44) engaged and driven off from blockading Mauritius by French squadron Prudente (36), Cybèle (40), Jean Bart (20) and Courier (14).

1805

Trafalgar prizes Berwick (74) and Fougueux (74) wrecked or foundered in a storm after the battle.

1813

HMS Laurestinus (22) wrecked in the West Indies

[st george]

1846 - Miss Lavinia Fanning Watson of Philadelphia christens the sloop-of-war Germantown, the first U.S. Navy ship sponsored by a woman.

1904 - Russian fleet shoots at British fishing ship.

1942 - 1st ships of invasion fleet for Oran (Algeria) leave Scotland.

1948 - Egyptian flagship King Farouk sunk by Israel.
1962 - President John F. Kennedy orders surface blockade (quarantine) of Cuba to prevent Soviet offensive weapons from reaching Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Kevin]

October 23

 

 

1707

Squadron, under Admiral Sir Clowdsley Shovell, HMS Association (90), Cptn. Edmund Loades (1st. captain) and Cptn. Samuel Whitaker,  HMS Eagle (70), Cptn. John Leake, HMS Romney (54), Cptn. William Coney, and HMS Firebrand fireship (8), wrecked on the Scilly Islands.

1762

HMS Brune (32), Cptn. Tobyn, took French frigate Oiseau (26), Chevalier de Mode, off Cartagena.

1777

HMS Augusta (64) and the sloop HMS Merlin, Cdr. Samuel Reeve, took the ground, while attacking American Fort Mifflin, Delaware. Augusta accidentally caught fire and blew up and Merlin was also set on fire and abandoned.

1790

William Bligh court martialled for loss of HMS Bounty.

1804

HMS Conflict (12), Lt. Charles Cutts Ormsby, lost in engagement off Ostend.

1805

Trafalgar prizes Santisima Trinidad (136), Rayo (100), Bucentaure (80), Neptuno (80), L'Aigle (74), Redoutable (74) and San Francisco de Asis (74) wrecked or foundered in a storm after the battle.

1813

HMS Andromache (38), Capt. G. Tobin, captured French frigate Trave (44)