Naval History On This Day, Any Nation

and that concludes this thread, i think i have posted something everyday, at present i have nothing to replace it with, thank-you for the support you have given it

trippwj · May 1, 2014

Kevin et. al. - thank you for this amazing trek through naval and maritime history. If I may be allowed, I would like to add an entry for May 1st.

200 years ago today, on May 1, 1814, The US Sloop of War WASP sets sail from Newburyport, MA under the command of Master Commandant Johnston Blakeley. Over the ensuing 5 months, WASP sets a record for commerce raiding and successful naval combat unsurpassed by any other US Captain of the time - and never on a single cruise. In total, WASP is known to have captured 12 merchant vessels and engaged (and defeated) 3 naval vessels before being lost at sea during October or November of 1814.

TomShipModel · May 3, 2014

Good Afternoon Wayne,

Which Wasp? The 1807 Sloop converted from the Brig?

Thanks for this great information,

Tom

trippwj · May 3, 2014

Good Afternoon Wayne,

Which Wasp? The 1807 Sloop converted from the Brig?

Thanks for this great information,

Tom

That would be the 1814 ship-rigged Sloop of War.

TomShipModel · May 3, 2014

Thank you Wayne,

I figured that it was but I wasn't sure. I built a model of 1807 Wasp (1:64). Still in my living room. It was my first completed scratch build.

flying_dutchman2 · May 4, 2014

I picked up a book at gutenberg.org about the "History of Holland. Very interesting, very detailed and information I have never read before.

The following naval officer is famous of capturing four fleeing galleons trapped on the Cuban coast. Hein captured 11,509,524 guilders of booty in gold, silver, and other expensive trade goods, such as indigo and cochineal, without any bloodshed. The capture of the treasure fleet was the company's greatest victory in the Caribbean.

Pieter Pietersen Heyn (Hein) (25 November 1577 – 18 June 1629) was a Dutch naval officer and folk hero during the Eighty Years' War between the United Provinces and Spain.

Early life
Hein was born in Delfshaven (now part of Rotterdam), the son of a sea captain, and he became a sailor while he was still a teenager. In his twenties, he was captured by the Spanish, and served as a galley slave for about four years, probably between 1598 and 1602, when he was traded for Spanish prisoners. Between 1603 and 1607 he was again held captive by the Spanish, when captured near Cuba.

In 1607, he joined the Dutch East India Company and left for Asia, returning with the rank of captain (of the Hollandia) five years later. In 1618, when he was captain of the Neptunus, both he and his ship were pressed into service by Venice. In 1621 he left his vessel behind and traveled overland to the Netherlands.

In 1623, he became vice-admiral of the new Dutch West India Company (WIC) and sailed to the West Indies the following year. In Brazil, he briefly captured the Portuguese settlement of Salvador, personally leading the assault on the sea fortress of that town. In August with a small and undermanned fleet he sailed for the African west coast and attacked a Portuguese fleet in the strongly defended bay of Luanda but failed to capture any ships. He then crossed the Atlantic ocean again to try and capture merchant ships at the city of Vitória, but was defeated by a resistance organized by the local citizenry with the assistance of the Portuguese garrison. After finding that Salvador had been recaptured by a large Spanish-Portuguese fleet Hein returned home. The Dutch West India Company, pleased with Hein's leadership qualities, placed him in command of a new squadron in 1626. In subsequent raids during 1627 at Salvador, he attacked and captured over thirty richly laden Portuguese merchant ships before returning to the United Provinces.

Modern historians today often classify Hein as a pirate, though he was more properly a privateer; the Dutch Republic was locked in mortal combat with the Habsburgs and Hein was among the most successful and famous commanders it employed during the Eighty Years' War. While many privateers behaved no better than common pirates, Hein was a strict disciplinarian who discouraged unruly conduct among his crews and had rather enlightened views for the times about "Indian" tribes, slaves and members of other religions. Also, he never was an individual privateer but rather commanded entire fleets of warships.

Spanish treasure fleet
Battle in the Bay of Matanzas

In 1628, Admiral Hein, with Witte de With as his flag captain, sailed out to capture a Spanish treasure fleet loaded with silver from their American colonies and the Philippines. With him was Admiral Hendrick Lonck and he was later joined by a squadron of Vice-Admiral Joost Banckert, as well as by the pirate Moses Cohen Henriques. Part of the Spanish fleet in Venezuela had been warned because a Dutch cabin boy had lost his way on Blanquilla and was captured, betraying the plan, but the other half from Mexico continued its voyage, unaware of the threat. Sixteen Spanish ships were intercepted; one galleon was taken after a surprise encounter during the night, nine smaller merchants were talked into a surrender; two small ships were taken at sea fleeing, four fleeing galleons were trapped on the Cuban coast in the Bay of Matanzas.

After some musket volleys from Dutch sloops the crews of the galleons also surrendered and Hein captured 11,509,524 guilders of booty in gold, silver, and other expensive trade goods, such as indigo and cochineal, without any bloodshed. The Dutch didn't take prisoners: they gave the Spanish crews ample supplies for a march to Havana. The released were surprised to hear the admiral personally giving them directions in fluent Spanish; Hein after all was well acquainted with the region as he had been confined to it during his internment after 1603. The capture of the treasure fleet was the company's greatest victory in the Caribbean.

As a result, the money funded the Dutch army for eight months (and as a direct consequence, allowing it to capture the fortress 's-Hertogenbosch), and the shareholders enjoyed a cash dividend of 50% for that year. Hein returned to the Netherlands in 1629, where he was hailed as a hero. Watching the crowds cheering him as he stood on the balcony of the town hall of Leyden he remarked to the burgomaster: "Now they praise me because I gained riches without the least danger; but earlier when I risked my life in full combat they didn't even know I existed...". Hein was the first and the last to capture such a large part of a Spanish "silver fleet" from America.

Lieutenant-Admiral
He became, after a conflict with the WIC about policy and payment, Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia on 26 March 1629, and thus factual supreme commander of the confederate Dutch fleet, taking as flag captain Maarten Tromp. He died the same year, in a campaign against the Dunkirkers, the highly effective fleet of Habsburg commerce raiders and privateers operating from Dunkirk. As it happened his flotilla intercepted three privateers from Ostend. He deliberately moved his flagship in between two enemy ships to give them both simultaneous broadsides. After half an hour he was hit in the left shoulder by a cannonball and was killed instantly. He is buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft.

Commemoration
The Piet Hein Tunnel in Amsterdam is named in his honor, as is the former Dutch Kortenaer class frigate, Hr. Ms. Piet Heyn.
A direct descendant of Hein was Piet Hein, a famous 20th century Danish mathematician, physicist and poet.
A song praising Admiral Hein's capture of the Spanish "silver fleet" written in 1844 is still sung by choirs and children at primary school in the Netherlands.
(I learned this song as well and still remember this.)

Thanks for reading.
Marc

oneslim · May 5, 2014

Philadelphia,_May_8, 1776

Extract of a letter from an officer in Cumberland County,

West-New Jersey, May 6, 1776

"This serves to inform you of an alarm we had about 11 o'clock this day,

of a party of regulars landing on Findle's-Island,* in Bacon's Neck,

about four miles from Greenwich, supposed to be about 30 in number;

shooting down the cattle, taking them on board, &c. whereupon I called

the militia together as soon as possible, and upon our appearance,

a gun was fired from on board one of the vessles for them to repair on board,

which they did with the greatest precipitation. Our men pursued so closely,

that we were near taking 3 of them prisoners, one of whom left an excellent

musket behind, which we got, with some cartridges. They hollowed to our

men to go on board the King Fisher and they would pay for the beef.

It is supposed they took off between 20 and 30 cattle, 5 they left dead

on the shore, and wounded many others, which, with all the others, we

have drove from the water-side. They have taken, this morning, a shallop

belonging to Daniel Richard's, bound from Philadelphia to Morris River,

but the hands escaped to shore." ---Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly

Advertiser, May 8, 1776

* Spelling should be Tindale's Island.

My ancestors served in the Cumberland County Militia during the Revolutionary War. There is a bronze plaque, thanking them for their service, in a church yard in Cedarville, about 5 miles south-east of Bacon's Neck, where they had a large farm. I don't know if they responded this day, I have yet to hook up with the local historian to see it there is a record of this event.

Bob Wescott

jud · May 26, 2014

Was wanting to get the collision between the USS Ammen DD 527 and the USS Collet DD 730 on 19 June 1960 in the history list. Was aboard the Ammen, guess this tag on, will have to do.

jud

Edited May 27, 2014 by jud

trippwj · June 6, 2014

June 6, 1944. Allied forces dispatch an invasion fleet of nearly 7,000 vessels to conduct amphibious landings in Normandy. The "greatest generation" of many nations shows their resolve during what would be described as their longest day.

pompey2 · June 6, 2014

D Day - 70th Aniversary. My hat off to all of them.

Lots of stuff going on around here in Southsea, few interesting planes about.

I'm going to dinner tonight at a pub in Southwick.

The old landlady there told a story about serving Eisenhower his G&T and Churchill his Brandy.

Southwiack house was where a lot of D Day was planned and directed from and they were both there during the invasion.

The map room can still be visited with the original wall map.

http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/103188

The two guys who created it (toy makers) where then held in Southwick House until September for security.

I know a lady that lived in Southsea at the time, just before D Day her and a friend were amazed at the sheer number of tanks gathering.

So they decided to follow the column back to see how far it went.

Several hours and fifteen or more miles later they gave up and came home!

Nick

pompey2 · June 19, 2014

June 17th 1940 sinking of HMT Lancastria - St Nazaire.

The largest ever loss of life on a single British ship sinking.

Jammed with people / soldiers escaping Europe two weeks after Dunkirk.

Estimates between 4,000 on 9,000 people on board, just 2,477 survivors, one of which was my Grandad.

Official capacity 2,200

Hit by three bombs as it tried to clear the coast, sunk in twenty minutes.

A horrible story if you read it in detail.

N

jud · June 19, 2014

19 June 1960

wikipedia notes: On 19 July 1960, while making the transit between Seal Beach and San Diego for decommissioning, Ammen was struck by Collett. The collision killed 11 Ammen sailors and injured 20 others. She was initially towed into Long Beach and, later, from there to San Diego where she was decommissioned on 15 September 1960. Ammens name was struck from the Navy List on 1 October 1960, and she was sold to the National Metal and Steel Corporation on 20 April 1961 for scrapping.

jud · June 20, 2014

Off the coast of Cherbourg, France, the Confederate raider CSS Alabama loses a ship-to-ship duel with the USS Kearsarge and sinks to the floor of the Atlantic. 19 June 1864.

algeciras1801 · July 12, 2014

12 July 1801 Second Battle of Algeciras.

A British squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral James Saumarez defeats a combined French and Spanish squadron commanded by Contre Admiral Charles Linois in a night action off Gibraltar. Two Spanish first rates are destroyed and ship of the line is captured. The victory effectively ends the alliance between France and Spain which in turn results in the signing of the Treaty of Amiens between Britain and France, a treaty which ends the French Revolutionary Wars

algeciras1801 · July 22, 2014

22 July 1805 Finisterre (Calder's Action)

Vice-Admiral Calder's squadron of fifteen ships of the line, stationed off Ferrol in northern Spain, intercepts the squadron of Admiral Villeneuve as it returns to European waters from the Caribbean. Heavy fog and light winds delay the action until the evening and the confused, indecisive, encounter ends with Calder badly disabling four ships of the French fleet and capturing another two. The weather improves the following day but Calder, an experienced officer who had been Sir John Jervis’s flag-captain at the Battle of St Vincent, seems more intent on protecting his prizes and chooses not to re-engage. The result of this decision is an eventual court martial which ends his career.

Kevin · July 23, 2014

The construction of HMS Victory begins

JUL 23rd, 1759 - Richard Cavendish recounts the birth of a great warship

The keel of the most famous ship in the history of the Royal Navy was laid down in the Old Single Dock (now the Victory Dock) at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. Present with Admiralty officials at the occasion was William Pitt the Elder, whose government had announced a major ship-building programme of first-rate ships of the line and frigates the year before.

The new first-rate was designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Thomas Slade. Her keel was to be 259 ft long, she would have a displacement of 2,162 tons, carry a crew of about 850 and be armed with more than 100 guns. Some 6,000 trees would be used to build her, the great bulk of which were oaks, mainly from Kent, the New Forest and Germany. She was the Navy’s sixth Victory. One of them, under Sir John Hawkins, had fought the Spanish Armada in 1588. Another, of 80 guns, had been launched in 1666 and the fifth, launched in 1737, had sunk with all hands in 1744.

algeciras1801 · July 31, 2014

31 July 1653 The Battle of Scheveningen.

This battle, the final one of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-54), was fought in order to break a blockade of the Dutch coast by the Commonwealth fleet under General at-Sea George Monk and resulted in a crushing defeat for the Dutch who lost fifteen ships and their great commander, Admiral Maarten Tromp, killed by a sharpshooter at the start of the battle. The battle resulted in a peace conference at which the English were able to dictate their own terms.

flying_dutchman2 · July 31, 2014

1498 - Christopher Columbus on his third voyage discovers the island of Trinidad

Rob Wood · April 2, 2015

April 2nd, 1781 - During the American Revolution, the Continental frigate Alliance, commanded by John Barry, captures the British privateers Mars and Minerva off the coast of France.

Courtesy of http://www.phillyseaport.org

Edited April 2, 2015 by Rob Wood

Rob Wood · April 5, 2015

05 April 1942: Imperial Japanese Navy Attacks Ceylon (credit: Wikipedia)

1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.

Dorsetshire%26Cornwall.jpg

British heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall under Japanese air attack and heavily damaged on 5 April 1942

Photo taken from a Japanese aircraft - Imperial Japanese Navy.

This photo was captured by U.S. Forces on Attu Island, Alaska, in 1943 and became U.S. Navy photo 80-G-71202 now in the U.S. National Archives, available via wwiiarchives.net, see also www.warship.get.net.pl

Rob Wood · April 7, 2015

07 April 1863: Combined Navy/Army Union Forces Attack Fort Sumter (credit: http://civilwarnavy150.blogspot.com)

At noon on April 7, 1863, the largest concentration of ironclad warships yet seen in the Civil War prepared for action in the main ship channel leading to Charleston harbor.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Rob Wood

Rob Wood · April 10, 2015

09 April 1914: First Recorded Aerial Bombing of Warships (credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_9_April_1914)

The Action of 9 April 1914 was an important turning point in naval and aviation history. On the said date one of the first naval/air skirmishes took place. This engagement took place off the coast of western Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The action was part of the naval campaign off Topolobampo at the edge of the Gulf of California. A Constitutionalist biplane dropped bombs on two Huertista gunboats; they all missed.

Rob Wood · April 10, 2015

10 April 1940: First Battle of Narvik (credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Narvik)

The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla—under Commodore Bernard Warburton-Lee and comprising five H-class destroyers (HMS Hardy (flagship), Hotspur, Havock, Hunter and Hostile—moved up the Narvik fjord in the early morning, and surprised a larger Kriegsmarine force (10 destroyers), under the command of Kommodore Friedrich Bonte. In the pitched battle that ensued, both commanders were killed.

Kevin · April 14, 2015

Nice to see the thread is still alive

Rob Wood · April 17, 2015

16 April 1944: U-550 Sunk Off Nantucket (Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-550)

1944 - USS Gandy (DE 764) intentionally rams German submarine U-550 off Nantucket Shoals in Atlantic Ocean. USS Joyce (DE 317) and USS Peterson (DE 152) join Gandy and deploy depth charges and gunfire to sink the submarine.

On 16 April 1944, south of Nantucket Island, U-550 located convoy CU 21, bound for Great Britain from New York City. The Pan Pennsylvania, one of the largest tankers in the world, was unwisely straggling behind the convoy; U-550 torpedoed her. The ship quickly caught fire and began to sink. As the vessel settled, the submerged U-boat maneuvered underneath her hull in an effort to hide from the inevitable counterattack by the convoy's escorts.

Convoy CU-21 was escorted by Escort Division 22, consisting of Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts reinforced by one Navy DE, USS Gandy, which took the place of USS Leopold, which had been lost in action the previous month. The escort division's flagship, USS Joyce and USS Peterson rescued the tanker's surviving crew, while the Joyce detected the U-boat on sonar as the Germans attempted to escape after hiding beneath the sinking tanker. U-550 's engineering officer later said, "We waited for your ship to leave; soon we could hear nothing so we thought the escort vessels had gone; but as soon as we started to move – bang!"^[5] The Joyce delivered a depth-charge pattern that bracketed the submerged submarine. The depth charges were so well placed, a German reported, that one actually bounced off the U-boat's deck before it exploded.^[5]

The attack severely damaged U-550 and forced her to the surface, where the German sailors manned and fired their deck guns. Joyce, Peterson and Gandy returned fire. Gandy rammed U-550 abaft the conning tower and Peterson dropped two depth charges which exploded near the U-boat's hull. Realizing they were defeated, the U-boat's crew prepared scuttling charges and began abandoning their boat. Joyce rescued 13 of U-550 's crew, one of whom later died from wounds received during the fire-fight. The remainder of the U-boatmen went down with their submarine. Joyce delivered the prisoners of war and Pan Pennsylvania survivors to the authorities in Great Britain.

Note: There is evidence that some crew members who were trapped in a forward compartment managed to escape, using breathing apparatus, only to perish on the surface.

U-505 Wreck Found Read Full Story

Edited April 17, 2015 by Rob Wood

Rob Wood · May 1, 2015

01 May 1898: Cruiser Olympia (Credit: Cruiser Olympia at Independence Seaport Museum)

5:41am - May 1st, 1898 - 117 years ago, Commodore George Dewey on-board the USS OLYMPIA gave the order "You may fire when ready, Gridley."

Captain Charles Vernon Gridley, commanding the OLYMPIA from the armored conning tower, ordered the forward turret to commence firing. The forward two 8" guns fired, followed by a volley of 5" gun fire from the main deck.These were the first shots that initiated the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.

The Battle of Manila Bay was the first Naval action between the United States and the Spanish Empire during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Days before, Commodore George Dewey had received orders from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, to pursue and destroy the Spanish Fleet in the Spanish-held Philippines.

The U.S. Asiatic squadron, led by the Flagship OLYMPIA, consisted of six "brand-new" modern steel warships. The Spanish Fleet, led by Admiral Patricio Montojo consisted of eight mostly-outdated steel and iron warships. By 12:40pm, the battle was over. Dewey's fleet suffered few casualties and little damage, while Montojo's fleet suffered nearly 350 casualties and all ships sunk or burned. This marked the rise of the U.S. into the international scene, placing it just below the top superpowers of the day - the British Empire, Imperial Germany, Imperial Japan, and Czarist Russia.

The Battle of Manila Bay instantly made Commodore Dewey and his flagship, OLYMPIA, forever famous. The ship continued long past obsolescence until 1922, riding on the fame it gained for itself in 1898. Today, the ship continues to serve as a Naval memorial and museum - still floating on Admiral Dewey's accomplishment.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rob Wood

Canute · May 4, 2015

The Battle of the Coral Sea, first naval battle fought entirely with naval aircraft, began in the Pacific during WW II. The outcome was considered a Japanese tactical victory, but ultimately a strategic one for the Allies.

Tadeusz43 · May 4, 2015

04 May 1940

During the German air raid on the port of Narvik was sunk Polish destroyer ORP Grom with ship was lost 59 lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORP_Grom_%281936%29

Sister ship ORP Błyskawica museum ship in Gdynia (Poland).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORP_B%C5%82yskawica

Tadeusz

Edited May 4, 2015 by Tadeusz43

Sign In

Naval History On This Day, Any Nation

Recommended Posts

Join the conversation

Recently Browsing 0 members

About us

SSL Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

Our Emblem ®

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)