SeaWaves Today in History January 16, 2010 1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia 1780 - The First Battle of Cape St. Vincent - This engagement, more commonly known as "The Moonlight Battle," was a British victory by a fleet under the command of Admiral Sir George Rodney over a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara. The battle took place during the American War of Independence. France, Spain, and the Dutch had joined in on the American side. This had two major effects - the balance of power was shifted in favor of the Americans; and British seaborne commerce in Europe and to the colonies became threatened. Britain felt that her vital interests were at stake and she reacted strongly. Admiral Rodney set sail for the Americas in early January with 21 ships of the line. An intercepted neutral merchantman informed him that a Spanish fleet of 11 ships of the line had left Cadiz and was headed northward along the coast. Rodney altered southward in the hope of intercepting them. At 13 -00 on 16 January, the 74-gun ship Bedford sighted the enemy force off Cape St. Vincent. Clearly outnumbered, the Spanish turned away and headed back towards Cadiz. Rodney ordered "General Chase". He also ordered his force to engage from leeward (the wind was from the NW), vice from windward, as per normal procedure, which also involved forming a line-of-battle. His purpose was to overtake the Spaniards and get between them and safety. The swiftest British ships soon forged ahead - Resolution, followed closely by Defense and Edgar, caught the first of the trailing Spanish ships as the sun was setting and a full was moon rising. A mêlée of single-ship actions lasted through most of the night, fought by moonlight. Rodney's flagship, Sandwich, captured two ships - the Spanish flagship Fenix and the smaller Monarcha. In total, four of De Langara's ships managed to escape while four were taken as prizes, two were wrecked on the Spanish coast, and one blew up. The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was not of strategic significance but it had major implications for the future conduct of British naval warfare. The battle was unique on two counts. First, Admiral Rodney abandoned the standing fleet tactical instructions. No other fleet engagement had ever been fought from the outset under the signal "General Chase." Second, the battle had tremendous romantic impact because it was fought at night under a full moon. This captured the public imagination and focused Britons attentions on naval affairs in a way an 'ordinary' engagement of this scale could never have done. Admiral Rodney received many awards for his victory in this battle and, despite a very distinguished career afterwards, always regarded this The Moonlight Battle as his greatest triumph 1809 - The British expeditionary force under Sir John Moore in Spain, which had been forced to retreat in the face of massively superior French forces, fought a superb rearguard action at Corunna, where the Royal Navy had arrived to evacuate it. Marshal Soult's French army was mauled, but Sir John Moore, who had done much to resurrect the concept of light infantry in the British Army, was fatally wounded 1813 - Captain Grey of the Provincial Marine reports from Kingston on the progress of two warships wintering at the naval dockyards. Both ships, Royal George and Moira, and their crews are found to be in a state of disorder 1883 - Steamer Josephine explodes in Puget Sound near Mukilteo, killing eight or nine people 1893 - Battleship FS Bouvet laid down 1909 - Battleship FS Voltaire launched 1914 - While carrying out practice torpedo attacks against HM Ships Onyx and Pigmy, HMS A7 failed to surface having been seen to submerge by HMS Pigmy at 1110 The cause of her loss is not known and although her wreck was located 22 Jan, bad weather prevented salvage 1914 - Submarine USS H-3 (ex-Garfish) commissioned 1915 - Submarine HMS E17 launched 1916 - Submarine HMS E36 launched 1917 - Submarine HMS G9 left the Tees on 9th September 1917. On the 16th she was on patrol off Norway between 60 degrees 30 minutes north and 61 degrees 30 minutes north. It was a very dark night and G9 knew an enemy submarine was in the vicinity. There was heavy rain, with sea state 5 and wind force 4-5. Whilst on the surface, G9 fired two torpedoes at the destroyer HMS Pasley in mistake for German U-boat and was preparing to launch the stern tube torpedo before she was rammed. One torpedo missed Pasley, the other failed to detonate because of the acute angle of impact. The destroyer rammed the submarine. There was only one survivor. The CO of Pasley had received no instructions regarding probable presence of British submarines in this area. The subsequent Court of Enquiry attributed no blame to Pasley 1917 - Patrol vessel (ex-survey ship) HMCS Acadia commissioned Halifax NS 1917 - Berlin sent the famous "Zimmermann telegram" to the German ambassador in Washington. The signal was intercepted by the British and decoded by Royal Navy cryptologists. The contents were then passed to the United States Government, where the revelation of German efforts to maneuver Mexico against the US provoked outrage 1918 - Submarine HMS L15 launched 1919 - Rescue tugs HMS Rollicker & St Blazey launched 1919 - Destroyer HMS Witherington launched 1920 - HM Submarine A6 & A12 sold for breaking to J.H. Lee Bembridge, IOW 1930 - USS Lexington provides power to Tacoma, WA, when floods knocked out city power plants 1934 - Submarine HMS Severn launched 1935 - Sloop HMS Londonderry launched 1935 - Minesweeper HMS Hussar commissioned 1936 - U-19 commissioned 1937 - Soviet submarine SC-208 commissioned 1937 - The German Naval High Command announced that warships and naval craft of foreign Powers thereafter had to obtain previous authorization to pass through the Kaiser Wilhelm [Kiel] Canal 1939 - Submarine USS Sculpin commissioned 1939 - Submarine HMS Tambor laid down 1939 - Minesweeper FS Commandant Duboc launched 1940 - U-455, U-456, U-457, U-458, U-587, U-588, U-589, U-590, U-591, U-592, U-593, U-594, U-595, U-596, U-597, U-598 ordered 1940 - U-651 laid down 1940 - At 1619, the unescorted SS Inverdargle struck a mine laid on 9 Nov, 1939 by U-33, broke in two &sank in the Bristol Channel SW of Nash Point. The master and 48 crewmembers were lost. The stern section lies in 51°16´31N/03°47´15W and the bow lies 1300 meters NE 1940 - At 0611, the unescorted SS Panachrandos was hit by one torpedo from U-44 west of Brest, broke in two & sank within three minutes 1940 - The emperor of Japan today appointed Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, aged 60, to form a new cabinet after General Abe & his ministers resigned after an urgent session early on 14 January 1941 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Desiree mined & sunk in Thames Estuary 1941 - Corvette HMS Cowslip laid down 1941 - Corvette KNM Soroy (ex-HMS Eglantine) laid down 1941 - Destroyer FS La Combattante (ex-HMS Haldon) laid down 1941 - Corvette HMS Armeria launched 1941 - MS Zealandic sunk by U-106 at 58.28N, 20.43W - Grid AL 2599 1941 - At 0356, the unescorted SS Oropesa was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-96 SE of Rockall. She was missed by a coup de grâce at 0440 & sank at 0616 after being hit by two coup de grâce at 0503 and 0559 hours. The master, 98 crewmembers, one gunner and six passengers were lost. 109 crewmembers, one gunner and 33 passengers were picked up by rescue tugs HMS Superman & Tenacity along with destroyer HMS Westcott. Survivors landed at Liverpool 1941 - Corvette HMS Fennel commissioned 1941 - Now it is Malta's turn to withstand the full onslaught of the Luftwaffe. The Fuhrer has ordered the "neutralizing" of the island. In successive waves 80 Stukas hit Valetta, causing major damage to port installations and several nearby churches. The casualty figures are said to be high - and soldiers and sailors were called in to unload ships when stevedores refused to work under fire. The Luftwaffe's principal target HMS Illustrious was hit by only one bomb, but more damage was caused to her hull by underwater explosions. HMAS Perth was also damaged in the raid. The Maltese population failed to take adequate shelter in today's raids. Tonight, they are digging deep into Malta's limestone strata, suddenly aware that, despite the defending British aircraft - which shot down five Stukas today - the Luftwaffe will not let up 1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks the Congress for an immediate appropriation of US$350 million for 200 new merchant ships 1942 - Japanese submarines continue mining the approaches to Darwin, Northern Territory - HIJMS I-122 mines Clarence Strait, I-123 Bundas Strait, & I-124 the waters off Darwin itself 1942 - During a routine search from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, a Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6) TBD Devastator flown by Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Harold F. Dixon (Naval Aviation Pilot) fails to return to the ship and force-lands at sea about 740 miles NE of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, due to fuel starvation. Dixon and his two-man crew have no food and no water but they survive 34 days at sea in a raft 1942 - Six PBY-5 Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron Twenty Three (VP-23) temporarily based at Canton Island began daily searches of the waters between Canton Island and the Fiji Islands to protect the advance of Task Force 8 as it prepared for its strike against the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. These were the first combat patrols by US aircraft in the South Pacific 1942 - The Admiralty defines its Eastern Fleet as comprising “all British battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, minelayers, destroyers and submarines within the limits of the British East Indies and China Stations.” This includes the ship in the Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) area, regarded as a detachment of the Eastern Fleet known as the "Far Eastern Squadron" 1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks the Secretaries of War, Navy and Interior to study the need for a highway from the Zone of the Interior (ZI), i.e., the continental US, to the Territory of Alaska 1942 - Minesweeper HMAS Geelong commissioned 1942 - ASW trawler HMS Buster commissioned 1942 - Destroyer USS Mullany laid down 1942 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Irvan sunk by German aircraft off Yarmouth UK 1942 - Frigate HMS Swale launched 1942 - Corvette HMS Lotus launched 1942 - Destroyer HMAS Queenborough launched 1942 - At 1115, SS Llangibby Castle in Convoy WS-15 was torpedoed by U-402 north of the Azores. One torpedo hit the stern and blew away the after gun and the rudder, but the propellers remained intact. The ship limped to Horta in the Azores at 9 knots, fighting off attacks by German Fw200 aircraft on the way. The neutral Portugal allowed only 14 days for repairs and on 2 February, the ship had to left with the troops still on board and set course to Gibraltar, assisted by an Admiralty tug and escorted by three British destroyers. On 3 February, the small convoy was followed by several U-boats, but none managed to hit the ship, while HMS Westcott sank U-581. On 8 February, the troopship arrived at Gibraltar in tow of the tug and disembarked the troops 1942 - Tanker SS Toorak sunk by U-86 at 47.54N, 52.11W - Grid BB 63 1943 - HMS Unseen torpedoes and sinks the italian merchant Zenobia Martini north of Gerba Island, Tunisia 1943 - HMS Unrivalled sinks the Italian tug Genova with gunfire near Sousa, Tunisia 1943 - U-220, U-281, U-763 launched 1943 - Minesweeper USS Compel launched 1943 - Frigate HMS Duckworth laid down 1943 - U-278, U-736 commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Thomas laid down 1943 - HMC ML 052, ML 062 & ML 063 paid off & transferred to Free French Navy to be stationed at St Pierre & Miquelon under control of Flag Officer Newfoundland 1943 - Announcement by Iraq of the existence of a state of war between Iraq and Germany, Italy, and Japan 1943 - Submarine USS Greenling, on her fourth patrol, comes upon Kimposan Maru west of Kavieng, New Ireland. In a twilight periscope attack, Greenling unleashes three torpedoes, scoring two hits. The transport sinks in position 02°47'S, 149°10'E. Submarine chaser Ch 17 rescues Kimposan Maru's survivors having unsuccessfully depth-charged Greenling in a counterattack 1943 - Submarine USS Growler, moving through the waters around the Bismarck during her fourth patrol, attacks a Japanese convoy by launching a daylight periscope attack. Growler sinks Chifuku Maru with both torpedoes fired in position 04°00'S, 151°55'E. Growler survives the escort counterattacks 1944 - Steam tanker Vaijan Kutur´e (ex-Nikolaj Janson) sunk by U-20 in Black Sea 1944 - 64 killed when US Liberty ship Sumner I Kimball, in Convoy ON-219, sunk by U-960 at 52.35N, 35.00W - Grid AK 8518 1944 - Submarine HMS Tudor commissioned 1944 - Submarine HMS Affray laid down 1944 - Destroyers USS Ingraham & Moale launched 1944 - Destroyer escort USS John J Van Buren launched 1944 - Minesweeper USS Inflict launched 1944 - Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise conducted an air raid at Hong Kong 1944 - U-544 sunk in the North Atlantic NW of the Azores, in position 40.30N, 37.20W, by depth charges & rockets from Avenger aircraft (VC-13) of escort carrier USS Guadalcanal. 57 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - Tugs HMCS Glenside, Glenbrook, Glenevis & Glendyne ordered 1944 - U-305 lost probably to one of its own torpedoes in the approximate position 49N/18W. 51 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - Corvette HMCS Orillia departed Londonderry for refit Liverpool NS 1944 - Frigate HMS Meon departed Glasgow to escort Convoy ON-220 1944 - It was announced that General Eisenhower had arrived in Great Britain and assumed his duties as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces 1944 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Invasion Force in London 1944 - Submarine USS Blackfish, sailing through the Caroline Islands during her seventh patrol, attacks a convoy approximately 275 NM SW of Truk. In the course of the attack, Blackfish fires from all ten torpedo tubes. The sub claims damage from one hit in a four torpedo salvo (the victim is not identified in postwar analysis). From the six fish spread, three find Kaika Maru and sink her in position 04°03'N, 148°41'E 1944 - Submarine USS Redfin, on her first outing, patrols the South China Sea. Firing four torpedoes, she attacks and heavily damages destroyer Amatsukaze with all four torpedoes in a twilight surface attack about 250 miles north of the Spratly Islands, 14°40'N, 113°50'E 1944 - Submarine USS Seahorse, patrolling east of the Marianas during her third patrol, attacks and sinks transport Nikko Maru in a night surface radar attack ESE of the Marianas in position 12°49'N, 150°19'E. Three of four torpedoes fired find their target 1944 - Submarine USS Sturgeon, cruising in the Honshu area on her ninth patrol, heavily damages destroyer Suzutsuki in Bungo Suido in position 32°11'N, 132°22'E. However, Sturgeon fails to press home an attack against the accompanying merchant vessel Azaki Maru 1944 - Submarine USS Swordfish, patrolling south of Honshu on her tenth patrol, hits with all three torpedoes fired in a night periscope attack, Delhi Maru which sinks south of Tokyo Bay in position 34°04'N, 139°56'E 1944 - Submarine USS Whale, on her sixth patrol cruising between the Volcano and the Daito Islands, attacks a Japanese convoy in a twilight periscope attack, firing three torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit and sink Denmark Maru about 400 miles ESE of Okinawa in position 23°09'N, 135°14'E. Nearby USS Seawolf, on her twelfth patrol, conducts a nighttime gun attack and damages Tarushima Maru at approximately 22°45'N, 135°00'E 1945 - U-2358, U-2359, U-2524 commissioned 1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-407 was commissioned at San Francisco with LTJG J.R. Powell, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area 1945 - Frigate HMS St Brides Bay launched 1945 - Soviet destroyer Dejatelnyj (ex-HMS Churchill) sunk by U-956 1945 - U-248 sunk in the North Atlantic in position 47.43N, 26.37W, by depth charges from destroyer escorts USS Hayter, Otter, Varian & Hubbard. 47 dead (all hands lost) 1945 - HMS Stygian sinks three Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire south of the Malakka Strait 1946 - HMS Puncher, an Attacker-class escort carrier, (ex-CVE 53 USS Willapa, known as the Bogue Class in the USN), Capt. Roger Edward Shelford Bidwell, RCN, CO, was paid off and returned to the USN at Norfolk, Virginia. Admiral Bidwell went on to become Flag Officer Atlantic, in Halifax. The extreme flexibility of the escort carrier concept was amply demonstrated in the career of this ship. Puncher was built in the US but was commissioned into the RN on 05 Feb 44, under the Lend-Lease Program. RCN personnel manned the ship; the aircrew was British. She could carry between 18 and 24 aircraft. Normally, they were of two types - Fairey ‘Barracuda’ torpedo-bombers from Fleet Air Arm Squadron (FAA) 821, and Grumman F4F 'Wildcat’ fighters from FAA Squadron 881. Puncher displaced 14,170 tons, was 492 feet long (o.a.) and had a maximum speed of 18 knots. She carried 3,400 tons of fuel and could conduct underway replenishment of her escorts. Her total crew size was approximately 1000 officers and men. Capt. Bidwell was her only commanding officer. Puncher was not engaged in the conventional escort carrier role of Protection of Trade. Rather, she operated off the Norwegian coast where she provided air cover for aerial mine laying operations, conducted attacks on enemy shipping, and flew strikes against U-boat bases. Following VE Day, she was employed for several months in deck landing training for new aircrews. In Sep 45, she was converted to a troop transport and was used to bring Canadian soldiers home to Canada from Great Britain. In Jan 46, she left Halifax for Norfolk and was returned to the USN. She was stricken from the USN register on 12 Mar 46 and was sold for scrap a year later. This plan was cancelled and she was resold into merchant service and was converted and renamed Muncaster Castle. She was resold and renamed twice more before being sold for scrap in 1973, in Taiwan 1948 - The list of nominations for appointments and promotions of Coast Guard officers transmitted to Congress by the President on this date represented the first permanent advancements of U .S. Coast Guard regular officers since the summer of 1942 1949 - Jean Bart runs acceptance trials 1958 - Destroyers HMCS Crescent, Cayuga, Fraser, Margaree & Skeena departed Esquimalt for Far East 1960 - Destroyer HMCS Qu'Appelle laid down Lauzon PQ 1960 - Tracker aircraft crashed after takeoff from HMCS Bonaventure. The CS2F-1 was s/n 1517 from VS 880 1963 - Nikita Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union had a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb 1967 - Alan S. Boyd was sworn in as the first secretary of transportation in the USA 1969 - USS Hancock port call Subic Bay 1971 - USS Hancock port call Subic Bay 1972 - ARM California wrecked by grounding 1979 - Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi departed Iran for Egypt; he never returned 1985 - Destroyer HMCS Yukon completed life extension refit Esquimalt BC 1987 - Destroyer HMCS Mackenzie completed life extension refit Esquimalt BC 1988 - Coast Guard units responded to a report of a murder on board the container vessel Boxer Captain Cook. The ship's first officer apparently murdered the captain and threw his body overboard. A boarding party from the cutter Northland, offloaded onto the cutter Cape York, boarded the vessel on the high seas and captured the suspected murderer and collected evidence of the crime 1990 - The USCGC Mellon fires a Harpoon missile, the first cutter to do so 1991 - At weekly briefing, CINCCENTCOM announces new US troop strength at about 425,000 (60,000 USN, 75,000 USMC); 19 countries have deployed ground forces; 14 nations are participating in naval efforts (US, 100 ships [80 combatants]/50 multinational ships); updates numbers of intercepts - 6960; boardings - 832; diversions - 36. Completion of two naval exercises announced; Operation CANDID HAMMER: communication techniques/mine warfare drills in central Arabian Gulf (Participants: USN, Royal Saudi, French, British, Canadian, and Australian naval forces); Operation CAMELOT: personnel and equipment trained in various areas, to include anti-air warfare/vertical replenishment in central Red Sea (Participants: USN, Royal Saudi naval forces) 1991 - At 1900 (EST), White House announced that "the liberation of Kuwait has begun!" The offensive action against Iraq, codenamed Operation Desert STORM, is being carried out under provisions of twelve UN Security Council resolutions and resolutions of both houses of the US Congress. Following President Bush's address to the nation, SECDEF Dick Cheney and CJCS General Colin Powell announce at Pentagon briefing hundreds of US/coalition airstrikes on missile and anti-aircraft targets in Iraq and Kuwait to "destroy Saddam Hussein's offensive military capabilities;" Cheney reports initial attack appears to have gone very, very well; no casualty reports provided 1991 - Operation Desert Storm, liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, begins 1995 - Frigate HMCS Montreal relieved by HMCS Toronto in blockade duties off Yugoslavia 2003 - USNS Denebola & Regulus activated 2004 - Minesweeper SPS Genil decommissioned 2004 - USNS Altair activated 2004 - RRF MV Cape Hudson activated 2004 - USNS Gordon activate to transport materials to Iraq 2005 - HMS Victorious arrived Devonport for first major refit 2005 - Four sailors from a Canadian naval frigate had to be plucked from St. John's harbor Sunday after an equipment malfunction dumped them into the frigid water. The sailors were being lowered from the deck of HMCS Toronto in a skiff as the frigate approached the harbor, when a cable holding the small vessel released prematurely 2005 - At 1730 Humber Coastguard received a MAY DAY call from the 13 meter fishing vessel Aquarius reporting they were taking in water with 3 persons on board approximately 16 miles East of Amble. Aquarius reported that they had been involved in a collision moments earlier with the 56,000-tonne Bahamian tanker Alpha Germania, which was in ballast and on passage to Teesport. Humber Coastguard requested the launch of RNLI Amble Lifeboat and the Rescue Helicopter from RAF Boulmer, which is standing by with Coastguard pumping equipment. A nearby fishing vessel called Rejoice attended the scene and has secured a towline to Aquarius, which has lost all steering but is not sinking. Aquarius is now under tow by Rejoice and will return to their homeport of Amble under escort of Amble Lifeboat and to be met by Amble Coastguard Rescue Team once in harbor. The tanker Alpha Germania has been released and is now continuing passage to Teesport. The tanker is reported to be undamaged 2005 - The Coast Guard escorted a 110-foot tug after it lost its steering and began taking on water Sunday, 16 miles west of the mouth of the Queets River, Wash. The tug Dorine Brusco contacted the Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16 at 1141 reporting that they were disabled, adrift and taking on water. A Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Astoria, Ore., and a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Quillayute River, Wash., were launched at 1142 to assist. The tug's crew reported they were unable to dewater the vessel, but were able to stabilize it by transferring fuel between tanks. The tug Edward Brusco launched from Grays Harbor, Wash., to take the disabled tug in tow, but it would not arrive for five hours. Due to this delay, and the danger of the prevailing 12-foot seas, the motor lifeboat remained with the disabled tug until it was relieved. The Edward Brusco rendezvoused with the Dorine Brusco and its Coast Guard escort at 1800 and was safely towed to Port Angeles, Wash. Weather conditions during the response were winds of 12 mph and an air and water temperature of about 50 degrees 2006 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Merkel will be visiting Russia right after her meeting with US President George W. Bush, and only two weeks after Moscow's intransigence with Ukraine's dissatisfaction of the new Russian gas supply prices caused an energy crisis in Europe 2006 - Boston’s aging fireboat has broken down again and is in a Gloucester repair shop, leaving the waterfront without a major city apparatus to protect it. The 30-year-old boat called Firefighter is about to be replaced, though, by a tricked-out waterborne homeland security vessel that is reported to cost up to $10 million. The 76-ft., Firefighter has been plagued with problems and is undergoing structural repairs. That leaves the smaller St. Florian II, a 14-year-old, 30-foot vessel, as the city’s only waterfront protector. The Massachusetts Port Authority’s boat docked near Logan International Airport is expected to cover for the city if needed. The fireboat will not only pump water and be able to handle hazardous materials, it will have built-in sensors that can detect unspecified hazards in the water. The Hub’s firefighting fleet will also be joined in March by a 27-ft. Boston Whaler 2006 - Hyundai Corporation has risen as a major player in the global small and middle sized vessel market as Qingdao Hyundai Shipbuilding, a company it launched last June in Qingdao China, has won shipbuilding contracts worth $300 million within a mere month. Corporation concluded a new shipbuilding contract involving 9 units of 5,500-ton bunkering tankers with Aegean, a Greek shipping company. The contract was signed at the Shangri-La Hotel in Qingdao in the presence of President Mark Juhn, CEO of Qingdao Hyundai Shipbuilding Chung In-Mo and Eleftherious Albertis, CTO of Aegean. With another major contract under its belt, Hyundai Corporation has won a total of 28 construction orders of small and middle sized vessels totaling $330 in value, following last month’s orders from Greek shipping company Evalend to construct 16 units of 5,600-ton chemical tankers. The ships ordered in the latest contracts will require the application of advanced precision technology as they will be used to safely carry chemical and oil products 2006 - ESL Shipping Oy, a subsidiary of Aspo Plc, has secured a contract to order two new ice-strengthened dry cargo vessels from the Indian ABG Shipyard Ltd. Expanding ESL Shipping's so-called Eira class, the vessels will be approximately 18,800 dwt bulk carriers equipped with on-deck cranes, and they will be designed to meet the highest Finnish ice class (1A Super). The total value of the investment will be around $60.5M. The vessels are destined for operation in the Baltic Sea and will be commissioned in 2008 and 2009. A similar vessel ordered from China at the end of 2003 is about to be commissioned in January 2006. The vessel investment will be financed with cash, loans and with the revenue from the sale of current fleet assets 2006 - A passenger boat with 34 people onboard sank off Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, leaving four passengers dead and seven more missing. The boat was hit by tidal waves and sank at 0200 local time ( 1800 GMT) near the Alor island, some 2,100 km east of Jakarta. Alor regent Ans Takalapeta confirmed the accident, adding that the evacuation process was hampered by bad weather. According to him, torrential rains and tidal waves were seen at the scene when rescue team was arriving 2006 - Rescuers called off a search for four people still missing after a boat capsized during a religious ceremony in the central Philippines, putting the final death toll at 20. The motorized outrigger was among several vessels that took part in a sea procession to celebrate the feast of the infant Jesus off the shores of San Ricardo town in Samar island on the 15th. The overloaded vessel capsized just meters from the shoreline and 16 people, mostly children, drowned with 196 rescued. Three more children and one adult remained missing 2006 - The Foreign Press Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance issued a statement announcing a ban on the activities of the US Cable News Network (CNN) in Iran 2006 - India's Supreme Court on Monday barred a decommissioned French warship, due for scrapping in the western state of Gujarat, from entering the country's waters until a report by a team of environment experts. The aircraft carrier Clemenceau left France in December for the massive Alang ship-breaking yard amid protests from the environmental group Greenpeace. The group says the 27,000-tonne ship contains hundreds of tonnes of hazardous material, including 500 tonnes of toxic asbestos which could pose a risk to the health of scrap workers. A two-judge bench said it would decide on Feb. 13 -- after examining the final report by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Wastes -- if the Clemenceau could enter Alang. The monitoring panel, which reports to the apex court, had previously recommended the vessel not be allowed to enter India because of the toxic waste it carried. "We will await the monitoring committee's report," judge Arijit Pasayat said, adding in the meantime the Clemenceau should stay outside India's Exclusive Economic Zone, 220 nautical miles (350 km) offshore. French authorities have said the most dangerous work -- the removal of 115 tonnes of brittle asbestos -- had been carried out in France and the remaining 45 tonnes of asbestos had to be kept in place to keep the ship seaworthy on its final journey. The vessel is currently en route to India after being delayed for three days before it could enter the Suez Canal. But Egypt said on the 15th it faced no environmental threat from the warship's passage through the canal and gave it permission to proceed 2006 - The Vancouver Port Authority (VPA) and Cerescorp Company (Ceres) have signed a 10-year cruise ship services and terminal management agreement for the port's two cruise terminals at Canada Place and Ballantyne Pier, commencing with the 2006 cruise season. Ceres was selected by the VPA following a competitive bidding process. "Ceres's bid was consistent with the Port of Vancouver's standards for providing world-class passenger services and facilities for the Alaska cruise market. They have also demonstrated a strong commitment to further develop Vancouver's cruise industry," said Captain Gordon Houston, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Port Authority. Ceres will be responsible for providing cruise vessel stevedoring and terminal services at Canada Place and Ballantyne Pier 2006 - Spanish authorities arrested a man alleged to hack into the computers of a US drydock used to maintain nuclear submarines, said Spain's Civil Guardon. The hacker was arrested in the southern city of Malaga while he was trying to break into the US Defense Department computer equipment in the Point Loma naval base in San Diego, California. The US Navy computer experts detected the illegal access and called the Navy Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), which traced the link to Spain. The programmer's computer break-in caused at least 500,000 US dollars' worth of damage. Spain's Civil Guard said the man was part of a hacker group. Another four people were also arrested in various Spanish states 2006 - BC Ferries took delivery of the newest addition to its fleet yesterday as the MV John Atlantic Burr, a 20-year-old vessel from Utah, arrived in Vancouver. The ship, which will be able to carry 300 passengers and 35 cars, cost $200,000 to buy from the State of Utah, and an additional $4.5 million to convert it to BC Ferries' needs. According to the company, spending the money on the Victoria- designed ship was cheaper than building a new ferry, which would have cost $20 million. The MV John Atlantic Burr will now be getting ready for daily duty and will begin service in the summer 2007 - USS John C. Stennis leaves homeport at Naval Base Kitsap for the Persian Gulf 2007 - The nation's latest aircraft carrier -- and the first one with a new, 21st-century design -- will carry the name of the late president and Michigan congressman. In a Pentagon ceremony that is to be attended by all four of the Ford children, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter is scheduled to announce that the planned CVN 78 will be named USS Gerald R. Ford 2007 - Norwegian pollution experts are striving to contain a bunker fuel spill from a Cypriot-registered bulk carrier that ran aground and broke in two on Jan 12, north of Bergen. The extent of the pollution "appears to be substantial", according to insurer Gard, which is supporting the clean-up operation, headed by the Norwegian Coastal Administration in co- operation with local authorities and volunteers. All 25 crew were rescued by helicopter from the Greek-managed 33,333 dwt bulker Server after it hit rocks near the Hellesoy lighthouse on the island of Fedje, in the county of Hordaland. The ship broke in two, and the stern section sank, but the bow was towed to calmer waters and secured. Built in 1985 and classed by Bureau Veritas, the ship grounded in heavy weather at about 1825 hrs, local time. It is insured by Gard for both protection and indemnity and hull and machinery risks on behalf of Dalnave Navigation of Greece 2007 - VT Group (VT) signed a contract with the Government of Oman to supply three Ocean Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Royal Navy of Oman 2007 - Nineteenth HFC Leasing Corporation, Prospect Heights, Ill., is being awarded $48,585,495 under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option to purchase Maritime Prepositioning Ship 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo. The ship has been under long-term charter to Military Sealift Command since 1985 and is one of 16 Maritime Prepositioning Ships that strategically place US Marine Corps cargo at sea around the world, making the cargo readily available to warfighters who are flown into a theater of operations. The ship will remain crewed by about 30 civilian mariners employed by American Overseas Marine Corporation of Quincy, Mass. The ship will transfer to US government ownership Jan 16, 2007 and will continue to operate worldwide 2007 - Gloucester man was sentenced in federal court for towing his charter boat off the coast of Gloucester and sinking it in a commercial fishing area. United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Michael E. Hubbard, Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Enforcement Division in New England; and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the US Coast Guard Investigative Service, announced today that Thomas W. Lukegord, JR., age 47, of 121 Wheeler Street, Gloucester, was sentenced by US Magistrate Judge Judith Dien to one year of probation, a fine, restitution and a public apology, in connection with Lukegord's conviction on one count of violating the Refuse Act 2007 - The Bach Dang Shipyard on Jan 16 handed over the 10,500-tonne freighter, named Sun Spirits to the Japanese NOMA Marine.. 2007 - In his first meeting with United States President George W. Bush since assuming office as Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon said the two leaders mutually pledged to work together to try to achieve the goals of peace and increased global prosperity 2007 - Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp, the nation's second largest shipping company, unveiled its newest container ship which has a loading capacity of 8,204 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEU) at the Port of Kaohsiung. In 2003, Yang Ming entrusted Hyundai with the task of manufacturing four container vessels that have loading capacities of more than 8,200 TEU 2007 - Cmdr. Edwin Ruff, captain of attack submarine Minneapolis-St. Paul, received a punitive letter of reprimand today following the deaths of two of his crew at sea near Plymouth, England, on Dec. 29. He remains with the ship. The ship’s former executive officer also got a punitive letter of reprimand at a nonjudicial punishment hearing before Rear Adm. Jeff Fowler, commander of Submarine Group 8. The former executive officer is no longer assigned to the ship because of a previously scheduled change of station. Charges against three other crew — two officers and a chief petty officer — were dismissed 2007 - A South Korean returned to his waiting and anxious family more than 31 years after he was abducted by North Korea while working aboard a fishing boat. Choi Uk-il, 67, boarded a Korean Air flight bound for Korea's Incheon International Airport from Shenyang, China 2007 - US Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer A. Valdivia, 27, of Cambridge IL was discovered deceased in Bahrain. Valdivia was assigned to the naval security force for Naval Support Activity Bahrain. Valdivia’s death was a non-combat related incident in Bahrain, which is located within the designated hostile fire zone. Valdivia’s death is under investigation 2008 - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of Croatia visits NATO HQ to address North Atlantic Council 2008 - George W Bush issues Presidential Decree to allow the US Navy to conduct ASW training 2008 - US Navy MH-53 helicopter from NAS Corpus Christi carrying four people crashed in a field in rural South Texas. Three killed 2008 - A premier of a film that explores the story of the 1968 disappearance of Israeli submarine INS Daker has raised £4,220 for World Jewish Relief's (WJR) Gifts In Kind humanitarian relief program. The screening of Full Circle made by Tony Klinger with Arnon Manor, father of Dan Manor who was one of the men who went missing was attended by more than 200 people at north London's Finchley Arts Depot 2009 - NRP Bartolomeu Dias (ex-HNLMS Van Nes) commissioned in Den Helder 2009 - A refugees' advocacy group accused the Thai Navy of tying up four illegal immigrants and throwing them into the ocean before abandoning hundreds of others on a barge in open water, where some 300 drowned. Thailand denies the allegations 2009 - RSS Stalwart and RSS Supreme commissioned at the Changi Naval Base 2009 - Namibian OPV Brendan Simbwaye commissioned at Ceara, Brazil 2009 - OPV HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen commissioned 2009 - Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton at Esquimalt changed hands in a dockyard ceremony when Capt(N) Martin Adamson took the helm from Capt(N) Alex Rueben Copyright 2009 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 To contact us: 418-145 West Keith Rd North Vancouver BC V7M 1L3 Canada Phone: 778-968-7447