SeaWaves Today in History April 15, 2009 1626 - Samuel de Champlain c1570-1635 starts his 11th voyage to New France 1797 - Royal Navy crews mutiny at Spithead, near Portsmouth, over poor pay and conditions 1800 - British naval officer James Clark Ross, was born on this day at London, England in 1800; dies in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire April 3, 1862. Ross carried out important magnetic surveys in the Arctic; he also discovered the Ross Sea and the Victoria Land region of Antarctica 1814 - Kingston Navy Dockyard launches two warships, the Prince Regent and the Princess Charlotte; under Commodore Sir James Yeo, they will blockade the American fleet in Sackett's Harbour and capture Oswego, restoring Canadian control of Lake Ontario in the War of 1812 and ending the threat of US invasion 1850 - City of San Francisco was incorporated 1859 - First steamboat in the area, the International, starts operating on the Red River, carrying freight and passengers between Fort Garry and St. Paul, Minnesota 1861 - Three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops 1865 - Abraham Lincoln assassinated 1885 - Naval forces land at Panama to protect American interests during revolution 1903 - Submarine HMS A2 launched 1912 - USS Chester & Salem sailed from MA to assist RMS Titanic survivors 1914 - Battleship USS New York commissioned 1918 - First Marine Aviation Force formed at Marine Flying Field, Miami, FL 1919 - Minesweepers HMC PV II, PV III, PV VI & PV VII paid off & returned to owners 1919 - Drifters HMC CD 22 & CD 29 paid off & later sold 1919 - Submarine USS R-5 commissioned 1919 - Minesweeper HMS Fitzroy launched 1919 - Submarine HMS H-33 commissioned 1920 - Submarine HMS H44 completed 1925 - Destroyer HMS Keppel commissioned 1930 - Submarine HMS Perseus commissioned 1934 - Soviet submarine SC-204 laid down 1934 - Soviet submarine SC-117 launched 1935 - Destroyer HMS Hasty laid down 1935 - Light cruiser USS Phoenix laid down 1936 - Submarine USS Salmon laid down 1936 - Conversations between representatives of the navies, armies, and air forces of Belgium, Britain, and France were held in London 1937 - U-32 commissioned 1937 - U-38 laid down 1937 - Destroyers USS Mayrant & Trippe laid down 1937 - Battlecruiser FS Dunkerque commissioned 1938 - Light cruiser USS St Louis launched 1939 - HMCS Givenchy commissioned as Fisherman's Reserve accommodation ship Esquimalt BC 1939 - U-123 laid down 1940 - Destroyer USS Wainwright commissioned 1940 - RAF Coastal Command - No. 22 Squadron's Bristol Beauforts make their first mine-laying sortie in the mouth of the River Jade 1940 - British Intelligence deciphers the German Enigma code used in Norway 1940 - As the Harstad troopships approach the port, escorting destroyers HMS Brazen and HMS Fearless find U-49 and sink her in position 68.53N, 16.59E. 1 dead and 41 survivors 1940 - RAF Bomber Command lays its first mines off the German and Danish coasts 1940 - The main British expeditionary force arrives in the Narvik area. HMS Furious was detached from the Home Fleet with three escorting destroyers, HMS Isis, Ilex & Imogen and proceeded to enter a heretofore-unnamed fjord, which was immediately dubbed "Furious" fjord. At 1050, three Swordfish were flown off. One was assigned to photograph the German positions in the Narvik area, while the other two were to fly an A/S search of Vaagsfjord. In the event, the camera was unserviceable and no pictures were obtained. However, the observer noted an estimated 11 German transport aircraft on a frozen lake North of Narvik. At 1726 a striking force of nine Swordfish, six from 816 Squadron, led by the OC, Lieutenant-Commander H. H. Gardner, RN, and three from 818 Squadron, were dispatched to bomb grounded German aircraft. The aircraft each carried 8 x 20 lb. Cooper bombs while the commander's aircraft carried two additional 250 lb. bombs for experimental purposes. The aircraft attacked in clear weather and results were good. Several direct hits were obtained. It was noted that the 250s blew large holes in the ice, and it was felt that the "runways" were made unserviceable. Heavy Flak was encountered. Five aircraft were hit, U4B -P4167 in the petrol tank, necessitating a water-landing near the task force, Sub-Lieutenant(A) J. N. Ball, RN (P), Lieutenant A. S. Marshall, RN (O), and Naval Airman first class R. Pike (AG) being rescued by HMS Zulu 1940 - HMS Ark Royal remains at Gibraltar. HMS Glorious, in company with the destroyers HMS Velox & Watchman continue towards the Clyde 1940 - U-354 laid down 1940 - HMS Sterlet torpedoes and sinks the German gunnery training ship Brummer in the Skagerrak south of Larvik, Norway 1940 - Still operating in the Skaggerak HMS Snapper torpedoed and sinks the German auxiliary minesweepers M 1701/H.M. Behrens and M 1702/Carsten Janssen north-east of Skagen, Denmark 1941 - Minesweeper USS Auk laid down 1941 - Escort carrier HMS Battler laid down 1941 - Minesweeper HMAS Burnie commissioned 1941 - Minelayer HMS Abdiel commissioned 1941 - Corvette HMCS Battleford launched Collingwood ON 1941 - Harland and Wolff Shipyard damaged in air raid on Belfast 1941 - Low-level intruder strikes are carried out on Borkum by Blenheims of 105 Sqn. During other anti-shipping strikes two vessels are sunk 1942 - U-523, U-625, U-626 launched 1942 - U-262 commissioned 1942 - U-852, U-924 laid down 1942 - Submarine HMS Stratagem laid down 1942 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Sir Geraint launched 1942 - Submarine HMS P-48 launched 1942 - Destroyer USS Dyson launched 1942 - Submarine USS Shad launched 1942 - Minesweeper USS Velocity launched 1942 - Minesweeper USS Buoyant laid down 1942 - Destroyer escorts USS Le Hardy & Burden R Hastings laid down 1942 - Escort carrier USS Croatan laid down 1942 - Destroyer USS Wickes laid down 1942 - Destroyer HMS Quentin commissioned 1942 - HMC ML 071 commissioned 1942 - U-575 torpedoes and sinks the unarmed US freighter SS Robin Hood, enroute to Boston, Massachusetts from Trinidad, British West Indies, about 300 miles off Nantucket Island 1942 - US Navy Motor Torpedo Squadron 3 is decommissioned 1942 - The last remaining motor torpedo boat, PT-41, her torpedoes expended and lacking gasoline to operate, is transferred to the Army to be moved overland to Lake Lanao where she is slated for service as a machine gun boat. The rapid Japanese advance across Mindanao, however, compels the Army to destroy PT-41 to prevent her capture 1942 - The Island of Malta was awarded the George Cross for its perseverance during the ordeal of many months of blockade and over 1,000 air attacks 1942 - USS PT-41 destroyed to prevent capture on road to Lake Lanao Mindanao Philippines 1943 - Patrol Vessel District YP-453 destroyed by grounding in the Bahama Islands 1943 - Aircraft carrier USS Yorktown commissioned 1943 - Heavy cruiser USS Baltimore commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Eichenberger & James E Craig laid down 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Evarts commissioned 1943 - Submarine USS Skate commissioned 1943 - Submarine HMS Sceptre commissioned 1943 - ASW trawler HMS Herring commissioned 1943 - HMS Taurus sinks Italian sailing vessel Luigi with gunfire 52 miles southwest of Civitavecchia 1943 - Submarine HMS Scotsman laid down 1943 - Minesweeper HMCS Long Branch laid down Toronto ON 1943 - Consolidated PBY-5A Catalinas of the USN's Patrol Squadron Eighty Three (VP-83) based at Natal, Brazil, attack the 913 ton Italian submarine Archimede off the coast of Brazil. The crew of the first PBY drops four depth charges that damages the sub; a few minutes later, the crew of the second aircraft drops four more depth charges from an altitude of 50 feet. The sub sank six-minutes later after 30 crewmen abandoned ship and boarded three rafts; one raft was found 27 days later by Brazilian fishermen. The raft contained two bodies and one survivor who identified the submarine 1943 - U-327 laid down 1943 - U-716, U-973 commissioned 1943 - U-979, U-980 launched 1943 - USS Seawolf sinks a Japanese transport about 275 miles SSW of Marcus Island 1944 - LCdr Edward Theodore Simmons DSO RCNVR was assigned to the depot ship HMCS Hochelaga to stand by for subsequent appointment as Commanding Officer of the River-class frigate HMCS Beacon Hill. Edward Simmons was from Halifax and joined the Volunteer Reserve as an A/Lt.(Temp) on 20 Feb 40. His first operational duty was in the Flower-class corvette HMCS Chambly, Cdr. JD ‘Chummy” Prentice, CO, which he joined on 03 Dec 40 and where he served as the Executive Officer from Jan to May 42. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on 03 Mar 42 for his part in the action in which Chambly and HMCS Moose Jaw sank U-501 off of Greenland on 10 Sep 41. The details of this action can be found in Chapter Seven of The Canadian Naval Chronicle, 1939-1945, by Fraser McKee and Robert Darlington (Vanwell, St. Catharines, ON: 1988). The citation, awarded as per the London Gazette of 3 March 1942 (no Canada Gazette), read: "For bravery and enterprise in action against enemy submarines - HMCS Chambly." His next appointment was as the CO of the revised Flower-class corvette HMCS Port Arthur 26 May 42 to 08 Jul 43. On 01 May 43 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and promoted to A/LCdr. (Temp) for his part in the action in which Port Arthur sank the Italian Submarine Tritone off the North African coast on 19 Jan 43. The details of this action can be found in Chapter 22 of The Canadian Naval Chronicle, 1939-1945. The citation, awarded as per the London Gazette of 04 May 43 (no Canada Gazette), read: "For skill and judgement in action against enemy Submarines while serving in H.M. Ships Paladin, Gloxinia, Easton and Wheatland, and H.M. Canadian Ships Port Arthur and Ville de Quebec." A/LCdr. Simmons was promoted to LCdr. (Temp) on 01 Jan 44. His appointment to Beacon Hill became effective on 16 Apr 44 and he remained with her, except for a break in Mar-Apr 45, until 12 Aug 45. A/LCdr. Simmons was demobilized on 03 Dec 45 and enrolled in the RCN(R) in the rank of commander on 03 Dec 45. His post-war duties included XO of the Vancouver Naval Division at HMCS Discovery 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Bray launched 1944 - Destroyer USS Haynsworth launched 1944 - Escort carrier USS Takanis Bay commissioned 1944 - Destroyer escorts USS George A Johnson & Raymond commissioned 1944 - Aircraft carrier USS Hancock commissioned 1944 - Frigate USS Pasco commissioned 1944 - Destroyer USS Stoddard commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Risk laid down 1944 - Corvette HMCS Algoma completed forecastle extension refit Liverpool NS 1944 - Frigate HMCS Royalmount launched Montreal PQ 1944 - Two Japanese ships are sunk at sea - - A merchant cargo ship is sunk, probably by a mine laid by submarine USS Steelhead off Honshu, Japan. - British submarine HMS Storm sinks a minesweeper in the Andaman Islands 1944 - U-928, U-1278 launched 1944 - U-3001 laid down 1944 - Submarine HMS Venturer torpedoed and sank German merchantman Friedrichshafen south-south-east of Egersund, Norway 1944 - HMS Storm torpedoes and sinks the Japanese minesweeper W 7 off the Andaman Islands 1944 - The Royal Navy midget submarine X-24 carried out a successful attack on a floating dock at Bergen, Norway. This was the second attack on the harbor by X-24, she had survived a previous operation on 14 April 1944, when she had sunk a large merchantman and put the coaling wharf out of use for the rest of the war. Once again towed to the area by the HMS Sceptre, Lt. H. P. Westmacott then skippered the four-man craft as it slipped through 30 miles of islands offshore and a minefield and into a fjord to sail at periscope depth to the harbor. After diving to 35 feet to avoid collision with a merchant ship, Westmacott attached delayed-action charges to the target and escaped. X-24 laid two mines under the dock, which broke it in two and damaged two ships moored alongside 1945 - Corvette HMCS Giffard arrived St. John's from work ups Bermuda 1945 - Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage the destroyer USS Laffey and a large support landing ship [LSC(L)] while a Japanese assault demolition boat damages a motor minesweeper (YMS) 1945 - Destroyer USS Gyatt launched 1945 - U-103 sunk at Kiel, by bombs. 1 dead, unknown number of survivors 1945 - U-285 sunk in the North Atlantic SW of Ireland, in position 50.13N, 12.48W, by depth charges from frigates HMS Grindall & Keats. 44 dead (all hands lost) 1945 - U-857 reported missing off the US East Coast. No explanation exists for its loss. 59 dead (all hands lost) 1945 - Lorraine bombards German fortifications at Royan 1945 - U-1063 sunk in the English Channel west of Land’s End, in position 50.08.54N, 03.53.24W, by depth charges from frigate HMS Loch Killin. 29 dead and 17 survivors 1945 - U-1235 sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 42.54N, 30.25W, by depth charges from destroyer escorts USS Stanton & Frost. 57 dead (all hands lost) 1945 - HMS Statesman sinks a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire in the Strait of Malacca 1948 - With Cmdre Henry George DeWolf CBE, DSO, DSC in command, HMCS Magnificent put to sea for the first time and successfully completed acceptance trials of her main machinery. Canadian Naval Aviation would come to maturity in Magnificent - during her years with the RCN, she and her air squadrons participated with distinction in all the annual NATO exercises, and went on training and operational cruises to the Caribbean, Europe, the Mediterranean and West Coast 1950 - Gate vessels HMCS Porte St Jean, Porte St Louis, Porte de la Reine, Porte Quebec & Porte Dauphine ordered. Based on a North Sea trawler design, the program was partially meant as a Government program to introduce modern fishing vessel construction to Canadian yards 1950 - Frigate HMCS Beacon Hill recommissioned 1953 - HMCS Crusader destroys 3 communist trains in one night and becomes champion of the "Trainbusters Club" with 4 kills 1956 - Destroyer HMCS St Laurent visited Washington DC 1958 - Authorized to fly Canadian Blue Ensign - Chief Constable GJ Archer Vancouver Police Dept "VPD 45" 1961 - Launching of first nuclear-powered frigate, USS Bainbridge, at Quincy, MA 1962 - USS Princeton brought first Marine helicopters to Vietnam. This was first Marine advisory unit to arrive in South Vietnam 1965 - USS Ranger port call Subic Bay 1967 - USS Hancock port call Sasebo 1968 - USS Kearsarge port call Pearl Harbor 1968 - USS Ranger port call Hong Kong 1969 - Submarine HMS Swiftsure laid down 1969 - DPRK aircraft shoots down Navy EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft over Sea of Japan 1969 - USS Bon Homme Richard port call Subic Bay 1970 - USS Hancock completed Vietnam deployment 1970 - USS Coral Sea port call Yokosuka 1975 - USS Midway port call Subic Bay 1982 - Haig returns to Argentina. He carries a proposal for Argentine withdrawal and the British Task Force halting 1000 miles away while an interim administration is formed to allow negotiations to proceed. Argentina rejects the offer 1986 - Operation Eldorado Canyon, Navy aircraft from USS America & Coral Sea attack Libya in conjunction with USAF aircraft after Libya linked to terrorist bombing of West Berlin discotheque which killed 1 American and injured 78 people 1987 - Destroyer HMCS Gatineau arrived Halifax NS 1994 - Frigate HMCS Halifax commenced blockade duties off Yugoslavia relieving HMCS Iroquois 2003 - Abul Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian group that hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, captured in Baghdad 2004 - PO2 Gary Jansen of HMCS Discovery awarded Queen's Jubliee Medal 2005 - The Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth 2 and other elegant world-class passenger and cruise ships will abandon glamorous Manhattan and make Brooklyn their home port next year when the city finishes rebuilding a pier in Red Hook where longshoremen once ruled the docks and mean streets. Exercising an option offered by the city last year, Carnival Corporation, which owns the fleets of the Cunard and Princess Lines, will move the berths of four of its most luxurious ships from the frayed and crowded West Side Passenger Ship Terminal to a huge pier being redeveloped in Atlantic Basin, opposite Governors Island, city and company officials said. The shift is expected to advance the city into a new era of passenger ship glory: bringing 250,000 voyagers to town beyond this year's 900,000; adding dozens of dockings to the schedule; creating thousands of jobs and an array of retail, restaurant, hotel and other traveler-related businesses in Red Hook; and speeding the revival of a once grim industrial-warehouse district. For passengers bound for Trans-Atlantic crossings and world and Caribbean cruises, the shift will mean new perspectives getting to and from their ships: tunnel and bridge crossings, ventures into the terra incognita of Brooklyn, and embarkation into Buttermilk Channel instead of the storied Hudson. But the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the Gowanus and Brooklyn-Queens Expressways thread into the neighborhood, and the reward for passengers, city and Carnival officials said, will be in the sprawling terminal - a modern 180,000-square-foot building capable of accommodating 4,000 passengers with a constellation of traveler amenities and some of the world's biggest ships. In the 2006 cruise season starting next April, the four ships - Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 and Princess Line's Crown Princess and Star Princess - will call about 44 times at Pier 12, a former cargo dock rapidly undergoing transformation, with a rebuilt steel shed, new bollards and fenders, an internal roadway, a 500-car parking area, taxi and bus drop-off areas, and even landscaping 2005 - Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary will dedicate its new research vessel Sam Gray at the dock of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, home of the sanctuary’s administrative offices. The Commerce Department’s NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, manages the sanctuary. The Sam Gray will enable sanctuary scientists to better assess and predict changes in the natural systems within the sanctuary and to provide information about the future. The new boat, a 36-foot aluminum craft manufactured by Silver Ships, Inc. in Theodore Ala., is the first research vessel built exclusively for Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Gray’s Reef took delivery of the vessel in late December 2004. The new boat and the sanctuary are named in recognition of Milton B. (Sam) Gray, who studied the area in the 1960's as a biological collector and curator at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, Ga. Gray established an extensive collection of invertebrate species from the area that was then known locally as the Sapelo live-bottom. The collection hinted of the varied underwater habitat and the diversity of life found in today’s sanctuary. Gray was born in 1895 and worked as a collector for both the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., and at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. He died in Woods Hole in 1967. Designated in 1981, GRNMS is one of the largest near shore live-bottom reefs off the southeastern United States, encompassing approximately 17 square nautical miles. GRNMS consists of a series of sandstone outcroppings and ledges up to ten feet in height, in a predominantly sandy, flat-bottomed sea floor. The live-bottom and ledge habitat support an abundant reef fish and invertebrate community. Loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species, also use Gray’s Reef year-round for foraging and resting, and the reef is within the known winter calving ground for the highly endangered Northern Right Whale. The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness of America’s maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one coral reef ecosystem reserve that encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America’s ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources. The NOAA National Ocean Service manages the NMSP and is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation’s coasts and oceans. The National Ocean Service balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards 2005 - Senegalese ports of Dakar and Ziguinchor have a ferry link after the previous vessel, Le Joola, sank with the loss of more than 1,800 lives. The service will be re-launched by private operator Africaine de Gaz (Agaz) using the 320-passenger catamaran Opal. Agaz will run two voyages a week and sailings from Ziguinchor every Saturday at 1600. Crossing times will be 16 hours. Meanwhile, the government is about to launch its own service on the route, with the ferry Willis, which has been chartered from Indonesian interests. The president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, said the Willis is now in Casablanca, Morocco, being prepared for its future assignment. The ferry will be operated on the Dakar-Ziguinchor link by a joint venture involving Moroccan shipping company Comanav, the Port of Dakar Authority and the Senegalese Shippers' Council. The ship will be crewed by Comanav staff. The Gambia with Dakar splits Senegal’s coastline to the north and Ziguinchor to the south 2005 - Charles Hubbard, Member of Parliament for Miramichi, announced today on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans that the federal government will fund a dredging project at Pointe-Sapin in New Brunswick 2005 - TOP Tankers Inc. announced today that it took delivery of the M/T Noiseless, a 149,554 Dwt double-hull ice-class Suezmax tanker built in 1992 by Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., of the Republic of Korea. M/T Noiseless is the final Suezmax to be delivered of the vessels financed with the proceeds of the Company's follow-on offering of common stock in November 2004, and long-term debt. The vessel will be deployed in the spot market 2005 - The Coast Guard is searching for a 46-year-old commercial fisherman near Grays Harbor, Wash., after he failed to return from a trip Thursday night. Coast Guard Group/ Air Station Astoria, Ore. received a phone call from the man’s wife this morning reporting him overdue. His vessel, the Huntress, was found drifting at 1130 by a Coast Guard helicopter. Station Grays Harbor dispatched two 47-foot motor lifeboats and Air Station Astoria launched two HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters to search an area encompassing about 1,000 square-miles, 10-to 12-miles off of Grays Harbor. The fisherman last contacted his wife at 1900 Thursday and told her that he was due in at 2000. However, the fishing vessel Nioda reported seeing the Huntress three-miles outside of Grays Harbor Bar entrance two hours past his expected arrival time. The Coast Guard is conducting its search in choppy, 11-foot seas and the water temperature is 50 degrees. The Coast Guard is currently towing the Huntress to Grays Harbor where Coast Guard crews will scour the vessel for additional clues to assist in the search 2005 - The Uruguayan Navy commissioned a former German multipurpose support vessel which was refurbished in Wilhelmshaven and is expected to arrive in Montevideo at the end of the month. ROU General Artigas (04), the former FGS Freiburg is scheduled to call in Rio do Janeiro where, with the collaboration of the Brazilian Navy, a helicopter will be included. According to Uruguayan naval sources the vessel is ideal for support missions, search and rescue operations and patrolling the country’s EEZ. The former 118 meters long Freiburg was commissioned in 1968, displaces 3,400 tons with a cargo capacity of 1,100 tons and a crew of 45 2005 - Chilean icebreaker Almirante Oscar Viel (ex-CCGS Norman McLeod Rogers) concluded last week the five month long 2004/05 Antarctic season which this year extended an additional month. Originally scheduled for March 2, the Chilean Civil Aviation Agency contracted the icebreaker until mid April to transport equipment and material to help with the recovery of the Salvage and Fire Department at Teniente Marsh base in King George Island, which caught fire February 5. This involved transporting public works machinery weighing several tens of tons, which was unloaded with the help of a crane belonging to the nearby Chinese base. On her way back Almirante Viel carried 120 tons of junk metal, several more tons of garbage and even helped pull the Chinook, a support vessel belonging to DAP Mare which was grounded in Potter cove 2005 - Four squadrons permanently forward deployed to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi earned the Commander, Naval Air Force, US Pacific Fleet (COMNAVAIRPAC), Battle Efficiency (Battle ‘E’) Award for calendar year 2004. Electronic Warfare Squadron (VAQ) 136, Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 115, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 14 and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) (HSL) 51 were notified of their selection in a naval message from COMNAVAIRPAC VAdm James Zortman 2005 - The mayor of Bellingham, Washington State, Punta Arenas sister city in USA Mark Asmundson visited Magallanes Region to establish closer relations and share experiences. Bellingham has a similar population to Punta Areas, 120,000 and Mr. Asmundson according to La Prensa Austral was interested in finding out about community relations, law enforcement, youth problems and attention to the elderly. Mr. Asmundson invited his Punta Arenas counterpart Juan Morano to visit Bellingham and talked about how the city addressed the problem of graffiti 2006 - The Coast Guard is responding to a container vessel that ran aground in the Kill Van Kull, the body of water that separates Staten Island from Bayonne at 0430. The 853-foot vessel, New Delhi, was inbound to the container terminal at Port Elizabeth NJ when it ran aground. It was re-floated at 0615 and is safely moored at the Elizabeth terminal where it is being evaluated. The Coast Guard implemented a safety zone, closing the area to traffic, after watch officers at the Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service watched the incident take place on one of the cameras used to monitor the harbor. Coast Guard crews are on scene to monitor the situation and enforce the safety zone. The cause of the grounding is under investigation 2006 - The Navy held a farewell ceremony for the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Honolulu before leaving on her last six-month Pacific deployment, ending a 20-year tour at Pearl Harbor. Honolulu will be inactivated at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard following the deployment 2008 - Philippine Navy received two newly upgraded Britten Norman (BN) Islander aircraft 2008 - French judges investigating the sinking of a French trawler off the English coast have officially declared it was likely caused by a submarine - perhaps a British one. Five French trawler men drowned when the Bugaled Breizh from Brittany went down off Cornwall in January 2004 2008 - Famous author and naval architect David K Brown RCNC died Copyright 2009 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Today in History Archives This information is licensed to the recipient only. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click. Royal Navy photos are Courtesy of www.oldships.org.uk unless otherwise indicated. To contact us: 418-145 West Keith Rd North Vancouver BC V7M 1L3 Canada Phone: 778-968-7447