SeaWaves Today in History August 30, 2008 Turkey - Victory Day. Visiting warships Dress Ship overall. A 21-gun salute fired at noon 30 BC - Seventh and most famous queen of ancient Egypt known as "Cleopatra" committed suicide 1700 - Peter the Great declared war on Sweden. It was called the Northern War and lasted 21 years. The war began with the defeat of the Russian troops at the walls of the Narva Fortress, but at the end of it Russia emerged as one of the strongest states in Europe. For almost a century after the war no country dared invade the Russian Empire 1703 - The first flood in the history of St. Petersburg. The water level rose by two-and-a-half meters, flooded army barracks and washed away timber and other construction materials, causing great damage 1814 - Death of Sir Peter Parker, HMS Menelaus, in the Battle of Caulk's Field, Kent County, Maryland 1854 - A Franco-British naval squadron arrived off Petropavlovsk, Russia's chief naval base in the Far East, during the Crimean War. However, as the squadron prepared to commence bombardment, its commander, Rear Admiral David Price, committed suicide. Why he shot himself will never be known. The bombardment eventually commenced the following day, and on 4 September, the British and French ships landed marines and sailors. Unfortunately, the landing party walked into an ambush, suffering heavy casualties, and the operation was abandoned 1856 - Sir John Ross 1777-1856, Royal Navy officer, dies in London at age 79. Born at Balsarroch, Scotland June 24, 1777. In 1817, Ross charted Baffin Bay; 1829-33 explored Lancaster Sound-Somerset Island in search of NW Passage; icebound on his ship, Victory, off the coast of Boothia Peninsula for four winters; 1831 his nephew and second-in-command, James Clark Ross, located the North Magnetic Pole on Boothia's west coast; 1850 commanded Felix in unsuccessful search for Franklin 1905 - 70,000 Swedish recruits are mobilized for a military repetition exercise and sent to areas along the border 1911 - Submarine HMS D3 completed 1913 - Navy tests Sperry gyroscopic stabilizer (automatic pilot) 1915 - Submarine HMS E20 completed 1917 - Destroyer USS Dent laid down 1918 - Destroyer HMS Veteran laid down 1918 - Destroyer HMS Douglas commissioned 1918 - Minesweeper HMC TR 5 commissioned Port Arthur ON 1918 - Attempt on life of VI Lenin made by Fanny Kaplan at the Michelson plant in Moscow 1919 - Destroyer HMS Thanet commissioned 1923 - Battleship USS Colorado commissioned 1929 - Near New London, CT, 26 officers and men test Momsen lung to exit submerged USS S-4 1932 - Submarine HMS Porpoise launched 1934 - Destroyer HMS Grafton laid down 1934 - Destroyer HMS Escapade commissioned 1937 - Light cruiser HMS Bonaventure laid down 1938 - Soviet submarine SC-215 commissioned 1939 - RMS Queen Mary sets sail from Southampton for New York City on her last prewar commercial voyage. The ship will remain berthed at New York until the end of the year while it was decided what role the ship would play in the war 1939 - Poland sends all 4 of their destroyers, and 1 submarine to the UK. Their other 4 submarines are sent to positions in the western Baltic 1940 - U-32 sank SS Chelsea, SS Mill Hill & SS Norne in Convoy HX-66A 1940 - U-59 damaged SS Anadara & SS San Gabriel 1940 - U-165 laid down 1940 - AMC HMS Monowai commissioned 1940 - Submarine HMS Unbending laid down 1940 - Corvette HMCS Dunvegan laid down Sorel PQ 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Quinte commissioned 1941 - Corvette HMCS Sorel arrived Halifax from builder Sorel PQ 1941 - The World War II siege of Leningrad began 1941 - Sloop HMS Cygnet laid down 1941 - Minesweeper HMAS Ballarat commissioned 1941 - U-305 laid down 1941 - U-253 launched 1941 - U-136, U-213 & U-435 commissioned 1941 - Sloop HMS Ibis commissioned 1942 - Destroyers USS Cony & Converse launched 1942 - U-162 sank SS Star of Oregon 1942 - U-564 sank SS Vardaas 1942 - U-66 sank SS Sir Huon & SS West Lashaway 1942 - U-547 laid down 1942 - High-speed transport USS Colhoun sunk Japanese aircraft off Guadalcanal. 51 casualties 1942 - U-596 lost a man overboard [Fähnrich zur See Wolfgang Aldag] 1943 - Aircraft carrier USS Saratoga damaged by Japanese submarine 1943 - U-18 damaged Soviet patrol craft SKA-0132 1943 - U-596 sank SS Nagwa 1943 - U-643 sunk in the North Atlantic east of the Azores, in position 40.13N, 19.24W, by depth charges from the sloop HMS Stork and corvette HMS Stonecrop. 47 dead (all hands lost) 1943 - Destroyers USS Cooper & Taussig laid down 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Daniel laid down 1943 - Frigate HMS Cooke commissioned 1943 - Sloop HMS Magpie commissioned 1943 - Submarine HMS Viking commissioned 1943 - Minesweeper USS Bond commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Frost, Hurst, Huse & Lee Fox commissioned 1943 - Frigate HMS Loring launched 1943 - Destroyer HMS Whirlwind launched 1943 - Submarines USS Bang & Pilotfish launched 1943 - Destroyer USS Benham launched 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Bostwick & Haverfield launched 1943 - Aircraft carrier USS Hornet launched 1943 - HMCS Haida, a Tribal-class destroyer, was commissioned into service in the RCN, Cdr Harry "Harry" George DeWolf DSO, CO. “Happy Haida”, as she was known in the fleet, went on to a stellar career and, through the destruction of two German destroyers, a minesweeper, a submarine and 14 other ships, earned the title "The Fightingest Ship in the Royal Canadian Navy.“ Today, Haida is the sole surviving example of the Tribal-class in the world and is preserved at Ontario Place, Toronto. ‘Tribals’ served in every theatre of World War II and were engaged in many major actions. The original 16 class members in the Royal Navy were reduced to four (Ashanti, Eskimo, Nubian & Tartar) by 1943 after most were lost to air attacks. In all, 27 Tribals were built - 16 for the Royal Navy, four for Canada in Britain (Athabaskan being sunk on 26 Apr 44), four for Canada in Halifax that did not see wartime service, and three in Australia. The Tribals were designed as flotilla leaders in response to the Japanese Fubuki-class, or Special Type destroyers. Although heavy in gun armament, the Tribal's anti-aircraft capabilities were poor and their torpedo and depth charge armament was relatively light. After numerous changes in design, Admiralty opinion on the final product was not flattering - “We have only succeeded in building a weak light cruiser”. The heavy 4.7-inch twin low-angle mounting forward made them ‘wet’ ships and prone to weather damage in heavy seas. Several early members of the class developed serious structural cracks in their hull plating and framing that lead to all ships being reinforced in the area of the bridge. The design was not used as the basis for newer classes of British destroyers. When Admiral Nelles first saw the Tribal design he deliberately set his goal to acquire them as the premier warship for the RCN’s fleet. The standard British fleet destroyer that made up the bulk of the pre-war navy, known in the RCN as the River-class, was quite obviously obsolescent by the war’s start. Winston Churchill met with Mackenzie King and tried to dissuade him from building Tribals in Canadian shipyards, as they knew from pre-war surveys that such large and technically complex warships were beyond current national shipbuilding capabilities. Instead, he suggested going to the United States to investigate “the latest American designs”, which was the Benson-class destroyer. Although a staff comparison was undertaken, the British culture of the Canadian navy and the already evident preference of the CNS for the Tribal design made it inevitable that the American ship was found to be inferior in several categories. The analysis was obviously prejudiced by Nelles' openly-stated desires as the Benson-class suffered from none of the Tribals’ weaknesses and was blessed with superior radar, sonar, fire control, and outstanding endurance. Although overshadowed by the later Fletcher-class, which did impress the Canadian delegation, the Bensons were probably the outstanding destroyer design of the interwar period 1943 - Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan arrived Devonport for refit 1943 - Frigate HMCS Prince Rupert commissioned 1943 - Corvette HMCS Forest Hill (ex-HMS Ceanothus) launched Port Glasgow, Scotland 1943 - Corvette HMCS Humberstone (ex-HMS Norham Castle ex-HMS Totnes Castle) laid down Glasgow. Post WW.II, sold 1946, mercantile, renamed Taiwei (Chinese) 5 subsequent name changes, 1954 renamed South Ocean (Korean) broken up 1959, Hong Kong 1943 - Minesweeper HMS Marmion (ex-HMCS Orangeville) laid down Port Arthur ON 1943 - 4 USAAF P-40s attack a convoy east of Hong Kong; a freighter is hit amidships, causing heavy damage; 2 other vessels are also effectively damaged 1944 - Corvette HMCS Fergus launched Collingwood ON 1944 - Frigate HMCS Lauzon commissioned 1944 - Corvette HMCS Parry Sound commissioned 1944 U-548 - One man was missing after crash-diving. [Mechanikergefreiter (A) Walter Heise] 1944 - U-482 sank SS Jacksonville in Convoy CU-36 1944 - U-3004 commissioned 1944 - Corvette HMS Strathroy launched 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Muir commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Specter commissioned 1944 - Submarine USS Threadfin commissioned 1944 - Submarine USS Narwhal lands 10-tons of supplies, 2 Filipino officers and 18 men in Dubut Bay in eastern Luzon 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-194 was commissioned at New Orleans. The first commanding officer was LTJG C. J. Hanks, USCGR. He was succeeded on 9 November 1945, by LT H. S. Squires, USCG. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Milne Bay, Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo, etc. 1945 - HMC ML 106 & ML 107 paid off 1945 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan and set up Allied occupation headquarters 1945 - USN light cruiser USS San Diego ties up at the Kurihama Naval Base. Aboard the cruiser are Rear Admirals Oscar C. Badger and Robert B. Carney to join Marine Brigadier General William T. Clement for the formal transfer of that important naval facility from Japanese to US control 1945 - HMCS Prince Robert liberates surviving Allied POWs at Hong Kong 1945 - The cruiser USS San Juan starts to evacuate Allied POWs from Japan 1946 - Corvette HMCS Matapedia sold for scrapping Hamilton ON 1946 - Corvette HMCS Whitby sold as SS Bengo 1950 - Submarine HMS Andrew arrived Halifax for ASW training 1961 - Two Cuban frigates fire on a Naval Reserve aircraft on a training mission over international waters 1963 - The hot-line communications link between Washington DC & Moscow went into operation 1965 - Patrol craft HMCS Loon paid off 1969 - Supply ship HMCS Protecteur commissioned 1972 - USS America port call Subic Bay 1973 - USS Constellation port call Subic Bay 1977 - Death of Soviet Admiral Vladimir Tributs (Born July 28, 1900) 1979 - Hurricane David devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica as it began a rampage through the Caribbean and up the eastern seaboard of the United States that claimed some 1,100 lives. Destroyed were the Flower Class corvettes Cristobal Colon ex HMCS Lachute and Juan Alejandro Acosta ex HMCS Louisburg 1988 - Canada's Vicki Keith staggers ashore from Lake Ontario, ending her marathon swim of all 5 Great Lakes and setting the women's world distance record of 38 km for the butterfly stroke; Keith started her marathon on July 1 1990 - Department of Defense announces that there have been about 250 intercepts and about 4 boardings since maritime intercept operations began. Hospital Ship USNS COMFORT transits Suez Canal. USS John F. Kennedy Carrier Battle Group transits Strait of Gibraltar enroute Mediterranean Sea Operation Sharp Edge continues as 15 more people are evacuated from Liberia 1994 - Frigate HMCS Toronto relieves HMCS Halifax Operation Sharp Guard off Yugoslavia 1994 - Frigate HMCS Calgary delivered to navy at Shearwater NS 1999 - Residents of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored ballot 2001 - Frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec departed HMC Dockyard Halifax at 1300hrs. Circumnavigated Georges Island before proceeding to the Bedford Basin for the committal to the sea of the ashes of Vice Admiral Henry "Harry" George De Wolf, Canada's most decorated Second World War sailor & one of its most accomplished naval officers, at 1400hrs in Bedford Basin, full military honors ceremony took place 2003 - Museum ship HMCS Haida arrives at new home in Hamilton ON 2003 - Former Soviet November-class submarine K-159 sank while under tow to scrapyard. Two personnel killed 2004 - USNS Brittin placed in reduced operating status 2004 - Cruiser USS Valley Forge decommissioned at San Diego 2004 - Keel laid for amphibious ship USS New York at New Orleans incorporating steel from World Trade Center 2005 - Frigate Almirante Williams returned to Valparaiso from UNITAS exercises 2005 - At about 1530 Liverpool Coastguard were alerted to the discovery of a large metal object, possibly an old, unexploded bomb, which had become uncovered on Blackpool Beach. The device appears to have been in place for some time and has been partly uncovered. A Ministry Of Defense team from Explosives and Ordnance Disposal in Faslane will be attending the scene later tonight. The nearby Blackpool airport is temporarily closed until the suspect device has been examined 2005 - Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (a Houston based International Offshore Drilling Contractor) announced that the Atwood Hunter, owned and operated by its wholly owned subsidiary Atwood Oceanics Pacific Limited, has been awarded a two (2) year firm contract plus two six-month options by Woodside Energy Ltd. for their international operations. The contract provides for an operating dayrate ranging from $240,000 to $245,000 and the dayrates for the option periods are to be mutually agreed six months in advance. All rig moves will be on a dayrate basis and Woodside will provide all tow vessels. This contract will commence immediately upon the rig completing its current contract commitments with Burullus Gas Co. offshore Egypt (estimated April to May 2006) 2005 - Workers of three stevedore companies working at the St. Petersburg seaport have gone on strike 2005 - The Russian supply ship Akademik Fyodorov's voyage to the North Pole unassisted by an icebreaker is a groundbreaking event in Arctic navigation history. Member of Parliament Artur Chilingarov, who is also a renowned Arctic explorer, said the historic voyage, which he described as a "unique and risky mission," had been coordinated from parliament headquarters in Moscow. He said it was the first time in the global history of navigation that an ordinary vessel had successfully made her way through the ice-covered Arctic waters and reached the pole without assistance from an icebreaker. The Akademik Fyodorov is now heading back to the North Pole 33 drifting station 2005 - Baltiisky Zavod, a St. Petersburg-based shipbuilder, has completed a mini submarine that can dive to 21,000 feet. The manned vessel has been tested successfully at a St. Petersburg plant and will be transferred to a foreign customer shortly. The submersible is 24ft long and 9ft wide with walls at a maximum of 0.4 ft. It can accommodate three crewmembers. "The submersible will be primarily used for research in deep areas of the Pacific Ocean and prospecting for natural resources deposits," the plant said. Russia, the United States, and Japan are the only countries that have mini submarines capable of diving to a depth of nearly 21,000ft. The spokesman said the Russian Defense Ministry was currently in talks with the plant on producing a similar vessel for the Russian Navy 2005 - A Progress M-53 spaceship loaded with rubbish from the International Space Station will be undocked from it on September 7 and then sunk in the Pacific Ocean, an official with Russian Mission Control said 2005 - USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park will be closed indefinitely due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina which "visited" the Park on Monday, August 29, 2005. All Overnight group stays and all social functions are canceled until further notice. Park officials will be contacting those scheduled groups as soon as basic utilities and telephone service are restored. Park officials regret taking these actions, and hope repair efforts, although massive, will be quickly effected 2005 - Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) One, centered around the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa, entered US Naval Forces Central Command’s area of operations. The amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland, dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor, guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin and frigate USS Ingraham joined the ESG’s flagship, Tarawa, for a regularly scheduled deployment to support maritime security operations (MSO) in the region 2006 - Statue to commemorate General Chuck Yeager at Edwards AFB unveiled 2006 - Stevedoring company Klaipedos Smelte informs that first containership has been received successfully in the newly launched Klaipedos Smelte container terminal (KSCT). MV Norrland operated by Team Lines has been laden with over 40 containers on August 30, 2006 2006 - Japan’s sixth AEGIS destroyer, JDS Ashigara (DDG 178) launched at Nagasaki 2006 - Change of command ceremony for Canadian Forces Recruiting Group (CFRG) in Cornwall ON. Colonel Kevin Cotten has been the Commander of CFRG since June 2004. Commodore Roger MacIsaac, will succeed him from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, who served most recently as Director General Reserves and Cadets. Rear-Admiral Tyrone Pile, Chief Military Personnel, presided over the ceremony, which will also include the enrolment of new recruits and a certificate presentation to first-time RCMP participants of the CFRG National Recruiting Course 2006 - Vice Adm. Charles D. Wurster, commander of the Coast Guard's Pacific Area, has temporarily relieved Capt. Douglas G. Russell of command of USCGC Healy, citing a loss of confidence in the officer's ability to command 2006 - Nine executives of a shipping company that owns a tanker that sank and caused a massive oil spill in Guimaras were ordered to be added to an immigration bureau watch list 2006 - Prisoners in the Philippines have been shaving their head and chest hairs to help mop up the country’s worst oil spill. The initiative comes as the government attempts to stockpile and use tonnes of hair and feathers to absorb more than 200,000 liters of industrial fuel that leaked from a tanker when it sank off the central island of Guimaras more than two weeks ago 2006 - Two crewmembers of the Japanese fishing schooner, the Kisshin Maru 31, stopped in Russian territorial waters on August 16 - Kawamura Akiyoshi and Kamia Haruki - have been handed over to Japan 2006 - A navy flotilla leaves Jinhae, Gyeongsang Province. The flotilla will make a 115-day tour of nine nations, including the United States and Canada. The trip is aimed to give practical training to grade-4 midshipmen and to promote relations with the visited countries 2006 - Dredging operations that will facilitate major improvements to port facilities on the Charlottetown waterfront will get underway in a matter of days. Beaver Marine Ltd. of Halifax was awarded the contract for dredging operations that will remove 2,800 cubic meters of silt and other material from this part of the harbor and deposit them elsewhere in the harbor. Stan MacPherson, chairman of the Charlottetown Harbour Authority, said the dredging will take place around the clock until that aspect of the job is complete 2006 - USCG and Washington State Dept of Ecology responded to a report of oil sheen near Edmonds, Wash. The sheen, which covered approximately 1,000 feet by 200 feet, was reported at 0630 near the Edmonds Ferry Terminal. The Coast Guard and the Department of Ecology commenced an investigation from the air, water and land to identify the source of the spill 2006 - Six adults and eight children traveling aboard a Louis Cruise Lines cruise boat were taken to a hospital in Mytilene yesterday suffering from gastroenteritis. Officials said that 80 of the 668 people on board the vessel reported similar symptoms, however only 14 sought hospital treatment. The vessel was traveling from Cyprus's Limassol to a number of Greek islands, including Santorini and Tinos. Officials were investigating the possible causes of the virus 2006 - A Royal Navy officer has become a world champion for the second year running after picking up a winner's medal at the World Rowing Championships. Sub Lieutenant Peter Reed was a member of the men's coxless fours team which won its second successive title at the 2006 championships, held recently at Dorney Lake, Eton in Berkshire 2006 - More than 30 guests attended the luncheon and ceremony honoring US Representative Chet Edwards as the 2006 Port Person of the Year. The event at the Downtown Club at Shell Plaza was hosted by the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) and the Texas Ports Association (TPA) 2006 - Ten Naval Air Systems Command senior scientists and engineers were recently inducted as Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Research & Engineering Esteemed Fellows, the highest level of the NAVAIR Fellows program 2006 - USS Cleveland retired her special battle flag in a ceremony before the start of the Major League Baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays. Cleveland’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Frank McCulloch, presented the 10 foot by 16 foot flag emblazoned with the Indians “Chief Wahoo” logo to former Indian pitcher, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, and World War II Navy veteran Bob Feller, as part of Cleveland Navy Week 2007 - A fire that broke out on a submarine that is being scrapped at the Severodvinsk shipyard poses no radiation threat, spokeswoman for the Zvezdochka shipyard Tatyana Shcherbinina told Tass. At present, the work on the submarine of the "Akula” class that has a series number 713 is in the final stage. The submarine hull has been cut to pieces, reactor blocks have already been removed, and therefore, the fire poses no radiation threat 2007 - A tourist submarine is stranded on dry land in Key West after an investor unexpectedly withdrew support. The yellow submarine was reportedly the first for tourists in the continental U.S when it arrived in the Keys last Thanksgiving. It took 45 passengers for underwater tours along a shipwreck and coral reefs off Key West. The owners of Key West Submarines hope to find new investors to keep the tours afloat 2007 - Two Vietnamese fishing boats have been captured by the Chinese Navy in waters near the disputed Spratly Islands 2007 - US Navy officially recognizes its debt to a resident of the Solomon Islands -- six decades after he helped rescued young naval officer John F. Kennedy from Japanese capture 2007 - An Iranian Coastguard vessel on patrol in the Persian Gulf waters near Hormuzgan coastal province swooped on a cargo ship smuggling gasoline 2007 - An Israeli cargo ship and a Cypriot passenger ship collided off Haifa. Preliminary reports suggest that 11 people were injured in the incident, and two people are miss 2007 - USS Denver rendered medical assistance to an ailing fisherman aboard a Qatari-flagged dhow while conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the Central Persian Gulf Copyright 2008 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. To contact us: 418-145 West Keith Rd North Vancouver BC V7M 1L3 Canada Phone: 778-338-4073 Fax: 778-338-4074 Read our Maritime Mishap Blog Manage your subscription