SeaWaves Today in History December 17, 2008 1716 - During his second trip abroad Peter the Great arrived in Amsterdam. Following his arrival, his ministers, advisers, army generals and the ambassador to Holland joined the Emperor. His wife, Catherine I, was also to arrive, but she was expecting, then fell sick, and didn't go 1834 - HMS Buzzard, on anti-slavery patrol, captured the slave-ship Formidable off the West African coast 1846 - Ships under Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry capture Laguna de Terminos during Mexican War 1859 - Victoria Bridge opened to passenger train traffic in Montreal. The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII will formally open it, on Aug. 25, 1860. The single-track iron tubular bridge entirely enclosed, which causes ventilation problems; slit 20" wide will be cut the full length of the bridge to let smoke escape 1897 - Overland Expedition from Bear started from Nunivak Island to rescue whalers at Point Barrow. 1903 - Kill Devil Life Saving Station personnel assisted Wright brothers at first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk NC 1916 - Gunboat FS Engageante launched 1917 - Submarine USS R-6 laid down 1918 - Destroyer USS Gillis laid down 1918 - Destroyer USS Kilty commissioned 1918 - Minesweepers USS Grebe & Mallard launched 1920 - Submarine USS S-16 commissioned 1925 - Battleship HMS Rodney launched 1925 - A treaty on friendship and neutrality was signed between the USSR and Turkey 1925 - Heavy cruiser FS Duquesne launched 1929 - Submarine USS Narwhal launched 1934 - U-25, U-26 ordered 1934 - Soviet submarines SC-315 & SC-424 laid down 1936 - Destroyer FS Lansequenet laid down 1936 - Destroyer HMS Intrepid launched 1936 - Minesweeper HMS Franklin laid down 1937 - Minesweeper HMS Sharpshooter commissioned 1937 - Destroyer HMS Sikh launched 1938 - U-47 commissioned 1938 - Lake Washington Floating Bridge construction starts 1939 - The first Canadian troops to reach Britain, 7,400 men of the First Division, landed at Liverpool. Three months ago Canada was a country with a permanent army of 4,500 men, five mortars and 16 tanks. The Canadians are under the command of Major-General McNaughton and they arrived in five liners. Officers slept in suites and men in first class cabins 1939 - German a/c attack the UK East Coast. A small British motor vessel was sunk. Damage and casualties in fishing trawlers. Aircraft driven off 1939 - As Allied Hunting Groups converge on the River Plate, Capt. Langsdorff takes the Graf Spee out into the estuary where she is scuttled and blown up. Only HMS Cumberland has actually arrived by this time, but British propaganda on the BBC gave the impression that the most powerful ships in the fleet, including an aircraft carrier, were bearing down on the Plate. Langsdorff had asked for instructions and Hitler himself had said that he had only two, scuttle or fight it out on the open sea. Just before the three-mile limit the ship stopped and the crew took to the lifeboats. Minutes later comes a series of shattering explosions and flames. The ship settled on the riverbed, her upper decks above the water and still burning. The Admiralty announces that 61 men of HMS Exeter's crew died during the Battle of the River Plate with the Graf Spee 1939 - German Propaganda Minister, Dr. Josef Goebbels, describes the arrival of Australian destroyers at Malta as a "consignment of junk" and Australia's "Scrap Iron Flotilla" 1939 - Soviet submarine SC-406 launched 1939 - U-59 sank SS Bogö & Jaegersborg 1940 - Destroyer HMS Acheron mined, while running trials after a refit, off the Isle of Wight, it sank instantly, killing 151 men and sparing only 15 men 1940 - Fairmile B-type patrol craft HMC ML 050,051, 052, 053, 054, 055, 057, 058, 060, 061, 064, 065 ordered 1940 - Corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin (ex-HMCS Banff) commissioned 1940 - Minesweepers HMCS Melville & Granby laid down Levis PQ 1940 - Corvette HMCS Moncton laid down Saint John NB 1940 - Corvette HMCS Algoma launched Port Arthur ON 1940 - Another series of convoy and offensive operations are carried out by the Mediterranean Fleet with battleships HMS Warspite & Valiant along with carrier HMS Illustrious. Today the carrier's aircraft attack Rhodes 1940 - HMC MTB-1 arrived Halifax NS for duty as training vessel 1940 - Corvette HMS Alisma launched 1940 - Corvettes HMS Buttercup & Chrysanthemum laid down 1940 - U-339, U-340 ordered 1940 - U-593, U-594 laid down 1941 - U-131 sunk NE of Madeira, Portugal, in position 34.12N, 13.35W, by depth charges and gunfire from escort destroyers HMS Exmoor & Blankney, destroyer HMS Stanley, corvette HMS Pentstemon & sloop HMS Stork and by depth charges from a Martlet aircraft (802 Sqn) of the British escort carrier HMS Audacity. 47 survivors (No casualties). U-131 had shot down a Martlet a/c at start of action; first aircraft shot down by a U-boat in the war. Known as the "Martlet" in the RN, this was then the USN's top-of-the-line carrier fighter, the Grumman F4F, in American service called the "Wildcat". Prior to actual US entry into WWII, many F4Fs rolled out of the "Iron Works", as Grumman's plant was known to happy USN aviators, with RN roundels already painted on prior to test flights and shipment 1941 - Soviet submarine M-59 sunk by depth charge by Romanian destroyer Ferdinand 1941 - Minesweeper HMAS Katoomba commissioned 1941 - Light cruiser USS Columbia launched 1941 - Minesweepers HMCS Mahone & Chedabucto arrived Halifax from Esquimalt 1941 - Sloop HMS Lapwing laid down 1941 - Large cruiser USS Alaska laid down 1941 - U-335 commissioned 1941 - U-645 laid down 1941 - Albania declares war on the US 1941 - Dutch reconnaissance aircraft from Singkawang, Borneo, fly reconnaissance flights over the Japanese invasion fleet. They attack the ships but do not damage any 1941 - A Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later assigned the code name GLEN by the Allies) makes it operational debut when the submarine HIJMS I-7 launches its aircraft for a dawn reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor to determine the damage caused by the attack of 7 December 1941 - In Malaya, the Perak Flotilla is formed to prevent the enemy from landing on the West Coast between Knan and Bernam Rivers 1941 - During the day British naval Force K joins Vian's Force B from Alexandria. Tonight this British force meets the Italian convoy escort, which sailed yesterday. The action, the First Battle of Sirte, is spent protecting the convoy and is therefore indecisive. These British Naval Forces including HNLMS Isaac Sweers run into a newly-laid Italian minefield right after the First Battle of Sirte. The cruiser Neptune hit four mines and was sunk with only one survivor, Aurora was heavily damaged and Penelope lightly damaged. The destroyer Kandahar was sunk but her crew was taken off first 1941 - Seventeen SB2U-3 Vindicators of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron Two Hundred Thirty One (VMSB-231) complete a record 9 hour and 45 minute flight from Hawaii to Midway, bolstering US positions there. The aircraft were led by a plane-guarding PBY-4 Catalina of Patrol Squadron Twenty-One (VP 21) (no ships are available to plane-guard the flight) on this longest over-water massed flight (1,137 miles) by single-engine aircraft. VMSB-231 was the same squadron that was en route to Midway on 7 December aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington when reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the carrier to turn back short of her goal 1941 - The Australian "Gull Force" lands on Ambon Island. The force had been transported from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, to Ambon in three Dutch merchant ships escorted by an RAN light cruiser & corvette 1941 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz named Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, to relieve Admiral Husband Kimmel. Admiral William Pye becomes acting commander until Nimitz's arrival. Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was relieved of his command of the US Pacific Fleet as part of a shake-up of officers in the wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster. Admiral Kimmel had enjoyed a successful military career, beginning in 1915 as an aide to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He served admirably on battleships in World War I, winning command of several in the interwar period. At the outbreak of World War II, Kimmel had already attained the rank of rear admiral and was commanding the cruiser forces at Pearl Harbor. In January 1941, he was promoted to commander of the Pacific Fleet, replacing James Richardson, who FDR relieved of duty after Richardson objected to basing the fleet at Pearl Harbor 1941 - Japanese repeat demand for surrender of the colony, but it is summarily refused by the British governor; garrison, which includes 450 Canadians, has no hope of relief, with the sinking of two British battleships off Singapore, and the crippling of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor; invasion comes the following day 1941 - Albania reported declared war on the United States 1942 - Destroyer HMS Firedrake sunk by U-211 in Convoy ON-153 1942 - Soviet submarine M-31 sunk by Uj80 in area of Schebrian 1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Wallaceburg launched Port Arthur ON 1942 - Escort carrier HMS Rajah laid down 1942 - Submarine USS Bluegill laid down 1942 - Escort carrier USS Corregidor laid down 1942 - U-774 laid down 1942 - U-237, U-363, U-961, U-962 launched 1942 - U-953 commissioned 1942 - U-432 sank SS Poitou 1942 - Admiral Darlan announced French fleet units at Dakar, Alexandria, and North African ports would join the United Nations 1942 - USCGC Natsek disappears in Belle Isle Strait. There were no survivors. It was thought that she capsized due to sever icing 1942 - Patrol Boat USCGC Natsek foundered in the Strait of Belle Isle Newfoundland Canada 1943 - Coastal Transport (Small) USS APc-21 sunk aircraft off Arawe New Britain Island 1943 - Frigate USS Van Buren commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Jordan commissioned 1943 - HMC ML 117 commissioned 1943 - Corvette HMCS Pictou departed Londonderry 1943 - Minesweeper USS Intrigue laid down 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Edmonds, Oswald A Powers & Sheehan launched 1943 - U-515 sank SS Kingswood 1944 - Submarines USS Entemedor launched 1944 - Destroyers USS Harlan R Dickson & Hugh Purvis launched 1944 - Destroyer USS Spence foundered in a typhoon east of Samar. There were only 23 survivors 1944 - U-3014, U-3015 commissioned 1944 - U-400 sunk in the North Atlantic south of Cork, in position 51.16N, 08.05W, by depth charges from frigate HMS Nyasaland. 50 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - The US Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast 1945 - Frigate HMCS Lasalle paid off Esquimalt BC 1945 - Tug HMCS Barkerville capsized & sank at entrance to Bedwell Bay BC while towing HMCS Hespeler to layup mooring 1945 - Frigate HMAS Murchison commissioned 1951 - Minesweeper HMCS Ungava 1952 - Destroyer HMCS Nootka arrived Halifax from Korea via Suez Canal 1966 - Washington State Ferry Hyak is launched 1970 - USS Shangri-La completed her only Vietnam deployment 1972 - USS Hancock port call Subic Bay 1990 - Washington State Ferries suffer $3 million damage during wind storm 1993 - Supply ship HMCS Provider relieved HMCS Fraser off Haiti for Operation Forward Action 1997 - Frigate HMCS Charlottetown arrived Halifax 1998 - Vice-Admiral Henry "Harry" George Dewolf, CBE, DSO, DSC, CD, RCN retired, was declared the Admiral's Medal Winner for 1998. The presentation was made by Vice Admiral GL Garnett, Vice Chief of the Defense Staff at the Rideau Club in Ottawa on Thursday, 17th December 1998. The citation read: " This award recognizes his life and accomplishments as a successful Naval Officer with a varied and challenging background. It is the view of his shipmates that he was an officer and gentleman who always had time for the men he served with. He always showed his respect for the efforts made by his ship's company. As one of Canada's most highly respected naval officers of the Second World War, he retired from an illustrious career in 1961 as the Chief of the Naval Staff." Admiral DeWolf died in Ottawa on 18 December 2000 2003 - OPV HMS Mersey commissioned 2003 - Frigate HNLMS Bloys Van Treslong decommissioned 2003 - Support ship FGS Freiburg decommissioned 2003 - Work has begun on cutting up the first missile carrying strike craft to enter service with the South African Navy, SAS Jan Smuts near the synchrolift at Salisbury Island, Durban 2003 - RRF Cape Edmont activated 2004 - Indonesian naval officers will ride as observers on RAN patrol boats next year in an offer that could help defuse a row with Jakarta over the federal government's proposed new maritime security zone. Defense Minister Robert Hill announced the navy cooperation program during a brief visit to the Indonesian capital 2004 - Austal launched the tenth and final fast naval patrol boat ordered by the Republic of Yemen in June 2003 2004 - Rs 75 mn indigenously built harbor utility tug, Ajral, was inducted into the Indian Navy today at a formal ceremony at Chennai. The last of the five such tugs, the 'jral has a state-of-the-art steering rudder propulsion system and diesel engines and has been constructed by Tebma Shipyard Ltd. Measuring 28 meters in length, Ajral is powered by two main engines. The Tug will be used at Visakhapatnam and would give a boost to the capability of the Naval Dockyard there, providing quick and optimal services to warships 2005 - A small angling boat capsized this afternoon in the River Lune with six people aboard. Several members of the public raised the alarm at 1244 informing Liverpool Coastguard that they could see at least four people clinging to the hull of a capsized boat. Liverpool Coastguard sent the Morcambe Coastguard rescue team to the scene and requested the launch of the Morcambe RNLI inshore lifeboat and their hovercraft. Also in attendance were the Lancashire Ambulance Service and Air Ambulance and the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2005 - RMS Titanic, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, Inc. will present "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" on board the extraordinary Queen Mary in Long Beach, California on December 17, 2005 and is scheduled to run through April 30, 2006 2005 - A pair of Kidd-class destroyers purchased from the United States and delivered to Taiwan near the start of this month commissioned at the northeastern military base of Keelung. President Chen Shui-bian officiated, as the commander in chief of the Taiwan armed forces, at a ceremony marking the commissioning of the Keelung and Suao 2005 - QinetiQ’s highly accurate wind sensing tool, the ZephIR LiDAR, has been selected to assess the wind resource for the Beatrice wind farm demonstrator project in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland 2005 - The Coast Guard is responding to a sailor in distress on board the 35 foot sailing vessel Nanook, 40 miles southwest of Port Aransas. The Coast Guard received a call over VHF-16 marine radio at 0830 from the one man crew but was not able to determine his location due to poor communications. At 0910 the Russian research vessel Akademik Shatskiy informed the Coast Guard that they had been able to communicate with the man and were enroute to his location to assist. The crew of the Coast Guard 87 foot Coastal Patrol Boat Brant was dispatched and arrived on scene at 1516. The crew will assess the situation and tow the vessel if safe to do so. On scene weather being reported as 25-knot winds and 9-12 foot seas is further hampering the effort. An HH-65B Dolphin helicopter in the area was diverted to help but the man did not want to leave his vessel and requested to be towed to safe harbor. The man has been trying to sail to Port Aransas for the last one and a half days but the sailing gear and riggings became tangled in the mast and fouled the propeller 2006 - Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) chapel reopened its doors to military personnel after four months of renovation during a ribbon-cutting ceremony 2007 - Justin Taylan's trial in the Solomon Islands yielded a guilty verdict. He was in the country as a tourist visiting Guadalcanal plane wrecks when his group stumbled upon a questionable salvage operation. They were apprehended by authorities and held captive for five weeks 2007 - President Cristina Fernandez fired the coast guard chief after a suspect in a human rights trial died of cyanide poisoning at a military brig. Coast guard chief Carlos Fernandez was ordered to retire after an investigation into the case of Hector Febres, who died Dec. 10 at a military detention center days before a verdict was expected in his trial, according to government news agency Telam. A former coast guard officer, Febres was accused of kidnapping and torturing four dissidents during military rule from 1976 to 1983 2007 - Submarine RFS Tula successfully test-fired a Sineva missile at a target in Kamchatka 2007 - A defense expert warned Japan could send its Navy to the Southern Ocean to shadow Australia's Navy if Australia decides to use the ADF to monitor Japanese whaling Copyright 2008 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Today in History Archives This information is licensed to the recipient only. 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