SeaWaves Today in History December 28, 2007 ********************************************************************* December 28 1835 - Massacre of Major Dade's command at Fort Book, FL. The name "Seminole", which can be translated as "wanderers", "travelers", or "runaways", referred to mostly Creek Indians who fled into present-day Florida from their native areas in Georgia and what is now the Florida "panhandle" to get away from increasingly pushy white settlers. With the end of the War of 1812, Gen. Andrew Jackson, whose 1815 victory at New Orleans (after the war had ended) gave him major national attention, over 1817-18 moved his little army into northern Florida to "punish" the Seminole and seize the region from Spain. In 1821, the region became the Territory of Florida, whereupon white "slave catchers" working on bounty payments soon were all over the northern area, and began taking Seminole Indians as well as allegedly escaped blacks. Meantime, Jackson went on record as considering the estimated 7,000 Seminole a handicap to development. Thus the 1st Seminole War. In 1823, white settlers began moving southward. In a treaty deal, the Seminole were granted some 5,000,000 acres. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act; by 1837 it had taken serious effect, thus the 2nd Seminole War. Until 1837, the primary Seminole commander was Osceola (1804-38; his name meant "Black Drink"), a natural leader of remarkable political and strategic talents who wanted peace, but not at the wholesale expense of his people. En fin, it was his wish for peace that was his downfall: upon apparent offers of negotiation and discussion, in 1837 he was induced to enter American lines under a white flag of truce by what amounted to cunning lies, and upon arrival was made captive. Forthwith sent north to imprisonment at Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina, famed American artist George Caitlin, outraged by the deception, went to the prison to visit Osceola, and there painted his portrait. Osceola died there the following year, of malaria. His loss was sorely felt by the Seminole, who now realized that their only hope was in resistance. In 1845, Florida was granted statehood. In 1855, white bounty-hunters raided Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs' supposedly quite safe community and homelands; they were to get $500 each for Seminole men, $250 for women, $100 for children. This started the 3rd Seminole War. That was the political last straw. By now, Congress was weary of it all, as was most of the American public. In addition to decades of repetitious news reports, most of them about military failures, they had now seen in Caitlin's portrait and reports of the deceived Osceola a noble individual interested only in resisting invading kidnappers and plunderers illegally entering swampy regions full of rather retiring people who really wanted only peace and quiet. In 1858 Congress declared all the warring over, and arranged for numerous cash payments to the Seminole. There was never a peace treaty, and the Seminole have never surrendered 1857 - The light was first illuminated in the Cape Flattery Lighthouse, located on Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Washington. "Because of Indian trouble it was necessary to build a blockhouse on Tatoosh Island before even commencing the construction of the lighthouse. Twenty muskets were stored in the blockhouse, and then the lighthouse work began" 1867 - US claims Midway Island, first territory annexed outside Continental limits 1879 - Sir Thomas Bouch's new railway bridge across the River Tay collapsed in a storm, throwing an engine, six coaches and 75 passengers into the water 160ft below. Faults in the design and construction of the bridge were to blame 1903 - An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the non-contiguous territory of the Hawaiian Islands 1903 - Whatcom and Fairhaven merge to form Bellingham 1905 - Drydock Dewey left Solomon's Island, MD, enroute through the Suez Canal to the Philippines to serve as repair base. This, the longest towing job ever accomplished, was completed by Brutus, Caesar, and Glacier on 10 July 1906 1908 - The Danish light cruiser Hejmdal, Commander J. H. Schultz, on tour to the Mediterranean, is bringing relief aid to the casualties after the great earthquake at Messina, Sicily 1917 - Destroyer USS Evans laid down 1917 - Destroyers HMS Vimy & Warwick launched 1918 - Submarine USS S-31 launched 1920 - Destroyer USS Barry commissioned 1922 - Battleships HMS Nelson & Rodney laid down 1931 - Submarine FS Amazone launched 1934 - Destroyer FS Mogador laid down 1935 - U-14 launched 1936 - U-31 commissioned 1938 - Iran severs diplomatic ties with the France 1939 - U-72, U-76 laid down 1939 - Soviet submarine SC-311 sank Finnish steamer Wilpa by gunfire 1939 - At 1545, battleship HMS Barham was hit by a torpedo from U-30 off the Hebrides in 58°47N/08°05W (Grid AM 3540) & damaged 1939 - At 0400, ASW trawler HMS Barbara Robertson was shelled & sunk by U-30 about 35 miles NW of Butt of Lewis 1939 - At 0932, SS Hanne struck a mine laid on 20 December by U-22, broke in two and sank one mile east of Blyth 1939 - Steam trawler Resercho sunk six miles off Flamborough Head by U-15 1939 - Destroyer HMS Eglington launched 1939 - US freighter SS Exilona is detained by British authorities at Gibraltar 1939 - Escort carrier HMS Biter laid down 1940 - U-148 commissioned 1940 - U-402 launched 1940 - Light cruiser HMS Bonaventure spotted the German blockade-runner Baden (8204 GRT) en route from the Canares to France and sank her by torpedo. A capture was not possible due to bad weather 1940 - Corvette HMS Celandine launched 1940 - Submarine USS Grouper laid down 1940 - Corvette HMCS Galt launched Collingwood ON 1940 - AMC HMCS Prince David commissioned 1940 - German battleship Scharnhorst makes first unsuccessful attempt to break out in the North Atlantic together with sister Gneisenau. Operation aborted after heavy seas damage Gneisenau 1941 - USN Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Vice Admiral Ben Moreell, requests authority from the Bureau of Navigation to create a contingent of construction units able to build everything from airfields to roads under battlefield conditions. These units will be known as the "Seabees" for the first letters of Construction Battalion. The Construction Battalions were created due to the legal inability of the hundreds of civilian workmen on Guam and Wake Islands to participate in the bitter but short-lived defense against powerful Japanese attack and invasion. Such civilian workers, under contract to the Navy, had been used for decades to construct and repair naval shore facilities, under direction of a Navy officer who belonged to the Civil Engineer Corps. CEC officers were civil engineers in uniform, and like all other Corps branch officers then and yet, had no naval executive line or combat authority whatsoever. That was part of the defense problem. Once the new Construction Battalions system was created, the CEC officers got combat authority to go with the dual purpose of what became the famous "Seabees" and their motto -- "We Build and We Fight" 1941 - Destroyer USS Peary damaged when mistakenly bombed and strafed by three Australian Hudsons of No. 32 Sqn off Kina, Celebes, Netherlands East Indies (NEI). The destroyer’s steering gear is damaged and she has to put into Ternate, Halmahera Islands, NEI for repairs 1941 - U-75 sunk in the Mediterranean near Mersa Matruh, in position 31.50N, 26.40E, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Kipling. 14 dead and 30 survivors. U-75 sank SS Volo earlier in this action 1941 - U-83 attacked by an escort in the Mediterranean that damaged her so severely that she was forced to return to base 1941 - Convoy ZK-5 consisting of the transports Aquitania, Sarpedon & Herstein carrying 4,250 Australian troops and 10,000 tons of equipment departs Sydney for Port Moresby in Papua escorted by the cruisers HMAS Canberra, Australia, Perth & HMS Achilles. This is the first substantial build up of Allied forces in New Guinea 1941 - Corvette HMS Oxlip commissioned 1941 - Ten RCAF Hudsons are dispatched to attack a German convoy in the North Sea. As the bombers approach the two columns of vessels, the enemy flak ships open up on the attackers. After releasing their bombs, the Hudsons turn for home. No losses are reported 1941 - Submarine HMS Templar laid down 1941 - Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks requests that construction battalions be recruited 1941 - Corvette HMCS Calgary arrived Halifax from builder Sorel PQ 1941 - Corvette HMCS Rosthern returned to Halifax from refit on the Clyde 1941 - Over 850 civilian construction workers are evacuated from Midway by two USN ships 1942 - During the night of 28/29 December, RAF Bomber Command sends five Wellingtons and a Stirling to lay mines in the Frisian Islands 1942 - RAF & USAAC aircraft bomb the harbor at Sousse, hitting vessels and dock installations 1942 - General Sugiyama and Admiral Nagano tell the Japanese Emperor of the intent by IGHQ to order a withdrawal from Guadalcanal 1942 - SS Treworlas sunk by U-124 in position 10.52N, 60.45W - Grid ED 9963 1942 - A great battle against Convoy ONS-154 was fought. U-225 damaged SS Empire Lancaster, President Francqui, Ville de Rouen & sank SS Melmore Head; U-260 sank SS Empire Wagtail; U-406 damaged SS Zarian, Lynton Grange & Baron Cochrane; U-591 damaged SS Norse King 1942 - Rescue tug HMS St Issey sunk by U-617 off Benghazi, Libya 1942 - U-1193, U-1225 laid down 1942 - Destroyer USS Carmick commissioned 1942 - Frigate HMS Itchen commissioned 1942 - Concerned about sharing the secrets of atomic research, Roosevelt confirms the policy of noncooperation with the British that his advisers have been recommending. He orders that no information should be given to the British unless it happens to be in an area in which British scientists are directly involved 1942 - Destroyer escort USS Tomich launched 1942 - Escort carrier USS Mission Bay laid down 1942 - U-735 commissioned 1942 - General Sugiyama Hajime, Chief of the Army General Staff, and Admiral Nagano Osami, Chief of the Navy General Staff, tell Emperor Hirohito of the intent by Imperial General Headquarters to order a withdrawal from Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands 1943 - U-926 launched 1943 - A USN PB4Y-1 Liberator of Bombing Squadron One Hundred Five (VB-105), based at Dunkeswell, Devonshire, England, on patrol over the Bay of Biscay sights five German destroyers and six torpedo boats returning from an attempt to rendezvous with blockade runner SS Alsterfurer, sunk yesterday by an RAF No. 311 (Czech) Squadron Liberator Mk. V. Of 15 PB4Y-1s dispatched as a strike force, six (five from VB-105 and one from VB-103) contact the German force and attack it. Contact reports by Navy planes, meanwhile, draw light cruisers HMS Enterprise and Glasgow. Although outnumbered and out-gunned the British ships sink the destroyer Z-27 and torpedo boats T-25 and T-26. The British ships, an Irish steamer, and four Spanish destroyers rescue the survivors. This marks the virtual end of German attempts to bring in vital supplies from the Far East by surface ships. Since 1941, of the 35 ships that have set out, only 16 have broken through Allied patrols 1943 - Submarines HMS Spark & Vulpine launched 1943 - Minesweeper HMS Stormcloud launched 1943 - Submarine HMS Spark launched 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Alexander J Luke & Barr launched 1943 - In a by election in the Montreal-Cartier, Quebec district, Fred Rose defeats David Lewis the candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to become the first member of the Communist Party openly elected to the Canadian House of Commons 1943 - Light cruiser USS Pasadena launched 1943 - Destroyer USS Brush launched 1943 - Frigate HMS Stockham commissioned 1943 - Submarines USS Gabilan & Tilefish commissioned 1943 - Escort carrier USS Gambier Bay commissioned at Astoria OR 1943 - AA cruiser USS Reno commissioned at San Francisco 1943 - Destroyer escort USS O'Reilly commissioned 1943 - Light cruiser USS Miami commissioned at Philadelphia 1943 - Destroyer minelayer USS Shea laid down 1943 - Corvette HMCS St Thomas (ex-HMS Sandgate Castle) launched South Bank-on-Tees UK 1943 - Canadian troops liberated the port of Ortona on Italy's Adriatic coast after intense street fighting 1943 - Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and four P-51 Mustangs attack Yangtze River shipping at Chihchow; three cargo ships are sunk, two others damaged, and an armed motor vessel set aflame 1944 - Japanese air attacks commence against the 99-ship Mindoro Island, Philippine Island-bound USN Task Group 77.11; Allied air cover cannot be provided because of bad weather over the airfields within range. Kamikazes crash tank landing ship USS LST-750 and US freighters SS William Sharon and SS John Burke. John Burke, carrying ammunition, explodes, the cataclysmic blast damaging station tanker USS Porcupine and PT-332. There are no survivors from among SS John Burke's 40-man merchant complement and 28-man Armed Guard. Fragments from John Burke also hit freighter SS Francisco Morozan 100 yards away, wounding three of that ship's merchant complement. SS William Sharon, set afire by the kamikaze and gutted by fires that are ultimately controlled, is abandoned, the survivors transferring to destroyer USS Wilson, whose assistance proves invaluable in extinguishing the blaze that has consumed the freighter. Combat-salvage vessel USS Grapple later tows the merchantman to San Pedro Bay for repairs. LST-750, hit subsequently by an aerial torpedo, is consequently scuttled by destroyer USS Edwards off the southwestern coast of Negros Island. Japanese air attacks continue tomorrow 1944 - Frigate HMS Cardigan Bay launched 1944 - Light cruiser USS Providence launched 1944 - Escort carrier USS Rendova launched 1944 - U-682 was badly damaged during an air raid at Horten, Norway 1944 - U-735 sunk in Oslo Fjord in position 59.24N, 10.28E, during an RAF air raid. 39 dead & 1 survivor 1944 - SS Empire Javelin in a convoy was torpedoed and sunk by U-772 40 miles south of St. Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight. The U-boat did not report the attack, because she was sunk a short time later, but the time was recorded by the B-Dienst. The master, 121 crewmembers, 28 gunners and all troops were picked up by the Free French frigate L'Escarmouche & landed at Le Havre. Seven crewmembers were lost 1944 - U-3029 launched 1944 - Frigate HMCS Cap de la Madeleine departed St John's with eastbound Convoy HX-328 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-529 was commissioned at Chicago with LTJG J. W. Harrison, USCG as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas including Funaafuti, Langemak, etc. She was decommissioned 25 Sept 1945 1944 - In the Soembawa-Flores Island area in the Lesser Sunda Islands, B-24 Liberators attack Japanese shipping 1945 - Submarine HMS Sentinel commissioned 1945 - Destroyer USS Carpentar launched 1945 - President Harry S. Truman directs that the USCG be transferred from the Navy and returned to the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8929 transferring the Coast Guard to Navy Department control on 1 November 1941 1951 - Gate vessel HMCS Porte de la Reine launched Victoria BC 1963 - USS Oriskany port call Sasebo 1965 - USS Kitty Hawk port call Yokosuka 1967 - USS Yorktown commenced Vietnam deployment 1967 - USS Ticonderoga commenced Vietnam deployment with CVW-19 1972 - USS America port call Hong Kong 1982 - Recommissioning of USS New Jersey, the first of four Iowa-class battleships that were returned to service in 1980s 1990 - LCDR Darlene M. Iskra becomes commander of USS Opportune, a salvage vessel 1990 - USS Theodore Roosevelt and America Carrier Battle Groups with appropriate escorts and embarked airwings deploy from Norfolk. Total of 17 ships depart from 5 East Coast ports 1990 - DOD announces chemical/biological vaccination program for US forces 1990 - SECNAV activates 172 additional Naval Reservists from 40 units 2001 - Washington State Ferries seals time capsule at Colman Dock 2004 - Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono on Tuesday ordered three Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels, including a helicopter, to waters off Thailand to help search for missing people following Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis. The dispatch of the two destroyers and a combat supply ship, effective 1650 the same day, is the first international search and rescue mission for MSDF vessels. The agency did not specify how long the mission will last, but said the ships and their 580 MSDF crew are expected to begin activities in the devastated areas on Wednesday 2004 - US Pacific Command is sending a forward command element (FCE) to Utapao, Thailand, to establish the command, control and communication structure for Joint Task Force 536 (JTF 536). The US intends to use, with Thailand's cooperation, this military facility as a regional support center for emergency and medical personnel providing assistance throughout the region as well as a staging area for US military and rescue aircraft, forensic experts, and other relief assistance. The FCE and follow-on JTF will coordinate US military relief efforts in the region. The FCE and JTF will work with the US Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, host nations and humanitarian relief agencies to identify requirements and coordinate relief efforts. The focus of the mission will be to prevent further loss of life and human suffering by expeditiously applying resources to the overall relief effort. The FCE team is comprised mainly of personnel from the III Marine Expeditionary Force. Additional personnel will be deployed from other locations in the Pacific command area of responsibility. US military relief efforts include: + US Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft in Yokota, Japan, loaded with relief supplies are expected to deploy to Utapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. + US Navy deployed P-3 aircraft from Kadena, Japan, to operate in the vicinity of Thailand with Utapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base, serving as a hub for operations. + Other forces enroute to the region that could be committed to relief efforts, if necessary, include USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including USS Shoup, USS Shiloh, USS Benfold, and USNS Ranier and USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, including USS Duluth, USS Milius, USS Rushmore, USS Thach, USS Pasadena and USCG Munro. + US Air Force will deploy KC-135 aircraft from Japan and Guam to provide assistance as directed 2004 - USCGC Swordfish launched Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LA 2004 - Electric Boat Corp awarded a $1,503,050,893 modification to its FY04-FY08 Virginia class multi-year contract, which provides funding for FY05 multi-year ship (SSN 780), Advance Procurement (AP) funding for FY06 multi-year ship (SSN 781), and Economic Order Quantity funding for FY06-08 multi-year ships (SSN 781-783) 2005 - India successfully test fired its nuclear-capable ballistic missile Dhanush from a warship in the Bay of Bengal, Defense ministry sources said. Dhanush, which is a naval version of India's surface-to-surface Prithvi missile, has a range of 250 km and is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The missile was launched from INS Rajput that was anchored 40 km offshore between Paradeep port and the test range Chandipur in Orissa's Balasore district at about 1358 the sources said. Dhanush is one of five missiles designed by Defense Research and Development Organization. The others include the short-range ballistic missile Prithvi, medium-range Agni, anti-tank Nag and supersonic Brahmos 2005 - A ship made famous by French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau has decayed beyond repair during a feud between his widow and son over its ownership, according to officials in the port where it is docked. They say Cousteau's beloved vessel, the Calypso, is so decrepit it would need to be rebuilt before going to sea again. Authorities in La Rochelle on the French Atlantic coast, where the Calypso has languished since 1998, say salvage plans have been blocked by a dispute between Cousteau's second wife, Francine, and his son from his first marriage, Jean-Michel. Once known to millions of viewers across the world as a pioneering oceanographic research ship, Calypso is rusting and rotting as lawyers argue over its fate 2005 - A total of 548 would-be-migrants arrived in Lampedusa and Sicily on the 26th aboard three rickety vessels but coast guard officials said on the 27th they believed a number of others had managed to scramble to shore unaided. Italian Police nabbed an Iraqi and a Palestinian who ferried 221 migrants aboard an 18-metre-long vessel which reached the coast of Ragusa Boxing Day. The two are being detained on charges of human trafficking while an accomplice is still at large. According to police sources, the illegal migrants paid a criminal organization a sum of 1,500 Euros each for their passage to Italy from Libya. Immigration officials believe that the criminal groups behind these Mediterranean crossings wanted to take advantage of the Christmas holidays, hoping for fewer controls by the Italian coast guard 2005 - Security agencies went into a tizzy as a merchant ship was detained here after it reported loss of nearly 100 tonnes of explosives meant for construction projects undertaken by India's Border Roads Organization (BRO) in Afghanistan 2005 - A plane carrying the Russian sailors held in a Nigerian prison for almost two years arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo 2 Airport at 0515. Relatives, Russian diplomats and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Ara Abramyan were there to welcome the sailors 2005 - Coast Guard crews repatriated 51 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba and 108 Haitian migrants to Cap Haitian, Haiti. Coast Guard crews interdicted three separate Cuban vessels between December 21 and 25. Initially, 36 Cuban migrants and two suspected smugglers were interdicted from a disabled go-fast 25 miles east of Elliot Key, Fla. The suspected smugglers were transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and four migrants were hoisted from the go-fast to a Coast Guard helicopter and brought ashore for medical treatment. A group of eight Cuban migrants were interdicted from a rustic vessel 87 miles southwest of Cabo San Antonio, Cuba, and 11 Cuban migrants from a rustic vessel were interdicted 35 miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas, Fla. Two 87-foot patrol boats, Yellowfin and Dolphin, with the assistance of rescue boats from Station Lake Worth Inlet, interdicted a 35-foot boat with 41 Haitian migrants aboard December 15 about 10 miles east of Jupiter Inlet, Fla. Also the crew of the Miami based 210-foot Cutter Valiant with assistance from a Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter from Clearwater, Fla., safely removed 67 Haitians from their 25-foot sailing boat about 35 miles southeast of Great Inagua, Bahamas December 26 2005 - Ambassadors International, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the membership interests of American West Steamboat Company LLC and related entities ("American West Cruises") from Oregon Rail Holdings, LLC. American West Cruises is one of North America's premier river and coastal cruise companies operating unique, historical and nature-oriented cruise itineraries on the Columbia and Snake rivers, Alaska's Inside Passage, British Columbia and Washington's Puget Sound. Founded in 1995, American West Cruises currently operates two vessels, the 231-passenger Empress of the North and the 150-passenger Queen of the West 2005 - Cmdr. Jim McCauley, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard cutter Storis, gave Tim Wood, son of retired Cmdr. Harold Wood, the former Commanding Officer of the Storis in 1957 a tour of the entire ship in Kodiak AK. Tim Wood was 13-years-old when he began a historic journey on July 1, 1957, with his father aboard the Coast Guard cutter Storis. The crew of the Storis accompanied the crews of the cutters Bramble and SPAR to search for a deep draft channel through the Arctic Ocean and to collect hydrographic information 2005 - According to Xinhua, China's first liquefied natural gas(LNG) ship sailed off shipyard Wednesday in Shanghai, marking China's shipbuilding industry stepping into a new era. Sources from the China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) said the LNG ship was built by CSSC's Shanghai subsidiary, the Hudong-Zhonghua shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd, which fills a blank in China's shipbuilding history. The LNG ship is regarded a high-tech product with high-added value in the shipbuilding industry, which can only be built in Japan, the Republic of Korea and several European countries. To share a cake of the global market, China input more than 100million yuan on the research of the LNG ship in the past years and make effective its first contract for LNG vessels in August, 2004. The first LNG ship, 292 meters long and 43.35 wide, with a capacity of 147,200 cubic meters, is scheduled to go into operation in October, 2007, said the Hudong-Zhonghua shipbuilding (Group) Co. Ltd. The subsidiary group now shares an order of five LNG vessels, with the second expected to be delivered at early 2008. The costs of the two LNG vessels hit 400 million US dollars, said the group 2005 - The Panama Canal will be obsolete by 2013 when it won’t be able to service large vessels, larger than the current capacity of the inter-oceanic passage, warned a paper from the Panama Canal Authority, ACP 2006 - Vietnamese and Chinese navies carried out their second joint patrol in the Tonkin Gulf on December 28 in implementation of an agreement between the navies of the two countries. Two Vietnamese and two Chinese patrol boats took part in the joint patrol in the common fishing area defined by the Vietnam-China Agreement for Fisheries Cooperation. The two sides cooperated closely during the patrol, and were ready to join hands in maintaining security and order, and timely informed each other of the situation in the patrolled area 2006 - KDS Unbong (ex-USS LST 1010) and Weebong (ex-USS Johnson County LST 849) decommissioned 2006 - Ships carrying crews to repair the two undersea fiberoptic cables, which were broken in earthquakes, will arrive in the affected area in several days, an official of Taiwan's main telecommunications company said 2006 - Viet Nam reasserted its sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes, stressed Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Dung while responding to a query by a VNA correspondent 2006 - NYK, has acquired a 100 per cent stake in European container terminal operator, Ceres Container Terminals Europe, which manages facilities in Amsterdam 2006 - COSCO Pacific has signed a memorandum of understanding with fellow CKYH Alliance members, "K" Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping, together with Europe Container Terminals (ECT) to jointly build and operate a terminal at Rotterdam 2006 - Chinese port of Hezhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is expanding its Xindu port area in preparation for the re-opening of the Hejiang River which had been closed to navigation for years 2006 - NOL, has appointed three additional non-executive directors to the board, namely, Bobby Chin, Simon Israel and Tan Pheng Hock 2006 - Evergreen Marine Corp Cosco Container Lines announced that they are upgrading their Far East-Red Sea (FRS) service 2006 - Statoil commenced drilling of exploration well 16/4-4 on the North Sea Biotitt prospect 2006 - Subsea 7 awarded a contract valued at approximately US $275 million by the BC-10 Consortium, operated by Shell Brasil for the development of the BC10 fields in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil 2006 - Ocean Tankers Holdings Public Company Ltd (OCT) reached an agreement for the purchase of tanker is the ABS-registered MT Montauk. The total capacity of the vessel is 5771 DWT at the price of US$10,825,000. The ship will be registered in the Cypriot shipping register under the name MT Kalia 2006 - Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) said in a news conference it would reestablish the system of professional non-commissioned officers (NCOs) phased out in the 1970s 2006 - Finland's Vantaa district court found a Bangladeshi sea captain guilty of human trafficking and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. In September, eight Bangladeshi nationals arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport claiming to be the crew of a research vessel purchased from Finland. The entire group then applied for asylum at the airport. The sea captain escorted the group into Finland and tried to leave the country as soon as they had applied for asylum. The 57-year-old man maintained he had been used by criminals, but the court said he was a member of an organized crime group 2006 - General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Conn., received a $1.3 billion contract modification Dec. 28 to build SSN 782, the yet-to-be-named ninth nuclear attack submarine of the SSN 774 Virginia-class. The ship was included in the fiscal 2007 defense authorization act. The contract also included advance procurement funding for SSN 783, for which the Navy will request full funding in 2008 2006 - ROK Navy will buy a new rescue mini-submarine from United Kingdom-based James Fisher Defense for $19.6 million. The craft, designated DSAR-5, will be based on the LR-5 submersible used by the Royal Navy. Fisher Defense will provide training for pilots and maintenance crews on the new vehicle, which will be able to carry 16 submariners up to decompression facilities on the mother ship 2006 - Hamburg Süd is to order six 6,000 TEU vessels from Daewoo in South Korea. They will be the largest ships employed between Europe and South America 2006 - RCMP divers recovered the body of a Sooke man yesterday from the water near the boat he lived on 2006 - A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada’s Arctic, leaving a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake. The mass of ice broke clear from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers south of the North Pole 2006 - NOAA scientists with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory's Lake Michigan Field Station in Muskegon, Mich., have discovered a small, shrimp-like crustacean in the channel and a connected shallow docking basin between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake in Michigan. This invasive species is known as Hemimysis anomala. It is native to the Ponto-Caspian region of Eurasia. Their findings will be published in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Great Lakes Research 2006 - At just before 0600 Norfolk Police reported to Yarmouth Coastguard that a woman had jumped into the sea from Cromer Pier, following a domestic incident. Yarmouth Coastguard immediately called out the Cromer Coastguard Rescue Team and requested the launch of the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat. Police on scene, reported her to be in the water clinging to the end of the pier. They illuminated her with torches until the Inshore Lifeboat arrived on scene just 8 minutes later and brought her ashore to awaiting medical assistance ============================================================= Sources: Colton Shipping Report, NOAA, MARAD, Marine Digest, Leo Pettipas, Kommersant, Samuel Loring Morison, Frank Pierce Young, Navy Times, Naval Institute Proceedings, www.uboat.net, Andrew Etherington, John Nicholas, US Naval Historical Center, Ministry of Defense, US Coast Guard, Thomas N. Carlson, Jack Arrowsmith, Allan Snowie, Ken Hansen, Andy Barber, John Weiss, Jack McKillop, Bernard de Neumann, Sympatico Today in History, Washington History Link, Lloyds List, Fairplay, New York Times, I-Newswire and other news sources in the public domain. Additions, submissions and corrections are always welcomed. ============================================================= Today in History Archives at: http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/today_in_history_archive.htm Copyright 2007 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Photos courtesy of US Naval Historical Center, US Coast Guard Historical Center, Wikipedia Encyclopedia or Naval Museum of Manitoba unless otherwise noted. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click.