SeaWaves Today in History December 30, 2008 1658 - A peace treaty was signed in Valiesar between Russia and Sweden following the truce after the war in 1656 - 1658. Under it several towns in the Baltic region became part of Russia. Trade relations were restored and POWs freed. The treaty was a major success of Russian diplomacy. The negotiations between the two countries were conducted on the Russian side by Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin. However, later, due to the worsening of the international situation, Russia was forced to cede some Baltic towns to Sweden 1778 - A Royal Navy squadron landed troops to capture the island of St Lucia 1876 - The British ship Circassian was destroyed off Bridgehampton, L.I. following a successful rescue of 49 persons on December 11 by the USLSS. During later salvage operations in a storm the ship drifted out of the sand, resulting in the loss of 28 of its salvage crew including 12 Shinnecock Indians 1884 - Tojo Heideki is born in Tokyo. The son of a Japanese Army Lieutenant General. Tojo graduated from the Japanese military academy in 1905 and was appointed War Minister in 1940. He later served as the 40th Prime Minister of Japan 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944 1915 - The armored cruiser HMS Natal blew up whilst moored in Cromarty Firth when a fire spread to a magazine. 421 crew were lost with the ship, which is now designated as a Controlled Site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1916 - Grigory Rasputin (Novykh) (born 1864) self-proclaimed saint close to the last czar's family killed by noblemen. He played a fatal role in pre-Revolutionary Russia 1920 - Destroyer USS John D Ford commissioned 1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics). Also known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state is the successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism. Joseph Stain is the General Secretary of the Central Committee, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin is the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is the Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars 1933 - Submarine HNLMS K XV commissioned 1934 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini issues orders for the full conquest of Ethiopia 1935 - Soviet submarine SC-204 commissioned 1936 - Light cruiser HMS Edinburgh laid down 1938 - Destroyer HMS Eskimo commissioned 1939 - The government gives German freighter SS Tacoma 24 hours to leave the port of Montevideo, deeming the ship an auxiliary war vessel since she has assisted various maneuvers of armored ship Admiral Graf Spee and embarked her crew when that warship was scuttled 1939 - Corvette HMS Marguerite laid down 1939 - Soviet leadership decides reevaluates war effort against Finland. All attacks are to cease 1939 - A breakaway group of Chinese Nationalists in Hanoi, led by the Kuomintang's ex foreign minister Wang Chingwei, appears to have finalized an agreement with Japan to set up a rival Nationalist government under Japanese protection. The Tokyo educated Wang Chingwei, once Chiang Kai-shek's main rival for the Kuomintang leadership, fled to Hanoi a year ago to start a peace movement in response to Japan's call for a "new order in Asia." Since the loss of Wuhan he has become convinced that the war against Japan is unwinnable 1940 - Soviet submarines V-2 & V-3 laid down 1940 - Submarines HMS Unbroken & Unison laid down 1940 - Corvette HMS Kingcup commissioned 1940 - Convoy US-8 (Australia-Middle East) consisting of the troop transports Aquitania. Awatea, Dominion Monarch, Mauretania and Queen Mary escorted by heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra, sails from Melbourne, Victoria. The troopships are carrying the Australian 2/15th Battalion and the 2/28th and 2/43rd Battalions of the 24th Brigade and New Zealand troops 1940 - ASW trawler HMS Bandolero sunk after a collision destroyer HMAS Waterhen off Solum, Egypt. It takes a month to repair the damage to the destroyer 1940 - Destroyer HMAS Voyager captures 190-ton Italian supply schooner off Solum, Egypt. An Australian boarding party finds that British POWs on board had taken control of the vessel and imprisoned more than 100 Italian crewmen and passengers. The schooner is taken to Solum 1940 - Destroyer HMS Meynell commissioned 1940 - Minesweeper HMS Boston launched 1940 - Submarine HMS Umpire launched 1940 - Corvette HMS Violet launched 1940 - ASW trawler HMS Bandolero sunk in a collision off Solum 1940 - Minesweepers HMCS Bayfield & Canso laid down North Vancouver BC 1941 - U-181, U-259, U-517 launched 1941 - U-705, U-756 commissioned 1941 - Submarine ORP Dzik (ex-HMS Ultor) laid down 1941 - Winston Churchill arrives in Ottawa after his talks with Franklin D. Roosevelt over strategy to win the war with Germany. In an evening speech to Parliament Churchill quips, "When I warned them (the French) that Britain would fight on alone, whatever they did, their Generals told their Prime Minister and his divided cabinet that in three weeks, England would have her neck wrung like a chicken - Some chicken! Some neck!" 1941 - Sloop HMS Magpie laid down 1941 - Soviet submarine SC-138 commissioned 1941 - Submarine HIJMS I-1 shells Hilo on the island of Hawaii with her 5.5-inch gun. Seaplane tender (destroyer) USS Hulbert, moored to a pier adjacent to the pier damaged by the bombardment, is not hit 1941 - Submarine HIJMS I-19 torpedoes and damages a 5,695 ton unarmed US freighter off the coast of California about 26 miles off San Pedro. Although damaged, the freighter escapes 1941 - USN-commandeered tug SS Ranger lands a volunteer raiding party on Sangley Point, located on a peninsula jutting into Manila Bay approximately 8 miles southwest of Manila. The sailors bring out diesel generators and diesel oil needed on Corregidor to provide auxiliary power 1941 - Destroyers USS Dyson & Ringgold commissioned 1941 - Destroyers USS Bell & Stevens laid down 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Fort William launched Port Arthur ON 1941 - Corvette HMCS Sackville commissioned 1941 - Admiral Ernest J. King assumes duties as Commander in Chief US Fleet (CINCUS). To avoid use of what he considers the pejorative acronym CINCUS ("Sink Us"), he introduces COMINCH ("Comm Inch" or Command in Chief) 1941 - U-503 suffered extensive damage due to a fire in the harbor of Stettin 1942 - U-844, U-963, U-964 launched 1942 - Destroyer HMS Haldon commissioned 1942 - Submarine HMS Simoon commissioned 1942 - Submarine USS Paddle launched 1942 - Destroyer escorts USS Marchand & Swasey laid down 1942 - Destroyer USS Albert W Grant & Bryant laid down 1942 - German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked convoy JW-51B and was held at bay by the British destroyers HMS Onslow, Obedient, Obdurate and Orwell. When renewing her attack she was engaged by the British cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Jamaica and was badly damaged them. The only success of the operation was the sinking of the destroyer HMS Achates & minesweeper HMS Bramble; destroyers HMS Onslow, Obedient, Obdurate & Orwell were damaged in the action. Admiral Fraser with battleship Anson and other ships is distant escort, did not take part in the battle 1942 - USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells and 14 P-38 Lightnings approach Japanese-held Kiska Harbor at minimum altitude for a bombing and strafing attack. Two ships and three submarines, newly arrived, are covered by "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters). Four of the "Zekes" engage the approaching P-38s in a dogfight; two P-38s are shot down and four "Zekes" are listed as probables. The B-25s meanwhile attack the ships with unobserved results; one B-25 is shot down off Little Kiska Island. A USN PBY Catalina picks up survivors, but fails to return to base. Kiska Harbor is then attacked once more by five B-24 Liberators, four B-25s and four B-26 Marauders. They claim hits on both vessels observing explosions on the smaller ship. A B-24 photographs Amchitka while a weather reconnaissance of Near Island is cancelled due to weather. Aerial reconnaissance observes for the first time Japanese use of a smoke screen at Kiska Harbor 1942 - USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb shipping at Rabaul on New Britain Island and sink a merchant cargo ship 1942 - USAAF Eighth Air Force VIII Bomber Command flies Mission Number 27: 40 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the submarine base at Lorient with the loss of three B-17s to German fighters. The submarine base shows the cumulative effect of repeated bombardment 1942 - A B-17 Flying Fortress strafes a schooner in Jacquinot Bay, New Guinea 1943 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Gorregan launched 1943 - Aircraft carrier HMS Venerable launched 1943 - U-1205, U-1206 launched 1943 - U-320, U-925, U-1005 commissioned 1943 - Destroyer HMS Wrangler launched 1943 - At 2138 on 29 Dec, U-225 missed HMS Fidelity, which was straggling from convoy ONS-154 station #54. U-615 missed the same ship with five torpedoes between 2200 and 2300 hours on the same day. At 1638 hours on 30 December, the vessel was finally hit by two torpedoes from U-435 and sank immediately. The landing craft HMS LCV-752 & LCV-754 on board were lost with the ship. Fidelity had a crew of 284 men and was transporting 51 Royal Marines for Indochina. The day before, she picked up 44 survivors from Empire Shackleton, which had been sunk the day before by U-225, U-123 & U-435. One of the seaplanes carrying two men and the MTB with eight men floated free from the fast sinking ship and carried the only survivors. The men on the aircraft were picked up by destroyer HMCS St Laurent and the others by corvette HMCS Woodstock. The vessel, believed by some of the crew to be totally unseaworthy, carried out operations of an extremely hazardous nature, i.e., landing of secret agents on enemy territory. Due to the secret nature of the ship, the crew are volunteers, the non-British members sailing under assumed names and the French and other crewmembers received anglicized names. Her captain was an ex-French spy Claude Peri, who assumed the name Jacques Langlais and to the amazement of the crew took his mistress, Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) officer Madeleine Barclay, onboard with him. After operations in the Mediterranean, Fidelity is assigned to the Far East Fleet and sails from Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to Colombo, Ceylon, via the Cape of Good Hope, Union of South Africa, part of the way with slow convoy ONS-154 (UK to North America). In an area of the Atlantic known as the Black Pit, an area beyond the protection aircraft, the convoy, escorted by a Canadian destroyer and five corvettes, is attacked by the ten U-boat of Wolfpack Spitz and over the next four days 14 of the 45 ships are sunk with 510 lives lost. The Fidelity, lagging behind with engine failure, is torpedoed today. She goes to the bottom with almost all her complement of 280 crew, 51 Royal Marine Commandos and the WRNS officer plus four civilians. About fifty survivors rescued earlier from the British freighter SS Empire Shackelton are also on board. There are only ten men who survive the sinking of the Fidelity 1942 - At 0819, the unescorted Paderewski was torpedoed by U-214 about 40 miles off Trinidad. The ship was hit by a coup de grâce at 0919 and was sunk by gunfire (23 rounds from the deck gun of which 13 were hits and the 2cm AA gun). Three crewmembers were lost: Wlodzimierz Szewczuk, Dmitro Romanciw and Marian Rojek. The survivors were picked up by a fishing boat and two American patrol boats and landed at Trinidad in the evening 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Thornhill, Wingfield, Straus & Robert I Paine launched 1943 - Minesweeper USS Captivate commissioned 1943 - Submarine HMS Vox commissioned 1943 - Destroyers USS Barton, McNair & Yarnall commissioned 1943 - U-618 saved 21 survivors from the sunken German destroyer Z-27. After the war these men became honorary members of the crew and took part in their annual meetings 1943 - U-545 fired four torpedoes at the convoy ON-217 in grid AL 1228 (60°30N/24°35W) and heard four detonations. Mannesmann thought that he had hit four ships, but the only ship hit was Empire Housman. U-545 observed one ship sinking on 1 January. On 30 December, U-744 attacked also the convoy ON-217 in grid AL 1215 and reported one ship damaged, it is possible that the already damaged Empire Housman was hit. On 3 Jan 1944, the Empire Housman (Master David John Lewis), now straggling from the convoy, was again torpedoed by U-744 and foundered two days later. One crewmember was lost. The master, 37 crewmembers and seven gunners were picked up by the British armed trawler HMS Elm & rescue tug HMS Earner. Landed at Reykjavik 1943 - RAF Bomber Command bombers mine Biscay Bay ports: nine mine off Gironde, four off St. Nazaire, three off Lorient, two off Le Havre and one each off Cherbourg and La Glacerie. Eleven bombers drop leaflets over northern France 1944 - Japanese air attacks continue on Mindoro, Philippine Islands-bound convoy; kamikazes damage destroyers USS Pringle and Gansevoort; motor torpedo boat tender USS Orestes and auxiliary USS Porcupine. Porcupine is ultimately scuttled by USS Gansevoort. A merchant freighter is sunk by bombs off Mindoro Island and a merchant freighter is damaged when a kamikaze is shot down by a US fighter and explodes over the ship 1944 - U-772 sunk south of Weymouth, in position 50.05N, 02.31W, by depth charges from a 407 Sqn RCAF Wellington. 48 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - U-956 sank Soviet Liberty Ship Tibilisi II (ex-American John Langdon) 69.56N, 32.29E - Grid AC 8812 1944 - Coast Guard-manned FS-367 takes on survivors from USS Mariposa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands 1944 - HMC MTB 797 commissioned. Log - 65th Flotilla, "D" Type, 102 tons, 115x21.25x5.25ft, 29kts, crew 4/28, 2-6pdrs, 2-20mm(1xII), 2-18in TT 1944 - Destroyers HMCS Sioux & Algonquin departed Loch Ewe with Convoy JW-63 for Kola Inlet 1944 - Aircraft carriers USS Enterprise & Independence left Ulithi anchorage to fight with Japanese night bombers in the Philippines area. Both carriers had aircraft equipped with radar (night versions of F6F Hellcat fighters and TBM torpedo bombers) 1944 - Destroyer USS John R Pierce commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Inaugural commissioned 1944 - USN commissions the escort aircraft carrier USS Block Island. The USN now has 67 escort aircraft carriers in commission 1944 - Submarine HMS Tapir commissioned 1944 - Submarines USS Cabezon, Dentuda & Lizardfish commissioned 1944 - U-2351, U-2530 commissioned 1944 - King George II of Greece proclaimed a regency to rule his country, virtually renouncing the throne 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-406 was commissioned at San Francisco with LT E. F. Chandler, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas, including Biak, etc. On July 1, 19145, the FS-406 was in the Northeast Sulu Sea bound for Iloilo, Panay Island from Cebu, Philippines. She moored at Muala Pier, Panay Island at 1215 on that day loading 35 tons of empty oil drums for shipment to Tacloban, and departing the same date, anchoring off Maripipi Island for the night and proceeding through Junanbatas Channel, the FS-257, ahead of her, ran aground. The FS-406 stood by and rendered assistance towing her off the beach at 1200 and then proceeding to Tacloban Harbor. On the 5th she stood out of Tacloban Harbor for White Beach, Leyte Island and after unloading her cargo by barge returned to Tacloban. On the 14th having loaded 325 tons of miscellaneous cargo she left Tacloban bound for Batangas, anchoring on the night of the 15th on the lea of BilhirIn Island and arriving at Batangas on the 17th. On the 22nd with a return load she left Batangas for Manila arriving at anchorage on the 23rd and docking on the 25th. On the 31st she was loading 300 tons of miscellaneous cargo for Puerta Princessa, Palawan Island. During July 1945, she steamed 703.8 miles, making a total of 17,535.3 miles steamed since her commissioning. On 16 September 1945, while anchored at Hagushi, Okinawa with the steering assembly disabled by a typhoon on 11 September 1945, while en route from Tacloban to Hagushi, a report of another typhoon which would pass close to the east of Okinawa was received. At 1300 on the 16th T.C. 95.5.2 cleared the harbor to weather the typhoon at sea, but small ships such as FS-, LT-, and several Navy tankers and Liberty ships remained at anchor an the harbor. By 1100 on the 16th the wind had reached 25 knots coming from NE and the barometer read 29.148. Sea watches were set and anchor chain veered to 100 fathoms in 15 fathoms of water 1 mile off shore. The engines were started and kept warm until she got underway, at 0410 on 17 September 1945. A jury steering gear was set up. By 1900 on the 16th the wind had reached 70 knots from the NE and the barometer read 28.87. The ship was rolling 15 degrees, but the anchor did not appear to be dragging. By 2200 the wind had shifted and was coming from the NW at 70 knots while the barometer read 28.52. By 0200 on the 17th the wind had again shifted to WNW with velocity at 70 knots, there being no protection from land with the wind from that direction. The ship was rolling and pitching and the anchor dragged slightly. By 0300 on the 17th, the barometer had risen to 28.81. At 0410 in a deep pitch of the ship the stern came down on a reef and the ship immediately got underway at flank speed, the stern hitting the reef again at 0413 and the anchor windlass being unable to take in the chain because of the heavy strain on it. The anchor chain, being welded in a pad-eye in the chain locker could not be slipped and they proceeded dragging the port anchor and maneuvering among ships anchored in the harbor with the use of engines. At 0600 she dropped back on her anchor about 1.5 miles off shore with both engines slow ahead. The wind and sea were still from the WNW with wind velocity at 70 knots, but the barometer had risen to 29.06. The ship was pitching heavily and rolling more than 40 degrees. At 0730, having taken in the port anchor, she proceeded WNW heading into the wind, a difficult operation with the jury rig steering, necessitating constant use of the engine for steering. At 0900 a visual message was sent to Navy tug #28 to stand by for assistance, the jury rig being inefficient for steering and there being heavy vibration from a bent propeller blade. At 1100 on the 17th the wind had decreased to 40 knots from the WNW and the barometer had risen to 29.40. She had proceeded pitching and rolling to Naha Harbor with Navy tug #28 standing by. She entered Naha Harbor at 1300 as wind decreased to 30 knots and barometer rose to 29.44. On the 18th an examination of hatches showed only a slight shift cargo in No. 1 hold, consisting of 90 tons of engineering supplies, but due to a shift in No. 2 hold the ship had a port list of 2 or 3 degrees, which could not be taken off with the starboard fuel and water tanks topped. On 8 October 1945, while anchored in Naha, Okinawa, with the steering assembly still disabled and port propeller damaged from previous typhoons, a report was received that a typhoon would pass close to Okinawa. All hatches ware secured and the chain veered to 60 fathoms port and 30 fathoms starboard. By 0800 on 9 October 1945, the wind had reached 25 knots and the barometer read 29.02. By 1300 the wind was 80 knots and the barometer 28.64. At 1355 the anchor was noticed to be dragging and at 1400 preparations were made to get underway to take the strain off the anchor chain. Due to high wind velocity and inefficiency of bent propeller she was unable to make headway and prevent dragging the anchor using flank speed on both engines. At 1410, with her anchors still dragging, the ship was bearing down on a coral reef when it struck at 1425. By 1515 the generators were out of operation due to lack of water pressure and at 1700 the wind had reached 150 knots with the barometer reading 28.70, the ship being high on the coral reef. The water had risen to a depth of 2 feet above the deck plates in the engine room from holes in the hull. By 10 October the water was over the main engines and generators in the engine room, the lazarette was flooded to within 12 inches of the weather deck and there was two feet of water in the after crew's quarters coming from fittings leading to the lazarette. The vessel was eventually given up as lost 1944 - RAF Bomber Command sends 13 Lancasters to bomb the U-boat pens at Ijmuiden but the raid was abandoned because of bad weather 1944 - Station Tanker USS Porcupine sunk Kamikaze attack off Mindoro 1951 - Destroyer HMCS Nootka departed Halifax for Korean War 1959 - Commissioning of first ballistic missile submarine, USS George Washington at Groton CT 1964 - USS Ranger port call Hong Kong 1965 - USS Hornet port call Sasebo 1967 - USS Intrepid completed Vietnam deployment 1968 - USS Kitty Hawk commenced Vietnam deployment 1972 - United States halted heavy bombing of North Vietnam 1973 - Oceanographer, polar explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Somov died. Born 1908 1980 - The heavy nuclear-missile cruiser Kirov (28,000-ton displacement, length 248 meters) was commissioned. It was the biggest of all modern warships, not counting aircraft carriers. In later years two more such ships were launched. They were armed with the “Granit” cruise missiles. In 1998 the cruiser Pyotr Veliky was launched and included in the Northern Fleet. It has a much higher fighting capacity 1989 - Israel and Vatican recognized each other 2003 - USCGC Sailfish launched Bollinger Shipyard Lockport LA 2004 - The Sevmashpredpriyatiye Shipyard will continue building and installing equipment in fourth generation nuclear-powered submarines, including the SSBN Yury Dolgorukiy whose construction will launch a new Borei series and the multi-role Severodvinsk 2004 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law On Introducing Amendments to Article 1 of the Federal Law On Military Glory Days (Victory Days) of Russia that was adopted by the State Duma on December 15, 2004 and approved by the Federation Council on December 24, 2004. The law introduces a Russian military glory day on November 4 – People’s Unity Day. In addition, under the law November 7 will also be a military glory day – Day of Holding a Military Parade on Moscow’s Red Square in 1941 2004 - USCGC Alder delivered at Marinette Marine. Last ship of Juniper-class buoy tenders 2005 - South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said it expects sales in 2006 to be more than 5.1 trillion won (US$5 billion). Daewoo Shipbuilding also aims to win $10 billion worth of orders next year, compared with this year's orders worth $6.8 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing 2005 - After a 35-year-career with the National Park Service, John Tucker, superintendent of the Fort Sumter National Monument, retired 2005 - A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Houston airlifted a 27-year-old pregnant woman from a sport fishing boat today 40 miles southeast of Freeport, Texas. A Coast Guard watchstander was notified at 1423 that a fishing boat was disabled and the crew needed assistance. Thirty minutes later, a crewmember called to report a woman aboard the vessel was pregnant and sea sick. A Coast Guard medical officer determined she should be airlifted to a hospital. The woman was transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas and was reported to be in stable condition 2005 - The crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Chincoteague repatriated 15 Dominican migrants, 10 male and 5 females, to the Dominican Republic at 1000. The repatriation of the migrants was safely completed at sea in the vicinity of Isla Saona, Dominican Republic, where Chincoteague transferred all the migrants on board the Dominican Republic Navy vessel Proción. The repatriated migrants were originally part of a group of 23 traveling illegally to Puerto Rico aboard a 20-foot wooden yola powered by two 15-horse power outboard engines. The yola was spotted at 2047 on the 29th by a US Customs and Border Protection C-12 aircraft, six nautical miles northwest of Rincon, Puerto Rico. The crews of two Forces United for Rapid Action Cobra vessels, of the Puerto Rico Police and the crew of a US Customs and Border Protection Mike vessel intercepted the yola approximately 100 yards away from shore. The repatriated migrants were interdicted at sea by US Customs and Border Protection and Forces United for Rapid Action personnel, and they also apprehended seven migrants that made it ashore, while one migrant that made it ashore has yet to be apprehended. To support the on going interdiction, the US Coast Guard Sector San Juan Command Center diverted the Chincoteague and launched a US Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Borinquen, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The crew of the Chincoteague safely embarked from the yola the 15 repatriated migrants on board the cutter at 2353 on the 29th. As the migrants were transferred to the cutter, the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter flew rescue support overhead. The migrants apprehended ashore were taken into custody by the US Customs and Border Protection 2005 - Chilean Navy commander, Admiral Rodolfo Codina Diaz, presided over an internal ceremony in which the submarine force commander Captain Eduardo Junge Pumpin, Director of Navy Social Welfare Captain Luis Vásquez Towers and Director of Navy Education Captain Claudius Gónzalez Maier were promoted to commodore 2005 - Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan completed 7,753 boardings and cited 199 boaters for Boating Under the Influence in 2005. Sector Lake Michigan’s law enforcement team consists of small boat search and rescue stations operating along the shorelines of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan on Lake Michigan. These stations employ 350 active duty and 125 reserve boat crew personnel. Sector Lake Michigan’s BUI cases represented 40 percent of the Coast Guard’s 2005 total 2005 - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ruled out the possibility of reviewing the treaty on Russia's naval base in Ukraine 2005 - ThyssenKrupp Technologies and EADS signed an agreement with BAE Systems on the acquisition of Atlas Elektronik, Bremen. In accordance with the agreement, ThyssenKrupp Technologies will hold 60 percent of Atlas and EADS 40 percent 2005 - HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën rescues 60 persons adrift 60 miles off Oman 2005 - The Coast Guard assisted the crew of a tugboat after an engine fire disabled the vessel near Dungeness Spit, Wash. The tugboat Island Spirit contacted the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service requesting assistance at 0625 Group Port Angeles, Wash., launched a 41-foot utility boat and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter. When Coast Guard assets arrived, the crew of the Island Spirit had extinguished the fire and was preparing to be towed to Port Angeles by the tugboat Pacific Adventure. During the transit back to Port Angeles the Island Spirit began to list about 35 degrees to starboard. Because of the list, the master and his crew requested to be removed from the vessel. After two attempts, the crew of the listing tugboat was taken aboard the Coast Guard utility boat for their safety. Darkness, six-foot seas, and the extreme list of the vessel complicated the removal of the crew. The Island Spirit’s crew was safely brought back to Group Port Angeles. The cause of the fire is unknown 2005 - A contract has been signed for the supply of two Il-38 aircraft from the Russian navy's air fleet to India, Interfax-AVN was told today by general director of the Ilyushin aviation plant Viktor Livanov 2005 - A rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater medevaced an elderly woman from the cruise ship Legends of the Sea at about 1830 90 miles southwest of Tampa. Jean Freeman, 77, of St. Louis, Mo., suffers from low blood pressure and was in need of an emergency blood transfusion due to internal bleeding. She will be medevaced and transported to Blake Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla 2005 - Chilean CGC Tokerau medevaced Peruvian national Bruce Romero Mamani from fishing vessel Sideral and transported him to hospital at Hanga Roa 2007 - An Indonesian Navy aircraft plunged into sea off northern Aceh, killing four 2007 - Belize registry expelled the environmental protest ship Farley Mowat on suspicion that it would be used as part of an organized attempt to sink whaling ships. A statement from the International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize said Farley Mowat deregistered ex officio. This followed registration on December 15, with the owner stating it would be used as a private yacht and to conduct ecological research on the Belize Barrier Reef. However, Immarbe learnt that Farley Mowat was part of a group of vessels controlled by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. This controversial group claims to have sunk 10 whaling ships by tactics including ramming and sabotage, ostensibly in the name of conservation 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. 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: 778-338-4073 Fax: 778-338-4074 Read our Maritime Mishap Blog Manage your subscription